The deathly silence in the plaza was broken by an uproar even more violent than before.

“The weakest disciple is challenging the strongest?”

“He’s only at the third layer of Foundation Establishment! His body cultivation is barely Bone Forging third layer! Is he trying to get himself killed?”

On the ship’s bow, Long Yufeng narrowed his eyes at Li Qiwen.

“Junior Brother Li, has Calamity Abyss Valley run out of men? Sending a low-tier disciple to throw his life away? Or does your arrogance deceive you into thinking my Heavenly Spring Sect’s Grand Perfection disciple can’t handle a mere third-layer trash?”

Li Qiwen’s expression remained placid. “Fellow Daoist Long, let’s just watch and see. My Junior Nephew might just surprise you.”

Internally, however, Li Qiwen was praying: Kid, just don’t beg for mercy. Even fainting gracefully is better than that.

Beside him, Yang Ling chuckled, his voice languid. “Senior Brother Li has such confidence. But the cultivation world speaks through strength, not hope. The gap between the third layer and Grand Perfection isn’t something confidence can bridge.”

Zhou Kai stood in the center of the plaza, ignoring the jeers and Long Yufeng’s taunts.

I originally wanted a late-stage opponent to test my limits, he thought. I didn’t expect Long Yufeng to single us out like this.

Now, my wife Youci has given the order to win, and my wife Hanyi just set an impossibly high bar with that god-slaying performance.

Low profile? Impossible. If I have to win, and I have to make the name ‘Zhou Kai’ stick… I guess it’s time for Plan B: Operation Shameless.

A figure drifted down from the sky, landing steadily opposite him.

The newcomer wore moon-white robes and possessed a handsome, if haughty, face. It was Di An, the other Foundation Establishment Grand Perfection ace of the Heavenly Spring Sect.

“Di An, Heavenly Spring Sect.” His voice was flat, dripping with natural arrogance.

Below the stage, Gao Feiyang winked conspiratorially at Fish Baibai and Xia Min.

“Hey, listen. Earlier today, Senior Brother Zhou sent me a message to prepare a… special prop.”

Fish Baibai frowned, then relaxed. “It’s not very domineering, but if it helps him win… I guess it’s okay.”

Li Youci’s face flushed a mix of red and pale white. She pressed her cool hands against her burning cheeks, mortified. That scoundrel! How could he come up with something so wretched?

Shen Hanyi’s mouth parted slightly. The dark red vortex in her eyes flashed for a second before she regained her composure.

Above the plaza, Di An looked at Zhou Kai like one might look at a bug.

“You’re just a loudmouth with no bite,” Di An said indifferently.

BOOM!

His spiritual pressure erupted like a collapsing mountain, crashing down on Zhou Kai. “Three moves. If you don’t kneel and surrender, you’ll bear the consequences!”

Zhou Kai grunted. He circulated his Vitality and Mana to the limit, his knees bending slightly as he forcibly braced against the crushing aura.

“Huh?” A spectator gasped. “He didn’t collapse?”

“Di An isn’t even trying yet!”

Under the immense pressure, Zhou Kai gritted his teeth and grinned. Suddenly, he whipped out a fist-sized green skull and hurled it forward!

The skull expanded in the wind, growing to the size of a man in the blink of an eye. Ghostly fire danced in its eye sockets as its jaw unhinged, spewing a cloud of corrosive, ink-green poison mist toward Di An.

At the same time, Zhou Kai secretly activated the Soul Devouring Cauldron.

Hidden amidst the flashy green skull attack, wisps of colorless, odorless Soul Poison drifted out, riding the ripples of Di An’s own spiritual pressure to invade his defenses.

Like boiling a frog in warm water, this poison was Zhou Kai’s hidden blade.

Di An frowned, disgust etched on his face. “Despicable tricks.”

He snorted, completely disregarding the poison mist. With a thought, a flying sword shot from his sleeve, a streak of cold light that cleaved the green skull in two.

Bang!

The skull shattered into motes of green light, and the poison mist dissipated instantly.

“Petty parlor tricks,” Di An scoffed. “And that cauldron of yours—how long do you plan to hide it?”

Before his voice faded, his flying sword drifted, turning into a blur as it shot straight for the Soul Devouring Cauldron floating near Zhou Kai!

Zhou Kai’s heart skipped a beat. The cauldron is the catalyst for the poison! I can’t let him break it yet!

“Hah!”

He roared, injecting every ounce of his Mana into the Chaotic Sky Hammer.

The pitch-black war hammer glowed with a faint golden sheen, as if clad in armor. Zhou Kai swung it with all his might, smashing it into the incoming flying sword.

CLANG!

An ear-splitting metallic ring echoed through the venue.

A massive force traveled up the hammer’s shaft. Zhou Kai felt his grip loosen, the hammer nearly flying from his hands. His blood churned violently, and he was forced to stagger back several steps to regain his balance.

“Just give up…” someone in the crowd muttered, unable to watch the bullying.

Zhou Kai’s eyes narrowed. Can’t drag this out.

He suddenly hurled his own star-iron flying sword at Di An. Immediately after, he grabbed a thick stack of Talismans from his storage bag and threw them out like confetti!

Enhanced by the Lawless No Word Heavenly Scripture, the Fireball Talismans exploded with double the radius, and the Ice Spike Talismans condensed with biting frost!

A riot of colorful explosions engulfed Di An.

In the chaos, Zhou Kai flashed cyan. The Cicada Raiment Art activated. His figure turned transparent, his aura vanishing completely.

With the profound stealth of the Delusional Dao Cicada Scripture, Zhou Kai was confident that within the same realm, Di An wouldn’t find even a shadow of him.

Di An stood amidst the barrage, his expression unchanged. A semi-transparent barrier of spiritual light rose around him. The chaotic talisman attacks struck the shield, causing only faint ripples before fizzling out.

He flicked a finger, knocking Zhou Kai’s flying sword away effortlessly.

When the smoke cleared, Zhou Kai was gone.

“Is Calamity Abyss Valley full of turtles who only know how to hide in their shells?” Di An sneered.

His powerful Grand Perfection Divine Sense swept out like a radar, while his spiritual pressure flooded every corner of the stage, trying to squeeze Zhou Kai out.

“If you won’t come out, I’ll destroy your toy!”

Di An’s eyes turned cold. His flying sword became a streak of death, shooting toward the Soul Devouring Cauldron that still hovered in place.

Boom!

Zhou Kai materialized in front of the cauldron, raising the Chaotic Sky Hammer in a panic to block. But he was too slow. The force blasted him backward, and he slammed into the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

“Three moves,” Di An said flatly, mocking him. “It ends here.”

Di An finally moved.

He blurred, reappearing like a ghost directly above the prone Zhou Kai. His life-bound Dharma Treasure—a pigeon-egg-sized Glazed Pearl—floated from his palm, radiating a bone-chilling frost.

Zhou Kai suddenly spat a mouthful of Essence Blood onto the Soul Devouring Cauldron and vanished again.

“Without your talismans, where can you run? Got you!”

Di An’s Divine Sense locked onto Zhou Kai’s position instantly. The Glazed Pearl flared with blinding light, ready to deliver a thunderous execution!

But in that split second, the trap sprung.

The Soul Devouring Cauldron, which had been knocked aside, suddenly emitted a dull, ominous thrum.

BOOM!

The cauldron detonated! Shards of metal flew everywhere, but the real threat was the payload: a concentration of colorless Soul Poison a hundred times more potent than before!

Simultaneously, the wisps of poison that had already invaded Di An’s body triggered!

Buzz!

Di An felt his brain pierced by a thousand steel needles. A wave of chaotic dizziness washed over him, turning the world upside down.

The vertigo lasted only an instant, but for Zhou Kai, it was an eternity.

He had already used Dragon Roaming the Void to blink away from the blast radius.

“Soul Blade, go!”

A Talisman, prepped and waiting, transformed into an invisible, needle-thin blade. It shot through the gap in Di An’s defenses caused by the pain, drilling straight into his Consciousness Sea like a red-hot poker!

“GAAH—!”

Di An let out a twisted, guttural scream. It wasn’t just pain; it was the primal horror of a soul under siege.

His arrogant mask shattered, replaced by sheer agony and confusion.

His body went rigid in mid-air. His flying sword spun out of control, clattering against the tiles. The Gui Water power in his Glazed Pearl went haywire, spraying random water arrows into the crowd.

Di An clutched his head, his soul reeling from the heavy blow.

Not enough! Zhou Kai thought. I need to break him completely.

A Grand Perfection cultivator’s mind was a fortress. The Soul Blade hurt him, but his mana was still vast.

Zhou Kai’s eyes glinted viciously. Time for the finisher.

He pulled a half-man-sized straw doll from his bag and tossed it onto the stage.

The doll, dressed in crude Heavenly Spring Sect robes, had a face drawn with crooked ink lines.

This was the masterpiece of a certain eccentric Senior Brother from the Three Watches Market—a man whose mouth was so foul he once scolded a Golden Core cultivator until their Dao Heart collapsed. Zhou Kai had bribed Gao Feiyang to get ten custom recordings targeting every major sect.

The doll landed with a thwap.

Zhou Kai vanished again.

The doll’s ink-drawn mouth snapped open. Infused with spiritual energy, a voice shrill enough to pierce the soul shrieked out:

“Everyone in the Sect knows about your dirty little secrets! Underneath your cave dwelling, you’ve buried hundreds of illegal memory stones!”

“You spy on female cultivators day and night! You even fantasize about Senior Sister Du Chuyao while posing in front of a mirror!”

“And inside your copy of the ‘Pure Heart Mantra’? Hah! It’s stuffed with pages from the ‘Mysterious Yin Maidens’ Joyful Illustrations’! You pretend to be a righteous gentleman, but your hands are always busy!”

“And what about that flying sword? Why do you control it behind your back at night? Someone told me you use the hilt to… tsk tsk tsk. Truly tragic! Enough to make a ghost weep!”

“Oh, and let’s talk about why you wear such baggy pants! Is it to hide that thing? Softer than a maggot, thinner than a needle!”

Silence.

Then, pure chaos.

Du Chuyao’s face frosted over instantly. It took her a long moment to squeeze out a sentence through gritted teeth.

“Zhou… Kai! That son of a bitch is not human!”

Wang Yan of the Purple Star Sect was stunned for a second, then his face contorted as he burst into roaring laughter. “Holy shit! That motherfucker actually went there?”

Long Yufeng’s face turned the color of a charred pot. “Shameless! Filthy! Disgusting tactics!”

Qing Yuanzi of the Jade Void Sect twitched violently. He closed his eyes, chanting rapidly. “…No self, no form… return to the void… all thoughts are dust…”

Yang Ling looked at Li Qiwen with sparkling interest.

Li Qiwen wished the ground would swallow him whole. Damn it! Where did he learn this gutter trash? I certainly didn’t teach him that!

“PFFT—!”

Di An, already mentally unstable from the Soul Poison, heard these vicious, hyper-specific insults aimed at his deepest insecurities.

If he were sane, he would just be angry. But with his soul defenses shattered and his mind in chaos, these words were like branding irons searing his soul!

The “crimes”—even if entirely fabricated—twisted together with his pain, confusion, and panic.

His pride as a genius. His reputation. His identity.

Everything was torn to shreds by the crude, mocking voice of a straw doll.

“AHHHHHHH!”

Di An snapped.

His eyes turned crimson. Blood leaked from his seven orifices. His hair exploded outward as he descended into madness.

The Glazed Pearl erupted with blinding light. Rivers of black Gui Water surged out, transforming into a tsunami that swept indiscriminately in all directions.

Zhou Kai, hovering invisibly in the air, watched coldly.

First strike with force. Second weakens. Third exhausts.

The moment Di An unleashed his full power in a tantrum, the black water’s momentum peaked—and then showed a sliver of decline.

Now!

Zhou Kai moved like lightning, closing the distance instantly. He raised the Chaotic Sky Hammer high, shouting right into Di An’s face:

“Senior Brother Di! Do not be attached to worldly appearances! I shall grant you a great fortune!”

The hammer, screaming through the air, smashed down toward Di An’s skull!

Di An, though insane, still had combat instincts. He raised the Glazed Pearl to block.

At that moment, the Cicada Tribulation Chapter of Zhou Kai’s scripture silently activated.

This technique was designed to deceive the Heavens—to pass falsehood off as truth and attract a weakened Heavenly Tribulation to temper the body!

A mysterious, profound aura radiated from Zhou Kai, latching onto Di An’s shattered Dao Heart and rampaging mana.

Sparks of lightning began to jump across Zhou Kai’s skin.

He grinned at Di An, his white teeth stark against the chaos.

“Senior Brother Di, guess what? Do you think a Foundation Establishment Grand Perfection with a collapsed Dao Heart can survive his own Golden Core Heavenly Tribulation?”

RUMBLE!

Before the words settled, dark clouds swirled into existence above the arena. Thunder serpents wove through the gloom, and a majestic, terrifying pressure descended from the sky.

“Not good!”

On the ship, Long Yufeng’s expression changed drastically. He recognized that aura immediately. It was a genuine Golden Core Tribulation! In Di An’s current state, a single bolt would turn him into ash!

“You dare?!” Long Yufeng roared.

Abandoning all decorum, he vanished from the deck, charging to intervene.

But he was too late to stop the hammer.

BOOM!

The Chaotic Sky Hammer, carrying the weight of a mountain, smashed into the hastily raised Glazed Pearl.

Di An was blasted into the ground, unconscious, his aura hanging by a thread.

Long Yufeng arrived an instant later. Eyes blazing with fury, he slapped his palm upward. A giant hand of golden mana rose to meet the sky, forcibly scattering the forming tribulation clouds!

He looked down at the broken Di An, then turned his murderous gaze on Zhou Kai.

“Zhou Kai! You despicable worm!”

“First you use poison! Then you use filth to shatter his Dao Heart! And now you try to use his Heart Demons to trigger a Tribulation to kill him?!”

“You deserve death! Today, I will kill you myself!”

Long Yufeng lunged, his mana condensing into a lethal claw aimed straight at Zhou Kai’s face.

“Hmph!”

A cold snort echoed.

Li Qiwen flashed into existence, standing firmly between his disciple and the enraged sect leader.

His azure spear pointed forward, water ripples flowing along the shaft as he met Long Yufeng’s killing intent head-on.