A single word was enough to stir up an uproar.
The elder of the Lihun Sect simply could not believe his ears.
“Wait a minute!
“What did I just hear?
“He would make two moves? And the third move could take Yan Chen’s life?
“Are you kidding me?”
“If it were Zhang Hanyang who said that, I would have believed him. But why does Emperor Qing have to talk big like this? Everyone knows who he is after all.”
The kid couldn’t even defeat Long Ye and almost got killed in that battle. But why was he suddenly so confident?
Even Hu Yu, Su Beimu, and the other talents furrowed their brows.
“You can hardly find a talent like Emperor Qing in the secular world. However, that should not be a reason to be arrogant. His strength is still a far cry from Yan Chen’s.”
The disciples of the worldlet shared the same thought.
Being a member of their sect, they certainly knew what kind of trial the top disciples of the sect would experience and how many cultivation resources they would have. Whether it was secret skills or cultivation methods, they could have as many as they wanted. Therefore, how could those in the secular martial arts world compare to them?
They also knew that before the gate of the worldlet opened, in the secular martial arts world, even Qi Strength Masters could be regarded as top-notch combatants, and Martial Arts Grand Masters only appeared in legends. What was more, many martial artists of the new generation in the secular world had never heard about the worldlet before.
They had been making a fool of themselves before the experts.
But now, they had come to see the supreme significance of the worldlet. Thus, they certainly wanted to see how powerful the talents from the worldlet were.
Out of those on the Divine List, 49 were from the worldlet, and Emperor Qing was the only exception. Oh right, there was another one from the secular before, but that genius ranking more than 40 died in less than five days after the competition started.
Now, the people of the worldlet were all rooting for Yan Chen. Though those people no longer had a chance to win, they thought that the Immortal King had to be a disciple from the worldlet. If the title was taken by a secular disciple, how would they have the face to practice martial arts anymore?
Therefore, when they heard the words of First Elder of Heavenly Knights Sect, these people were a little angry.
On the contrary, those from the secular martial arts world were heartened.
“Emperor Qing! The secular genius! He is about to compete with the talents of the worldlet for the first place!”
“I wonder if he can win this battle.”
“If Emperor Qing wins, he will create his own legend. At first, I expected his elder brother, Zhang Hanyang, to help him. But Zhang Hanyang is also from the worldlet, so he doesn’t count. That leaves Emperor Qing as the strongest martial artist in the secular martial arts world.”
“…”
More than 10,000 people on the scene were discussing it, which drowned this place in a hubbub of voices.
When Yan Chen heard their comments, the expression on his face did not change at all. He would not be angered by what others said.
“Emperor Qing, you are no match for me.”
Yan Chen said calmly, “But since Elder Wang said so, it must not be bluff. Adding that your big brother, Zhang Hanyang, is rather weird, now I seem to be a little interested in this battle.”
While talking, Yan Chen kept moving forward until he was in the center of the stage. Then, he looked at Chen Changqing blandly.
The battle was about to begin!
“Is that so?”
Chen Changqing moved forward and answered, “My big brother did teach me kung fu. They say that I’ve got myself a rock-hard sponsor. As for how hard on earth the sponsor is, I’ll let you announce it to the world.”
“Hahaha, alright.” Yan Chen laughed out loud. “Then I won’t stand on ceremony!”
Soul-swallowing Wind!
“Swish!”
That was the first secret skill Yan Chen performed.
His Soul-swallowing Wind had achieved Mastery.
In an instant, the sky around him changed into another color. Wisps of faint black mist rose, and his fierce aura soared to the sky.
It was so overwhelming that everyone could hardly breathe.
At this moment, it was as if Yan Chen had transformed into a vicious ancient beast or a devil king, and was about to devour heaven and earth.
A terrifying aura pervaded the air in all directions. Everyone could feel the chill in the air.
It was bone-chillingly cold.
“Yan Chen is really powerful!”
Many experts had the same thought.
“How could Emperor Qing possibly fend off Yan Chen’s attack?”
“Subdue all evils!”
In the face of that strike, Chen Changqing didn’t turn a hair. Truthfully, he was a little nervous because he had felt the pressure.
He thought of the moves that Zhang Han had taught him. “This is a kind of attack that harms the opponent’s constitution, right?”
Chen Changqing didn’t know whether the effect of the counterattack would be good or not. Still, he directly displayed that secret skill.
“Thump!”
A dull sound suddenly rang out between heaven and earth.
“What’s that?”
No one could tell.
“Thump, thump!”
Suddenly, two more thumps came out.
Was it the sound of a beating heart?
More than 10,000 people on the scene suddenly realized that it was the sound of a heartbeat.
Could the thumps that echoed in the field be the heartbeats of heaven and earth?
“Thump, thump!”
Once again, there were the heartbeats.
Everyone, even including First Elder of Heavenly Knights Sect and Elder Ma of the Lihun Sect, suddenly found that their heartbeats were synchronizing with the strange sound.
“Thump, thump, thump…”
The heartbeats were getting faster and faster.
In an instant, it made people feel extremely bizarre and uncomfortable as if their bodies were controlled by someone else.
Yan Chen also felt the same way. His face was slightly pale as he tried his best to control his secret technique. However, to his surprise… with each heartbeat, the power of his secret technique would dissipate by 10 percent.
“Thump, thump!”
The sound became louder and louder. When Yan Chen’s strike finally approached Chen Changqing, it already dispersed into nothing.
“Suppress!”
A shot of light flashed across Chen Changqing’s eyes, and he made an incantation gesture with his right hand.
As he shouted—
“Thump!”
Half of a heartbeat seemed to have transformed into an odd blow, instantly causing Yan Chen to spit out a mouthful of blood.
“This…”
Yan Chen’s countenance altered slightly. A trace of confusion could be even seen in the depths of his eyes.
What kind of attack was this?
“How is this possible?” The expression of Elder Ma of the Lihun Sect changed drastically.
He saw clearly that wisps of mysterious energy instantly disintegrated Yan Chen’s Soul-swallowing Wind.
It was one of the top secret skills of the Lihun Sect!
How could it be cracked so easily?
“Yes, the Soul-swallowing Wind must have some weakness, and Zhang Hanyang has spotted it, hasn’t he?”
“Zhang Hanyang is too demonic!”
For a moment, Elder Ma felt depressed. He felt in front of Zhang Hanyang, his secret skills were as exposed as a naked beauty. He felt ashamed and wretched!
He was also a little anxious. If that was the case, once Zhang Hanyang taught more people this art, it would be a heavy blow to the Lihun Sect.
Well, so far, it was just the Soul-swallowing Wind that had been fended off. That wasn’t enough for him to panic yet.
But the next moment, Elder Ma’s face turned a little livid.
“Good, very good!”
Yan Chen gritted his teeth and calmed down the turbulent Spiritual Force in his meridians. He then cast another strike.
“Dead of the World!”
The Lihun Sect was famous for its soul-related secret techniques. In the martial arts world where martial arts prevailed, there were few defensive means against spells. Therefore, the secret techniques of the Lihun Sect were relatively difficult to defend against.
However, this move—the Dead of the World—was more difficult to cultivate than the previous one. It was one of the top three secret techniques of the Lihun Sect.
“Roar! Roar! Roar!”
A wisp of black mist suddenly slipped out from the white bracelet on Yan Chen’s left wrist. It extended ten meters forward and kept growing bigger and bigger. Spirits of the dead spread out, as though countless ghosts were rushing to Chen Changqing to swallow him.
Those spirits were not real souls of the dead but shadows created by this secret skill.
In the Lihun Sect, the Dead of the World was the simplest but also the most difficult one among the top secret skills.
It was simple because anyone could practice it. The real challenge was that it took you a long time to master it and give full play to it.
One had to continue to nurture the numinous spirit treasures in order to complement this secret technique.
Many disciples of the Lihun Sect knew that the sect master’s Space Ring was the nourished treasure. Once, the sect master used the Dead of the World to fight two martial artists at the Heaven Middle Stage. He killed them with this move, proving how fierce and powerful it was.
Yan Chen’s bracelet was also a divine weapon. Although its grade was not very high among the divine weapons, it was enough to support this move.
“You can’t block this one!”
Yan Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.
The Dead of the World was not the second move he had planned to cast. But Emperor Qing made him feel that this battle could be tricky. After the first strike, Yan Chen was injured. So, he decided to use the third secret skill he prepared right now in order to crush Emperor Qing and win the battle neatly.
“Your secret skill is indeed powerful.”
In the face of so many spirits, Chen Changqing nodded slightly and didn’t panic at all.
“Too bad that your opponent is me,” he said flatly.
“Demonic Dragon Seal!”
“Buzz!”
Chen Changqing began to glow in a light blue color from head to foot. A wisp of black light, like a loach, was rotating around him.
If one took a closer look, one would find that the loach was actually a tiny black dragon!
“Grrr!”
As the dragon roar sounded, all kinds of threads suddenly appeared in front of Chen Changqing. The threads crisscrossed, forming a complicated square mark!
The moment the mark appeared, the face of the elder of the Lihun Sect changed dramatically.
That was because he had sensed a restraining force emanated from the mark!
This mark could destroy the Dead of the World!
Elder Ma turned pale with fright.
Now that the Soul-swallowing Wind was thwarted, would the Dead of the World be foiled as well?
Then, wouldn’t it mean that Emperor Qing’s secret skills could restrain those of Lihun Sect?
“Dear lord, I can’t believe it.”
“I’ll use this technique to defeat you!”
Chen Changqing flung his right hand forward.
“Sizzle!”
The complicated seal kept pressing forward. When it came into contact with the Dead of the World, sizzling sounds were heard. Countless souls had been burnt into steam, while Chen Changqing’s seal, which was as fiery as bunt iron, was constantly destroying the thousands of souls.
“How is this possible?”
Yan Chen was suddenly at a loss.
Seeing that more than half of the soul energy had dissipated, he knew that he had lost this battle!
The Dead of the World was one of his five strongest Secret Skills. These skills worked basically in the same way because they were all soul-related secret skills. Now that one seal his opponent cast could suppress the Death of the World, it would certainly be able to suppress the other Secret Skills he had.
A seal?
Something suddenly occurred to him. It was said that when Zhang Hanyang fought against an enemy, he often used several mysterious seals to attack, which made it difficult for people to guard against him.
“Who the hell is he?”
A bitter expression appeared on Yan Chen’s face.
With a wave of his right hand, he withdrew the rest of the soul energy. The consumption so far already made him feel heart-wretched.
“I lost.”
In the face of this attack, he did not make any defense.
It could be imagined that when the blow hit him, Yan Chen would probably die.
However, everyone was aware that Elder Ma, who was standing by his side, would never let Yan Chen die.
Sure enough.
As the seal continued to bear down upon Yan Chen, Elder Ma stepped forward to shield Yan Chen in a flash.
Seeing this, Chen Changqing summoned his seal back.
He cupped one hand in the other before his chest and remarked, “Thank you for letting me win.”
“I’m sorry that I won this battle by fluke.”
Hearing this, Elder Ma’s cold face became less stern. He stared at Chen Changqing for three seconds and said slowly, “When we lose, we won’t deny. If Lihun Sect can afford to lose, we won’t go back on our word. I just want to ask you one question. Is it because of your constitution that you can perform the two skills or…?”
Although it was a little rude to inquire about it, he really couldn’t help it. If everyone could cultivate these two skills at will, then the Lihun Sect would really be in trouble.
“It’s because of my cultivation method and special constitution.”
Chen Changqing answered with a nod.
“Oh.”
Elder Ma looked more relaxed now. It could be seen that he was relieved.
What was more, he then laughed and looked at First Elder of Heavenly Knights Sect.
With a smile, he said, “Congratulations, there is an amazing Young Lord in Heavenly Knights Sect. Emperor Qing has won this battle. So, he is this year’s Immortal King. This is really unexpected, but I also need to congratulate you, Emperor Qing. You do have a good older brother, hahaha…”
In the hearty laughter, Elder Ma quickly left with Yan Chen, Ye Longyuan, and the others. Soon, they disappeared from the sight of the crowd.
