'Did he just stop my technique at full power with his bare hands?! Impossible! I must have seen it wrong!' The Spirit King convinced himself that he was just mistaken, as that was the simpler route.
"Who are you? How dare you interrupt our match?" The Spirit King asked with a wary face.
"Hmph!" A cold snort suddenly resounded, and a figure descended on the stage, standing between Yuan and the Spirit King.
"I don't care who you are, how dare you so brazenly interfere when I have made it very clear that no interference is allowed regardless of the reason! I hope you are prepared to take responsibility for your foolish decision." Huang Lee glared at Yuan like an eagle at a weak prey.
Yuan calmly smiled before responding, "And why would you assume that everyone here will obey your unreasonable request?"
"You, a mere junior, dare talk back to me?! Have you lost your mind? Do you even know who I am?!" Huang Lee's eyes flared up with anger.
"I don't know, nor do I care. Anyways, why don't we stop this obviously manipulated game? It's clear to everyone here that you had manipulated the whole thing to give yourself— as well as those that planned this with you an advantage over the others. What you're doing here is no different than bullying the weak."
"How dare you accuse the Sect Leader of manipulation!" Someone there suddenly shouted.
"Are you also claiming that the Seven Legacy Families here are bullying the weak?!" Someone from one of the families shouted.
"How interesting. Do you have any evidence to back up your preposterous claims?"
Another figure descended on the stage as he asked Yuan.
This individual was Li Mao, a high-ranking elder of the Li Family, one of Seven Legacy Families.
"What if I don't?" Yuan narrowed his eyes in a challenging manner.
"Then I will kill you on the spot for uttering nonsense and trying to ruin our reputations." Li Mao glared at him.
Yuan smiled, "You're going to kill me for interfering with the match anyway."
"Damn right."
Huang Lee muttered right as he appeared beside Yuan while swinging down his sword.
Without moving for his spot, Yuan lifted his arm in a casual manner, and he would catch the incoming sword with nothing but two fingers the following moment.
"Wha—?!"
This shocked everyone there, especially Huang Lee.
Even though he didn't exert all of his strength, it was still strong enough to kill anyone below the fifth level of Spirit King with ease, yet some unknown junior had managed to catch it with his bare hands.
Yuan turned to look at the shocked Huang Lee and spoke in a nonchalant voice, "Unlike you, I don't want unnecessary bloodshed, so I will give you a chance to back down before things get—"
However, before Yuan could even finish his sentence, another sword was already flying at him from his blind spot.
Yuan knew about the second attack, but he didn't do anything about it and allowed this person to slice his neck.
"My heavens…"
The person who attempted to sneak attack Yuan was left speechless when his sword was stopped at his target's neck, but there didn't appear to be anything blocking the sword.
Yuan, still with a sword pressing against his neck, turned to look at Li Mao's terrified face and spoke, "I hope you understand the difference in our strength and not do anything—"
Once again, before he could finish his sentence, another figure descended upon him.
This time, it was a middle-aged man wearing the Gu Family's uniform, and he was also using a sword technique.
"Roaring Blade!"
The strength of a peak Spirit King using a Heaven-rank sword technique descended upon Yuan's defenseless figure.
"At least let me finish my sentences."
Yuan's eyes suddenly flickered golden for half a second before returning to normal.
Thud!
The middle-aged man suddenly stopped his attack mid-air and collapsed on the floor while his sword bounced away.
Seeing this, both Huang Lee and Li Mao instinctively jumped back, landing beside the unconscious body on the stage.
"W-What did you just do to him?!" Huang Lee roared at Yuan.
"He must have used a spiritual technique!" Li Mao gritted his teeth.
"Don't worry, he's not dead— at least not yet." Yuan said.
"Since you care so much about this event, let's do it like this instead. Starting from now, anyone here can challenge me to a match, and if they win, they will get to take the treasure above. If nobody can defeat me before the treasure is unsealed, I will take it for myself. Of course, to make this fair, I will allow you to team up. I won't mind even if everyone here attacks me at once."
"However…"
After a brief pause, an immense pressure that trampled on the people and their spirits appeared out of thin air.
"If you decide to fight me, you will forfeit your life. You have been warned."
The entire place fell silent with the only thing that could be heard being the sound of their own hearts beating anxiously.
"W-Who are you?" Huang Lee muttered in a low voice after a long moment of silence.
Yuan couldn't help but show a mocking smile, "I thought you didn't care about my identity?"
Huang Lee gritted his teeth. He's never felt such humiliation before.
"How dare you mock me?! DIE!!!"
Huang Lee swung his sword at Yuan with a Divine-rank technique.
"Profound Sword Art— Final Strike!"
The sword flying towards Yuan had overwhelming pressure that could be felt even miles away.
Yuan could only sigh inwardly as he retrieved his Empyrean Overlord before swinging back.
The following moment, everyone there watched with wide eyes as Huang Lee's body was sent flying off the stage and into the crowd.
*Cough*
Huang Lee coughed up a mouthful of blood as he stared at Yuan with a look of disbelief on his face.
"What are you all waiting for?! Attack him!" He snapped at his own disciples, who hesitated to attack.
After all, what can they do when even their own sect leader couldn't win?