Silence fell throughout the young and old of the Yu Clan. In the blink of an eye, half of the men who participated in the duel were killed by Wu Qi, and the proportions were perfectly balanced. He had killed fifty or so from each of the forty-seven parties. Judging by his cruel approach, his fearsome cultivation base, and how the ninety-nine Oracles of An Le County had formed into a formation, it seemed the championship of the duel was already a thing in Yu He's bag.
Yu He laughed contentedly from the stands. With more than half of their men killed or severely wounded, which brothers of his could have more men remaining in the arena when the duel came to an end? Of the sixteen provinces, he was determined to choose one with the greatest population and the richest products. Supported with the resources of an entire province, he was confident in breaking through the bottleneck of Moon Oracle in the coming decades.
With all the blood on his body, Wu Qi stood emotionless at the edge of the arena, firmly guarding the ninety-nine Oracles behind him.
Looking at the terrified and dumbstruck competitors, Wu Qi said in a flat tone, "I'm sorry, folks. The seat of champion belongs to Yu He, the Great Oracle of Directorate of Celestials in An Le County. I think it is better for you to fight each other for the other fifteen places!"
The Oracles and warriors who took part in the duel were all silent. Wu Qi's wild slaughter had scared the guts out of them. What was the point of fighting a fierce lion when they were just a herd of tame sheep? They glanced at each other, then steered away from the corner where Wu Qi stood almost at the same time.
From his high seat above the arena, Yu Mu looked down at Yu He, who was laughing excitedly. "Yu Huai's son? Not bad!" He said with a slow nod. "Mm, if my memory serves me well, Yu He had just taken the office in An Le County not long ago, hadn't he? He is lucky to have recruited such a formidable warrior."
There was a strange gleam flashing in Yu Miao's eyes. He glanced coldly at Wu Qi and said, "Don't you find it strange, Elder Brother? How can there be such an expert in An Le County? Is it really so easy to break through the Seven Stars Realm of the First Pangu Heaven?"
Yu Mu frowned. As he was about to respond to Yu Miao, the latter suddenly thrust his palm toward Wu Qi. The arena immediately rang with the howling of ghosts as a huge, gray palm, about ten feet in circumference, smashed down while blotting the air with an immense evil aura. Numerous tornadoes that were hundreds of feet tall suddenly rose from the ground, the roaring of which sent everyone's heads reeling while making them feel as if their souls were about to be sucked out of their bodies.
In great astonishment and confusion, Wu Qi raised his head, clenched both palms into fists, and countered the grayish-white palm with a sudden punch. The force Yu Miao had used to unleash the palm strike was ingenious to the extreme. It was exactly the same as the strongest power possessed by a ninth-tier Heaven Immortal. There were three ghost faces looming in the giant palm, who kept spitting out chilly wind and evil aura. A rotting aura of death swirled about the palm, turning the stone ground of the arena gray, as if it had seized all the life force out of the stones and caused them to lost their luster.
The palm strike smashed hard on Wu Qi's fists. A muffled snort came spewing out of his mouth, and his body sunk a little bit. But, he took the opportunity to bend his knees and make a jump. As he did that, he cried out in a deep voice, and his fists suddenly expanded to several times their original sizes. Two purple fists soared into the air with a dull hiss, pushing the huge grayish-white palm dozens of feet up. A plume of purple mist gushed out from inside his him and gathered into a dense purple cloud over his head, firmly blocking the palm strike Yu Miao had unleashed with a backhand.
The countless tornadoes on the arena exploded one by one, gray airflows streaming everywhere like swift rivers and rushing against the frightened Oracles and warriors in the field, throwing them off balance. Some fell to the ground and were rolled up by the rapid flows, then slammed into the steep stone wall at the edge of the arena.
The two purple fists unleashed by Wu Qi and the huge grayish-white palm clashed and smashed rapidly against each other in the air. Within a short time, they had collided with each other tens of thousands of times, producing a continuous, high-pitched, crashing noise that blurred into a long, fevered hammering. It was so loud that all the sons of the Yu Clan had to cover their ears with both hands. Many weaker Oracles had their bodies shattered by the deafening noise and fell to the ground in a shower of blood.
Among those in the main hall, the ghosts and deities on the altar were the happiest beings. One after another dead Oracle flew up in the air and fell into their hands. They devoured the blood, energy essence, and souls of the deceased with just a few gulps. Long mournful screams kept ringing out; those were the last cries let out by the Oracles when their souls were devoured, the desperate calls that came from the depths of their souls. A dismal look crept over the faces of all the sons of Yu Clan in the hall, their bodies shaking and on the verge of collapse.
Yu Mu gave Yu Miao an unhappy glance and snapped, "Yu Miao, what are you doing?"
Looking at Wu Qi, who was struggling under his palm, Yu Miao shook his head and said, "I suspect that this man is a guard Yu Huai gave to Yu He privately. Otherwise, with Yu He's cultivation base, how is it possible for him to find or raise such a strong warrior in An Le County, a remote land which has been occupied by itinerant Immortals for hundreds of years?"
As he smiled gently at Yu Mu, Yu Miao thrust his palm and gave Wu Qi another strike. "We can't let these lesser men who don't know chalk from cheese destroy the rules we've worked out." He said coolly, "Otherwise, how are we going to maintain our authority as the Elders?"
Yu Mu's face darkened perceptibly as he glanced sideways at Yu Miao. Nevertheless, it was inappropriate for him to intercept now as the second strike was already unleashed. Therefore, he just watched helplessly as the blue palm reeking with a strong smell of herbs pressed down against Wu Qi.
When Wu Qi looked up and saw another palm strike approaching, he could only groan inwardly while quickly mustering all his strength in the fists. Yu Miao's palm strikes were indeed powerful, but they lacked changes, and Wu Qi had at least a hundred ways to easily resolve them, that was if he could freely use the various divine abilities and mystic arts he had mastered.
But, he was playing the role of a human warrior right now, who was not supposed to know any divine ability or mystic arts, and just fight purely with brute force. And, although he did know Kuafu Chasing The Sun Step, the divine ability unique to the human warrior, it was helpless against Yu Miao's palm strikes. It would be an act of courting death should he cast an Immortal spell right in front of so many Elders of Yu Clan!
He cursed Yu Miao's ancestors in his heart while letting out a loud, long cry, mustering all his strength to keep punching upward as he had no other mean to fight back. For a moment, it was as if he had a thousand arms; numerous fists were thrust whistling up into the air and pushing Yu Miao's first grayish-white palm back, ripping through the chilly wind and evil aura while gradually turning the palm into nothingness.
By the time the first palm strike was about to be completely destroyed, the second pale-green palm had fallen silently. Fusing with the little bit of force left from the first palm, it smashed down onto Wu Qi's head like Mount Tai, shattering all the fist strikes he had unleashed along the way. The combined strikes had taken away his strength, as his knees bent and slammed hard into the ground. The tremendous force washed through his body and came out from his knees, impacting the ground and producing a huge hole about one mile in diameter and hundreds of feet deep.
Smoke and dust rose and swirled as Wu Qi's body plunged straight into the hole. All his fist strikes were shattered, and the pale-green palm strike fell straight on him, tearing his clothes and exposing his lean muscles that kept twitching convulsively. With his face covered behind both hands, he curled up his body on the ground and let the palm strike land solidly on him.
The palm force, thick as ink, soft, and penetrative with a horrible poison, smashed on his body with a loud boom. A large sheet of purple light suddenly burst out from his skin. His strong body tempered by the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture had put forth an extremely powerful defensive force, forming a dense energy barrier to block the invasion of the poison. The dark green poisonous gas dispersed and spread like countless venomous vipers, slithering across the arena to meet the hundreds of unprepared Oracles and warriors. In the blink of an eye, these unlucky fellows were turned into rotting corpses that fell to the ground.
The sons of Yu Clan on the stands covered their noses immediately as the stench of the rotting corpses spread everywhere, but the ghosts and deities on the altar roared with laughter. One after another, they stretched out their arms to grab the rotting corpses. As the Oracles and warriors had died a horrible death, their souls were filled with endless resentment, which was a kind of negative energy that served as the best tonic for these ghosts and deities.
Seeing that the ghosts and deities were devouring the rotting corpses, the remaining Oracles and warriors cried out in fear while fleeing from the arena, ignoring the fact that the duel was about their Masters' lives and future, or that it would have a direct impact to their future prosperity. For them, staying alive was the top priority, as only then could they enjoy any splendor or wealth in the future. These Oracles and warriors were not stupid, and they dared not to get involved in the battle between Yu Miao and Wu Qi.
Yu Miao's second palm strike was more than twice as strong as the first, which meant that it was twice as strong as Wu Qi's strongest strength. Although his body managed to repel the horrible poison, it could not withstand the pure physical strength that came with the attack. Part of his body crumbled as the dreadful palm force penetrated straight into his internal organs.
Realizing that he was about to be severely wounded by the attack, Wu Qi took off the Dark Evil Soul Beads. A plume of purple mist immediately towered from his body, blocking off any watchful glances while one after another dark dragon scales emerged from beneath his skin. Using the formidable dragon body which he cultivated with the Dragon Transformation Script, he was able to block off the residual power of the second palm strike.
Cracking noises kept ringing out as the palm strike pushed him hundreds of feet deeper into the ground. Finally, when he had resolved the horrible power of the second palm strike, he flew up into the air with a tottering body.
But, before he could rush out of the ground, Yu Miao had unleashed a third palm strike with a gloomy face.
The palm strike was unleashed with a greater deal of strength, making it ten times as strong as the second strike. There was no way Wu Qi could have blocked it. After all, Yu Miao possessed a cultivation base as strong as a Gold Immortal, while Wu Qi was only a ninth tier Heaven Immortal.
Wu Qi roared furiously as he watched the dark palm plunged down on his head. All of a sudden, he made a dash and exercised the Kuafu Chasing The Sun Step.
The third palm strike missed him as his body flickered, then suddenly appeared right before Yu Miao.
As he appeared, he thrust his knee and slammed it right into Yu Miao's face. Along with a terrible cry, Yu Miao's nose shattered as blood gushed out of his mouth and nostrils.
There were gasps and screams everywhere in the main hall.