The wind stopped blowing.
Fifty thousand disciples held their breath.
The only sound in the massive plaza was the rustling of Wei Wu's rags.
On one side stood Gu Jian, the Golden Core genius, bathed in blue light.
On the other side stood a blind, malnourished boy holding a crooked stick.
"Die!" Gu Jian screamed.
He channeled 100% of his Golden Core Qi into the first strike. He wanted to split this beggar in half.
[Cloud Parting Slash!]
A massive arc of blue sword energy roared toward Wei Wu. The crowd screamed.
Wei Wu didn't move. In the darkness, he saw the Lines.
He saw a single, thin white line running through the center of the massive blue energy wave. The "Core" where the Qi was unstable.
He stepped forward and tapped the air with his stick.
Boop.
The crooked stick touched the center of the sword wave.
Shatter.
The massive wave of blue energy didn't explode; it unraveled. It fell apart into harmless sparks of light.
Gu Jian's jaw dropped. "What... what did you do?"
"I didn't block it," Wei Wu whispered. "I just untied the knot."
"Impossible!" Gu Jian roared. He charged, thrusting his Spirit Sword Cloud Cutter directly at Wei Wu's throat.
Wei Wu saw the Line on the sword—a microscopic fracture in the metal.
He swung his stick.
CLANG.
The dry wood hit the Spirit Sword.
SNAP.
The tip of Cloud Cutter snapped off and spun through the air.
Gu Jian froze, staring at his broken sword.
Wei Wu extended the stick and gently tapped Gu Jian's ankle.
Thump.
The genius tripped and fell face-first. Before he could rise, the stick was pressed against his throat.
"Yield," Wei Wu whispered.
The VIP Platform.
For ten seconds, no one breathed.
Then, Jiang Chen put down his tea cup.
"That's three," Jiang Chen said calmly.
"NO!"
A scream of pure rage shattered the atmosphere.
Wei Hong (Elder Wei) stood up, his face purple.
"Cheating! This is cheating! A stick cannot break a Spirit Sword! He must have used a hidden weapon! Kill the demon!"
Wei Hong drew his own sword. He jumped off the platform, flying toward the stage.
"Die, trash!"
The crowd gasped. An Elder attacking a junior? This was shameless!
But before Wei Hong could decapitate the blind boy...
A shirtless figure leaped from the side.
Ye Kai.
Ye Kai stood between the Elder and the Blind Boy. He didn't have a weapon. He just puffed out his chest.
"Move, idiot!" Wei Hong screamed, slashing his sword at Ye Kai's neck.
This was a Nascent Soul attack. Even if Wei Hong was weak, he was still an Elder.
CLANG.
The sword hit Ye Kai's neck.
Sparks flew. The sound was like a gong being struck.
Ye Kai didn't bleed, but he grunted, his feet sinking an inch into the stone floor. A red mark appeared on his skin.
"Ow," Ye Kai frowned, rubbing his neck. "That one actually stung. Like a bee."
Wei Hong froze in mid-air, his eyes wide. "You... you blocked a Nascent Soul sword with your skin?!"
Ye Kai grinned. "Master said: If a dog bites... bite back."
Ye Kai pulled back his fist. His muscles bulged, glowing with a faint golden light.
"SERIOUS PUNCH!"
BOOM.
Ye Kai punched Wei Hong in the gut.
It wasn't enough to kill an Elder. The gap in cultivation was too wide.
But the force was tremendous.
Wei Hong gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. He was blasted backward, his feet skidding across the stone stage. He slid back ten meters, carving two deep grooves in the floor, before finally coming to a stop.
Silence.
Wei Hong stood there, clutching his stomach, his face pale.
He hadn't been defeated. He wasn't unconscious.
But he had been pushed back.
A Nascent Soul Elder had been forced back by a Foundation Establishment disciple.
"You..." Wei Hong looked up, his face twisting from shock to absolute, demonic humiliation. "You... a mere ant... dared to touch me?"
The shame was worse than any injury. The crowd was whispering.
"Did you see that? The disciple pushed Elder Wei!"
"Is Elder Wei made of paper?"
Wei Hong roared. His aura exploded, turning red. He was going to use his full power. He was going to turn this entire stage into a crater.
"I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"
"Enough."
A voice boom from the sky, stopping Wei Hong in his tracks.
The sky turned purple. A terrifying pressure descended, forcing everyone on the stage to their knees—except Jiang Chen.
Grand Elder Feng floated down from the clouds.
He landed next to his grandson. He looked at Ye Kai, then at Wei Wu. His eyes were cold.
"Grandfather!" Wei Hong cried, pointing at Ye Kai. "This animal attacked me! Kill him!"
Grand Elder Feng ignored his grandson. He looked at Jiang Chen on the platform.
"You won the matches," Feng said, his voice shaking the mountain. "But you have offended the dignity of the Elders."
Feng raised his hand. A giant spectral hand, made of purple lightning, formed in the sky. The Palm of the Thunder God.
It was large enough to crush the three disciples and Jiang Chen into dust.
"For the crime of attacking an Elder," Feng declared, "The sentence is death."
He didn't care about the bet anymore. He was going to wipe them out to save face.
"Die," Feng commanded. The giant hand began to fall.
Su Ling screamed. "Scenario Z! The Boss is wiping the party! Run!"
Ye Kai braced himself, ready to punch the sky, though he knew his fist was too small.
Wei Wu raised his stick, trembling.
Jiang Chen didn't move. He sat on the platform, fanning himself.
He looked at the other Elders. Specifically, at Fang Lie (The Sword Elder).
"Hey, Sword Guy," Jiang Chen shouted over the roar of the thunder. "Did you see that stick technique? That was Primordial Sword Intent. If that boy dies... the Dao of the Sword dies with him."
Fang Lie's eyes snapped open.
He had been replaying Wei Wu's strike in his mind. The perfection of it. The way he cut the "Line."
It was the Dao he had been searching for his entire life.
Fang Lie looked at the falling Thunder Palm.
He looked at the blind boy.
"Damn it," Fang Lie grunted.
SHING.
A sound clearer than a bell rang out.
Fang Lie drew his sword.
He slashed upward.
A single beam of white sword light shot into the sky. It hit the giant Purple Thunder Hand.
RIIIIIP.
The Thunder Hand was sliced in half. It dissolved into harmless sparks.
Grand Elder Feng stumbled back. He stared at Fang Lie in shock.
"Fang Lie! You dare stop me?! I am a Grand Elder!"
Fang Lie stood up. He was tall, thin, and terrified nobody. His aura (Nascent Soul Level 8) flared, sharp enough to cut skin from a distance.
"Old Feng," Fang Lie said coldly. "You can kill your grandson. You can kill the crowd. But if you touch that blind boy... I will cut your head off."
"You..." Feng was shaking with rage. "You are protecting outsiders against your own Grand Elder?"
"I am protecting the Dao," Fang Lie stated. He turned to Jiang Chen. "The boy. I want him."
"He's my disciple," Jiang Chen smiled. "But... if you help me secure my winnings, I might let him give you a few pointers."
"Pointers?" Feng roared. "You think a blind trash can teach a Sword Elder?!"
"He just broke a Spirit Sword with a stick," Jiang Chen pointed out. "And your grandson just got pushed back by a farm boy. I think we have established who the trash is."
Jiang Chen stood up.
"The bet is won. Three matches. Three victories."
He pointed to the Desolate Cloud Peak in the distance.
"That Peak is mine. The Title of Guest Elder is mine."
He turned back to Feng.
"Now... Grand Elder. Are you going to honor your word? Or are you going to prove that the Mystic Cloud Sect is a den of liars in front of fifty thousand people?"
Feng looked at the crowd. They were watching.
He looked at Fang Lie, whose hand was hovering over his sword.
He looked at Ye Kai, who was cracking his knuckles.
Feng ground his teeth so hard they cracked.
"Fine," Feng hissed. "Take the Peak. Take the title."
He grabbed Wei Hong by the collar.
"But know this... Jiang Chen."
Feng's eyes glowed with a promise of murder.
"The Desolate Cloud Peak is cursed. No one has survived a night there in fifty years. You haven't won a prize. You have won a grave."
Feng swished his sleeve and vanished in a flash of light, taking the humiliated Wei Hong with him.
Jiang Chen smiled.
"A cursed grave? Perfect. The rent is cheap."