54: So I am so strong?

Martial Arts Stage.

Zhao Yong narrowed his eyes and looked at Mo Fan.

After witnessing that sword strike from Xu Jing.

Zhao Yong already had a slight shadow in his heart.

He had reason to suspect that Mo Fan, like Xu Jing, also mastered a terrifying Martial Skill.

After all, having the courage to step onto the Martial Arts Stage meant that the opponent had a certain level of confidence.

For him, who was at the initial Innate Realm.

A Martial Skill at the level of Absolute Shadow was indeed somewhat unsolvable.

Because its power was great enough to instantly tear through Protective Aura.

Making the Protective Aura, which originally possessed extremely strong defense, virtually useless.

Even if one's cultivation had entered the Innate Realm, without Protective Aura, one was ultimately just flesh and blood.

Zhao Yong understood that if he underestimated his opponent, he might end up with the same fate as Zhang Tong.

Just as Zhao Yong was lost in thought, Mo Fan slowly climbed onto the Martial Arts Stage, bowed, and said: "Please enlighten me."

Zhao Yong frowned and asked intently: "Are you not using a weapon?"

Mo Fan shook his head: "I specialize in fist techniques."

Hearing this, Zhao Yong couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, there was no weapon.

No matter how strong a fist technique was, its power couldn't go that far; at the very least, it couldn't tear through his Protective Aura in an instant.

Even the Vajra Fist, which was the hardest to comprehend in the Scripture Hall, still fell short of Absolute Shadow in terms of explosive power.

Of course, Absolute Shadow was somewhat similar to cultivating sword; after one strike, it was very difficult to gather momentum and burst out again in a short time.

Whereas the Vajra Fist, relatively speaking, was a Martial Skill with very low consumption.

Even if one was only a Body Tempering Martial Artist, one could continuously use the Vajra Technique, and at least fighting for three or four minutes was not a big problem.

Furthermore, the Vajra Fist was extremely fierce and had the power to split mountains and crack rocks, so its overall ranking was actually above that of Absolute Shadow.

However, compared to Absolute Shadow, the power of the Vajra Fist was still a notch lower.

Even if he was negligent in defense, with Protective Aura present, it was impossible to be killed in one strike.

The biggest gap between a Xiantian Martial Artist and a Body Tempering Martial Artist lay in the Innate Protective Aura.

Body Tempering Martial Artists could only simply draw spiritual energy into their bodies, using spiritual energy to cleanse their bodies and enhance themselves.

Whereas Xiantian Martial Artists, after reaching the limit of Body Tempering, would use great perseverance to communicate with Mental Energy, opening up a Qi Sea similar to a second space within their bodies.

The function of the Qi Sea was very simple.

It could convert the spiritual energy absorbed into the body into Innate Protective Aura suitable for the human body to mobilize.

With Innate Protective Aura, both endurance and explosive power would achieve a qualitative leap.

And the so-called Protective Aura was to condense the Innate Protective Aura on the surface of the body, causing it to form an invisible protective shield.

Generally speaking, Body Tempering Realm Martial Artists found it very difficult to break through the Protective Aura on the surface of a Xiantian Martial Artist, which was also one of the reasons for the obvious gap in strength between the two.

If one couldn't even break the defense, how could one fight?

Thinking of this, Zhao Yong immediately felt relieved.

Once his thoughts were clear, he chuckled self-deprecatingly.

He laughed at himself for being a bit too cautious.

Even if one took a step back.

Even if Mo Fan had also mastered Absolute Shadow, so what?

As long as he didn't underestimate his opponent, the other party couldn't kill him in one strike.

Since they couldn't kill him in one strike, he could turn the tables.

Moreover, the youth in front of him only cultivated fist techniques.

Mere fist techniques posed no threat to him at all.

On the other side, seeing that Zhao Yong was still standing there motionless, Mo Fan couldn't help but frown and repeat: "Please enlighten me."

Zhao Yong's thoughts were pulled back.

His expression tightened, and he said in a deep voice: "Then, you must be careful!"

Before his voice fell, the Innate Protective Aura within Zhao Yong's Qi Sea instantly boiled.

His blood surged, his heart thudded, and his muscles and bones resonated together, like the roar of tigers and leopards, or the tolling of great bells, bringing endless oppression to people.

"Hiss! This aura..."

Even from far away, the onlookers under the Martial Arts Stage were terrified by this terrifying aura.

"This sense of oppression is simply unsolvable; even though it wasn't targeted at me, it still makes my heart fearful and my legs weak..." Someone broke out in cold sweat, having the urge to turn around and leave.

"Is this a Xiantian Martial Artist? When will I be able to reach such a level..." Someone sighed with emotion, full of longing.

"That's not right, the Zhang Tong from just now didn't seem to be this strong..." Someone questioned, full of confusion.

"Senior Brother Zhao is much stronger than Zhang Tong; the two are simply not on the same level." Someone explained.

"Even in the Outer Sect, Senior Brother Zhao is quite famous and is someone expected to be promoted to the Inner Sect in the future."

"So that's how it is..." Everyone suddenly realized.

"In that case, isn't Mo Fan going to be in trouble?"

"There's no way around it, Senior Brother Zhao is too strong; Mo Fan is indeed doomed to be unlucky encountering him..."

"That's right, if Mo Fan were fighting Zhang Tong, he would still have a certain chance of winning, but against Senior Brother Zhao—"

Everyone sighed endlessly, lamenting Mo Fan's bad luck.

Xu Jing, at the edge of the Martial Arts Stage, began to sweat in her palms, her face full of anxiety.

Vaguely hearing the words from below the stage, she couldn't help but feel a bit of self-reproach.

At this moment, she automatically ignored the fact that when Absolute Shadow was used, it was a fight to the death, and there was no such thing as holding back.

"If only I hadn't made Zhang Tong lose his ability to fight back then..."

"According to the rules, if one fails the Promotion Assessment, one must wait at least half a year to apply again..."

Thinking of this, Xu Jing blamed herself even more.

"S-should I, should I just wait another half year?"

However, what Xu Jing didn't know was that Mo Fan, who was standing five meters away from Zhao Yong at this moment, didn't feel much.

The oppression that Zhao Yong burst out with had absolutely no effect on him.

Mo Fan was not an ordinary Body Tempering Martial Artist.

His Physical Body strength was already not weaker than a Xiantian Martial Artist.

His Mental Energy, under the training of the dream, had reached a terrifying level.

It would be a ghost story if the oppressive power of a mere Xiantian Third Level Martial Artist could affect him.

"Be careful!"

Zhao Yong finished gathering his strength, stomped on the ground, and rushed out like an arrow off a bowstring, so fast that it seemed as if an afterimage appeared.

He let out a muffled shout, instantly arriving in front of Mo Fan, and swung his leg out like a dragon tail, bringing up a fierce gale that compressed the air until it emitted a sonic boom.

"End it!"

He swept his leg over, his face brimming with a confident smile.

Although he only cultivated a third-rate Martial Skill.

But his cultivation was at least one major Realm higher than Mo Fan's, with several minor Realms in between.

The gap in strength was so large, and the opponent had not mastered a divine skill with terrifying lethality like Absolute Shadow.

If he couldn't defeat his enemy in one move under these circumstances, then he had lived his whole life in vain!

However, very quickly, the smile on his face froze.

Mo Fan's reaction speed was terrifyingly fast, as if he had anticipated his attack; his body twisted at an incredible angle, actually barely dodging this strike.

Then, Zhao Yong saw a fist bursting with golden light smashing fiercely towards his vital point.

"Vajra Fist? It really is Vajra Fist!"

"Unfortunately, even if it is Vajra Fist, it might not be able to completely break my defense—"

However, just as this thought arose in Zhao Yong's mind, that massive golden fist made intimate contact with him.

In that instant, he even heard a crisp cracking sound.

—That was the sound of the Protective Aura shattering.

Bang!

The terrifying massive force directly sent Zhao Yong flying.

In that instant, his entire face deformed, several teeth fell out, blood sprayed, his head roared, he briefly lost consciousness, and he rolled several times on the ground with a rumble.

In the moment before losing consciousness, he only had this one thought in his mind:

"Is this f*cking really Vajra Fist? Since when did the Body Tempering Martial Artists in the Menial Service Yard become so perverted?!"

At the same time, looking at Zhao Yong, who was sprawled on the ground motionless, Mo Fan was full of surprise.

"Am I really this strong?"

(PS: I got stuck; this chapter was excruciating to write. I'm posting it first, and I will pull myself together to continue grinding out another chapter. Don't wait for an update; it will be very late, so check it tomorrow...)