Ling Yu threw a single punch. A hundred majestic dragon-elephant divine forms erupted from his fist shadow in a torrent.

Each dragon-elephant carried an overwhelming presence and boundless strength. The sheer momentum of a hundred of them charging together made the power of this strike self-evident. Within a hundred li around them, the void was nearly shattered into black holes by that one blow.

Yet directly facing it, Ye Chen remained utterly calm. He even had the leisure to nod slightly and offer a casual remark: "Not bad."

In the next instant, Ye Chen extended a single finger. He neither dodged nor evaded—he simply pointed straight toward the oncoming fist.

Ling Yu narrowed his eyes. He did not feel belittled by Ye Chen's gesture. Because the moment that finger extended, something deep within his bloodline began to tremble. When he had first sensed Ye Chen earlier, his hair had stood on end—he had thought he already understood the danger.

But now, truly clashing with him, Ling Yu finally grasped just how terrifying Ye Chen was. So this was the caliber of a top prodigy in the cultivation world? At the Half-Saint realm, he could unleash such horrifying power.

Still, Ling Yu clenched his teeth. His vital energy surged even more violently. Beyond cultivating the Martial Ancestor's immortal scripture, he had also mastered the supreme Buddhist body-tempering scripture of the Extreme Martial Realm: the Dragon-Elephant Prison-Suppressing Sutra!

Every bone in his body had been tempered to near dao-weapon hardness. His physical strength had reached the level of a hundred dragon-elephants. All of it had come at the cost of his family's endless effort and resources. He had to become an immortal and repay them. How could he lose here!

Ling Yu let out a roar that shook the nine heavens. His blood energy boiled so fiercely that its golden hue even shifted toward crimson. The hundred dragon-elephants grew more solid, joining his roar—their momentum surging another thirty percent stronger than before. He was certain: this punch could fell most saints, let alone a mere Half-Saint.

Yet in the following moment—Ye Chen's finger collided with Ling Yu's fist. For a single breath, the world seemed to fall eerily silent. Then, endless chaotic currents erupted.

From fist to forearm, Ling Yu's arm exploded outward. Revealing golden bones beneath, gleaming like divine metal—unbreakable. Yet even those bones now bore countless fine cracks. His entire body shot backward like a cannonball, smashing into the distant earth and kicking up endless dust clouds.

Yan Qingcheng watched the scene and raised an eyebrow in surprise. A flicker of shock passed through her pupils. She had seen recordings of Ye Chen's previous battles. From the scale of destruction, she had assumed his combat power might surpass hers slightly, but only by a limited margin. Whatever he could do, she believed she could match—perhaps not quite as cleanly, but close enough.

Yet, witnessing it firsthand today, Yan Qingcheng realized the truth. She likely possessed only seventy percent of Ye Chen's strength. The realization stirred a trace of unwillingness in her heart. Though she felt deep guilt toward him, her competitive spirit burned just as fiercely. In the future, she must surpass Ye Chen!

Still, that ambition did not waver her resolve to return the Heavenly Emperor Hall to him. The path of the Heavenly Emperor was not suited to a Chaos Body. She had her own road to walk.

Meanwhile, Dantai Xuan—who had been rejected by Ye Chen earlier—watched the exchange with calm, narrowed eyes, studying his back as though lost in thought.

…

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When the dust finally settled, Ling Yu slowly rose from the massive crater. The cracks on his golden bones were rapidly mending. New flesh regrew in the blink of an eye. His vigorous blood energy showed no sign of weakening. His eyes were filled with sheer disbelief.

In the Extreme Martial Realm, he had always crushed opponents with raw power—even slaying across realms. Yet today, a cultivator of the same realm had sent him flying with a single finger? If word of this reached the Extreme Martial Realm, it would shake the entire place to its core. An opponent like this was simply despair-inducing.

Ye Chen looked at Ling Yu with a touch of genuine surprise. "Your physique is quite impressive… but that's enough. Stand down."

Toward someone who had shown proper courtesy, Ye Chen had no intention of pursuing a kill. When Yan Qingcheng saw this, it only confirmed her belief: all the rumors of Ye Chen being a ruthless murderer were lies. If he could so easily spare an opponent, how could he possibly be the treacherous, bloodthirsty killer the stories painted? It must all have been schemes and slander spread by her father.

…

Ling Yu did not retreat a single step. The battle intent in his eyes burned like divine flames, growing fiercer, more solemn, and utterly serious.

"Thank you for your kindness, Fellow Daoist! But I, Ling Yu, have reached this point today only after surviving countless life-and-death perils. In the Unity realm, I was once hunted relentlessly. In the First Heaven, ambushed by a King. In the Third Heaven, besieged by Half-Saints and trapped in a killing array. So I must fight again!"

"In the battle to come, I will unleash everything I have. I ask that you hold nothing back either. If I cannot become an immortal, what meaning is there in lingering as a quasi-immortal for a few extra millennia? Martial Dao Sacred Embryo—open! Mark of Martial—activate!"

Ye Chen listened quietly, and a trace of genuine respect appeared in his gaze. A cultivator who pursued the Dao with single-minded devotion yet still preserved his original heart was exceedingly rare.

In that instant, two overwhelming auras erupted. A profound Martial character imprint rose from between Ling Yu's brows, illuminating his body and bringing about mysterious, unfathomable transformations.

From his chest, endless golden light poured forth. Through the radiance, one could faintly make out a seated figure within his torso. An aura of supreme holiness and divinity surged outward, blanketing Ling Yu entirely in boundless saintly light.

In this moment, with the Martial imprint crowning his head and a sacred spirit seated in his chest, Ling Yu's black hair cascaded like a waterfall, his eyes shone like stars—he resembled a war god revived from ancient times. His entire presence had climbed several levels higher than before.

"Fellow Daoist, I'm coming!"

With those words, Ling Yu exploded into motion. Countless divine techniques from the Martial Ancestor Immortal Scripture poured forth in a torrent.

"Heaven and Earth Great Millstone…"

"Oracle Bone Diagram…"

"Eternal Divine Fist…"

"Demonic Gods Annihilated…"

"Dragon-Exterminating Hand…"

Each technique, in Ling Yu's hands, carried heaven-shaking, earth-destroying momentum.

Yet Ye Chen simply stood there calmly. No matter how the sky collapsed or the earth shattered, he remained unmoved and unshaken. He merely extended a single finger again and again.

No matter how dazzling or terrifying the divine techniques, they all fell silent the instant Ye Chen's finger touched them. And Ling Yu's ever-growing ferocity in battle was met, with every point of Ye Chen's finger, by explosive retreat. His body even detonated outright.

Finally, after the last Heaven and Earth Great Millstone was shattered by a single poke of Ye Chen's finger, Ling Yu reached his absolute limit.

The Martial imprint dimmed. The figure in his chest grew illusory, as though on the verge of falling back into slumber. He stopped struggling. The earlier vigor and confidence had vanished from his face.

He knew Ye Chen had no intention of killing him. But this defeat meant he was severed from the path to immortality. All the effort poured into him from the moment of his birth—by everyone around him—had turned to nothing. He had failed every expectation placed upon him.

As for those two top female prodigies of the cultivation world, he no longer even dared to think of them. He simply stared at Ye Chen in utter despair, forcing the words out with difficulty: "Why…? I am the greatest prodigy in the history of the Extreme Martial Realm, second only to the Martial Ancestor himself… I have created countless impossible records. Why, at the same realm as you, can I not even withstand a single one of your fingers? What meaning does the title of number one prodigy in the Extreme Martial Realm hold now?"

Ling Yu's Dao Heart was on the verge of collapse.

Ye Chen smiled at his words.

"You are indeed extraordinary. Even in the cultivation world, you would rank among the absolute top. And precisely because of that, you qualify to stand before me. Prodigy? It is merely the threshold required to meet me!"

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