# Chapter 40: Conflict in Radiant City Part 3
The moment of combat initiation felt suspended in crystalline clarity as 200,000 witnesses held their collective breath. Master Liu Feng's Gold - High cultivation filled the arena with spiritual pressure that made the air itself dense, while his ancestral artifacts created a symphony of power that spoke to centuries of accumulated noble advantage.
But Xìng Huáng stood in perfect stillness at the arena's center, his Lord of Greed heritage stirring to full wakefulness as it recognized the ultimate test of earned authority versus inherited privilege.
Master Liu Feng's opening assault exemplified everything that made traditional noble combat so formidable. His ancestral sword technique, **Heaven-Splitting Azure Strike**, channeled spiritual energy through patterns refined over generations while his enhanced artifacts multiplied the attack's power beyond what individual cultivation could achieve.
The strike should have ended the duel immediately—a Gold - High technique enhanced by ancestral artifacts against an Azure Bronze opponent represented such overwhelming advantage that resistance seemed impossible.
Instead, Xìng Huáng moved with divine-enhanced precision that made Liu Feng's "perfect" technique appear clumsy by comparison.
His Lord of Greed heritage didn't simply enhance his physical capabilities—it asserted fundamental authority over the distinction between earned and inherited power. Liu Feng's ancestral artifacts, his inherited techniques, his family-granted advantages—all of it suddenly felt foreign and unstable as divine principle confronted artificial enhancement with absolute philosophical rejection.
COMBAT ANALYSIS - FIRST EXCHANGE:
Liu Feng's Strike:Gold - High technique, artifact-enhanced, generational refinement
Divine Response:Philosophical nullification of unearned advantage
Result:Perfect deflection, artifact resonance disruption
Crowd Reaction:Stunned silence
The arena erupted in confusion as spectators tried to comprehend what they had witnessed. Master Liu Feng's undefeated record was built on techniques that had never failed against any opponent—yet his opening assault had been negated with almost casual efficiency by someone whose cultivation level should have made resistance impossible.
"Impossible," Liu Feng snarled, his composure cracking as he activated secondary artifacts that should have made his next assault even more overwhelming. "No Azure Bronze cultivation can resist Gold - tier enhancement!"
"You're correct," Xìng Huáng replied, his Purification Blade beginning to radiate the golden light that marked divine authority manifestation. "Azure Bronze cultivation cannot. But earned authority transcends artificial boundaries."
What followed was systematic demonstration that divine authority operated by principles that traditional cultivation couldn't counter or comprehend. Each of Liu Feng's techniques—no matter how sophisticated or artifact-enhanced—met with responses that seemed to anticipate and neutralize every advantage before it could manifest.
Liu Feng's Arsenal:
- Crimson Azure Devastation:Area attack enhanced by territorial authority artifacts
- Noble Dominion Assertion:Spiritual pressure technique backed by family legacy
- Ancestral Weapon Symphony: Coordinated assault using multiple inherited artifacts
- Heaven's Mandate Strike:Ultimate technique channeling centuries of noble privilege
Divine Authority Responses:
- Domain ProjectionGolden radiance that purified artificial enhancement
- Merit Recognition:Spiritual analysis revealing earned versus inherited capability
- Authority Assertion:Divine principle rejecting unworthy power claims
- Philosophical Dominance:Reality-level opposition to privileged advantage
But the most devastating aspect of the engagement wasn't Xìng Huáng's defensive capabilities—it was the way his divine authority began stripping away Liu Feng's artificial advantages layer by layer.
The ancestral sword that had never failed in 247 duels began losing spiritual resonance as divine authority questioned its legitimacy. The enhancement armor that represented generations of accumulated protection found itself unable to deflect strikes backed by philosophical superiority over inherited advantage.
Most crucially, the combat techniques that Liu Feng had learned through family instruction rather than personal struggle became increasingly ineffective as divine principle asserted that true mastery could only come from individual achievement.
"What are you doing to me?" Liu Feng demanded, his Gold - High cultivation beginning to fluctuate as the artifacts that had enhanced his advancement for decades lost their connection to his spiritual foundation.
"Nothing," Xìng Huáng replied with perfect honesty. "I'm simply demonstrating what you actually earned through your own effort versus what you inherited through family privilege."
The truth that divine authority revealed was devastating in its implications. Without his ancestral artifacts and inherited techniques, Master Liu Feng's actual personal achievement was approximately Silver - High cultivation with competent but not exceptional combat skills. His undefeated record was built on advantages that had nothing to do with individual merit.
The 200,000 spectators watched in fascination and horror as centuries of noble supremacy were systematically deconstructed through divine principle that operated at levels of reality they had never imagined possible.
CROWD RESPONSE ANALYSIS:
Noble Representatives:Shock, denial, growing fear
Merchant Communities:Calculating reassessment of traditional power structures
Independent Cultivators:Hope, excitement, revolutionary recognition
City Officials:Careful neutrality, precedent evaluation
"This is your true capability," Xìng Huáng announced, his voice carrying through enhancement arrays to every corner of the packed coliseum. "Silver - High cultivation with basic combat proficiency. Respectable achievement that deserves recognition—but not supremacy over those who have earned greater advancement through personal struggle."
PHILOSOPHICAL VICTORY:
The combat's conclusion came not through defeat or surrender, but through undeniable demonstration of truth that transformed how every witness understood the relationship between inherited privilege and earned achievement.
Liu Feng, stripped of his artificial advantages but retaining his natural capabilities, faced an opponent whose divine authority represented everything his noble training had taught him to dismiss as impossible.
"I concede," he announced with dignity that spoke well of his fundamental character once separated from systemic advantage. "The Order of the Golden Hand has proven superior through earned achievement rather than inherited privilege."
VICTORY CONFIRMATION:
Councilor Wei Shen's voice resonated through the arena with formal authority: "Master Liu Feng concedes defeat. The Order of the Golden Hand is recognized as supreme in resource allocation, organizational precedence, and political standing within Radiant City."
But the true victory went far beyond formal recognition:
PRECEDENT ESTABLISHED:Earned achievement recognized as superior to inherited privilege
Political Authority:Merit-based advancement granted equal status with traditional nobility
Resource Access:Winner-takes-all philosophy validated for cultivation society
Divine Recognition:Lord of Greed authority acknowledged as legitimate power
The championship's conclusion sent shock waves through Radiant City's political establishment as various factions calculated how the precedent would affect their own positions:
Noble Houses faced the terrifying possibility that their inherited advantages could be challenged and stripped away by individuals with superior earned achievement.
Independent Cultivators saw unprecedented opportunity for advancement through personal merit rather than systemic limitation.
Emerging Factions recognized that divine authority backing could overcome traditional barriers to political recognition.
Radiant City Council understood they were witnessing the beginning of fundamental transformation in how power operated throughout cultivation society.
HIDDEN INTERFACE: VICTORY ASSESSMENT
PRECEDENT IMPACT:Realm-changing *(Inherited privilege no longer unchallenged)*
Divine Authority Status:Legitimized *(Public recognition of philosophical superiority)*
Order Position:Major Power *(Resource allocation priority confirmed)*
Future Trajectory:Revolutionary *(Merit-based advancement validated)*
As Xìng Huáng accepted formal recognition of victory while helping Liu Feng to his feet—showing respect for an opponent who had conceded with honor—he understood that the Lord of Greed heritage had achieved something unprecedented.
Divine authority had not simply won combat against superior cultivation—it had established philosophical precedent that would reshape how power operated throughout the Blood Demon Martial Realm.
"Let this victory establish eternal truth," Councilor Wei Shen announced to the 200,000 witnesses who would carry news of the championship throughout the cultivation world. "In Radiant City, earned achievement takes precedence over inherited advantage. Merit determines authority. Winners take all that their capabilities have rightfully earned."
The golden hand had not simply grasped victory in formal combat—it had claimed authority to redefine how cultivation society understood the relationship between privilege and achievement.
And as the crowd erupted in celebration, fear, or stunned recognition depending on their position in traditional hierarchies, every witness understood they had seen the birth of a new age where divine principle would challenge every assumption about who deserved power and why.
The conflict in Radiant City had concluded with precedent that would echo across the continent as word spread that somewhere in the Blood Demon Martial Realm, earned authority had triumphed over inherited privilege through divine manifestation that even the oldest powers could not ignore.