Mu Jinyu's voice exploded like thunder, coupled with the trembling caused by his strikes on Huang Daochen's courtyard array. Aside from those deeply in seclusion among the Inner Gate talents, everyone else at the Tianlan Peak Summit came running out!
"What's going on? Is someone challenging the List of Outstanding Talents?"
"Judging by the direction of the sound, it's probably a challenge for ranks around sixtieth to seventieth on the list?"
"Let's go take a look!"
Several disciples on the List of Outstanding Talents, whose cultivation were at the Sixth or Seventh Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm, came out of their rooms upon hearing the commotion and, after exchanging a few words, flew towards the sound with amused expressions!
"Hey, he's only at the Fourth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm? And he dares to challenge the List of Outstanding Talents? Such bravery!"
After seeing Mu Jinyu, they landed on the ground, their eyes showing a hint of surprise, and whispered to themselves.
"Although it's just the seventieth rank on the List of Outstanding Talents, this courage is commendable!"
"The one ranked seventieth on the List of Outstanding Talents seems to be Huang Daochen, right?"
"Yes, even though that guy's strength is nothing to brag about, his 'Escaping Light Shadow Sword' is quite tricky. He can go toe-to-toe with someone at the Sixth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm. A Fifth Layer opponent fighting him unprepared would be as easy as cutting through butter. So, what do you think, how many moves can this kid last against Huang Daochen?"
"I guess one move."
"So disrespectful? I'll guess three moves."
"..."
They joked around, not taking Mu Jinyu's challenge to Huang Daochen seriously at all.
Li Xiaoxiao stood behind her brother Li Yichen, dumbfounded at the sight of Mu Jinyu violently attacking Huang Daochen's courtyard, drawing a large crowd of top experts from the Inner Gate's List of Outstanding Talents. She stood there in a daze.
Then she came to her senses, shook her head speechlessly, and smiled bitterly.
If Mu Jinyu had not caused such a fuss in challenging Huang Daochen, and if he were to lose the fight and be in danger, she might have been able to get her brother to save him!
But now, with Huang Daochen infuriated, her brother's persuasion likely wouldn't do any good.
"Sigh..." Li Xiaoxiao sighed softly, not daring to say anything.
"Booming!"
Mu Jinyu, with the strength of the Fourth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm, continued to bombard the defensive formation around Huang Daochen's courtyard. The formation shook violently, but it would still take some time to break through.
The few experts from the List of Outstanding Talents waited for a while, didn't see Huang Daochen come out to face the challenge, and couldn't help but frown.
"Strange, no one is coming out?"
"Could it be that Huang Daochen went out? Not at home?"
"Or is he too afraid to come out and face the challenge?!"
"..."
At this moment, the courtyard several houses away from Huang Daochen's suddenly opened, and a man who looked somewhat similar to Huang Daochen came out.
He walked out of the courtyard, saw Mu Jinyu attacking his younger brother's residence, and angrily said, "Who are you? How dare you come and trouble our Huang family brothers!"
Saying this, he leaped towards Mu Jinyu!
"Hey, Huang Daotian has come out!"
"He's ranked forty-fifth on the List of Outstanding Talents, far stronger than Huang Daochen. This young man is in trouble now."
Mu Jinyu continued to patiently attack the defensive formation around Huang Daochen's courtyard. Hearing an angry roar from not far away, filled with murderous aura rushing towards him, he stopped his actions.
Then, he turned his head and saw Huang Daotian's menacing figure, who bore some resemblance to Huang Daochen.
"Sixth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm, Huang family brothers..."
Mu Jinyu muttered, his eyes flashing with cold light. He took out the Sacred Wood Branch and shouted, "Since Huang Daochen doesn't dare to come out, you, as his elder brother, can die for him first!"
"Die!" Huang Daotian roared in anger, not using any magic treasure, and directly charged at Mu Jinyu, throwing a punch at his chest like a cannonball!
In his view, there was no need to go all out against Mu Jinyu, who was only at the Fourth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm. One punch should severely injure him.
Mu Jinyu snorted coldly, wielded the Sacred Wood Branch, and lashed out at Huang Daotian's waist and back!
"Pa!"
With a crisp sound.
The seemingly invincible Huang Daotian was directly knocked backward, vomiting blood, by one strike from Mu Jinyu's tree branch.
"Boom!!"
Huang Daotian landed heavily on the ground, smashing several floor tiles and creating a deep pit, spewing another mouthful of blood. His head tilted to the side, and he fell unconscious!
The originally worried Yan Ran, who was watching Mu Jinyu, was stunned by this scene.
The crowd around them, who were watching the commotion, also had their mocking expressions frozen on their faces!
"What... happened?"
"This young man knocked out the forty-fifth ranked Huang Daotian with a tree branch?!"
"Am I seeing things? What's wrong with this world?"
"Wait... isn't that branch the Sacred Wood Branch from Elder Lin?!"
After a few words of disbelief, someone suddenly recognized the origin of the branch in Mu Jinyu's hand and shouted.
"Hey, it does look like Elder Lin's Sacred Wood Branch. How did it end up in his hands..."
"Something's not right. Even with the Sacred Wood Branch, you can't defeat someone two layers higher in just one strike!"
"Yes, I remember Elder Lin himself used the Sacred Wood Branch to fight people several layers higher and still lost!"
The crowd discussed with serious expressions, their gaze toward Mu Jinyu turning wary.
Mu Jinyu, however, didn't care about their thoughts. After understanding the attitude of the Heavenly Sword Faction towards him, he didn't bother hiding his strength anymore, always ready to escape at any moment. Being seen using his true strength didn't matter to him.
After all, his plan was to rapidly increase his cultivation by challenging the List of Outstanding Talents and the Heaven's Pride List to gain a massive amount of resources!
Walking to the unconscious Huang Daotian, Mu Jinyu looked at the stunned Yan Ran and asked, "Senior Brother Yan, how do I take the rank from someone on the List of Outstanding Talents?"
"Huh?" Yan Ran was taken aback, but quickly realized Mu Jinyu intended to take Huang Daotian's rank and move directly to the summit of Tianlan Peak, forgoing the mid-mountain residences.
He quickly explained, "You just need to shatter the opponent's identity token!"
"Oh?" Hearing this, Mu Jinyu searched for and found Huang Daotian's identity token, crushing it with a single squeeze, and noted that Huang Daotian would need to reissue another one.
"Boom!"
As Huang Daotian's identity token was shattered by Mu Jinyu, Mu Jinyu's own token immediately began to shine brightly.
Everyone noticed that on the towering stone list at the entrance of Tianlan Peak's summit, the name of Huang Daotian, who was ranked forty-fifth, had been replaced by Mu Jinyu.
At this moment, Li Xiaoxiao also snapped out of her shock, still staring dazedly at Mu Jinyu, finding it hard to believe what she had just witnessed.
This guy, who had just passed the Outer Gate examination and entered the Inner Gate, hadn't even been here for two hours and had already ascended to the forty-fifth rank on the List of Outstanding Talents.
And this was without Mu Jinyu going all out to challenge the List of Outstanding Talents, merely exacting revenge on someone.
How ridiculous that she had thought of having her brother save Mu Jinyu at a critical moment.
It turns out the one truly unaware was herself...
After successfully replacing Huang Daotian's rank, Mu Jinyu turned around and walked toward Huang Daochen's courtyard again!
The main culprit who angered him was still intact and hadn't been dealt with yet. There was no way he would let Huang Daochen off just because he had dealt with Huang Daotian!