"Huh, bragging again!"

The look in Cheng Xingchu's eyes glinted dangerously. He might be far weaker in a duel with Sword Will, but things would be very different if he were to make use of his spiritual source.

Cheng Xingchu felt that if he were still to lose using his spiritual source, he might as well kill himself by smashing against a block of tofu!

His finger unconsciously traced lightly over the piece of jade tucked in his waist.

After Lei Shuangxing smashed through a piece the other day, Cheng Xingchu was down to his last jade piece.

Just how could Xu Xiaoshou get to the Master level from Origin Court Stage, eh?

Cheng Xingchu found it hard to believe.

"If you are letting me go first, do note that I will not be pulling my punches."

He was not in the mood to chat any further with someone as pompous as Xu Xiaoshou. He gathered his might and burst into action.

The rage of his spiritual source at the peak of the Upper Spiritual Level finally manifested and made itself known. For such power capable of fighting toe-to-toe with the veteran 33. Instantly, it caused the surrounding space to tremble.

The first of the three levels in Master levels was the Astronomical Level.

Spiritual cultivators could gradually touch the Great Path by studying the path through their innate powers. It would then allow them to use the powers of the laws of the world.

It would be a sign that they were getting into the realm of Master levels.

The surrounding space shook as soon as Cheng Xingchu made his move. His movements clearly showed that he had touched the threshold of Master level.

The people of the Spirit Palace had concerned expressions on their faces.

For the man was someone who came from the Holy Divine Temple. While his attitude and mindset needed further restraint, there was no doubting the strength of his powers.

All of them turned to look at Xu Xiaoshou, waiting to see how he would negotiate the attack.

Naturally, Xu Xiaoshou did not intend to underestimate what was coming. He was in his most serious frame of mind and wanted to take on the attack with his full powers.

But his powers did not allow him to do so.

He had nothing but passive skills. And it was infuriating, given that there was nothing to activate.

Besides, he had little defensive spiritual techniques and spiritual weapons. The most he could do was to mobilize his spiritual source to erect a barrier.

So, other than striking a Wing Chun stance, he did nothing else to prepare.

"Come on!"

Everyone was dumbfounded, wondering why he acted so indifferent when his opponent was coming at him with a force almost as powerful as that of the Master level.

Did he have a death wish or something?

What good would the pose do for him?

Come on, go all out!

Fight with all you have got!

: Doubted, Passive Points +5.

Strangely, Cheng Xingchu was greatly disturbed by Xu Xiaoshou's casual, indifferent attitude, and found his state of mind dithering almost at the brink of collapse.

Damn this guy! He's trying hard to piss me off!

Cheng Xingchu roared angrily and cranked up his powers to the maximum.

He gathered his spiritual source in his palm and conjured a vague shadow of the Black Tortoise behind his back.

"Black Tortoise Strike!"

He charged as he launched his strike, and in his mind, he could already see Xu Xiaoshou getting crushed.

The Master level spiritual technique was not his most forceful attack, but it contained a tremendous force that could shatter anything.

Even if Xu Xiaoshou were to survive it, he would be thrown back and sustain severe injuries, possibly even crippling him.

Even if you had Innate Level Physique, so what?

It's still just Innate level!

"A Master level spiritual technique?" Xu Xiaoshou mumbled as he saw Cheng Xingchu charging at him.

With restrictions on the use of Sword Will, it meant that Xu Xiaoshou could not use techniques like the 10 Sections of the Sword Finger.

Well, I suppose I will have to do this then...

He slowly pushed his hands out, conjuring a fire seed between his palms just as Cheng Xingchu's hand was about to smash into him.

"Lesser Fireball!"

"What kind of spiritual technique is this?"

Cheng Xingchu immediately had a bad feeling about it, but he thought he would simply crush whatever it was.

Then he saw Xu Xiaoshou looking anxious and conjuring another compressed fire seed up between the palms of his hands.

The energy soon became unstable and was on the verge of getting out of control. When the aura of devastation leaked out, Ye Xiaotian immediately stood up in dread.

This is a new hall, boy! Do not do it, Xu Xiaoshou!

Ye Xiaotian's immediate thought was to surround the two of them with a space barrier. But then Xu Xiaoshou, who had looked hesitant for a bit, conjured yet another two fire seeds!

It left ye Xiaotian wide-eyed with horror.

"Cannot afford to be careless... He is coming at me with a Master level spiritual technique," mumbled Xu Xiaoshou, nodding solemnly to assure himself.

Cheng Xingchu suddenly looked frightened beyond description.

The best way of using such a terrifying aura of destruction was to detonate it from afar. But this guy had conjured the seeds so close to him!

Did Xu Xiaoshou go nuts?

Was he not afraid of being blown up as well?

But, given his the attack was already in motion, there was simply no way Cheng Xingchu could pull out in time.

He could do nothing else other but face it head-on. He increased the power of his strike.

If I don't succeed, I'll be dead meat!

Nah, impossible for me to fail here!

BOOM!

Suddenly, Ye Xiaotian beamed the two duelists into the sky outside the hall, and he was just in the nick of time. The loud rumble in the sunny sky caught the attention of everyone within earshot.

Everyone turned to look up at almost the same time.

It was an explosion that not even the soundproof array could shut out. The people wondered if it was another invasion.

The shock wave swept across the place and it felt as if a meteor had just crashed into the ocean. Green and white spiritual power clashed with each other, and it looked like the two opposing powers were tied.

However, the deadlock did not last for long as the white force suddenly overwhelmed the opposing force.

Scorching bright white energy took over as far as the eye could see.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Five consecutive explosions erupted, and one mushroom cloud after another shot up the sky. The disciples of the Inner Yard all watched in awe.

They stirred, feeling the phenomena brought back familiar memories.

The faces of everyone in the hall twitched, for they seemed to have predicted what just happened.

Swoop!

As expected, a bloodied figure was thrown from the explosion and crashed onto the newly laid out rock-hard ground. He was completely unconscious.

Meanwhile, Xu Xiaoshou remained hovering in midair.

His clothes billowed around him from the impact of the explosions, but he emerged unscathed.

There was fresh blood dripping from his hand. But of course, the blood was not his. It was the blood of his opponent, Cheng Xingchu.

"Um... Oh, it looks like I do not need to make my move anymore."

Xu Xiaoshou wiped his hands and looked at Cheng Xingchu, sprawled on the ground and completely unconscious.

The reason the explosions came, one after another, was because the "Seeds on All Five Fingers" technique only generated the seeds one by one before detonating them. Had it been otherwise, Cheng Xingchu would end up being shredded to bits.

Even though his opponent had done his best with the Black Tortoise Strike and unleashed all his force in his strike, he still could not hurt Xu Xiaoshou at all.

Eternal Vitality at Master level enabled Xu Xiaoshou to recover from the injury he sustained in a blink of an eye.

As for how Cheng Xingchu was sent flying off in such a horrific fashion...

Using Recoil alone would not have been able to nullify the Master level spiritual technique of Cheng Xingchu. Passive skills were not techniques to be executed on their own.

Xu Xiaoshou's Master Physique had been backing up all the other passive skills in the background.

His Recoil skill was only still at Innate level. However, because of the parameters of his powerful physical body, the recoil effect of the passive skill was amplified twice over.

Everyone had gotten out of the hall and now stood at the entrance. Xu Xiaoshou slowly descended in a dashing manner before them all.

Xu Xiaoshou saw that everyone was still in shock and asked hesitantly, "Um, should we not go save the man right now?"

Zhao Xidong quickly snapped out of his shock and immediately flew off. He shot a glare at Xu Xiaoshou.

That kid sure knows how to mess things up!

Cheng Xingchu cannot die here, man! Or it would cause massive trouble for us all.

He should be fine. Cheng Xingchu still had the defensive spiritual weapon, after all.

However, Zhao Xidong spotted the shattered jade hanging on the waist of the unconscious man as soon as he landed.

Huff!

He pulled the man up and searched for his pulse. He was still alive! However, the right arm that executed his attack was gone. The man was in a coma.

"He is still alive."

Zhao Xidong lifted him and carried the man off in the presence of everyone. It was the only thing he could say after deliberating for a while.

Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.

He remembered that Cheng Xingchu had a formidable piece of defensive jade and wondered why it had turned out like this.

He pointed at Cheng Xingchu's right arm, which was no longer there, and hesitated before he spoke.

"Um, could we fix this?"

: Cursed, Passive Points +5.

"It... um... I did not intend to do this much damage. I just thought that he had some powerful defensive spiritual weapon on him and yada, yada, yada..." Xu Xiaoshou continued blabbering non-stop.

Hallmaster Jiang's face turned notably glum.