No probing, no need for pointless words.
Lin Yan was like a mad lion just freed from its chains, throwing back his head to release a violent roar toward the sky.
Upon his fists, the dark-green gleam of Iron Leaf Gu instantly wove into dense barbs. Then, under the frenzied activation of Explosive Flame Gu, roaring flames surged skyward, transforming his fists into two terrifying meteors of fire.
"Shatter for me!"
The blue-steel rock beneath Lin Yan's feet cracked inch by inch as he charged forward with unstoppable violent momentum, launching a storm-like barrage against Lin Ze standing at the other end of the arena.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Muffled impacts resounded through the clouds.
The audience below widened their eyes.
They had expected another one-sided "hammering" performance, assuming Lin Ze would frantically activate his full-body Golden Bell Gu to desperately tank hits—just as he had against that inner disciple in the first round—until he exhausted his opponent.
But an unexpected scene unfolded.
Facing Lin Yan's ferocious continuous bombardment, Lin Ze was forced to retreat repeatedly, his footwork still somewhat stiff. Yet that pampered face of his displayed remarkable calm.
His body didn't manifest the pale-golden bell-shaped barrier that had enveloped him completely in the first round.
"Hmm?"
Standing at the best vantage point outside the arena, Lin Mu's eyes narrowed slightly as he keenly detected the extremely subtle abnormality in the Primeval Essence flowing across Lin Ze's body.
To outsiders, Lin Ze appeared to be constantly taking hits, the Golden Bell Gu's glow flickering on and off as if it might be shattered at any moment by Lin Yan's flaming iron fists.
But to an expert like Lin Mu, who had mastered fine-tuned Primeval Essence manipulation, the truth was entirely different.
"Something's off. The Golden Bell Gu isn't operating at full power."
Lin Mu saw through the mystery.
Lin Ze wasn't foolishly wasting precious Primeval Essence maintaining full-body defense.
Instead, he was predicting Lin Yan's punch trajectories with extreme precision, instantly materializing the Golden Bell phantom only at the small area where each fist was about to land.
Block one strike, instantly withdraw, then meet the next.
This was an advanced defensive technique requiring extremely high Primeval Essence control!
"Quite a transformation! This kid went from being utterly disgraced and chaotic in the first round to now being relaxed and calculating..."
Lin Mu marveled inwardly while growing highly vigilant.
In just a few days, a wealthy young master with virtually zero combat experience couldn't possibly have comprehended such advanced techniques from nothing. Behind this, there had to be expert guidance.
"It seems the Storage Hall spared no resources to find experts skilled in close combat."
"These past few days, they must have simulated expert's attack patterns day and night, literally 'feeding' him conditioned responses through physical suffering!"
Though he saw through this as exam-cramming-style training that bordered on cheating, Lin Mu had to admit the Storage Hall's resources were truly terrifying.
With this thought, Lin Mu's peripheral vision discreetly swept toward the Elder Platform above.
There, the Storage Hall's family elder held his teacup with a seemingly expressionless face, though his eyes concealed a hint of confident self-satisfaction.
On the arena.
Though Lin Yan was hot-tempered and worshipped the aesthetics of violence, his status as the Punishment Hall's seed candidate—having killed his way to fame through mountains of corpses and seas of blood—meant he was no brainless brute.
After dozens of consecutive attacks, that strange rebounding force instantly alerted him.
He keenly sensed that his fists, powerful enough to shatter boulders, felt like they were hitting slippery soft mud when landing on his opponent.
His force vanished like a clay ox entering the sea, creating not a single ripple, while his opponent's Primeval Essence fluctuations remained abnormally stable.
"Playing the pig to eat the tiger? Those old tortoises from Storage Hall really know how to scheme!"
Lin Yan saw through the hidden depths, a bloodthirsty cold smile curling at his lips.
Since you want to play it precise, I'll play along to the end!
A hunter's instincts instantly took over the battle.
Lin Yan's figure suddenly halted as he deliberately restrained the violent flames on his fists.
He abandoned those wide, sweeping attacks that massively consumed Primeval Essence, instead tapping his toes to begin circling Lin Ze at high speed with more agile footwork.
From hard to soft, the rhythm abruptly shifted.
"Whoosh!"
Lin Yan silently closed in from the rear flank. A powerful iron fist shot toward Lin Ze's back, its wind biting cold.
Lin Ze's expression tightened as he immediately gathered Primeval Essence, preparing to condense the Golden Bell barrier at his back.
However, at the instant the fist was about to make contact—
Lin Yan forcibly pulled back his power! It was an incredibly realistic feint!
Using the forward momentum, his waist twisted bizarrely. His left leg, originally tucked at his waist, whipped out like a venomous snake, lashing toward Lin Ze's completely undefended lower body blind spot!
"Not good!"
Lin Ze's heart filled with terror.
Lin Yan's change of technique struck directly at his greatest weakness—combat experience.
These past days, the Storage Hall had indeed paid handsomely for several combat experts to "crash-course" him on Primeval Essence allocation techniques, but it was merely choreographed routine practice.
He could find rhythm against extremely regular continuous bombardment, but facing these bizarre feints honed through life-and-death battles, his pitiful combat experience was utterly inadequate.
He couldn't cover all bases.
Against Lin Yan's mix of real and fake attacks, Lin Ze simply couldn't judge which strikes were genuine, which were feints, which ones the Golden Bell Gu could passively deflect, and which required him to actively gather Primeval Essence to defend.
The battle's tide reversed completely within a few breaths.
To guard against those unpredictable feints, Lin Ze panicked and was forced to repeatedly activate the Golden Bell Gu at wide range—even full power—wastefully burning through massive amounts of Primeval Essence.
And when Lin Yan's truly cunning strikes arrived, he found himself caught in the gap between old strength departing and new strength not yet born, unable to defend in time.
"Bang!"
Lin Yan's sweeping kick smashed viciously into Lin Ze's waist.
The Golden Bell Gu's light flashed intensely. Though Lin Ze avoided fatal injury, the tremendous force sent his blood and qi churning as he staggered backward repeatedly, instantly falling into absolute disadvantage.
"Dodge! Keep dodging, you turtle with your head pulled in!"
Lin Yan laughed wildly, his offensive surging wave after wave like a tide, cornering Lin Ze into the arena's dead end.
After several dozen exchanges.
Lin Ze's luxurious brocade robes were tattered beyond recognition. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth as he gasped heavily for breath.
The Primeval Essence within him had completely bottomed out. The once-impenetrable Rank 2 Golden Bell Gu glow on his body now flickered uncertainly like a candle in the wind, ready to collapse at any moment.
A desperate situation.
The audience below, and even the many elders on the high platform, all shook their heads in unison.
In their view, this battle was over. Lin Ze had won the first round by "outlasting" his opponent.
Now that his turtle shell had been seen through and his Primeval Essence exhausted, he could no longer endure—naturally, he should admit defeat and withdraw.
Only the Storage Hall elder on the high platform appeared to hold steady, yet the hand holding his teacup tightened slightly, eyes glinting with hidden light as he sighed inwardly:
"What a pity... this move was originally saved for that strongest one, Lin Feng. Who would have thought that madman Lin Yan would force it out."
On the arena.
"Get down!"
Lin Yan roared, killing intent blazing in his eyes. His right fist erupted with blinding firelight, preparing to end this match that had left him feeling rather stifled.
However, just as everyone thought the outcome was decided—
That Lin Ze who had been passively taking hits like a lamb awaiting slaughter suddenly blazed with a ferocity and madness utterly unbefitting his young master status!
The dagger revealed at journey's end!
Not only did he not retreat to defend, not only did he not concede—he actually stepped forward to meet Lin Yan's flaming fist!
The instant he took that step, he deliberately withdrew the flickering Golden Bell defense from his body, squeezing out every last drop of remaining Primeval Essence like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
All cards revealed, both hands striking together!
In his left palm, a Gu worm as brilliant as colored glass shattered explosively.
Rank 1 supreme one-time attack Gu—Rosy Clouds Gu!
"Hummm!"
A burst of intense light capable of instantly blinding eyes, carrying terrifying burning and cutting effects, erupted at less than a foot's distance between them.
Simultaneously, his right hand formed a sword-finger.
The unstoppable Metal Rend Gu transformed into a three-inch beam of substantial golden light, hidden within the blinding rosy glow, striking like a venomous snake lunging from its hole straight toward the vital points on Lin Yan's face!
This was a premeditated, extremely vicious combination!
Use ultimate blinding light to blind and disrupt perception, then complete the decapitation with the sharpest metal-rending edge.
This instant reversal made the entire audience gasp, erupting in shocked cries.
No one had expected this cowardly young master who had played "defender" all along to not only be unafraid of death but to have concealed such a lethal, do-or-die killing gambit!
Countless people below broke into cold sweats for Lin Yan at this moment.
If it were a normal Gu Master facing this sudden blinding light and lethal edge, their first reaction would absolutely be to retreat, defend, and temporarily avoid the sharp attack.
But Lin Yan was the Punishment Hall's pride, the infamous mad lion!
Charge into difficulty!
Facing light capable of blinding both eyes, facing that lethal metal-rending edge, Lin Yan not only didn't retreat half a step—the fervor in his eyes instead burned to its peak.
"Hahaha! Now THIS is a real fight!!!"
Lin Yan released an earth-shaking wild laugh.
He simply closed his eyes, completely ignoring the blinding rosy light, and poured every ounce of his Rank 1 Peak violent Primeval Essence unreservedly into both fists.
Two fireballs blazing like suns, carrying an unstoppable, mutually-assured-destruction ferocity, met Lin Ze's killing blow head-on!
"BOOOOM—!!!"
A violent explosion resounded through the entire martial arts square, shaking many people's eardrums until they buzzed.
The blinding white radiant glow and the violent crimson flames madly intertwined, collided, and devoured each other in mid-air.
A terrifying airwave swept out instantly, thoroughly submerging the entire hard blue-steel rock arena in dense smoke, dust, and light flames.
On the high platform, several elders who were originally sitting at ease stood up abruptly, their gazes staring dead at the bottom.
Off-stage, Lin Mu's clothes flapped from the explosive airwave.
He didn't retreat. Instead, he narrowed his eyes slightly, the depths of his pupils reflecting that chaotic turbulence. His breath also held at this moment:
"These two people... who won? Who lost?"