The ultimate weapon of the Wushuang Sect, the Heavenly Twin Arrows, was thus swallowed whole by Lu Yuan in just a few bites. Elder Fu Shuang was beside himself with shock, feeling tears well up with nowhere to go. Fu Shuang was also a notoriously cunning individual.

He immediately considered shouting out the words, "I concede." If he could utter those words, the match would end instantly, and he would naturally avoid death beneath Lu Yuan's sword. He was confident his own strength surpassed that of Yuan Ye Ying, but since Yuan Ye Ying had already perished by Lu Yuan's blade without the chance to counter, he truly did not wish to engage Lu Yuan in a head-on collision. A figure like Fu Shuang was someone who would never act without absolute certainty.

As for the Wushuang Sect suffering a defeat because of this—what did that matter? This was his Wushuang Sect, Fu Shuang's Wushuang Sect. The interests of others paled in comparison to his own.

Losing the World Volcano was a loss, but what was a portion of the World Volcano compared to his own life? It was at this precise moment that Fu Shuang caught the mocking smirk in Lu Yuan's eyes. What was Lu Yuan smiling at?

Lu Yuan was indeed looking at Fu Shuang with mockery. Experienced as he was, Lu Yuan instantly saw through Fu Shuang's plan—the eyes lacked any true fighting spirit. But Fu Shuang shouldn't mistake that lack of spirit for an escape route; the feud between him and the Wushuang Sect ran impossibly deep.

Since such a profound hatred had taken root, it must be seen through to its end. Lu Yuan thought this with utter calmness. "Fu Shuang, you must be thinking of shouting out the words, 'I concede,' right now.

Too bad, you won't have the chance," Lu Yuan stated lightly. Fu Shuang sneered. What a joke.

He was, after all, a dignified powerhouse at the Sixth Heaven of the World Realm. For Lu Yuan to suggest he wouldn't get the chance to say "I concede" was preposterous. Speaking the words "I concede" took far too little time.

"I!" Fu Shuang did not waste time arguing with Lu Yuan. He was a pure utilitarian; when action was required, no more words were necessary. As his lips parted, the character 'I' was already spoken.

In that very instant, Lu Yuan's scabbard moved, erupting with boundless sword light. It was the technique, Swallow Return Flash! The so-called Swallow Return Flash was the ultimate secret art of Yan Cangtian: using a blade that was both light and thin, one executed an extremely swift recoil flash.

The blade vibrated minutely, ensuring the maximum possible number of strikes in a single moment. Lu Yuan was unleashing this very technique now, sending tens of thousands of sword beams towards Fu Shuang in an instant. It was an ocean of swords!

Fu Shuang immediately understood that if he uttered another word without counterattacking, he would die long before he finished the remaining two words. Thus, Fu Shuang instantly raised his hand and summoned his own Great Halberd. The Great Halberd was fundamentally a blade of unmatched ferocity.

But now, facing the breathtaking speed of the Swallow Return Flash, all it could do was continuously block. Fu Shuang's original plan was to weather Lu Yuan's attack, and as soon as he managed a slight defense, he would immediately utter the remaining two words. But he immediately realized he was mistaken.

His Great Halberd was constantly defending, yet Lu Yuan's Swallow Return Flash grew faster and faster. It seemed less like a single sword and more like a mountain range of blades. The overwhelming sword light suppressed him to the point where he simply had no opportunity to speak the final two words.

Fu Shuang, being a figure of the Sixth Heaven of the World Realm and the Sect Master of Wushuang Sect, naturally possessed extraordinary ability. He swung his Great Halberd and unleashed a Peerless Strike. This Peerless Strike instantly detonated countless explosions, momentarily scattering the sword light in the void.

In that break, Fu Shuang immediately spoke the second word: "Con-" Just as Fu Shuang was about to utter the third word, the sword light that had been disrupted by the Peerless Strike instantly reformed, becoming denser, more numerous, and even more terrifying. Where there had been only thirty thousand sword beams in one instant, there were now a full fifty thousand in the next instant. In a single instant!

It was only a single instant! How could the sword light still be increasing! And by so much in a blink!

In a formal battle, Fu Shuang would have despaired, but now he only wanted to concede. If he could just speak the final word, 'cede,' he would succeed; he would live. Fu Shuang exerted the full extent of his lifetime's skill and unleashed another Peerless Strike, but this time, the strike accomplished almost nothing.

And since his ultimate technique, the Peerless Strike, was useless, Fu Shuang finally could not endure any longer and was submerged within this sea of blades. The Wushuang Sect Master, Fu Shuang, was dead! He never managed to speak the final word, 'cede,' even in death.

Was it truly over like that? At the beginning, when everyone heard that Lu Yuan was preventing Fu Shuang from saying the three words, "I concede," they found it utterly ridiculous. After all, Fu Shuang was at the Sixth Heaven of the World Realm, while Lu Yuan was only at the Fifth Heaven.

How could a Fifth Heaven master stop a Sixth Heaven master like Fu Shuang from saying "I concede"? But Lu Yuan had actually done it, overwhelming Fu Shuang with a terrifyingly fast sea of swords, ensuring that Fu Shuang died before he could speak the last word, only managing to utter the first two: "I con." What fearsome swordsmanship was this! A Fifth Heaven master managed to defeat a Sixth Heaven master by preventing him from saying "I concede"—and thus losing.

This was unbelievable! Inconceivable! Beyond imagination!

Meanwhile, in the corner, Fu Chong's face was nearly contorted. Why? Why was Lu Yuan becoming stronger and stronger?

When they first entered the Central Dynasty, Lu Yuan was only slightly stronger than him, Fu Chong. Then, Fu Chong entered the Fagu Civilization, while Lu Yuan entered the Sword Gate of the Supreme Sect. Any rational person would assume that the Fagu Civilization was vastly superior to the Sword Gate, and the expected outcome was that Fu Chong, having entered Fagu, would easily surpass Lu Yuan of the Sword Gate.

But the result was completely inverted. Lu Yuan kept growing stronger, leaving Fu Chong far behind. Now, even the Fu family ancestor, Fu Shuang, had died by Lu Yuan's sword—and in a battle where he was overwhelmingly disadvantaged and barely capable of fighting back.

Fu Chong was nearly driven mad. Why! Why was this happening!

Fu Chong realized that his only path to revenge now lay with the Emperor's Son, with the Copper Civilization, and with the Desolate Ancient Civilization. He would have to travel everywhere, trying every means possible to deal with Lu Yuan. Yes, he also had a monumental fortuitous encounter before; he absolutely had to kill Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan was his destined nemesis. On the Pingtian Plateau, after Lu Yuan slew Fu Shuang, Fu Qiongtian, the Vice Sect Master of the Wushuang Sect, immediately shouted, "I concede." According to the rules of Sect Battles, for a sect to concede, the highest-ranking leader must yield. If the leader dies, the position passes to the next in command.

Fu Qiongtian was genuinely terrified into submission by Lu Yuan. He wanted to shout "I concede" before Lu Yuan could react; he certainly didn't want to end up like Fu Shuang, suppressed by Lu Yuan's sword until he died without even finishing the words "I concede." Damn it, that Fu Chong was truly infuriating, provoking such a terrifying figure. Was he trying to bring about the annihilation of the entire Wushuang Sect?

Fu Qiongtian cursed inwardly. "What a pity," Lu Yuan said, looking at Fu Qiongtian. He had originally intended to severely cripple the Wushuang Sect while he was at it.

But now, only the strongest, Fu Shuang, was dead. However, the rules were the rules, and he could not alter them. Fu Qiongtian felt a chill run down his spine.

He naturally understood the meaning behind Lu Yuan's "What a pity." Beside them, countless spectators were utterly stunned! Lu Yuan! It was him again!

This time, he had achieved the monumental feat of facing an entire sect alone! The previous instance of one man against one sect, fighting the Kuangying Sect, could perhaps be excused because the Kuangying Sect was too weak, ranked outside the top thousand, and lacked an ultimate weapon. But now?

Facing the Wushuang Sect, ranked in the top three hundred and thirty, complete with the ultimate weapon, the Wushuang Arrow, which Lu Yuan had shattered and swallowed in just a few bites! This was a true one-man-versus-one-sect battle, with an extremely high intrinsic value. At this point, some people began to wonder if Lu Yuan's declaration before the battle—that he would lead the Sword Gate into the top ten—could actually be realized.

But they quickly shook their heads. Lu Yuan undeniably possessed the strength to fight an entire sect single-handedly, but the ten greatest sects were just too powerful. They included masters at the Eighth Heaven of the World Realm and the Seventh Heaven of the World Realm.

Lu Yuan still couldn't match them. The battle between the Sword Gate and the Wushuang Sect concluded. There were still over two hundred matches left in the second round.

Lu Yuan retreated to the side to heal. His heart had been injured by the shock of the Twin Arrows of Nothingness—joy harms the heart, so he needed this time to recover. However, he discovered that the injury inflicted by such an ultimate weapon as the Arrows of Nothingness would not heal quickly.

It seemed he would have to fight the next round while injured. In the subsequent battles, Lu Yuan clearly noticed that even the members of the top ten greatest sects seemed provoked. Very few of them exerted themselves heavily; most dispatched only a handful of people to swiftly resolve their opponents, demonstrating the extraordinary depth of the top ten sects.

Indeed, the top ten sects now truly felt the sharp edge of Lu Yuan's power, but they were not to be trifled with; they possessed profound foundations and a host of masters. Simultaneously, numerous sects began to study Lu Yuan, pondering how to deal with him if they were matched against the Sword Gate. The Sword Gate's main problem was Lu Yuan.

After the conclusion of the second round, the five hundred eliminated sects permanently forfeited their right to participate in the World Volcano and access to other resources like resource planets. The sects ranked in the top five hundred began their own skirmishes; only another hundred or so needed to be eliminated for the rest to be declared successful. Following the second round, the pairings for the third round began to be selected through a semi-random process.

On the giant screen, the rotation of matchups began anew. Each sect searched for its corresponding opponent. This time, who would the Sword Gate be matched against?

Lu Yuan looked over and saw that the Sword Gate's opponent was the Ghost King Sect. Ghost King Sect. He had some vague impression of the name.

Where had he heard that name before?