Chapter 4479 — Let Me Try

It was not only the crowd below the ring—even Wu Baoliang, standing opposite, was momentarily taken aback. He had claimed to be holding back, but that Wild Sand Thousand Explosions Fist had in fact been unleashed at no less than seventy percent of its power, enough to finish off a seasoned cultivator in the early Nascent Soul stage, let alone a mere mid-Foundation Establishment one.

Even knowing full well that his opponent was no ordinary mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, Wu Baoliang reckoned that this Ling Yi, if not dead, would surely be gravely wounded. He might be able to drag himself onto the ring, but how could he still look so calm and confident? Was the fellow some kind of stage performer, able to keep up the act without a single flaw even at a moment like this?

Wu Baoliang could not help but grow suspicious, wondering whether Wei Zhao was merely putting on an elaborate bluff—though not a flicker of it showed on his face.

"Spare your life? Heh heh heh heh—boy, where does that confidence of yours come from? Whether I spare you or not rests entirely on my whim. Kill you, and I can still challenge the Qingtian Escort Agency and collect my points just the same. Or do you fancy that someone could stop me?" Wu Baoliang sneered with contempt.

"There is. Me," Wei Zhao said with a serious nod.

The words had scarcely landed when the crowd below erupted in laughter, and Wu Baoliang himself doubled over, roaring as though he had just heard the joke of the century, unable to straighten up for a long while.

He had just been beaten black and blue moments ago, and now, in the blink of an eye, he had the nerve to declare with a straight face that he could stop him. The boy's hide was thick beyond belief!

"Amusing! Truly amusing!" Wu Baoliang cackled, flinging a finger at Wei Zhao. "Then stake your life and try to stop me. This time, I will not hold back in the slightest!"

"All right. Let me try," Wei Zhao said with a faint smile.

At the presiding judge's command, the second duel between them began in earnest—and this time, it was Wu Baoliang who struck first.

Billowing black qi once more surged forth. Wu Baoliang had no intention of tangling with Wei Zhao; from the very start he unleashed his ultimate move, and the onrushing black qi and frenzied sand swallowed Wei Zhao whole in an instant. The scene was an exact repeat of the one before.

Qi Wenmo and the others felt their hearts clench. They believed in Wei Zhao and had faith in his strength, but faced with such ferocious power from Wu Baoliang, they could not help but worry.

Amid the black qi and frenzied sand, Wei Zhao's first response was just as before—dodging and weaving without pause, nimbly evading the pursuing torrents of savage sand.

Watching this, Wu Baoliang burst into cackling laughter once more. He had assumed the fellow had devised some clever counter to break his Wild Sand Thousand Explosions Fist, which was why he had seemed so confident—turns out there was no change at all.

Against his Wild Sand Thousand Explosions Fist, unless one was a cultivator whose strength far surpassed his and could shatter it head-on through sheer overwhelming force, any clever trick was merely courting death. However exquisite one's movement arts, could one truly evade so many raging torrents of sand? Even if one escaped for a time, could one escape forever?

This was, after all, a fighting ring—there was only so much room to dodge. Beset and cornered by so many savage sand torrents, ending up trapped in the sand vortex was inevitable. Wei Zhao's experience in the previous round was a living cautionary tale. This time would be no exception.

Wei Zhao, however, seemed utterly oblivious, still struggling to dodge. Thanks to his earlier experience, he was noticeably more adept at evading this time, holding out longer amid the black qi and frenzied sand—but alas, it was all in vain in the end.

Amid Wu Baoliang's malicious cackling, Wei Zhao was once again caught in the sand vortex. By the previous round's pattern, the greatest crisis was now upon him—and this time Wu Baoliang had no intention of holding back whatsoever.

"Go to hell—detonate!" Wu Baoliang barked out a cold cry, and the sand vortex swirling around Wei Zhao abruptly froze in place, as though time itself had stopped; then every grain of yellow sand began to tremble violently, bursting one after another in a frantic race.

Wei Zhao had felt it firsthand—each exploding grain of fine yellow sand carried a force comparable to high-powered explosives of the mortal world. And the grains bursting now numbered not merely thousands upon thousands, but far beyond.

Judged on that alone, the name "Wild Sand Thousand Explosions Fist" was already a model of humility and understatement.

A relentless cascade of thunderous booms once again jolted the nerves of everyone present. They craned their necks, waiting for Wei Zhao to be blasted out of the ring once more, and those with a shred of compassion had already begun silently mourning him.

Yet the expected sight of Wei Zhao did not appear for a long, long while. The crowd fell to murmuring—judging by the display, this round was even worse than the last; he must have been blasted to nothing, not even bones left behind.

But just then, upon the ring shrouded in black qi and frenzied sand, a colossal blaze of firelight suddenly shot skyward, dazzling the whole arena in an instant and leaving the crowd momentarily blinded and dazed.

What was going on? The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, while Wu Baoliang's expression abruptly changed—something was wrong!

"Damn it, he's not dead?" Wu Baoliang finally grasped what was happening, his face turning exceedingly ugly. Without hesitation he once more commanded the black qi to whip up a sky full of yellow sand; the Wild Sand Thousand Explosions Fist surged forth again, hurtling straight at the heart of that towering blaze.

Thunderous booms rang on without cease, the ground shook and the mountains trembled, and the whole of the Moleng Plaza seemed cloaked in catastrophe. For a time, everyone's expression changed, seized by panic.

No one knew what was actually happening on the ring, but a handful of keen-eyed observers—Qi Mingyuan, Hai Wuliang, Zhao Shanying—could already guess from that towering blaze holding its own against Wu Baoliang's sky-high black qi that Wei Zhao had not been defeated as easily as last time, and was about to launch a counterattack.

Sure enough, the black qi and frenzied sand Wu Baoliang raised this time were no longer irresistible; they were forcibly halted by that towering blaze, unable to advance a single inch.

And that was not all—the towering blaze was still swelling at a furious pace. In but a brief moment, it already occupied half the ring opposite Wu Baoliang's black qi and frenzied sand, the two sides evenly matched!

This time Wu Baoliang was finally stricken with alarm. Within that massive blaze across from him, he caught the faint, flickering silhouette of Wei Zhao, radiant and dazzling as a fire god descended to the world, filling all who beheld it with involuntary awe.

Wu Baoliang saw it—and so did the whole crowd below. Gasps of shock burst forth, an uproar swept through the stands, and hearts quailed in astonishment!

What on earth was going on? (2nd update) (To be continued) R655