What was going on?
The fifth Dragon Palace — the one who claimed the divine skill opportunity wasn't Wang Yiwu, but the unknown Zhang Yong?
The nationally renowned War God's disciple hadn't appeared here, yet a scion of the declining Fengxian Zhang clan had triumphed?
"Where's Wang Yiwu?" Chong Xuan Sheng asked directly. That was what he cared about most.
"I don't know." Zhang Yong shook his head with a somewhat wooden expression. "I haven't seen him."
Even Li Longchuan couldn't help but be curious. "That's strange. He's not in any of the five Dragon Palaces. Could he have failed to find the gate?"
"That seems unlikely?" Xu Xiangqian rubbed his smooth forehead. "Li Longchuan, didn't you say that Wang fellow was quite formidable? He couldn't have been that foolish, could he?"
"Perhaps he went into the mountains, or the forests." Jiang Chen speculated.
He had a premonition that those two directions held great danger.
There had been exactly fifty cultivators who entered the Celestial Residence Secret Realm, filling all five Dragon Palaces.
But entering the Dragon Palace was itself a form of selection.
None of the five palaces were at full capacity. Where had the others gone?
They must have gone to the distant mountains or old forests on either bank of the river. Or perhaps they were still walking along the two ends of that small stream.
Chong Xuan Sheng clapped his palms. "Who cares! Everyone's here, the Heaven-Reaching Tower is open — let's go claim our opportunities!"
Being able to avoid facing Wang Yiwu's pressure directly was the greatest relief for him.
The divine skill was what mattered. No one said more. They all turned toward the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
Chong Xuan Sheng lingered at the back, pulling Jiang Chen aside, unable to contain his smugness. "He fell for it!"
Jiang Chen was curious. "How so?"
"After entering the Celestial Residence Secret Realm, I deliberately used a tracking-disruption secret art! Anyone tracking me would be led in the wrong direction!" Chong Xuan Sheng said gleefully. "Wang Yiwu must have charged straight into the mountains and been buried by the dangers within!"
Jiang Chen: ...
No wonder the pursuit sensing always pointed straight ahead, never turning!
This fatty was truly insidious.
Just as the gates of the Heaven-Reaching Tower swung open and the victors of the five Dragon Palaces were about to claim their rewards —
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of thunderous explosions.
Everyone turned in surprise.
Below the stone platform, rising one after another from the unfathomable depths of the cloud sea, mountain peaks shot upward.
The peaks pierced through the cloud ocean like stakes driven into a river, forming a magnificent bridge across the clouds.
And at the end of this bridge, a figure moved with an almost constant stride, striding forward!
A long face with a high nose, eyes like a hawk's gaze.
Long legs stretched wide, as if chasing clouds and outrunning the sun.
What a Wang Yiwu!
This entrance instantly outshone everyone who had emerged from the Dragon Palaces.
Xu Xiangqian suddenly clapped his palms. "I know! The divine skill keys can't be just five — there might be seven! Two more are in the distant mountains and old forests on either bank. The five keys we obtained in the underwater palaces are probably just the simplest ones!"
No one present was a fool.
They all understood that this likely meant the key in Wang Yiwu's possession might be superior to everyone else's. Perhaps it offered more choices, or the corresponding divine skill was stronger.
"No!" Wang Yiwu strode to the stone platform in great leaps, planting one foot before the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
His person descended like a mountain peak, blocking the entrance and cutting off everyone's path.
"It was only after I entered the distant mountains that I learned the Celestial Residence Secret Realm contains a total of nine keys. The underwater Dragon Palaces require only competing with fellow challengers, but in the distant mountains and old forests, you face the dangers of the Secret Realm itself. And the two strongest keys — they're not the Azure Dragon's Horns, but the Azure Dragon's Pearls, located at the two ends of the long river!"
"Of course." He raised the visibly more ancient Azure Dragon's Horn in his hand. "My key still surpasses all of yours. Want it? Come and take it!"
"Wang Yiwu." Li Longchuan's sword-like brows furrowed slightly. "You've obtained it, so it's your fortune. We don't want to snatch it from you. Now, don't block the door. We each take our own keys and explore our own divine skills."
"Ha ha ha ha ha." Wang Yiwu laughed aloud. "You don't dare take mine, but I want to take yours! Throw all your Azure Dragon's Horns over here, and I might spare your lives."
"Of course." His laughter ceased abruptly, and he fixed his gaze on Chong Xuan Sheng. "Not you. No matter what happens today, you die."
"You think you've got me?" Li Longchuan was visibly angered. His form hadn't moved, but his aura surged like a bow drawn to full tension. "Wang Yiwu, aren't you a bit too confident?"
Wang Yiwu glanced at him. "Then try me."
The words had barely left his mouth when he ignored Li Longchuan entirely and strode forward with supreme confidence.
One step brought him before Chong Xuan Sheng, fist already driving toward him.
As the fist surged forward, great winds arose and the cloud sea churned.
Chong Xuan Sheng instantly activated his secret art, firing off a fireball, wind blades, and vine whip almost simultaneously in pseudo-instant cast.
At the same time, the Chong Xuan clan's world-renowned Gravity Secret Art was layered atop these Dao techniques.
Wind fanned the flames; wood became fuel for fire.
It wasn't that he lacked more powerful Dao techniques — with the Gravity enhancement, even these simplest techniques possessed power on par with far more complex arts!
And ahead of these three techniques, three flame blossoms appeared in a triangular formation directly in Wang Yiwu's fist path.
Triple instant-cast Blossomfire.
Naturally, Jiang Chen had struck, supporting Chong Xuan Sheng with his strongest and fastest technique.
Wang Yiwu's fist had already arrived.
The flame blossoms bloomed in succession, shattering into sparks.
The Gravity-enhanced fireball was obliterated.
The wind blades collapsed.
The vine whip charred to ash.
Fist thrown, fist arrives.
When the fist was thrown, a killing field appeared. When the fist arrived, the killing field had already consumed everything!
Fearless. No retreat. Invincible.
This was the War God of Great Qi Jiang Mengxiong's signature art — the pinnacle killing technique of the military cultivator: the No-Self Killing Fist!
"Pfft!"
Even as powerful as Chong Xuan Sheng was, a single punch sent him vomiting blood and flying backward.
This was utterly unlike a battle between equals.
Wang Yiwu's combat strength completely exceeded everyone's imagination of the Heaven-Piercing realm.
"I agree!"
Zhang Yong spoke immediately.
He tossed the Azure Dragon's Horn from his chest to Wang Yiwu's feet. "I don't want the Azure Dragon's Horn anymore — just spare my life! The Fengxian Zhang bloodline has dwindled to almost nothing. I'm the last one. I can't die!"
"Not bad." Wang Yiwu's voice was flat but ruthless. "Unfortunately, it's too late. Those were the old terms. If you want to live now, you'll have to help me kill Chong Xuan Sheng."
Zhang Yong's face turned extremely ugly. "When would you ever need my help?"
"Don't you understand yet?" Chong Xuan Sheng stopped his backward slide and wiped the blood from his lips. "He came into this Secret Realm specifically to kill me. But to kill me, he has to kill all of you. Otherwise, when he leaves, he can't explain why so few people died — just enough that after he chased me in, there happened to be one me left dead."
No matter what, Chong Xuan Sheng was a direct-line heir of the Chong Xuan clan, a legitimate contender to inherit the family leadership. Even as the War God's disciple, Wang Yiwu couldn't simply shoulder the responsibility of killing Chong Xuan Sheng.
That was why outside the Full Moon Pool, he had done nothing beyond making Chong Xuan withdraw — not a single crude word.
But inside the Secret Realm, if everyone died, the difficulty of the trial could not be questioned. Chong Xuan Sheng dying within was entirely plausible. Even if the Chong Xuan clan suspected foul play, they wouldn't have enough to target Wang Yiwu.
So Wang Yiwu blocking the entrance and demanding everyone surrender their Azure Dragon's Horns was merely finding a pretext to kill them all.
Because no one would agree to such terms.
Even if someone like Zhang Yong actually agreed, he would simply find another excuse.
With Chong Xuan Sheng's intelligence, he could naturally see through this. He had exposed it specifically to bring everyone onto the same side.
"Do you know why you're going to die today?" Wang Yiwu stepped forward, launching another fist at Chong Xuan Sheng. "Not worthy of the qualification, yet you dare to compete. Not wise enough... yet you show off your cunning!"
But halfway through the punch, he suddenly pivoted.
"I seem to have been underestimated." Li Longchuan's voice.
He stood like a vertical arrow, left hand held loosely before him as if gripping a bow, right hand drawn back, pulled taut.
He hadn't loosed a single arrow, hadn't released a single string.
But Wang Yiwu had no choice but to turn!