"You ungrateful wretch — you really are refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit."
Faced with Chu Feng's utterly contemptuous attitude, Fang Hualong was so furious that he gnashed his teeth.
"Oh? Then why don't you let me taste what your 'forfeit' actually tastes like?" In response to Fang Hualong's threat, Chu Feng's smile only grew more mocking.
"Fine. I'll oblige you." Confronted by Chu Feng's relentless provocations, Fang Hualong wasted no more breath on words. Instead, he let his actions speak.
His hands swept through the air, and countless fist shadows — dense as a meteor shower — arced across the sky, hurtling toward Chu Feng in a suffocating barrage.
Boom, boom, boom—
Those fist shadows detonated around Chu Feng one after another.
Ripples of destructive energy tore across the heavens.
"What's that?!"
Yet after this ferocious assault, the expressions on Fang Hualong and his kin did not brighten — they grew even more grim.
Because the attack had been stopped.
All of it — every single strike — had been blocked.
One had to understand, that earlier technique was no ordinary move. It was the Fang Heavenly Clan's supreme treasure, a Forbidden Immortal martial art — the Forbidden Immortal Torrential Fist!
Yet such a devastating method had failed to so much as scratch Chu Feng.
Once the ripples subsided, they could clearly see a small golden sword and a golden battle axe hovering around Chu Feng's body.
Those were the merged Secret Arts — the Ancient War Sword and the Ancient War Axe.
Under the protection of these two great ancient Secret Arts, Chu Feng had also obtained the battle power of one rank above his level!
"What are those things? Divine artifacts? But why do they carry the aura of Secret Arts?"
The members of the Fang Heavenly Clan were stunned, their expressions as though they had suffered a devastating blow.
That reaction was understandable. After all, when Fang Hualong had unleashed the Hellfire Ghost Beetle, they had all believed victory was assured.
It was only now that they realized Chu Feng, too, possessed means to elevate his battle power by a full rank above his level.
No wonder Chu Feng had continued to mock Fang Hualong even after the latter had obtained that same power boost.
Most importantly, even though both of them now wielded battle power one rank above their cultivation, Chu Feng hadn't even moved. He had merely deployed a few techniques and casually blocked Fang Hualong's Forbidden Immortal martial art.
That showed the gap between their true strengths was enormous.
"Chu Feng's combat strength is somewhat terrifying. I fear that among those of equal cultivation, no one could stand against him," Wuming Fenghuo remarked.
"Indeed rather terrifying," Wuming Gangxiong agreed.
Though he disliked Chu Feng, he had to admit that the combat strength Chu Feng displayed was genuinely frightening.
In truth, they were not the only ones surprised — even Chu Hanpeng and Chu Xuanchengfa were astonished.
Chu Feng's combat strength was simply defying heaven itself, far beyond what it had been before.
"Chu Feng — did you truly undergo some kind of transformation under that heavenly lightning?"
Chu Hanpeng and Chu Xuanchengfa exchanged a silent thought. They felt Chu Feng's change had come too suddenly, and the only explanation they could conceive was that it had something to do with the Heavenly Lightning Punishment Platform.
"Now — do you truly understand the gap between us?" Chu Feng continued to gaze at Fang Hualong with that same contemptuous look.
But this time, no one thought him arrogant. After all, even if it was arrogance, Chu Feng absolutely had the capital to back it up.
"Chu Feng, don't you get cocky! Today, who wins and who loses… is far from decided!" Fang Hualong roared. His palm swept across his Universe Bag, and three jade-green pills flew into his mouth.
"Hualong, you—"
Upon seeing this, many of the Fang Heavenly Clan's members wore expressions of deep concern.
They recognized the pills instantly — the ones Fang Hualong had just swallowed were forbidden medicine.
Everyone knew what forbidden medicine was: a substance that could dramatically boost one's combat power in a short time, but once that power faded, the backlash that followed would be unbearable.
The forbidden medicine Fang Hualong had consumed was an especially potent variety.
It could greatly amplify his combat strength, but at the same time, the risk he would bear was equally immense.
That was precisely why the Fang Heavenly Clan's members were so worried.
Yet none of them moved to stop him. They understood all too well — using forbidden medicine might be their clan's only chance. Otherwise, they would lose the Purple Tree Mortal World entirely.