Release the Seal!

His mouth stuffed with several life-saving medicinal pills, Long Huo was saved by the referee. Meng Jingzhou had won. A soothing chill spread through Long Huo's throat as the pills took effect. He slowly came to, his mind blank, and only after a long moment did he realize that he had already lost. "Are you all right? You fought well." Meng Jingzhou reached out and hauled Long Huo to his feet. Long Huo shook his head with a wry smile. "A loss is a loss. I'm not a sore loser." Fearing that Long Huo might sink into despair after the defeat, Meng Jingzhou said out of good will, "I'll be waiting for you to beat me next time." Long Huo fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "All right." After their brief exchange, Long Huo walked down from the arena stage and saw the village chief waiting for him below. The chief was a stern, middle-aged man. "Chief... I let the village down." A smile touched the corner of the village chief's mouth. He patted Long Huo on the shoulder. "Managing to fight like that is already remarkable. Meng Jingzhou is no ordinary person—he's both the young master of the Meng Family and a disciple of the Dao Seeking Sect. The Meng Family is the greatest clan of our era, and the Dao Seeking Sect is the greatest sect in the world. With both of those backing him, he has enough power to sweep away any peer of his generation. "Besides, look who came." Long Huo looked up. The chief stepped aside, revealing two lovely figures: one was his childhood sweetheart, and the other was his sworn elder sister who treated him like her own brother. "Brother Long Huo, you were already amazing!" The childhood sweetheart was a young girl radiating vitality. "Long Huo, you fought well. It wasn't in vain that I spent so much time guiding you," said his sworn elder sister, who possessed a proud figure and a sharp, capable demeanor. "Everyone..." Hot tears brimmed in Long Huo's eyes, and he choked with sobs, swearing in his heart that he would train even harder once he returned home so he would never fail their expectations. Not far away, Meng Jingzhou: "..." *Can we have another match? I really want to hit this kid with a combo of my Bachelor Curse Fist.* ... Under the gaze of the vast crowd, Young Cult Master Lu's second arena match was about to begin. "Heavenly Court, Young Cult Master." "Waterfall Sect, Kong Hao." The Waterfall Sect was a second-rank sect with shallow foundations; even its sect master was merely at the Void Refining stage. Even among second-rank sects, it was an obscure, barely noticed existence. Bai Ming had gone out of his way to learn about several opponents before the matches began. "This Kong Hao isn't simple. Look at him standing there quietly, like a Confucian cultivator, but when he fights, he's more like an untamed beast. Before the clash even begins, his frenzied aura is enough to chill his opponents to the bone." The Waterfall Sect Master stroked his beard, gazing at Kong Hao in the arena with deep satisfaction. It was only thanks to Kong Hao that he was qualified to attend this grand celebration and meet so many prominent figures. *That kid Kong Hao really was hiding his strength.* Kong Hao was taciturn, rarely spoke to others, and kept a low profile. Yet whenever the sect held its grand competition, he always clinched first place by the skin of his teeth, appearing barely ahead of second place—and yet, no matter how hard second place chased him, they could never beat him. The sect master had anticipated that Kong Hao was concealing his power, but he had never imagined he was hiding this much. Young Cult Master Lu drew his sword, a blade temporarily borrowed from the sect treasury. Both the Green Blade Sword and the Dark Moon Sword had been seen during the Grand Qingzhou Festival; using them as the Young Cult Master would blow his cover. So Lu Yang had leveraged his formidable connections, having the Immortal Fairy step in to borrow a sword from the treasury. Facing Kong Hao, Lu Yang frowned slightly. This person actually gave him an intensely dangerous feeling—one that not even senior cultivators who had dispersed their cultivation to start anew had ever given him. *Truly, crouched tigers and hidden dragons everywhere...* Kong Hao knew how strong his opponent was; only by fighting with everything he had would he stand any chance of victory. Pressing two fingers to his lips, he exhaled a breath of bitter chill. The temperature on the arena stage steadily plunged. Lu Yang lifted his foot slightly, finding his movements sluggish, as though he had stepped into a quagmire. *Ice-attribute cultivation arts are rather rare...* Then Lu Yang suddenly noticed something amiss. *No, it's not just cold air—there's poison mixed into the chill!* If someone mistakenly assumed it was pure cold air and circulated their energy to dispel it, they would only draw the poison into their body and absorb it even faster, falling completely onto the defensive. *No matter.* As a regular visitor to Pill Cauldron Peak, Lu Yang had developed a resistance to ordinary poisons, so it wouldn't affect him in the short term. With a gentle flick of his blade, he cleared an open circle around himself, sweeping away both the cold and the poison mist. Lu Yang's various spells were simply too distinctive; anyone could recognize him at a glance. While acting as Young Cult Master Lu, he could only rely on sword techniques. Fortunately, he possessed a Sword Spiritual Root and had superb mastery over the blade. Taking advantage of the moment Lu Yang spent clearing the cold air and poison, Kong Hao let out a low roar. His muscles bulged, making him look like an enraged beast, yet his gaze remained cool and clear—he had plainly kept his sanity. He lunged forward violently, his fingernails elongating like the sharp claws of a demon beast. They clashed against the sword with a sharp clang, without breaking. Lu Yang narrowed his eyes. The solid foundation Kong Hao displayed hardly looked like something a second-rank sect could cultivate. It couldn't be explained away merely by saying he was extraordinarily gifted. Watching the two clash on the arena stage with a flurry of metallic rings, the spectators gasped in low murmurs. Compared to the first match that had ended in the blink of an eye, this contest seemed locked in a fierce, deadlocked struggle. Only cultivators at the Body Integration stage could see that Young Cult Master Lu held the upper hand. Though the two appeared to trade blows and alternate between attack and defense, Kong Hao had in truth been led by the nose from the very beginning. *This alone isn't enough to threaten me,* Lu Yang thought to himself, deciding to show his full strength. With a flick of his wrist, the sword tip drew a sweeping arc through the air. Every pore on Lu Yang's body vented hair-fine sword qi, which surged and converged along the edge of the blade. Sword qi swept across the arena like mist and sunrise clouds, like a vast and boundless ocean, sweeping across the six directions and devouring heaven and earth. *Rip—!* Kong Hao took the strike head-on. Even crossing his arms to block in advance proved futile; blood showered from his forearms, his aura instantly plummeted, and he gasped raggedly for breath, heavily wounded. "Brat, are you about to lose?" a voice rumbled in his mind. Low and sluggish, it conveyed the immense scale of whatever gargantuan entity was speaking. "What's it to you?" That single strike had made Kong Hao realize the gulf between himself and Lu Yang. It was a disparity in natural talent, not something that could be bridged through sheer hard work. Through the iron bars within his mindscape, he glared at the colossal beast. The beast scoffed, mocking Kong Hao's arrogance. "Mind your tone, cocky brat. Without me, where would you be today? "I've been inside you since the moment you were born. I know how stubborn you are. You pretend to keep a low profile, but when have you ever yielded in a fight? Your desire to win burns hotter than anyone else's. If not for that, I wouldn't have bothered with you in the first place." "What do you want to do?" "Power. What you lack is power. I can lend it to you." Kong Hao stared silently at the gigantic beast. It was true—even a tiny scrap of power slipping from the creature's claws would be enough to turn the tables and grant him victory. Yet to use its power, he would have to undo a layer of the seal. Should he release it? The massive creature bared its teeth in a grin, its gigantic beastly eyes reflecting Kong Hao's conflicted expression. *Once you use my power and truly understand that this is the shortcut to strength, you will willingly unlock each layer one by one. And when that time comes, I'll be able to break free.* Kong Hao gritted his teeth. The beast was right: he didn't want to lose. He wanted to be the champion. Just one layer. He would release only one layer, and leave the remaining eight untouched. The colossal beast laughed soundlessly. As one layer of the seal came undone, an ominous power drifted through the iron bars and wrapped itself around Kong Hao. "Hmm?" In the outside world, Lu Yang looked at Kong Hao in surprise. He sensed an unending stream of energy erupting from within the boy, steeped in ferocity and bloodlust, thoroughly ominous. Kong Hao's body underwent a transformation. His wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, his once-battered form completely restored in an instant. His pupils narrowed into vertical slits like those of an enraged lion or a savage tiger, and a layer of animal fur surged across his skin, making it impossible to tell whether it had grown out naturally or formed from spiritual energy. *"Roar—!"* Kong Hao let out a sky-shattering howl. The hairs on Lu Yang's neck stood on end. This was the source of the danger he had sensed earlier! Yet very quickly, he felt that Kong Hao's condition seemed oddly familiar—almost as if the boy had borrowed power that didn't belong to him and was temporarily possessed. Lu Yang slowly raised his hand, keeping a wary eye on Kong Hao, and pulled out his ultimate trump card. "Referee, I'm calling foul! He's cheating!"