"This man is too insolent!"
"Exactly! Master Qin has been speaking so politely to him, yet he's still so stubborn and disrespectful!"
"He insists on seeking death—Master Qin shouldn't waste more words. Just grant him his wish!"
Angry voices rippled through the crowd all around.
Many spectators were clearly dissatisfied, thinking Yang Cheng's arrogance had crossed the line.
Even Qin Mingcheng frowned slightly. "Young friend, you certainly have great confidence in your strength."
"My strength may not be great," Yang Cheng replied calmly, "but it's more than enough to kill you."
As he spoke, a wooden sword fell neatly into his hand. Threads of true qi, carrying terrifying power, coiled around the blade like swirling dragons.
"Then let us speak through strength."
Qin Mingcheng's tone instantly grew cold.
He had already realized Yang Cheng's will was immovable. No words would shake him. Continuing to talk was pointless.
Splash!
The waters of Jinbian Lake surged violently as Qin Mingcheng slowly stood up.
The instant he rose, it was like a mountain erupted from the lake—his presence unleashing a suffocating aura that weighed down on everything.
In the next breath, a massive serpent of true qi coiled beside him.
The serpent's body was vast, like a living mountain range, every scale carved with intricate formation runes that shimmered faintly.
Even this seemingly ordinary strike carried the profound essence of a formation master's craft.
"Go!"
Qin Mingcheng flicked his sleeve.
The giant serpent roared forth, churning the lake into towering waves as it charged toward Yang Cheng with terrifying might.
The attack was ferocious—yet Yang Cheng didn't even lift an eyelid.
He swung his sword casually.
A torrent of sword qi burst out of the wooden blade, surging forth like a tidal wave, pressing down on the charging serpent with unstoppable force.
Under the combined might of their powers, the surface of the lake sank several zhang deep.
In the blink of an eye, sword qi collided with the giant serpent.
Qin Mingcheng's expression changed instantly—something felt wrong.
And sure enough, moments later, his true qi serpent began to collapse.
But his reaction was fast. Before the serpent fully disintegrated, he raised his right hand and began forming seals.
His fingers moved like shadows, leaving countless afterimages.
Dozens of glowing formation symbols spun rapidly between his fingertips.
In a flash, those symbols merged before him, transforming into a glowing trigram array.
Boom!
Almost simultaneously, the serpent shattered completely, and Yang Cheng's sword qi struck the trigram barrier head-on.
To Qin Mingcheng's shock, even this defensive formation couldn't withstand the strike—fractures spread instantly across its surface.
He reacted again without hesitation, pulling out a bronze compass and placing it before him.
The sword qi slammed into the compass, which shimmered and absorbed the impact, managing to block the blow.
Qin Mingcheng staggered back several steps.
When he looked up at Yang Cheng again, his gaze was no longer casual but deeply wary. "No wonder you were able to destroy the Ouyang Clan. Young friend, your martial strength is truly astonishing. Beneath the True God level, there may be no one in the world who can face you."
His words were genuine. Yang Cheng's power had shocked him deeply.
In pure martial strength, Qin Mingcheng was completely outmatched.
"You'd better show me something real," Yang Cheng said coolly, "otherwise, I'll be very disappointed."
"Hmph. Just for that remark, this old man will show you what real ability looks like."
Qin Mingcheng's face grew solemn.
Rumble!
As he spoke, a suffocating aura erupted from his body.
Above Jinbian Lake, the sky darkened in an instant. Heavy clouds rolled violently, roaring like ten thousand stampeding horses. In the midst of the black clouds, arcs of lightning flickered, like countless Flood Dragons coiling within.
Then, streams of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy surged from every direction, converging toward Qin Mingcheng.
They condensed into ancient runes that writhed like living creatures.
In mere moments, those runes gathered above his head, fusing together into a colossal hand that blotted out the sky.
Each rune inscribed upon that hand radiated terrifying might, as if capable of suppressing every living being beneath heaven.
"Young friend," Qin Mingcheng said coldly, "allow me to show you the power of my craft."
In an instant, the enormous hand began to descend toward Yang Cheng.
The air screamed under its crushing pressure, and the surface of the lake caved in even deeper, forming a massive depression.
Yang Cheng's expression grew serious as the overwhelming force pressed down upon him.
His hair whipped in the storm winds, and his robes clung tightly to his body under the tremendous pressure.
"Good! Come!"
Yang Cheng lightly swung the wooden sword in his hand.
A mysterious aura spread out from him, and with him as the center, an invisible ripple of blood-colored energy expanded outward in slow, steady waves.
This was the Asura Sword Domain.
As the domain unfolded, countless streams of blood-red sword qi erupted skyward. The sword qi intertwined in midair, forming a massive web of blades that surged straight toward the colossal formation hand above.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion shook heaven and earth. The sword qi and the formation hand collided head-on, and the resulting shockwave swept across the lake like a hurricane. Trees along the shore were uprooted, and waves dozens of zhang high rose violently, crashing and roaring.
Gasps and cries erupted from the watching crowd as they stumbled back in terror.
The power of Yang Cheng's Asura Sword Qi was terrifying—under its assault, cracks began to appear across the giant hand of the formation. In the next instant, it completely shattered with a deafening roar.
Qin Mingcheng's expression turned grim. "Young friend, your strength continues to astonish this old man."
He raised both hands and began to chant in an obscure, ancient tongue.
The waters of Jinbian Lake began to churn violently. From the depths, four enormous water dragons burst out into the sky.
Each dragon was more than 100 zhang long. Their crystalline bodies shimmered with flowing light, and their eyes gleamed with a cold, killing intent.
They roared toward the heavens, their cries shaking the world itself. The terrifying pressure they unleashed sent waves of despair through the crowd—many weaker onlookers coughed up blood and collapsed on the spot.
"What level of power is this?"
Someone in the crowd shouted in shock.
He had once met Insight God experts before, but compared to this crushing pressure, those beings seemed almost insignificant.
The atmosphere grew thick with awe and dread.
Among the more experienced cultivators, a few quickly realized that Qin Mingcheng's array technique had likely reached the Yin God level.
Yang Cheng's face darkened. He could tell these four water dragons were immensely powerful. If they struck him head-on, even he might not withstand the blow.
"Ancestral Dragon Sword Body—manifest!"
In an instant, the aura around Yang Cheng shifted dramatically. The spine that had been slightly bent under the pressure of the water dragon formation straightened, unyielding as an ancient pine.
Then an ancient, primal energy surged from within him, erupting skyward with unstoppable force.
The heavy clouds above the lake rolled violently under the impact of that energy.
At the same time, a massive phantom of an Ancestral Dragon appeared behind Yang Cheng, its immense body stretching across the heavens.
It opened its jaws wide and released a roar that echoed through heaven and earth—a dragon's cry filled with supreme majesty and unmatched dominance.
But that was not all.
The power of the Asura Sword Domain surged again, and the blood-red sword qi grew even thicker and more violent.
Holding his wooden sword tightly, Yang Cheng struck.
The sword cleaved open the air, unleashing a river of blood that swept across the sky. Within that river, a golden dragon could be seen swirling and charging forward.
The four water dragons roared furiously in response. They opened their mouths, unleashing torrents of water infused with terrifying energy.
The water columns collided with the blood-colored sword river, producing blinding light and thunderous noise that shook the entire world.
The lake itself began to boil under the clash of sword qi and water pillars.
What shocked Qin Mingcheng was that the blood river's might was far greater than expected.
The grand formation he had activated—one of his strongest—was shattered once again by Yang Cheng's blade.
Ding!
[The host has shattered Qin Mingcheng's Four-Dragon Water Formation?]
[The Four-Dragon Water Formation is one of Qin Mingcheng's most powerful arrays. This result proves that, in this battle, the host has secured his survival.]
[Congratulations, host. You have completed the first-tier mission. Reward: Two-Star Array Domain obtained.]
[Proceeding to activate the second-tier mission. Failure will not affect the first-tier reward.]