Zhao Yuan's mouth curled into a cruel smile as he slowly advanced towards the dueling platform, preparing for the late-stage Foundation Establishment group tournament.
Many cultivators nowadays live too easy lives, having never experienced bloodshed or fiery battles. A little ruthless force from him, and they would break down into tears, forfeiting the match.
That's how he made his way up in both city and state-level competitions. If it hadn't been for the referees who intervened in time, everyone who'd gone against him would be dead by now.
However, it is a bit more challenging to kill someone in the broad daylight under the watchful eyes of the Seek Dao Sect.
No matter, if he cannot kill, then he shall scare his opponents into submission and hinder their path of growth. This way, there will be one less potential threat in the Great Era fights.
This time, his opponent is one of those so-called geniuses from the Seek Dao Sect?
He doesn't care. Whoever it may be, they will be rendered useless in front of an absolute gap in power.
"Greetings, I am Wei Nanfei from Seek Dao Sect."
Wei Nanfei is a fellow disciple of Lu Yang. He was poisoned in his childhood by his stepmother and was saved by the passing Dai Bufan.
"Independent cultivator, Zhao Yuan." Zhao Yuan responded dismissively, looking down upon Wei Nanfei.
Were it not for the finals, Wei Nanfei wouldn't even be eligible to share the same dueling platform with him.
After all, he is a powerful cultivator who is at the peak of the Unification stage and chose to Start Over after Disbanding Cultivation. He will certainly ascend another level through this re-cultivation and reach the Transcendance Tribulation Stage.
"Please, Zhao Yuan."
Zhao Yuan moved, a green long knife appeared in his hand. A Dragon Eye Stone the size of a pigeon egg embedded in the hilt, and he slashed horizontally towards Wei Nanfei.
"So fast."
Wei Nanfei exclaimed, barely dodging the attack.
Zhao Yuan refused to let up, he twirled his wrist and the green long knife rotated mid-air before once again lunging for Wei Nanfei's abdomen.
Clink——
Wei Nanfei drew two axes from his waist. The axes intersected and blocked the green long knife.
"These axes look very familiar."
Man Gu muttered, then turned to ask Li Haoran next to him: "Junior Brother Li, do you recognize these axes?"
At this moment, Li Haoran was enjoying the company of Su Yiren on his left and Qin Yanyan on his right. His left hand had already been clenched by Su Yiren several times.
Thankfully, Li Haoran was capable of regenerating his limbs, and his wounds healed quickly. He treated it as a way to experiment with the Golden Core.
"These are imitations of the Open Mountain Axe, which I helped Wei Nanfei craft."
"Open Mountain Axe?"
Man Gu also found this name familiar.
Li Haoran then further explained, "It's the axe that the River Spirit gave us during the initiation test. There were three axes: the Mortal Axe, the Spirit Treasure Open Mountain Axe, and the Immortal Artifact Open Sky Axe. Wei Nanfei liked the style of the Open Mountain Axe, so he asked me to forge two for him."
Only then did Man Gu understand.
By this time the battle on the dueling platform had reached a fever pitch, and Wei Nanfei was proving more difficult than Zhao Yuan had anticipated.
Even though he was confident of defeating Wei Nanfei, this level of battle wasn't enough to shake Wei Nanfei's Dao heart.
In ancient times, Zhao Yuan loved to play the role of a sheep in wolf's clothing. He would pretend to be a genius to shatter the Dao heart of other geniuses.
"I must take some action!"
In determination, Zhao Yuan activated his trump card. His blood boiled, his skin swelled red—as if he had transformed into a frenzied beast!
The Dragon Eye Stone embedded in the hilt of the knife emitted a sinister red glow as if an ancient dragon was opening its eyes, exuding an oppressive force!
Boom——
The long knife slashed towards Wei Nanfei's face. Even though Wei Nanfei blocked it with his axes, his arms trembled slightly from the force of the blow.
...
"What kind of cultivation technique is this?"
Yang Ding frowned. The Prison Suppressing Sect didn't do much research on cultivation techniques but Yang Ding could tell that Zhao Yuan was using some technique that temporarily bursts with power.
"It seems like some kind of technique which burns lifespan to temporarily enhance combat power." analysed Luo Hongxia. It's very rare for someone in the present era to practice such a technique.
"It's the 'Heaven Burning and Blood Igniting Art'."
Fairy Eternity spoke unemotionally, showing off her extensive knowledge of ancient times.
Methods to burn one's lifespan to enhance one's battle power were common in ancient times. The Five Immortals of the Ancients burned a few years of their life spans for fun when they were free.
The Time Immortal often burned his lifespan even before becoming an immortal and was very difficult to deal with.
After all, the true body of Time Immortal was the Firmament Tree, the existence of the tree symbolizes the spanning of the human history or even longer, and its lifespan is close to infinity.
"So it's this technique." Although others were unfamiliar with it, they had heard the name of it before.
"Then the disciples of Seek Dao Sect are going to have a hard time. I'm afraid they can't win against this Zhao Yuan guy." Prince Jiang Qun frowned slightly.
Many signs indicate that Zhao Yuan might be a cultivator from ancient times.
"It's okay, Wei Nanfei also practices the 'Heaven Burning and Blood Igniting Art'."
"Really?" Qiu Jin'an was surprised, thinking no wonder you could recognize Zhao Yuan's technique.