"Blast!" Ye Chen decided instantly, clenching his palm, condensing the Devouring Power within his body madly in his center, forming a dark, inky vortex.
As the Devouring Power cycled, Ye Chen immediately sensed a difference. The previous Devouring Power was merely a wisp of energy capable of shattering everything, but now, it had transformed into a black hole-like vortex!
This vortex exuded an intense crushing force, as if anything that fell into it could be utterly pulverized—just like...
A black hole!
A nascent miniature black hole!
A shiver ran down Ye Chen’s spine, but there was no time for deeper thought. He aimed the Devouring Power in his palm at the five Nine Palaces Guardians. These five Guardians roared toward the sky, their bodies swelling, and then they exploded with a mighty boom.
A torrent of chaotic, violent energy surged outward, yet before it could fully expand, it was drawn in by the inky vortex in Ye Chen’s palm. It retracted as if a whale were playing in the water, condensing in his hand into a blood-red battle saber!
This saber burned with fierce flames, scorching hot, carrying boundless killing intent. Its blade was crystal clear and crimson, looking as if it could drip fresh blood.
Holding the blood-red battle saber, Ye Chen’s eyes glowed crimson as he stared fixedly at the man in purple. Even though reaching the fifth level of the Nine Palaces allowed him to amplify his secret techniques by ten million times, for those from the Elite Genius Hall, this was merely stepping onto the threshold.
"Die!"
Ye Chen’s voice was eerie, like a chilling ghost wind that sent coldness deep into the man in purple’s bones. A look of shock flickered across his face; he hadn't expected this unknown man before him to possess such formidable power!
At that moment, Ye Chen suddenly swung the blood-red battle saber in his hand, slicing horizontally. It was as if the entire void was instantaneously split in two. A sharp blade aura slashed forth, surging out with a thousand feet of brilliant light, sweeping across the entire mountain peak arena, crashing down toward the man in purple.
Facing this earth-shattering strike, the man in purple felt a surge of helplessness, but this feeling was instantly shattered. His pupils contracted, and his body retreated rapidly. Facing the destructive blade aura surging toward him like a white wave, he abruptly bit his tongue, a maniacal glint appearing in his eyes. His longsword hummed, as if sensing its master's mood, and suddenly burst forth with a clear, resonant cry.
Bang!
The longsword shattered into countless pieces.
"Shattered Heart Sword!" the man in purple roared deeply. The broken sword fragments in his hand swept together like a hurricane, condensing into a vast, heaven-piercing sword light that shot upward, seemingly connecting heaven and earth, becoming the sole radiance in the world, piercing through the clouds.
Mists rose, and the clouds and winds shifted dramatically.
Everyone watching outside the arena was gripped by sheer terror, looking up at the scene, their faces reflecting the faint white glow of the sword light, like scorching stars in their eyes.
In this moment of profound silence across the heavens and earth.
In this moment of shifting winds and clouds.
Under the man in purple’s sword-point, this vast, heaven-piercing sword light cleaved down toward Ye Chen.
This single strike carried the immense majesty of heaven and earth. Before the sword even reached him, the violent howling wind whipped Ye Chen’s blood-red hair wildly, and the hard ground beneath his feet sank inch by inch, cracking open and crisscrossed with fissures.
"Aaaargh..." Ye Chen roared toward the sky, the muscles in his arms seemingly about to burst as he swung the blood-red battle saber with all his might.
Boom!
The blood-red blade light and the colossal sword of heaven and earth collided instantly!
All sound vanished in that fleeting instant.
Only a mushroom cloud-like shockwave erupted from the point of impact, sweeping away all the vapor between heaven and earth. Even the minute sand and gravel on the stage were blasted away by the surging shockwave.
Blinding white light and red light, interwoven with purple lightning, coalesced into a massive sphere of light before finally exploding outwards. When the glare subsided, the arena was covered in a haze of yellow dust and smoke, obscuring vision and making it impossible to see clearly.
The wind whispered faintly.
The clouds seemed to have fallen silent.
The entire audience fell into utter silence, staring intently at the stage, desperate to see clearly what lay within.
The dust slowly dispersed, revealing two deep pits carved into the stage. From these pits, numerous cracks spread outward. Standing in the center of these craters were two figures, both clad in tattered, utterly ruined clothing, looking wretched.
The man in purple on the left was still in the superhuman mode of the Demon Crystal Nine-Headed Bird. Purple-blue blood seeped from his feathers, dripping onto the sandy soil at his feet, slowly soaking in.
Ye Chen on the right had reverted to his human form. Except for areas necessary for modesty, his clothing had been pulverized by the shockwave; in that single blow, there was no way to protect his attire. He panted heavily, his eyes cold as knives, staring fixedly at the man in purple. The hand that had gripped the blood-red battle saber trembled slightly, as if from overexertion.
Everyone present held their breath, unable to believe that these two had fought to a draw!
At this moment, the dust around the two combatants slowly receded, behaving like subservient maidservants. Both men on the stage gasped for air, like drowning victims emerging from the abyss, lacking the strength to even take a single step.
Time trickled by...
Ye Chen felt some of his strength return, but he made no move, nor did he display any signs of recovery, still breathing heavily.
The man in purple gazed at Ye Chen's exhausted appearance, a malicious light igniting in his eyes. After a brief rest, he estimated his Superhuman Mode had about five seconds left. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to take a step, pouring all his recovered strength back into his body. His divine power, depleted by that last sword strike, was now completely empty; he could only rely on physical combat!
"Die!" The man in purple moved like the wind, a cruel gleam in his eyes, surging toward Ye Chen with speed akin to a flash of lightning.
A sliver of light flashed across Ye Chen's eyes. He retreated a few steps. With the capture speed of his own retinas, he could only vaguely perceive the silhouette of the man in purple. His acute nerves swiftly urged his body to dodge to the side.
During the preceding fight, Ye Chen had gained a slight comprehension of the Blind Sky technique, which he had previously struggled to grasp. Now, in his evasion, he appeared effortless, as if this was his natural state.
The man in purple missed his strike, his pupils constricting. He couldn't help but glance at Ye Chen in surprise, feeling a momentary sense of visual distortion. He was in Superhuman Mode, after all, his speed amplified over 700 times. It should have been trivial to kill a demigod whose physique hadn't even reached true God level—as easy as crushing an ant.
Yet, Ye Chen had actually dodged him while in his human state?
He lost focus for a moment, but snapped back after a second. He immediately shouted and launched another punch, this one swift as lightning, carrying a potent gust of wind, aimed directly at Ye Chen’s face.
Ye Chen seemed to have sensed it beforehand. Before the man in purple’s fist had even fully extended, his body instinctively shifted sideways, narrowly avoiding the punch!
Whoosh!
All the onlookers burst into an uproar, finding it unbelievable.
If the first dodge could be attributed to coincidence, the second one proved it was real. Ye Chen was actually dodging attacks from the man in purple under Superhuman Mode using only his human body!
This was nothing short of a miracle!
In truth, if Ye Chen’s genes hadn't already been 99 times that of an ordinary human, he wouldn't have been able to capture the movements of the man in purple based on that tiny sliver of insight into Blind Sky, let alone possess the speed to evade them.
Shock pierced the man in purple’s heart. Sensing that Superhuman Mode had only three seconds left, a wave of impatience and frustration washed over him. He rapidly layered his palm strikes, like an overwhelming landslide, hitting out continuously.
Boom, boom, boom...
As his fists struck, the air seemed to turn into sandbags being hammered to dust.
Suddenly—
Thump!
One punch connected with Ye Chen’s left shoulder. A series of crunching sounds echoed from the joint, and Ye Chen’s body was thrown far backward, tumbling over a dozen times. He nearly fell off the mountain stage, but at the very edge, his fingers suddenly exerted force, digging into the soil like steel anchors, finally arresting his momentum.
Cold sweat drenched Ye Chen’s brow. He hadn't expected such a severe injury from a near miss. His entire left shoulder felt as if it had exploded, completely numb, only feeling intense pain that tore through him like fire.
The muscles in Ye Chen’s face twitched slightly. Baring his teeth, he looked up without a sound, only to see the man in purple preparing to pursue, but then suddenly halting. The feathers on his body rapidly retracted, and the bones throughout his frame made loud cracking sounds as he shrank a few centimeters. The two black wings protruding from his ribs retracted back into his body, and he reverted to his human appearance, his face somewhat pale, as if recovering from a severe illness.
A glint suddenly appeared in Ye Chen’s eyes—a vicious, wolf-like glare.
Swish!
His body shot up from the ground like a ferocious beast, surging toward the man in purple with lightning speed. In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of the man.
The man in purple’s pupils constricted. Looking at the fleeting afterimage, he was shocked by Ye Chen’s speed—he hadn’t even perceived it while in Superhuman Mode. Now, he felt a surge of terror, his body hair standing on end.
Without hesitation, he decisively opened his mouth, ready to declare, "I surrender," but just as the word "I" left his lips, a fist smashed into his face.
In arena combat, there was a rule: once a party voluntarily surrendered, no further attacks were allowed, or any resulting harm would incur double punishment. If killed after surrender, the perpetrator would be punished by death!
Boom!
The fist landed squarely on the bridge of the man in purple’s nose the moment his mouth opened, stunning his entire mind until it buzzed loudly.
A savage and cruel light flared in Ye Chen’s eyes. Like a tyrant, he mercilessly clamped a single hand around the man in purple’s throat, lifting his entire body. Because his left shoulder bone was shattered, rendering his arm useless, Ye Chen used his head instead, slamming it violently against the man’s skull.
Crack!
The parietal bone of the man in purple seemed to shatter, emitting a teeth-grinding kaka sound.
Ye Chen lowered the man's body and instantly delivered a heavy punch, twisting the man in purple’s entire jaw askew. Teeth shattered and fell out, while blood and saliva streamed from the corners of his mouth.