“Is that true?” Su Rong blinked her bright dark eyes, her long eyelashes trembling, betraying the unrest in her heart.
“No interest in lying to you!” Pang Shao looked at Su Rong, his gaze lingering on her curvaceous and alluring figure. He thought to himself what a tempting beauty she was, no wonder Ye Chu had a secret crush on her. “Placing your hopes on that pretty boy Chen Bowen is overestimating him far too much.”
“Don’t try to scare us here!” Zhang Su’er saw Su Rong’s face turn pale and mustered her courage to snort at Pang Shao. She felt he was purely trying to frighten them. A man who only ruined women claiming to be stronger than Chen Bowen had about as much credibility as Ye Chu deciding to turn over a new leaf!
“If you don’t believe me, just wait and see!” Pang Shao offered no further explanation and turned his eyes to the duel arena.
In the arena, Chen Bowen and Sha Shan attacked with ferocious intensity. Streams of conceptual realm energy shot out from each, whipping up gusts of wind with every move. Their strength was evenly matched, and each strike made the opponent’s body shudder.
“Didn’t expect you to have some skill!” Chen Bowen stared at Sha Shan, a cold glint in his eyes. The conceptual energy coiling around him grew denser, converging into overwhelming pressure that bore down directly on Sha Shan.
“Much stronger than you!” Sha Shan laughed loudly. “Let me show you my Mountain-Cleaving Kick!”
With those words, conceptual energy surged beneath Sha Shan’s feet, merging with the vigour in his legs. He unleashed a barrage of kicks, sweeping horizontally with genuine force that seemed capable of splitting mountains and rivers, utterly domineering. Seeing Sha Shan suddenly deploy such powerful footwork, Su Zhengping and the others shot to their feet, their expressions changing dramatically.
Even Ye Chu straightened slightly, looking at Sha Shan in the arena with a trace of gravity. “This is an innate-level martial technique! He is only in the conceptual realm, yet he can actually use it!”
Ye Chu could not help but feel surprised. Innate-level techniques were not particularly rare, but in small kingdoms like Yao and Sha, they were precious. Moreover, such techniques were generally only performable by warriors who had reached the innate realm. For someone below that to use them required special methods or circumstances, and the cost was considerable!
At least in small kingdoms like Yao and Sha, unless one came from extreme wealth and privilege, no one would pay such a price. Even those from rich families might not expend it to practise innate-level techniques.
Take Pang Shao, for instance. Despite his immensely wealthy background, he had not bothered to learn any innate-level techniques. His grandfather believed Pang Shao would definitely reach the innate realm, so there was no need to spend heavily on techniques he could naturally learn later, wasting time in the process.
Yet this warrior from the small kingdom of Sha had actually practised an innate-level technique and reached a certain proficiency. This could not fail to astonish Ye Chu.
“I lost to his innate-level technique!” Pang Shao grumbled resentfully. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have listened to my grandfather. I should have learned a few innate-level techniques first.”
Ye Chu smiled and kept his eyes on the arena. Once the innate-level technique appeared, Chen Bowen began to struggle, forced to dodge kick after kick.
Neither Ye Chu nor Pang Shao was surprised by this outcome. Though an innate-level technique could not display its full power in the hands of a conceptual realm practitioner, it far surpassed any below innate level. Without an innate-level technique of his own, Chen Bowen would find it hard to counter.
“Chen Bowen has lost!” Pang Shao watched the arena, then suddenly turned to Ye Chu. “Is there any way to beat him without an innate-level technique?”
“Of course there is! Even the simplest attack, if you fully unleash its essence, can completely counter that Mountain-Cleaving Kick!” Ye Chu laughed. “Innate techniques may be stronger than ordinary ones, but it also depends on the user!”
As Ye Chu and Pang Shao spoke, Chen Bowen was forced to the edge of the arena with nowhere left to retreat. Gritting his teeth, he exploded with vigour and met the attack head-on.
“Good, come on!” Sha Shan laughed. His leg cleaved down with force enough to shatter stone and steel, striking Chen Bowen’s foot squarely.
“Crack…”
Though only a faint sound of bone cracking, it rang out clearly across the arena. The Yao Kingdom crowd surged to their feet, staring in disbelief at Chen Bowen, who clutched his leg in agony, rolling on the ground.
“This is impossible!”
Not just Zhang Su’er and her group, even Su Zhengping and the others straightened up, faces paling with panic.
“How could Chen Bowen lose! He is the foremost of Yao Kingdom’s younger generation. He should be undefeated!”
Everyone stared blankly at Chen Bowen, thrown out of the arena, sweating coldly from the pain as he clutched his leg. Their minds went blank. Chen Bowen had lost. The consequences were severe. Would Yao Kingdom truly have to cede territory?
“The younger generation of Yao Kingdom is only this much. I heard this was your strongest? Yet so easily struck down!” The Sha Kingdom leader laughed loudly, his voice echoing from the city tower, grating on every ear and provoking furious glares. “Anyone else? If not, admit defeat. Hand over the city and send that beauty here.”
His arrogant words reached every ear. Ye Chu glanced at Su Rong and saw her face ashen, lips trembling with anger.
“Heh heh! Looks like your dream lover is about to be taken!” Pang Shao gloated beside him. “What a pity. With those red lips and white teeth, if she were mine, I really couldn’t bear to let someone else take her.”
Ye Chu rolled his eyes, well aware of Pang Shao’s intentions. He simply wanted Ye Chu to help him regain face.
Seeing Ye Chu ignore him, Pang Shao could not resist prompting. “You’re not really too lazy to step in even now, are you?”
“No interest!” Ye Chu was not worried about Su Rong. Even if Yao Kingdom truly lost, the Yao King would hardly hand over the city and Su Rong to Sha Kingdom.
As Pang Shao continued trying to persuade Ye Chu, a figure shot forward and landed in the arena. “Ye Tian of Yao Kingdom. Let me experience your great moves!”
The Yao Kingdom crowd, faces previously ashen, saw Ye Tian step up and felt hope reignite.
“You?” Sha Shan sneered. “Even your Yao City’s strongest, Chen Bowen, was no match for me. You coming up is just following in his footsteps!”
“He may be inferior to you, but that does not mean I am!” Ye Tian replied calmly, extending a hand to his opponent with great poise. “Please!”
Under normal circumstances, Ye Tian’s words would have drawn curses from Chen Bowen’s admirers, but now everyone could not help feeling anticipation, hoping Ye Tian truly surpassed Chen Bowen.
“Let me see just what gives you the confidence to say that.” Sha Shan laughed. His attacks grew fiercer, and from the start he used his innate-level Mountain-Cleaving Kick, intent on kicking Ye Tian out in one blow.
“Knowing the opponent has an innate-level technique and still going up. He’s asking for a beating!” Pang Shao shook his head. “Your big brother isn’t very smart either! Just like you…”
But Pang Shao’s words trailed off as his eyes widened. “He… he…”
In the arena, Ye Tian faced the Mountain-Cleaving Kick not by dodging, but by flipping his palm in fluid arcs, meeting the kicks directly.
“This world is not limited to you alone being able to use innate-realm techniques in the conceptual realm!” Ye Tian said calmly. With one strike, he forced Sha Shan back.
Innate-level palm technique!
Ye Chu’s eyes lit up. He had not expected Ye Tian to also wield an innate-level technique! This sight sent the entire Yao Kingdom into ecstasy, cheering wildly for Ye Tian. Su Rong stood beside Ye Chu, colour returning to her cheeks, fists clenched tightly, revealing her inner tension!
