30: Settle the score

“Thud!”

Zhao Tian’s knees slammed heavily onto the hard, black ironwood arena, making a dull sound.

This kneeling seemed to drain the last bit of strength from his body and completely crushed his arrogant and conceited heart.

He knelt there, head bowed, covered in blood, like a statue utterly defeated, completely devoid of his previous arrogance and madness.

This kneeling also brought a pause to this dramatic and disruptive battle.

The entire Martial Arts Training Ground remained in a dead silence.

Everyone was like ducks with their necks squeezed, mouths agape, but unable to make any sound. Their gazes shifted back and forth between the kneeling figure and the figure standing still as a mountain, their eyes filled with indescribable shock and confusion.

Is it over?

This “revenge battle,” which everyone had deemed a foregone conclusion from the very beginning, was it truly ending in such an absurd manner?

However, Lin Ye, the young man who hadn't moved a single step since the battle began, finally moved.

He did not look at the astonished gazes of the crowd below, nor did he pay attention to the solemn stares of the Elders on the high platform. His calm eyes, like an ancient well, simply rested peacefully on the fated enemy before him, who had completely lost the will to resist.

Zhao Tian also seemed to feel this approaching, suffocating pressure. He struggled to lift his head, his bloodshot and despairing eyes meeting Lin Ye’s calm gaze, which showed not a ripple.

In those eyes, he saw no joy of victory, no pleasure of revenge, not even a hint of disdain or contempt.

There was only a bottomless, indifferent tranquility.

It was as if, in his eyes, he had never been an opponent worth taking seriously, but merely an annoying stone blocking the path.

This indifference pierced him more deeply than any insult!

Lin Ye did not speak.

He just slowly raised his right hand.

That hand, which in countless people’s eyes, had once been weak, powerless, and flailing wildly.

Now, under his activation, a faint, peculiar hue, somewhere between bronze and dark red, quietly emerged in his palm. A condensed, scorching, and penetrating Coiling Force, like a dormant volcano, quietly gathered in his palm.

Iron Sand Palm!

“He… what is he going to do?!”

“Senior Brother Zhao has already knelt and conceded, is he… is he still trying to kill him?!”

The crowd below finally recovered from their extreme shock, letting out gasps of disbelief.

“Stop!”

On the high platform, Elder Wang slammed his armrest and shouted sharply.

However, all of this was as if unheard by Lin Ye on the arena.

A cold, sharp, emotionless light flashed in Lin Ye’s eyes!

His raised right hand, without any flourish, gently pressed into the empty space on Zhao Tian’s chest!

There was no earth-shattering roar, not even a slight gust of wind.

Only an extremely dull “thump,” like a heavy hammer hitting cured cowhide, clearly echoed in the silent Martial Arts Training Ground.

The moment his palm touched Zhao Tian’s chest, Zhao Tian’s body stiffened!

His already unfocused pupils widened to the extreme in an instant!

He lowered his head, looking in disbelief at the hand pressed against his chest. He didn't feel a heart-wrenching pain, only an incredibly condensed, incredibly domineering scorching Coiling Force, like a red-hot steel needle, tearing through his flesh, shattering his sternum, and fiercely slamming into his internal organs!

“Ugh…”

Zhao Tian let out a painful groan.

The next instant, his entire body was hit hard!

His kneeling body, as if struck head-on by an invisible primordial beast, lifted off the ground, and he transformed into a kite with a broken string, violently flying backward!

“Pfft—!!!”

While still in mid-air, Zhao Tian could no longer suppress his internal injuries and violently spat out a large mouthful of crimson blood mixed with fragments of internal organs!

That blood mist, in the air, formed a tragic arc!

Finally, with a loud “bang,” his tall body slammed heavily off the arena, more than ten meters away, kicking up a cloud of dust. He twitched a few times before completely losing consciousness, his life unknown.

Lin Ye, wins!

The entire venue once again fell into a dead silence!

If what Lin Ye had displayed before was a despair-inducing, unbreakable defense.

Then this final palm strike, what he displayed, was an attack capable of deciding the outcome with a single blow!

Offense and defense in one! Unfathomable!

At this moment, no one dared to associate him with words like “luck” or “fluke” anymore.

In everyone’s hearts, only two words remained—a strong practitioner!

On the arena, Lin Ye slowly retracted his palm.

He glanced at his right hand, which was still fair and without even a hint of redness, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

This palm strike also brought a bloody end to the months-long grudge between him and Zhao Tian.

“Arena Number Seven… Lin Ye… wins…”

The Disciple serving as referee announced the already undisputed result in a voice almost like a dream.

Lin Ye did not look again at the figure below, whose life was unknown. He turned around and, facing the thousands of gazes filled with awe, fear, and fanaticism, calmly walked off the arena.

From today onwards, in the Outer Sect of Qingyun Sect, no one would dare to bully Lin Ye in the slightest!