Chapter 15: Fight!
Jian Lin stared coldly at Jian Wushuang, his gaze sinister, while the latter looked back at him with an indifferent expression.
“Jian Wushuang, it seems I've always underestimated you. I never expected you to hide yourself so deeply. Everyone believed you were a good-for-nothing who couldn't condense spiritual power, but now it appears you must have condensed it long ago, and your cultivation is not weak at all—you simply kept it hidden and refused to reveal it.” Jian Lin's voice was as cold as a blade. “The Spiritual Dao third realm cultivation you revealed before me more than half a month ago—that was a disguise too, wasn't it?”
“A disguise? You think I've been hiding my strength all these four years?” Jian Wushuang sneered inwardly, but gave no answer on the surface.
Jian Lin and those disciples around him could think whatever they liked. Whether they believed he had been concealing his strength all along or something else, he didn't care in the least. In the Marquis Jian household, the only person he truly cared about was Jian Meng'er.
Jian Wushuang's coldness—indeed, his utter disregard—only fueled Jian Lin's fury further.
“Jian Wushuang, I previously cleared the seventh floor of the Trial Pagoda, and now you've cleared it as well. How about it? Do you have the guts to face me in open battle?” Jian Lin said directly.
“Face you in open battle?” Jian Wushuang raised a brow and looked at Jian Lin.
“What, don't you dare?” The corner of Jian Lin's mouth curled slightly, tinged with disdain.
“Jian Lin, I'm curious. The Marquis Jian household has so many disciples—why do you insist on targeting me? If you were jealous of me before because of Jian Meng'er, well, Jian Meng'er and I have no ties whatsoever anymore. Yet you still keep coming to trouble me. Could it be that you're really so narrow-minded?” Jian Wushuang said with a sneer.
His guess was correct. Jian Lin was petty by nature, and his jealousy was exceptionally intense. Back when Jian Wushuang spent every day at Jian Meng'er's side, Jian Lin's resentment toward him had reached its absolute peak. Even now that Jian Wushuang and Jian Meng'er were at odds like fire and water, that hatred had not diminished in the slightest.
“Enough nonsense. I'll ask you just once—do you dare fight me?” Jian Lin fixed his gaze hard on Jian Wushuang.
Hearing this, the corner of Jian Wushuang's mouth curved slightly. He took a deep breath, lifted his head again, and a flash of sharpness crossed his eyes. “Fine, I accept. You want a fight? Then let's fight!”
The area around the Trial Pagoda immediately erupted in commotion.
“He accepted! He accepted the fight!”
“He actually dares to accept?”
“What's there not to dare? After all, he cleared the seventh floor of the Trial Pagoda too—his spiritual cultivation might well have reached the sixth realm!”
“Just watch. Both of these two have cleared the seventh floor of the Trial Pagoda. Jian Lin has long been at the peak of the sixth realm, and this Jian Wushuang was clearly hiding his spiritual cultivation all along. This fight between them should be very interesting indeed.”
The many disciples around all watched with anticipation.
“So you have some guts after all.” Jian Lin grinned savagely, but in his heart he didn't regard Jian Wushuang in the slightest.
So what if he'd cleared the seventh floor of the Trial Pagoda? Any disciple whose spiritual cultivation reached the sixth realm could easily clear the seventh floor. And he himself had reached the peak of the sixth realm long, long ago!
“Take this!”
Jian Lin roared, stamped his foot—the floorboards cracked under the blow—and his vast spiritual power surged forth like floodwater. Wrapped in that power, his right hand formed a fist and blasted out in an instant, whipping up a fierce gust of wind all around.
The cultivation of the peak of the sixth realm of the Spiritual Dao, unleashed in a flash.
The many disciples present widened their eyes. Even though the punch wasn't aimed at them, they could still feel the enormous pressure.
Facing Jian Lin's full-power eruption, Jian Wushuang's eyes remained utterly cold and sharp, a hint of mockery at the corner of his mouth, as his own spiritual power slowly surged up.
“The sixth realm!”
“It really is the sixth realm!”
The moment Jian Wushuang's spiritual aura burst forth, the many disciples around immediately understood his true cultivation.
But even within the same sixth realm, there were gaps in strength.
“Scram!”
A furious roar rang out like thunder as Jian Wushuang threw a punch with all his strength as well.
“Hahaha, meeting me head-on without even drawing your sword—how foolish!” Jian Lin couldn't help laughing loudly.
After all, he was at the very peak of the sixth realm of the Spiritual Dao, while Jian Wushuang's aura was clearly still a bit short of the sixth-realm peak. Under these circumstances, in a direct clash of raw strength, he held an absolute advantage.
Bang!
The two fists wrapped in spiritual power finally collided head-on, and the two terrifying hidden forces erupted in an instant.
“What?”
The moment his fist truly collided with Jian Wushuang's, Jian Lin's expression changed, for he had already felt the heart-palpitating force transmitted from Jian Wushuang's fist.
That force was clearly far stronger than his.
“How is this possible? He hasn't even reached the peak of the sixth realm!” Jian Lin howled inwardly.
Carrying unprecedented shock and rage, searing pain came the next moment. Jian Lin immediately let out a muffled groan, blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth. His figure stumbled backward in a flurry of retreats, staggering back ten full steps, each step landing with a resounding thud and leaving deep imprints on the ground.
As for Jian Wushuang, he had not retreated a single step.
Crushing!
An absolute crushing in raw strength!
“This…”
The many disciples around were all stunned.
No one had expected the outcome of this contest of strength between the two to be like this.
One who clearly had not reached the peak of the sixth realm had utterly crushed a genuine peak sixth-realm expert head-on!
What they didn't know was that the Great Fortune Scripture Jian Wushuang cultivated was against the very heavens—his spiritual power's eruption was inherently far stronger than those of the same rank. Although he had not yet reached the peak of the sixth heaven of the Divine Dao, in terms of spiritual power output he was far stronger than these ordinary experts at the peak of the sixth realm of the Spiritual Dao.
In a pure contest of strength, Jian Wushuang naturally crushed Jian Lin completely.
“I refuse to believe it!”
Madness flickered in the eyes of Jian Lin, who had been blasted back by Jian Wushuang. With a low shout, he swept toward Jian Wushuang once more, extending his right hand. But this time, the moment his right hand stretched out, a tiger's roar abruptly resounded through heaven and earth, and immediately after, a giant tiger formed entirely of condensed spiritual power slowly took shape.
Once formed, it pounced lightning-fast toward where Jian Wushuang stood.
“It's Tiger Roar Over Mountains and Rivers!”
“He's using a martial technique—and it's Jian Lin's strongest move!”
“That giant tiger—it's completely condensed from spiritual power. This technique consumes an enormous amount of spiritual power, but its might is truly formidable.”
“Look—Jian Wushuang has drawn his sword…”
“That sword strike!”
Shff!
A cold sword light flashed, gone in a blink. Time itself seemed to come to a complete standstill in that moment, and in the depths of countless onlookers' pupils, the towering, murderous giant tiger that had pounced out was, at this very instant, split clean in two.
Chi~~~ The sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out as a spray of blood drifted past Jian Lin's shoulder.