On the arena stage, Jiang Ye didn't even raise his head.
Just at that moment, an unexpected turn of events occurred!
Below the stage, the facial muscles of an elderly figure clad in standard outer sect robes suddenly twisted into a hideous grimace.
Boom!
A terrifying pressure belonging to the early Golden Core realm erupted violently from this “outer disciple.”
This person was none other than Gao Qiuge, who had disguised himself using a top-grade Treasure Tool!
Without a single word, eyes burning with venomous malice, he lunged toward Jiang Ye on the stage.
“Senior, hold on!”
High in the air, Ye Jinghong's twin flying swords transformed into flashes of lightning, shooting forward at terrifying speed.
However, Gao Qiuge had plotted this for a long time and was far too close to the stage.
In virtually a single instant, he reached the arena stage and appeared right in front of Jiang Ye, slamming a heavy palm down toward Jiang Ye's skull!
He had planned everything out—including his disguise, his concealment, and timing his strike for the precise window when the peak masters were locked in dispute.
Yet, he had failed to anticipate a single detail: he couldn't kill Jiang Ye at all.
The gale of the palm strike pressed down from above.
Under everyone's horrified gazes, Jiang Ye calmly threw his longsword high into the air.
With his back turned to the Golden Lion, he turned his head around, staring at the incoming Gao Qiuge with a provocative, mocking glint in his eyes.
Gao Qiuge's face twisted into an even more demonic sneer. In his mind, this wretched girl's head would burst like a rotten watermelon in the very next second.
However...
Whoosh—
Gao Qiuge's eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
His entire body, along with that furious palm strike, eerily passed straight through Jiang Ye's body... like striking empty air!
Did this native really think he could comprehend the invincibility frames of an Execution animation?
Bang!
Gao Qiuge's palm smashed heavily into the arena floor behind Jiang Ye, blowing out a deep crater.
The instant he struck the stage...
A cold glint arrived first!
Swish! Swish!
Ye Jinghong's flying swords violently pierced through Gao Qiuge's abdomen, nailing the Golden Core elder firmly onto the shattered arena floor.
“AAAAAHHHH—!”
A blood-curdling shriek echoed across the entire field.
Only then did Jiang Ye reach back to catch his falling longsword, thrusting it with violent precision straight through the Golden Lion's skull!
Rumble.
The Golden Lion's massive body crashed heavily to the ground.
Dead as a doornail.
A surge of warm energy, far more intense than any before, rushed violently into his body, almost making Jiang Ye groan out loud in front of thousands of onlookers.
However, he forced himself to hold back, merely narrowing his eyes slightly and tilting his head up.
As expected of a demon beast with a Tier Four bloodline—this single bite of experience was juicy!
The entire arena fell into an eerie, dead silence.
Everything had unfolded in the blink of an eye, so fast that many disciples hadn't even processed what happened, staring blankly at the scene before them.
Only Gao Qiuge's agonizing wails echoed across the plaza.
Standing to the side, Ye Jinghong silently pulled out a small notebook and scribbled frantically with his brush:
【Aristocratic Technique: Second Stance】
【Toss longsword into the air, turn back to enemy, spread hands open, catch longsword behind back, and plunge it into enemy skull.】
Best used when having full understanding of the opponent.
High above in the sky...
Nangong Yue sneered coldly, “Wei Zhaoyuan, you're regressing with age. You actually tried to block me just now? So it was to cover for this old dog's sneak attack.”
Wei Zhaoyuan's face darkened, internally cursing Gao Qiuge for being a useless fool.
Meanwhile...
Sect Master Song Changfeng and Dao Mystic Peak Master Sun Qiming stared down at Bai Zhirou with grave expressions.
Because they had clearly seen Gao Qiuge's palm strike hit Bai Zhirou, yet her body had completely turned intangible in that split second.
What kind of invincible divine ability was this?!
Down on the stage...
Having just recovered from the backlash, Gao Jinli stared blankly at his grandfather, who was pinned to the ground with a sword through his belly, and at the Golden Lion lying in a pool of blood.
His sanity snapped completely.
“Wench! You damn wench!!”
Gao Jinli's fingers trembled, blood dripping from his reddened eyes.
“How dare you kill my beast! I'll kill you!!”
Like a lunatic, he grabbed his longsword and charged stumblingly toward Jiang Ye.
Jiang Ye, who was still rubbing his aching head, narrowed his eyes upon hearing those words.
Swish!
His body flashed forward seamlessly like a ghost, brushing past Gao Jinli.
Crack.
Gao Jinli suddenly felt a sudden wave of numbness in his legs, losing all sensation.
He tumbled forward uncontrollably, crashing face-first onto the stage and skidding over ten meters like a dog eating dirt.
Only then did excruciating pain crash into his brain like a tidal wave.
Looking back in horror, he discovered that both of his legs below the knees remained neatly behind at his starting spot, spouting gouts of blood.
“AAAAAHHHH!! My legs! Wench, I'll kill you!!”
Desperate shrieks reached the heavens.
Right then, his vision went dark.
Thud!
A European size 37 boot slammed squarely onto his face, choking all his harsh words back into his throat.
A trace of brutal violence flashed in Jiang Ye's cold eyes.
“I talk nicely to you, and you fucking think I'm easy to push around?”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Expressionless, Jiang Ye slammed foot after foot viciously, stomping Gao Jinli's face straight into the bluestone slabs.
A mouthful of shattered teeth scattered across the ground, his face turned to a bloody pulp.
“Wench, how dare you!!”
Pinned to the ground, Gao Qiuge's eyes nearly split open with rage.
Flipping his spatial ring, a pitch-black pill spewing dark qi abruptly appeared in his palm.
Opening his mouth, he swallowed the pill whole.
Bang!
The longsword impaling his abdomen was sent flying by a terrifying repulsive shockwave.
Wreathed in black qi with crimson eyes, Gao Qiuge's cultivation forcefully surged from early Golden Core to mid Golden Core!
Putting away his notebook, Ye Jinghong flickered like a phantom to Jiang Ye's side, warning vigilantly, “Junior Sister Bai, be careful. This old dog Gao Qiuge isn't right.”
Meanwhile, hiding behind Ye Jinghong, Jiang Ye's lips curled into an excited grin.
The main quest progress moved!
【Main Quest: Crisis of the Azure Mystic Sect, Current Progress: 15%!】
Poking his head out with righteous indignation, Jiang Ye bellowed at the top of his lungs:
“Damned evil cultivator, how dare you possess an elder of our sect!!”
“Eldest Senior Brother, justice demands it! Let us join forces to slay him!!”
Ye Jinghong's eyes lit up.
This excuse—no, this reasoning—was great.
“Good!” Ye Jinghong raised his longsword, preparing to unleash his ultimate move.
“Enough!!”
Wei Zhaoyuan's somber voice boomed down from above.
“Gao Jinli has lost. This matter ends here. Step down!”
“DIE!!!”
Seethed in dark qi, Gao Qiuge had lost all rationality, ignoring his Peak Master's order as he lunged straight for Jiang Ye's throat.
“Hmph.”
Nangong Yue's disdainful cold snort echoed from above.
Boom!
A wave of Nascent Soul pressure slammed down like a mountain. Unable to resist at all, Gao Qiuge was pinned flat to the ground, paralyzed. After twitching twice, he passed out on the spot.
Jiang Ye nimbly stepped out from behind Ye Jinghong, strutting over to Gao Qiuge and tapping the old man's head with the tip of his boot.
Then, he forcefully ripped off the top-grade Treasure Tool necklace Gao Qiuge had used to conceal his identity, stuffing it smoothly into his own spatial ring.
He even loudly condemned him with righteous indignation:
“This damned evil cultivator! He actually stole my precious artifact!”
The corners of several thousand disciples' mouths twitched uncontrollably below the stage.
Damn it, you're literally robbing him in broad daylight!
Yet, cowed by “Bai Zhirou's” brutal display on stage, not a single soul dared to speak up.
The sect's higher-ups tacitly permitted her actions as well. After all, she had been competing properly on stage when Gao Qiuge broke the rules first. Giving her some compensation was perfectly reasonable—plus, she had powerful backing above her!
Sure enough, Nangong Yue's cool voice rang out through the clouds once more:
“Gao Qiuge is a peak elder, yet he went so far as to consume the demonic sect's Tier Four forbidden pill, the 【Heavenly Demon Heart-Devouring Pill】, in an attempt to murder a disciple of my peak. The evidence is conclusive.”
“Sect Master, how do you intend to sentence him?”
Song Changfeng's majestic voice resounded calmly:
“Gao Qiuge, as an elder, maliciously attacked a disciple during the outer sect tournament and consumed a demonic forbidden pill.”
“Effective immediately, he is stripped of his position as elder and banished to Thought-Reflection Cliff to face the wall for fifty years!”
“Does anyone object?”
Wei Zhaoyuan closed his eyes without saying a word.
Clearly, he had decided to completely abandon Gao Qiuge's lineage.
Below the stage, the disciples gasped in shock, whispering among themselves:
“Hss! I heard that going to Thought-Reflection Cliff requires wearing Spirit-Locking Shackles?”
“That's right! Not only that, but the Nine Nether Astral Winds blow across Thought-Reflection Cliff day and night. One's physical body endures the agonizing pain of being torn apart every single moment. Fifty years... it's a fate worse than death!”
Just as everyone chose to remain silent...
On the arena stage...
Jiang Ye raised his hand high, looking exactly like a model student eagerly answering a question in class.
“Report, Sect Master! I have an objection!”
Jiang Ye pointed with righteous indignation at the charred black blob of Gao Qiuge on the ground, shouting at the top of his voice:
“This old geezer was puffing out black smoke left and right just now! He's clearly been possessed by a demonic cultivator!”
“I suggest a strict investigation three generations deep, severe processing, and a rigorous execution by firing squad!”
Everyone: “...”
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