Silence.
Absolute silence swallowed the arena.
One move. With just one sword move, Li Yun had utterly crushed Zhao Xiaotian.
The crowd stared in disbelief, their eyes wide, their minds reeling. None of them could reconcile the scene before them, the so-called waste of the Li Family standing victorious over Zhao Xiaotian, whose middle-grade mortal sword art had been shattered as if it were nothing at all.
"Heavens above! What am I seeing? Li Yun… he defeated Zhao Xiaotian in a single move?"
"Impossible! Wasn't he the one who couldn't cultivate? How can a supposed cripple overpower Zhao Xiaotian, who's at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing Realm?"
"L-look! Look at his aura, it's the late stage of the Marrow Cleansing Realm! Since when could the Li Family's 'waste' with an attribute-less body cultivate at all?"
"Waste? Tell me, is he still a waste now?"
The crowd erupted in shock, their voices rising like waves in a storm. Every single spectator had heard of Li Yun, the shame of the Li Family, the so-called useless child born without attributes.
And yet before their very eyes, this same youth had revealed a cultivation at the late stage of the Marrow Cleansing Realm and had crushed Zhao Xiaotian, a peak-stage cultivator, with just one sword strike.
The revelation left them speechless, their understanding of reality overturned.
Even Li Yao and Xiao Wu stood frozen in disbelief. They had known Li Yun was no longer helpless, but neither had imagined this. The last time they saw him, he was barely at the early stage of the Marrow Cleansing Realm. Now he had leapt to the late stage, and had used that strength to topple Zhao Xiaotian.
'What a flawless sword art,' Lan Yueli thought, her heart trembling. As a Xiantian Realm expert herself, her eyes pierced through the exchange.
What shocked her most wasn't only Li Yun's cultivation, but his mastery over the blade. Each movement carried precision and weight beyond his realm. For someone so young, hidden away in a minor city of a low-grade county, to display such mastery…
'This boy is a monster!' Her eyes widened, a spark of awe flickering within them. A senior pharmacist with the potential to become an alchemist, and now revealed as a sword genius of terrifying caliber, such talent would stand out even in the imperial capital of the Crimson Sun Empire.
On the stage, Zhao Xiaotian's composure shattered. "L-Li Yun! I, I surrender!" he cried, raising his hands high in panic. His voice trembled, his eyes wide with fear.
That strike… it had been so fast he never even saw Li Yun move. One instant his Dark Light Sword was in his grip, and the next, it was torn away and Li Yun's blade was pressed against his throat.
"Is that so?" Li Yun's tone was calm, almost playful. Yet inside, his own hand wavered. When his strike had landed, he could have cleaved Zhao Xiaotian's head from his shoulders. But for a fleeting heartbeat, he hesitated, and his blade stopped just short of the killing blow.
Zhao Xiaotian, sensing that hesitation, scrambled to save face. "Y-yes! And the Dark Light Sword, you want it, right? Take it! I never liked that blade anyway. I'll give it to you!" His words tumbled out in a rush, his expression frantic. But deep in his eyes, a dangerous light flickered.
With a sudden, beast-like roar, Zhao Xiaotian pulled out a pill and swallowed it in one gulp.
Bang!
A violent surge of energy exploded from his body, his aura spiking madly. In an instant, his cultivation forcefully broke through, rising to the first level of the Body Tempering Realm.
"Berserk Blood Pill! He took the Berserk Blood Pill!" someone in the crowd shouted, their voice filled with shock. "Li Yun is finished now. That pill pushed his cultivation straight into the Body Tempering Realm!"
"Damn it, Zhao Xiaotian is insane. To think he'd go this far!" another hissed. "The Berserk Blood Pill may grant a forced breakthrough, but it destroys the user's foundation completely. His martial path is ruined, he'll never be able to cultivate again."
"True. His life as a martial artist is over. He's throwing everything away just to kill Li Yun."
The murmurs rippled like wildfire, shock and disbelief spreading through the audience.
Li Yao and Xiao Wu's faces drained of color. Their hearts clenched in fear. They knew well, this pill was even more dangerous than their family's Raging Blood Pill. It was a forbidden medicine, one that offered terrifying power at the cost of everything.
"Die!" Zhao Xiaotian bellowed, his voice wild with bloodlust. He pulled a spare sword from his storage ring and brought it down in a vicious slash, his body radiating killing intent and surging internal force.
Li Yun's eyes narrowed. 'Still trying to kill me?' For a brief moment, surprise flickered within him. Then he shook his head.
The hesitation on his face was gone. He realized at this moment that even if he spared his enemy, they might not spare him. It was a world one had to kill or they would be killed.
Realizing this, Li Yun slashed down with his sword that was slowly turning bright red. "Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art, Scarlet Sunlight Slash!"
Clang!
The sound of steel colliding rang out.
Shatter!
Zhao Xiaotian's sword snapped instantly, splintering into fragments that scattered across the stage. Before he even realized what had happened, Li Yun's blade had already cleaved through his body.
A wet, tearing sound followed, then silence.
Zhao Xiaotian's figure split in two, blood spraying violently as it drenched the arena floor. The stench of iron filled the air, thick and suffocating.
The once-proud young master of the Zhao Family had been cut down in a single, merciless strike.
Silence fell like a hammer. The entire hall froze at the sight.
Li Yun's grip on his sword tightened. In that instant, he understood something with absolute clarity: had their positions been reversed, Zhao Xiaotian would never have spared him and would have gone for the kill. There was no room for hesitation in this world.
'This is the truth of the martial path,' Li Yun realized, his heart settling into a newfound firmness. 'Kill, or be killed. There is no in-between.'
Having grasped the true essence of his martial path, Li Yun felt an eerie calm settle over him. His heart was steady and his thoughts sharp.
[Ding! Quest Completed: "Kill or be killed."]
[Reward: 5000 gold coins, 700 Experience Points.]
Li Yun smiled at the notification and walked away from the martial arena.
---
"Li Yun… Li Yun killed Zhao Xiaotian!"
"What did you expect? Zhao Xiaotian threw away his own foundation for the sake of killing Li Yun. In the end, Li Yun had no choice but to kill him in return."
"But with Zhao Xiaotian dead, the Li Family and the Zhao Family will never reconcile."
"Yes… the fragile peace between the three great families of Azure Wind City is finished. War could break out at any moment."
Shock and unease rippled through the gathered martial artists. Zhao Xiaotian was not just any youth—he was the only son of Zhao Lieyang, the patriarch of the Zhao Family, spoiled and doted upon since birth.
For Li Yun to kill him here meant the Zhao Family's fury would soon descend upon the Li Family, and with it, the balance of the city might collapse into chaos.
Yet the one responsible for shaking the city's future descended the stage with unhurried steps. His expression remained composed, as though nothing at all had happened. He walked straight toward Li Yao, and only then noticed Lan Yueli standing by her side.
"Director Lan," Li Yun greeted with a smile, "what brings you here?"