At eighty, the Holy Sect's enchanting woman aided in achieving longevity.

However, given Gu Dashan's extraordinary, towering physique, resembling a small mountain, he was exceptionally robust.

If one didn't know him well, it would be impossible to imagine that he was only fifteen years old, and it would be perfectly normal to mistake him for an eighteen or nineteen-year-old adult martial artist.

Gu Canghai sighed, slowly stood up, and flicked his sleeve, saying, "This is Gu Dashan, a disciple of the True Inheritance Garden of this manor."

However, he couldn't accept the title of "senior brother" from his nephew, Li Xian. Although he was born with extraordinary bones and an exceptionally robust physique, he was only fifteen years old, the youngest disciple under the sect this year, and currently only at the Qi Refining stage.

"Fifteen years old? In the Qi Refining Stage?"

Upon hearing this, many powerful figures from various sects who were drinking at the banquet couldn't help but spit out the spirit wine in their mouths.

Li Jie, standing in the center of the arena, was also slightly taken aback, then a flash of annoyance at being fooled crossed his eyes.

"Dashan, since this prodigy from the Li family insists on sparring with you, then you should gladly step onto the stage and give it a try."

Gu Canghai turned around and solemnly instructed his son, "You are still young, and your cultivation is already lagging behind. Don't worry about winning or losing. Just do your best to use what you have learned and don't let down the spirit of the Martial Academy."

"I understand, Dad!"

Gu Dashan nodded silently and immediately stood up.

His terrifyingly large body, nearly two and a half meters tall, suddenly straightened up, casting a huge shadow that caused many sect disciples in the hall to gasp in astonishment.

Chen Changsheng raised his hand and gently patted his arm, saying in a low, serious voice, "Be careful in everything. If things don't look right, admit defeat immediately. Never be reckless and get hurt."

"Hehe, don't worry, Brother Changsheng. Although my cultivation is indeed mediocre, my skin has been soaking in medicinal wine since I was a child, so it's very tough and can withstand a lot of beatings!"

Gu Dashan grinned, appearing quite confident.

He strode into the center of the main hall, stopped in front of Li Jie, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said in a deep voice, "My name is Gu Dashan, from Class One of the Heavenly Rank, fifteen years old this year. Please enlighten me!"

Li Jie originally intended to choose an older-looking elite from the martial arts academy and trample him underfoot to demonstrate the prestige of the Li family.

But to my utter surprise, I misjudged him and selected a mere fifteen-year-old low-level trash with only the cultivation level of Qi Refining!

A sixteen-year-old versus a fifteen-year-old, a Foundation Establishment cultivator crushing a Qi Refining cultivator—even if he won this duel, it would be nothing short of a scandal that would make him a laughingstock, and it would only lower the status of the young master of the Li family!

"How embarrassing! I knew bringing such a brute-force idiot to a banquet was bound to be a disaster!"

If outsiders were to mistakenly believe that someone merely at the Qi Refining stage could be seated in the True Inheritance Academy, wouldn't that be utterly laughable!

A low murmur of mockery and disdain reached Chen Changsheng's ears.

Chen Changsheng glanced sideways at Dugu Cheng, who was not far away, with a calm expression.

He then casually withdrew his gaze and focused all his attention on Gu Dashan in the center of the arena.

Dugu Cheng, who had just been verbally abusive, suddenly felt a chill run through his body. An uncontrollable coldness shot up his tailbone and straight to the top of his head, causing him to shiver violently.

He hurriedly turned around and looked around, his heart pounding wildly.

Just a moment ago, he felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss without warning, or as if he had been stared at by a peerless venomous python that had emerged from the deepest hell.

But after looking around in bewilderment for a long time, he found nothing unusual except for the guests who were engrossed in watching the play.

The terrifying killing intent of that moment had quietly vanished.

Dugu Cheng wiped the cold sweat that had appeared on his forehead without him noticing, pretending that he was just being paranoid.

"Drink! Bear King's Stone-Shattering Fist!"

In the center of the arena, Gu Dashan roared first and launched the first attack.

He clenched his fists, his massive body leaped up, carrying an invisible, heavy sense of oppression, and slammed down fiercely towards Li Jie, with a truly overwhelming momentum.

"You dare to show off such crude and basic martial arts skills on stage? If Li Jie lets him survive three moves, he won't be able to show his face in the city anymore."

From the direction of the Li family, an older disciple sneered.

Faced with Gu Dashan's all-out attack, Li Jie didn't even flinch, nor did he adopt any stance to unleash any profound techniques.

He merely smiled dismissively, raised his right arm horizontally, and met Gu Dashan's seemingly powerful punch head-on without any fancy moves.

boom!

A dull thud of flesh colliding rang out as Gu Dashan's fists slammed into Li Jie's protective spiritual energy.

Li Jie's right arm only dipped slightly before a fierce glint appeared in his eyes. His right arm suddenly curled upwards like a scorpion awakening, transforming from a palm into a claw.

He skillfully and delicately tucked Gu Dashan's two thick arms into the crook of his own arm.

Immediately afterwards, the violent spiritual power of the first level of Foundation Establishment stage erupted!

Snap!

"Ughhhhhh!!"

"The mountains!"

Chen Changsheng's eyes turned cold, and he suddenly stood up from his seat.

With a bloodcurdling scream from Gu Dashan, his two thick arms were violently twisted and dislocated in an instant!

With a sudden, powerful swing of his arm, Li Jie sent Gu Dashan's heavy body, weighing over 300 pounds, flying more than a meter into the air.

At this point in the sparring match, the outcome was already clear: Gu Dashan suffered a crushing defeat and serious injuries in a single exchange, a complete and expected victory.

However, just as Gu Dashan's massive body was floating in mid-air and about to crash heavily to the ground, Li Jie, who had just landed, curled up a cruel, sinister smile, and the pale bone-evil energy on his right fist suddenly surged.

In that instant, Chen Changsheng saw through the other party's vicious intention to cripple his foundation, and immediately shouted, "Stop!!"

But how could the proud and arrogant genius of the Li family pay attention to the shouts of a rogue cultivator in a corner?

A merciless and devastating "Netherworld Bone-Splitting Force" slammed into Gu Dashan's unsuspecting chest and abdomen with a piercing whistle in the air!

The sickening sound of bones cracking echoed clearly throughout the deathly silent hall.

That sound meant that at least three ribs had been smashed!

"Big Mountain!!"

Chen Changsheng no longer cared about the elders' previous instructions. His figure turned into a blurry afterimage, and he caught Gu Dashan's falling body just before he crashed to the ground.

At this moment, Gu Dashan's face had turned deathly pale, blood was gushing from the corner of his mouth, and his face was contorted beyond recognition due to the intense pain.

Although he was born with a physique different from ordinary people, his protective spiritual power at the Qi Refining stage was as fragile as paper in the face of the full-force killing move of the Foundation Establishment stage, and he could not withstand such malicious damage at all.

A surge of rage instantly ignited in Chen Changsheng's dark eyes. His face turned ashen as he stared intently at Li Jie before him, his voice icy and devoid of any emotion:

"The competition was meant to be a friendly exchange, meant to be enjoyed. The outcome was already decided; why did you have to resort to such underhanded and brutal tactics?"

"Hey!"

Li Jie flicked his sleeve and let out a disdainful sneer, "Sparring is fine, but fists and feet are hard to stop and spiritual energy is blind. This is a well-known and inescapable truth."

In friendly sparring, it's not uncommon for people to accidentally injure each other and even die because they can't stop in time. Suffering a broken bone is perfectly normal.

How could I have predicted that the elite disciples of your Cangwu Martial Academy would all be as fragile as porcelain dolls in a greenhouse?

"You've only exchanged one or two blows and you're already breaking bones and coughing up blood. Instead of reflecting on your own lack of skill and weakness, you have the nerve to accuse me of being too heavy-handed?"

"Haha, Brother Li Jie is absolutely right!"

"When we spar with our fellow disciples in the sect, breaking arms and legs is a common occurrence. This is how we hone our true fighting strength."

"This official martial arts academy can't even withstand a minor injury, no wonder it's getting worse year by year, tsk tsk..."

"In my opinion, Brother Li Jie clearly held back just now. If he hadn't been merciful and stopped using three-tenths of his strength in time, that big oaf's mere Qi Refining stage protective energy would probably be dead by now, wouldn't he?"

At the seats of the major forces, led by the Li family and the Zixiao Divine Palace branch, bursts of extremely grating laughter and echoing voices immediately rang out.

The elders from the Martial Academy all looked extremely grim, but they could only clench their fists and shake their heads inwardly with sighs.

Chen Changsheng laughed in his extreme anger.

He took a deep breath and carefully carried the nearly unconscious Gu Dashan to the nearest Nangong Yue's side, saying in a deep voice, "Senior Sister Nangong, please take good care of Dashan for me."

"Okay, don't worry!"

Nangong Yue's pretty face turned cold. She quickly bent down and took out a vermilion and white spirit pill that exuded a strong vitality from her bosom, stuffing it into Gu Dashan's mouth.

When she looked up again, she found that Chen Changsheng had resolutely turned around and was walking with cold steps toward Li Jie in the center of the arena.

"What a powerful move, the power of spirit is blind."

Chen Changsheng finally stopped three feet away from Li Jie.

[System upgrade: Host's bone age has been changed to sixteen years old!]

At this moment, his previous calmness had completely vanished. Although his handsome face showed no expression, his eyes were frighteningly dark.

He stared intently at the thug who dared to maliciously slander Gu Dashan, and said calmly:

"Remember every word you just said... Now, I will be your opponent! Chen Changsheng, Class One, sixteen years old!"

boom!

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Changsheng stopped suppressing his internal energy. A pair of solid spiritual energy fluctuations, unique to the first level of the Foundation Establishment stage, swept out from his body like a storm. The purity and strength of these fluctuations even slightly surpassed that of Lin Yu from before.

"Who is this young man? At sixteen years old, he already possesses the cultivation of the first level of the Foundation Establishment stage, and the sheer depth of his spiritual power is simply unbelievable. How come I've never heard of him in the manor before?"

Upon seeing this, the high-ranking elders of the Martial Academy exchanged bewildered glances, all revealing expressions of extreme shock.

"Elders, there is no need for doubt. This child is indeed a true disciple of my Martial Academy."

However, he was exceptionally admitted to my residence this afternoon through my introduction; he is a direct descendant of one of my close, reclusive friends.

This morning I checked his bone age and it was still 80, how come he looks 16 in the blink of an eye!

Gu Canghai suppressed the shock in his heart and explained to those around him, but his brows were still filled with deep worry.

Chen Changsheng's spiritual energy was indeed amazing, but it was only comparable to Lin Yu's earlier.

Lin Yu was defeated and seriously injured in less than three moves by Li Jie. If Chen Changsheng rashly steps in, the situation will likely have no other outcome.

"Brother Changsheng... be careful! He... he uses a vicious and insidious technique, it's too powerful..."

Gu Dashan, clutching his aching chest, weakly reminded her with Nangong Yue's support.

Chen Changsheng's initiative to step forward and challenge him surprised Li Jie slightly. Then, as if he had heard the most absurd joke in the world, he burst into unrestrained laughter:

"Hahaha! Did I hear that right? Are you warning me?"

Threatening me? Trying to get revenge for that good-for-nothing?

Hahaha...hahahaha! You think you can be a nobody who just entered the manor? Hahahaha!

Li Jie's unrestrained laughter echoed throughout the hall.

He laughed for a long while before stopping, looking at Chen Changsheng with a contemptuous gaze as if looking down on an ant, and sneered:

"Tsk tsk, I really didn't expect that the Cangwu Martial Academy, which is full of cowards, is not without talent. There is actually someone in the sixteen-year-old category who can rival Lin Yu."

Such talent would make you a remarkable person in any ordinary place, but it's a pity you didn't consult the almanac before going out today, and instead ran into my hands.

"Seeing as you've had the audacity to step forward and risk your life, I'll grant you a special favor today, how about that?"

Li Jie slowly stretched out his hands, arrogantly waving them in front of Chen Changsheng, and said with a drawn-out, sinister laugh:

"Ten moves! If you, this arrogant piece of trash, can grit your teeth and endure ten moves without falling under my hand, then you'll win this sparring match. How about it?!"

"Hahahaha! Junior Brother Li Jie, you're giving this weakling from the Martial Academy way too much credit. Ten moves?"

I bet he won't even last three moves!

Another wave of uproarious laughter erupted from the Li family's side.

Liu Qianfeng, who sat high on the platform, had been observing the competition with a cold eye since it began.

Even now, he silently gazed into Chen Changsheng's deep eyes, which remained as still as an ancient pool amidst the ridicule and laughter of the room, without the slightest ripple.

His withered fingers tapped lightly on the table, a hint of surprise flashing through his mind: This young man remained calm and composed in the face of such provocation; he was no ordinary person.

"Have you finished spouting your nonsense?"

Chen Changsheng coldly interrupted the clamor of the entire room.

"Oh? Your name is... Chen Changsheng, right? Stop being so stubborn. If you want to learn from me, you can attack me anytime now. At least that way you'll have a chance to make a move."

"If I, this young master, make the first move, I'm afraid you won't even have the chance to make a move!"

Li Jie crossed his arms and sneered, his entire body riddled with flaws.

"Ha." Chen Changsheng laughed in extreme anger.

He didn't bother to say another word.

The instant Li Jie finished speaking, he took a strange step forward, his left hand outstretched into a fleshy palm, and with a straight and stiff trajectory, grabbed straight for Li Jie's throat.

"What? You don't even have a decent martial arts skill, and you're planning to just capture me like this? That's incredibly stupid!"

The mockery in Li Jie's eyes grew stronger. He didn't even bother to lift his eyelids until Chen Changsheng's left arm was less than a foot away from his face.

His right hand shot out like lightning, its five fingers hooking precisely at Chen Changsheng's outstretched left wrist!

The moment his fingertips touched Chen Changsheng's skin, a cruel, sinister smile flashed wildly across Li Jie's lips. The bone-evil spiritual power within his body surged into his palm instantly, preparing to crush Chen Changsheng's wrist bones to dust with a hidden force the instant they made contact!

however……

Just as his five fingers clenched tightly, the anticipated flesh and bone sensation in his palm suddenly turned into nothingness!

His fingertips pierced through Chen Changsheng's wrist without any resistance and gripped the air tightly!

It was actually an afterimage left behind due to its incredible speed!

Chen Changsheng's imposing figure, which had been advancing, vanished from Li Jie's sight in an instant, as if dissipating into mist.

At the same time, a terrifying howling wind, sharp enough to almost tear the skin, carrying an overwhelming force, suddenly attacked from the void to Li Jie's right!

In extreme shock, Li Jie's mind went completely blank. Faced with a speed that exceeded the limits of vision, he didn't even have time to make a defensive reaction!

Snapped!

A crisp, loud slap instantly transformed into a thunderclap, resounding solidly in every dark corner of the main hall.

The sound was so crisp and powerful that everyone present felt a sudden, intense jolt upon hearing it.

It was as if the slap had landed squarely on their own faces.

Just moments ago, Li Jie, the arrogant young master of the Li family, was sent flying into the air by a slap before he could even let out a scream.

The immense force propelled his body through the air like a spinning top, causing it to spin wildly four times before crashing face-down onto the cold floor in the center of the hall with a heavy thud.

In this palm strike, Chen Changsheng, enraged, showed no mercy, unleashing his immense physical strength combined with pure Yang spiritual energy.

He wiped his slightly reddened right hand on his lapel with some disgust, looked down at Li Jie lying on the ground like a dead dog, and uttered three words expressionlessly: "First move."