Liu Mengdi ceased his laughter. He then took a glance at the cyan necklace on his wrist. It was an item that helped him hide his true strength from everyone. If he was wearing it, other people could only see him as a 3rd-rank Crusader. However, this item was only effective to cultivators who are below the 9th-rank Saint realm. A 9th-rank Saint could easily see through his true power even he had this bracelet on himself.

This item was called the Essence Sealing Bracelet. It was an item capable of sealing someone's strength two levels lower, so if a 5th-rank Spirit realm cultivator is wearing it, their strength would regress to that of a 3rd-rank Crusader.

Liu Mengdi glanced at the youths around him and smirked coldly in his heart. 'I don't even need to unequip this Essence Sealing Bracelet to defeat these bugs.'

"Hey! What are you looking at?! Do you think I'm afraid of you?!"

Liu Mengdi ignored the guy and shifted his gaze to the huge timer in the skies.

03:02

03:01

03:00

Only three minutes was left before the start of the battle royale and he was already itching to show his real strength to the world. He wanted to shock them with his feats!

Liu Mengdi slowly took out his sword as he calmed his turbulent feelings. He was too excited that he couldn't stop the shivering of his arms. However, this was taken differently by the crowd.

"Look! Liu Mengdi is shaking in fear! Hahaha! What a coward! He's finally showing his true face!"

"What a pity! It looks like the Liu Family's young patriarch isn't worthy of his position."

The tall and bulky youth who was holding a huge axe stared at Liu Mengdi with unconcealed disdain as he said in a voice laced with mockery. "Young Master Liu, don't worry. I will be very gentle with you. How about you give up now? You won't be injured that way. Hahaha!"

The rest of the youths laughed in response to that. Their gazes towards Liu Mengdi was filled with derision and contempt.

Liu Mengdi's breathing was already calm, but his shivering arms was still evident. He then looked at the timer above.

00:10

00:09

00:08

...

00:02

00:01

00:00

Bang!

A loud bang was issued to signal the start of the battle royale.

Liu Mengdi suddenly let out a smile as his silhouette disappeared from where he previously stood.

Whoosh!

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!

A series of smacking sounds echoed as Liu Mengdi smashed his sword that was still on its scabbard onto the heads of the youths who were around him. They weren't even able to see his movements and they could feel a stinging sensation at the back of their heads as they slowly plopped to the ground while grimacing in pain.

Liu Mengdi's swift movements created a light gust of wind and he looked like an agile savage beast that speedily attacked its prey!

Liu Mengdi glanced at the tall youth and smashed his sheathed sword towards the latter.

Hm?!

The tall youth was also unable to see the movements of Liu Mengdi, but this time, he could feel that the attack was aimed at him. He took a step backward as he raised his gigantic axe with both his hands. He was confident that he could block Liu Mengdi's swift attacks with his gigantic axe. He was honestly surprised with the speed that Liu Mengdi showed and his contempt was long gone. It was replaced by a serious and grim expression.

Bang!

Liu Mengdi's sheathed sword smashed on the youth's giant axe, making the both of them stagger and take several steps backward.

The crowd was stunned at what they saw and their mouths unconsciously opened to form an 'O' shape.

Was this still the flamboyant Young Master Liu who always used the name of his Liu Family to scare everyone? Was this still the Young Master Liu that everyone never took seriously?

They couldn't contain their shocks at all and the crowd was rendered speechless by the sudden turn of events.

Among the group that surrounded Liu Mengdi earlier, more than ten youths were now lying on the battle platform while grimacing in pain. They were not yet unconscious, and they were still within the battle platform, so they were still eligible to join the battle royale, but with their current status, it was obvious that they could no longer fight.

It was truly amusing to think that they were still laughing contemptuously at Liu Mengdi just a minute ago, but now, they couldn't even muster the strength to stand on their feet!

Liu Mengdi's smack might have looked weak, but he had skillfully hit everyone's weak points. He was already merciful enough to not claim their lives. Not to mention that he was yet to unsheathed his sword!

The tall youth stared nervously at Liu Mengdi and he reflexively tightened the grip on his weapon.

Liu Mengdi smiled warmly at the youth, but his next actions made the latter gulp anxiously.

Liu Mengdi was slowly unsheathing his sword!

Shing!

His sword didn't look too precious and it was fairly ordinary in appearance, but those with keen eyes knew that this sword was actually an Earth Weapon!

"Friend, how about you jump out of this battle platform? That way you won't be hurt." Liu Mengdi said with a smile, but his voice was filled with sarcasm. He was just throwing back the same words that were spoken by the youth!

Since you insulted me, then don't blame me for insulting you!

The tall youth gritted his teeth as he glared at Liu Mengdi.

"Liu Mengdi, you might have taken them by surprise, but you won't be able to do the same to me! I am a peak stage 3rd-rank Crusader while you are only an early stage 3rd-rank Crusader! What right do you have to act arrogant in front of me?!" The youth shouted through gritted teeth.

Liu Mengdi suddenly smiled when he heard his words. He cupped his left hand into his ears and said while looking at the youth in a taunting manner. "Can you repeat that, please? I wasn't able to understand it because I don't know the language of dogs."

His words and expression made the tall youth incensed. The latter then raised his giant axe while sprinting towards Liu Mengdi with a dark look. "Damn you, Liu Mengdi! I'll beat you up!"

Liu Mengdi remained composed as the youth dashed towards him. The smile on his lips was still hanging on his face. When the tall youth was just ten meters away from him, Liu Mengdi suddenly slashed his sword multiple times, leaving behind a series of white lights in the air.

Jiu Shen who was looking at their battle from his seat silently praised Liu Mengdi in his heart. From what he saw, Liu Mengdi already reached the first level of Sword Comprehension, Sword Intent Manifestation!

Sword Comprehension is a sword cultivator's understanding of the sword dao and it has five levels:

Sword Intent Manifestation

Sword Ray Manipulation

Heart of Sword

Birth of Sword Soul

Extreme Sword Dao

The deeper someone's Sword Comprehension, the stronger their sword attacks would become.

In the Primordial God Realm, there were only a handful of people that managed to reached the final level of Sword Comprehension, and all of them were considered as the strongest sword cultivators! Of course, Jiu Shen was included on the list of those that reached that level. One of the three Celestial Emperors was also included on the list, Sword God Jian Wang!

It must be noted that Sword Comprehension could only be achieved after countless battles of life and death, so the experience that Liu Mengdi had wasn't small.

"This kid has potential." Jiu Shen muttered quietly.