Chapter 33: Gu Lin’s Name Echoes Throughout Chuwei!
Across the vast, boundless expanse of the martial arena, nearly 100,000 people sat in dead silence.
It felt as though only a single figure remained in all of heaven and earth.
His footsteps came slow and unhurried, one step at a time, until he stood directly before Zhao Yao.
Zhao Yao clutched at his scorched, blackened throat, his face twisting violently as he tried to scream, yet not the faintest sound escaped him.
Gu Lin gazed down at him from above.
The so-called Qilin Young Master’s eyes had turned to pure despair, begging madly like a dog for mercy.
Up on the high platform, Zhao Can’s entire body shook with fury, his rage building toward its absolute peak. Surrounded by his fellow colleagues, his eyes bulged as he shouted:
“Everyone, Zhao Yao is already crippled, Zhao Yao has already conceded, it should be announced now!!”
The Martial Extremity Palace members kept their faces impassive.
The centurion likewise said nothing.
He understood Zhao Can’s hysteria all too well.
But the fair and impartial order of the selection trial could never be broken!
Without the words “I concede” actually spoken aloud, the sacred grounds could not intervene.
Whether Zhao Yao lived or died now rested entirely on a single thought in Gu Lin’s mind.
The members from the other three sacred grounds were, if anything, delighted to watch the spectacle unfold, each of them thoroughly intrigued, curious to see whether Gu Lin would truly go through with the killing blow.
This Gu Lin possessed terrifying combat prowess, an endless stream of battle tactics, and had mastered all manner of top-tier martial arts to an absolutely peerless degree!
Setting aside his relatively weaker cultivation level, every other aspect of his ability stood at the very pinnacle among his peers!
In the boundless silence of the stands, Deputy Magistrate Zhao was consumed with grief beyond measure, his entire body trembling like a sieve, his blood-red eyes locked unblinkingly on Arena 3.
If this monster dared to actually go through with it, there would be no end to the feud between him and the Zhao family!!
Beside him, Headmaster Yan was equally anxious, his heart burning with worry. Though he and Magistrate Lu of Shiyang belonged to the same faction, and Gu Lin’s astonishing battle had drawn an involuntary hum of appreciation from him, he desperately hoped Gu Lin wouldn’t act rashly and dig his own grave!
Even if he’d already secured his Blade-Bearer position, how could a mere Blade-Bearer possibly stand against Zhao Can?
Over on the other side, Li Qingwu had already fallen into utter despair. In her eyes, the dazzling, unreachable Qilin Young Master could never possibly lose to that monster—she was gradually spiraling toward madness, muttering under her breath that all of this had to be nothing but an illusion!
Every spectator from Shiyang County sat in a daze.
Who, exactly, was the true leading talent among Shiyang County’s younger generation?
The Qilin Young Master had merely been a stepping stone for Gu Lin all along!
The Qilin Young Master’s dazzling glory these past few years had only persisted because Gu Lin had never bothered to care for such empty fame—and now, on the grandest stage of all, he had personally nailed the Qilin Young Master to a pillar of shame!
In this moment, what choice would he make?
Should he go through with it, it would be nothing less than a public slap across Lord Zhao Can’s face!
For the sake of his own future, surely he would choose restraint!
Time slowly ticked by, and the martial arena sank into a prolonged, drawn-out silence.
Gu Lin spoke in a voice so faint that only the two of them could hear it:
“A man like me, once he gains the upper hand, will inevitably repay every last grudge in full.”
“If I spare you, will the Zhao family simply let go of theirs?”
“Go on hating me in the underworld instead.”
Before the eyes of the entire crowd, Gu Lin raised his foot, planted it directly onto Zhao Yao’s head, and pressed down with sudden, brutal force.
Crack—
The sound of a snapping neck sent a chill down every spectator’s spine.
The Qilin Young Master had died on the spot!!
In that instant, Zhao Can’s face turned deathly pale. He shut his eyes tightly, if only to keep himself from collapsing entirely on the spot—but only he himself knew the full depths of the grief and fury churning inside him!!
Every sacred grounds member exchanged glances with one another, and in each other’s eyes, they found the same shared verdict on Gu Lin—
Absolutely ruthless.
As Gu Lin turned and began walking away from Arena 3.
The endless silence was suddenly shattered by a sharp, piercing cry.
“Gu Lin!”
“Gu Lin!!”
In an instant, cheers erupted like a roaring tide, nearly 100,000 spectators overflowing with fervor, their blood boiling with excitement!
Energy Condensation Seventh Level had crushed and killed a Cavern Mystery cultivator!
This was the true peerless talent of Chuwei Prefecture!
So what if you had an elder brother among the sacred grounds’ ranks?
So what if your glow shone brilliantly for all to see?
Your prized talent, your so-called exceptional martial arts—none of it was worth so much as a mention in the eyes of Talent Gu!!
What had Talent Gu said, exactly, as he defeated Zhao Yao?
Everyone present had heard it with perfect clarity!
“You wanted me to submit to you, to become your servant, so that you could graciously bestow a Blade-Bearer position upon me as a reward—do you have any idea how laughable that is?”
Looking back on it now, it truly had been the greatest joke imaginable!
Zhao Yao himself had failed to advance past the Round of 64, reduced entirely to a laughingstock!
As the cheers gradually began to die down, the Literary Dao Academy’s representative in her white Lotus-flower robe raised her voice, speaking with firm, resounding force:
“Congratulations to Gu Lin of Shiyang County, advancing to the Round of 32!”
Gu Lin returned to the high platform, met by countless gazes filled with equal parts wariness and reverence.
Seeing that Gu Lin’s expression remained utterly calm, without a trace of the excitement they’d expected, every contestant present understood at once—
He had been aiming for one of the top slots from the very beginning!
His goal had always been to join the sacred grounds!
He had already slain the Qilin Young Master, Zhao Yao, with his own hands—he absolutely possessed both the qualification and the ability now!
“Congratulations, Gu Lin.”
“Congratulations, Gu Lin.”
Yan Shouxu, Wei Xuan, and the others remained lost in shock, their expressions somewhat vacant, looking at Gu Lin as though staring at some kind of freakish madman.
Only Zhu Yuting kept his head bowed low, his heart consumed with grief on the verge of exploding outright, his mind ringing with a ceaseless buzz—his own future had been utterly destroyed.
Up on Arena 3.
Zhao Yao’s corpse was carried away.
He had entered the competition crowned with the glory of the Qilin Young Master’s title, yet he would return to Shiyang carried home in a coffin.
At the very center of the high platform, Centurion Zhu of the Literary Dao Academy continued the drawing of lots.
But the matches that followed fell far short of anything resembling excitement—the sheer visual impact of Gu Lin’s astonishing battle had been so overwhelming that every spectator found even clashes between Energy Condensation Ninth Level cultivators utterly dull and lifeless by comparison!
Half an hour later, the advancement round drew to a close.
The Round of 32 had been decided!
Another half hour of rest followed.
This time, Gu Lin took the pills provided by the sacred grounds, working to restore his body as quickly as possible—that last battle had drained him far more than he’d expected.
Across the boundless stands, spectators leaned toward one another, murmuring and discussing amongst themselves.
Gu Changchuan’s gaze had grown hazy and distant, as though he’d just woken from an impossibly long dream. He kept breaking into wide grins, laughing until the corners of his mouth began to twitch from the strain.
Lin’er had never needed fortune’s favor at all!
Whoever drew him as an opponent had been the truly unlucky one!
“Uncle Gu… Jingming just killed Zhao Yao…”
The chubby young Wang Mu’s voice trembled as he spoke—the Zhao family held Shiyang County firmly in their grip, and Zhao Can’s authority ran deep in everyone’s minds.
Yet Gu Changchuan showed not a trace of fear, speaking with firm, resounding conviction:
“Everything Lin’er did was right!”
“I may be nothing more than a nameless escort, no more significant than an ant in the Zhao family’s eyes, but I’m no coward who cowers before death either. Had Lin’er spared him, would the Zhao family have spared Lin’er in return? Sparing his life would only have invited even crueler vengeance later—better to accept whatever punishment comes and send Zhao Yao off to meet the King of Hell instead!”
“Why worry so much about all that? At the very least, Lin’er is a Blade-Bearer now!”
Though the chubby young Wang Mu remained deeply troubled, he couldn’t help but sigh in wonder all the same.
Just a month ago, they’d all been carefree, sharing roasted goose together without a worry in the world. A month later, Gu Jingming was already about to become a Blade-Bearer, enjoying the Divine Dynasty’s stipend and standing high above them all—even Headmaster Yan himself would have to address him as “Lord Gu” now, upon his return to the academy!
What an unpredictable turn of fate—truly, the world could shift as dramatically as seas turning into mulberry fields!
“The Gu family!”
Suddenly, a hoarse voice rang out. Deputy Magistrate Zhao stumbled forward unsteadily, the agony of losing his son tearing through his very heart, stripping away every trace of his usual dignified bearing, every ounce of the composure he’d once so carefully cultivated—now nothing more than a walking corpse consumed by murderous rage.
Gu Changchuan rose to his feet at once, cupping his hands in a respectful yet unyielding salute:
“Lord Zhao, life and death are settled on the arena through combat. If Lin’er had died there, that too would have been his own choice to make.”
Deputy Magistrate Zhao let out a savage, chilling laugh, staring fixedly at Gu Changchuan as though looking upon a man already marked for death, and growled in a low, hoarse voice:
“The debt of a murdered son can never be settled while both of us still draw breath!”
Gu Changchuan remained entirely unafraid. He’d spent years as a bounty hunter, his very life constantly hanging by a thread—how could he possibly be called a coward now?
He spoke with heavy, deliberate emphasis:
“Lin’er is already a Blade-Bearer! He is no longer merely a student of Shiyang Academy!”
Deep within Deputy Magistrate Zhao’s eyes, murderous intent surged and roiled—in his heart, he had already passed sentence upon the entire Gu family, condemning them to a slow and agonizing death. He turned and stumbled away, unsteady on his feet. Everything now depended entirely on what Can’er chose to do next!
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