“Is what you’re saying true?” Su Rong blinked her two pitch-black bright eyes, her long eyelashes trembling, showing the unrest in her heart.
“No interest in deceiving you lot!” Pang Shao looked at Su Rong, gazing at her alluring figure with its perfect curves, thinking to himself what a seductive beauty she was. No wonder Ye Chu secretly admired her. “Putting your hopes on that pretty boy Chen Bowen is really overestimating him.”
“Don’t spout nonsense here to scare people!” Zhang Su’er saw Su Rong’s face turn pale and gathered her courage to snort at Pang Shao. She felt Pang Shao was just trying to frighten them. A man who only ruined women claiming he was stronger than Chen Bowen had as much credibility as Ye Chu deciding to turn over a new leaf!
“If you don’t believe it, just wait and see!” Pang Shao did not bother explaining further and turned his gaze to the duel arena.
In the duel arena, Chen Bowen and Sha Shan were attacking with extreme ferocity. Each of their intent energies shot out wildly, stirring up gusts of fierce wind with every move. Their strength was evenly matched, and every clash made the other’s body tremble.
“I didn’t expect you to have some skill!” Chen Bowen stared at Sha Shan with a cold glint in his eyes. The intent surrounding his body grew denser, pressing down on Sha Shan with overwhelming force.
“I’m far stronger than you!” Sha Shan laughed heartily. “Let me show you my Mountain-Splitting Leg!”
As soon as Sha Shan finished speaking, the intent at his feet surged violently and fused with the energy in his legs. He unleashed continuous chopping kicks, sweeping horizontally with a truly mountain-splitting, river-crushing momentum. It was incredibly domineering. Seeing Sha Shan suddenly display such powerful leg technique, Su Zhengping and the others abruptly stood up, their expressions changing drastically.
Even Ye Chu straightened his posture slightly. He looked at Sha Shan in the arena with a trace of seriousness. “That’s an Innate-level martial technique! He’s only at the Intent Transformation Realm, yet he can actually perform it!”
Ye Chu could not help feeling astonished in his heart. Innate-level martial techniques were not extremely rare in general, but in small kingdoms like Yao Kingdom and Sand Kingdom, they were considered precious. Moreover, Innate-level techniques were typically something only Innate Realm cultivators could execute. For someone below the Innate Realm to perform them, special methods or extraordinary circumstances were required, and the cost was usually quite high!
At the very least, in small kingdoms like Yao Kingdom and Sand Kingdom, unless someone came from an extremely wealthy and powerful family, no one would pay such a price! And even those from rich families might not necessarily spend that much to let their descendants cultivate Innate-level techniques.
For example, Pang Shao, despite his incredibly wealthy background, had never specifically trained in Innate-level martial techniques. His grandfather believed Pang Shao could naturally reach the Innate Realm one day, so there was no need to waste huge resources on techniques he could learn later, nor to spend time on them now.
Yet here was a cultivator from the small Sand Kingdom who had actually cultivated an Innate-level technique and reached a decent level of mastery. This truly surprised Ye Chu.
“I lost exactly because of his Innate-level technique!” Pang Shao said indignantly. “If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have listened to my grandfather. I should have learned a few Innate-level techniques first.”
Ye Chu smiled and fixed his gaze on the arena. Ever since Sha Shan unleashed his Innate-level technique, Chen Bowen had been struggling to keep up. Every kick forced him to dodge repeatedly.
Ye Chu and Pang Shao were not surprised by this outcome at all. Although an Innate-level technique performed by someone in the Intent Transformation Realm could not display its full power, it was still far superior to any technique below the Innate level. Without an Innate-level technique of his own, Chen Bowen had no way to counter it effectively!
“Chen Bowen has lost!” Pang Shao watched the duel arena, then suddenly turned to Ye Chu. “Is there any chance of defeating him without using an Innate-level technique?”
“Of course it’s possible! Even the simplest attack, if you can fully unleash its true essence, can completely handle this Mountain-Splitting Leg!” Ye Chu laughed. “Innate-level techniques may be stronger than ordinary ones, but it still depends on the person using them!”
While Ye Chu and Pang Shao were talking, Chen Bowen was forced to the edge of the duel arena. With nowhere left to retreat, he gritted his teeth and exploded with energy to meet the attack head-on.
“Come on then!” Sha Shan laughed loudly and chopped down fiercely with his leg, carrying the domineering power to shatter stones and steel, landing squarely on Chen Bowen’s foot.
“Crack…”
Though it was only a faint sound of bone fracturing, it rang out unusually loud in the duel arena. The Yao Kingdom crowd abruptly stood up, staring in disbelief at Chen Bowen, who was clutching his leg and rolling on the ground in agony.
“This is impossible!”
Not only Zhang Su’er and her group, but even Su Zhengping and the others could not help standing straight, their expressions changing dramatically, filled with panic.
“How could Chen Bowen lose! He is the number one of Yao Kingdom’s younger generation. He should be undefeatable!”
Everyone stared blankly at Chen Bowen, who had been thrown out of the arena and was now on the ground clutching his leg, drenched in cold sweat from the pain. Their minds went blank. Chen Bowen’s defeat carried serious consequences. Did Yao Kingdom really have to cede territory to them?
“The younger generation of Yao Kingdom is nothing special after all. I heard this was your strongest one? So weak and unable to take a hit!” The Sand Kingdom leader laughed loudly, his voice ringing out from the city tower, grating on everyone’s ears and making them glare in fury. “Is there anyone else? If not, just admit defeat. Hand over the cities and send that beauty over.”
The arrogant words reached every ear. Ye Chu turned his gaze to Su Rong and saw her face pale, her lips trembling with anger.
“Heh heh! Looks like your dream lover is about to be snatched away!” Pang Shao gloated beside him. “What a pity. This woman has such rosy lips and white teeth. If it were me, I really wouldn’t bear to let someone else take her.”
Ye Chu rolled his eyes. Of course he knew what Pang Shao was scheming. He just wanted Ye Chu to step in and help him regain some face.
Seeing Ye Chu ignore him, Pang Shao could not help reminding him, “You’re not really going to be this lazy and refuse to act even now, are you?”
“No interest!” Ye Chu was not worried about Su Rong at all. Even if Yao Kingdom truly lost, it was unlikely the Yao King would actually hand over cities and Su Rong to the Sand Kingdom.
Just as Pang Shao was about to continue persuading Ye Chu, a figure suddenly shot forward and landed in the duel arena. “Yao Kingdom’s Ye Tian, here to experience your great technique!”
The Yao Kingdom crowd, who had looked ashen moments before, saw Ye Tian step forward and felt a spark of hope reignite in their hearts.
“You?” Sha Shan sneered. “Even your strongest in Yao City, Chen Bowen, is no match for me. You coming up is just following in his footsteps!”
“He may not be your equal, but that doesn’t mean I’m not!” Ye Tian said calmly. He extended a hand towards his opponent with perfect grace and said, “Please!”
Under normal circumstances, if Ye Tian had said those words, Chen Bowen’s admirers would have cursed him out. But at this moment, every one of them could not help feeling anticipation, hoping that Ye Tian really was stronger than Chen Bowen.
“I’d like to see what gives you the confidence to say that.” Sha Shan laughed loudly. The attacks from his feet suddenly became even fiercer. He unleashed his Innate-level Mountain-Splitting Leg right from the start, clearly intending to kick Ye Tian off the arena in one blow.
“Knowing the opponent has an Innate-level technique and still going up there is just asking to get beaten!” Pang Shao shook his head. “Your big brother isn’t very smart either! Just like you…”
But before Pang Shao could finish, his eyes suddenly widened. “He… he…”
In the arena, Ye Tian faced Sha Shan’s Mountain-Splitting Leg attack. Instead of dodging, he flipped his palms, tracing graceful arcs, and directly met the incoming kick.
“In this world, you’re not the only one who can perform Innate-level techniques at the Intent Transformation Realm!” Ye Tian said calmly. With one strike, he forced Sha Shan back.
Innate-level palm technique!
Ye Chu’s eyes lit up. He had not expected Ye Tian to be capable of executing an Innate-level technique as well! This scene sent the entire Yao Kingdom into a frenzy of excitement. Cheers for Ye Tian erupted everywhere. Su Rong stood beside Ye Chu. Her face now had a touch of colour, her fists clenched tightly, revealing the tension in her heart!