Breaking Through Five Realms in One Day—The God of Calamity Among Men! Chapter 36

Chapter 36: The Righteous Energy Erupts, Shaking the Entire City!

Young Master Yan Xu’s display of his cultivation left nearly a hundred thousand spectators utterly stunned.

That aura wasn’t the mark of someone freshly stepping into the Cavern Mystery Second Level—it was mid-level within that stage, perhaps even approaching the upper reaches!

An unfathomably terrifying talent for the Martial Dao!

Was he showing off?

He was not.

He was making it abundantly clear to Gu Lin: it was time to concede, and better sooner than later.

Hearing Yan Xu say he would spare his opponent’s life, Zhao Can felt no anger. He intended to slaughter Gu Lin with his own hands to wash away the Zhao Family’s disgrace, making the man’s entire family of three suffer to their deaths!

On Arena Eight, Gu Lin walked toward the center.

Thoom—

The drum’s report rang out sharply.

The Sacred Ground gave neither side any moment to size the other up. This was a battle with no suspense whatsoever—or rather, whoever faced Yan Xu was destined for the same fate.

Gu Lin sank his energy into his dantian, gathering his strength before striking, layer upon layer of palm afterimages surging forth as thirty-two palms formed a defensive wall.

Seeing Gu Lin deploy his trump card the moment the match began, countless spectators watched with unblinking eyes—it was this very technique that had buried the Qilin Young Master.

Yan Xu’s expression remained impassive as he strolled forward with unhurried ease, a bloody glow naturally rising from his body and coalescing into a massive shield.

“The Yan Family’s Blood-Refined Divine Light!” a powerful sect member exclaimed in shock.

Yan Xu’s toes skimmed the ground as he leaped straight into the wall of palms.

The palm afterimages and the bloody glow pressed against and overwhelmed each other, but given the enormous gap in internal energy, the palm wall was on the verge of collapse in no time.

Suddenly—

Yan Xu let out a fierce roar, his right hand’s five fingers curling into a furious claw, internal energy winding through him like a serpent.

Boom—

The verdant claw print collided violently with the solid palm strikes, and the palm wall shattered completely.

The aftershock of the Blood-Refined Divine Light surged forward, and Gu Lin stumbled backward fifteen steps before managing to steady himself with great difficulty, his chest heaving violently, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

Under the weight of every watching eye, Yan Xu’s left hand had already curled into a fist, and with a single punch he obliterated the searing aura bearing down on him—that silent, unseen trump card didn’t even so much as singe his robes.

Every spectator in the arena felt their scalps prickle with a chill.

Hearing about it was nothing compared to witnessing it firsthand—Young Master Yan Xu truly was overwhelmingly powerful!

Gu Lin had already proven himself terrifying, those two techniques honed to an absolute pinnacle, blending the tangible and intangible to crush Zhao Yao with overwhelming force!

And yet, when he tried the same tactic again, Young Master Yan Xu handled it with effortless, flowing grace, not betraying the slightest hint of struggle.

First, Young Master Yan Xu had already been on guard.

Second, the gap in cultivation was simply too vast—every technique’s power was ultimately built upon the foundation of internal energy.

Yan Xu stood perfectly still, watching his opponent with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and asked with a smile:

“You’re merely a bit unlucky. When will you concede?”

Gu Lin wiped away the blood, steadied his internal energy, and replied calmly:

“Perhaps it’s you who’s unlucky.”

The moment the words fell, the space between his brows opened.

Yan Xu’s pupils contracted sharply, the smile vanishing instantly from his face as he glimpsed a wisp of swirling purple mist.

The vast martial arena fell into absolute silence, and nearly all hundred thousand spectators shot to their feet almost simultaneously, every face etched with shock—the impact of this single moment was beyond anything words could capture.

What in the world were they looking at?!

The eyes of the Four Great Sacred Grounds’ members snapped sharp with focus, fixed unwaveringly on Gu Lin atop Arena Eight.

Righteous Energy!

He…

He was a Confucian cultivator as well!

A staggering talent for dual cultivation of both the Confucian and Martial Daos!

The moment the purple Righteous Energy emerged, the entire arena’s spectators were swept into a surge of raw emotion, their eyes filled with utter astonishment.

Chuwei Prefecture had actually produced a genius who cultivated both the Confucian and Martial Daos!

The instant the purple Righteous Energy surged forth, Gu Lin unleashed the Wave-Treading Steps at full mastery, leaving nothing behind at his original position but a fading afterimage.

‘Only Energy Cultivation Third Level in the Confucian Dao,’ Yan Xu thought, his guard relaxing—when suddenly, a droning hum erupted through his mind without end.

An invisible cage descended, and even his flesh and blood was bound in restraint, his arms locking rigid, unable to move.

Gu Lin’s figure was already right upon him, and amid the roar of thunder, he unleashed the Eighteen Consecutive Aerial Kicks, his palm already curled into a claw as he followed with the Three Yang Bloodline-Severing Mark once more.

However—

At the very brink of despair, Yan Xu’s expression twisted with ferocity as a single drop of essence blood within his body burned with wild intensity, his hair darkening as it was enveloped in a surge of blood energy, his rigid limbs suddenly awash with rolling internal energy.

The Confine Art’s restraint shattered apart!

Boom—

Yan Xu blocked all nine kicks at the fastest speed he could muster, the sheer velocity of his circulating internal energy forcing his acupoints to tremble violently. He twisted his body and shot backward like an arrow, slamming a palm against his own shoulder to forcibly expel the searing, scorching aura that had lodged within him.

Even so, Yan Xu’s robes were left charred black and stained with blood.

The entire arena felt a chill run down their spines!

Every Sacred Ground member’s eyes were wide with shock.

An ordinary cultivator at the Cavern Mystery Second Level would have certainly perished in that instant.

Even a Cavern Mystery Second Level cultivator formidable in actual combat would now be reduced to a lamb awaiting slaughter, hanging on by a thread.

Yet Yan Xu, relying on his terrifying talent and the deep foundation of the Yan Family, had managed to claw his way out of danger through sheer difficulty, losing nothing more than a portion of flesh and blood in the process.

Just what kind of combat strength did Gu Lin possess?!

Martial Dao Energy Condensation Seventh Level, Confucian Dao Confucian Disciple Energy Cultivation Third Stage—he had truly come within a hair’s breadth of overwhelming Yan Xu, of forging a miracle that would shake the world to its core.

“It’s only natural that your younger brother lost. He didn’t give it his full effort,” the Centurion of the Martial Extremity Hall couldn’t help but remark with a sigh.

Zhao Can’s face tensed rigid. In that instant, his heart had very nearly plunged into an abyss of despair—fortunately, Yan Xu had proven exceptional enough.

The entire arena fell into dead silence, every spectator as if gripped by the throat, unable to utter a single word.

They even felt a wave of despair on Gu Lin’s behalf!

Had it been anyone other than Yan Xu—even the second-ranked Tyrant King Chu Sheng or the third-ranked Young Master Order Li Zhixu—Gu Lin would already have won!

Unless one had witnessed it with their own eyes, who could have imagined that an Energy Condensation Seventh Level cultivator would prove to be a dual cultivator of both the Confucian and Martial Daos, his mastery of the Confucian Dao’s supreme art utterly beyond comprehension—in that single instant, Yan Xu had been rendered completely immobile, bound in total restraint!

How utterly despairing was that?

Young Master Gu Lin had already given everything he had, unleashing every trump card at his disposal, and yet he still hadn’t managed to shake Yan Xu.

Had it been anyone else, he would have won—but of all people, it had to be Yan Xu, of all families, it had to be the Yan Family with its deep and formidable foundation!

Countless spectators felt a tragic sense of despair on Gu Lin’s behalf—despite being so extraordinarily brilliant, he was still destined to become nothing more than a stepping stone for Yan Xu.

“I would certainly lose.”

“Even I couldn’t block that chain of techniques.”

Up on the elevated platform, the Tyrant King Chu Sheng and Young Master Order Li Zhixu wore grave expressions—had they been the ones facing Gu Lin, they would already have been eliminated from the selection trial.

Gu Lin truly was formidable, extraordinarily formidable—it was simply a tragedy that his opponent happened to be Yan Xu.

Suddenly—

“Gu Lin!”

Up on the arena, both sides were still locked in a standoff, adjusting their internal energy, but across the entire arena, the chant rang out from every direction—every spectator’s admiration for Young Master Gu Lin came from the very bottom of their hearts, and this was precisely what it meant to lose with glory, to fall in defeat and still shine.

Headmaster Yan and the spectators from Shiyang felt the same surge of impassioned pride, crying out Gu Lin’s name with all their hearts—he was the pride of Shiyang County, a dual cultivator of both the Confucian and Martial Daos who had come within a hair’s breadth of defeating Yan Xu!

Deputy Magistrate Zhao sat alone, his haggard face twisted violently, a ferocious and chilling sneer spreading across it.

So what if he had?

He was still nothing more than a Blade-Bearer!

What was a Blade-Bearer, standing before a Sacred Ground?

A servant.

It would be all too simple for his son to deal with this beast.

Li Jisheng and his daughter Li Qingwu felt as though they had just escaped some hellish purgatory of death, collapsing weakly to the ground, the terror in their eyes slowly beginning to fade.

No matter how fate-defying this beast proved to be, he still couldn’t surpass Young Master Yan Xu—he was still merely a Blade-Bearer, and Zhao Can, harboring a hatred as deep as the sea, was determined to see this beast meet a wretched end!

“Lin’er…”

Watching his son’s distant figure, Gu Changchuan’s eyes had already welled with hot tears. His son had given everything he had. His son had already shone brilliantly enough.

Up on Arena Eight, Yan Xu listened to the thunderous roar washing over the arena like a tidal wave, feeling no anger at all, only staring at his opponent with cold detachment:

“It’s time to concede.”

Gu Lin smiled without a sound.

He had no love for the deafening cheers surrounding him in this moment.

No matter how much recognition he earned, it would still be as a loser.

He could not lose.