Vomiting a fresh mouthful of blood, Wu Mingliang, like a cannonball, crashed heavily into the ground below the arena. The moment he was knocked off, the outer court disciples in the audience were all utterly shocked. This was completely different from the scene they’d envisioned!

They had thought that Wu Mingliang would defeat Xiang Shaoyun with ease, and yet Wu Mingliang, one of the top ten disciples, was defeated in just three moves. All this happened too quickly!

“Am...am I going blind? Wu Mingliang has actually been kicked off the platform!”

“It should be the case, I can also see it! Isn’t this Wu Mingliang a bit too weak?”

“What do you know? The punch that Wu Mingliang used just now carried more than 500 kilograms of force behind it! Practically none of us can take Wu Mingliang’s punch head on! We can only say that Xiang Shaoyun is too strong!”

“He indeed has a five-star physique! He’s grown to such a terrifying point despite being here for around 10 days!”

The outer court disciples were thrown into a frenzy. Their cognition of Xiang Shaoyun also changed—no longer did they despise and look down upon him; they even had a trace of admiration in their eyes as they looked at him.

“I said I’d defeat you in three moves, and I did just that!” Xiang Shaoyun said in high spirits, looking down at Wu Mingliang from a distance.

“Impossible, impossible! How can I, Wu Mingliang, lose to a brat like you?! It’s utterly impossible!” Wu Mingliang roared as he gnashed his teeth, unwilling to accept what had just happened. Staring daggers at Xiang Shaoyun, he rose into the air and drew the Wu Sword on his back, slashing furiously at him.

“Stop, you’ve already lost!” the martial officer, watching Wu Mingliang act against Xiang Shaoyun, shouted furiously.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve defeated him once, so I can defeat him again!” Xiang Shaoyun said as he calmly retreated.

“I was careless just now. However, the one who’ll be losing this round will be you!” Wu Mingliang shrieked madly. The sword in his hand slashed through the air extremely quickly, sending multiple compact slashes rushing towards Xiang Shaoyun.

Tier-2 sword skill, Stone Crushing Slash. The Stone Crushing Slash lived up to its name; just a tiny bit of sword light would be enough to turn a 500-kilogram rock into dust. Wu Mingliang had practiced this particular sword skill since young. Thus, he was able to bring out about 50 percent of the skill’s potential, giving him strength that was not attainable through a mere tier-1 skill.

Xiang Shaoyun was forced to actively dodge the slashes coming at him. There were even times where he got hit by the slashes, and they cut through his clothes and even drew fresh blood from his skin.

“They are indeed worthy of being a tier-2 sword and a tier-2 sword skill!” Xiang Shaoyun affirmed in his heart as he felt the sharpness of the blade.

Xiang Shaoyun was constantly forced onto his rear foot, and he found it hard to get a chance to retaliate.

“I’ll see just how long you can last under this assault! Lose already!” Regaining his confidence, Wu Mingliang shrilly yelled, invigorating his strength, causing more and more sword lights to fly at Xiang Shaoyun. The constant barrage of slashes forced Xiang Shaoyun to the edge of the arena. Wu Mingliang wanted to force him off arena in one go.

At this very moment, Xiang Shaoyun’s eyes focused to an extreme extent, allowing him to make out the trajectory of each and every one of Wu Mingliang’s sword slashes. This was why he had been constantly retreating; he needed to grasp Wu Mingliang’s movements before he could land a critical blow on Wu Mingliang.

Lowering his body, Xiang Shaoyun managed to dodge all of Wu Mingliang’s attacks before sending a palm flying straight towards him. “Break for me!” 

Tier-1 battle technique, Cloud Splitting Palm.

Among all the outer court’s battle techniques from the Battle Technique Hall, Xiang Shaoyun had learned four of them, only neglecting to cultivate the only sword skill among them. The Cloud Splitting Palm contained even more raw force than the Rushing Qi Fist and the Gale Winds Kick. One palm to split the clouds—this was an extraordinarily powerful move that often caught its opponents off guard.

Peng!

“AHHH!”

Wu Mingliang was sent flying by Xiang Shaoyun. Furthermore, the area which Xiang Shaoyun had struck him was the same spot Xiang Shaoyun had kicked him, resulting in a double whammy.

Xiang Shaoyun furiously pressed the attack, rushing forward with his fastest possible speed. He sent a Gale Winds Kick at Wu Mingliang’s sword hand, kicking the tier-2 sword from his hand before sending a second kick right at his face.

“This is for getting everybody to not let me fight for food!

“This is for letting your stupid lackeys bully me!

“This is for provoking me, and this is for being even more pretentious than I am!”

Xiang Shaoyun vented all his suppressed frustrations, landing blow after blow on Wu Mingliang’s face without holding back. Wu Mingliang was quickly beaten into a pig’s head. The audience present to witness the carnage were terrified beyond belief. If that flurry of attacks were to land on their own faces, they would be left in a very bad state.

This was especially true for Wu Mingliang’s group of lackeys; they were all afraid Xiang Shaoyun would target them in the future. Within a distant building, two elders bore sight to all that happened in the Sparring Arena.

“Brother Changhe, the disciple you took in has a boundless future ahead of him!” the older person, sighing lightly, said to the younger person. These two people were Martial Hall Palace’s fourteenth elder and the senior brother of Xiang Shaoyun, Zi Changhe.

Zi Changhe lightly chuckled and said, “I am not worthy of being his teacher. I am merely taking a disciple on behalf of teacher. However, this brat has indeed exceeded all my expectations; within ten days, he was actually able to jump two levels of cultivation and reach seventh-stage Basic Realm, living up to his talent.”

The fourteenth elder enthusiastically praised Xiang Shaoyun, “He has done far more than just living up to his talent! He is simply a genius among geniuses, defeating someone with a cultivation two stages higher than his own with such ease! He might be even more amazing than the palace master’s personal disciple!” 

“They should be matched in strength at most,” Zi Changhe replied, before saying shortly after, “Enough, let’s go to the Hundred Beast Mountain Range at once. There has been some unrest there recently, possibly the appearance of a spirit item! We must protect these brats well.”

“Are you not going to care about this junior brother of yours anymore?” the fourteenth elder exclaimed in astonishment.

“I’m making him stay in the outer court for half a year to dull his boastful personality. Half a year later, I’ll pass him a few more things before taking him to Cloud Margin City to personally meet my revered master,” Zi Changhe spoke of his plan.

“Yes, unrefined jade will not make useful tools. Your method of doing things is much more beneficial compared to the rest of the elders!” the fourteenth elder replied.

Meanwhile, Xiang Shaoyun had finally stopped his barrage of attacks on Wu Mingliang. Wu Mingliang’s face was covered with wounds, a state too horrific to look straight at.

“With this little bit of power, you dare to coerce all the outer court disciples into going against me? You’d better go back and cultivate in your mother’s womb for another 100 years before coming out,” Xiang Shaoyun said, his voice containing an unhidden lace of contempt.

Wu Mingliang’s half-dead eyes glared at Xiang Shaoyun as he said with great difficulty, “You…you dare to hit me? My…my two older brothers won’t let you off!”

He hadn’t even finished speaking before he fainted. The crowd watching the scene could not believe their eyes. Xiang Shaoyun used so little effort during the fight that it seemed like pigs were flying.

The officiating martial officer hastily rushed over and placed a finger under Wu Mingliang’s nose. Discovering that he was still breathing, the officer heaved a sigh of relief and declared, “The winner of this fight is Xiang Shaoyun!”

“Hahah! I knew boss would definitely win! You’ve won boss! In the future, you must take good care of me, okay?” Xia Liuhui was the most excited among the spectators, shouting and jumping around.

The disciples near him had black lines on their faces as they murmured in their hearts, “You shameless bastard! Wasn’t it you who had told Xiang Shaoyun not to lose too badly?”

In another corner of the arena, Lu Xiaoqing’s beautiful eyes sparkled with a unique glint.