Inside the Ancient City Ruins.
The air was thick with the smoke of battle, and corpses littered the ground. Amidst the traces of ti's erosion, a new, acrid scent of scorching hung in the air.
Among the broken walls and ruined ramparts, embers still glowed in so places, and wisps of faint smoke drifted about. The resulting burnt odor perated the air, causing Hong Long and the others who had just entered the ancient city to frown. "Why does it look like there was just a fire here?"
"What are you overthinking for? This is the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm. It's all just an illusion!" Hong Long scoffed.
He found a broken stone pillar and sat down.
Glancing around at the ruins, he ordered, "You lot, go take a look around!"
"Yes!"
Several dozen people dispersed, fanning out to explore the area.
"Brother Long, look! There's a sea of fire up ahead!" a disciple suddenly exclaid, nudging Hong Long and pointing eastward.
"A sea of fire?"
Hong Long froze, following the disciple's gesture.
It was another area of ruins, but a sea of flas was currently blazing, searing half the sky red.
Hong Long frowned in confusion. "How strange. I didn't see this sea of fire when we first got here! And I've never heard of the environnt inside the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm changing."
"Brother Long, should we go take a look?"
Hong Long nodded. "You go check it out. If you find anything, co back imdiately!"
"Yes!"
The man departed.
A short while later...
He ca scrambling back in a sorry state, drenched in sweat and pale-faced. "B-Brother Long! A huge... a huge, huge discovery!"
"Oh? What discovery?"
Hong Long leaned forward slightly, his eyes narrowing as he asked.
The man gulped frantically. "H-Hong Yu... is there!"
"What?"
Hong Long shot to his feet, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. "You said you found Hong Yu?"
The man nodded quickly.
After a mont of stunned silence, Hong Long burst into laughter. "Excellent! We searched for days to no avail, and to think I'd be the first to run into him. You lot, go get the others. And you," he pointed, "find a way to contact Hong Gang and tell them to get over here. Heh heh... Hong Yu, oh, Hong Yu. If you'd just stayed hidden, we might never have found you. But since you've delivered yourself to my doorstep, you have only your own rotten luck to bla!"
With a grand wave of his hand, Hong Long commanded, "Let's go!"
Facing Hong Yu, Hong Long was extrely confident.
His own strength was already formidable to begin with. Moreover, after returning from Liger Ravine, Hong Renjie had gifted him a Spirit dicine obtained from the Eight Desolates Mansion. This allowed Hong Long's cultivation to break through once more in the last six months, and he had now reached the Late-stage Earth Soul Realm.
In terms of power, he was even comparable to a True Disciple!
Even though Hong Yu's fa had skyrocketed in the past six months, Hong Long refused to believe that the boy who had been utterly powerless before him back then could now surpass him.
And so...
Hong Long led a vanguard of several dozen n and rushed toward Hong Yu's location.
***
Within the scorching sea of fire.
Flas surged endlessly, the searing heat hot enough to lt steel.
Yet within this inferno, a figure moved with ghostly agility.
Every movent was an embodint of a Mysterious Step Technique—darting left and right, fast then slow. At one mont, he seed to withdraw as a re afterimage; at another, he appeared to stand perfectly still, only to reappear over ten ters away in the blink of an eye.
The figure road through the sea of fire.
He was like a fish swimming through the inferno. When a jet of fla shot toward him, his body would move with its montum, effortlessly dodging aside. The scorching tongues of fire licked at the hem of his robes, yet they could not harm him in the slightest.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!
Six Fire Dragons surged toward him in succession.
They ca from six different directions, their attacks overlapping as they closed in to envelop him, making them impossible to defend against.
But the owner of this figure moved with perfect ease.
His body technique, a combination of fast and slow movents, was so agile and profound that it was impossible to track.
SWISH! SWISH!
As his figure flickered, he weaved between the six Fire Dragons. This ti, however, a small black scorch mark appeared on the hem of his robe.
'Creating a Mortal-Level Martial Skill is indeed not so simple. Even with the Seven-Star Step as a template, after days of arduous practice, I can only dodge five Fire Dragons simultaneously. Once it gets to six or more, I start to struggle.'
The young man gazed at the gradually dying sea of fire behind him and shook his head with a hint of resignation, though not frustration. 'Still, these past few days of practice have proven I'm on the right path. My speed and agility are now even greater than when I used the Seven-Star Step at full tilt. Once I can face nine Fire Dragons simultaneously and with ease, this Body Technique of mine will be considered complete in its initial form!'
He was, naturally, Hong Yu!
For the past several days, he had remained in the ancient city, continuously studying the Three Flas Palm and the Seven-Star Step.
With his talent, when he truly focused on cultivating a Martial Skill, his rate of progress was simply unbelievable.
After mastering the third form of the Three Flas Palm—Furious Fla Burning Heaven—Hong Yu shifted his focus to cultivating and strengthening his Body Technique.
However, as his power grew, the Seven-Star Step was no longer enough to handle increasingly strong opponents. Thus, Hong Yu began using the Seven-Star Step as a foundation to create a Body Technique perfectly suited to him. This new technique had already begun to take shape, and its power had long since surpassed that of the Seven-Star Step.
If he continued to develop it, he would surely be able to create an even more advanced and profound Body Technique.
'I'll call this Body Technique Wandering Dragon!'
Hong Yu took a long, deep breath. The air carried a trace of warmth from the burnt-out sea of fire.
With his Fire Spirit Body, he did not feel the slightest discomfort.
'One-third of the Secret Realm's duration has already passed, and my strength isn't likely to increase much more in the short term. In that case, it's ti to start hunting for points!'
Hong Yu's eyes narrowed, a cyan light swirling in his left eye as he gazed westward at the hazy figures rushing toward him. A playful smirk touched his lips. 'Hong Long, is it? Then my hunt for points... shall begin with you!'
Hong Yu slowly turned, clasped his hands behind his back, and stood waiting quietly.
About three minutes later, Hong Long appeared before Hong Yu with fifty n.
A mocking, savage sneer spread across Hong Long's face. "Well, well, if it isn't our great genius, Hong Yu." He turned to the n beside him, laughing with abandon. "Brothers, have any of you heard the na Hong Yu?"
"Hong Yu? What pathetic piece of trash crawled out of so bitch's womb? Never heard of him!"
"A bitch? I was thinking more like a sow!"
"Hahaha, you guys are ruthless! He was, after all, a famous Outer Sect genius for a ti!"
The group continued to jeer at Hong Yu, each man trying to one-up the last.
The smirk on Hong Long's face deepened with smug satisfaction. He looked at Hong Yu, his expression a mixture of a smile and a sneer. "Hong Yu, it's been half a year since we parted at Liger Ravine. To think the frail little ant from back then now has the nerve to stand before !"
"Yes, ti does fly!"
Hong Yu nodded, his face serene, but his words were razor-sharp. "I just didn't expect that after half a year, you're still running in place. For all the fa of the so-called Four Kings, you don't seem like much at all."
"You..."
Stunned for a mont, Hong Long flew into a rage. "You sharp-tongued little bastard! Sooner or later, I'll cripple you and send you back to the Hong Family to be a lowly branch mber again. As for now—brothers, get him! Drive this brat out of the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm!"
"Heh heh, imagine a so-called Outer Sect genius getting eliminated before he even passes the first round. How pathetic!"
"It's a sha. If you knew what was good for you, this could have been avoided. But alas, you offended soone you can't afford to offend!"
"Enough talk! Kill him and get him thrown out of the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm!"
Fifty people attacked at the sa ti.
These Inner Sect Disciples were all geniuses in their own right. The difference between them and Outer Disciples was as vast as that between the clouds and the mud.
Led by Hong Long, fifty n, bristling with killing intent, drew their weapons and charged at Hong Yu.
Hong Yu's eyes narrowed, and the corner of his mouth lifted. "Perfect. You'll make for a good warm-up."
The words had barely left his lips.
The Breaking Army Spear landed in his palm. His fingers tightened, his wrist trembled, and the spear humd as he spun it in a sharp flourish.
Spear in hand, he unleashed his Wandering Dragon Body Technique. His body moved like a dragon as he charged straight into the fray.
A single thrust, a straight line!
The Breaking Army Spear flicked upward in a sudden thrust, tracing a rainbow through the air like a sky-rending blow. In its wake, the experts from the Heaven and Earth Alliance were sent flying to either side by the powerful shockwave.
A chorus of screams erupted!
A sweeping blow like a staff!
After the upward thrust brought the Long Spear to chest height, Hong Yu flicked his wrist, and the Breaking Army Spear shuddered and flew high into the air.
It spun one hundred and eighty degrees in the air, and Hong Yu caught the spearhead.
Hong Yu's body spun like a whirlwind, using the Long Spear as a staff to execute Sweeping Thousand Soldiers.
A faint, fiery red light coalesced into a fan-shaped wave of energy. Afterimages of the weapon overlapped, and the BANG! BANG! BANG! of the impacts rang out like temple bells.
One, two, three...
A full seven Inner Sect experts were sent flying by Hong Yu's blow, crashing into one another like a chain reaction of dominoes. In the blink of an eye, the seven Inner Sect Disciples were sent sprawling. The first few to be struck had over half the bones in their bodies broken and lost all ability to fight.
Even those at the end of the chain suffered violent shocks to their internal organs and spat out mouthfuls of blood.
Wails of agony filled the air as they lay on the ground!
With just two moves, more than fifteen people had been either severely wounded or directly eliminated from the realm.
"What? H-how is this possible? How can he be so strong?"
Hong Long stood at the rear of the group. The smug arrogance had long since vanished from his face, replaced by nothing but profound shock and terror.
The Heaven and Earth Alliance experts he had brought were mostly ranked between 8,000th and 10,000th on the Heaven and Earth List. Individually, their strength was only average among Inner Sect Disciples, but a dozen of them working together could match an expert in the top 5,000 of the Celestial List. And here, fifty of them were attacking together.
Yet, a lineup like this was being cut down by Hong Yu as easily as slicing lons and vegetables.
How could Hong Long not be utterly horrified?
"Hm?"
In the midst of his slaughter, Hong Yu's eyes shifted, locking onto Hong Long at the back of the crowd. He grinned and charged forward with the Breaking Army Spear.
Under Hong Yu's calm gaze, a shiver ran through Hong Long. He swallowed hard and roared in a flustered rage, "What are you all standing around for?! Go! Get him!"
Though terrified and unwilling, the experts dared not disobey the order due to the strict rules of the Heaven and Earth Alliance.
The remaining thirty-odd n steeled themselves and charged forward to et him.
But Hong Yu's Wandering Dragon Body Technique was simply too fast. He was a whirlwind weaving through the crowd, his advance as unstoppable as splitting bamboo.
No one could stop him!
[Third update of the day. The fourth will be up in two minutes!]
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