People were startled by that. Long Chen continued, “Tell me, what is the goal of a battle?”

“To temper our will and spirits, allowing us to grow stronger,” answered a core disciple.

Long Chen shook his head. “What you said is an important aspect, but it is not the goal. Then let me tell you all: the ultimate goal of the battle is to slaughter your opponents.

“To slaughter your opponents doesn’t necessarily have to rely on martial might. What it requires is a kind of skill. And the highest realm of this kind of skill is to be shameless.”

Shameless? No one understood what he meant. Long Chen continued, “I’ve long since told you all that just because you have a strong fighting ability, that doesn’t mean you’ll have a powerful killing ability. The Corrupt disciples are an excellent example of that.

“You’ve all seen that their cultivation bases are extremely similar to yours. But they were extremely vicious, and every one of their attacks aims to take their opponents’ lives. That terrifies their opponents, making them incapable of resisting properly.

“That was why, in the beginning, I needed you all to first overcome that fear in your hearts.

“Now you’ve...