Ye Chen raised his arms to block. He trusted the dense muscle fibers he had forged in the dark forest.
The impact was negated by his hardened skin. The electrical Qi bypassed his physical defense entirely. It shocked his internal organs and sent searing pain through his chest.
Ye Chen was thrown backward. His boots skidded heavily across the granite stage. He tasted fresh copper blood.
"Is that all the dead ghost can do?" a disciple yelled from the stands.
High above the arena in the luxurious VIP pavilion Su Rou sat upon a velvet chair. She wore magnificent golden silk robes. She casually sipped tea from a delicate porcelain cup.
She looked down at the stage with absolute boredom.
"Why did Elder Wang insist I attend this farce?" Su Rou asked her attendant. Her voice dripped with aristocratic disdain. "He promised the servant was contained in the Myriad Beast Forest to ripen his resentment."
She set her cup down on a silver tray. "Now the boy is parading around the arena. Elder Wang is becoming incompetent."
"Shall I summon the Inner Sect guards to apprehend the boy?" the attendant asked nervously. "We can claim he assaulted an Elder and drag him to the dungeons."
"No," Su Rou sighed. "Let the Thunder Fist cripple him first. If we arrest him now the crowd will demand a tribunal."
She leaned forward slightly. "The boy needs to feel absolute crushing despair in front of everyone. A broken spirit yields a much richer harvest for my ascension ritual."
Down on the fighting stage Ye Chen wiped the blood from his chin. His muscles twitched involuntarily from the residual electrical charge.
He ignored the cheering crowd. He focused his sharp perception entirely on the giant standing before him.
His brutal survival in the Myriad Beast Forest had honed his combat instincts. He watched the flow of the blue lightning dancing across Lei Bao.
The giant relied on brute force and electrical momentum. His attacks were straight and highly predictable. Ye Chen noticed the dense concentration of Qi pooling in three primary pressure points across Lei Bao's chest and shoulders.
They regulated the lightning armor. Disrupting those specific points would destabilize his elemental defense.
"You are bleeding," Lei Bao laughed. He advanced across the cracked stone. "Where is your arrogant tone now? Beg for mercy right now."
Lei Bao cracked his knuckles. "I might leave you with one working arm to sweep the courtyards."
"You misunderstand the situation," Ye Chen said. He dropped into a relaxed martial stance.
Lei Bao swelled with fury. He charged again. A massive electrical storm gathered around his entire body. He transformed into a living thunderbolt.
Ye Chen channeled his dense Qi into his legs. He relied on raw agility and the footwork he had carved into his bones.
He stepped forward with blistering speed. He ducked under the massive swinging fist by a mere fraction of an inch.
Lei Bao struck nothing but empty air. The shockwave of his missed punch shattered the stone pillar behind Ye Chen.
"Where did you go?" Lei Bao gasped. He looked around as the thick dust cleared. "Face me."
"I am right here," Ye Chen spoke directly behind him.
Lei Bao spun and swung his heavy arm in a wide arc. Ye Chen shifted his weight and leaned back. The giant fist grazed the fabric of his torn robes.
"Stand still!" Lei Bao bellowed. He swung wildly at the agile target. He wasted massive amounts of Qi on empty space.
"Your Qi is exactly as blind as your master," Ye Chen said. He circled the giant with fluid calculated steps.
"Shut up!" Lei Bao screamed.
"You are too slow," Ye Chen stated.
Ye Chen launched his decisive counterattack. He abandoned his rusted sword. He used his bare fists.
He aimed with absolute precision at the three primary meridians he had identified on the giant man. He executed the Chaos Bone Shattering Fist.
His knuckles struck flesh and bone. He hit Lei Bao three times in the span of a single heartbeat. The blows delivered devastating internal force bypassing the electrical armor.
Lei Bao screamed in pure agony.
The blue electrical armor surrounding his body imploded. The sudden backlash of disrupted elemental Qi tore through his own internal meridians. Lei Bao fell to his knees. He coughed up a massive pool of dark blood.
His eyes rolled back in his head.
"This is payment for the years of humiliation," Ye Chen said. He stood over the fallen giant.
Ye Chen delivered a heavy kick directly to Lei Bao's chest. The giant man was launched through the air. He flew off the elevated stage and crashed into the stone seating area of the front rows.
He crushed several stone benches before falling entirely unconscious.
The entire stadium fell silent. The undisputed champion of the Outer Sect had just been dismantled by a servant boy.
"Impossible," Elder Wang muttered from the elevated jade platform. His face drained of color. His hands shook. "Lei Bao was at the peak of Stage nine. How could a cripple accomplish this?"
Panic overtook Elder Wang. He looked at the black iron token Ye Chen still held.
If Ye Chen officially won this duel he was legally exonerated. He would be protected by the highest sect laws. The secret of the toxic Spirit Vein would eventually be exposed. He had to stop the boy right now.
"He cheated!" Elder Wang screamed. He pointed an accusing finger down at the stage. "He used a demonic artifact. I saw it with my own eyes. He must be put down to protect the sect."
With a subtle flick of his wrist Elder Wang launched a tiny poisoned needle. It flew directly at Ye Chen's neck.
Ye Chen's heightened perception caught the faint glint of steel in the morning sunlight.
The countless life and death battles in the dark forest took over. His right hand shot upward with blinding speed.
He caught the needle between his index and middle finger. He stopped the lethal tip mere millimeters from his own throat.
The crowd gasped. They realized what the Elder had just attempted.
"You truly have no honor Elder Wang," Ye Chen said. His voice echoed like the final judgment of a deity. "Allow me to return your property."
Ye Chen channeled his strength into his arm. He threw the needle back at the jade platform with terrifying speed.
Elder Wang shrieked. He threw his massive body backward. He barely dodged the projectile in time.
The poisoned needle grazed his fat cheek. It left a thin line of blood before embedding itself deep into the wooden pillar behind him.
"Arrest him!" Elder Wang sobbed. He clutched his bleeding face in terror. "Kill him!"
No one moved. The Enforcers looked at Ye Chen standing victorious on the stage. They looked at the defeated Lei Bao bleeding in the stands. They looked at the black iron token Ye Chen held high.
Sect law was absolute. Ye Chen had undeniably won.
"I am the victor of this duel," Ye Chen announced. His voice carried the immense weight of undisputed authority. "By the founding laws of the Azure Cloud Sect my innocence is proven. I claim the title of Number One Outer Disciple."
Ye Chen closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath. He forcefully circulated the Chaos Body Tempering Art.
He drew upon the dense residual Qi lingering in the arena air from Lei Bao. The energy flowed into his meridians. His internal art refined the scattered lightning Qi into pure soothing fuel. The minor internal injuries from the electrical attacks healed rapidly.
He stood tall as the absolute king of the arena.
Up in the VIP pavilion the delicate porcelain teacup shattered onto the floor.
Su Rou stood up slowly. She looked down at Ye Chen. She wore a serene terrifying smile. A suffocating wave of pure killing intent washed over the entire stadium. The temperature in the arena plummeted.
Ye Chen felt the cold pressure pressing against his skin. He knew that aura intimately.
"Finally," Ye Chen whispered. He looked up at the golden pavilion to meet the eyes of the woman who had ruined his life.
"Come down here Su Rou," Ye Chen challenged. He tightened his grip on the rusted iron sword. "Let us settle this debt."