Lei Zhan stepped forward, the earth cracking beneath his boots. As a Rank 8 Grandmaster, his very presence was a living storm. Lightning arced from his hair, turning the air into ozone.
"One move, boy," Lei Zhan growled, his voice a low roll of thunder. "Strike me with your 'Zero-Point'. If you can pierce my Indestructible Thunder God Armor, I will bow. If not, you will hand over that hilt and return to your meditation chamber."
The crowd gasped. The Thunder God Armor was legendary—a kinetic barrier of high-frequency electricity that vaporized any weapon before it could touch skin.
Lu Chen didn't hesitate. He reached behind his back and gripped the hilt. "You think your armor is a wall, Master Lei. To this blade, your armor is simply more space to be collapsed."
Lu Chen drew the blade. There was no metallic ring, only a haunting, hollow whistle as the air rushed into the vacuum created by the hilt. The "blade" was nothing more than a thin, vibrating distortion in reality.
Lu Chen moved. He didn't run; he used a Short-Distance Warp, a secret technique from his future memories. In a blink, he was in front of Lei Zhan.
ZZZT—CRACK!
The Zero-Point Blade touched the lightning armor. There was no explosion. Instead, the blinding electricity was sucked into the blade's edge, disappearing into the spatial rift. The "Indestructible" armor vanished at the point of contact as if it had never existed.
The tip of the invisible blade stopped exactly one millimeter from Lei Zhan's throat.
The silence was absolute. The Grandmaster's eyes were wide, a single drop of sweat rolling down his cheek. He could feel it—the cold, hungry void of the blade was ready to swallow his life-force.
Lu Chen sheathed the blade, his face pale and his hand trembling from the spatial backlash. He spat a mouthful of dark blood onto the snow. "The countdown doesn't care about your titles, Master Lei. It only cares about results."
Lei Zhan stood frozen for a long moment. Then, he let out a long, shaky breath and dropped to one knee. "The North was right. You aren't a child... you are a weapon. The Heavenly Thunder Sect follows your lead."