Li Chen swallowed hard, feigning calmness. "You are unaware of the impending disaster you face."
"Do you know that Zhao Yang is a key disciple meticulously trained by the Zhao family of Longnan? The Zhao family holds significant influence within the Taiyi Immortal Sect. If you kill him, you won't survive."
"If you obediently admit your mistakes now and beg for mercy at the Zhao family's doorstep, you might have a slim chance of survival. Otherwise, you are seeking your own demise."
Wu Tao paid no mind to Li Chen's threats.
He said in a deep voice, "The sect has its rules. Were there not enough disciples killed in the dueling arenas before? I merely killed Zhao Yang today. Who has the right to question me?"
"Enough with the nonsense. You will die today."
As his voice fell, Wu Tao once again employed his sword steps. His form was a blur, silent and swift as lightning, rapidly closing in on Li Chen.
Watching Wu Tao vanish before his eyes, Li Chen felt a prickle of fear.
He did not believe he was much stronger than Zhao Yang. If Zhao Yang could not withstand a few moves, he certainly wouldn't be able to.
His only option now was to utilize the speed of his lightning-attribute techniques to leap off the dueling arena, escape this immediate peril, and seek an opportunity for revenge against Wu Tao later.
However, he wondered, how had Wu Tao suddenly become so powerful?
Such formidable strength, in his estimation, placed Wu Tao among the top thirty prodigies within the Taiyi Immortal Sect's thousands of inner disciples.
...
Whoosh!
But Li Chen had no time to ponder. For the sake of his life, he bolted towards the edge of the formation.
As he ran, he silently thought, "You want to kill me? Dream on."
"Stay!" Seeing his opponent about to breach the formation's perimeter, Wu Tao's killing intent intensified. He raised his right hand again, and several sharp sword energies shot from the broken ancient sword, sealing Li Chen's escape route.
A thief can steal for a thousand days, but a guard can only guard for a thousand days. If the roots are not removed, there will be future troubles.
...
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The sword energies shot out with incredible speed. Others saw dozens of them coalesce into a thin white line, flashing past in an instant.
"Not good, damn it!" Li Chen cried out in alarm. If he hadn't paused slightly just now, sensing danger, and halted his momentum, he would have been riddled with bloody holes, at the very least severely injured if not killed.
"Lei Si Wang – Lightning Barrier!"
Deeply wary of the broken ancient sword in Wu Tao's hand, Li Chen immediately activated his Wulei Jie Xin Gong, combined with the top-tier artifact, Lei Si Wang.
Instantly, within a three-zhang radius around Li Chen, torrents of lightning energy materialized, forming a thick lightning barrier.
Clang!
Wu Tao's sword energies struck the lightning barrier, making a metallic clanging sound. They could not penetrate and were all deflected.
Having successfully blocked Wu Tao's attack, Li Chen's counterattack arrived the next second.
Li Chen fully channeled the Wulei Jie Xin Gong, and with the force of thunder, conjured a colossal blue lightning hand that covered thirty meters, descending upon Wu Tao.
Lightning power crackled, distorting the very air. The blue lightning hand was almost unavoidable.
"Jie Zhe San Lei Shou! One of the techniques attached to the Wulei Jie Xin Gong, terrifying in power!"
While others watched in anticipation, a clear sword hum arose from the dueling arena.
An invincible immortal sword projection, a sword that suppressed all under heaven, manifested, imbued with immense sharpness. It instantly cleaved the lightning hand, shattering it.
Wu Tao's figure emerged from the residual lightning energy. He was enveloped in an invisible aura of sharpness. With every step he took, the dense lightning energy surrounding him diminished.
At this moment, sword energy surged from the broken ancient sword in Wu Tao's hand, an intangible sword intent emanating from it.
"Not bad. You can now withstand my Jie Zhe San Lei Shou. I wonder if you can endure the Lei Ting Jiu Po Ji next!"
If he couldn't escape, he would fight.
Li Chen decided to stay and fight for his life.
Li Chen sneered and unleashed another secret technique.
He pulled his left hand towards the sky, and a cloud of silver lightning suddenly materialized above.
The silver lightning cloud instantly unleashed arc after arc of lightning.
Wu Tao's eyes flashed with brilliance. Then, he repeatedly slashed with the broken ancient sword. The golden sword energy became even more refined.
Each sword he swung was incredibly powerful and domineering. With five consecutive strikes, he shattered each lightning arc and finally broke through the silver lightning cloud.
Wu Tao drew his sword again, slashing towards Li Chen.
"Lei Long Yin Xi!"
Seeing he could not escape, Li Chen gritted his teeth and decided to use his trump card.
Li Chen rapidly formed hand seals, and lightning-attribute spiritual energy surged around him. A blue imperial seal materialized.
This top-tier artifact seal contained violent lightning-attribute power. The next moment, it appeared before Wu Tao.
The Lei Long Yin Xi was majestic and powerful, its fierce lightning-attribute spiritual energy surging forth. At this point, Li Chen's aura completely surpassed Wu Tao's.
The increasingly large Lei Long Yin Xi in mid-air descended with immense force.
"Break!"
Wu Tao roared upon seeing this, and the sword spirit energy surged from his entire body.
Suddenly, the golden light on the sword's body blazed, and a seven to eight-zhang long golden sword energy howled out as he cleaved down.
Wu Tao exuded an invincible aura, that of a peerless sword immortal capable of destroying worlds with a single sword, creating them with another, birthing all laws with one strike, and extinguishing all with another.
The merciless sword light, shining between heaven and earth, effortlessly split the Lei Long Yin Xi in two, reducing it to scrap metal.
This was the third top-tier artifact Wu Tao had broken with his broken ancient sword today.
Li Chen was greatly alarmed. His footwork became rapid, his entire being transforming into a streak of lightning as he instantly retreated.
...
However, how could Wu Tao let him escape again?
He swung the broken ancient sword in his hand once more. With a flash of sword light, Li Chen's head was severed from his body.
Li Chen's corpse, blood splattering more than three feet, fell to the ground dead.
Sheathing his sword, Wu Tao looked around.
He noticed many people in the arena staring at him, dumbfounded, as if at a monster, their eyes showing a hint of fear.
"He killed two inner disciples right before everyone's eyes."
"Even though it was on the dueling arena, he is far too presumptuous. So arrogant. Mark my words, he will be punished by the elders later."
"Too powerful. Too much rigidity leads to breakage. Zhao Yang and Li Chen's families will not let this go. This fellow will surely have a grim future!"
"Strange. Although Wu Tao was considered top-tier among inner disciples before, he never displayed such overwhelming power. This kind of crushing, invincible strength is truly despair-inducing."
The remaining inner disciples on the dueling arena exchanged glances, their minds racing with various thoughts.
However, the prevailing sentiment was that this person was not someone they could afford to cross now. It was best to avoid him, lest they carelessly lose their own lives.
The only one happy in the arena was naturally the green-robed attendant girl. She didn't worry about the rest.
Although the Taiyi Immortal Sect was one of the top ten righteous sects, appearing to the world with an upright image, the competition within the sect was fierce and brutal. On the many dueling arenas, situations where one ended up dead or crippled were common, with precedents aplenty.
The green-robed attendant girl was pleased because the higher the combat power of the five temporary guards, the better the safety of her young master would be guaranteed.
...
And because they stood in different positions, they thought differently.
Zhou Yu Yan, at this moment, was not thinking about these matters.
It was one thing for Li Chen to have no significant background; his death was inconsequential. But Zhao Yang was different.
Even setting aside the several Core Formation stage elders the Zhao family had within the Taiyi Immortal Sect, Zhao Yang's own cousin ranked within the top fifty among inner disciples.
Of course, from the current perspective, Wu Tao was not a pushover.
However, if these two were to truly clash, even she, a high-ranking alchemist, would be troubled for some time.
An hour later, on the dueling arena, precisely five people remained.
These five were Pang Bo, Feng Li, Luo Dijie, Yue Lu, and Wu Tao.
Among the five, Yue Lu said to Wu Tao with a fawning smile, "Brother Wu, you were truly formidable just now. You possess the potential of a supreme prodigy. Witnessing it fills me with immense admiration."