Chapter 249: You think you're that strong?

Ye Xiaozhi teased while leaving an afterimage in place, her true body instantly vanishing into the air.

"Courting death!"

Erhu bellowed, and a jet-black rhinoceros phantom appeared behind him.

The Spirit Rhinoceros bloodline fully awakened, his physique tripled in size, becoming even more burly and sturdy.

His armor emitted a strained "crack" under the weight.

He swung the massive hammer down with the momentum of a mountain.

"Spirit Rhinoceros Mountain-Shattering Strike!"

The hammer seemed capable of blasting a hole in heaven and earth, twisting the surrounding space and making the air emit a piercing boom.

Just as everyone thought Ye Xiaozhi was surely doomed, she suddenly turned into a wisp of purple smoke and vanished.

Erhu's full-force strike slammed heavily onto the platform, sending stone chips flying and dust billowing.

The tremendous sound made everyone's eardrums ache, the whole platform cracked, and the protective barrier along its edge rippled.

When the smoke cleared, everyone was astonished to find Ye Xiaozhi had somehow appeared behind Erhu.

She held a short blade of notable quality, its edge glowing with a faint cold light.

Like a grim reaper in the night, she was about to deliver a fatal blow.

At that moment, Ye Xiaozhi was surrounded by a faint purple mist—her unique concealment aura—so even the Grand Elder narrowed his eyes in approval.

Though everyone witnessed this scene clearly,

Erhu, whose blind spot blocked his view, had no idea Ye Xiaozhi was already behind him.

He lowered his gaze to the deep pit before him, several zhang deep.

Loose stones continued to trickle down, and the heat rising from the profound iron hammer warped the air into strange ripples.

"Hahaha, look—this lowlife who doesn't know life from death, I blew him to ashes with one strike!"

His coarse laughter made the bronze beast-head wind chimes at the platform's edge buzz.

He even smugly wiped his nose with his sleeve and said, "Fight me, and it's a dead end!"

Before his arrogant proclamation faded, Erhu suddenly looked up at the five sect masters on the presiding platform.

His fleshy face broke into a fawning smile: "Sect masters, how did I do in this fight?"

The Great Dao Sect's sect master, Chu Xiong, rose with a snort, his waist tablet clacking against the table.

Furious, his withered finger almost pierced the void as he snapped, "You idiot, she's behind you!"

This usually steady sect master's face flushed red.

The hopes he had placed in Erhu before the match had turned into pure fury.

Upon hearing that, Erhu's muscles tensed all over.

Veins on his neck bulged like twisted ancient vines.

He focused his senses behind him, only to find the spiritual fluctuation that should have dissipated clung to his back like a bone-deep abscess.

The instant he turned, his tiger eyes widened—Ye Xiaozhi was indeed alive and really standing behind him.

His face filled with shock: "How… how is this possible?"

Before his words finished, an iron fist infused with Spirit Rhinoceros bloodline power slammed out.

The fist's wind plowed three deep grooves into the ground, leaving only an afterimage to grasp.

"Huh? Where'd he go?"

Erhu staggered to recover, his profound iron hammer scraping sparks on the ground.

Behind him came a faint, girlish laugh, sweet and pure.

Ye Xiaozhi's fingertip lightly touched his iron‑clad back, the dagger's cold gleam already slipping into the joint seams.

"I'm behind you."

Erhu's pupils contracted; as he tried to turn, a bone‑chilling cold pierced his throat.

In that instant, the extraordinary dagger easily sliced his artery.

He gasped a dying rattle from his throat, blood beads seeping through his armor's cracks dripped onto the platform.

Wisps of white vapor rose from it.

"You… you…" he stared in disbelief at the smiling girl before him.

His massive body crashed to the ground, the blast flinging the blue‑stone tiles three feet away.

The whole arena fell silent.

Only the blood pouring from Erhu's neck wound wound its way across the rune‑etched platform into a gruesome pattern.

Everyone gazed at the Spirit Sea Realm cultivator who had just been invincible.

Now he lay in a pool of blood like a broken puppet, his throat emitting a simultaneous hiss of drawn‑in cold air.

Know that Erhu not only bore the Spirit Rhinoceros bloodline, but was also an elite cultivated by the Flame Sect with ten years of resources.

Yet he was now toyed to death by an obscure girl.

Among the guests, the Flame Sect's higher-ups saw this and their teacups snapped on the jade table.

The tea mixed with shattered porcelain flowed, just like their broken state of mind.

Meanwhile, the Azure Cloud Sect's Grand Elder gently stroked the profound iron register; on its front page the words "Flame Sect" grew ever redder.

As if pre‑sketching bloodstains for the impending reckoning.

On the viewing platform, Li Tianyuan, Chu Xiong, and Yang Cheng exchanged glances.

Each silently reassessed the strength of those two Azure Cloud Sect disciples.

Dahu's roar broke the stagnant air.

His sword intent ran wild, and crimson flames instantly scorched the audience seats at the platform's edge into blackened marks.

"No——little brother!"

The innate sword fetus has fully awakened.

Tens of thousands of sword glints condensed around him into the Heaven-Burning Grand Formation; the sparks that scraped off fell to the ground and instantly ignited the hard basalt.

The ground began to show traces of flowing lava, and the entire arena seemed to turn into a sea of fire.

"You little wretch, you dare kill my brother—I'll first deal with Li Yilan, then tear you apart limb from limb to avenge my dead brother!"

The Flame Sect disciples also woke up as if from a dream, shouting wildly in cheering for Dahu.

"Senior Brother will crush them with the Blazing Flame Sword Technique!"

"Let these two girls know that the Flame Sect's fury is not something just anyone can bear!"

And the observing cultivators, seeing the faint fire qilin phantom behind Dahu, all retreated.

You should know, this genius entered the Great Sword Cultivation realm at the age of seventeen.

Right now, the sword intent permeating his surroundings is actually three points sharper than that of some elders present.

Dahu slowly raised the blood-stained longsword, and searing magma seeped from the patterns on the blade.

"Li Yilan, today I will kill you and her using my innate sword fetus, Great Sword Cultivation strength, and the Flame Sword Dao I have just comprehended!"

His voice sounded like magma surging underground; wherever it passed, the air twisted into vortices.

The temperature of the entire martial arts arena rose sharply; trees near the platform began to wither, and the ground showed signs of drying and cracking.

Li Yilan, however, lightly held the Emperor Sword across her chest, and the Peerless Emperor Sword let out a clear, ringing sword note.

The sword qi condensed into a substantial silver dragon that coiled around her.

The runes on the blade collided with Dahu's flame power, producing a dazzling light.

"Innate sword fetus, Great Sword Cultivation level strength, Flame Sword Dao……are they that impressive?"

Her words were gentle, yet they caused the flames around Dahu to flicker unpredictably, as if an invisible hand were toying with the Heaven-Burning blaze.

As her words fell, the Peerless Emperor Sword suddenly burst forth with intense light.

Silver-colored sword qi surged toward Dahu like a tide, clashing head-on with the crimson flames.