The masked man was speechless for a moment, glaring fiercely at Chen Nan before finally saying, "Chen Nan, don't be so arrogant. You won't escape today."
Chen Nan stopped talking and showed his stance by taking a deep breath and gripping the long sword in his hand.
Another masked man spoke up: "Don't think that you've really become a top expert after the great battle in the capital of Jin. As far as we know, the reason you were able to kill Tao Ran, a master who was close to the fifth rank, was because you used an extremely domineering technique. Hmph, if such a technique had such great benefits and great harms, you couldn't possibly be able to use it every time."
Chen Nan looked at the group of people in front of him with surprise, not expecting them to have such insight. Then he sneered, "You're just scared and want me to explain myself. Hmm, oh, I see. You want to distract me and cover for the people in the shadows, planning to ambush me. The people in the back, come out! Stop hiding. I was wondering how these few weaklings dared to challenge me, now I see!"
The veils on the faces of the four masked men trembled, revealing their extreme anger. Indeed, two first-tier Western martial artists and two first-tier mages were no match for Chen Nan.
"Arrogant enough, but they have the right to be arrogant."
Two masked martial artists emerged from behind the stands at the entrance of the martial arts arena. Judging from their aura, they had clearly reached the second level. The two blocked the exit.
Chen Nan sighed and said, "Do we really have to come out one by one? Let the other two come out too."
Two mages emerged from the shadows and joined the two who had been there before. Thus, a total of eight people surrounded Chen Nan in the center of the training ground.
The four mages floated into the air and began to gather magical energy, while the four warriors slowly stepped forward, gathering their power and pressing towards Chen Nan.
At this moment, the strength of the eight individuals was fully revealed. Of the four mages, three were at the first tier, and one had already reached the second tier. The four martial artists all cultivated Western-style battle qi; two were at the first tier, and the other two had reached the second tier. Five first-tier experts and three second-tier experts—this combined power was astonishing. Furthermore, the cooperation between the mages and martial artists was the most terrifying combination, significantly increasing their offensive and defensive capabilities.
The combined strength of eight experts of such high rank should not be underestimated. If Chen Nan hadn't made great progress in his cultivation recently, he would have already fled in panic.
Having survived several sieges, he worked hard after his cultivation greatly improved, mastering several unique skills that required immense power to unleash. He was now confident that if he was truly outmatched, he could still escape using the Divine Void Step.
The Divine Void Step is incredibly profound, allowing a person to move at lightning speed. It is suitable for chaotic battles and even more so for escaping. Legend has it that at its highest level, one can take off and fly through the air.
There was no point in reasoning with these assassins. Chen Nan, wielding a long knife, charged toward the wounded masked man with lightning speed, reaching him in the blink of an eye.
All the masked men were taken aback, never expecting Chen Nan to launch a preemptive attack with such incredible speed, almost like a ghost, his feet seemingly floating off the ground. The mage in the air hurriedly cast a spell, and the other three warriors rushed to his aid.
But Chen Nan's speed was really too fast. The Divine Void Step lived up to its reputation as an ancient and mysterious footwork. In an instant, he rushed in front of the masked man. He was ruthless. His long sword flashed with cold light, and a blinding light flashed by. The sword energy rushed into the masked man's body.
Before the masked man could even raise his sword, he let out a scream and collapsed. Although the sword energy hadn't actually pierced through him, a large area of it had penetrated his body, destroying many of his meridians and almost completely crippling his martial arts skills.
It wasn't that the masked man wasn't strong enough; it was just that he had been stabbed in the left rib by Chen Nan outside the square not long ago, and was already seriously injured. In addition, Chen Nan's speed was just too fast, so he fell down as soon as they met.
Chen Nan's body moved like a bolt of lightning, leaving an afterimage as he quickly retreated to his original position. Several magical attacks that slashed down from the sky all missed their mark, and the three warriors who rushed over also made their efforts in vain.
Such skill made the masked men gasp in shock; it was simply terrifying. Before they had even truly engaged in combat, one of their men had already been killed.
The masked man who had fallen to the ground struggled to his feet and walked silently off the field. Chen Nan did not stop him. He knew the power of that attack. If no miracle occurred, the man's destroyed meridians would be difficult to repair, and he would probably never be able to set foot in the cultivation world again in his life.
All the masked men remained silent. Perhaps they had long been aware that murderers would be killed, and those who made money by taking lives would eventually have to pay with their own. Leaving their lives behind and ending up in obscurity might be the best outcome.
These men, each with dozens of lives on their hands, were all cold-blooded. After a brief silence, they recovered and charged towards Chen Nan with shouts. If they were to truly clash head-on, Chen Nan would be no match for these seven, as the combined power of three second-tier cultivators and four first-tier cultivators was simply too overwhelming.
But now that he has mastered the Divine Void Step, it's as if he's divinely aided. After a single strike, he quickly retreats, his body transforming into afterimages that dart east and west across the training ground, making him unpredictable and leaving the seven feeling powerless.
The mages in the air were terrified. Their greatest advantage was their ability to move and fly quickly through the air, but they were unable to accurately track Chen Nan's figure, and their several magical attacks all missed.
Chen Nan was overjoyed. The Divine Void Step was indeed extremely profound. Facing the siege of the crowd, he moved with ease, shuttling between the battle qi and magic beams without any hindrance.
Of course, this is not entirely due to the Divine Void Step. The Great Perfection of the Third Tier is not comparable to the Initial Stage of the Third Tier. His cultivation is much stronger than before.
Now that Chen Nan was almost invincible, he stopped deliberately dodging and began to attack. In an instant, countless golden sword energies surged up in the training ground.
With a loud crack, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky. Chen Nan neither dodged nor evaded, but instead raised his sword and slashed upwards, unleashing a nearly two-zhang-long materialized blade of light that pierced through the air. With a boom, the lightning collided with the blade of light, the two energies of different natures clashing and exploding into a dazzling light before finally dissipating into nothingness.
A smile crept onto Chen Nan's lips. Faced with magical attacks, he was no longer as helpless as before. In the end, magic was nothing more than energy in a different form. If the power was far superior to that energy, it could be broken through in a hundred ways.
He recalled his clumsy attempts against magicians in the past and felt a pang of shame. His lack of understanding of magic had hampered his battles with the Eastern Phoenix, making victory extremely difficult. He was confident that if he were to fight the Eastern Phoenix again now, it wouldn't be as arduous as before.
Chen Nan wielded his longsword with sweeping, powerful strokes, battling seven experts of different ranks. For a moment, sword energy, battle aura, and magic raged throughout the arena. Anyone who witnessed a young man single-handedly fighting seven experts of different ranks without defeat would be astonished and marvel at his incredible prowess.
Having secured an invincible position, Chen Nan gradually relaxed his mind and immersed himself in a wondrous martial realm.
At this moment, his mind was free of distractions, focused solely on the pursuit of martial arts. He wielded his longsword with unrestrained martial intent, the dazzling blade light transitioning from gold to crimson, then to orange, constantly changing. The intricate and ever-changing blade light was like a rainbow, crisscrossing and surging, the unparalleled blade energy emitting bursts of sound as it pierced the air.
Chen Nan was devoid of self and other thoughts, possessing only a sliver of obsession with martial arts. Many seemingly ambiguous questions about martial arts gradually became clear at this moment, as his internal energy circulated and as he wielded his longsword.