As the words fell, the surrounding hundred zhang fell into absolute silence. The two men standing nearby, who had been about to offer counsel, stared at Ye Chen, mouths agape and utterly dumbfounded. Even Tie Man, suspended in mid-air, paused momentarily before his expression slowly darkened. He fixed his cold eyes on Ye Chen and clenched his fist, growling, "Good!"
The moment the single word escaped him, his figure shot toward Ye Chen like a cannonball. Before he arrived, the sheer force of the gale he generated whipped Ye Chen's long black hair backward, seemingly intent on blasting him off the lotus platform.
Ye Chen sat cross-legged on the lotus seat, his eyes flashing with icy light. In that moment of profound stillness, he slowly extended his palm toward Tie Man. A faint, abyssal ghost energy emerged from the core of his palm, shimmering like starlight, coalescing into a three-zhang Demon Flame Hand Seal, which he thrust toward Tie Man.
Whoosh!
A fierce wind erupted, billowing the robes of everyone nearby backward. That shadowy hand seal carried world-shattering might, as if bearing the weight of the entire cosmos as it slammed toward Tie Man.
When this palm strike was unleashed, the faces of all onlookers changed instantly, their complexions draining of color.
Tie Man’s pupils constricted in shock. Everyone present at the Ghost God Realm could feel the terrifying, dense ghost energy radiating from that palm print—it was dense enough to make one's heart pound in fear.
Ye Chen had launched a lethal move on his very first strike!
At this critical juncture between life and death, Tie Man gritted his teeth, madness blazing in his eyes. He let out a fierce roar, took a step out into the void as if trampling the air itself, causing the ambient pressure of the heavens and earth to subtly sink. His furious hair stood straight up, and with eyes wide with rage, he howled like a savage beast, tearing a dark, black cudgel from behind him.
Man and staff became one, colliding with the shadowy hand seal.
"Rampaging Dragon Cudgel!"
Tie Man roared with all his might, his internal ghost energy surging out like a breached Yangtze River, pouring frantically into the black cudgel in his hands. Gripping the staff with both hands, he became like a horizontal tornado, spinning rapidly as he charged the black palm seal.
A faint golden light slowly began to emerge, enveloping Tie Man’s entire body, forming a subtle dragon shape that appeared to be snarling and clawing upward as it struck the shadowy hand seal!
Many onlookers in the distance had already risen from their lotus platforms, craning their necks for a better view of the confrontation.
CRACK!
A deafening explosion ripped through the air, so violent that the surrounding lotus platforms seemed to tremble slightly. Everyone’s vision went momentarily white for a few seconds. When clarity returned, they immediately focused their gaze.
The sight made every eye contract in astonishment and utter shock.
In the sky above, the shadowy hand seal hung suspended silently before Ye Chen. On the back of the seal, the tip of a black cudgel protruded. The seal was currently clenched in a fist shape, completely ensnaring the burly Tie Man within its grasp, immobilizing him.
A single move to capture!
The entire assembly seemed momentarily stunned into immobility.
A cold glint flashed in Ye Chen’s eyes. With a sweep of his hand, the shadowy hand seal, carrying the force of splitting mountains, plummeted from the sky, smashing down onto the metal ground four zhang in front of the lotus platform, carving a deep crater.
Ye Chen flicked his wrist again, and the black hand seal released Tie Man, dissolving into a dense cloud of ghost energy that surged back into Ye Chen’s body.
The crowd watched, slack-jawed. After a moment, they finally managed to shift their gaze toward the deep pit. There, they saw Tie Man—his hair disheveled, utterly wretched—with tendrils of blood seeping through his armor, transforming him into a bloody wreck.
The gentle sunlight falling upon the area seemed to turn slightly cold.
Everyone felt an icy sweat crawl down their spines, their limbs growing numb.
The two men who had been attempting to reason with Ye Chen from the adjacent lotus seats were struck speechless. Looking at the unconscious Tie Man in the pit, they felt an icy chill permeate their bodies, realizing they were seated next to such a terrifying harbinger of death!
After retracting the hand seal, Ye Chen spared Tie Man a fleeting glance before looking away and closing his eyes to rest.
Only he knew the true power of that strike: it had condensed 500,000 points of ghost energy from within him, then doubled its power with the Meteor Profundity to reach a total of one million points of ghost energy!
If not for the armor Tie Man wore—a Low-Tier Demigod set—that single palm would have instantly taken his life.
However, Tie Man’s performance gave Ye Chen a clear understanding of the outer disciples of the Scarlet Demise Sect. Even those ranked in the top 1,000 possessed Low-Tier Demigod protective gear and boasted around 300,000 points of ghost energy. So, what level of strength would the top 10 outer disciples possess?
Given the resources of the Scarlet Demise Sect, the disciples they recruited included many from immensely powerful backgrounds. Among the hundreds of millions of outer disciples, there must be at least a dozen Ghost God Realm experts who had reached the pinnacle of that stage!
Once Ye Chen knocked Tie Man unconscious with that single strike, the gazes of those watching from afar were filled with lingering dread. They meticulously memorized the location of his seat, resolving that even if they had to stand, they would never try to take that spot.
The conflict had not drawn the attention of any external Elders, suggesting the Scarlet Demise Sect deliberately used this method to ignite the fighting spirit of its outer disciples.
Still, Ye Chen knew that if he had accidentally killed Tie Man, he would have incurred a major demerit!
But he had judged his power precisely. He recognized the Low-Tier Demigod armor protecting Tie Man, which is why he deployed an attack condensing 500,000 points of ghost energy.
Thirty minutes passed quickly...
As the time elapsed, Ye Chen immediately noticed a faint, transparent light barrier slowly rising around the lotus platform, enclosing everything within. Simultaneously, a subtle, delicate fragrance began to emanate from an unknown source within the dais, enveloping every part of his body.
Ye Chen glanced aside and saw everyone else had closed their eyes, their expressions rapturous.
"Is this cultivation?" A thought crossed Ye Chen's mind. Immediately, enveloped in the faint fragrance, he felt an extraordinary comfort, as if submerged in a hot spring. Every pore on his skin seemed to breathe, accompanied by the sensation of countless gentle hands massaging him softly.
Ye Chen had never experienced anything so marvelous, as if infinitesimal streams of water were thoroughly cleansing him inside and out, creating an intoxicating, inescapable pleasure.
Not long after, Ye Chen felt this wondrous sensation recede like a tide, contracting back from his body. Following this, the fragrant mist enveloping him also dissipated.
Ye Chen opened his eyes only to find that the transparent barrier surrounding the lotus platform had vanished without him noticing. Everyone else simultaneously awoke, rising to their feet, savoring the lingering feeling, shaking their heads in lingering satisfaction as they retreated toward the plaza.
It was over? Ye Chen was momentarily stunned. He hadn't realized how quickly the time had passed; it felt like only a blink of an eye, yet eight hours had elapsed.
Just then, a surge of potent energy erupted from a spot not far away.
Those preparing to leave paused their movements, craning their necks to look.
To the left, on a lotus platform not far off, a man from the Angelic Civilization, sporting a pair of wings, was entirely enveloped in a faint, thin golden light. Above his head, a spring of divine power materialized out of thin air, torrenting down and being drawn directly into his body.
Ye Chen's expression shifted to surprise. Someone had actually broken through to the Demigod Realm?
At that moment, another area registered a strong energy fluctuation. On a lotus platform in the third row, a serpentine-headed man from the Demonic Civilization was also breaking through to the Demigod Realm.
Splashing fountains of divine power gathered above their heads, their immense divine aura repelling nearby individuals.
Ye Chen turned his head. Across the square, among the millions of lotus platforms, there were a total of a thousand springs of divine power cascading down upon those breakthrough candidates. In this single cultivation session, a thousand people had advanced to the Demigod Realm!
Ye Chen stared in shock for a moment, then quickly examined the changes within his own body. He was astonished to discover that after merely sitting for eight hours, his physical constitution had increased by a full 5,000 levels!
"This is just eight hours, and the effect is this potent. If I cultivate on that lotus platform continuously for a month, wouldn't I immediately reach the Demigod Realm?" Ye Chen was inwardly staggered. He hadn't expected the Scarlet Demise Sect to possess such miraculous items. Calling this cultivation felt more like indulgence!
"At this rate, I can steadily increase my constitution by 5,000 levels a month! That's sixty thousand levels a year... In less than two years, I could reach the Demigod Realm!"
Thinking of this, an inexplicable excitement rose in Ye Chen’s heart. He already possessed a physique level of 55,000; now it had broken past 60,000. It would take only another eight months to solidly achieve the Demigod Realm!
Below the Demigod level, all are ants! Only upon reaching the Demigod Realm does one truly count as a significant figure!
"The Scarlet Demise Sect truly lives up to its reputation as one of the two great sects of Azure Water City. Their resources are immense. With such a cultivation ground, manufacturing Demigods is virtually mass production. Their inner disciples must number in the tens of millions!"
Ye Chen gained a vague understanding of the sect’s power. While Demigods were notoriously difficult to produce, for the Scarlet Demise Sect, it was effortless. Among their hundreds of millions of outer disciples, people broke through daily, especially at the end of the monthly cultivation sessions, when a large batch would advance to become inner disciples.
Ye Chen observed the thousand-plus martial artists breaking through to the Demigod Realm. The divine power springs above their heads varied in size; the largest were as thick as an arm, streaming down in a straight line into the body of the breakthrough candidate below, while the smallest were only finger-thick, with a much weaker energy fluctuation.
Although Ye Chen had not broken through to the Demigod Realm himself, he had heard tell that during the breakthrough, ghost energy transforms into demigod power, and the thicker the accumulated ghost energy, the more spectacular the phenomenon during the breakthrough!
The most common individual breaking through to the Demigod Realm only gained 10 points of demigod power! Those with slightly better aptitude could achieve forty or fifty points, or even over a hundred points of demigod power upon breakthrough!
Ye Chen observed quietly for a moment, then rose and rushed toward the plaza, boarding his assigned flying vessel to return to Scarlet Demise Mountain. After soaking briefly in the Blue Moon Lake, he returned to Star Moon Bay to rest.
The next morning, precisely at 6:00 AM, his personal optical wrist-computer emitted a notification chime.
Ye Chen woke instantly, a sharp light flashing in his eyes. He activated the optical wrist-computer and saw an email, which he immediately opened with a mental command.
"First Trial Task: Locate the brain marrow of a Crimson Python demonic beast!"
Every outer disciple received one trial task per month. Upon completion, they could exchange it within the sect for a certain quantity of elixirs and marvelous medicines. Completing ten consecutive tasks earned a major reward! This reward might be an extra session in the cultivation ground, a bestowed weapon, or a precious drug to strengthen the physique.
"It's finally here," a ruthless light ignited in Ye Chen's eyes.