Chapter 32

"Final trial battle, Meng Hao and Wang Tengfei, the victor will be promoted to inner sect disciple." Elder Ouyang looked at Meng Hao, his eyes revealing encouragement as he spoke slowly.

The moment his figure appeared, all the gazes around instantly focused on Meng Hao. As his body leaped onto the platform and Wang Tengfei opened his eyes, stepping onto the platform with a calm expression, the outer sect disciples in the entire square burst into a continuous buzz of voices.

"He really dares to step up. Even though Meng Hao's cultivation is remarkable and he has eliminated the Han Sect, challenging Senior Brother Wang is overestimating himself."

"On the path of the strong, there will always be one stepping stone after another. He is merely one of the stepping stones destined to be trampled under Senior Brother Wang's rise."

"I still remember when this person dared to snatch the magical treasure Senior Brother Wang gave to someone. In front of everyone, Senior Brother Wang reclaimed it, and at that moment, he was like an ant in front of Senior Brother Wang." Various discussions echoed, and mocking voices spread everywhere. It wasn't that these people had deep grudges against Meng Hao, but rather that Senior Brother Wang was an existence that could not be challenged in everyone's hearts.

"If he dies at Wang Tengfei's hands, it will be hard to get the storage bag." Shangguan Xiu frowned, looking at Meng Hao.

Just as everyone was almost all mocking, pushing Meng Hao back to the opposite side of the world, suddenly, a not loud but sharp voice rang out.

"Meng Hao will surely win, Meng Hao will surely win, the inner sect disciple will definitely be Meng Hao!" The little fatty shouted at the top of his lungs in the square, his voice in the midst of changing, sharp and loud.

From the moment Meng Hao stepped onto the platform, all the chaos from the outside world became extremely distant. He stood calmly on the platform, coldly looking at Wang Tengfei in front of him. Meng Hao understood that this would be the strongest opponent he had encountered since he began his cultivation, and it would be the most difficult battle.

But Meng Hao would not retreat. He wanted to fight, to take action. As a man, there were some things that had to be done, just to keep a breath of defiance in the world.

Memories of the past flashed through his mind, and Meng Hao gently touched his storage bag.

Inside, he kept the blood-stained fingernails he had pulled from his palm back then.

Wang Tengfei glanced at Meng Hao indifferently, standing there calmly, his gaze steady, filled with a lofty composure and a disregard for ants, just like in the past.

Raising his right hand and waving it, as if swatting away a fly, a whirlwind taller than a person instantly formed in front of Wang Tengfei, sweeping around and rushing straight toward Meng Hao.

A sharp light flashed in Meng Hao's eyes. Between him and Wang Tengfei, there were no words to be said; all the words were on the sword, in the spells, and in this battle, the strongest he had faced in eighteen years.

He took a step forward, raised his right hand, and a wind blade instantly appeared, colliding intensely with the whirlwind, causing a loud boom and spreading residual wind.

Battle!

Meng Hao patted his storage bag, and twenty flying swords emerged together. Although they were somewhat skewed and unstable, they still emitted dazzling light and a powerful aura. As he raised his right hand and pointed forward, these twenty flying swords transformed into streaks of light, abandoning their agility and rushing straight toward Wang Tengfei.

Battle!

The sword light rained down, creating a dazzling brilliance, gathering the power of twenty flying swords, which instantly rushed toward Wang Tengfei. In a blink, they collided with the whirlwind, and a loud boom echoed as the whirlwind was torn apart. However, the flying swords were also thrown off course by the whirlwind, swirling in the wind, looking like a whirlpool of flying swords. But the wind was weakening, and it was about to dissipate.

Wang Tengfei's expression remained unchanged, carrying a calm pride. He took a step forward, and his cultivation at the peak of the sixth layer of Qi Condensation instantly burst forth, transforming into a formidable spiritual pressure. As it descended, he formed a seal with his right hand, and a crystalline water thread instantly shot toward Meng Hao.

This was no longer a spell of the Relying Mountain Sect but a family technique of Wang Tengfei.

Meng Hao's eyes narrowed, and without hesitation, he swallowed a demon core. With his left hand, he pointed at the flying swords being swirled by the wind. As the flying swords quickly returned, Meng Hao raised his right hand and formed a seal, instantly condensing a several-zhang-long fire python that rushed toward the water thread. Immediately, a loud boom echoed, as if a storm had formed.

"Water and wind, cut." Wang Tengfei spoke calmly, without any contempt, but his calm gaze was the same as when he wanted to cripple Meng Hao's cultivation, filled with confidence and disregard.

Almost instantly, the crystalline water thread connected with the whirlwind in the sky, transforming into a long staff with wind for speed and water for the trace, instantly rushing toward Meng Hao.

The twenty flying swords rushed back to block the staff. With a loud boom, these flying swords lost control, scattering and twisting, with many collapsing and shattering. Meng Hao had already retreated to the edge of the platform. In front of him, a palm-wide, three-zhang-long water trace appeared on the platform tiles, a sight that was shocking.

A blood trace appeared on Meng Hao's forehead, and blood flowed down his nose, dripping to the ground, making him look fierce.

The twenty flying swords could shake the Han Sect, but facing Wang Tengfei, they couldn't even make him use a magical treasure. A spell Meng Hao had never seen before almost killed him on the spot. If Meng Hao's cultivation was at the fifth layer of Qi Condensation, he would have been unable to avoid this cut.

"Wang Tengfei has extremely strong talent and is skilled in many powerful spells at the Qi Condensation stage. Even a seventh-layer cultivator would find it difficult. Meng Hao will surely die in this battle." Shangguan Xiu's frown deepened as he looked at Meng Hao, his eyes filled with killing intent, but he was also pondering how to get the storage bag after Meng Hao's death.

Seeing Meng Hao avoid the cut, Wang Tengfei remained calm, as if the previous attack was casual, like an elephant trampling an ant. Even if the first attempt was avoided, the second would still be a trample. He smiled faintly and took a step forward, raising his right hand and pointing casually at Meng Hao.

At the moment Wang Tengfei's finger fell, Meng Hao couldn't hear the buzzing and discussions around him. In his mind, he saw the day on this square when Wang Tengfei had restrained his body with a finger, shattered his jade pendant, taken his gourd, and tried to cripple his cultivation.

Meng Hao's eyes showed intense fighting spirit. He had suffered humiliation under that finger back then, but today, he was no longer the same cultivator. Although he hadn't decided to sign up for the inner sect trial and was forced to come here, Meng Hao had been well-prepared. For the past month, he had spent most of his time trying to sacrifice agility to control more flying swords with direct and straightforward movements.

Almost the moment Wang Tengfei's finger fell, Meng Hao patted his storage bag, swallowed a demon core, and formed a seal with both hands. Instantly, the scattered flying swords on the square trembled, and the sword cries echoed, a roar of over ten flying swords, a madness of over ten swords. In that instant, these flying swords' speed increased dramatically, transforming into a rain of swords rushing toward Meng Hao from all directions.

They instantly surrounded him. As Meng Hao's hands fell and pointed at Wang Tengfei, these flying swords, with their astonishing momentum, rushed toward Wang Tengfei.

At the same time, more flying swords flew out of Meng Hao's storage bag, condensing into his current limit of controlled flying swords, as if they could pierce through city walls, with a deafening roar, rushing toward Wang Tengfei's finger.

Boom!

The loud explosion shook the entire outer sect. Twenty flying swords collided with Wang Tengfei's right index finger, separated by half a zhang. In the boom, these nearly twenty flying swords were thrown back, many collapsing and shattering, but they blocked Wang Tengfei's first finger.

Blood trickled from the corner of Meng Hao's mouth as he swallowed another demon core, his eyes filled with bloodshot and intense killing intent, but he remained silent. That was his nature; the more he wanted to kill, the angrier he was, the more silent he became.

Wang Tengfei's expression remained calm, as if he still didn't care about Meng Hao. This disregard and pride were because he was Wang Tengfei!

He took a step forward and pointed with his second finger.

This second finger had shattered the jade slip in front of Meng Hao back then. This time, Meng Hao didn't wipe the blood from his mouth but swallowed it, formed a seal, and the scattered flying swords rushed out again, heading straight for Wang Tengfei. Meng Hao decisively severed his control over the flying swords, letting them move forward by inertia.

He raised his right hand and slapped his storage bag, and instantly, more than twenty flying swords appeared, forming the second wave, roaring forward, nearly forty flying swords in total!

Meng Hao knew his strategy had a flaw. Without agility, the flying swords had only speed and sharpness, so it wouldn't be difficult for the opponent to avoid them, though it would be awkward. But Meng Hao was certain that with the opponent's pride, he would not avoid.

Even if he did avoid, Meng Hao had already thought of a way to block him.

Such a scene, such a peak battle, was extremely rare among Qi Condensation cultivators. It could be said that in the entire Zhao Kingdom, there had been no such astonishing battle among sixth-layer Qi Condensation cultivators in hundreds of years!

Meng Hao had enough flying swords, and after the Black Mountain battle, he had always been thinking about how to fight. With the assistance of the wind blade technique, he could control a large number of flying swords simultaneously, but it consumed spiritual energy, and he could only control twenty. Due to his insufficient cultivation, he could only perform simple operations, moving straight ahead without flexibility or turning, essentially sacrificing the agility of the flying swords and focusing only on their sharpness.

Therefore, he could control many flying swords, like a mortal continuously throwing them, except he used spiritual energy to keep the flying swords moving straight. As long as he had enough flying swords and his spiritual energy didn't run out, he could challenge his peers!

Wang Tengfei didn't use the Relying Mountain Sect's spells at all. He looked down on the Relying Mountain Sect and naturally didn't value its spells. What he used were all family techniques, and because his family was powerful, the Qi Condensation spells he used were strong enough to challenge his peers!