How should one describe Yang Cheng's sword strike?
Plain and unremarkable.
Completely different from Baili Guan's flashy and aggressive attack.
Yang Cheng's move had no flair at all—just a simple, straightforward thrust.
It looked like something an ordinary person might do.
But several people with solid skill in the Sword Dao suddenly had their pupils shrink.
They clearly saw how terrifying that strike really was.
There was something profound about it—like a return to the purest form.
It didn't feel like it came from a two-year-old child, but from a grandmaster of the sword.
Baili Guan's expression changed drastically.
He could tell right away how dangerous this sword strike was.
"Outer Path Sword Control."
In the blink of an eye, Baili Guan switched from offense to defense, going all out to block.
Streams of flame surged up from his body, forming a massive flaming sword to shield himself.
But Yang Cheng's wooden sword pierced through it like it was nothing but tofu.
Clang!
The wooden sword struck the back of Baili Guan's own sword.
A powerful force surged through his weapon and flooded into his arm.
His entire arm instantly went numb.
He sensed things were going bad, but he refused to admit defeat.
"Peach Blossom Seal—explode!"
This was one of Taoshan's signature techniques. It allowed a cultivator to store power in the form of a peach blossom seal inside their body and release it in moments of crisis.
In a flash, the seal in Baili Guan's body exploded, sending torrents of energy surging through him.
His power soared.
"Break!"
He shouted, managing to withstand the force of Yang Cheng's strike.
That gave Baili Guan a huge confidence boost. "So this is all you've got, Yang Cheng?"
His eyes gleamed as he prepared to strike back.
"That's far enough," Yang Cheng said, his face unchanged.
So what if Baili Guan's strength had spiked?
Even the grandest palace would collapse if its main pillar were shattered.
The next moment—
"Northern Sea Sword Codex, Second Form—Great Fish Surfaces."
Yang Cheng's right hand pushed forward suddenly.
His sword shot into the air, aimed at Baili Guan's eyes.
"This little trick again?" Baili Guan sneered, tilting his head slightly to dodge it.
What he didn't expect was Yang Cheng's palm arriving in front of him at the same time. It turned into a fist and slammed into the back of Baili Guan's sword.
But this time, Baili Guan managed to take the hit head-on.
"Your strength is impressive, but it's not enough to beat me now!" Baili Guan roared, eyes bloodshot.
Just then—
"Your Highness, be careful!" the Taoshan elder shouted.
Baili Guan suddenly realized he had missed something.
Then it hit him—he had forgotten about Yang Cheng's height.
Yang Cheng was shorter than him.
So the sword hadn't been aimed straight ahead, but had flown upward.
And what goes up… comes down.
"Shit!" Baili Guan's face twisted in panic.
He sensed the threat bearing down on his head from above.
To avoid being skewered from above, he had no choice but to dodge aside.
That single movement gave Yang Cheng the opening he needed.
Baili Guan knew this, but he had no choice.
Whizz!
The wooden sword came plunging down from the sky, landing right where Baili Guan had just been standing.
At the same time, Yang Cheng's fist smashed into his chest.
Baili Guan went flying again, several bones snapping on impact.
"Your Highness!"
The Taoshan elder's face changed dramatically.
Swish!
He immediately dashed over and caught Baili Guan.
Then he quickly used spiritual power to check Baili Guan's condition.
Thankfully, he let out a sigh of relief.
Baili Guan wasn't fatally injured.
Which meant the Crown Prince of Great Zhou had held back.
But Baili Guan himself didn't feel relieved at all.
His face was pale, and he looked completely broken inside.
"Wow, Chengcheng is amazing!" Tang Xingyu clapped her hands happily.
To Baili Guan, that was salt rubbed into an open wound.
Pfft!
He vomited blood again and passed out.
But no one felt sorry for him.
He had brought this upon himself from the start.
Now, all eyes were on Yang Cheng.
They had all heard rumors before, but none of them had taken them seriously.
After all, who'd believe a two-year-old could be this powerful?
But now—
They had witnessed it with their own eyes.
"The Crown Prince of Great Zhou is seriously terrifying."
"With power like that, if he doesn't fall early, he might surpass Emperor Qian Yuan someday."
"Is Heaven really this biased in favor of Great Zhou?"
Some from the major factions were visibly worried.
If the Marquis Champion of Great Zhou wasn't here, they might not have been able to suppress their killing intent. They might've already tried to eliminate Yang Cheng right then and there.
All the other young prodigies present had grim expressions.
They now had a formidable new rival in the battle for the Ancient Desolation Tower.
"Yang Cheng… you've gotten even stronger," Yang Xiu thought to himself. "But I bet you have no idea—I've gotten even stronger than you."
Unlike before, his thoughts were well hidden. He didn't show anything on his face.
"I am An Changshi, elder of Taoshan. Greetings, Crown Prince of Great Zhou."
The Taoshan elder finally spoke.
Yang Cheng turned to look at him.
Yun Jinghuai's eyes narrowed with a sharp glint.
If that elder dared show any hostility, Yun Jinghuai would make him regret it.
"This whole matter was due to our prince's rashness. He overstepped and offended Your Highness the Crown Prince of Great Zhou."
The elder from Taoshan spoke sincerely, "Here, I offer my formal apology to Your Highness the Crown Prince. I hope Your Highness will be generous and forgiving."
Whether it was sincere or not, since the elder had shown the proper attitude, Yang Cheng naturally wouldn't fuss over it.
"There's no need, Elder. Baili Guan is young and full of fire. I can understand," Yang Cheng said calmly.
His composure made it feel like he was the one who was twelve, while Baili Guan was the toddler.
"Thank you for Your Highness's magnanimity," the Taoshan elder replied.
At this moment, he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed in his own prince.
Baili Guan had been completely crushed—both in strength and in bearing—by a two-year-old. It was beyond embarrassing.
"The Crown Prince of Great Zhou truly lives up to the name. You've opened this Divine Son's eyes," a voice suddenly rang out.
The crowd's expression shifted.
The speaker was Nangong Yi, Divine Son of the Bian'an Divine Sect.
Now this was a real top-tier prodigy, far more renowned than Baili Guan.
Yang Cheng glanced at him, then directly ignored him.
He had a very poor opinion of Nangong Yi.
He'd already spotted Princess Changle standing at Nangong Yi's side.
This so-called Divine Son of the Bian'an Divine Sect had, in his past life, been toyed with completely by the Divine Maiden Changle—practically her bootlicker.
And it looked like this life was headed down the same path, just starting a few years earlier.
Made sense too.
In their past life, at this point, Princess Changle hadn't yet been exiled from Great Zhou. So Nangong Yi didn't even have the chance to grovel.
As for her surviving, Yang Cheng wasn't the least bit surprised.
If the Divine Maiden Changle were so easy to kill, she wouldn't have been called that in the first place.
'Lu Jingshu, in your last life, you hid too well. Neither I nor the Great Zhou imperial family saw through you,' Yang Cheng snorted inwardly. 'But this time you've shown your hand early. If I still let you stir up chaos, I don't deserve to have a system.'
There was something seriously wrong with the Divine Maiden Changle.
She always seemed to be one step ahead, predicting every move, yet hiding herself perfectly—as if she already knew the future.
And in her past life, she'd even become the Master of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion.
'She's probably not a reincarnator but someone who used the Heavenly Secret Divine Stone to deduce the future.'
If she were a reincarnator, she would've realized something was wrong the moment the imperial family publicly declared he had the Divine Dragon Sword Body. She would've made a different move.
But she hadn't.
Which proved she likely calculated the future—but not with total certainty.
The fact that she already knew the future in the last life made it even less likely she was a reincarnator.
Others from Great Zhou had also noticed Princess Changle now.
Their expressions all turned grim.
"Princess Changle!" Yang Ye snapped. "You were supposed to be executed by order of Her Majesty the Empress Dowager. How are you still alive?"
Many around them looked visibly shocked.
If that was true, then this was indeed bizarre.
The geniuses of the Great Zhao Empire, including Nangong Yi, looked at Princess Changle with even more burning interest.
Yang Ye's words only added to her mystique.
Able to foresee fate and come back from death? That was basically a divine woman.
"This just proves Heaven hasn't abandoned me," Lu Jingshu said coldly.
At that moment, Yang Xiu also looked her way.
She hurriedly sent him a secret voice transmission, "Sixth Highness, I was hunted by Empress Dowager Meng a year and a half ago and forced to flee to the Great Zhao Empire. But everything I've done has been to serve you."
She didn't care what others thought, but Yang Xiu—the Heaven's Mandate Emperor—was someone she had to hold onto no matter what.
Yang Xiu's gaze softened slightly. He replied in kind, "You've suffered."
"Hahaha, Miss Lu survived disaster—there must be blessings ahead," Nangong Yi laughed. "Miss Lu is a divine woman, yet your Great Zhou Empire failed to appreciate her. Now that she's come to our Great Zhao Empire, we'll treasure her like a gem."
Having learned from the earlier mess with Xie Wanyin, Yang Ye didn't need Yang Cheng to nudge him this time. He handled it perfectly.
He sneered, "Another guy picking up someone else's cast-offs."
"What did you say?" Nangong Yi's face turned cold.
Lu Jingshu's eyes flared with rage.
She understood the implication right away.
He was comparing her to Xie Wanyin.
But who the hell was Xie Wanyin? How could she even be mentioned in the same breath as her?
"Outrageous!"
"How dare you insult the Divine Son and Miss Lu!"
The geniuses from Great Zhao were all furious.
"This woman caused endless trouble in our Great Zhou, which finally pushed even the kind-hearted Empress Dowager to order her execution," Yang Ye said. "She's the textbook definition of a femme fatale. And now you lot in Great Zhao want to treat her like treasure? What a joke."
Nangong Yi glared at him coldly for a moment, then looked at Yang Cheng.
"Crown Prince of Great Zhou, your dog here is barking at this Divine Son. You'd best give me an explanation."
Yang Cheng raised a brow and said, "First, seems like the Divine Son here has a habit of viewing his own followers as dogs. I'm not like that. In my eyes, my third brother is simply my third brother. Second…"
He paused and stared seriously at Nangong Yi.
By now, Nangong Yi's face was getting very unpleasant.
The geniuses from Great Zhao standing nearby also looked uncomfortable.
Was it true that the Divine Son saw them as dogs?
But that wasn't even the worst of it.
Then Yang Cheng added, "Now that I take a closer look… if anyone here looks like a dog, it's you, Divine Son. Your voice too—it really does sound like a dog barking."