"Grandmaster, can Senior Sister Qi truly defeat Shalongzi?"
"What, have you so little confidence in Emei?"
In a tall pavilion not far from the battle arena, an elderly man and a young cultivator looked down toward the stage, talking in low voices.
Ranfeng shook his head. "Cultivators of our Divine Sect are first-rate powerhouses wherever they go. How could I ever doubt Senior Sister's strength?"
Even though the Five Elements Divine Sect had been reduced to stray dogs driven from their home, his tone still harbored a stubborn pride.
Indeed, at its pinnacle, the Five Elements Divine Sect had been more than worthy of such pride!
Back then, each of the Five Peaks had been presided over by a Nascent Soul Perfected Person.
Moreover, the sect was anchored by Supreme Elder Ancestor Shenyuan, a late Nascent Soul cultivator whose authority suppressed all four directions.
Such might was formidable enough to eclipse even the illustrious Dongyang Sect.
It was precisely on the strength of that peak glory that the Five Elements Divine Sect had caught the eye of the Mingyuan Sect, the sacred ground of the Eastern Desolation. The Mingyuan Sect had once promised to allow Ancestor Shenyuan to cultivate within their ancestral grounds.
It was said to be "once" only because unforeseen disaster struck afterward.
While carrying out a task for the Mingyuan Sect, Ancestor Shenyuan suffered grievous wounds. Consequently, when the demon beast army bore down on their borders, Ancestor Shenyuan was unable to take the field. Led by the Perfected Persons of the Five Peaks, the Five Elements Divine Sect was pushed back in steady retreat.
By the time they fell back to the Fenghua Domain, two of the Five Peak Perfected Persons were dead. Even True Person Linmu, famed for possessing the greatest survival capabilities, had his physical body battered to pieces, leaving only his Nascent Soul alive.
From that point on, the Five Elements Divine Sect had fallen into decline.
Yet a starved camel was still larger than a horse. Even as displaced dogs driven from their homeland, the disciples of the Divine Sect continued to maintain their past pride.
Of course, after seeing so many fortunes rise and fall like towers built and toppled, these disciples had also grown far more realistic.
At the very least, they were no longer blindly arrogant.
Ranfeng murmured, "Shalongzi is no ordinary figure. He is a leading figure among the younger generation, groomed with the concentrated resources of the Luotian Sect. His body refinement has long reached the Smelting Furnace Realm, capable of projecting astral qi hot and fierce enough to melt gold and sever stone. Furthermore, the space on that battle arena is confined, which favors him all the more. Senior Sister will likely be constrained at every turn."
The third realm of body refinement—the Smelting Furnace Realm!
According to rumors, those who comprehended the four stages of blood and vitality transformation could condense astral qi and command the valor to match ten thousand men!
For a Core Formation cultivator of the same realm to battle such a foe, meeting them head-on was an exercise in futility. One's only recourse was to keep their distance, leveraging the reach of divine sense to strike at the enemy's weaknesses.
True Person Shenhuo pressed his lips together, his expression turning grave.
Yet his words remained reassuring.
"Since I sent Emei into battle, I have my reasons."
"She has already mastered the Red Thread Dragon-Binding Art."
Ranfeng blinked in surprise. "The Red Thread Dragon-Binding Art specifically designed to counter body cultivators?"
True Person Shenhuo smiled faintly. "Precisely. You must know that in ancient times, our sect followed antiquity's example and trained Five Elements Stoutmen. That rearing process was exceptionally cruel and agonizing for the stoutmen, so specialized methods of restraint and suppression were devised to prevent them from turning on their masters. Furthermore..."
He paused, shifting his gaze toward the towering man standing opposite Qi Emei.
"Men of his kind possess unyielding bones, yet their mental fortitude is exceedingly fragile. If he still cherishes their past ties and hesitates in the slightest, he is doomed to defeat!"
Ranfeng parted his lips, struck by the thought that this final point might well be the real reason Grandmaster felt so confident in Senior Sister Qi!
***
Under the watchful eyes of the gathered thousands, the battle commenced.
To everyone's surprise, the one to strike first was not the body cultivator Shalongzi, who needed to secure an early advantage, but Qi Emei, an early Core Formation cultivator!
Red threads coiled about her body as a flying sword darted from her sleeve.
Wielding a broadsword, Shalongzi parried the uncanny strikes of the flying sword in midair with hairsbreadth precision.
Whenever an attack proved impossible to block, he flapped his wings and shifted through empty space to evade it.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The ring of metal on metal echoed continuously across the stage in a lively exchange.
Yet to the onlookers, this was far from thrilling enough!
"Why isn't anyone going for the kill?"
"Exchanging glances like that—are you two here to flirt?"
"Show us some real skill!"
Shalongzi continued to focus on evasion, but Qi Emei was already losing patience.
Guiding her flying sword with one hand, she formed an incantation gesture with the other.
Suddenly!
As the sword lunged toward Shalongzi, waves of flame surged violently from its blade.
Even though he dodged by a hair's breadth, most of his thick black hair was singed away.
Cultivators of the Divine Sect were renowned for their mastery of spell arts!
That reputation was by no means unearned!
Not only were their five-element spells tremendously potent, but they were also woven seamlessly into every nuance of combat.
Employing weapon-guided arts was their crowning specialty!
The flying sword whipped up rolling waves of flame one moment and showered drifting fiery rain the next, leaving Shalongzi in a thoroughly wretched state.
"Watch out!"
As Shalongzi fended off another strike from the flying sword, an anxious shout rang out from beyond the arena.
The voice was shrill, yet it fell upon his ears with extraordinary tenderness.
Shalongzi knew who it came from, but he had no time to look.
Reflected in his eyes was a massive palm imprint, rumbling down toward him with crushing force.
The Innate Primordial Qi Great Handprint!
This was the most iconic signature technique of the Five Elements Divine Sect, accessible to cultivators of all elements across every peak.
It had even spread to many corners of the Eastern Desolation's cultivation world.
Yet unlike the diluted versions practiced by outsiders, the handprint wielded by the Divine Sect was the purest orthodox lineage!
As the palm pressed down, it clearly bore the fire element, yet thrummed with vigorous vitality.
This was the true essence of the Innate Primordial Qi Great Handprint: multiplying its might through the generation of the five elements, then vanquishing the foe through mutual overcoming!
Unfortunately for her, Shalongzi had fought alongside Qi Emei for years and had witnessed this technique countless times.
Its counter was etched into his very memory.
Instead of retreating, he lunged forward, thrusting his greatsword straight into the incoming spiritual palm print.
Tyrannical astral qi poured forth like an ocean, stabbing directly into the center of the palm.
The mutual generation of the five elements followed a strict order.
Where the power was greatest was precisely where it was most vulnerable.
The flaw lay right at the moment the palm's spiritual power cycled through its transition.
Boom!
With an explosive roar, Shalongzi shattered the handprint and broke through.
He bent a finger, and a beam of scarlet force suddenly lanced out.
The Blood God Tribulation Finger!
The timing of this strike was exquisite, utterly flawless!
It struck during the brief vacuum after Qi Emei unleashed her spell, when her flying sword was out of position to force him to defend.
Unleashed with astral qi, if it struck a vital point, it would...
Hiss!
On the stone pavers of the arena—sturdy enough to withstand the full strike of a late Core Formation grand cultivator—a deep hole bored into the stone.
It landed directly behind the woman.
By trajectory, it had grazed past her head by inches.
Shalongzi had missed!
The spectators erupted into an uproar.
What a pity! They had nearly witnessed the striking, valiant head of a beautiful female cultivator burst like a melon!
Qi Emei stood frozen, a thin line of blood gradually welling on her cheek.
She touched her face unconsciously; her fingers came away damp.
"Your combat talent truly is rare under heaven, not a whit inferior to your master's."
"However!"
"Your heart was soft!"
Her murmurs grew louder as her ten fingers splayed wide.
Unbeknownst to anyone, crimson threads had already woven into a vast net. When Shalongzi broke through the Innate Primordial Qi Great Handprint, it had already descended upon him.
Now, her fingers snapped shut!
Whoosh!
Countless red cords instantly enveloped Shalongzi's entire body.
In that split second, a look of distinct regret surfaced on his face.
He had seen through the flaw in her technique and seized his chance for victory.
Yet it was as though she had anticipated his mercy all along, laying a trap within that very flaw.
Now, thickets of red threads clamped down on him like a fishing net from all directions.
The wings that allowed him high-speed flight were forced flat.
His heavy armor groaned under unbearable strain.
As the cords tightened, his protective armor fractured inch by inch.
Worse still, he discovered that his fierce, unyielding astral qi was completely neutralized by these deceptively soft red threads.
"Yilong, yield!" the woman's voice rang in his ear, brimming with certain victory.
Shalongzi gave no answer. He forcefully flared his wings, trying to tear free of the cords.
His eyes swept over the crowds below the raised stage.
The spectators remained frenzied to the point of morbid obsession.
They seemed eager to see him strangled and crushed to pieces.
Behind Qi Emei, a radiant smile spread across Sima Wenjie's repulsive face as he chatted merrily with the cultivators beside him.
Further off, another group watched in silence, taking no part in the rabid cheering.
The man at their head was tall and burly, his expression cold as ice.
Even with Shalongzi trapped in such dire straits, the man seemed entirely unmoved.
By contrast, the woman in iridescent robes beside him had her brows knitted in deep concern.
Behind them stood fellow disciples whose faces were intimately familiar, brothers and sisters with whom he had spent day after day.
Yet intimidated by the cold man's authority, no matter how worried they were, none dared raise their voices to cheer for him.
Only the woman who had cried out to warn him earlier now moved her lips, murmuring words he could not hear.
*Master must be terribly disappointed in me, right?*
Shalongzi thought to himself.
The surrounding shouts crashed over him like a tide, jolting him awake.
"Kill him! Kill him!"
"Just lose already! I bet on Si Wenjun's faction to win! If they take this match, I stand to make a fortune!"
"Aside from Li Yingzhang's unexpected victory in the first match through a war of attrition, Fu Jiusheng, Chu Kui, and Yang Pingdu have all lost in succession. If this one is lost, that's four straight defeats! Sect Master Yao's faction won't stand a chance of turning things around!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
With a soft sigh, Shalongzi finally understood why his master looked so cold.
Entrusting this vital fifth match to him meant placing the future of the Luotian Sect on his shoulders.
And he did possess the strength to carry it!
If he plunged the sect into doom simply over personal sentiment, he would fail everyone.
And if he wanted to do right by everyone, he could only do wrong by the person before him.
Unlike the common prejudice that body cultivators cared only for their flesh and ignored their mental state, Wang Yuan's lineage had placed heavy emphasis on tempering willpower right from the first realm of body refinement. Combined with the *Micromote Origin Art* left behind by Luo Chen before his departure, the body cultivators of the Luotian Sect possessed few flaws in their mental fortitude and could recover their balance with incredible speed!
A hundred thoughts flickered through his mind in a flash.
In an instant, Shalongzi made his choice!
With a low roar, the wings behind his back snapped inward, then detonated with violent force!
Taken entirely off guard, Qi Emei stared in disbelief.
*Weren't those wings a gift from the senior he respects most? He just blew them up?!*
Boom!
A thunderous explosion echoed as the wings, poured full of all his spiritual power, blasted outward. The massive shockwave blew open a sliver of space within the red threads binding him.
At the center of the blast, Shalongzi took the brunt of the damage.
Yet relying on a body tempered harder than vajra stone, he spat out a mouthful of blood and endured it through sheer grit.
Before his eyes, the scattered red threads began to constrict once more.
The moment they touched him, their softness would counter his hardness, drastically suppressing his astral qi.
Shalongzi forced his right hand across his chest, pressing his thumb against his heart.
In an instant, the vital essence of his five viscera converged upon his heart.
Five qis unified, the Giant Spirit transformed!
To the naked eye, Shalongzi's body began to swell.
In a breath, an eighteen-foot giant with ropy muscles stood revealed upon the stage.
With savage fury, he grabbed the red threads wrapping his body, tearing them away along with the shattered remains of his armor.
Then, taking massive strides, he dragged his broadsword behind him and charged toward Qi Emei in a tempest of rage.
Leaping into the air, he brought the sword down in a ferocious cleave.
Qi Emei could only retreat frantically, raising her defensive barrier while recalling her flying sword.
Boom!
"Emei, we end here!"
A resolute roar rang in her ears, accompanied by the shriek of astral qi tearing through her barrier.
Before her eyes was a furious glare framed by bristling hair and beard.
This sight was just like the days when they had fought side by side—magnificently brave, fiercely bold!
Following that single sword strike, he flipped in midair and slammed an elbow down.
Not stopping there, as he redirected his momentum, bursts of scarlet light flashed repeatedly from his hand.
When she narrowly dodged them, the beams curved mid-flight to thrust at her once again.
This tempestuous barrage left the audience stunned, unable to react in time.
Only Qi Emei, desperately scrambling to survive, looked at him with an intensely complicated gaze.
*So this is what it feels like to face him as an enemy... such a torrential onslaught.*
Though the platform was large, for Core Formation cultivators, it was far too small, offering no room to maneuver.
After a dazzling exchange of pursuit and defense—
Bang!
Stone fragments shattered across the platform as the giant seized the struggling woman by the ankle and crashed down from above, his other massive hand locking around her slender throat.
Thunk!
Her treasure-grade flying sword, shorn of guidance, embedded itself at an angle into the stone paving.
The dust settled, and the outcome was sealed!
"Huff, huff, huff..."
Shalongzi panted heavily, his savage visage glaring down at the woman before him.
"You forced my hand."
"Kill me, then!"
His thick hand tightened its grip.
Yet right before he snapped that fragile neck, Shalongzi suddenly hurled her out of the battle arena.
The sight immediately drew a wave of jeers and contempt from the crowd.
Shalongzi's body gradually shrank back to normal. Ignoring the mocking commentary, he hung his head and slowly stepped down from the platform.
"Senior Brother, are you all right?"
A female cultivator was the first to rush forward, asking with concern.
Shalongzi glanced at her, shook his head, and said nothing.
Instead, he walked over step by step to the tall, imposing man.
"Master, I..."
Wang Yuan lightly patted his shoulder, said nothing, and walked past him away from the battle arena.
As Wang Yuan moved, the cultivators of the Luotian Sect followed in his wake.
Wherever they passed, cultivators yielded the way.
Within Lingtian Pass, who did not know the name of War Demon Wang Yuan?
Even Nascent Soul Perfected Persons treated him as an equal.
That measure of respect had to be given.
Like a child who had done wrong, Shalongzi walked amidst his sect members.
Only when Gu Caiyi spoke did he lift his head.
"There is no need to feel ashamed. By winning this battle, you have done more than enough."
"Martial Aunt Gu, I didn't kill her."
"I know. A century of friendship stayed your hand. But this is the only time. The next time you face each other, it will be to the death."
Gu Caiyi made no attempt to conceal her words, casting a chilling glare toward a group of cultivators emerging from the crowd on the other side.
Sima Wenjie happened to look over as well.
"Consider yourselves lucky this time. The next match won't be so easy. I know that old fellow Min Longyu's capabilities better than anyone!"
Gu Caiyi's willow-leaf brows flared. "You brute, you'd better start thinking about how you're going to face your sister!"
At the mention of his elder sister, Sima Wenjie's face darkened instantly.
"Don't worry, you won't last until then!"
As he spoke, a female cultivator stepped out beside him, bearing sword-straight brows, starry eyes, and an intimidating aura.
The Jade Cauldron sword cultivator—Hongling!
Chapter 776