Old Hong attacked for real, not faking at all. He directly used the Primordial Energy that only Martial Emperors possessed.

“Pu ci!” The cultivator in beast skin flew back while vomiting blood. Then, he landed in the pond outside the pavilion, sending water splashing out. After that, he did not come out, his fate uncertain.

When the others saw this scene, they felt a chill down their spines. At the same time, they were angry. Old Hong was a bona fide Martial Emperor, yet he attacked without even saying a word.

Xiao Chen felt rather fortunate. Luckily, he had remained cautious. Otherwise, even if he could receive this sudden attack, he would still have been in for a bad time. Seeing the cultivator in beast skin not come out of the water, he even rejoiced at the latter’s misfortune. After all, that person had taken the lead in mocking him earlier.

Old Hong said indifferently, “Don’t curse me in your hearts. He won’t die; I held back. There are too many uncertain dangers in the Distant Sea Dragon Grave. Those dragon grave guards will not greet you before attacking. If you are not confident of your reaction, you can withdraw now.”

The many half-step Martial Emperors remained silent for a while. After thinking about Old Hong’s words, they felt that he made sense.

“Let me try!”

After a while, a middle-aged man with burn scars on his face stepped forward. This time, he was prepared. The moment he stood up, he circulated all his Law Energy. Furthermore, he activated the peak King Grade Secret Treasure he wore.

Old Hong did not say anything. Like before, he used that seemingly simple but powerful palm strike that could shatter a mountain.

There was another loud, dull thud. Everyone could see tears appear in space where the palm connected, spreading out like a spiderweb.

The middle-aged man took ten steps back. With every step he took, he vomited a mouthful of blood. After ten steps, he fell to one knee and wobbled, turning frighteningly pale.

Just when it looked like that cultivator would go down, using only his strong willpower, he gritted his teeth and roared, forcing himself back to his feet.

Xiao Chen felt shocked when he saw this. What kind of perseverance did this person have for him to stand back up from a kneeling position?

“You pass.”

Old Hong was true to his word. It did not matter whether these people lost all their combat prowess. As long as they could stand, he let them pass.

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man with burn scars on his face heaved a sigh of relief and toppled over.

The test continued. Every time Old Hong attacked, he used thirty percent of his strength, no more and no less.

There were people who could not get up after being pushed to their knees, and there were people got blasted away by the palm strike and fell into the pond, following in the footsteps of the man in beast skin.

The Martial Emperors at the side remained cold and expressionless. They felt nothing for the kneeling half-step Martial Emperors clenching their teeth and holding on.

Xiao Chen watched as the half-step Martial Emperors step forward one after another. His heart turned cold, and he no longer had that sense of schadenfreude.

Before advancing to Martial Emperor, one would just be like pigs or dogs before certain people.

After the twenty-odd people were tested, only six passed. The passing rate was far less than half.

Now, only Xiao Chen remained untested. Everyone focused their gaze on him. Old Hong glanced at him before saying indifferently, “You can leave. I will not lower the standards just because you are a Consummation quasi-Emperor. If I killed you by mistake, this old man would get a bad reputation for bullying juniors. I will end up being laughed at by the people in my circle.”

This was simply blatant despisal. It was not because of mercy that the Martial Emperor did not want to kill Xiao Chen; he just feared to gain a bad reputation.

Xiao Chen felt a sense of defeat. Even though he stood proudly above those of his generation, he was still like an ant before a Martial Emperor.

However, he had never been someone to succumb to setbacks. He never wavered on his road to reach the peak.

“There is no need. Senior, please launch your palm strike,” the masked Xiao Chen said as he looked directly at the other party. As he stepped forward, he did not lower his head or bend his back.

Pride flowed in Xiao Chen’s chest. Everyone has their own dignity. Even if you are a Martial Emperor, I will not cower in fear and lower myself.

At this moment, in a situation where so many half-step Martial Emperors had fallen to the ground, unable to get up, Xiao Chen still dared to step forward in a neither-servile-nor-arrogant manner. This surprised many people.

Several people still lying on the ground were impressed. They wondered where this mysterious masked youth got such strong confidence.

A strange light flashed in Old Hong’s eyes. He felt displeased in his heart as he said coldly, “You are seeking this yourself. If you end up dying from my palm strike, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

Xiao Chen smiled and retorted, “If I die, how can I blame you? Senior, just make your move if you want to.”

The moment Xiao Chen said that, some of the half-step Martial Emperors on the ground treating their injuries laughed despite themselves. Under such circumstances, he was still in the mood to ridicule another. They truly did not know how to describe such a youth.

“In that case, I’ll grant you your wish!”

Old Hong snorted coldly and made his move quickly. This seemingly simple palm strike was quite swift, reaching Xiao Chen’s chest at lightning speed.

Xiao Chen squinted. The moment the other party moved, he saw that the other party did indeed use only ten strands of Primordial Energy. However, every strand was pure and dense, containing a fire attribute.

Xiao Chen immediately started thinking rapidly.

Ten strands of Primordial Energy. Xiao Chen happened to have ten strands of Primordial Energy as well. If he used them all, he could easily block this palm strike. However, that would reveal that his Primordial Energy trump card.

His physical body already attained the level of a half-step Golden Body. If he materialized the Azure Dragon Battle Armor, his defense could rival an ordinary Martial Emperor’s Golden Emperor Body.

However, Xiao Chen could not materialize the Azure Dragon Battle Armor because Yi Ling would recognize it immediately. Back then, Yi Ling had seen the Azure Dragon Battle Armor when Xiao Chen fought against the Myriad Fiend Island’s Di Xinhan. It would be impossible for Yi Ling not to recognize it.

I have to think of a way to deal with this without exposing my Azure Dragon Battle Armor or my Primordial Energy.

In that case, I can only do this.

Xiao Chen revealed a determined gaze and did something that no one expected. He stepped forward again and suddenly punched at Old Hong’s palm strike, which used only thirty percent of Old Hong’s strength.

That was right. When facing a First Heaven Martial Emperor, he chose to attack as a means of defense.

When Xiao Chen punched, he brought out the twenty Dragon Force in his body. Dragons roared ferociously, sounding like rushing thunder. Strands of dragon-shaped energy surged out wildly in the small pavilion.

The berserk punch struck Old Hong’s palm. It was like punching an immovable mountain. He did not budge at all; his palm simply continued towards Xiao Chen’s body.

The dragon roars coming from Xiao Chen’s body stopped. The dragon-shaped energy circling his body also scattered, turning into a strong berserk wind as it spread into the surroundings.

Xiao Chen vomited a mouthful of blood as he took a step back. As he looked at Old Hong, whose stance and sneer had not changed, he roared ferociously, “Again!”

Xiao Chen sent out another punch against that plain palm strike and got forced back once more, suffering additional injury from the force of the rebound.

Injury piled upon injury. This time, Xiao Chen vomited more than twice the amount of blood he did previously. The two punches he had thrown appeared to have no effect. Old Hong’s palm strike did not pause or change at all. However, its aura weakened slightly. Still, it continued to press towards Xiao Chen quickly.

“Again!”

Xiao Chen clenched his teeth. Under his mask, he frowned heavily. Then, he regathered twenty Dragon Force and punched that palm once more.

Rumbling sounds rang out nonstop. Every time Xiao Chen stepped back, he vomited a mouthful of blood. At the same time, he would throw another punch, putting in effort that others thought was useless.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Chen had moved ten steps back. The entire mountain manor trembled and shook as he roared. However, this mountain manor was rather extraordinary, possessing puissant restrictions. Otherwise, the pavilion would have already collapsed from the first test.

“This fellow!”

Everyone’s expression turned serious. Surprise flashed in all the half-step Martial Emperors’ eyes, regardless of whether they had failed or passed.

They were surprised to discover that as Xiao Chen punched, the aura of Old Hong’s palm strike weakened distinctly.

From the seventh punch, Old Hong’s palm strike started to pause visibly.

However, the price was rather heavy as well. With every punch, the masked youth’s injuries became more severe. After nine punches, his injuries layered over each other. No one knew what the results would be like.

This was indeed a method to deal with the palm strike. However, the others absolutely would not have dared to try it.

“Bang!”

Xiao Chen threw another punch. He had already gotten pushed back to the edge of the pavilion. Relying on his determination, he sent out this final punch.

Twenty Dragon Force surged in his body. Dragon-shaped energy quickly circled around in the pond, caused waves to surge up.

This time, the dragon roars coming from Xiao Chen’s body did not stop. The twenty dragon-shaped strands of energy behind him did not scatter, roaring unbridledly.

All this was because Old Hong’s palm strike had run out of power!

Strong winds howled, and dragon roars rang out endlessly. Xiao Chen’s punch forcefully stopped the palm strike that had no more strength. Then, it pushed the other party back by one step.

Old Hong felt shocked and angry. He wanted to throw another palm strike and kill this obstinate youth before him.

However, he recalled that there were many people watching him. Furthermore, he had already said that he would only send out one palm strike and use only thirty percent of his strength.

So, he withdrew in frustration, stepping back.

Old Hong looked at Xiao Chen for three seconds. However, Xiao Chen did not fall over. Finally, he said coldly with some dissatisfaction, “Very good. You passed.”

The place fell quiet; even the birds did not make a peep. No one had expected Xiao Chen to pass the test. Furthermore, he used his strength to push back Old Hong, whose palm strike had run out of power, by one small step. Although Old Hong was definitely not injured, he—a Martial Emperor—had gotten forced back by a Consummation quasi-Emperor.

If this matter were to spread, it would cause a huge commotion, shocking everyone.

The more important thing was that Xiao Chen remained standing all the while. As for the rest, whether they passed the test or not, after receiving the palm strike, they ended up kneeling. Either they fell over and could not get up, or they clenched their teeth and stood up.

Xiao Chen had not knelt at all, from the very beginning until the end. It did not matter that he was clearly severely injured.

The expressions of these people would have been very interesting had they known that Xiao Chen could have received this palm strike with just light injuries if he wanted to.

Xiao Chen scattered his strong Vital Qi. The dragons stopped roaring, and the strong winds stopped blowing. He used his Spiritual Sense to check the injuries of his body. His internal organs had all torn; cracks even appeared in several of his meridians.

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