When Lian stepped onto the stage, he immediately felt dozens of eyes lock onto him. The crowd's whispers spread like wildfire.
"It's him… It's really him!"
Fingers pointed. Murmurs echoed.
Across him, Lin Feng's expression twisted with fury.
Unlike most cultivators, who trained for power, enlightenment, or mastery of the martial path.
Lin Feng cultivated for a different reason entirely.
He wanted worship.
He wanted admiration.
He wanted attention; in fact, he thrived on it.
His handsome features already made him popular, but adding martial prowess to that beauty had elevated his reputation even further. And nothing enraged him more than someone else stealing his spotlight.
Lin Feng drew his blade with a cold shrring, dropping into his battle stance.
The weapon was uniquely forged in the eastern style—long, slightly curved, with a row of circular holes along its spine. Small metal rings hung from each opening, spinning freely and chiming in the wind.
The moment Lin Feng settled into position, the atmosphere shifted.
A heavy, suffocating aura flooded the stage.
Lian staggered back a half-step as the pressure crashed over him.
"Huuu…" he exhaled softly.
"Was I… intimidated? I've never felt such an aura before."
His hands trembled before he forced them still.
"There's no way I can win without my blade…" he muttered.
He reached into his storage pouch and drew his own weapon.
The moment it touched air, it shook violently in his grasp, as though the blade itself sensed danger.
"What's wrong with you?" Lian whispered, tightening his grip as the sword's aura grew thicker, denser almost agitated.
"Wang! Wang! Look!" Bo shouted from the stands, practically bouncing with excitement.
"Their blades are crying out!"
Lin Feng's blade, too, quivered madly rings spinning uncontrollably.
The two weapons resonated with each other, their auras clashing before either wielder even moved.
The crowd fell silent.
Everyone could feel it.
This wasn't going to be an ordinary match.
This was a duel between blades that wanted to devour each other.
"Ladies and gents, what a match we have for you today! The unlikely dark horse—Lian Xing versus the rising star of Gangsu!"
The announcer paused for effect, then roared,
"Let the match… begin!"
Both boys exploded forward from opposite ends of the ring.
"Celestial Slash!"
"Void Vacuum!"
They shouted in unison.
Lian's blade was coated in a thin veil of blue Qi, while Lin Feng's whirling sword was wrapped in a deep, swirling black aura.
"He can even handle the blade…?" Patriarch Xing muttered under his breath, eyes narrowing.
"How much has this boy been hiding?
I heard he broke through recently, but this… this is far beyond that. Truly, what a shocking talent."
His fingers tapped lightly on the armrest.
"I must bring him to my side. I'm sure I can coax him. He'll become a great hunting dog… just like his father. If I cannot have the father, then at least… I'll take the son."
A cold smile formed on the patriarch's lips.
Up on the stage
Clang!
The two blades collided mid-air.
Qi burst outward in a violent shockwave, ripping dust from the ground.
Lian felt his weapon tremble violently in his grip—so violently that the hilt cut into his palm.
"My blade's name is Black Abyss," Lin Feng said, eyes glowing with pride.
"What's the name of yours?"
"It's the Celes—!"
Before Lian could finish, the collision of Qi detonated between them.
The blast sent him flying backwards like a rag doll.
Even though he had blocked the physical strike, a line of blood spilt from his lips. Lin Feng's Qi had still cut him.
"Ohoh—koff—!"
Lian coughed violently, jamming his sword into the ground to keep from sliding off the stage. The trembling blade was the only thing anchoring him in the match.
From the crowd:
"Did you see that? He's bleeding!"
"But he blocked the strike! How did he still get cut?"
"What's going on?!"
"Yeah… It's weird, right!!?," the spectators continued whispering.
"Damn it… I thought I blocked him. What kind of attack was that?" Lian tightened his grip on his blade, repositioning himself. "If my body hadn't been rebuilt using the Fire and Ice essence… I'd be dead."
He shifted his stance, keeping his distance.
"Oh? You managed to survive that, huh?" Lin Feng swung his blade through the air, its rings spinning wildly. "Keeping your distance won't help you."
"What—?"
Lian leapt aside instinctively.
"Why… why did I dodge? He attacked from t, so afar why did I—?"
His thoughts froze.
The stone pillars behind him had all been cleanly sliced through.
"How did he—?"
But Lin Feng wasn't giving him a single moment to think.
One attack after another shot toward him.
Lian dodged most of them, but even so, deep cuts began appearing on his arms and sides.
"Give up. You can't run from the path of my blade," Lin Feng said coldly, shifting into another stance.
"I think Lian's done for. Look he's bleeding everywhere," someone from the crowd said.
"He hasn't even landed a single hit on Lin Feng."
"No matter how hard you try, a genius is still a genius. Ordinary people can't keep up."
Their whispers reached Lian.
"Yeah… they're right," he thought bitterly, panting. "His attacks don't have a path. They just… appear. There's no Qi fluctuation to follow. I can't even see them…"
"I thought I was stronger… After mastering the Celestial Blade… but now I can't even use it properly"
Then—
A familiar warmth pulsed through his dantian.
The same feeling he sensed when the elder attacked him last time.
"What? The lotus… It's acting up again."
Several of his wounds began stitching themselves together, flesh tightening and sealing.
Lin Feng narrowed his eyes.
"So… you're not giving up, huh?" he said, stepping into yet another stance.
"Multi-Directional Void Slash!" Lin Feng roared.
In an instant, attacks erupted from every direction—slashes appearing out of thin air, tearing toward Lian from angles no eye could follow.
"I think that Xing boy has lost…" Elder Zhou sighed, already preparing to close the stage. "Those attacks from the Feng boy must be a family secret technique. They slice through space itself. If you can't sense their path, they'll always find you."
But Lian's eyes sharpened.
"It's just like last time… After being eaten away for a while, the lotus absorbs the Qi and now I can see the attacks."
"Celestial Steps…" Lian whispered.
His body flowed like water.
He slipped between every slash, weaving through the barrage with impossible grace. Not a single attack touched him.
"What?! How can you see my—"
But Lin Feng couldn't finish his sentence.
Lian was already upon him.
With a burst of speed so sudden that even the elders blinked.
Clang!
Lian's blade struck.
Lin Feng barely managed to block, but the force still blasted him backwards, sending him skidding across the stage.
"Lian… Lian attacked! His attack connected!'' a young boy in the crowd shouted in disbelief.
"Go, Lian! Beat him! Beat him!" the boy cheered with all his strength.
It was true people admired geniuses.
But people loved the underdog.
Every cultivator who had ever felt overlooked, belittled, or underestimated found themselves in Lian's struggle…
and their voices rose together, cheering him on as he stood tall against a prodigy.
Though the cheers motivated Lian to fight harder, they had the opposite effect on Lin Feng. His expression twisted as he listened to the crowd.
"When I was winning against Lian, no one cheered… and now that he landed a measly single hit, they cheer for him? How fickle…"
Lin Feng's thoughts churned with rage.
And then—he finally snapped.
A secret he should never have revealed burst forth.
"AHHHHHHH!" Lin Feng roared, his voice no longer human. It was feral, animalistic.
From the top of his head, horns pushed outward. Scales crawled across his skin. His eyes turned bright yellow. His hair lengthened, wild and untamed.
"Does… does he have dragon blood?" Elder Zhou whispered, shocked.
"Bo," Wang said sharply. "We've gathered all the information we need. Take the others. I'll capture that dragon-born and the kid he's fighting."
Wang vanished in an instant.
A heartbeat later, he reappeared by the ring.
BOOM!
With a single strike, he shattered the barrier protecting the arena.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
People screamed and scrambled back as Bo began collecting the other children who had participated in the tournament, grabbing them one by one with terrifying speed.
"What the hell is going on!?" Patriarch Xing shouted, standing up so violently his chair toppled over.