137: Chapter 137 After meeting me, you were no longer number one.

As his voice fell, he paused deliberately.

His gaze swept across the entire arena like a physical force, and then, enunciating every word, his voice exploded like a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens:

"Great Xia Dynasty, Chu Zhanxiao!"

"Facing—"

"Great Wu Dynasty, Nangong Tianlong!"

The moment those names were spoken, the entire Martial Arts Arena fell into absolute silence.

It was as if an invisible giant hand from the heavens had suddenly gripped the throats of hundreds of thousands of people, stealing away every sound.

Immediately after—Boom!!!

The deafening roar of the crowd erupted like a volcano that had been dormant for ten thousand years! It was as if the sky had collapsed and the four seas had flooded in, instantly swallowing the entire Martial Arts Arena in a surging tide of fervor!

"Chu Zhanxiao?! Is that the same Chu Zhanxiao from back then?!" A Cultivator who had just squeezed into the stands grabbed the arm of the person next to him, his nails almost digging into flesh, his voice distorted and hoarse from extreme agitation. "Wasn't his Dao Foundation crippled? Hadn't he long since... long since fallen?!"

"Who else could it be!" The person beside him trembled violently, his eyes bloodshot. "The most dazzling star of the Zhenwu Dynasty in years past! After he fell, everyone thought he had turned to ash... but he actually... returned!"

"A king of the old era, and a Supreme of the new era... the heavens are about to change!" Another person slammed his hand on the table and stood up, his voice shaking the entire area. "Nangong Tianlong is the champion of the previous Heaven Ranking; having been in seclusion for years, his cultivation is unfathomable! Chu Zhanxiao, a peerless Prodigy of the past, has undergone Nirvana and Rebirth, his edge even sharper than before! This is a true... collision of eras!"

These words were like throwing a spark into boiling oil.

In an instant, the entire arena went wild!

Everyone understood—this was by no means an ordinary match.

This was a duel of eras, with the old king guarding his throne and the new Emperor pointing his sword at the heavens!

Just imagining the impending clash made people's blood boil, their Meridians swell, and their hearts pound like war drums on a battlefield!

Below the high platform.

Nangong Tianlong gently rubbed the warm Number One jade token between his fingertips, his lips curling into a cold and arrogant arc.

His posture was as straight as a spear splitting the sky, and his black combat gear clung tightly to his body, outlining lines filled with explosive power.

His body naturally radiated an intense aura born from long experience in slaughter and emerging from mountains of corpses and seas of blood; just standing there quietly, he seemed like an insurmountable mountain.

Just as he was about to step onto the stage—

A voice transmission, cold as a venomous snake flicking its tongue, drilled into his ears without warning:

"For this Highness... cripple him."

"Medicinal Pill, divine arts, Secret Realm qualifications... name your terms."

It was the voice of Second Prince Wu Yuanchen. Beneath the calm, there surged an inviolable command and a ruthlessness that seeped into the bones.

Nangong Tianlong did not stop his steps, nor did he even turn his head.

He simply responded faintly via voice transmission:

"Your Highness, rest assured."

"I have my own measures."

Deep in his eyes, a cold light flashed and vanished.

An old-time Genius whose Dao Foundation was crippled and who had luckily managed to recultivate—even if he regained his cultivation, he was nothing more than a sick tiger with broken claws and teeth.

Defeat him?

It was merely a matter of crushing an eyesore of a stumbling block along the way.

On the other side of the stage.

Emperor and the people of the Zhenwu Dynasty suddenly had faces as gloomy as the sky before a rainstorm, almost dripping with ink.

Emperor stared fixedly at the figure in the distance who was about to ascend the stage, his knuckles turning pale from excessive force, and the hard black iron railing groaned under the unbearable pressure in his palm, actually being crushed with five distinct finger marks!

Just as the raging fire in his chest was about to tear him apart—

His peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of that figure not far away, who had remained indifferent throughout.

Chu Changsheng.

He was actually leisurely holding a teacup, sipping slowly. His gaze swept across the arena and happened to meet Emperor's eyes, and then, a faint... playful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

That look was calm, yet it was like a sharp blade quenched in eternal ice, piercing with absolute precision into the deepest part of Emperor's heart.

"Ugh..."

Emperor's breathing suddenly became heavy, his chest heaving violently, his suppressed fury almost breaking through his body, burning everything to ashes.

Beside him, Emperor Wu Tianba and Jian Xiaotian keenly sensed his abnormality.

Following his gaze, they happened to see Chu Changsheng calmly raising his cup in a gesture from afar.

A bright light flashed in Emperor Wu Tianba's eyes as he thoughtfully stroked his chin—to be able to make the usually steady and sinister Emperor lose his composure to this extent... this Chu Changsheng was definitely not simple.

Jian Xiaotian raised an eyebrow and whispered instructions to the attendant beside him; though his voice was soft, it was like a boulder thrown into a lake, sending ripples through everyone's hearts:

"After this battle, prepare heavy gifts."

"I will personally visit the Eldest Princess's... Revered Master."

Emperor Wu Tianba's gaze suddenly narrowed, and his assessment of Chu Changsheng instantly grew heavier by three points.

Emperor's face had turned from green to black, his knuckles creaking as he squeezed them, almost shattering.

Chu Changsheng... is he trying to borrow power?

What exactly... does he intend to do?!

Just as these undercurrents surged and people's hearts were restless—

"Boom!!!"

On the arena, the referee's voice resonated like an ancient bell, once again crushing the noise of the entire venue:

"Both Number One contestants—"

"Ascend the stage!"

Hum...

The heaven-shaking roar of the Martial Arts Arena was instantly drained away by an invisible force.

Hundreds of thousands of scorching, tense, and nearly suffocating gazes, like an invisible light-gathering formation, were locked tightly onto the giant arena in the center, which was cast entirely from "Xuanhai Cold Iron."

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Two figures, like meteors splitting the sky and divine mountains falling to earth, landed heavily on the surface of the black arena almost simultaneously!

Rumble...

The entire arena emitted a dull humming sound like the roar of an ancient Vicious Beast, and violent tremors spread along the ground; the audience in the front row felt the ground beneath them sway violently, their hearts twitching sharply along with it.

Nangong Tianlong steadied himself first.

His dark golden scale-patterned battle robe flowed with a cold and noble luster under the blazing daylight, like dragon scales.

He had broad shoulders and a thick back, standing as straight as an immortal pine on a solitary Peak, and his body was naturally surrounded by a layer of pale golden, magnificent Dragon Qi.

That Dragon Qi was not illusory; it faintly condensed into the shape of claws and scales, rearing its head and coiling, emitting a trace of pure pressure originating from an ancient Azure Dragon.

An ordinary Cultivator only needed to take one look to feel their Divine Soul tremble and their chest tighten in suffocation, as if they were not facing a peer, but a young Dragon King who had descended from the Nine Heavens to look down upon the mortal world.

His long, narrow phoenix eyes swept calmly toward the opposite side, yet deep in his eyes, there hid a trace of extremely faint scrutiny and indifference.

It was like a great dragon looking down upon the dust beneath its claws, carrying an innate, bone-deep absolute arrogance.

Compared to his magnificent heavenly might, Chu Zhanxiao opposite him appeared too "ordinary," or even... plain.

Dressed in a washed-out blue cloth shirt, his figure was thin yet straight, like a solitary bamboo growing on the edge of a ten-thousand-foot cliff; it appeared thin, yet it revealed a resilience that would not bend even if ravaged by a gale.

He stood quietly in place, his feet seemingly merged with the arena beneath him, his aura steady and condensed like an ancient deep pool, bottomless and without a ripple.

Facing that Dragon pressure that was enough to cause an ordinary Genius to suffer a mental breakdown, he only slightly lowered his eyes, then raised them again.

Deep in his clear eyes, there was not a trace of fear, as calm as... if he were staring into a void.

"I heard—"

Chu Zhanxiao spoke first.

His voice was not loud, but it carried a peculiar penetrating power, every word clear, like the gentle chime of a jade chime, yet also like an ice awl striking iron, echoing over the silent Martial Arts Arena:

"You are the... First of this Heaven Ranking?"

Arrogance?

Ignorance?

Or...

Absolute indifference?

In the stands, the suppressed uproar surged like an undercurrent, then was fiercely pressed down by an even more suffocating silence.

Nangong Tianlong's eyes suddenly narrowed into dangerous slits.

Cold light flashed in his eyes, like an ancient Vicious Beast whose reverse scale had been touched by an ant!

"Boom—"

The golden Dragon Qi around him exploded and soared into the sky! It actually condensed in the sky behind him into a blurry yet incomparably majestic, massive phantom of a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon that almost covered the sky!

The dragon shadow coiled in the sky, opened its huge mouth, and let out a silent yet Soul-shaking roar!

The majestic dragon might was like a physical tsunami, crushing down; countless people turned pale, almost kneeling in submission!

"Just an empty title."

Nangong Tianlong's voice remained flat, yet it carried a chill that could freeze ten thousand miles and solidify time and space, along with an unquestionable, absolute dominance:

"However, to crush you..."

"...is more than enough."

Having said this, he was dismissive.

Yet he had performed ultimate arrogance and disdain to the Peak.

In his eyes, Chu Zhanxiao was not even worth his serious treatment. Erasing the opponent was nothing more than brushing an insignificant speck of dust off his lapel.

Upon hearing this, the corner of Chu Zhanxiao's mouth slowly curled into an extremely faint, extremely cold arc.

In that smile, there was no anger, no mockery.

Only a trace of "as expected"... understanding.

And, hidden deep in his eyes, about to break through ten thousand feet of ice...

Monstrous Battle Intent!

The next moment—

The heavens and earth lost their color, and all things wailed!

"Zzzzt—!!!"

A terrifying thunderclap, ear-splitting and seemingly about to tear the sky apart, exploded fiercely!

Immediately after, one, ten, a hundred, a thousand... countless dazzling, violently extreme silver thunderbolts, like world-destroying thunder dragons breaking free from ancient Seals, erupted crazily from within Chu Zhanxiao's body, roaring out!

The thunder light was not scattered.

They intertwined, swirled, and danced wildly, following some ancient and mysterious Law, instantly wrapping around him and lifting him up into a blinding, dazzling, impossible-to-stare-at... humanoid silver sun!

The destructive power of the thunder roared and boiled, supporting his body as he slowly floated up, hovering above the arena, as if the Lord of Thunder had descended into the mortal world.

His blue shirt danced wildly in the violent thunder aura, and his ink-black hair flew wantonly in the blazing electric light.

His originally clear and calm eyes had now turned into two vortexes of thunder, eternally leaping, intertwined with destruction and Rebirth, coldly and indifferently looking down at... Nangong Tianlong, who was like an ant below.

"First?"

He spoke.

His voice was calm, yet it seemed to carry the weight of ten thousand tons of thunder; every word uttered turned into a thunderous sound from the Nine Heavens, slamming heavily onto everyone's Divine Soul!

"That was only..."

"...before you met me."

"After meeting me—"

He paused slightly, his eyes within the thunder light suddenly bursting with a sharp glint that pierced through eternity:

"You will no longer be the First."

"I am the only one."

"Waaah————————!!!"

The entire arena... went completely wild! Exploded! Boiled!

Mad!

Lawless! Unscrupulous! A madness that looks down upon the universe!

A former "discarded child" whose Dao Foundation had been crippled and who had suffered all kinds of cold looks, actually, in front of the heroes of the world, with such a stance of crushing everything and words that tore apart the rules, fiercely looked down upon the champion of the previous generation, the young Supreme recognized by the world!

This earth-shattering declaration, combined with that endless thunder prison that soared into the sky and made the heavens and earth change color...

Completely ignited an absolute arrogance and invincible self-confidence of "my body is the will of heaven," burning through the eight wildernesses!

Old king?

New Emperor?

After this battle, I alone am Supreme!

The roar of the entire Martial Arts Arena completely exploded, shooting straight into the clouds, as if it wanted to... completely overturn this sky!