“Look!”

“It’s the prince!”

“Oh, my heavens!”

“So handsome!”

“Yeahhh!

The crowd made their opinion known loud and clear. The Huang Family was the most influential of the four king sects. Prince Huang Yaoying was the most famous of the four geniuses of this generation. He was a dragon amongst men. He was the object of desire for most of the female population.

He waved to the masses with a confident smile that dazzled under the morning sun. Whichever way he faced, the resulting roar from women would even shake the massive trees that surrounded the arena. He had yet to say a single word and it was as if he had already won and claimed the title of Dao Genius.

Huang Yaoying finished showing off and walked forward with his golden robes billowing behind him heroically. He arrived before the mercenary and gave the older man a hard stare.

“Captain of the Two Moons Mercenary Group, do you know what the Huang Family specializes in?” Huang Yaoying asked.

“I… I am not sure. Please teach me!” Two Moons said with great difficulty.

Huang Yaoying raised a hand and clenched it into a fist, “The Huang Family has many cultivation arts and a few of them deal with sword arts. Everyone should know of Immortal Ardent Duchess Su Tan who is a tremendous sword cultivator. There have been a few others in our family’s history that were also quite accomplished with the sword.”

“However!” He said with emphasis, “Our foundational cultivation art is a physical strengthening secret art. That’s right, Gold Power Law. Everyone in the metropolis has surely heard of it, the strongest cultivation art of the Huang Family. It is the supreme physical Dao of this subcontinent. Even in neighboring subcontinents, I can say that my Gold Power Law is unmatched in terms of pure strength!”

Right as he said those words, golden energy burst out from his body. A wave of spiritual energy swept over the clearing as he showcased his ability. His eyes glowed and his figure was outlined by a golden aura. It was as if he was a deity that had descended from the heavens.

This performance was met with more cheers. The audience hung onto his every word and became even crazier. If there weren’t protective arrays around the arena, some of the more desperate women might have invaded the meadow in hopes of meeting their prince charming.

Huang Yaoying pulled back his spiritual energy after satisfying his vanity and looked down at the mercenary, “Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t activate my Gold Power Law just to show off. I did it so that you would appreciate the words I am about to say and understand where they came from. Now, listen closely.”

Two Moons knelt down reverently, “Prince Huang, please speak!”

The other participants also strained their ears to catch every word. Even Zhou Ziyun, who was having trouble not rolling her eyes at the situation, listened keenly to the exchange.

Huang Yaoying smirked and said, “Old mercenary, your saber art is what it is. No matter how anyone tries to improve it, you won’t be able to improve because everyone is missing the fundamental issue. Your body has reached its limit and has started to deteriorate.”

“What? What do you mean?” The older man blurted out.

Zhou Ziyun raised an eyebrow, also surprised. Could it be… that her guess was correct?

“That’s right!” Haung Yaoying said loudly, “Others can’t see but I can because I have cultivated my body since a young age. Your every movement and every detail, they have not escaped my notice. I saw it all. And I can tell from your footwork that you had broken your left foot at least two decades ago and it wasn’t able to heal properly. Your hips suffered a great wound from a piercing weapon and robbed you of about a fourth of your normal movement range. Your left arm has some lingering wounds that affected your meridians and the balance between the two sabers. Finally, you are deaf in your right ear which causes you to lose focus at certain points during your attack. Tell me… am I wrong on any of these points?”

Suddenly, there was nothing but silence. Two Moons was speechless. The participants behind Huang Yaoying were stunned. And as for the audience, they had no idea what was going on.

What kind of answer was this?

“No… no…” Two Moons said in a dazed voice, “You are right, completely right!”

The crowd went wild.

“No way!”

“Impossible!”

“How?”

What kind of answer was this? This was the answer of a genius!

Zhou Ziyun had to admit. She had also lost this time around even though she had remained silent. She had to give the arrogant young man his due. She only predicted that there was something inherently wrong with Two Moons unrelated to his saber art. She had chosen the correct path but had only taken a tentative step while Huang Yaoying had already walked the entire way and reached the end.

She couldn’t say she was disappointed though. His answer was perfect but she had not been too far off. If she considered the physical attributes of the Nineteen Demon Subduing Palms and combined them with the saber arts, perhaps she could have comprehended the truth more accurately. Her error was that she had focused too much on saber arts and did not incorporate other Daos into the fold.

She promised herself that she would take this lesson to heart. In the future, she would approach problems with a broad mind and consider all possibilities. The world was filled with strange things that were not what they appeared to be on the surface.

While Zhou Ziyun was lost in self-reflection, Huang Yaoying continued his victory speech.

“Mercenary Two Moons, you are in luck today. I have with me serum that can cure your right ear. I can’t help your other injuries in such a short time but this should only take a few breaths. Take it and attack the totem again to see the improvement.”

He withdrew a white jade bottle and tossed it over.

Two Moons caught it and looked at it with some trepidation. But he quickly got over and it poured the contents into his ear. His body reacted immediately and he shivered all over. He clenched his ear in panic for several breaths before gradually calming down.

He lowered his hand from his ear and turned his head left and right. His expression became one of amazement as he made a few noises to test his hearing.

“Wow… it really… I can really hear again!”

“Good, now wield your twin sabers once more!” Huang Yaoying encouraged.

“Yes, Prince Huang!”

Two Moons leaped to his feet, his crescent sabers turning into silver blurs. Inspired by the recovery from this old, debilitating injury, he became even more ferocious. His spiritual aura and saber energy rose and rose until it became a veritable storm of death.

With a flash, he shot toward the totem.

“Kill!”

The phantom eagle head screeched in protest and resisted the attack. The clash of spiritual energies sent out shockwaves like a rock falling into a calm pond. When calm finally returned to the meadow, six solid glowing balls remained above the eagle head.

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