With a sudden, forceful thrust, Zou Feng sent the poison dragon lunging toward Li Dingjie amidst roars of irrepressible fury.

"Huh!?"

A look of surprise crossed Li Dingjie’s face. He clearly hadn’t expected Zou Feng to stop using the poison dragon for defense.

Instead, he ignored the spiritual swords that had yet to dissipate, recklessly commanding the poison dragon to attack him.

’Is he... trying to trade injury for injury?’

"You’re courting death!"

’Trying to trade injury for injury? He’s clearly underestimating the power of my Twenty-four Swords!’

Li Dingjie’s anger flared. Since this whelp was courting death, he would be happy to oblige.

He instantly channeled his Sword Formulas again, intending to make the four spiritual swords explode and form an "Endless Sword Prison."

But unexpectedly, the moment he exerted his strength, his body inexplicably trembled and he broke into a cold shiver.

The shivering was one thing, but the real problem was the wave of exhaustion that washed over his entire body right after.

He hadn’t experienced this sensation in a long time—only back when his Martial Dao had yet to enter the True Qi Realm, from times he had spent too long in a brothel.

But that wasn’t the end of it. After the exhaustion came a wave of agitation and restlessness.

He could clearly feel a craving, a desperate need to eat something to relieve this urgent, irritable feeling.

But as for what, exactly, he needed to eat to find relief, he was utterly clueless.

The next moment, the poison dragon descended and swallowed him whole.

At the same instant, the spiritual swords surrounding Zou Feng also exploded, and countless flashes of sword light engulfed him.

It all happened so fast that, for a moment, most people in the audience couldn’t tell who had gained the upper hand.

Still, a good number of people wore grim, ashen expressions.

Among them, naturally, was Lu Guanghua, who was hovering in the air.

Just a moment ago, he had clearly seen that Li Dingjie’s moves, and the final Sword Formulas he had unleashed, were both lacking their full power.

’What in the world is that idiot doing!?’

’His condition was clearly perfect, everything had reached its pinnacle for his current level. Don’t tell me he’s still underestimating his opponent?’

Lu Guanghua started to get nervous. In order to be Li Dingjie’s sole sponsor and ride his coattails to success, he had bet his entire fortune.

He had already spent a tremendous amount, not to mention he had placed a huge bet on top of it all.

If not for the bookmakers, who—out of various concerns—were unwilling to accept an all-in bet from a True Disciple, Lu Guanghua probably would have had to wager even the underwear he wore, which was nourished daily by Spiritual Qi.

But even though he still had some assets left, if he lost this bet...

Lu Guanghua shook his head hard. He didn’t dare to even think about the consequences.

’Don’t panic. It’s just a minor slip-up, nothing to worry about!’

’Have to trust in True Monarch Tianyan...’

Elsewhere, Mu Wanrou, who had borrowed two hundred thousand Immortal Fate points to place her bet, wore the exact same expression as Lu Guanghua.

Her inner thoughts were also much the same, as she desperately tried to convince herself not to panic.

The Dao Discussion Platform was protected by various arrays, ensuring that no energy, poisonous gas, or the like would leak out.

Thus, the clash between their Big Moves didn’t affect the nearby spectators.

Nor would it cause the Dao Discussion Platform to collapse or suffer any damage.

The smoke from the clash of their Big Moves quickly dissipated, but the scene that followed did not obey the trope where a smokescreen means no real harm was done.

Both men were injured, and they looked to be in a sorry state.

Zou Feng’s Martial Attire had been shredded by Sword Qi. He simply ripped it off, leaving him bare-chested with only a pair of equally damaged pants remaining.

As for Li Dingjie, his hair, once neatly combed under a tall crown, was now scorched into a style resembling a bad tin foil perm.

He also looked as if he were drunk, his body swaying and stumbling unsteadily.

After a moment, Zou Feng was the first to catch his breath. Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he lunged toward Li Dingjie.

Seeing this, Li Dingjie hastily sniffled back a dangling string of snot, formed the Sword Pointing sign, materialized a spiritual sword, and engaged Zou Feng in close-quarters combat.

The reason they suddenly resorted to close combat was, of course, because they had both just unleashed Big Moves that took all their strength. Their Spiritual Qi was almost completely depleted—at the point of running on empty—and couldn’t possibly be recovered so quickly.

Furthermore, once on the Dao Discussion Platform, the rules forbade taking any more Pills. Thus, they could only engage in physical combat.

For Zou Feng, this was a situation he couldn’t have asked for.

He already excelled at close combat, and the longer the fight dragged on, the more of an advantage his Poison Skill would have.

To say nothing of the fact that Li Dingjie’s "pill addiction" was flaring up; his condition would only get progressively worse.

"Heheheh... The Reincarnated Sword Emperor? Is this all you are?"

It wasn’t long into their melee before Zou Feng had firmly gained the upper hand. Li Dingjie, dizzy and unsteady, had only enough strength left to parry.

So, naturally, Zou Feng decided to use his words to deal a second, psychological blow.

"I’ll kill you... I have to kill you! AHHHHH..." Li Dingjie’s condition was already deteriorating, and this taunt made him lose what little composure he had left.

"Your Sword Skill is an utter mess!"

Before the words had even left his mouth, Zou Feng slammed a palm into Li Dingjie’s chest.

"PTUI—" A mouthful of foul blood sprayed out, and Li Dingjie stumbled back a full five steps before he could steady himself.

He didn’t collapse. A powerful will to survive allowed him to temporarily overcome the "pill addiction," and he aimed his spiritual sword at Zou Feng.

But anyone could see that Li Dingjie was a spent force.

"No... no..." Lu Guanghua clutched his head, his eyes filled with shocked, agonized denial.

Even though Li Dingjie hadn’t collapsed and was still fighting desperately against Zou Feng, still...

As for those who had bet heavily on Li Dingjie to win, a wave of despairing howls had already erupted.

The bolder ones even started furiously cursing True Monarch Tianyan.

"A ’great’ prediction! Don’t bother making any more!"

"That third eye of his looks intimidating, but it’s completely useless! Might as well gouge it out and feed it to the dogs!"

"Even the damn dogs wouldn’t eat it!"

On the Dao Discussion Platform, the two exchanged dozens more blows. Zou Feng couldn’t even be bothered to dodge Li Dingjie’s feeble spiritual sword attacks anymore, simply taking them head-on.

"Too slow, too light, too weak!"

"With a Sword Skill this weak, how do you even have the nerve to call yourself a cultivator?"

"Reincarnated Sword Emperor? Reincarnated Dog Emperor!" With that, he landed a resounding slap across Li Dingjie’s face.

The stinging slap, while painful, actually shocked Li Dingjie into a brief moment of clarity.

He knew that if this continued, he had no hope of survival. He made a decisive choice, burning his own life force and consuming his vital essence for one last, desperate struggle.

"AHHHHH—" His Sword Qi flared once more. He was risking it all!

Seeing this, hope was rekindled in the eyes of Lu Guanghua, Mu Wanrou, and others like them.

The spectators instinctively held their breath, their gazes fixed, waiting to see how Li Dingjie would counterattack.

"PFFFT—"

Following the strange yet distinct sound, a bizarre silence fell over the entire scene.

When one’s pill addiction flared up, and all sorts of side effects were running rampant, the harder one tried to exert themself... the more likely they were to let loose a fart!

Li Dingjie was utterly dumbfounded, standing frozen on the spot.

He wasn’t dead, but he might as well have been.

Zou Feng, however, flashed forward, grabbed Li Dingjie’s neck with one hand, and lifted him into the air.

"Looks like you admit it yourself..."

"The Reincarnated Sword Emperor is just a fart!"

With that said, he began to channel his power to use "Poisonous Bite" and finish Li Dingjie off for good.

"Stop!!"

A deafening roar shook the very ground and mountains.

By now, Lu Guanghua had flown as close to the Dao Discussion Platform as he could get, blocked by the Array’s barrier—which at this point only permitted exit, not entry—and it was he who had let out that hysterical cry.

Zou Feng turned to look at him and sneered, "Lu Zhenchuan, are you planning to break the rules of the Dao Discussion Platform?"

In truth, he was hoping Lu Guanghua would break the rules. If that happened, the powerful experts secretly observing the duel would surely not sit idly by.

"Zou Feng, you’ve won..." Lu Guanghua said dejectedly.

But then his eyes sharpened. "We are fellow disciples. Winning the duel is enough. There’s no need to take the life of a prodigy like Li Dingjie."

"Spare Li Dingjie, and I will publicly promise and sign a contract to never oppose you in the future."

"Otherwise..." Here, Lu Guanghua’s expression turned so sinister it was as if he wanted to devour someone whole. He enunciated each word with chilling finality: "I—will—hunt—you—to—the—death!"

For a True Disciple to make such a venomous vow against an Inner Sect Disciple was truly unheard of.

’Now this is a problem...’

However, Zou Feng showed no sign of hesitation whatsoever.

"Are you done?"

"You..." A bad premonition struck Lu Guanghua.

CRACK!

Li Dingjie’s head lolled to the side, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle.

The next moment, the poison erupted. Ghastly green toxic flames instantly engulfed Li Dingjie’s body.