Yang Xuan’s body fell to the ground, the muffled thud upon contact echoing across the entire area, while countless gazes watched as if frozen in time...

In the distance, the mouths of Zuoqiu Qingyu, Bai Li, Qin Hai and the rest slowly fell open.

The Sacred Palace disciples seemed to have turned into statues.

The other onlookers were forcefully rubbing their eyes.

This atmosphere lasted for quite some time, before someone finally regained his senses. He immediately blurted out in a shocked voice.

“Yang Xuan… has lost?!”

*Uproar*

His trembling voice was akin to a spark that quickly set everyone on fire. In an instant, horrified voice after voice exploded.

“How can this be?! How could Yang Xuan have lost after reaching the eighth layer?!”

“Exactly, he had absolute upper hand just a while ago!”

“What the hell did Zhou Yuan do at that final moment?!”

“……”

Everyone’s faces were filled with confusion. When Yang Xuan’s bone armor turned red earlier, even Zhou Yuan’s tyrannical azure flames had been incapable of stopping the former. Who could have known that Zhou Yuan’s final strike of desperation would lead to such an outcome...

Moreover, anyone could see that Yang Xuan’s entire arm had been blown to bits, evidently due to some kind of terrifying force, but what kind of force could have possibly done that to Yang Xuan in his eighth layer red bone armor state?!

Uncertain gaze after gaze turned towards Zhou Yuan, tinged with a sliver of fear.

In the sky far away, Li Qingchan, Zhao Zhu, Wang Chi and Cao Jinzhu had just returned to their senses from the astonishing scene, their faces still a little dazed from the shock.

Wang Chi and Cao Jinzhu looked to each other, seeing the disbelief and confusion in the other party’s eyes. The final result had clearly surpassed their expectations.

They expressions slowly turned ugly. Since Yang Xuan had lost to Zhou Yuan, wouldn’t it mean that the situation had now completely spiralled out of control?!

Iciness flickered in the duo’s eyes as they looked towards Zhou Yuan’s figure.

“What a vicious kid, I can’t let you off!” Wang Chi’s chilling voice sounded. In the next instant, his figure abruptly shot forth, vigorous Genesis Qi erupting along with an alarming pressure.

Since Yang Xuan had already been defeated, the only way to save the situation was to finish off Zhou Yuan.

Swish!

However, a beautiful figure appeared in front of him the moment he shot forward. A hand thrust towards him, accompanied by churning Genesis Qi and cold Qi that froze even the air itself.

Wang Chi did not dare to be careless in the face of such a deadly attack. His figure hurriedly came to a stop as he responded with his full power.

Boom!

Genesis Qi swept outwards as Wang Chi’s figure hastily retreated a dozen steps. He lifted his head and saw Li Qingchan’s beautiful yet frosty face. She stood in front of him, blocking his path.

“Oh? Didn’t you say earlier that Chosens should only fight against other Chosens?” There a cold smile on Li Qingchan’s lips.

Wang Chi’s face turned an angry green as he icily growled, “Scram!”

“That’ll depend on whether you have the ability.” Ice-cold Genesis Qi slowly rose from Li Qingchan’s body, her eyes tinged with ridicule as she stared at Wang Chi.

Even someone like Li Qingchan could not help but feel good inside at the sight of Wang Chi’s angry face. This just so happened to be the perfect opportunity for them to return all of the frustration from being held up by the latter earlier.

Li Qingchan lightly touched her ear as her voice was transmitted into the communication jade, “Pretty well done, Zhou Yuan. Are you alright?”

Her voice had become unprecedentedly gentle.

Due to Yaoyao, she had staunchly stood her ground against the majority to bring Zhou Yuan along. As a result, she had faced a huge amount of pressure ever since the mission began, especially from elder Wu. Although he did not rebuke her due to her status as a Chosen, he had ultimately dispatched Zhou Yuan to the outer region for the sake of the big picture.

This was already a form of disapproval towards her.

Li Qingchan could not say anything in the face of all this opposition, and had no choice but to silently endure them. This naturally led to some frustration in her heart, causing her to be a little meaner and colder than usual with regards to Zhou Yuan, though he probably felt she treated him exactly the same as she had before.

All of these pent up feelings had vanished like smoke the moment Yang Xuan fell to the ground.

She never imagined that when all hope seemed lost, the one who had been abandoned at the beginning, Zhou Yuan, would be the one to step up, and against all odds defeat Yang Xuan.

She peered at the young figure far away, her heart involuntarily rippling a little. Only now did she begin to understand why Yaoyao had so much faith in Zhou Yuan.

This guy seemed to always create miracles at the most crucial juncture.

He clearly did not look very strong, merely someone whose cultivation was at the fourth layer, but he had too many cards up his sleeve that no one seemed to be capable of guarding against.

A sliver of curiosity rose within Li Qingchan’s heart for a time. Just how many secrets was he hiding?

…

At the mouth of the volcano.

Cries of shock and surprise filled the place, everyone evidently also astonished by the outcome of the fight between Zhou Yuan and Yang Xuan.

“Good kid!”

Elder Wu loudly slapped his thigh, his face slightly flushed as happiness spilled from his eyes, clearly unable to contain his joy. After all, he was already mentally preparing for their Cangxuan Sect to be humiliated by the Sacred Palace. Who could have imagined such a turn of events in the blink of an eye?

Elder Wu raised his head and looked towards the nearby ashen-faced Sacred Palace elder. In the end, the latter lost control, looking towards the former as he angrily yelled, “Impossible! Your Cangxuan Sect cheated!”

However, elder Wu merely responded with a disdainful chuckle, not bothering to answer such an outrageous claim.

The gap in cultivation between Zhou Yuan and Yuan Xuan was tremendous, and yet, the former had ultimately clinched victory against all odds. What did this mean? It could only mean that the Sacred Palace disciples were useless.

Elder Wu’s gaze turned back to the Genesis Qi mirror, his usually stern face turning into a kindly one as he gazed at the young figure within it. He stroked his beard as he grinned. “I never imagined that I would be the blind one this time. This kid has concealed his abilities very deeply indeed.”

“After we return, I’ll definitely give you the best evaluation!”

He had previously taken Zhou Yuan to be a useless tag along, and had thus not paid much attention to him. Who could have imagined that the one who ultimately save them against all odds would be this very disciple elder Wu had neglected from the start.

Though it was a little shameful for him to have made such an error in judgement, elder Wu would obviously choose such shame any day over being stomped on by the Sacred Palace and soiling the Cangxuan Sect’s reputation.

…

When Li Qingchan’s voice was transmitted from the communication jade, Zhou Yuan gradually came back to his senses. He lowered his head to look at his arm that had been gruesomely torn in many places due to the resultant force of his attack. Dark green light was spreading from his flesh, causing flesh to regrow as the entire arm swiftly recovered in a few dozen breaths.

Although the Taiyi mark was not complete, it had already began to reveal its amazingness. Zhou Yuan’s regenerative ability had already far surpassed that of ordinary practitioners.

He glanced at the battered body of the one-armed Yang Xuan . This guy had indeed been a very difficult opponent who had forced him to use even Silver Shadow in the end.

Fortunately, no one else had discovered its existence. Silver Shadow was one of his most valuable trump cards after all, that he had not used at all in the sect. The fewer who knew about it, the better.

With a deep breath, he calmed the surging Genesis Qi in his body, before replying through the communication jade, “I’ll be okay.”

“That’s good to hear. Since Yang Xuan had been defeated, you guys should quickly take back our territory.”

“Bai Li, Qin Hai and the rest shall follow Zhou Yuan’s lead. We’ll stop the two Chosens on their side.”

Li Qingchan’s voice rang out again, shockingly handing command to Zhou Yuan.

Bai Li and Qin Hai looked over with complicated expressions. If it was before, they would definitely have voiced their disapproval, because they would have believed Zhou Yuan did not have the qualifications to give them orders. However, after personally witnessing his battle with Yang Xuan, such thinking had already been flung out the window.

Even their joint effort had failed to triumph over Yang Xuan, while Zhou Yuan had defeated the former… one could easily imagine just how much battle power Zhou Yuan was hiding.

Such strength was already enough to contest for the chief disciple seat of the various peaks in the Cangxuan Sect.

But Zhou Yuan had not been this strong before leaving the Cang Xuan Sect… during the purple sash selection, he had clearly been unable to obtain victory against Xu Yan.

Zhou Yuan gave a faint nod. With a grabbing motion, the Heavenly Yuan Brush appeared his hand. Soon after, his figure appeared in front of Bai Li, Qin Hai and the other Cangxuan Sect disciples.

As they looked at his figure, complicated expressions arose in their eyes. It was no longer the previous casual indifference, but a little fear and admiration.

“Is everyone still able to fight?”

Zhou Yuan grinned. Upon seeing Bai Li and gang nod, he raised the Heavenly Yuan Brush and pointed towards the already panicking Sacred Palace disciples.

“If you can fight… follow me to take back our territory.”

Bai Li blinked as she gazed upon his slim figure. For the very first time, the guy she had looked down upon all along seemed to be rather dashing...