Inside the observation room, Zhao Xing'er asked curiously, "Is this Sky-Piercing Sect very strong?"
He Caihua glanced at her and replied, "The Sky-Piercing Sect's heritage is actually quite formidable. Earlier, it struggled to gain traction simply because it didn't suit the climate and customs of Tiandong Prefecture. Yet barely two generations after bringing their teachings to Tianbei Prefecture, they've already become one of the top three sects in Jiangcheng, which speaks for itself."
A supernatural art requiring divine runes to be tattooed across one's skin was indeed virtually indistinguishable from demonic cultivation in Tiandong Prefecture.
Here in Tianbei Prefecture, there weren't nearly as many taboos. It wasn't that the civil service was unimportant here, but rather that the "service exam" part didn't carry much weight.
This region placed far greater value on bloodline inheritance.
Chen Hao flexed, baring the skin of his arms. Coiled across his left arm was an Azure Dragon, while a Fierce Tiger descended a mountain across his right. As he activated his supernatural power, the runes on both arms blazed with sudden radiance and vaulted into the air!
The Azure Dragon on the left coiled and surged, transforming in an instant into a flying dragon spanning over a dozen meters in the heavens! The Fierce Tiger on the right landed ferociously, its cold claws and bared fangs striking terror into every heart!
With a sharp bark from Chen Hao, the celestial dragon and terrestrial tiger lunged at Yue Wen in tandem. Each was cloaked in swirling cyan-black flames, exuding a suffocating, overwhelming aura that blanketed the entire space!
Yue Wen summoned his sword to hand at once, initiating his sword-control art as the blade spun through the air to form a protective barrier.
Arrogant as this fellow had been from the moment he stepped forward, he certainly possessed the capital to back it up. The sheer might he displayed upon unleashing his attack far surpassed anything the combatants in the previous duel had shown.
Watching the dragon and tiger pounce together, Yue Wen caught a tiny gap in their timing. His flying sword shot out in a heartbeat, a streak of flowing light that pierced clean through the dragon's gaping maw in the blink of an eye!
*Boom!*
The dragon's head detonated instantly, and the divine rune of the Azure Dragon unraveled into nothingness.
Down below, however, the tiger rune was already pouncing, and it seemed Yue Wen was about to be devoured alive in its jaws.
Just as a vicious sneer began to spread across Chen Hao's face, Yue Wen did not retreat. Instead, he darted forward, dropping low into a slide that sent him gliding straight beneath the tiger's belly!
Yue Wen had plenty of experience fighting tigers. He had used this very maneuver to dodge during his last trip into a tiger den, and it had proved a thoroughly dependable, practical tactic.
The moment he slid clear beneath the tiger rune, he twisted his body, formed a sword sign with his fingers, and pressed down sharply. The flying sword that had just obliterated the dragon's head pivoted downward and plunged into the tiger's spine in a split second! *Squelch—*
The strike was incomparably sharp.
The tiger rune shattered on the spot.
"Ah..." Chen Hao stumbled back two steps. The divine runes of the dragon and tiger retreated onto his arms, their glow significantly dimmed. It seemed it would take some time before he could use them again.
"You actually have some skill after all." Suffering the backlash, Chen Hao felt his blood and qi falter slightly, but he wasn't discouraged in the least. He bellowed, "If the Azure Dragon and White Tiger can't bring you down, try this on for size—Asura Hundred Ghosts!"
With that roar, he exerted his strength once more, cleanly shattering his vest with a *boom*. Stripped to the waist, he revealed the elaborate tableau of the Asura Hundred Ghosts tattooed across his chest and back!
The vicious wraiths depicted on his skin were hideous, all blue-faced with bared fangs, demonic apparitions writhing and tangling inside a pitch-black purgatory.
"Roar—!"
Chen Hao bellowed as dense, cyan-black smoke erupted from all around his body. Innumerable vicious ghosts swarmed out along with it, turning the entire training hall into an Asuran purgatory in a matter of moments!
There were simply too many.
Yue Wen was instantly engulfed by the sea of cyan-black ghosts. Pitch darkness veiled the surroundings, making it impossible to see even three meters ahead. He could only do his utmost to guard his front, slashing down every ghost head that thrust its way forward.
Yet if this continued, how long would it take to hack through hundreds, even thousands of ghosts?
Yue Wen circulated all the true qi in his body, and his flying sword shot from his grasp once again!
It tore through the air with sweeping force!
*Boom—*
Having dispatched his protective flying sword to strike his foe, Yue Wen was left exposed amidst a raging ocean of ghost runes, on the verge of being swallowed whole by the swarm. He thrust both hands forward, releasing a thunderous rumble that shook the heavens!
A clap of thunder was the ultimate bane of yin entities, and these ghost runes weren't even true wraiths, merely manifestations of spiritual nature.
The crack of thunder scattered the dense layers of ghostly apparitions in an instant!
It was none other than the Thunder Roar method he had learned from the Linjiang Sect.
Yet unleashed through Yue Wen, this thunderclap was vastly more potent than Qi Dian's. It was far more than an entrance visual effect; it genuinely struck terror into all yin beings!
Yue Wen had deliberately executed his sword-control art first and followed it with the Thunder Roar Art, sending his flying sword streaking forward the instant Chen Hao let his guard down.
The sword-control art whistled with the fury of wind and thunder, piercing right through the shroud of ghost runes and arriving in a flash, giving Chen Hao a terrible fright. Seeing that the flying sword would run him through in the span of a breath, he gritted his teeth and roared, "Wings of the Firmament!"
*Rip!*
Another explosive burst of cloth rang out as his trousers tore cleanly away, exposing lines of plumage tattooed across his legs—a pair of massive wings!
With both his upper body and legs bare, he was left wearing only a vividly pink thong.
The two wings turned to cyan-black mist, swirling onto Chen Hao's back to sprout a pair of gigantic black-feathered wings. With a single flap, he barely managed to evade the flying sword.
...
*Swish.*
His flying sword having missed its mark, Yue Wen looked up. He saw Chen Hao hovering in the air with his massive wings spread and black clouds swirling about him, clad only in a pink thong, projecting an indescribably flamboyant, bewitching swagger.
Yue Wen's heart gave a violent shudder. *Don't tell me this guy has more divine runes?* Without hesitation, he stepped onto his flying sword and surged forward.
Inside the observation room, dead silence fell.
A'mei covered her eyes, leaving only a tiny crack between her fingers to peek through as she muttered, "How utterly shameless... What on earth is wrong with this guy?"
Liu Yuanjun covered his junior sister Li Feixia's eyes, saying in a deep voice, "Even if this kind of supernatural power wins, it shouldn't be suitable for a livestream, right?"
"It's already crossed into vulgarity at this point. I only fear..." He Caihua trailed off, hesitating.
She feared he had yet another step in reserve.
The red-haired young man's eyes darted around, and he whispered, "Does the Sky-Piercing Sect have female disciples?"
"What are you thinking?" The girl with long straight black hair behind him, a head shorter than him, smacked the back of his head hard with her scabbard.
"Ouch!" The red-haired young man rubbed his head, not daring to utter a word of protest.
"You forced my hand, rogue cultivator!" Chen Hao sneered as he hovered in midair. "This was originally a secret technique I prepared for the Young Cultivators' Tournament, but today, I'll let you all witness my final divine rune: Double Flower Red Pole—"
At those words, the hearts of everyone in the observation room seized up, their expressions twisting into grimaces of pure dread.
Written across every single face was: *Please, no...*
He had truly astounded the entire audience in every sense of the phrase!
"That's enough out of you, beast!"
A streak of flowing light shot forth, closing the distance in a flash. Yue Wen's luminous silhouette materialized, executing sword-body unity to strike like a rushing meteor!
Precisely one-hundredth of a second before Chen Hao could explode his thong to reveal the very last divine rune on his body, Yue Wen's iron fist smashed ruthlessly into his face.
*Boom—*
Infused with the full force of the Wandering Dragon Freehand, the blow landed with devastating power Chen Hao had never imagined a mere fist could possess. His face caved in instantly, and he lost consciousness on the spot. The black wings dissolved, and he plummeted heavily toward the floor.
*Crash!*
A cloud of dust billowed upward.
"*Phew—*"
That punch drew a collective, heartfelt sigh of relief from everyone present.
Almost in unison, a silent thought echoed through their minds: *Thank you, Yue Wen.*
"Sword-body unity..." Liu Yuanjun murmured softly.
Everyone's attention had been fixated on Chen Hao's precarious thong, causing them to overlook the fact that Yue Wen's initial speed riding atop the flying sword would not have been fast enough to stop Chen Hao in time.
At the crucial moment, he had merged his body into the sword light, achieving complete resonance with the flying sword to accelerate instantly before Chen Hao's face. Had he intended to kill, he could have driven the sword clean through Chen Hao's head.
His mastery of the sword-control art was thoroughly consummate.
The sword-control art was not an obscure supernatural power in the cultivation world; plenty practiced it, yet within the same realm, practically none could match the potency Yue Wen displayed. To reach the height of "merging into sword light, achieving sword-body unity" was extraordinarily rare among cultivators in the lower three realms.
Watching Yue Wen float gracefully to the ground after his victory, Liu Yuanjun murmured, "To think such a talent exists in Jiangcheng."
"Senior Brother, is he really that strong?" Li Feixia, standing closest to him, looked up and asked after catching his words.
"Yes," Liu Yuanjun replied with a slight nod.
"Throw this exhibitionist out of here! Wangyou Media will blacklist him from now on," He Caihua said, rubbing her temples as she stepped forward and pointed angrily at the unconscious Chen Hao. "No, blacklist the entire Sky-Piercing Sect!"
Then she glanced up at Yue Wen. "Thank goodness you won."
"That was a close call indeed," Yue Wen agreed, nodding with lingering dread.
He shuddered to think of the psychological trauma everyone present would have suffered had Chen Hao managed to unleash that Double Flower Red Pole.
Truly terrifying.
"He looked so proper in his suit and tie, but he turned out to be a total pervert," Zhao Xing'er chimed in, walking over with a frown. "I almost got angry."
"Then I really did save you," Yue Wen remarked silently as he watched Chen Hao being carried away.
Had Zhao Xing'er gotten angry, it wouldn't have ended with a simple punch to the face. It likely would have been a kick burning with martial spirit red glow, snapping his double flower red pole clean into a three-section staff.
Chapter 32