Jared’s lip curled, disdain rolling off like drifting frost. He slid the Dragonslayer Sword back into his item pouch and said, “Fine… No blades… I’ll beat you with my bare hands. When I do, what excuse will you cling to then?”
Rylan blinked, then a delighted madness lit his eyes. “You’re serious? No weapons at all?”
To Rylan, the only reason Jared had defeated Martin and shattered his silver spear was that divine weapon. Strip the weapon away, and an Earthly Immortal Realm Level One, no matter how quick, should never threaten someone of Rylan’s might.
“Every word is true,” Jared said, rolling his wrist as though loosening a stiff hinge. “The stake stays the same, one million celestial gems. If that scares you, concede now. Simply hand me one million celestial gems, and we are done.”
“Scared?” Rylan barked. “I fear nothing!”
Golden spiritual energy erupted from Rylan’s body like sunfire flooding the martial arts arena. He made no effort to contain it, letting the full fury of an Earthly Immortal Realm Level Eight squeeze the air itself.
Clenching both fists, forged twin orbs of blinding light. “You asked for this, brat! Don’t blame me when you’re broken!”
At the edge, Yuliana’s brows knitted. She had witnessed Jared’s strength, yet Rylan was not only an Earthly Immortal Realm Level Eight, carried Draconian blood. Without weapons, Jared might find no easy advantage against that strong physical body.
“Take this!” Rylan streaked forward in a golden flash, fists hammering down for Jared’s skull with force enough to tear mountains.
He poured all of his spiritual energy into that opening salvo, determined to reclaim his honor with a single, crushing blow.
Around them, members of the Imperial Guard gasped in astonishment. The pressure rolling off that strike could have flattened a hill, flesh and bone would fare far worse.
Jared’s face remained untroubled. He planted his feet, dropped his center of gravity, and let his own spiritual energy flow, slow, deliberate, impossibly dense for a first-tier realm. His spiritual energy, tempered through countless refinements, felt deeper than Rylan’s roaring tide.
The instant Rylan’s fist descended, Jared’s right hand snapped upward.
Knuckle met knuckle in a collision that cracked the silence.
Boom!
A deafening blast rippled outward. Golden shockwaves of spiritual energy rolled across the martial arts arena, rattling stone pillars until the crystal globes atop them hummed in protest.
Imperial Guards staggered back, awe splashed across every face. They had expected Jared to be hurled away, yet the two combatants stood deadlocked, neither yielding an inch.
Rylan’s eyes widened. Power pulsed from Jared’s fist, numbing his arm, splitting skin at the web of his thumb. He skidded three paces before managing to brace, pain throbbing through the swollen flesh.
“Impossible!” Rylan blurted. “How can your spiritual energy outmatch mine?”
The very notion mocked every rule of cultivation knew. He’s merely an Earthly Immortal Realm Level One cultivator!
How is his spiritual energy stronger than mine?!
Jared offered no answer. He slid inside Rylan’s guard, left fist whipping forward like living thunder.
Rylan threw up an arm, and a cracking sound rang out. The hit slammed backward, agony blooming in his chest as though he’d been struck with a boulder. Reeling, raised a hurried guard and used his spiritual energy to shield his chest before launching a storm of blows.
Jared wove through the frantic barrage, slipping past one shining fist, countering through the next.
