Chapter 23: The Prodigy’s Unveiling

“Now it’s my turn!”

Upon seeing his attack thwarted, Fan Sha was aghast, his mind reeling. ‘How could this be? How was he able to block that move? How could a mere Peak Mortal Realm cultivator withstand my full-powered strike?’

Ignoring the collective gasps of the onlookers, Zhang Liang tossed Fan Sha skyward. Then, with a mighty swing of his wooden sword, he struck him as if hitting a baseball, sending Fan Sha soaring into the distance like a twinkling star.

“Off you go!”

Zhang Liang let out a long breath, elegantly sweeping his disheveled bangs back into place.

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Witnessing this spectacle, everyone’s eyes widened in disbelief, leaving them utterly speechless.

They understood what had transpired, yet they couldn’t fathom how it had occurred.

Regardless, the undeniable truth remained: Fan Sha, the seventh of the Ten Prodigies and the King of Strength, had been effortlessly sent flying.

Meanwhile, the five individuals hidden beneath the shade of a tree huddled together, conversing in hushed tones.

“Boss, that guy is incredible! He actually sent our former employer flying!”

“No wonder we were instantly defeated; he’s clearly no ordinary person.”

“Perhaps we should turn over a new leaf. This academy enrollment is a golden opportunity.”

“You’ve all heard the rumors about him, right? While his true identity remains a mystery, he’s undoubtedly extraordinary. Following him would be a wise decision.”

“Agreed!”

Thus, the world’s foremost thieving syndicate, the Sky-Shaking Demonic Thieves, vanished from existence, and Zhang Liang gained five new ardent admirers.

‘After sending Fan Sha flying, Zhang Liang mused, ‘That pose must have been incredibly cool. I wonder if the judges were impressed.”

Upon glancing over, Zhang Liang’s eyes widened, and he nearly blurted out an expletive in sheer terror.

A torrent of surging lightning shot straight into the sky, and in the blink of an eye, a pale bolt of thunder streaked towards Zhang Liang.

Lightning crackled within Lin Na’s violet eyes. Zhang Liang’s body twisted, and the fiery sword-blade, gleaming with electrical energy, flashed past his waist.

“Lin Na! What are you doing?!”

“Enough talk! Prepare to die!”

This was not the first time Zhang Liang had witnessed such an expression on Lin Na’s face; he immediately realized his identity had been exposed.

‘Still, it’s the Demonic Sword Sovereign you despise, not me, Zhang Liang! What does this have to do with me? I haven’t even become him yet!’

At that moment, Zhang Liang’s mind was a stampede of a thousand alpacas, crying out, ‘Damn it, I’ve become a scapegoat again! Bastard!’

Zhang Liang couldn’t comprehend how Lin Na had mistakenly identified him as the Demonic Sword Sovereign.

Suddenly, a thought struck Zhang Liang: the move he had used to block Fan Sha’s attack.

‘Damn it! That move had incorporated Lin Na’s sword technique. Tsk, I was careless.’

Confronted by Lin Na’s relentless, lightning-fast assault, Zhang Liang found himself overwhelmed, his physical capabilities vastly inferior to hers.

Zhang Liang furrowed his brow, desperately dodging, unsure how long he could endure.

The sword-blade grew increasingly incandescent from friction with the air; in mere seconds, hundreds of exchanges had already taken place.

Abruptly, Lin Na altered her attack pattern, abandoning her straightforward thrusts to unleash a series of circuitous strikes, leveraging the inherent properties of lightning.

Each sudden turn was punctuated by a clap of thunder, sending tremors through the trembling examinees and chilling them to the bone.

While Fan Sha’s technique had been profoundly impressive, Lin Na’s swordsmanship proved even more astonishing, surpassing it in intensity.

Many were now utterly incapable of tracking Lin Na’s movements with their naked eyes.

As time wore on, Zhang Liang found it increasingly difficult to defend himself, relying solely on the lightning-fast reflexes honed from his days as an exceptional esports player to evade her attacks.

The sword-blade sliced through the air, creating howling gales that resembled the shrieks of hell, and examinees outside the arena could even feel the scorching heat emanating from the blade.

‘Tsk,’ Zhang Liang clicked his tongue in irritation, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

In the brief span of little more than ten seconds of engagement, Lin Na had already shifted through five distinct attack patterns, each more ferocious than the last.

Her sword-path deliberately avoided Zhang Liang’s fingers, instead targeting his various blind spots with blistering speed.

Zhang Liang was unable to pin Lin Na down, nor could he launch any counterattacks.

As the saying went: ‘In martial arts, speed conquers all.’

Yet, Lin Na’s speed continued to escalate at a visibly alarming rate.

Her strength, too, was constantly increasing.

Such talent made Zhang Liang inwardly exclaim, ‘Monster!’

No sooner had Zhang Liang grasped Lin Na’s current attack sequence than she would immediately switch to a new one, constantly catching him off guard.

Lin Na, too, was utterly astonished; after taking Zhang Liang’s advice, her cultivation had advanced at an incredible pace.

Drawing lessons from her previous defeat, Lin Na had devised five additional sword techniques.

Yet, these new techniques were seen through by him in mere blinks of an eye.

‘This is impossible! Each set of sword forms contained hundreds of moves; how could he memorize them all after seeing them just once?!’

Lin Na increasingly found the man before her to be unfathomably profound.

‘The Demonic Sword Sovereign, a Saint Realm expert who had defeated her master, was not only powerful but also possessed an extraordinary learning speed. Wait. Saint Realm? But this person before me is only Mortal Realm… and… his age should be greater than Master’s, yet he… Oh no, I’ve mistaken him for someone else!’

Her strike was already arcing towards Zhang Liang’s neck. Lin Na wished to retract it, but the nearly supersonic sword-blade was beyond altering its trajectory.

Zhang Liang’s eyes widened, his pupils constricting.

‘Tsk, I can’t dodge this one.’

“Adamant Fortification!”

A blinding flash of white light erupted from Zhang Liang’s entire body, like a stun grenade, momentarily blinding everyone present.

The fiery sword-blade struck Zhang Liang’s neck with a resounding “Clang!”, as if it had impacted solid steel, leaving him utterly unmoving.

The powerful impact repelled the sword, causing Lin Na to instinctively shut her eyes, her body tilting backward as she lost her balance.

Zhang Liang assumed a horse stance, channeled his strength throughout his body, and unleashed a palm strike. Lin Na’s abdomen caved inward, and blood surged into her mouth.

When the others opened their eyes, Lin Na was already lying on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of her lips, unconscious.

“What the hell just happened?!”

“The… the Dragon-Slaying Hero was defeated?”

“How is that possible? Those were the Ten Prodigies, and two of them at that! They both lost?”

For a moment, the examinees exchanged disbelieving whispers, all asking if anyone had truly witnessed what had just transpired.

However, not a single person could offer a coherent response.

Yun Yun pointed at Zhang Liang, while tugging on Xi Lan’s sleeve with her other hand, exclaiming in surprise, “Young lady! That was Battle Qi, wasn’t it?! Could he be the one we’ve been searching for?”

Upon hearing Yun Yun’s words, Xi Lan immediately covered her mouth, and after confirming that no one nearby had noticed, she whispered, “Yun Yun, no one else must know about the Battle Qi.”

Zhang Liang gazed at the unconscious Lin Na, letting out a deep sigh. ‘Perhaps I can get Ying to help explain things later,’ he mused. ‘I’m truly not the Demonic Sword Sovereign! Well, technically I *will* be, but I’m definitely not right now.’

“The demonstration is over!”

All the instructors from the teachers’ platform rushed over, forming a protective barrier between Zhang Liang and Lin Na, while the medical team carefully carried Lin Na away.

As they arrived, they cast a quick glance at Lin Na’s injuries. The strike had appeared simple, yet it was undeniably profound.

An Emperor Realm expert possessed an aura for protection; an ordinary palm strike couldn’t harm them in the slightest. Yet, he had pierced through that aura, striking directly at her core.

This implied that the man’s strength was truly extraordinary.

Moreover, he had just sent Fan Sha, the King of Strength, flying.

Two of the Ten Prodigies had fallen at his hands—a feat so unbelievable that no one would credit it even as a boast, yet it had unfolded right before their eyes.

Cold sweat beaded on their foreheads as they nervously regarded Zhang Liang, maintaining a vigilant stance.

Watching Lin Na being carried away, Zhang Liang took a single step forward.

Instantly, a row of instructors adopted combat stances, trembling as they retreated a step.

“Um… how did I do?” Zhang Liang asked, scratching the back of his head, a chilling smile gracing his lips as he spoke with an overly solicitous tone, “I can enter the academy now, right?”

To Zhang Liang, his sole intention was to leave a favorable impression on the instructors.

However, to the instructors, he appeared as a terrifying mob boss, implying threats with every word.

It was as if he were saying, ‘Your families are in my hands; surely you understand my meaning.’

“You… you performed exceptionally well,” the female instructor replied, swallowing hard. “We will give your admission qualifications our utmost consideration.”

“That’s good then,” Zhang Liang said. He extended his hand towards the female instructor, who was so startled that her pupils constricted, her legs trembled, and she even forgot to dodge.

However, Zhang Liang merely patted the air before turning around, waving his hand as he said, “Then I’ll leave it to your hard work.”

Witnessing the instructors’ terrified expressions, the examinees also swallowed nervously.

Especially the examinee who had drawn Zhang Liang as an opponent; he wished he could simply return home to raise pigs and never set foot here again.

“Wait!” A few student council members arrived at the arena, blocking Zhang Liang’s path.

“This man is Zhang Liang. I personally witnessed him emerging from the instructors’ office. I have reason to suspect he bribed instructors Fan Sha and Lin Na!”

“What the hell?”