The gap was like heaven and earth.
Tang San had poured out everything he had—yet Li Zhexian blocked it with one hand.
"Just this?"
Those two light words echoed across the dead-silent arena.
In that instant, the thousands in the stands fell utterly silent.
"Lord Sword Wine is truly a heavenly being!!!"
Amid the vast crowd, a Spirit Master from Heaven Dou City roared with all his might.
That single cry was like a spark on dry grass, igniting the frenzy of every spectator.
Even if…
Even if this youth had shown disrespect to the Pope herself!
But the brilliance he now displayed—
no one could deny it!
"Too… too strong!"
Yu Tianheng stared blankly, muttering to himself.
That hammer strike of Tang San's—he knew he could never take it—yet Li Zhexian had caught it with effortless ease.
Yu Feng punched Osler's thigh.
"Damn, that's my idol right there!"
"Li Zhexian…"
Ye Lingling pressed a slender hand to her chest, feeling her heart racing uncontrollably.
"So handsome…"
Dugu Yan teased her with a laugh.
And yet, when she herself looked at that white-robed figure, her own heart trembled no less.
The youth upon the stage was simply too dazzling.
"Li Zhexian…" Zhu Zhuqing's gaze was filled with infatuation.
Xiao Wu's eyes blurred with tears as she looked at the utterly powerless Tang San on the stage.
She wanted to shout out loud.
But remembering Tang San's recent impatience and coldness—
She feared her voice would only displease him.
In the end, she could only weep softly, her sadness silent.
"You can't win… you can't… Third Brother, just surrender…"
Zhu Zhuqing glanced at Xiao Wu beside her, sighing quietly.
Catching sight of Ning Rongrong's desolate face not far away, she bit her lip.
"…Let it end here." Yu Xiaogang closed his eyes in hopelessness.
It was as though his spine had been torn away, his body hunched and frail.
He had hoped to use this tournament to prove his theories flawless, to show he could teach the greatest of geniuses.
Yet fate had brought Li Zhexian—the monstrous aberration who crushed all peers.
"Xiaogang…"
Flender's voice cut through.
"Xiao San may still have one last chance."
"What?!"
Yu Xiaogang's eyes flew open.
Seeing the hesitation on Flender's face, he leapt up in alarm.
"Don't tell me—"
"Who?! Who allowed this?!"
"This is burning through his very potential!"
...
"This Li Zhexian… he truly is a monster…"
Chrysanthemum Douluo's eyes flashed with surprise.
"Tang San's physique is already top tier, yet Li Zhexian is even more terrifying. I can't fathom how he trained."
Ghost Douluo's words were brief, cold.
"This boy has the bearing of one born to dominate the Heavenly Ridge Martial Tournament."
Bibi Dong remained silent.
But her violet eyes were dark, fathomless, without end.
"Im…possible…!" Tang San clenched his teeth so hard that blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
His full-powered Clear Sky Hammer strike—caught in Li Zhexian's single hand.
Rip—!
Fury erupted in Tang San's eyes.
From his back, eight hideous blood-red spider lances burst forth.
Their venomous tips gleamed as they stabbed toward Li Zhexian at point-blank range.
Li Zhexian's spine shone, sword qi soaring skyward.
Twelve jade-white Sword Bones emerged.
Four of them surged with boundless sword intent.
"What?!" Tang San cried out in shock. "You also have an External Spirit Bone?!"
Li Zhexian's brows furrowed. "You think you can compare with me?"
As his words fell, four Qinglian Swords—each imbued with a different sword intent of starlight, frost, wind, and thunder—appeared, suspended behind him.
With a single thought, the four swords became streams of light, slashing directly at Tang San's Eight Spider Lances.
Tang San's face changed drastically.
He drove his lances to weave a net in defense.
Clang—!
Crack—!
The clash of metal and the snapping of bone resounded together.
The Qinglian Sword's edge was far sharper than imagined.
Before Tang San's eyes, wide and bloodshot—
Two lances from his left rear were severed outright.
Slash—!
Slash—!
In the next breath—
Every last one of the Eight Spider Lances was cleaved apart.
Blood gushed in torrents from Tang San's back.
"AAAHHHHH—!!!" Tang San's face twisted in agony as he let out a wretched scream.
Li Zhexian was about to end this dull battle—
But suddenly, a mutation arose.
Tang San's trembling hand clenched the Clear Sky Hammer.
A deep black Spirit Ring suddenly condensed upon the hammer.
This time—
A flicker of surprise finally appeared in Li Zhexian's eyes.
Tang San had actually attached a Spirit Ring to the Clear Sky Hammer?!
The stands erupted in shock; countless spectators even leapt to their feet.
Tang San had truly given his second martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer, a Spirit Ring?!
This was nothing less than burning away his future potential to seize power in this very moment!!
Blood dripped from Tang San's lips, his face twisted by agony—yet in his gaze burned a mad, unyielding obsession.
"Clear Sky Hammer, First Spirit Ability—Heavier Than Mountains!!!"
Rumble—!
Rumble—!
he Clear Sky Hammer, which was only two feet long, suddenly grew!
In the blink of an eye, it expanded to two meters.
Tang San clutched the nearly-bending handle with both hands, heedless of his arms tearing apart.
He poured every scrap of Spirit Power and brute strength into it.
"Li… Zhe… Xian…"
He roared hoarsely.
"Even if it costs me my life, I, Tang San, will defeat you!!"
"AAAHHH—!!!"
Carrying the weight of ten thousand tons, the colossal hammer came crashing down toward Li Zhexian
Boom—
Boom—
The ground beneath Li Zhexian's feet cracked and caved in inch by inch.
Yet his upright figure stood firm as a bamboo stalk in a storm, utterly unshaken.
"Tang San, you are still too weak." Li Zhexian's voice was calm, almost indifferent.
As his voice fell—
a sword's cry rang out!
The hand he pressed upon the hammer's head condensed into the Qinglian Sword.
Its edge pressed against the massive hammerhead.
A storm of razor sword qi burst forth.
Even the mountainlike weight of the Clear Sky Hammer began to tremble slightly.
What is the meaning of Ultimate Sharpness?
It can cut through any tangible thing!
Tang San's eyes clouded with despair.
He could feel the Clear Sky Hammer wailing beneath that sword edge.
And the next moment brought only deeper hopelessness.
"Qinglian Sword Song, Fourth Form—Thunder Ash Rebirth."
Rumble—!
A purple thunderbolt split the heavens, pouring into the Qinglian Sword in Li Zhexian's hand.
Tang San, pressing the Clear Sky Hammer against the sword, was caught in the backlash.
His entire body was blasted dozens of meters away by the violent lightning force.
Lightning coiled around the Qinglian Sword.
Li Zhexian gripped it firmly.
He raised it toward the distant, struggling Tang San—
And cut down from afar.
The sword cleaved the stagnant air, trailing a blinding violet arc.
Thunder exploded!
The entire arena was seared white in an instant.
The deafening detonation drowned every cry from the stands.
Tang San, gravely wounded and paralyzed, had no way to dodge.
He could only watch in despair as that annihilating thunder descended upon him.
At the final instant—
The referee, a Spirit Sage, leapt in front of Tang San.
Both hands wrapped in surging Spirit Power, he met the sword's lightning head-on.
The dazzling bolt was suddenly extinguished.
The referee's body shuddered, seeming unscathed.
Yet when he drew back his hands, hidden within his sleeves, they were scorched black and dripping blood.
"The Continental Spirit Master Tournament forbids killing."
The referee barked a stern warning at Li Zhexian.
He then seized the shaken Tang San and whisked him off the stage.
At that moment—
The ruined stage transformed.
Blue-violet lightning arced across the cracked ground.
Where it passed—
Tender sprouts pushed through the soil.
They were the Blue Silver Grass shattered moments ago by Li Zhexian.
Now, nourished by the power of rebirth, they sprouted anew.
Stalk after stalk spread before the eye.
In the blink of an eye—
The entire stage, hundreds of meters across, was covered in Blue Silver Grass.
The wind swept through.
Waves of grass rippled with threads of lightning.
This was Li Zhexian's thunder sword intent.
From ashes of thunder, rebirth shall bloom.
Li Zhexian stood alone in the center of that lightning-laced grassland, Qinglian Sword in hand, and spoke calmly:
"Next."
Silence lingered.
Then, from Shrek's direction, came Yu Xiaogang's hoarse voice:
"Shrek… forfeits… the individual matches."
Li Zhexian turned toward the Spirit Hall's preparation area.
He raised his Qinglian Sword, pointing it directly at the three of the Golden Generation.
Under the eyes of all—
A faint smile lifted his handsome face.
The words were the same as before.
Yet this time, they carried even more disdain.
"Next."