Just as the Spectral Wolf Claw was about to land a deathly blow, the Buddha statue suddenly stood motionless. Caught by surprise, Brandon hesitated for a split second, dumbfounded at what was happening before him: the Buddha statue was growing! In the matter of seconds, it stood as tall as Brandon, resembling a living person. A collected gasp came from the audience as they witnessed this amazing feat.

In the blink of an eye, the Buddha statue's massive palm violently shoved the Spectral Wolf Claw backwards. As Brandon recovered from the blow, the statue crossed its arms on its chest, muttering incoherently as though it was chanting. Suddenly, an ominous black light emanated from its body, filling the atmosphere with a chilling aura of killing intent. The Buddha looked like a devil straight from hell!

The Spectral Wolf Claw, which originally seemed intimidating, now looked like a pipsqueak next to the Buddha statue.

Everyone in the audience sat motionless, stunned by what was happening. They had not expected such a dramatic match to take place. The events unfolding before them was just beyond their wildest imagination!

"What kind of weird weapon is that?" Brandon blurted out in astonishment, eyes widening at the sight of the Buddha, which kept on growing larger in size before him. He had never seen any living weapon like this, let alone a weird weapon refining skill that could produce such a thing!

Of course, he refused to sit still and accept defeat as the Buddha doubled in size. There was no possible way this statue was stronger than his Spectral Wolf Claw. Mustering all his strength, he summoned martial energy to the extreme and injected it into his weapon. The Spectral Wolf Claw burst with light, as though completely rejuvenated.

The claw had shone so brightly that everyone was temporarily blinded. As Zachary blinked for his vision to return, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. Before him, the claw had transformed into a shadow and had sunken its talons into the heart of the statue.

Everyone in the audience gasped, but not because the claw had finally landed a blow. Much to everyone's surprise, the Buddha statue stood motionless, deliberately allowing the claw to attack it.

The crowd burst into an uproar. Finally, they had a winner!

"Ha-ha, I know it was all a farce. Your statue was just pretending to be strong!" Brandon burst into hysterical laughter. Unlike before, he wasn't as calm and reserved. Turning confidently to the audience, c

king sure the audience could overhear their conversation.

Sure enough, when the audience caught wind of what was happening, chaos broke out again.

"Heterodox refining skill? Isn't that forbidden?" "Yes, it is considered evil.""It is said that using it would affect the weapon refiner's mind, causing him to lose control of himself!"

Everyone knew that if Zachary truly did use the heterodox refining skill, he would be doomed. Not only would he have lost the competition, but also the Shura College would definitely rain terror on the Celestial College.

'Heterodox refining skill?' Katrina repeated in her heart. Watching Marvin berate Zachary so harshly, she felt something was not right. Still, she remained calm outwardly, and didn't speak a word. She silently decided to wait and see how things would turn out.

Meanwhile, the disciples from the Celestial College sat down uneasily. Thinking the dean of Shura College was deliberately making things difficult for Zachary, they shook their heads in frustration. They knew Marvin was just ashamed that a disciple outside their college had managed to win first place.

"Pollard, did Harley really use the heterodox refining skill?" Polly rushed to her brother.

"I am honestly not sure. But I did feel like the fire energy he used was strange..." Pollard trailed off, hesitant to say anything for sure.

"Did he really use the heterodox refining skill?" Joan absentmindedly echoed, discontent with how things were turning out.

At this point, the energy of the crowd had gone from red hot victory to a chilling cold as they pondered whether Zachary had cheated. "So, who is the real winner?"