BAM!

His strength could uproot mountains, his might could overwhelm the world.

The crowd watched as Chu Lingguang swung the Demon-Horned Bull through the air and slammed it against the stone wall. Although he had made great use of the technique of Borrowing Strength, the sight of a single man hurling a lesser Great Demon more than ten times his own size was still unbelievably shocking.

Many were left gaping in astonishment. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

WHOOSH!

Chu Lingguang pressed his advantage.

He unleashed a continuous barrage of Iron Mountain Fist strikes on the Demon-Horned Bull’s head.

He was determined to defeat the Demon-Horned Bull in one fell swoop.

"Go!"

Xia Tianzhong and the others followed close behind, their Saber Techniques slashing and Spear Techniques blasting away. Even if the Demon-Horned Bull had a hide of bronze and bones of iron, it couldn’t withstand such a pummeling from the group.

Especially since it was already injured.

Having both its ears severed seemed to have damaged a critical nerve, causing its Qi Power to diminish severely. It simply couldn’t endure their relentless assault.

BOOM!

Finally, Chu Lingguang used a single move—the Iron Mountain Fist Descending Technique—and struck the Demon-Horned Bull between the eyes. The powerful Fist Force, enhanced by the power of the Divine Image, possessed incredible penetrative strength. The Demon-Horned Bull collapsed to the ground, knocked unconscious on the spot.

WHOOSH!

Several figures shot toward the stone platform inside the cave at top speed. In that moment, the bottle of Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid seemed to shine with exceptional brilliance in everyone’s eyes.

Xia Tianzhong, Xu Kanghui, Long Xin, and even Zhao Rushuang and the three other students who had barely managed to hang on—all of them now used every last ounce of their strength to charge for the stone platform.

Although it was Chu Lingguang who had heavily injured the Demon-Horned Bull and helped everyone break through its defense, the rules were crystal clear: whoever got the Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid first, owned it.

Faced with such a great temptation, how could they just let Chu Lingguang have it?

Chu Lingguang knew the rules too, but the Demon-Horned Bull had held a grudge against him. He’d tried to shake it off several times but couldn’t, leaving him with no choice but to take it down.

Now, finding himself at the back of the pack, he was also frantic.

He wished he could blast all his power from the soles of his feet, leap over everyone, and charge to the very front. If the Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid fell into someone else’s hands, he’d die of frustration.

However, the three of them were too fast.

It was too late for Chu Lingguang. He could only watch as they reached the stone platform ahead of him.

Xia Tianzhong was in the lead, his hand reaching for the Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid.

But his hand froze in place, about a meter away from the liquid.

Next was Zhao Rushuang.

As a Commandery Princess, she had practiced Body Technique Martial Arts since she was young. Her agility was on par with, if not greater than, Long Xin’s.

If Xia Tianzhong hadn’t been a step ahead, she might have been the first to arrive. Her slender, fair hand also shot out toward the Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid, but it too froze a little over a meter away. No matter how she struggled, it seemed she couldn’t break through the invisible barrier.

Then came Long Xin and Xu Kanghui, and they met the same fate; their hands froze just over a meter away. One of the remaining three students was smarter and circled around to the back of the platform, but his hand froze two meters from the liquid.

The other two were the same.

None of them could touch the Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid.

Chu Lingguang had been about to resign himself to his bad luck, but upon seeing this, he hurried forward despite his confusion.

HUMMM!

A peculiar ripple emanated from the stone platform.

Chu Lingguang’s Spiritual Sense had evolved, allowing him to see this ripple clearly. It seemed this was the culprit preventing Xia Tianzhong and the others from reaching the Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid.

The Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid was right in front of him. Chu Lingguang had no reason to pass it up.

He quickly reached out his hand.

The ripple surged toward him.

Flames of war raged, the earth cracked open, and an abyss threatened to swallow him whole. Chu Lingguang felt as if he had been transported to an endless hell, trapped in a small world just like Xia Tianzhong and the others, unable to break free.

But the illusion lasted for only a moment before vanishing.

Chu Lingguang’s hand successfully grasped the Jade Bottle, taking the Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid from the stone platform.

He had already experienced a Consciousness Attack when he cut down the Dragon Claw Tree. Now, with his evolved Spiritual Sense and the Qi Vortex whistling in his Sea of Consciousness, an ordinary Consciousness Attack couldn’t affect him at all.

The ripple from the stone platform only caused him a few moments of illusion. Chu Lingguang didn’t get trapped in it. When he had successfully cut down the Dragon Claw Tree, his Mental Realm had already undergone a transformation. He wouldn’t easily give rise to a Heart Demon, much less be so easily defeated by a Consciousness Attack.

As for Xia Tianzhong and the others, despite their privileged backgrounds and abundant resources, they had never experienced a Consciousness Attack. Their families would never let them face such a risk before they had located their Sea of Consciousness and formed their Spiritual Sense.

Chu Lingguang, in contrast, had far fewer cultivation resources, but his Heart Guarding Skill was superb. Facing the Consciousness Attack from the Dragon Claw Tree, he had met the challenge head-on. Not only did his Mental Realm transform, but his Spiritual Sense could now form a defense.

Previously, the Demon-Horned Bull’s special ripple could make people dizzy and disoriented, even causing splitting headaches. Even Xia Tianzhong and the others felt their temples throb, but Chu Lingguang had been completely unaffected.

Now, although the stone platform’s Consciousness Attack also brought him illusions and disturbances to his Mental Realm, Chu Lingguang was able to overcome it much more easily than Xia Tianzhong and the others.

He had obtained the Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid almost effortlessly.

Watching the others still firmly restricted by the platform’s ripple, trapped deep in the Illusion Realm and unable to free themselves, Chu Lingguang felt the warmth of the Jade Bottle and had a surreal, dreamlike sensation.

’If Du Wushuang hadn’t asked me to help cut down a Dragon Claw Tree back then, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get this bottle of Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid today.’

’I never would have received a huge amount of Favor Points at the last minute, allowing me to advance the Zhenyuan Technique to Perfection, form my Dantian Qi Sea, and reach the Qi Sea Minor Achievement realm.’

’Nor would I have been able to capture those three responses under the Dragon Claw Tree, successfully unlocking the fifth-level Dharma Aspect, evolving my bloodline, and transforming my True Dragon Power.’