Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

A white spear shot out from beneath the swamp!

This attack that came out of nowhere shocked Chang Ao. He threw out a wild fist in response to that and a surge of majestic Daoist Rhyme erupted!

However, this white spear instantly pierced through the Daoist Rhyme, hitting that inner armor on his chest with brute force.

The inner armor might be a Sage Armor, but the impact produced by the spear attack still made Chang Ao shriek in pain.

With a bang, Chang Ao was blasted off his feet and threw onto the ground.

Back at the swamp, Lan Yu flew out of it slowly. Although she was fully covered in mud, her body still emitted a faint glow of divine light.

“You… have broken through!”

Chang Ao laid on the ground, his face filled with disbelief.

He finally understood what had happened to Lan Yu. She had achieved a breakthrough in this battle, advancing from mid-stage to late-stage Honorable Realm!!

“I owe it to you for throwing me into the swamp. The tremendous amount of dark energy that seeped into my body unironically triggered a response in my Daoist Physique. I was already quite close to breaking through, but this external stimulus has saved me much time and effort.”

Lan Yu explained calmly.

It was similar to when Chu Kuangren was training Shang Qingxue, where he used extreme heat to trigger the production of cold waves from her Daoist Physique.

The dark energy could suppress the Power of Light, but to a certain degree, it could also stimulate the growth of the Holy Radiant Physique.

It was infinite just like the Yinyang Cycling.

Of course, this was a very bold attempt, and if there were some missteps, her body could have exploded on the stop, killing her.

One could only say that Lan Yu was extremely fortunate.

Daoist Rhyme flowed within Lan Yu's body as she held the Scepter of Light in her hands. Spiritual power ama.s.sed at the very tip of the scepter as she braced herself to plunge it in Chang Ao's direction.

Meanwhile, Chang Ao laid on the ground with his bones and flesh already shattered by that hit earlier. It was extremely difficult for him to even make any slightest movement.

If this were to go on, Chang Ao's fate would surely be sealed!

“I admit defeat!”

At this critical moment, Chang Ao yelled at the top of his lungs, directly conceding defeat.

Lan Yu kept her scepter away, but she continued to stride towards her opponent and kicked him forcefully, sending him into the depths of the swamp.

“This one's for Jun Yi.”

After that, the two of them were teleported back to the arena.

Lan Yu's face was so pale and her body was so limp that she nearly collapsed onto the floor.

Nevertheless, Chu Kuangren got there in time to grab her in his arms.

“How was it?”

“I may have broken through at the dying moments of the battle, but I've exhausted way too much spiritual power. Especially that final blow I dealt sapped me of all my power.”

“Here, take this pill and let your body recuperate.”

Chu Kuangren used his Spring Breeze Healing Technique and fed her a pill. He then entrusted Shang Qingxue to Lan Yu's care.

Not far away.

The Sky Emperor Palace Lord did not look delighted at all.

“D*mn it. How did we lose that one? Can't believe how lucky that Lan Yu was to have broken through in her realm at the very last moment.”

“D*mn it. Now it's tied at one each.”

His eyes gleamed ominously as he said to a young man beside him, “Jin Yun, next battle, you're up. You have to win it for me!”

“Got it, Palace Lord.”

That young man who went by the name of Jin Yun nodded his head.

Back at the Black Heaven Sect camp.

Murong Xuan stepped out and said, “Sect Leader, this Jin Yun cultivates Ice-based Technique, so my Divine Nine Suns Art would counter it just nicely. Let me go on this final battle. I won't lose it.”

Murong Xuan's eyes glittered with a flash of resoluteness.

“Alright, just be careful.” Chu Kuangren gently nodded.

The final battle of the champions.h.i.+p.

Murong Xuan versus Sky Emperor Palace's Jin Yun. Let the battle begin!

The two walked into the circle of light.

The moment they stepped foot inside the circle of light, Murong Xuan immediately felt a gush of coldness sweep up his body. He then found himself inside a snowy mountain range.

With that, boos rang out from the audience.

The first one could pa.s.s off as a coincidence, the second could just be an accident, but for a third occurrence, there was no other explanation for this.

Of all three battles, not one of the settings did not favor the Sky Emperor Palace at all. If someone were to claim that no rigging was done in this, n.o.body would believe the story.

“What the h*ck? Isn't this obviously rigged against the Black Heaven Sect?”

“Exactly, surely someone did some tinkering behind the scenes!”

“I don't think you can call this a coincidence anymore.”

“How toxic. The Black Heaven Sect had fought their way to the final with nothing but their strength alone, just to face such an unfair disadvantage at the finals.”

“Sigh, the Black Heaven Sect can only blame themselves for being too powerful. Besides, they've won a billion soulstones from the Sky Emperor Palace too. I don't think the Sky Emperor Palace Lord would just let this slide past him. He must've used some dirty tactics to buy off the First City.”

“What's the point of doing this? Why don't they just crown the Sky Emperor Palace as champions?”

“Well, I reckon the Sky Emperor Palace doesn't care that much about the champions.h.i.+p anymore. They just want to humiliate the Black Heaven Sect.”

Everyone in the audience was engrossed in their own theories.

“For goodness sakes, the adjudicators are clearly on the Sky Emperor Palace's side.” Nangong Huang lamented in dissatisfaction.

The rest of the Daoists were extremely furious too. On the contrary, Chu Kuangren seemed calm and composed, almost as though he was not at all surprised by this scene that had unfolded before him.

“This Chu Kuangren is really a patient man.”

The Overlord Sage Tribe Leader could not resist a jab at him when he saw his adversary's face.

“How the h.e.l.l did the Sky Emperor Palace bribe the judges?”

“This doesn't seem right.”

Some of the orthodoxies' leaders glanced at Chu Kuangren and felt that something was amiss when they saw the calm look on his face.

“He's way too calm.”

The School of White Lotus's Leader said after taking a deep breath. As Black Heaven Sect's ally, the School of White Lotus's Leader knew very well what kind of person Chu Kuangren was.

He was not the type who would do nothing in face of unfairness.

Now that he was met with such a daylight robbery in the compet.i.tion, there was no way he was going to just sit there and do nothing. It would certainly go against his previous acts.

“This is the Chu Kuangren who destroyed the Murong and Shang clan, and the same person who slew the Sages. Why does he look nothing like what they have said about him?”

There were also some other sage orthodoxies' leaders who smiled and said while shaking their heads.

“Why do I feel that something is not right?”

The Thunder Falcon Tribe Leader, Linghu Clan Head, and the others exchanged glances with each other, where they saw the similar fear and concern in each other's eyes.

Just as people said, those who understand you most are your enemies.

Linghu Clan Head and the Thunder Falcon Tribe Leader understood Chu Kuangren way more than the other orthodoxy leaders could ever have.

They knew very clearly that the calmness in Chu Kuangren now was very unusual for him.

Either way, speculation remains speculation.

What if Chu Kuangren had changed his behavior?

What if after years of leading a sect had made his temperament milder?

The rest of the crowd thought to themselves.

Very soon, they redirected their gaze back at the compet.i.tion.

They saw that Murong Xuan and Jin Yun, who had just stepped into the snowy mountain, stood far apart, facing each other. Jin Yun said casually, “What a good place this is.”

“Indeed. You cultivate Ice-based Dao, so this snowy mountain must be an ideal place for you. It's good for me too, since this makes winning a little more fun.” Murong Xuan took out his longsword and said indifferently.

Immediately after that, an incredibly blazing hot Daoist Rhyme was released from his body, and the ice and snow around him quickly melted into puddles of water.

He dashed towards his opponent as he swung his longsword, not bothered about the effect from the snowy winds all around him. He summoned all his strength and charged towards Jin Yun like a madman!

Facing such a ferocious attack, Jin Yun was initially held back, but he slowly adjusted himself to it. He started to harness the power from the snowy winds to amplify his own cultivation techniques, striking back at Murong Xuan.

“Glacier Storm!!”

Spiritual power surged around Jin Yun's entire body as a chilly Daoist Rhyme began to spread outwards. Then, it turned into countless ice crystals that, along with the snowy wind, blasted towards Murong Xuan.

In the face of this attack, Murong Xuan simply covered his whole body with a layer of crimson red flame and let the ice crystals cut through his body. However, he still continued to charge towards Jin Yun with his longsword striking out fiercely.

The searing heat from his flame wave melted the icy snow before it hit Jin Yun's body and sent him flying.

“H*ck, does this b*stard not want to live anymore?”