“You wish to face me?”

The bear-looking youth laughed while nodding.

“Come then, I’ll show everyone what happens to nobodies that challenge me!”

Zhang Dong advanced towards the stage while looking at the smug-looking youth. His opponent was puffing out his chest while smirking. It was clear that the Xuan Fen that he was facing wasn’t taking him seriously at all.

The young man was quite large, even if he was in his original form he would be dwarfed by this muscle brain.

“Whose lackey is this?”

Xuan Fen asked while Zhang Dong hopped onto the stage. The young man was thinking that this Dai Rong here was someone’s follower. It was more believable that he was one of the many people sent to tire him out.

“I didn’t think there would be idiots like you around, whoever put you up to this must have offered you a lot of spirit stones!”

Xuan Fen continued to talk while Zhang Dong just stood there with his hands behind his back. His face was neutral and he didn’t look like he had a care in the world.

“Are those trial disciple robes?”

“Is that junior crazy? Doesn’t he know of senior Xuan Fen’s bad temper?”

From the conversations that the people were having here, Zhang Dong came to a conclusion. Probably the tactic of sending waves of foot soldiers for the top disciples didn’t always pan out. Not when people like this Xuan Fen crippled them or beat them down to a pulp.

The young man that battled him was taken away on a stretcher and his arms and legs were in awkward positions. It was clear that no one here was stupid enough to give away their future to offend this monster.

‘I guess word hasn’t spread yet… maybe the people from the other professions are still looking for me outside.’

This was a large open area but it was set up in such a way that only the elders in those lookout towers could see the fights. The disciples were on the ground, shoulder to shoulder, and looking at the checkerboard combat platforms for a worse angle.

“Begin!”

A judge sounded a large gong which indicated that the battles would start.

“I’ll end this quick, if you don’t resist I’ll be merciful and only break your arms!”

Xuan Fen charged forward with large strides, each time he took a step the ground beneath his feet cracked. His cultivation level was at the middle stage of the Martial Master level and he clearly specialized in body refinement.

Zhang Dong saw it all in slow motion, the young man’s body started being surrounded by small arcs of grayish lightning. His body hair began to be charged as he raised his fist and motioned it forward while still being about two meters away from his target.

“Thunder wave fist!”

The moment he swung this large fist a shockwave with tiny lightning bolts was sent Zhang Dong’s way. While everyone expected him to either get hit or try to dodge he did the exact opposite.

He took a small step forward while also moving his palm to meet this electrical attack. The moment the shockwave collided with this hand it was pushed back by an even greater force. Another shockwave appeared with a more bluish hue to its lightning element.

“What!?”

Xuan Fen’s eyes shot open as his attack was deflected right back. There was no time to evade it so he moved his forearms up to protect his head. The electrical attack collided with his body and pushed him back. He remained standing while blocking, his legs formed skid marks on the hard ground.

“What was that… he managed to push senior Xuan Fen back!”

“Yeah… his clothes are also ruined…”

Xuan Fen’s upper body was revealed to the public as his robes burst from this palm strike. Even now Zhang Dong could see Fen’s body contending with the invading lightning Qi.

‘Great, he didn’t blow up… I’m getting the hang of holding back!’

Zhang Dong wanted to pat himself on the back as he managed to analyze the strike that came his way. He then used that to measure his opponent's strength accurately.

With this knowledge, he just needed to use a technique with a little bit more power to cause some damage while also not killing the poor youth in one shot. This left his opponent with some residual damage but allowed the battle to continue further.

“You… you’re not all talk.”

Xuan Fen roared in a beastly fashion and with a burst of his own Qi managed to remove Zhang Dong’s attack in its entirety. Soon the young man’s body started to change, it expanded in size along with a coat of fur. At the end of this transformation, he looked like a cross between a bear and a werewolf.

“Senior Xuan Fen is having trouble, who is that junior?”

Soon the fight continued, Zhang Dong made sure to dodge each claw swipe and bite that Xuan Fen sent his way. While exchanging blows he chipped away at his opponent's stamina and health. With this approach, he seemed to be just slightly stronger than his opponent.

“Stop moving around and face me like a man!”

Xuan Fen panted with blood streaming out of his bear-like nose.

“You wish to put body against body? Are you sure about that?”

Xuan Fen didn’t respond but just charged forward, Zhang Dong did the same and the two used their fists. A strange ‘peng’ sound was heard by the disciples that sounded like a fist hitting solid metal. This was followed by Xuan Fen’s knuckle being broken after the exchange.

“ARGHhhh”

The large youth cried out in pain before another fist descended towards his face. He flew in an arc out of the battle stage that he and Zhang Dong were fighting. Out cold he flopped on the ground and the match was over.

“Don’t you have to announce the winner?”

Silence washed over the people and even the judge that needed to be reminded of his duties.

“Ah yes, the winner and new holder of the number 3 ranking spot is… uh…”

“Dai Rong, Elder.”

“Dai Rong!”

His name was announced and the people burst out in cheers. He could even see some people pointing and laughing at Xuan Fen that was down for the count. It was clear that a person that lived his life breaking peoples limbs was not liked.

“Well then… the next one would be Meng Meixiu? Is Meng Meixiu here?”

Zhang Dong shouted out loud to bring everyone’s attention to him. He previously saw the jade-like beauty moving around but it didn’t seem that she had been challenged yet.

“This Dai Rong is too ferocious, he wants to challenge senior sister Meng Meixiu even before he has time to recover?”

Previously the disciples were clapping but it changed to booing soon. This time around it seemed that the woman he was facing had a sort of following. Luckily she heard his loud shouting and decided to show her face.

“Brazen, you might have defeated that idiot but don’t get ahead of yourself, junior!”

The crowd of simps cheered out loudly the moment this beauty descended onto the stage. At the same time, they started with a vengeance at him.

It was clear who the favorite here was. It would be strange that when he was victorious that he would be spammed by many challengers that wanted to show off in front of this beauty.

“I’m getting ahead of myself?”

That is if he allowed this to happen, this was no time to hide his power. With a burst of energy, his body started radiating electrical energies. Small arcs of bluish lightning started shooting from his body in random directions before turning into a more golden coloring in the end.

“Hoh… who is that young man…”

Above in the tower, this outburst of energy was noticed by the elder generation. Some of them glanced during the bout with the bear-like Fen but only now did Zhang Dong garner the attention of the almost asleep Elder Jingyi.

“Elder Jingyi… that is the second-ranked Meng Meixiu, she will probably be moving to the inner sect of Yin-hall…”

“Not her, the other one…”

“The other? That young man is… I don’t know… I have never seen him before…”

Elder Jingyi stretched out while leaning forward in his chair. He was jolted awake by a strange energy signature in this young man’s electric Qi. It felt somewhat pure and even above his own and even though it was just for a moment it seemed like the young man had a lot of potential.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Find me his name!”

“Ah, of course elder!”

The man panicked and quickly moved to the side while Elder Jingyi continued to watch. Little did he know that he was playing along to Zhang Dong’s little game. He made sure to release some of his true Qi into the surroundings.

These cultivators were easy to read, if they thought that they could gain something they would act on it. While posting as a still unrefined disciple he could not just show off his superior lightning Dao. That would be too suspicious and just a ticket to getting thrown into a dungeon.

Instead, he started off with the regular version that was in a more pale blue color. It was the lightning that he came into this world with. This was already enough to make all of the peoples mouths water here.

‘I see that the old fart is finally looking at me now, I guess I should give him a good show…’

Meng Meixiu went quiet after the outburst of his Qi. It was clear that she started to take him very seriously.

“Shall we then?”

The young woman was holding a weapon that he was very familiar with. It was a weapon that his wife also used, a set of battle fans. It was also a bit surprising how similar this girl was to Zhang Liena.

The moment she utilized the fans a torrent of green energy gathered in front of her. She created a miniaturized twister filled with arcs of green lightning energy.

“Wind energy with lightning… not bad…”

Zhang Dong had to make this a bit more flashy this time around. He clasped his palms together in one strong move which also produced the sound of a thunderclap. His hands started glowing in a pale blue light that quickly turned into electrical energy.

“That technique… isn’t that the lesser thunder dragon palm?”

The lightning energy that looked chaotic at the start started taking shape. It looked like two small eastern dragons coiled themselves around Zhang Dong’s forearms. They remained floating around while clinging to them tightly while sometimes giving out thunderous shouts.

“Well then, shall we?”

He plunged himself into the battle, one of his palms stretched forward while the other was closer to his body in a defensive position. Some people burst out in cheers while others remained silent, it seemed that this would be a battle that they would remember for ages to come.