Firmament Sword

With an earth-shattering BOOM, the entire arena trembled violently. Chu Lin's eyes filled with despair, regret, and indignation as his body suddenly burst apart, blown to smithereens by the very elixirs he had just thrown!

The shredded flesh and blood were annihilated in mid-air by the residual power from the various offensive elixirs.

When the smoke and dust cleared, the arena was a complete wreck, but not a single speck of flesh or blood could be seen!

Chu Lin... had been blasted to dust!

Moreover, he had been blown to pieces by the various offensive elixirs he created himself!

Xu Luo hadn't originally intended to kill him. Even without Yuwen Ji's instructions, Xu Luo had never planned on actually killing Chu Lin.

Xu Luo had never considered Chu Lin his rival. He wasn't even qualified to cause him trouble. Besides, he had to give some face to the Seventh Elder, Zou Yuan. After all, before being expelled, Chu Lin was still the Seventh Elder's Direct Disciple.

However, Chu Lin had been too vicious. From the very beginning, he gave Xu Luo no room to breathe, unleashing hundreds of incredibly powerful offensive elixirs with the direct intent to kill.

If Xu Luo hadn't cultivated the Time Reversal Skill to a high level, allowing him to control time within a certain range, he would have been in serious trouble today. When the overwhelming storm of offensive elixirs descended upon him, he had instantly reversed time, teleported behind Chu Lin, and concealed his presence.

Even if he hadn't died... he would have been severely injured!

Since Chu Lin had acted so decisively, leaving himself no way out, Xu Luo had nothing left to hold him back.

Even the Seventh Elder, Zou Yuan, would surely have nothing to say after learning what had happened.

In the stands, there was dead silence.

Almost everyone was stunned by the gruesome result.

It wasn't that they had never seen blood or life-and-death battles before. But for the vast majority of Heavenly Brilliance Disciples in the stands, this was indeed the first time they had witnessed such a cruel and brutal fight.

It left a profound impact on them, so much so that long after the battle ended, they still hadn't fully recovered their senses.

In a corner of the stands, Su Qianqian's lips curved into a faint smile. All her previous worries had now transformed into pride for Xu Luo.

The junior sisters beside her wore dumbfounded expressions, as if they couldn't believe what they had just seen was real.

In fact, even Su Qianqian herself had felt her heart leap into her throat for a moment.

The overwhelming wave of offensive elixirs—explosive, poisonous, mind-affecting, agility-reducing... all sorts of them, each immensely powerful.

To emerge unscathed from such an assault and even turn the tables to win—this was no longer a simple matter of having powerful combat strength.

There was only one possible explanation: Xu Luo... already possessed the strength of a top-tier genius of Celestial Brilliance!

All this time, no one had believed that the Senior Brother Medicine Garden, who had stirred up a storm throughout the entire Celestial Brilliance Sect, could truly possess such power.

Xie Yurou sat there, her posture somewhat unladylike. An excited flush colored her charming face as she clenched her small fists, nearly cheering out loud.

'You jerk... You really didn't let me down!' Xie Yurou praised Xu Luo in her heart.

In the stands, some of the genius disciples of Celestial Brilliance all had solemn expressions, their gazes fixed on the figure on the arena below, lost in thought.

In a private box, the Heavenly Brilliance Sect Master, Xiahou Kaiyuan, looked at his stunned junior brother, Jiang Botao, with a grin. "Junior Brother, I won."

"Ahem..." A group of Celestial Brilliance Elders all stifled their laughter and turned their heads, not wanting the dark-faced Jiang Botao to see the smiles on their faces.

Jiang Botao's face was filled with disbelief. He grumbled, "This Luo Tian... could he have already grasped the secrets of time and space? This is unbelievable! How old is he? Even if he started cultivating in his mother's womb... he shouldn't be this monstrous!"

In the eyes of those disciples, Xu Luo's strength had reached the level of a top-tier genius of Celestial Brilliance.

But in Jiang Botao's eyes, Xu Luo's strength had already surpassed that of the vast majority of the genius disciples in Celestial Brilliance!

Even Jin Ming... would probably not be confident of a guaranteed victory against Xu Luo!

Xiahou Kaiyuan, however, just grinned at Jiang Botao and reminded him again, "Junior Brother..."

"Alright, alright, I know!" Jiang Botao couldn't help but roll his eyes. With a pained expression, he took out a very ancient-looking scroll from his Storage Ring and handed it to Xiahou Kaiyuan.

The gazes of the other elders in the box were now all focused on this scroll, their eyes revealing fervent desire.

"Is this that Yellow Springs Map?" one elder couldn't help but ask.

"It really is the Yellow Springs Map?" another elder asked, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the ancient scroll in Xiahou Kaiyuan's hand.

Xiahou Kaiyuan instantly put away the scroll, smiled faintly, and patted Jiang Botao's shoulder. "Junior Brother, next time you make a bet with someone, you must first figure out why they're willing to wager such high stakes..."

With that, Xiahou Kaiyuan left the private box with a grin. As the Sect Leader, he had far too many matters to attend to and couldn't stay for long.

Jiang Botao's mouth twitched violently. Finally, he grumbled dejectedly, "I was set up..."

As he spoke, Jiang Botao's gaze fell upon the fading figure on the arena below. He couldn't help but curse, "He hid his strength so well, making me lose so miserably. Damn it! That guy Yuwen Ji... how did he get so lucky?"

With that, Jiang Botao also turned and left.

The other elders in the box left one after another. But this Senior Brother Medicine Garden named Luo Tian was now firmly etched in their minds.

In the private box where Yuwen Ji and the others were, the moment Chu Lin exploded and Xu Luo was victorious, there was first a long sigh of relief, followed by another sigh of regret.

As elders of the Medicine Garden, they had complicated feelings at this moment. They had to admit that when it came to Alchemy and Medicine Making, Chu Lin was indeed a genius.

Unfortunately, he had made too many mistakes, and he was far too narrow-minded. His death today was entirely of his own making.

"If only Chu Lin's temperament was like Luo Tian's... how wonderful that would be!" the Eighth Elder, Lu Xue, said with a touch of sentimentality.

"Nothing in this world is ever perfect. Chu Lin reaped what he sowed," the Second Elder, Lei Bao, said from the side.

"In any case, our Medicine Garden has finally produced a true genius this time!" said the Third Elder, Gu Ning.

Yuwen Ji nodded, then glanced at the others. "Go and comfort Lao Qi... Although Chu Lin's death... was entirely his own fault, I'm sure Lao Qi is not taking it well."

Everyone nodded in silence. Today's battle had been breathtakingly intense, and even they had been deeply shaken by it.

At the same time, they had gained a completely new understanding of offensive elixirs.

In the stands, long after Xu Luo's figure had disappeared from the arena, many disciples still hadn't left. They had only just now fully recovered, gathering in excited groups to discuss whether the Senior Brother Medicine Garden, Luo Tian, truly possessed the strength to fight against the top-tier geniuses of Celestial Brilliance.

Wu Sisi gazed thoughtfully at the now-empty arena, thinking to herself: 'Qi Yue's recent change must have something to do with this Senior Brother from the Medicine Garden. Judging by her behavior, she probably has a secret crush on Luo Tian. Hmph... A man this good? As if I'd let you have him! Qi Yue, just you watch. I may have lost to you once in the annual competition, but in this... I will not lose to you!'

...

...

What was originally a not particularly important match in the round of one thousand to five hundred had captured the attention of the entire Celestial Brilliance Sect.

After the battle ended, nearly everyone in the Celestial Brilliance Sect was talking about it. Even Xu Luo himself had not anticipated the extent of its impact.

As soon as he returned to his residence, Qi Yue rushed over to congratulate Xu Luo on his victory.

"Junior Sister Qi, congratulations to you as well. We both made it into the top five hundred," Xu Luo said with a smile, seeming to have already forgotten the harrowing battle from just moments before.

"Senior Brother, you can call me Yue'Er." Qi Yue blushed slightly, not quite daring to meet Xu Luo's eyes. She said, "Your rank is far more impressive than mine, Senior Brother."

Xu Luo smiled. "You're exaggerating. Besides, we're from the same sect... To be honest, this wasn't the outcome I wanted to see."

Qi Yue said, "That man was narrow-minded and courted death. In the past, people just didn't bother to stoop to his level. This time, it was entirely his own fault. You don't need to take it to heart, Senior Brother."

Just then, Sun Xiaohong came in from outside. She glanced at Qi Yue, looking as though she had something to say that wasn't convenient to discuss.

Qi Yue made to excuse herself, but Xu Luo waved his hand. "Go ahead and speak, Xiaohong. Qi Yue isn't an outsider."

A happy smile immediately appeared on Qi Yue's face, along with a hint of shyness in her eyes.

Sun Xiaohong said softly, "Wu Sisi is here to pay a visit..."

"What?"

"What?"

Xu Luo and Qi Yue exclaimed in unison, only looking at each other after they had spoken.

Qi Yue looked a little embarrassed, but her brow was tightly furrowed. "What is she doing here?"

Xu Luo was also at a loss, and he looked at Sun Xiaohong.

Sun Xiaohong said, "She said she just watched your battle, Senior Brother, and admires you greatly, so she came especially to pay her respects."

"Hmph, that vixen!" Qi Yue couldn't help but mutter.

Xu Luo glanced at Qi Yue, then said to Sun Xiaohong, "Send her back. Just say I was injured and it's not convenient to receive guests."

"Well..." Sun Xiaohong said, looking troubled. "She came bearing a gift."

As she spoke, she handed Xu Luo a small, vibrant green jade bottle containing a single elixir.

"A Heart Nourishing Pill?" Before Xu Luo could speak, Qi Yue exclaimed from the side. Then, with a sour expression, she said, "She's really willing to spend a fortune, isn't she!"

Xu Luo was also surprised. The Heart Nourishing Pill was a very high-grade elixir refined by the Medicine Garden. It was expensive to produce, and ordinary disciples... simply couldn't afford to use it.

It offered immense benefits to both one's Spiritual Power and body!

"Such a valuable gift... how can I accept it? Xiaohong... quickly, return it to Miss Wu!" Xu Luo frowned slightly, thinking to himself: 'Her showing such uncalled-for attentiveness might not be a good thing.'

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