"Good!"

At the neighboring teahouse, Xie Feihong and Feng Bao had forgotten the factional strife between them during that moment. Instead, they nervously observed the fight in front of them and were concerned about Shi Chengtian.

After a five-minute-long fight, most of Xiangmanlou had collapsed. Meanwhile, barbarian expert Bo Ri took the initiative and finally admitted defeat. Meanwhile, Xie Feihong and Feng Bao also put down the weight in their hearts.

They were very certain!

Shi Chengtian had won!

Furthermore, he had won with an absolute advantage from the very beginning. Even though he took some time, most importantly, he was not injured.

If that was the case, he should not face many problems when fighting Moragu.

"As expected of the Invincible Iron Fist! Senior Shi Chengtian's strength is truly fantastic! If Senior Shi Chengtian was not around, the Grand Xia Dynasty would be in trouble!"

Feng Bao cheerily complimented the General Who Stabilizes the North's side.

Even though he was complimenting Xie Feihong, he was even sincere about it.

As the Eastern Depot Superintendent, he had a hatred for almost all civil and military officials in the imperial compound, and was not on friendly terms with the General Who Stabilizes the North either. However, when faced with the barbarians, they shared the same position.

The General Who Stabilizes the North also knew this. Thus, he did not disparage Feng Bao, which was a rare sight. Instead, he only said in a complacent tone, "In order to preserve his strength, my master did not display many techniques. Thus, he took a relatively longer time. After this, even though Moragu might be stronger than Bo Ri, Master might spend less time fighting him. He will make Moragu embrace defeat!"

Feng Bao nodded and said, "Indeed. If Senior Shi had been willing to get injured just now, then Bo Ri would not have been able to last for even two minutes before admitting defeat."

The General Who Stabilizes the North smiled and nodded.

Bo Ri's strength had surpassed their expectations, and Sword Sovereign Dugu Xiong's frailty had caught everyone unprepared.

Luckily, his master Shi Chengtian's iron fists did not disappoint them.

It looked like the Emperor had great foresight when he wanted his master to step forth even if he had to put forth great effort to do so.

Now, the General Who Stabilizes the North was already thinking about what would happen when the barbarian envoys lost and left the capital.

He had always remembered what his sister, Empress Xie Feiyan, had told him time and again.

After these two grade-9 barbarian masters were dealt with, he had to request his master to help deal with the mysterious grade-9 master who was hiding in the cold palace.

The mysterious grade-9 master in the imperial compound no longer seemed a threat.

No matter how impressive he was, would he be more impressive than Bo Ri or Moragu?

If his master stepped in, he would probably be able to kill the mysterious grade-9 master in three to five attacks!

However, asking his master to step in was not an easy task.

Shi Chengtian had always had his own principles in doing things. This time, he had a reason to come out from seclusion and resist the barbarian envoys.

Therefore, asking him to kill a mysterious grade-9 master because of some infighting in the imperial palace would not be very easy.

But no matter how difficult it was, the General Who Stabilizes the North would still have to persuade his master.

There was no choice.

In order to maintain his sister's position as the Empress and to allow his nephew to become the future Emperor of the Grand Xia Dynasty, he had to persuade his master, Shi Chengtian, to step in once again.

…

…

In the Imperial Study Room.

A eunuch hurriedly walked into the room and loudly said, "Reporting! I have brought information about the battle at Xiangmanlou. Sword Sovereign Dugu Xiong clashed with barbarian expert Bo Ri first, and Sword Sovereign Dugu Xiong was defeated by the first attack!"

"Then, Invincible Iron Fist Master Shi Chengtian stepped in and completely suppressed Bo Ri without suffering any injuries. They clashed for five minutes before blood started flowing from the seven apertures of Bo Ri's head, and the barbarian willingly admitted defeat!"

The Emperor was sitting on his throne.

When he heard that Sword Sovereign Dugu Xiong had been defeated by Bo Ri in one hit, his gaze changed greatly, and he was almost unable to sit still.

However, the news of Shi Chengtian's victory followed closely after, and the Emperor was instantly overjoyed. He slapped his throne, and his eyes dazzled as he said, "Good! Good, good, good!"

His joy overflowed in his words.

Beside him, Little Guizi spoke at the right time. "Your Majesty truly has foresight to know that the Bashan Sword Sovereign alone was not reliable. Thus, you insisted on requesting for the Invincible Iron Fist, Master Shi Chengtian, to come. Now, Master Shi Chengtian has defeated Bo Ri with almost no injuries. After this, even if Bo Ri's senior brother, Moragu, is even more impressive, Master Shi Chengtian will not face many problems. Victory has been decided!"

Typically, Emperor Xia Jianshen did not like to hear people fawning on him, but today, he was in a good mood.

In fact, Empress Xie Feiyan's face even spontaneously appeared in his mind.

In his heart, he had felt that the more he looked at the Empress, the more her appearance became sharp and cloying. However, at this moment, he suddenly realized that she had become much more pleasing to the eye. Thus, he thought about visiting Changchun Palace at night once again.

After all, the Empress claimed credit for requesting for Shi Chengtian to come out of seclusion for this battle.

Furthermore, if Shi Chengtian did not step in, they would not have been able to stop the barbarian envoys in the capital this time. After all, the arrogance they had displayed in the north made them even more rampant this time.

As for the face of Chun Fei that appeared in his mind, even though Chun Fei's appearance was excellent, no matter how the Emperor looked at her, he only felt hate.

No matter how pretty a woman was, if she was of no use to him, then why would he keep her around?

Thus, he decided in his heart that he would visit Changchun Palace tonight and indirectly remind the Empress. Once the barbarian envoys left, she would not need to wait even for a moment. She would be able to act on the Changmen Palace immediately!

He would simply turn a blind eye to this matter and not attend to it.

…

…

In the Changchun Palace.

The Empress had also heard the news from an imperial maid.

When she heard that Shi Chengtian had beaten up barbarian expert Bo Ri to the point where blood flowed from his seven apertures and he willingly admitted defeat, the smile on her face was extremely splendid.

Then, she looked in the direction of Changmen Palace with a malicious and hateful gaze. Her murderous intent was obvious, and she said in a cold voice, "Slut, I will decide whether you die this time! I don't believe that anyone else will be able to save you!"

…

…

In Changmen Palace.

There were only three people in the entire palace — Lin Ping, Chun Fei, and Yun Su. Thus, the information they could get was very limited, unlike the Emperor and the Empress who swiftly received information in real-time from their messengers whenever something happened.

However, this time, Yun Su had asked around for some information.

For some reason, the martial arts exchange that was supposed to happen tomorrow had started today.

The two grade-9 masters from the barbarians, as well as Shi Chengtian and Dugu Xiong from the Grand Xia Dynasty, had started to clash in a teahouse within the capital.

When Lin Ping heard this, he furrowed his eyebrows.

Why had they clashed ahead of time?

He had originally planned to secretly observe the fight when the two parties exchanged blows in the imperial compound tomorrow. He would see exactly how strong the grade-9 masters were and what level he was at.

In the end, the best-laid plans of mice and men often went awry. The two parties had started to clash outside the imperial compound today.

"It looks like I'm really just like a passer-by. I wanted to go and observe the fight, but they simply changed the location." Lin Ping silently laughed at himself.

However, he did not mind this as this did not have a large impact on him.

After notifying Chun Fei, Lin Ping left Changmen Palace and came to the Imperial Pharmacy. Then, he said in a low voice, "System, let me check in!"

[Congratulations to Host for successfully checking in. You have received one "Big Reward Pill"!]

When Lin Ping heard the notification from the System, he was overjoyed.

He had obtained the big reward pill once again!

This was a top-quality Spirit Pill that had much better effects than the perfect nourishing pill. He had only received this pill once over the past few years.

One pill could add almost ten years' worth of cultivation to his internal-energy cultivation base.

It was fine if he could not witness the experts clash.

Wasn't 10 years' worth of internal energy more attractive?

…

…

At Xiangmanlou.

After Bo Ri admitted defeat, it was naturally Senior Brother Moragu's turn to fight.

Moragu's gaze was calm. Even when he saw that Shi Chengtian simply wasted some time to make his junior brother, Bo Ri, willingly admit defeat without any cost to himself, there was no change in his expression.

There was no shock or fear.

He simply looked at Shi Chengtian calmly and asked, "Would you like to rest and recuperate for a while before fighting again?"

"There's no need! Let's fight!" Shi Chengtian shouted in a cold voice.

"Your breathing is still somewhat unstable. How about waiting for two minutes? I have more or less seen your strength, and you are definitely no match for me. If your condition isn't at its peak, I'm afraid that you will die discontent," said Moragu with a sincere expression on his face.

How presumptuous!

Shi Chengtian's gaze was stern.

He had thought that Bo Ri was arrogant enough but never thought that this Senior Brother would be even more savage!

"100-Step Divine Fist!"

Shi Chengtian did not speak any more nonsense and shouted in a low tone.

This time, his body did not move. Instead, all the internal energy in his body gathered in his fist. Then, the area surrounding Shi Chengtian seemed to have turned into a vortex, and all kinds of power were absorbed by his dazzling fist.

Crash!

Fist-light dazzled and crashed towards Moragu.

Shi Chengtian did not care about the cost and risked injuring himself to perform this punch. This was also his true killing technique!

Even a small mountain would probably shatter into pieces from this punch!

If he had displayed this technique when he was fighting Bo Ri, Bo Ri might not even be able to stand five attacks!

However, Moragu only shouted two words in response, "Body Extermination!"

Then, the situation suddenly changed. A wave of sword aura that was even swifter and several times stronger than the sword technique that Dugu Xiong had displayed gathered at Moragu's fingertips. Then, he launched it towards the fist-light.

Thump!

The 100-Step Divine Fist that Shi Chengtian had displayed at the cost of expending and injuring his meridians simply shattered upon impact.

Then, Shi Chengtian was sent flying backwards.

Closely after, Moragu muttered, "Heart Extermination!"

The moment he finished speaking, his sword aura rose once again as Shi Chengtian watched this with a gaze of disbelief.

Furthermore, this sword aura was even stronger than just now!

The sword aura had locked onto him, and he could not escape. Shi Chengtian roared in anger, and the internal energy in his body rapidly circulated. Then, he waved both fists at the same time.

Puff!

The fist-light was extinguished. This time, Shi Chengtian simply vomited blood, and his body fiercely crashed onto the floor, forming a hole in the ground.

After two successive attacks, Moragu's face was somewhat pale at that moment, and his breathing started to grow unstable. However, he continued with his sword art and slowly chanted once again, "Divine Extermination."

When Shi Chengtian heard this, he did not hesitate at all. He leaped from the ground and rapidly fled in the opposite direction.

The dignified grade-9 master, Invincible Iron Fist Shi Chengtian… had fled!

He had sensed Moragu's killing intent.

Just like Bo Ri, Moragu did not pull any punches.

If he did not escape, he would die!

When the pale Sword Sovereign Dugu Xiong saw Shi Chengtian rapidly flee, he hesitated for a moment before his body flashed past rapidly as he left in the opposite direction without uttering a word.