338: The jokes aren't about laughing at the people; Brother Long is a true man.

Zhu Ming no longer held back. Every punch carried lava-like power and high temperature. His fists, feet, elbows, and knees all became weapons as he engaged in fierce, close-quarters combat.

The blazing flames sometimes covered his body like armor and sometimes swept out like a long whip, incinerating the approaching Puppets, ghostly shadows, and even the toxic mist.

The Fourth Elder's figure flickered among the stone pillars, in mid-air, and even between suspended water droplets. Every time his golden longbow vibrated, a silver stream of light or a roaring Spell of various attributes would shoot out.

Wind blades, wood dragons, water spikes, earth spikes... the transition between Spells was terrifyingly smooth. Moreover, they always appeared in the most tricky positions, not just attacking, but guiding and restricting the movement of the other two, as if the entire arena were a trap he had laid.

Wang Wu's methods were the most varied.

Between the flashes of blades, explosive Talismans were interspersed, and ghostly hidden weapons were dipped in eerie light. Toxic mists, illusions, and the patterns of Formations flickered in and out of existence.

The Puppets beside him would sometimes self-destruct and sometimes form Formations. His own movement technique was even more exquisite, weaving through the firepower of the other two and often delivering a fatal blow while Zhu Ming and the Fourth Elder were in the heat of battle.

The intensity of the battle continued to escalate.

The wound on Zhu Ming's shoulder blade stopped bleeding under the cauterization of the flames, but his movements became increasingly violent. The flames carried by his punches turned from dark red to blazing white, and the sound of wind and thunder could be faintly heard with every strike.

He smashed a fist into the ground, causing the earth within a hundred-zhang radius to heave and erupt with dozens of violent pillars of fire.

The Fourth Elder's expression was grave. Waves condensed beneath his feet to lift him into the air, avoiding the pillars of fire.

He took a deep breath and formed hand seals. The sky suddenly darkened as dark clouds gathered and a torrential downpour fell. Every drop of rain was as heavy as a thousand catties and bone-chillingly cold, extinguishing the flames and suppressing Zhu Ming's fire.

At the same time, he drew his bow like a full moon, and an Azure Light Arrow, constantly rotating and entwined with wind and water currents, condensed on the bowstring.

Wang Wu was forced into a pathetic state by the pillars of fire and heavy rain. A Puppet blocked a fire pillar for him and was instantly vaporized.

A sharp look flashed in his eyes as he threw out a compass-like Magical Artifact that suspended above his head, shedding paths of clear light to temporarily isolate the heavy rain.

He no longer held back. His Storage Pouch flashed repeatedly, and dozens of various Talismans flew out like a swarm of butterflies, weaving into a grim Talisman Formation in mid-air. Thunder, golden halberds, ice, giant rocks... various phantoms emerged within the Formation, their auras terrifying.

“We can't drag this out any longer, or we'll lose control!” This thought flashed through the minds of all three simultaneously.

Zhu Ming roared to the sky, and the blazing white flames around him collapsed inward, condensing into a piece of primitive and violent flame armor. His aura suddenly surged.

He took a step forward, the ground melting. His figure broke the sound barrier, crashing toward the Talisman Formation with afterimages.

The Fourth Elder released the bowstring. The Azure Light Arrow shot out silently. Wherever it passed, raindrops stood still, and the space froze into a path where ice crystals and wind blades coexisted, pointing directly at Wang Wu's true body.

Wang Wu shouted sharply and bit his ten fingers, splashing essence blood into the Talisman Formation and the compass above his head. The Talisman Formation erupted with brilliant light, and thousands of attacks poured out like a flood, while the clear light of the compass turned into a physical barrier.

Just a moment before the three terrifying attacks were about to collide...

The eyes of the three changed simultaneously. It was the indifference and decisiveness belonging to true experts, their disguises completely shed.

“Buzz—!!!”

There was no loud bang.

Time seemed to stand still for an instant.

With the three as the center, three completely different worlds opened up crudely and without warning, crashing into each other!

Behind Zhu Ming was a vast, boundless scorched land with flowing lava and erupting volcanoes, where the intense heat distorted everything.

Behind the Fourth Elder was a stormy ocean and primeval forest that connected heaven and earth, with raging waves roaring, giant trees reaching the sky, and hurricanes wailing.

Behind Wang Wu was the phantom of a magnificent yet eerie giant Workshop, where countless phantoms of Magical Artifacts, Talismans, Puppets, and Medicinal Pills floated, densely covered in Dao patterns, with a murderous aura piercing the sky.

Three vast Nascent Soul Domains, carrying Laws and powers incompatible with each other, squeezed, rubbed, and eroded one another fiercely. The space groaned under the unbearable burden, and light, sound, and Spiritual Qi were instantly disordered and annihilated.

Then, every scene finally froze into a streak of pure white.

A moment later.

The referee arrived on the field, looking at the rock landscape that had turned into a mess, as well as the Saints and Saintesses of the Three Sects lying outside the arena with eyes full of confusion.

“This battle was extremely intense, but it seems the winner has been decided. The final result is...”

“Wait... wait.”

Just as the referee was about to announce a draw, a figure on one side of the battlefield caught everyone's attention.

That person was black and blue, yet he still swayed, trying to stand up by leaning against the broken rocks. Finally, he stood firm tremblingly and slightly raised one hand.

Under the shocked gazes of the referee and the audience, the referee finally announced the result with a trembling voice.

“The final winner is—Long Tianxing!”

The originally noisy arena instantly fell into silence.

Everyone looked in disbelief at the figure barely standing in the battlefield. How did he, a Core Formation Stage cultivator, manage to hold out until now in a battle like that?

Some had already begun to swallow subconsciously. Originally, they were just casually saying that Long Tianxing had some inside help.

But when such a person, really with the Realm of the Core Formation Stage, stood on a Nascent Soul-level battlefield and still persisted in the aftermath of the collision between the Domains of three Nascent Soul experts, finally standing up...

How on earth did he do it?

Soon, the live replay of the battle appeared on the big screen.

Long Tianxing should have been knocked unconscious by the aftershocks of the first collision and then automatically judged as the loser and teleported out of the space.

But just a moment before the teleportation took effect, he actually crawled up.

After crawling up, he didn't hide to reap the benefits, nor did he take out the Magic Treasures he had relied on before to try an attack. Instead, he gripped his original accompanying sword and stumbled into another charge.

In this charge, he was hit by a stray wind blade. Long Tianxing raised his longsword and forcibly blocked it. He was once again knocked back by that immense force, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it pushed him further away from the boundary of the arena.

Just as everyone thought he could never stand up again, Long Tianxing stood up once more. He shook his head, determined the direction, and charged again with his sword.

Time and time again, he was knocked down by flying fireballs and Talismans. Even though he was covered in wounds and his longsword was already broken, he continued to charge.

The scene reached the end, as the three powerful Domains expanded and collided, the terrifying aftershocks lifting him up, and it looked like he was about to be blown out of the arena.

But he thrust his broken sword into the ground and gripped the rocks tightly with his fingers. Even though his hands were dripping with blood and the splashing gravel left him covered in bruises, he still persisted until those three were blasted out of the arena, all going out of bounds at the same time.

Only then did he endure the intense pain, struggling to stand up, and walked step by step to the center of the arena, raising his arm that represented victory.

Although he didn't deal any flashy damage and failed to successfully eliminate any opponent, he persisted until the end with such a tenacious will and his level of cultivation.

Even if he relied on the rules to defeat the three powerful experts, the audience would no longer say it was “rigged.”

Because after all this, if he could still be the last one standing, then he truly deserved to win.

Looking at the bruised and swollen Long Tianxing in the arena, even in this state, there was still a hint of heroism in his brow, though he did look quite pathetic.

Many emotional female spectators already had reddened eyes and covered their mouths. Even many male spectators suddenly felt that this kid... was actually a bit handsome at this moment.

At this time, the AFK Trio eating in the canteen looked at Long Tianxing, who was still standing on the field, and began to see him in a new light.

“Holy crap, laugh at the meme, not the man; Brother Long is a real man!” Zhou Yan already felt his blood boiling.

And Bai Ling, seeing Long Tianxing's performance, was also full of praise.

However, they soon realized something was wrong.

“Are we... becoming the villains?” Bai Ling asked.

These words stunned Zhou Yan, who was excitedly pumping his fist.

Yeah?

We were the ones behind the scenes all along, and as a result, the Child of Destiny was smeared, and in the end, he won in such a tragic and heroic way.

“Probably... not?” Zhou Yan's tone was a bit hesitant. “We've already withdrawn from the competition, and we don't even know those people up there.”

Bai Ling also quickly chimed in to comfort herself.

“The Child of Destiny won by his own ability, and besides, we withdrew from the race long ago. It's completely unrelated; it's not like we're bullying him.”

Xuanyuan Qingyao's single sentence shattered the duo's final fantasy.

“Those two are Elders from your Sect, right?”

“Anyway, the one pretending to be me is definitely my Master.”

“If they are Elders from your Sect, then it definitely has something to do with you.”

“We can be considered big villains who indirectly bullied the Child of Destiny. In storybooks and novels, characters like us usually end up quite miserably.”

After saying that, she slurped a mouthful of noodles.

Zhou Yan and Bai Ling exchanged a glance and quickly reached a consensus.

This matter must never let Long Tianxing know! Otherwise, his Dao Heart will surely shatter!

Immediately, the two both looked at Xuanyuan Qingyao, who was slurping noodles. She also reacted quickly and immediately understood what they meant.

“I know, I know.”

“I definitely won't do something like making enemies for no reason.”

Just like that, the three reached a consensus, and this became a secret they kept together.

Poor Long Tianxing, getting beaten up for nothing again. And Zhou Yan didn't even know that when Long Tianxing was in Great Yu, he had already been beaten once by the Little Emperor wearing his Skin Suit.

And so, this grand competition of the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven finally came to an end, with Long Tianxing winning the top spot.

【Qingxu Grotto-Heaven Arc · End】