Suppress

Qiu Jin'an was furious. *Yang Ding, you looked like such an honest lad, so how come you've learned to pull sneaky tricks under the table now too?* Why hadn't he thought of that! Their Five Elements Sect wanted to advertise itself too. What a wonderful opportunity to promote the sect using the Heavenly Court Cult, and they had just missed it for nothing! Daoist Buyu made up new chapters for *Legend of the Dao Seeking Sect* every single day. Now you could hear Dao Seeking Sect pingshu in any random teahouse you walked into, and the Dao Seeking Sect's fame was multiplying by leaps and bounds. Qiu Jin'an wanted to do the same, but unfortunately, the Five Elements Sect didn't have a talent like Daoist Buyu. Luo Hongxia didn't mind as much. The Moon Laurel Immortal Palace was a semi-reclusive sect, and its members were all female cultivators; even without promotion, its fame was higher than that of the Five Elements Sect and the Prison Suppressing Sect. "Sect Master Lu, is it too late to advertise our Five Elements Sect as well? We can easily negotiate the compensation," Qiu Jin'an asked the Immortal Fairy beside him. The cultivation world universally recognized the Ancient Era as flourishing to the extreme, and everyone was eager to tie themselves to it. With the Heavenly Court Cult around, wouldn't a few casual words suffice to associate them with the Ancient Era? Lu Yang was the one who handled partnership matters; how could the Immortal Fairy understand any of this? She sent a voice transmission to Lu Yang, who was currently fighting on the arena stage. Lu Yang pondered for a moment and responded: "Although I could take this opportunity to praise the Five Elements Sect—saying something like 'as expected of the Five Elements Sect, harboring the heaven-and-earth powers of the five elements, the founding patriarch was truly a magnificent talent' and so on—the timing isn't right. It would feel too forced and stiff, which won't do any favors for our Heavenly Court Cult's reputation. Tell Sect Master Qiu that it won't work this time, but we can collaborate with the Five Elements Sect next time." "Oh." On the arena stage, Lu Yang was locked in a fierce battle with Yan Tianzhi. In the previous round, Yan Tianzhi had fought with all his might to defeat Bai Ming for the sake of publicity. To defeat Bai Ming, he naturally had merits of his own. The Taotie and Azure Dragon were transcendent races of the demon race. Originally, at the Golden Core stage, one could only inscribe a single war tattoo. But Yan Tianzhi's constitution was exceptionally well-suited to the war tattoo cultivation method. After returning from the Grand Qingzhou Festival, he had entered seclusion to comprehend the dao, bathed in the Dragon Transformation Pool, and comprehended the Azure Dragon war tattoo. Compared to the Taotie war tattoo, the Azure Dragon war tattoo had only appeared recently, so he had not yet mastered it completely. Even so, it was enough to put pressure on Lu Yang. *The power of war tattoos really is tough to deal with,* Lu Yang thought, gritting his teeth. This wasn't reciting an advertising line; he genuinely felt that way. Yan Tianzhi's fighting style was ferocious and entirely physical close combat. Lu Yang was not a body cultivator, so clashing head-on with Yan Tianzhi put him at a disadvantage. By method of cultivation, Lu Yang fell into the category of dharma cultivator and sword cultivator. It would have been wonderful if he could have swapped with Meng Jingzhou—let Meng Jingzhou fight Yan Tianzhi while he fought Lan Ting. That would have guaranteed both of them advanced. Several spheres of water manifested behind Yan Tianzhi. The Azure Dragon governed water; this was an ability granted by the Azure Dragon war tattoo. Both ends of each water sphere tapered into sharp points, transforming into water needles that shot toward Lu Yang. *Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!* "Startled Swan!" Lu Yang casually made up a name for his sword move, though what he actually executed was the Slash Formula. Sword moves at this realm were actually mostly alike, with little difference between them; the only distinction was the name. Never mind that Ming Tai had superb swordsmanship, slaying all in his path in the early Golden Core stage bracket and executing exquisitely refined sword moves; in truth, they could all be boiled down to the fundamental sword moves Lu Yang knew, such as the Slash Formula, Break Formula, and Point Formula. As long as one didn't cast moves with unmistakably distinct traits like One Sword Into Ten Thousand Swords, Ten Thousand Swords Returning to Ancestor, or Sword Opens Heaven's Gate, the moves of sword cultivators were largely similar. It was one's comprehension of the sword dao that determined the strength of fundamental sword moves. The Slash Formula tore through the water needles. The moment the water needles came into contact with sword qi, they dissolved into water vapor, blanketing the stage in mist. "Heaven Splitter!" Lu Yang casually invented another sword move name. The sword qi was majestic, grand, balanced, and serene, carrying the might to hold off ten thousand men. Yan Tianzhi, who had intended to use the water mist to close in on Lu Yang, felt the hairs all over his body stand on end as an intense threat washed over him. *I can't take this move head-on with my physical body!* "Shield Ghost!" A shield-bearing ghost king bared its fangs and brandished its claws, blocking the front of Yan Tianzhi. The ghost king manifested from the war tattoo collided with the sharp sword. The impact made no sound, yet it produced a thousand rolling waves of air that blew away the water vapor shrouding the stage. Shield Ghost—this was Yan Tianzhi's first war tattoo. It possessed zero offensive capability, but in return, it boasted defensive power impenetrable to anyone in the same realm. Yan Tianzhi's pupils shrank slightly. He saw cracks appearing across Shield Ghost; it was actually struggling to withstand this sword strike. *As expected of an ancient genius. Truly formidable.* Yan Tianzhi still did not know Lu Yang's true identity. "Retract!" Yan Tianzhi recalled Shield Ghost. Shield Ghost transformed back into a war tattoo and branded itself onto his arm. His arm absorbed a portion of the damage taken by the war tattoo, immediately bleeding profusely. Fortunately, it only bore an equivalent portion of damage; if it had transferred the full damage, his arm would have already been pierced straight through by the sword qi. Yan Tianzhi once again summoned both the Taotie and Azure Dragon war tattoos, preparing to launch another assault. Lu Yang scratched his cheek and sheathed his sword. "If this keeps going, it'll never end. Oh well, let me try a move I just learned." "Suppress!" A giant, glittering golden statue descended from the sky, trapping Yan Tianzhi just as he was about to charge! *Bang!* Yan Tianzhi hadn't expected a statue to appear out of nowhere, and his head crashed right into the inner wall of the statue, raising a massive bump on his head. The two great war tattoos slammed into the statue, but the statue was heavy as a mountain; the impact of the war tattoos only caused it to wobble slightly twice. On the contrary, the concussive echoes generated by the collision rattled Yan Tianzhi so violently that his ears were left temporarily deafened. "What is that?!" Knowledgeable though the spectators were, none of them recognized this move. "It feels like the Buddhist sixteen-foot golden body." "Nonsense! Whose sixteen-foot golden body stands that far away from the caster? It has to be an ancient move that was lost to history." "Didn't you hear him shout the word 'Suppress' just now? Maybe this is the Words as Law that was lost since ancient times!" "What?!" Yan Tianzhi tried to dig a tunnel and crawl out from underneath, but unfortunately, the arena stage was reinforced with tremendous dharmic power. Even Soul Formation stage battles couldn't damage it, snuffing out his last glimmer of hope. Lu Yang wasn't so weak that he couldn't even budge his own golden body. Taking advantage of the moment Yan Tianzhi was dazed and had yet to think of another way out, Lu Yang kicked his golden body over. The golden body, along with Yan Tianzhi inside, tumbled and rolled right off the arena stage. Lu Yang had won. Young Cult Master Lu had fought his way through all obstacles and finally reached the finals, where he would face the arch-nemesis of his life—Meng Jingzhou. Lu Yang sat cross-legged to restore the spiritual energy he had just expended. Then, the finals officially began. Meng Jingzhou had long been unable to wait, leaping up onto the stage. He gave a strange chuckle, rubbing his fists and palms together. "Heh heh, it's finally my turn." Having returned after learning skills from Qiu Jin'an, he finally had a chance to show off his prowess and properly discipline this lawless Lu Yang. So what if you're the Acting Cult Master? When it's time for a beating, you're still getting beaten! "Dao Seeking Sect, Meng Jingzhou." "Heavenly Court Cult, Young Cult Master." "Let's make a deal. Cooperate with me and put on a show this time, and next time I'll hype you up like this too," Lu Yang kindly advised via voice transmission. Fellow sect brothers shouldn't fight if they could avoid it; it disrupted unity. "Just because you say don't fight means we don't fight? Let me tell you, I'm definitely thrashing you today!" How could Meng Jingzhou possibly pass up the chance to fight Lu Yang? Lu Yang sighed, leaving him no choice but to try a different angle: "Then in my capacity as Acting Sect Master, I order you to surrender." Meng Jingzhou: "..." "How about we reconsider that deal?"