36: Chapter 36: Two Million Received, I Broke Through a Realm On the Spot

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen landed on the arena, his feet making not the slightest sound.

The commotion in the gymnasium gradually died down.

Martial Ancestor.

Just those two words, hanging in the air, were enough to make everyone present shut their mouths.

Li Zhengyang weighed the dragon gall golden spear in his hand.

He used to think it felt just right.

Now, facing Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen, he suddenly felt it was too light.

So light that it felt unsteady.

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen stood at the other end of the arena, without any unnecessary movements, and spoke concisely.

"Commander Xiao Ding told me not to beat you to death."

Li Zhengyang nodded.

"You're a pretty decent guy, then."

"I'll try my best."

"Try your best not to beat me to death?"

"Try my best to make you last a little longer."

Li Zhengyang raised the tip of his spear.

"I take back what I just said; you're not very good at small talk."

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen didn't respond.

The next instant, he moved.

There was no opening stance.

He was directly in front of Li Zhengyang.

Too fast.

So fast that many people in the stands only saw Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen disappear from the arena, and in the blink of an eye, he was already standing half a step in front of Li Zhengyang.

A palm strike.

Aimed at his chest.

Li Zhengyang blocked with his spear held horizontally.

Bang!

The dragon gall golden spear shook violently.

Li Zhengyang slid back over ten meters, his shoe soles grinding two black marks onto the arena floor.

His arms were numb.

His chest felt congested.

With this one blow, he understood.

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen had held back.

But holding back didn't mean it was easy to endure.

The aura of a Martial Ancestor was not something a Martial Spirit could take head-on.

Just as he steadied his body, Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen had already followed up.

A second palm strike.

Li Zhengyang didn't take it head-on; he activated the Startling Cloud Step, his figure retreating diagonally.

But Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen's palm momentum shifted to follow him.

The aura left his body.

It wasn't attached to his hand.

And it didn't travel in a straight line.

It spread out in advance, sealing off three potential landing spots for Li Zhengyang's feet.

Li Zhengyang's eyelids twitched.

"He's got skills."

With his retreat cut off, he had no choice but to attack with his spear.

Mountain-Splitting Spear Arts, Collapse Technique.

The dragon gall golden spear thrust out, its tip aiming at Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen's wrist.

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen flipped his wrist, his palm pressing down on the spear shaft.

The spear's momentum was deflected.

A follow-up whip kick slammed into Li Zhengyang's lower abdomen.

Bang!

Li Zhengyang flew backward, crashing into the formation barrier at the edge of the arena.

The barrier lit up with white light, bouncing his body back into the arena.

He landed on one knee, the taste of blood rising in his throat.

He swallowed it back down.

He couldn't spit it out.

Spitting it out would ruin his image.

More importantly, it would affect his price.

In the stands, Commander stood up abruptly.

"Stop! What the hell is the point of this fight!"

Someone from the Fortress No. 13 side also shouted at the top of their lungs.

"Admit defeat! Li Zhengyang! Don't hold on!"

"Come back! A Martial Ancestor is really not something a human can fight!"

"Forget the money, your life is more important!"

Some were stamping their feet in anxiety.

"Someone drag him down!"

The First Fortress side was much quieter.

No one was laughing.

Because Li Zhengyang's spear strike just now had grazed Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen's cuff.

A Martial Spirit touching a Martial Ancestor.

Just being able to touch him was already outrageous.

Lin Zhenshan sat in the front row, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the armrest of his chair.

He didn't speak.

Lin Feng sat beside him, his right hand still in a splint, his expression worse than before.

"Dad, Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen won't actually flip over, right?"

Lin Zhenshan turned his head to look at him.

"Is your brain in a splint too?"

Lin Feng shut his mouth.

On the arena.

Li Zhengyang stood up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen stopped ten meters away.

"Still fighting?"

"Yes."

"You have no chance of winning."

"I have money."

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen paused for a beat.

"What?"

Li Zhengyang didn't explain.

He glanced at the big screen on the edge of the arena.

Combat timer: forty-one seconds.

Ten minutes.

Far from it.

Last ten minutes, get an extra million.

But the problem now was, let alone ten minutes, if he took three more palm strikes from Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen, he would be lying on the ground waiting for the medics to carry him off.

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen hadn't used lethal force.

But a Martial Ancestor was a Martial Ancestor.

Every palm strike was suppressing his blood energy.

His bones weren't broken, but his blood energy was already in chaos.

Just then, the phone in his pocket vibrated.

Ding.

The referee at the edge of the arena furrowed his brows.

"Communication is prohibited during the match!"

Li Zhengyang held the spear with one hand, pulled out his phone with the other, and didn't even look at the referee.

The referee opened his mouth.

Then closed it again.

There was no helping it.

This match was no longer an ordinary final.

A 9th-Rank Martial Spirit taking on a Martial Ancestor head-on was inherently an unfair duel, so the referee ignored some details.

The phone screen was lit up.

[Received: 2,000,000 Yuan]

Transfer note: Advance payment of basic bonus for the military district selection tournament.

Li Zhengyang looked at that string of zeros; his chest stopped feeling congested, and his waist didn't hurt anymore.

Commander Xiao Ding is a good guy.

Two million.

Twenty thousand points of blood energy.

Enough.

He tapped open the system directly.

Top up.

Amount: 2,000,000.

Confirm.

[Top-up successful!]

[Top-up amount: 2,000,000]

[Blood energy value obtained: +20,000]

[Current blood energy value: 92,628]

[Blood energy value threshold breakthrough detected]

[Realm breakthrough: 9th-Rank Martial Spirit → 2nd-Rank Martial Ancestor!]

The formation patterns on the arena lit up at the same time.

The blood energy on Li Zhengyang's body surged outward, then was pressed back into his body by him.

It wasn't leaking out.

It was rearranging.

Bones, meridians, flesh and blood were all being washed over again and again.

Many spectators in the front row felt a tightness in their chests and hurriedly circulated their blood energy to counteract it.

A few low-rank martial artists couldn't steady themselves and nearly slid off their seats.

"Holy crap, he broke through?"

"Wasn't he checking a text message when he took out his phone earlier?"

"He checked, it seemed to be a text message about the bonus arriving."

"So he broke through by relying on money?"

"Don't ask; if you ask, it's that poverty limits cultivation."

On the main viewing platform.

Commander Xiao Ding had been leaning back in his chair, but now his body was leaning forward, his palms pressing on the armrests.

"He broke through?"

Beside him, Chief of Staff Zhang Yuan's teacup froze in mid-air, half the tea spilling out.

"A breakthrough on the spot? He took out his phone earlier just to confirm the transfer?"

Commander Xiao Ding didn't speak.

A moment later, he smiled.

"Old Zhang."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think if I had sent him five million earlier, he could have just pinned Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen to the ground?"

Chief of Staff Zhang Yuan looked at the arena, and after a long time, he managed to choke out a sentence.

"Commander, military funds aren't meant to be spent like this."

Commander Xiao Ding ignored him.

He stared at Li Zhengyang, the more he looked, the more he liked him.

The viewing area for Fortress No. 13 was silent for a moment, then erupted in roars.

"Martial Ancestor!"

"Li Zhengyang has entered the Martial Ancestor realm!"

"Who told him to admit defeat earlier? Stand up! You almost delayed him from getting his money!"

Commander was still standing, his expression changing back and forth.

He cursed.

"This kid."

On the arena.

Li Zhengyang stuffed his phone back into his pocket and stretched his neck.

The dull pain left by Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen's kick earlier was fading away.

The blood energy in his body was rearranging.

When he was a Martial Spirit, he was mobilizing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Upon reaching the Martial Ancestor realm, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth began to obey his command.

It wasn't borrowing.

It was suppressing.

The dragon gall golden spear was gripped by him, and the dark gold patterns on the spear shaft lit up on their own.

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen looked at him.

"You broke through just now?"

"Yes."

"Relying on what?"

"Relying on the God of Wealth."

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen was silent for two seconds.

"You're a weird guy."

"You're not bad yourself; you almost beat me until I vomited."

"And now?"

Li Zhengyang gripped the spear with both hands.

"Now it's my turn to collect interest."

As the words fell.

Startling Cloud Step.

He disappeared from where he stood.

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen's pupils contracted, and he struck out with his right palm to the side.

Bang!

Spear and palm collided.

This time, Li Zhengyang didn't retreat.

It was Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen who retreated.

Half a step.

Very short.

But everyone in the arena saw it.

The stands erupted in noise.

"Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen retreated!"

"2nd-Rank Martial Ancestor! Li Zhengyang is also a Martial Ancestor!"

"Wasn't he a 9th-Rank Martial Spirit just now?"

"He leveled up in the arena?"

"Is this reasonable?"

"Reasonable my ass!"

Li Zhengyang didn't give Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen a chance to adjust.

The dragon gall golden spear pressed down with the momentum, the butt of the spear smashing toward Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen's shoulder.

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen dodged sideways and backhanded toward the spear shaft.

Li Zhengyang didn't force a clash.

The spear shaft shook.

Twist Technique.

The aura swirled out along the three blood grooves, drilling past Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen's palm.

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen withdrew his hand half a beat too slowly, and a bloody gash was cut into his palm.

Blood dripped onto the arena.

A very small drop.

Yet it made the First Fortress side go completely silent.

Deputy Regimental Commander Lu Chen looked at his own hand.

"Very good."

His aura changed.

Just now, he was testing.

Now, he was going to get serious.