Chapter 165: Brute Force Creates Miracles

Before the two fighters on the stage exchanged any blows, Qing Zong decided to initiate psychological warfare, sneering, "Little fellow, don't think that just because you've also reached the tenth stage, you can speak so boldly in front of me."

"For all these years, I have built my foundation step by step, consolidating my realm with absolute stability. Even opponents of the same rank are not guaranteed to defeat me easily."

"To reach the tenth stage at such a young age, you must have used plenty of supplementary pills and taken numerous shortcuts, right? Your foundation is unstable; at best, you are nothing more than a counterfeit tenth-stage fighter!"

Lu Ye maintained a faint smile and replied, "It took you fifty years of practice to barely crawl into the tenth stage, which just shows how utterly dull your talent is."

When it came to sharp-tongued banter, everyone present was merely a novice compared to him.

Qing Zong let out a disdainful snort and said, "Arrogant!"

Immediately afterward, he decided to strike first.

Taking a step using the Seven-Star Footwork, he instantly flashed right in front of Lu Ye.

"Second brother, catch the sword!"

Down below the stage, Qing Qin suddenly pulled a long sword from his waist and tossed it up onto the arena.

Just as Qing Zong was less than two meters away from Lu Ye, he smoothly grasped the hilt, swinging the sword in a flash toward Lu Ye's neck...

Lu Ye leaned backward sharply, barely managing to dodge the blade, though the raging sword Qi shaved off several strands of his bangs.

A close call...

Su Qianqian immediately let out an indignant and displeased cry, "Insidious! Despicable!"

"How can there be such a shameless person in this world?"

Wan Quan and the Mo siblings chimed in, shouting, "Exactly! And he calls himself a tenth-stage master, my foot!"

Qing Zong's behavior had thoroughly broken the unwritten rules of the arena.

Using a weapon was not entirely forbidden—after all, some martial arts families specialized in swordplay or sabre techniques.

However, shouldn't one at least give the opponent a heads-up beforehand?

To wait until he was practically in his opponent's face before suddenly having an unrelated bystander throw up a sword was a complete loss of personal integrity!

Stepping lightly with the Butterfly Footwork, Lu Ye gracefully dodged Qing Zong's flurry of Tai Chi swordplay. As Qing Zong paused to reset his posture, Lu Ye kicked off with his leg against the enemy's blade.

Gliding gracefully to the edge of the arena twenty meters away, he instantly widened the distance and roared toward the crowd below, "Mom, throw me a weapon!"

"Coming right up!"

Cheng Qimeng glanced to her left and right, spotting a broom and a long-handled iron shovel resting in the corner of the martial arts training ground.

With a gentle flick of her leg, she sent the iron shovel flying straight toward Lu Ye.

Thwack!

He caught it firmly in his hand.

Lu Ye's mouth twitched uncontrollably...

Mom, aren't you being a bit too perfunctory?!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Behind him, the sound of a sharp blade cutting through the air closed in once again. Lu Ye grabbed the iron shovel with both hands and whipped around to deliver a counter-slash!

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing rang out continuously and endlessly.

To everyone's utter shock, the seemingly rusty and cheap iron shovel in Lu Ye's hands went toe-to-toe with Qing Zong's razor-sharp long sword in close combat, blocking the blow solidly without even a single nick on its edge!

"Huh? That is truly miraculous!"

Beside Lu Yangxiu, the head of a second-rate martial arts family asked him, "Elder Lu, what material is this iron shovel of your family made from?"

Lu Yangxiu pressed his lips together and replied, "I have no idea myself. Ever since I was born, that iron shovel has been kept in the training ground and has never been replaced."

"Legend has it that it was crafted personally by our Ancestor Xuanyuan. When the old ancestor was still alive, he used this very shovel right here in the training ground to clear away weeds."

Goodness!

It had actually been passed down from Ancestor Xuanyuan; as of today, it was practically a bona fide antique artifact!

However, no matter how old it was, it was still just a shovel...

Even if one wanted to trade it for five hundred yuan plus a silk banner, people might not even be willing to take such a thing.

Clang, clang, clang!

The sounds of the blade colliding against the iron shovel echoed endlessly.

Lu Ye was startlingly wielding this iron shovel as if it were a long spear, and now it was Qing Zong who found himself caught completely off guard!

"Taste my Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear... ahem, Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Shovel!"

For some reason, the longer he used the long shovel, the more fluid it felt.

The "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" technique Lu Ye was employing was a spear style originally created by the spear grandmaster Tong Yuan.

Famous generals of the Three Kingdoms era such as Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ren had both learned this spear style.

In his later years, Tong Yuan took Zhao Yun as a disciple and also taught him this Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix spearplay, and all three disciples had carved out resounding reputations for themselves...

At first, Qing Zong was able to trade blows evenly with Lu Ye using his Tai Chi swordplay, but somehow, he gradually began to lose the upper hand.

The storm-like offensive vanished, replaced by an endless defense.

Lu Ye spun the shovel faster and faster, clattering and cracking directly toward Qing Zong's face!

When Qing Zong's rhythm suddenly slowed by half a beat, Lu Ye instantly shifted his stance, transforming what was originally a vertical chop into a horizontal sweep.

Thwack!

Half of Qing Zong's face turned instantly bright red, leaving behind not only a clear imprint of the shovel head but also two large molars that flew out of his mouth.

The force of this shovel strike nearly gave him a mild concussion; this was certainly not something that could be compared to Lu Yuqing's ninth-stage strength.

Qing Zong shook his head a few times to steady his mind and roared furiously, "Damn it, I'm going to fight you to the death!"

With that, he pulled a pitch-black pill from his inner pocket and swallowed it in one gulp.

Down below the stage, Lu Yangxiu recognized it at a glance and cried out in alarm, "A Vigor-Enhancing Pill!"

"Young Qing Zong, have you lost all your shame? This is a fair arena duel, and yet you resort to such forbidden drugs?"

The crowd immediately broke into an uproar!

Everyone had heard of the Vigor-Enhancing Pill; it was rumored to be exorbitantly expensive, costing several million per pill. As for its effects, they were naturally nothing short of exaggerated.

After taking the Vigor-Enhancing Pill, one could briefly stimulate all their potential, causing their strength to surge exponentially in a short period. The higher the rank, the more pronounced the effect.

It could essentially be understood as a performance-enhancing drug in the martial arts world.

However, the side effects of the Vigor-Enhancing Pill were equally severe. If the body failed to suppress this volatile and rampaging medicinal energy, it would lead to severe damage to the meridians—at best resulting in a drop in cultivation level, and at worst destroying one's foundation entirely and reducing them to a cripple.

If one were caught in a life-or-death battle, being forced to take a Vigor-Enhancing Pill to turn the tables on an opponent might be understandable human nature.

Dammit, this was merely an arena match!

Did Qing Zong really have to risk his life and go to such extremes?

"Ha, might makes miracles!"

Hearing his harsh shout, veins instantly bulged across his hands, legs, and face as the medicinal power of the Vigor-Enhancing Pill took effect immediately!

Clang!

Qing Zong dashed toward Lu Ye, dragging the tip of his sword along the hard marble floor and leaving a deep gouge behind.

His speed was clearly nearly twice as fast as before!

Locking his gaze onto Lu Ye's throat, Qing Zong thrust his sword straight forward.

Whoosh!

Lu Ye held the iron shovel vertically in front of him, using it effectively as a shield.

The tip of the sword pressed against the hard back of the shovel, sending out sparks, yet it still failed to pierce through this freakishly tough iron shovel.

However, Qing Zong's immense force compelled Lu Ye to involuntarily stumble backward several steps.

Whoosh!

Driving Lu Ye to the edge of the arena, Qing Zong retracted his sword and kicked toward Lu Ye's abdomen.

Lu Ye inverted the shovel handle and slammed it straight down!

Qing Zong's foot landed squarely on the shovel handle, missing his kick entirely, whereupon he immediately bent forward and swept his sword toward Lu Ye's lower body.

Lu Ye simply leaped high into the air, dodging the sword while shooting nearly ten meters straight up.

Suspended upside down in mid-air, head pointing down and legs pointing up, he gripped the shovel and brought it smashing down toward the top of Qing Zong's head.

Qing Zong held the hilt in his right hand and supported the blade with his left, horizontally blocking the sword above his head to take Lu Ye's descending shovel strike head-on.

Clang!

A deafening crash rang out.

The tip of the shovel struck dead center on the blade, bending Qing Zong's long sword into an arc.

Unfortunately, the long sword held firm; instead of breaking, it acted like a fully tensioned spring, bouncing Lu Ye right back up into the sky.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Lu Ye spun the shovel handle alternately with both hands, whipping up circles of afterimages like helicopter rotor blades as he curved through mid-air to land behind Qing Zong.

Qing Zong turned around in time, pointing his long sword diagonally toward the sky as he locked onto Lu Ye's landing spot.

Swish!

This time, Qing Zong proactively pushed off the ground and leaped upward, attempting to intercept and kill Lu Ye in mid-air!

"Well timed!"

The rotation of the shovel handle ceased instantly as he gripped it with both hands and delivered a heavy downward chop from top to bottom, landing squarely on Qing Zong's head.

Boom!

Qing Zong plummeted instantly to the ground, stamping two footprints several centimeters deep into the marble floor. He had underestimated the sheer power of Lu Ye's heavy downward chop!

Staring at Lu Ye, who had landed lightly in front of him, he asked in astonishment, "The internal art you practice isn't the Tai Chi Mental Skill?"

While the Tai Chi Mental Skill was undoubtedly a supreme internal cultivation method, its characteristic was that of gentleness harboring strength; it could never erupt with such violent and fierce force.

Lu Ye nodded noncommittally, then straightened the shovel and thrust it toward Qing Zong's chest.

Qing Zong flicked his long sword upward in an attempt to deflect the shovel, but Lu Ye suddenly executed a split while spinning 360 degrees, and the long handle of the shovel swept across Qing Zong's lower body after a full rotation.

Thud!

Caught completely off guard, Qing Zong tumbled forward and fell heavily to his knees, facing directly toward Cheng Qimeng...