Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

Chapter 317: Chapter 179: Shock (Part 2)

He had shattered the Sword Qi released by Su Zhe, the ninth of the Ten Heroes, as if it took no effort at all.

"Great Success Pure Essence Gold-Splitting Finger?" A sharp glint flashed in Su Zhe’s eyes.

He hadn’t recognized the Pure Essence Gold-Splitting Finger himself, but with so many experts around, he had already overheard what technique Xu Yang was using. As such, he was no longer all that surprised that his Sword Qi had been shattered.

The Pure Essence Gold-Splitting Finger could crush even metal to dust, so what was shattering a single stream of Sword Qi? Besides, Sword Qi was far from his only technique.

"I admit I underestimated you, but that’s all. I will defeat you within ten moves."

The moment he finished speaking, Su Zhe’s body vanished. A tide of sword light swept toward Xu Yang, enveloping him completely.

Sword Qi crisscrossed and blades of light pulsed. Some people couldn’t even see Su Zhe’s figure, only a flash of blood-red light racing across the ring.

"BOOM!"

Xu Yang no longer held back. A tyrannical aura erupted from him, surging across the entire ring like a volcanic eruption.

The ring roared and trembled violently, as if a terrifying beast had awoken.

With a jolt, Xu Yang unleashed a tyrannical pressure that swept out in all directions.

The Steward’s face filled with horror. His entire body tensed, and he stared at Xu Yang as if facing a great enemy.

Xu Yang’s aura was so dense it was almost tangible, sweeping out like a tidal wave. The incoming sword light was shattered by the terrifying aura while still ten feet away, unable to even get close to him.

"Marrow Cleansing?"

"Marrow Cleansing!"

...

Countless screams erupted, and many people looked as if their eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. To shatter Sword Qi with one’s aura alone—only a Bone Marrow Cleansing Martial Artist could achieve such a feat.

Marrow Cleansing... Xu Yang had actually achieved Marrow Cleansing.

Looks of pure shock spread across everyone’s faces as they stared at the handsome figure on the ring.

"How can that be!" Su Man’s face fell, a terrible premonition washing over her.

"BOOM!"

Xu Yang strode forward, and the ring trembled with his step.

The surging aura moved with his body. Before it, Su Zhe’s Sword Qi shattered inch by inch, the light of his blade dissipating to reveal his face, contorted in utter horror.

"BANG!"

His hand, which he had raised at some unknown moment, descended like a great saber, carrying a fierce wind that tore through Su Zhe’s Protective Gang Qi and slammed into his chest.

"Ugh!"

Su Zhe let out a pained grunt, his features contorting. His body arched like a cooked shrimp as he was sent flying backward.

In mid-air, he lost his grip on his sword, which fell to the ring with a CLANG. His body flew completely off the stage, slammed into the ground, and tumbled a few times like a kicked dog before stopping.

He scrambled up from the ground, only to see that the clothes on his chest had been torn apart, revealing a clear Palm Seal.

"Marrow Cleansing... This is impossible!"

He trembled all over, staring at Xu Yang in utter disbelief.

’I’m the ninth of the Ten Heroes, and I haven’t even achieved Marrow Cleansing! What gives him the right?’

"Trash. I said all you do is bark like a dog. Are you convinced now?" Xu Yang stood at the edge of the ring with his hands clasped behind his back, looking down on Su Zhe. "Defeat me in ten moves? You couldn’t even take a single one."

"In fact, I had to hold back most of my strength, for fear that I’d accidentally kill a good-for-nothing like you in one blow."

The crowd was already in an uproar!

Those who had been anticipating the duel between Xu Yang and Su Zhe could no longer contain their excitement after seeing him reveal his Marrow Cleansing cultivation and send Su Zhe flying with a single move.

And after hearing Xu Yang’s subsequent taunt, they felt as if their own blood was set ablaze.

"Su Zhe, you’re absolute trash!"

"He’s the loudest and most arrogant of the Ten Heroes, but he can’t beat a single one of them. He gets crushed by everyone he fights."

"With skills like that, what gave you the nerve to provoke Xu Yang? Claiming you’d beat him in ten moves? If your skills were half as strong as your mouth, you wouldn’t have lost so pathetically."

"Su Zhe? Feh!"

"Turns out he was the biggest fraud. He’s the only one who got on the ring and was truly put in his place."

...

Su Zhe was practically dying of shame and indignation. His fists clenched so tightly they cracked. He finally understood how Qiao Yong must have felt.

Xu Yang hadn’t truly injured him, but this humiliation was worse than death by a thousand cuts. After all his trash talk, Xu Yang had revealed his Bone Marrow Cleansing Cultivation, crushed him, and knocked him off the ring.

He had completely exposed him for the jumping clown he was, tearing away his dignity and throwing it to the crowd to be trampled underfoot.

Every taunt and threat he had ever directed at Xu Yang had now turned into a mark of his own disgrace.

"Haha! You absolute trash! You still dare to act tough in front of my junior brother Xu Yang? He just didn’t want to waste his time on a jumping clown like you.

He saw you as a dog, and when a dog bites, you don’t bite back. We gave you too much face, and you started thinking you were actually somebody."

Sun Tao roared with laughter. He knew exactly why Su Zhe had been targeting Xu Yang.

Seeing Su Zhe utterly humiliated and looking on the verge of collapse, he naturally spared no effort in kicking him while he was down.

"Marrow Cleansing... He’s already achieved Marrow Cleansing!"

Zhang Yong’s fists tightened, a sense of both shock and powerlessness washing over him.

’No matter how hard I try, I can’t catch up to him. I’m just falling further and further behind.’

"So when he said he was confident about placing well, this is what he meant..." Sun Ke was dumbfounded.

He had thought that if Xu Yang could just break into the top ten, it would be enough to live up to his name as a Ten Heroes Genius. Who would have thought that he had already achieved Marrow Cleansing when Su Zhe and Chen Yu hadn’t?

"We missed our chance to befriend a true genius."

Qin Ze’s face was full of bitterness; he wished he could drag the already-dead Yue Gui out of his grave and kill him a second time.

Marrow Cleansing!

Breaking through to Marrow Cleansing right at the end of his three years as an Outer Disciple... that kind of talent might not be completely unprecedented, but for them, he was absolutely the kind of powerful figure they should have been desperately trying to curry favor with.

They’d had the good fortune of interacting with such a person and could have even developed a mutually beneficial friendship, but they were the ones who chose to sever ties.

Compared to the trembling Su Zhe, weren’t they just jumping clowns themselves?

"My Liu Family... we missed our chance to rise." Liu Qian’s heart felt like it was being stabbed with a knife.

If they hadn’t insisted on a marriage alliance, Xu Yang would have become a Tributor of the Liu Family. If they hadn’t tried to make Xu Yang a follower of Liu Xiao, he would have been one of their own.

But they had been too greedy. A genius like him was simply not someone the modest Liu Family could ever hope to subdue and control.

They used to think Xu Yang was ungrateful, but the truth was that the Liu Family had simply overestimated its own strength.

"Father, I think we were wrong."

Yuan Yi stared blankly at the brilliant, high-spirited figure on the ring, his heart filled with nothing but regret.

"How could he be such a genius?" Yuan Gang wore a look of utter disbelief.

’If I’d known he had this kind of talent, what would have been the harm in forgoing the marriage alliance?’

’A genius like that... as long as we had some relationship with him, he could have protected our Yuan Family for a generation.’

’Marrow Cleansing in three years... Reaching Marrow Cleansing Minor Achievement in the future is a certainty. He even has a hope of one day glimpsing the legendary Celestial Essence Realm!’

"And you all wouldn’t listen to me!"

Yuan Sujie’s lovely eyes flashed with a peculiar light. "You actually tried to control a man like that? Is he someone our tiny Yuan Family can possibly manage?"

"Good, good, good..." Lu Ren said, "So you’ve achieved Marrow Cleansing, too. It seems my constant concern for you wasn’t in vain."

Lu Ren repeated the word "good" three times, his face a complex mask of excitement, wariness, and a hint of indefinable fear.

’So he wasn’t bluffing that day. He really did achieve Marrow Cleansing.’

’It’s just like before. When you least expect it, when you let your guard down and think victory is in your grasp, he has a silent breakthrough, as quiet and sudden as a ghost.’

"I always knew Xu Yang was extraordinary, but I never expected him to give me a surprise like this," Jiang Fan said with a smile.

He had always liked Xu Yang’s personality and knew he would be successful in the future, but he had never imagined he would achieve Marrow Cleansing this quickly.

"This year’s Outer Disciple Grand Competition is much more interesting than ours was. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bothered participating last year," Li Chuyang said, his eyes narrowed to slits.

Last year, only Du Chuan and Jiang Fan had reached the Marrow Cleansing stage, so no one got to fight to their heart’s content.

This time, there were five.

"Now this is more like it!" Han Feng laughed.

Xiong Kun said, "To think the one everyone underestimated was him all along."

Beside him, Xie Zhan added, "That Su Zhe really is a jumping clown. He had me thinking Xu Yang was a nobody."

The handful of people competing for the top three all felt their fighting spirit ignite.

And everyone was now looking forward to the rest of the competition even more. Five at the Marrow Cleansing stage, all vying for the top three spots—who would ultimately be crowned number one?