Chapter 10 Still Standing

Chapter 10 Still Standing
"He is still standing my lady."
​The terrified whisper of the servant girl broke the silence inside the golden VIP pavilion.
​Down in the arena the thick smoke from the lightning blast finally began to clear. The devastating magical strike had melted the stone floor into smooth glass.
​Ye Chen stood exactly where he had been standing a moment ago.
​His shredded clothes were completely charred. The skin on his arms and chest was blackened and smoking lightly.
​"Fascinating," Su Rou said calmly. She took a delicate sip from her porcelain teacup.
​She sat on a cushioned throne made of rare spirit wood. She wore pristine white silk embroidered with silver cranes. She looked exactly like a descending goddess untouched by the dirt of the mortal world.
​"Should I signal Elder Wang to intervene," the servant girl asked nervously.
​"Absolutely not," Su Rou replied. Her voice was sweet but entirely devoid of human warmth. "I need Lei Bao to beat him to the absolute brink of death."
​Su Rou leaned forward slightly to watch the boy in the crater.
​"His physical body survived the blast," Su Rou analyzed aloud. "But he is only at the fourth stage of body tempering. That pure lightning Qi bypassed his skin entirely. His internal organs are currently cooking in their own juices."
​She smiled a serene and terrifying smile.
​"Let him suffer the burning pain. Let his hatred for me peak. The ritual requires absolute concentrated despair."
​Down in the ruined arena Ye Chen coughed up a thick glob of scorched blood.
​Su Rou was entirely correct about the internal damage. The raw electrical energy had flooded his weak meridians. Every single breath felt like inhaling ground glass.
​He looked down at the colossal rusted iron sword in his hands. Blue electrical currents still danced wildly across the heavy metal blade.
​"Iron conducts electricity," Ye Chen noted coldly.
​He was fighting a peak Stage 9 lightning cultivator. Holding a massive chunk of metal was practically begging to be executed.
​Ye Chen opened his hands. He let the colossal sword drop.
​The heavy weapon crashed loudly onto the glassed stone floor.
​"Giving up already beggar," Lei Bao laughed from across the crater. The giant Enforcer cracked his massive knuckles. The blue electrical storm surrounding his body flared even brighter.
​"I was using the sword to limit my own speed," Ye Chen lied smoothly. His voice carried no pain. "I wanted to see if your legendary lightning was actually fast."
​Lei Bao narrowed his eyes in pure rage. He hated the arrogant tone of this filthy Outer Sect servant.
​"I will tear your tongue out first," Lei Bao roared.
​The giant lunged forward again. He did not bother with technique or martial forms. He relied entirely on his overwhelming elemental power and physical mass.
​He threw a massive right hook aimed directly at Ye Chen's skull. The fist carried enough kinetic force to shatter a small building.
​Ye Chen did not try to block the strike. He relied completely on his thirty eight points of Agility.
​He shifted his weight instantly. He slipped precisely one inch to the left.
​The crackling fist sailed harmlessly past his ear. The sheer wind pressure from the miss tore another hole in Ye Chen's charred robes.
​Lei Bao roared in frustration. He followed up with a brutal sweeping kick aimed at Ye Chen's ribs.
​Ye Chen dropped low to the ground. He spun smoothly on his heel and swept his own leg out. He did not aim to trip the giant. He simply wanted to disrupt his footing.
​Lei Bao stumbled slightly. He was forced to unleash a burst of lightning Qi from his boots just to remain upright.
​"Stand still and die," Lei Bao screamed violently.
​He unleashed a chaotic flurry of electrical punches. Blue lightning bolts blasted out in every single direction. They struck the arena walls and sent massive chunks of stone flying into the terrified crowd.
​Ye Chen moved like a ghost through the destructive storm. His brutal footwork was completely flawless.
​He ducked under a horizontal chop. He pivoted sharply away from a downward smash. He let the giant Enforcer waste massive amounts of precious energy on empty air.
​"You rely entirely on brute force and a flashy element," Ye Chen analyzed out loud while dodging another lethal blast. "Your foundation is completely rotten."
​"Shut your mouth," Lei Bao bellowed. He gathered a massive sphere of concentrated lightning between both of his hands. He prepared to obliterate the entire half of the arena.
​Ye Chen narrowed his eyes. The Chaos Bone Shattering Fist had permanently rewired his martial instincts.
​He looked directly at the electrical storm swirling around the giant. He did not just see random lightning anymore. He saw the exact flow of Lei Bao's internal Qi.
​"Three nodes," Ye Chen whispered to himself.
​He identified three highly critical meridian points maintaining the protective lightning armor. One was located on the left shoulder. One was strictly dead center on the chest. The final node was sitting low on the abdomen.
​Lei Bao raised the massive lightning sphere high above his head. His entire torso was completely exposed for a tiny fraction of a second.
​"Now," Ye Chen commanded himself.
​He tapped into his forty two points of Strength. He launched his body forward with explosive and terrifying speed.
​He stepped completely inside the giant's guard before the massive attack could be launched.
​Ye Chen struck out three times in less than a single breath.
​His calloused knuckles connected with the left shoulder. They struck the center of the chest. They slammed deeply into the lower abdomen.
​He executed the Chaos Bone Shattering Fist perfectly on all three targets.
​There was absolutely no external wound. The physical strikes looked incredibly weak to the watching crowd.
​Lei Bao froze entirely. The massive lightning sphere above his head simply fizzled out and died.
​The kinetic shockwaves bypassed the giant's thick muscles completely. The force erupted violently exactly inside the three critical meridian nodes.
​The electrical armor imploded instantly. The blue lightning collapsed backward into Lei Bao's own body.
​"Argh," Lei Bao screamed in absolute blinding agony.
​His internal organs were shredded by his own elemental magic. Blood sprayed violently from his nose and mouth. His eyes rolled completely back into his skull.
​Ye Chen did not wait for the giant to fall. He spun sharply and delivered a devastating kick directly to Lei Bao's chest.
​The massive Stage 9 cultivator was launched completely backward through the air. He flew over the edge of the fighting ring and crashed heavily into the spectator stands.
​He crushed three empty stone benches before coming to a complete halt. He lay completely motionless in the rubble.
​The arena was plunged back into absolute suffocating silence.
​The legendary Thunder Fist had been dismantled by a Stage 4 servant boy.
​Elder Wang stood frozen at the edge of the ring. His jaw was slack with pure terror. His personal champion was crippled. His perfect legal trap had completely failed.
​The Enforcer acting as the official referee swallowed hard. He looked up nervously at the VIP boxes. He had absolutely no choice but to follow the ancient laws.
​"The challenger Ye Chen is the undisputed victor," the referee announced loudly. His voice trembled badly. "He is hereby cleared of all demonic corruption charges."
​Ye Chen ignored the announcement entirely. He stood perfectly still in the center of the ruined stage.
​The air around him was heavily saturated with residual ozone and thick lightning Qi from Lei Bao's shattered armor.
​"Devour," Ye Chen commanded his internal art.
​The Chaos Body Tempering Art activated aggressively. His body acted as a massive biological vacuum. He actively sucked the lingering electrical energy directly into his pores.
​The stolen lightning Qi flooded his Dantian. The pure energy washed over his scorched internal organs and healed the deep electrical burns instantly.
​His overall Qi reserves expanded massively once again. The raw volume of energy he possessed was absolutely terrifying. Yet his cultivation realm held firmly exactly at the peak of Stage 4.
​The system was actively compressing the energy to forge a flawless physical foundation.
​Ye Chen opened his eyes. He felt completely refreshed and infinitely dangerous.
​He walked slowly over to the colossal rusted iron sword. He gripped the heavy leather hilt and hoisted the massive weapon easily onto his shoulder.
​He completely ignored the terrified Elder Wang standing nearby.
​Ye Chen turned his body and looked directly up at the highest point of the stadium. He locked his cold eyes onto the golden VIP pavilion.
​He saw the pristine white robes of the woman who had ruined his life.
​"Su Rou," Ye Chen projected his voice using his newly expanded Qi reserves. The name echoed like a physical blow against the stadium walls.
​The fifty thousand disciples gasped in collective horror. A mere servant was directly addressing the absolute top genius of the Inner Sect by her given name.
​"Your lapdogs are incredibly weak," Ye Chen called out loudly. He pointed the massive tip of the rusted sword directly at her golden balcony.
​"Stop hiding behind fat elders and cheap mercenaries. Come down to this arena right now. We have a blood debt to settle."
​Inside the VIP pavilion the porcelain teacup shattered completely in Su Rou's hand. Hot tea spilled over her pristine white silk robes.
​Her serene and perfect smile vanished instantly. It was replaced by an expression of pure and absolute cold fury.
​A piece of livestock was publicly challenging her authority.
​Su Rou stood up slowly.
​She did not say a single word. She simply released the heavy suppression seals on her cultivation core.
​A terrifying and oppressive aura erupted violently from her body. It was the absolute power of the Spirit Condensation Realm.
​The physical air in the stadium suddenly turned incredibly thick and heavy. The invisible pressure blanketed the entire arena like a crushing tidal wave.
​Outer Sect disciples in the stands began to choke and fall forcefully to their knees. Even Elder Wang struggled heavily to keep his balance in the ring.
​Su Rou stepped up to the edge of the golden balcony and looked down at the boy she had broken three years ago.