143: Chapter 143 How come this is Su Bai's card??

"——One-shot."

His voice echoed through the amplification array. His vocal cords felt a bit dry.

"Competitor Wei Xiaoyu has used a single punch—shattering the direct lineage sword of a Tier 5 S-rank Sword Saint. She used the same method as Qin Ye. And even—faster."

The audience erupted in the next second.

It wasn't a gradual explosion, but a sudden, synchronized eruption as everyone sprang from their seats at once. The roar was so loud that visible cracks appeared on the outer layer of the protective barrier.

"One punch!! Another one punch!!"

"Tier 5 S-rank!! That's a Tier 5 S-rank!! It's more than a grade stronger than the one Qin Ye shattered!!"

"Bare-handed as well!! A one-shot as well!! Wei Xiaoyu is faster!!"

"The upper limit of the Furnace system really is four times higher than the Stand!! Shen Ye wasn't lying!!"

"The data calculated on-site by Qi Yuan's disciple is real!! This is what you call academic crushing!!"

"Whatever Su Bai's Stand Card is, it's just an oversized toy in front of the Stellar-level collapse framework!!"

The screen comments flooded in from every angle.

[Everyone who said Qin Ye was hiding her moves, come out and speak. Wei Xiaoyu is the one truly hiding her moves.]

[Qin Ye shatters a B-rank and people scream blindly; Wei Xiaoyu shatters an S-rank and doesn't even break a sweat.]

[The Stand wasn't even activated before it was crushed by the same move; this is a dimensional strike.]

[The person above, you forgot, Wei Xiaoyu used the Titan Furnace, from Qi Yuan's system.]

[Right, the Sanctuary's orthodox academic lineage suppressing the wild path.]

[So Su Bai got slapped in the face by a former partner he rejected, using a different system. Brutal.]

[It wasn't Su Bai who rejected her, it was she who rejected Su Bai.]

[Who rejected whom doesn't matter, what matters is that the set she chose is stronger.]

On the arena, Wei Xiaoyu pulled back her fist.

She splayed her right-hand fingers one by one. Her knuckles were stained with some silvery powder—the residue left behind after the Sword Trace Path's sword energy crystals were crushed.

She lowered her head to look at the powder. Then she raised her head and glanced in the direction of the waiting area.

Qin Ye stood at the edge of the waiting area, arms crossed and leaning against the railing. Her expression was exactly the same as before the match started. No shock, no nervousness from being provoked, no sense of crisis like "she is faster than me."

She just gave a slight nod.

The nod was extremely slight, with her chin sinking only about a centimeter. But Wei Xiaoyu saw it. She also gave a nod of the same magnitude.

Two people who had once been chosen by the same Stand Card exchanged a signal in a way that outsiders could not understand.

In the VIP area, the Empress sat behind the bead curtain. The edge of the curtain swayed gently.

It was brushed aside by her finger. Her dark golden pupils flashed behind the bead curtain. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

"Interesting."

The volume of the two words was not loud, but the Purple-Robed Chief and several high-ranking Card Creators standing on both sides heard it. The Purple-Robed Chief quickly bowed.

"Your Majesty is wise. Competitor Wei Xiaoyu's punch was indeed—"

"I am not talking about her."

The Empress lowered the bead curtain. Her gaze crossed the arena and landed on the boy yawning in the VIP box.

In the VIP box, Zhao Dahai was slumped over the railing. The milk tea in his hand had already gone cold, and the straw was flattened from his biting.

"...I'm trying to figure out how to describe my current mood to you."

He turned to look at Su Bai. "Wei Xiaoyu one-shot a Tier 5 S-rank with one punch. The whole audience is shouting that the Furnace is four times stronger than the Stand. The screen comments are spamming that you got slapped in the face by your former partner's new system. You—"

He took a deep breath, pouring all his lung capacity into the last sentence. "Can't you be even a little bit nervous!!"

Su Bai pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. "Why."

"Because you've been outdone!! At least, you look like you've been outdone!!"

"Oh." Su Bai put the lollipop back into his mouth. His movements were exactly the same as the previous two times. "Mediocre."

Zhao Dahai's mouth formed a perfect O-shape. He turned to Lin Xiao, pointing at Su Bai, his finger trembling.

Lin Xiao didn't even raise her head, her fingers still swiping rapidly across her phone screen. On the trending list, "Wei Xiaoyu one-shots S-rank with one punch" had already surpassed "Qin Ye shatters moon eater with one punch."

"What he means is, there was no collapse aftermath of the Furnace in that punch Wei Xiaoyu just threw."

Zhao Dahai's eyebrows knitted together: "What aftermath?"

"Go check the full-power output model of the Furnace that Shen Ye made public. After extreme overload, the engine has a distinct cooling cycle period. During this time, the residual heat on the user will produce specific magic residues in the air—normally, after throwing that punch, the back of Wei Xiaoyu's hand should be emitting steam."

Lin Xiao finally looked up. "She didn't."

Zhao Dahai's gaze bounced between Wei Xiaoyu and Su Bai. "...So?"

"So she didn't activate extreme overload." Lin Xiao's voice was very low. "The four times that Shen Ye calculated is the theoretical limit. The punch Wei Xiaoyu just threw—"

She paused. Zhao Dahai's pupils began to dilate. "—was normal output."

Zhao Dahai buried his face in his palms. After a long time, he said muffledly, "I will never ask you why again. Because every time, you make me feel like an idiot."

Su Bai pulled the lollipop out of his mouth, looked at it, and put it back in. "Normal. You'll get used to it."

The Sanctuary appraisal channel exploded.

Armored Mage Emperor Lu Chen: [Old Qi. Your disciple says the Furnace is four times that of the Stand. Are you sure?]

Phantom Sovereign: [I just analyzed the spectrum of that punch from Qin Ye. Her Mental Power conduction density has no attenuation inflection point. This means she hasn't even started to get serious.]

Han Shuang, the Master of the Ice Prison: [So both of them are fighting in their normal state.]

Armored Mage Emperor Lu Chen: [The conclusion is that Wei Xiaoyu's normal state is four times that of Qin Ye's normal state.]

Phantom Sovereign: [But Qin Ye hasn't activated the Stand yet.]

Han Shuang, the Master of the Ice Prison: [So no one knows how much it is after she activates the Stand. Including Shen Ye.]

Armored Mage Emperor Lu Chen: [Hahahaha Old Qi, your disciple is being used as a pawn.]

Qi Yuan: [...]

Qi Yuan: [Shut up.]

At this moment, Qi Yuan was thinking about one thing. This Stand Card... How is it Su Bai's? Why is it Su Bai's...

He remembered ranting wildly in front of War Emperor Wei Potian about the creator of that Stand Card. And now you're telling me this card is Su Bai's???

No, did I rant about one of my own people? He fell into deep thought, and immediately felt a bit guilty. ...Li Qingyue shouldn't know about this, right?