143: Chapter 143 Dragon Fist Breaks the Demon

The next moment—

A Dragon Fist, wrapped in blinding silver light and seemingly forged from the Nine Heavens' thunder and the True Dragon's will, transcended the constraints of space and ignored the passage of time!

It was no longer simply "fast."

Instead, it was like teleportation, like a streak of light, like fate itself—it started last, yet arrived first!

"Bang—!!!"

The Dragon Fist, heavy as a star yet light as nothingness, struck squarely, solidly, and precisely upon the hideous giant maw of the Demonic Dragon that had come to bite, a maw that seemed capable of devouring the heavens and the earth!

The instant of contact, there was no earth-shattering release of energy, no stalemate of opposing forces.

There was only—

"Cra—ck—!!!"

A crisp, sharp cracking sound, seemingly capable of piercing through all matter, reaching the deepest depths of the Divine Soul, and freezing the Soul itself, suddenly exploded!

This sound was not like the clanging of metal in the mortal world, nor the dull thud of rocks collapsing.

It sounded more like the wail of ten-thousand-year-old divine jade glass shattering inch by inch into powder under the direct bombardment of the Nine Heavens' World-Ending Divine Thunder;

Or like the final sound of a billion-zhang polar mysterious ice, completely shattered and reduced to nothingness under the vast crushing force of the Primordial Buzhou Mountain.

The sound was not particularly loud or deafening.

Yet it was like an invisible heavy hammer condensed from Laws, ignoring all defenses, slamming fiercely into the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of people inside and outside the Martial Arts Arena!

"Hum..."

All the clamor, all the discussions, all the breathing, all the thoughts... at that moment, instantly solidified.

Time seemed to have been pressed with a pause button.

Countless gazes, filled with extreme horror, the bewilderment of collapsed cognition, and the trembling from the depths of their Souls, locked firmly and unblinkingly onto the very center of the arena.

Then, they saw a scene they would never be able to forget—

They saw that massive Demonic Dragon, which had previously been monstrously powerful, shaking the hundred-zhang Thunder Dragon, its scales shimmering with eerie light, and seemingly capable of devouring the world, beginning from the point of contact with that silver Dragon Fist...

Cracking with the first fissure.

Immediately following, the second, the third... countless fissures!

Fissures as fine as spiderwebs and as deep as ravines, centered on that point of contact, spread and proliferated wildly across the Demonic Dragon's massive body like a plague, like apocalyptic runes!

"Crack! Crack-crack! Crack-crack-crack—!!!"

The dense cracking sounds, enough to make one's scalp tingle and Divine Soul tremble, were continuous, like the funeral bell of the Grim Reaper being rung frantically!

Thick, viscous, pitch-black Devilish Qi, carrying endless resentment and corrosive power, gushed out frantically from the countless fissures, like filthy blood spurting from the body of a Vicious Beast whose heart had been pierced!

However—

When this terrifying Devilish Qi, capable of polluting Nascent Soul Cultivators and eroding space, touched the invisible yet vast-as-the-starry-sky, majestic-as-divine-decree Dragon Might Domain around Chu Zhanxiao...

It was like hot water poured on snow, like black smoke meeting the blazing sun!

Not even a ripple, not a wisp of smoke, remained.

Right at the edge of that Domain, where pure, supreme Dragon Might and Thunder Dao rhythm intertwined, it was completely, cleanly, and decisively... annihilated, dissipated, and turned into nothingness!

There was no earth-shattering explosion as expected.

No brilliant light and shadow of a stalemate after the collision of forces.

Even...

No final wail or struggle from this twisted creation, the Demonic Dragon, before it dissipated.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Just one punch!

That hideous and terrifying Heaven-Devouring Demonic Dragon, with its fangs exposed, seemingly from the lowest depths of the Nine Serenities, was like a remnant of ice and snow directly and unreservedly struck by the pure light of the brilliant sun.

It disintegrated inch by inch, melted section by section, and scattered piece by piece at a speed visible to the naked eye...

In the end.

Not even the last wisp of unwilling black smoke remained in this world.

Completely turned into nothingness.

As if its terrifying roar, its monstrous Devilish Qi, and its very existence that attempted to devour everything...

Were all just a brief and absurd... nightmare that everyone had collectively experienced.

"Pfft—!!!!"

The instant his Life-Bound Demonic Dragon was violently shattered and completely annihilated, Nangong Tianlong, who was perched atop the Demonic Dragon's head with his mind closely linked to it, felt as if he had been struck by ten thousand bolts of lightning and crushed by ten thousand mountains!

"Urgh—!"

His body shook violently, like a puppet with cut strings, and he hunched forward abruptly. A large mouthful of filthy blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs, dark red bordering on black, and containing wisps of viscous black Qi, gushed out of his mouth like a fountain!

The blood droplets traced a desolate and beautiful arc in the blinding daylight, finally "splattering" onto the already shattered arena floor, leaving shocking, charred little pits where the Demonic blood hissed with white smoke.

The black-gold Devilish Qi around him, which had originally been blazing and churning, seemingly capable of devouring light, instantly dimmed, dissipated, and withered, as if all its Foundation and Soul had been drained away!

The terrifying aura that had been tyrannical and full, almost breaking through the threshold of the Golden Core Peak, plummeted rapidly like a balloon that had been pricked after being inflated to the limit!

Golden Core Late Stage... Golden Core Middle Stage... even tottering, almost falling back to the Golden Core Early Stage!

"Cough... cough-cough-cough..."

His entire person, like a broken, discarded puppet, completely lost all strength and balance, and he flew uncontrollably backward, slamming away!

"Boom—!!!!!!"

A dull, earth-shaking sound that made people's hearts stop suddenly erupted!

His body, like a cannonball fired from its chamber, slammed heavily into the edge of the arena, against the hard bluestone railing forged from "Mysterious Iron Essence Gold," engraved with reinforcement formation patterns, and capable of withstanding the impact of a Nascent Soul Cultivator!

"Crack! Rumble—!"

The thick and tough Mysterious Iron railing snapped on impact! Gravel and metal debris shot out in all directions like a rainstorm! Dust filled the air!

Nangong Tianlong lay limp in the ruins of the collapsed railing and gravel, like a pile of mud that had completely lost its bones.

He struggled and trembled, trying to use those two arms, covered in charred lightning marks and with broken fingernails, to prop up his broken body.

But his arms trembled like the last two withered leaves in a storm, and after several futile efforts, uselessly scratching at the gravel beneath him, making a "rustling," heartbreaking sound, he ultimately could not straighten his spine even an inch.

He could only maintain the most pathetic and unbearable posture, deeply embedded in that ruin of rubble that symbolized his complete defeat.

"Hah... hah..."

Nangong Tianlong raised his head with difficulty and extremely slowly.

His vision was blurred and darkening, the world spinning, due to the severe trauma to his internal organs, the chaos in his Meridians, and the intense pain in his Divine Soul.

But he still locked his gaze, with the last ounce of strength in his Soul, onto the figure in the center of the arena, bathed in the faint daylight, seemingly untainted by a speck of dust.

At this moment, the layer of perfect, cold, and sacred silver Dragon scales covering Chu Zhanxiao's body was slowly receding beneath his skin like a retreating tide, revealing the clean, cyan cloth garment underneath, which seemed to carry endless legends.

However—

This terrifying pressure and pure Dragon rhythm, vast as the deep starry sea and majestic as the arrival of an ancient Dragon God, did not dissipate with the disappearance of the Dragon scales; instead, it lingered around him even more restrained and deeply, silently yet domineeringly suppressing the surrounding world, making that area seem to form a sacred and inviolable Domain of its own.

Nangong Tianlong's eyes were filled with extreme terror that overturned his cognition and shattered his faith; his pupils contracted violently and trembled, as if they would shatter completely from the excessive shock at any moment.

Even his voice, due to extreme fear, weakness, and the bewilderment after his worldview had completely collapsed, was twisted, distorted, and hoarse beyond recognition:

"No... impossible... this is absolutely... impossible..."

"My 'Heaven-Devouring Dragon Demonic Technique'... was obtained from an ancient Secret Realm... a lost supreme Legacy... fused with Dragon blood and the power of the abyss... capable of devouring the heavens and the earth... reversing Yin and Yang..."

Every word he spoke, a mouthful of filthy blood mixed with black Qi gushed out, but he ignored it completely, only staring fixedly at Chu Zhanxiao, as if trying to find evidence of "cheating" on him.

"How could it... how could it... be so... vulnerable..."

"You... what exactly... are... you... monster..."

Chu Zhanxiao slowly withdrew his fist.

The dazzling silver light on his knuckles, which was heart-stopping and Soul-capturing, gradually faded and retracted like a star that had completed its mission.

His expression was calm, as if that earth-shattering punch that annihilated the Demonic Dragon was just him casually brushing a speck of dust off his lapel.

He walked step by step toward Nangong Tianlong, who was lying in the ruins, breathing his last.

His footsteps, landing on the chaotic arena floor covered in crisscrossing cracks, charred marks, and frost, made—

"Thump..."

"Thump..."

"Thump..."

Dull, steady, unhurried.

This sound of footsteps was not loud; even in this still-deadly-silent Martial Arts Arena, it seemed somewhat faint.

Yet—

It was like the heaviest of drumsticks, precisely beating on the heartbeat rhythm of everyone present!

Beating on their tense nerves! Beating into the depths of their Souls that had not yet recovered from the shock!

Making the atmosphere in the Martial Arts Arena, which had already fallen into a deathly silence due to the extreme visual impact, stagnant and oppressive to the point of being almost suffocating! It was as if even the air had turned into thick, heavy mercury.

Chu Zhanxiao walked to a few steps away from Nangong Tianlong and stopped.

He lowered his eyes slightly, his gaze falling calmly onto the other's twisted and pathetic face, covered in blood, dust, and the black veins that had emerged due to the backlash of the Demonic Technique.

"Strength, in itself, has no right or wrong, no good or evil."

Chu Zhanxiao spoke, his voice calm and waveless, without the arrogance of a victor, without the mockery of the defeated, but carrying an ancient majesty that seemed to originate from the deepest part of his Bloodline, transcending mundane understanding.

Like a deity seated high in the Nine Heavens, wielding the Law, pronouncing an indisputable truth that pierced through ancient and modern times.

"But when you—"

His voice paused slightly, and in those clear yet deep eyes, a faint trace of realization flashed, as if he had seen through the long river of time.

"For the sake of that pathetic vanity and fleeting glory, you were willing to confine yourself to a prison, stagnating at the Golden Core Realm, suppressing your true potential, abandoning the possibility of reaching a higher Realm faster..."

He shook his head slightly, his tone devoid of much emotion, yet every word was like a knife, dissecting the surface and pointing directly to the essence.

"And even more, you were willing to use Devilish Qi to erode the Dragon Clan Origin, defile the Bloodline glory, blind your Martial Dao heart, and sink into this Evil Path power that devours everything and will eventually devour even yourself—"

Chu Zhanxiao looked directly into Nangong Tianlong's eyes, filled with fear, unwillingness, and brokenness, his final voice calm but carrying the meaning of an ending:

"Your path had long since deviated from the Righteous Path and entered a dead end."

"Today's defeat is not due to my hand."

"But to... the wrong path you chose yourself, one destined to reach its end."

The voice fell.

The lingering sound seemed to still be slowly echoing on the shattered arena, in the deathly silent Martial Arts Arena.

The entire Martial Arts Arena, with its hundreds of thousands of people, remained trapped in a state of speechlessness.

Everyone was still immersed in that earth-shattering punch that overturned all perception, unable to regain their focus, unable to think.

That...

This punch had no dazzling, extreme light effects, nor the flow of complex and profound spell runes.

What it had was only the most extreme, the purest, and the most fundamental power!

It was the absolute control and Fusion of the Dao of "Thunder" and the might of the "True Dragon"!

It was the supreme manifestation of reducing myriad changes into a single punch, condensing vast and mighty power into a single point!

It interpreted legendary Realms like "defeating the strong with the weak," "breaking ten thousand techniques with one force," and "the Great Dao is simple" so vividly, so shockingly, and so... despairingly powerful!

"Hoo..."

Above the high platform, the Chief Referee, who had been sitting still like an ancient pine watching the battle with an aura as deep as an abyss and as heavy as a mountain, slowly and deeply took a breath.

This breath seemed to briefly inhale all the surrounding light and sound.

The next moment, he stood up abruptly!

"Whoosh—"

The seemingly simple grey robe around his body moved without wind, snapping loudly!

An indescribable, ancient, and vast aura, like a sleeping Dragon awakening, naturally radiated outwards; though it flashed and vanished, it made all the giants on the high platform shiver in their hearts.

His gaze, like lightning, swept across the deathly silent arena and stands below. The deeply inhaled breath transformed into a thunderous declaration, instantly piercing through the shock, confusion, and dullness in everyone's hearts, ringing out clearly, loudly, and unquestionably in every corner of the Martial Arts Arena:

"This battle—"

"Great Xia Dynasty, Chu Zhanxiao..."

"Victory!"

"Accumulated—ten—points!"

The declaration fell with a boom, like a decree from the Nine Heavens!

After a brief, extreme silence where it felt as if time itself had frozen—

"BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The Martial Arts Arena, this ancient place that had witnessed the rise and fall of countless Prodigies, seemed to have been thrown into boiling, scorching magma capable of melting steel, and it suddenly, completely, erupted!

Landslides! Tsunamis! Stars exploding! The birth of the Universe!

All words capable of describing sound and scenery seemed pale and powerless at this moment!

"He won! He really won! Chu Zhanxiao won!!!" A young Cultivator jumped up regardless of anything, his face flushed red with extreme excitement, waving his arms hoarsely, while tears uncontrollably streamed out!

"Golden Core Early Stage! One punch! Just one punch! Crushing Nangong Tianlong, who is in the Golden Core Late Stage and possesses an ancient Demonic Technique! This... this is simply a myth! It's a legend! I've actually seen a living myth with my own eyes today!!!"

A rough-looking Loose Cultivator violently tore open the collar of his shirt, frantically pounding his chest with his fists, emitting muffled "thump-thump" sounds, as if nothing less would suffice to vent the monstrous waves in his heart.

"Just one punch! That terrifying Devouring Heaven Demonic Dragon that would give people nightmares was directly beaten into nothingness! Not even a scrap was left! This... what level of power is this?! Nascent Soul?! No! Even a Nascent Soul might not be able to achieve such a clean, such a crushing victory!!!"

"Too strong! Strong to the point of absurdity! Strong to the point of breaking common sense! Strong to the point... of making people despair! Xuantian Sect... what kind of... True Dragon has Xuantian Sect been keeping hidden all this time!!!"

Crazy, hysterical cheers!

Earth-shaking exclamations that seemed to tear at the eardrums!

Intense, incoherent discussions!

And countless screams, roars, and cries out of control due to extreme excitement!

All sounds, all emotions, at this moment, intertwined, merged, and exploded together!

Transforming into a rolling, tangible tide of sound, with the arena as the center, it swept, surged, and roared madly in all directions, towards the sky, towards the earth!

It seemed as if it would completely tear off the ancient, sturdy dome of this Martial Arts Arena! Poke a hole in this sky! Engrave the three characters "Chu Zhanxiao" into this world, and brand them into this era!

Chu Zhanxiao stood quietly in the center of the arena, his green shirt clean and spotless.

It was as if the earth-shattering battle just now, and that supreme punch that annihilated the Demonic Dragon, had not brought him even a hint of disarray. Only on a few strands of hair on his forehead that hadn't been tied up, tiny, elf-like silver electric sparks that hadn't fully dissipated were still jumping, refracting a dreamlike and sacred luster like broken gold under the sunlight filtering through the protective light barrier.

He slightly lifted his eyes, looking at the crowd below that was boiling like magma and surging like a tsunami, looking at those faces distorted by excitement and feverish with shock.

In his eyes, however, there was only the clarity and calmness of an ancient, undisturbed well.

Deep, distant, as if reflecting the starry sky of eternity, without a single ripple.

It was as if that earth-shattering strike just now, which was enough to be recorded in history and shake the eight wild regions, and that glorious victory which established his supreme reputation, were to him...

Nothing more than something done with ease, light as a breeze, and insignificant.

Like drinking a cup of clear tea, or brushing past a wisp of breeze.

And at the edge of the arena, amidst that glaring wreckage and rubble.

Nangong Tianlong was like mud with all its marrow drained away, deeply embedded between the broken stones and shattered dark iron.

His knuckles were deathly white from excessive force, digging desperately into the cold, rough gravel beneath him; his fingernails cracked, and blood mixed with filth, staining the gravel dark red.

Over and over again, he used the back of his trembling, blood-stained hand to futilely wipe away the filthy blood constantly spilling from the corner of his mouth, which carried a nauseating Devilish Qi.

But the more he wiped, the more there was; the more he wiped, the more the fishy sweetness of the blood and Devilish Qi filled his mouth and nose, reminding him of the reality of his crushing defeat.

Those brilliant eyes that once overflowed with arrogance, ambition, and an unconquerable spirit, as if they could trample the entire world underfoot...

At this moment, only remained completely shattered and grey.

Like black jade that had been smashed hard and then covered in thick dust, devoid of any luster.

Hollow, dead silent, devoid of any life.

His gaze, like the cold, sticky, and endlessly venomous tongue of a dying viper, was tightly coiled around Chu Zhanxiao.

Watching that green-shirted figure, amidst the waves of cheers and worship from the masses, calmly and unhurriedly walking step by step off the arena that symbolized victory and glory.

That...

This figure, standing tall like a green pine on the Peak of a lonely mountain, facing the frost and snow;

Steady like a towering mountain that has remained unmoved for eternity;

Indifferent like the flowing clouds unfolding above the Nine Heavens.

It formed an extremely stark contrast to his current wretched state—deep in the mud, covered in blood, and on the verge of death—making his heart twitch and his Soul burn with pain!

"Why..."

A hoarse murmur came from his throat, like a broken bellows leaking air, so weak that perhaps only he himself, pressed against the ground, could hear it clearly.

"Why... exactly..."

"I endured... the inhuman pain of Devilish Qi eroding my bones and devouring my heart... and ten thousand ants drilling into my Soul..."

"I abandoned... the glorious Righteous Path of the Dragon Clan... and defiled the Bloodline of my ancestors' glory..."

"I gave up... the possibility of faster promotion and reaching higher Realms... bitterly suppressing my cultivation, wasting countless resources and effort to temper this... Demonic Dragon body..."

In his eyes, deep within the grey, a twisted, unwilling, and venomous flame suddenly ignited.

"The reason... was for today! In front of all the people in the world! On this Peak stage of the Hundred Dynasties War!"

"To continue all the glory that belongs to me, Nangong Tianlong! To defend my invincible name as the champion of the previous session! To trample all of you... so-called rising stars under my feet! To prove that the path I chose is... the strongest!!!"

He suddenly laughed with a wheezing sound.

The laughter started soft, with the bubbling sound of blood foam, then grew louder and louder, more and more frantic, filled with twisted self-mockery and bone-deep venom, finally turning into a chilling, wild laugh mixed with intense unwillingness!

"Glory? Hehe... Hahahaha... The so-called Righteous Path?"

"And glory are nothing but the most hypocritical, most glittering veneer that the victor wears!! Chu Zhanxiao——!!!"

He lifted his head abruptly. Although this action made him cough up another large mouthful of filthy blood, he still used his last ounce of strength to roar out, and although his voice was hoarse and broken, it carried a hysterical accusation:

"You won! So you stand on high! You bathe in glory! Everything you say is right! It is all truth! It is all the glorious Great Dao!!!"

"But if—it was me who won today!!!"

A final, terrifying fierce light erupted in his eyes, as if he were burning his remaining Soul.

"If I had completely crushed your so-called Righteous Path with the supreme Demonic might of this Devouring Heaven Demonic Dragon! If I had trampled you and your laughable Xuantian Sect beliefs into the deepest mud of this arena!!!"

"The 'Dao' you insist on... the pitiful reputation and persistence of Xuantian Sect... what would they count for?!"

"They would be nothing more than the most conspicuous stepping stones for me, Nangong Tianlong, to step onto a higher Peak!!!"

"They would be nothing more than the history of the loser, left for me to paint, write, and arbitrarily tamper with!!!"

"Hahaha... Hahaha... Ugh... Cough cough cough..."

The wild laughter was finally interrupted by more violent coughing and vomiting of blood.

He went limp, his last bit of strength seemingly exhausted along with this hysterical roar.

Around him, the faint, inescapable whispers, and the gazes falling upon him—mixed with pity, disdain, mockery, disgust, and even more, undisguised schadenfreude and cold scrutiny...

Were like billions of ice needles quenched in cold poison, densely packing in from all directions, ruthlessly piercing through his last dignity, his last pride, his last everything.

Nangong Tianlong knew with absolute clarity in his heart.

From this moment on.

From the moment Chu Zhanxiao's silver Dragon punch was launched and the Demonic Dragon turned into nothingness.

The name "Nangong Tianlong," which once shone with the auras of "peerless Genius," "champion of the previous session," and "Dragon-blooded Prodigy"...

Had completely fallen.

Had already become a joke.

A label of a loser who suffered "Demonic Technique backlash," "willingly degenerated," and "overestimated himself."

Would be firmly nailed to the pillar of shame of this Hundred Dynasties War.

Becoming, in the legendary path of the green-shirted youth before him as he ascended to the pinnacle and shone with boundless light...

The most conspicuous, the most ironic, and the most sigh-inducing...

Background and footnote.

And he would live forever in the shadow of this day, and in the mud of the loser.

Forever, beyond salvation.