"Chu Feng, holy crap, is it true?"
"You're really Chu Feng?"
Two women and three men instantly appeared before Chu Feng, surrounding him in a tight circle.
Yet rather than showing any disrespect, their eyes burned with fervor. The women were one thing, but even the men looked at him the same way.
"He's got quite the reputation. Just don't know if he's the real deal or riding on empty fame."
Not far away, a man with a thick, bushy beard spoke up. He stood with his arms crossed, scrutinizing Chu Feng with an arrogant air. Ten juniors followed behind him, their attitudes mirroring his.
When Chu Feng's gaze landed on him, the bearded man strode over.
Upon reaching the group, he stopped in a neat line. A cold glance from the bearded man swept toward the five men and women who had been surrounding Chu Feng. Their faces shifted, and they hastily retreated from around Chu Feng, falling back behind the bearded man.
At that moment, an eager-looking man stepped up to the bearded man's side and addressed Chu Feng and the others: "This here is the strongest member of our Ouyang Heavenly Clan in the current generation — his name is Ouyang Kuangfei."
Once the eager man finished speaking, the bushy-bearded Ouyang Kuangfei himself opened his mouth.
"You came here wanting to challenge the Primordial Killing Sea?" he asked.
"That's right," Chu Feng said.
"Fight me. Win, and I'll let you in."
"If you can't win, don't bother going in at all. You won't be worthy."
As he spoke, Ouyang Kuangfei released his aura.
He was a first-grade True God.
Chu Feng was about to respond when Long Chengyu stepped forward, positioning himself in front of Chu Feng.
"You're not qualified to face my brother Chu Feng."
"You'll have to get through me first."
As his words fell, Long Chengyu's own first-grade True God aura swept outward. The sheer force of it sent all of the Ouyang Heavenly Clan's dozen-plus juniors stumbling backward — all except Ouyang Kuangfei, who had released his own pressure in time to counter Long Chengyu's power. Otherwise, those juniors would have been blown clean away.
Such was the might of a True God.
"Oh? Not bad. What's your name?"
Having sensed Long Chengyu's cultivation, Ouyang Kuangfei regarded him seriously for the first time.
"Wait, you know Chu Feng but you don't know me?" Long Chengyu said. "Am I really that overlooked?"
Hearing this, Ouyang Kuangfei's gaze grew more earnest as he re-evaluated Long Chengyu. But he genuinely didn't recognize him, so his eyes darted about and he offered a random guess: "Could you be Shaoyu of the Immortal Sea Fish Clan?"
"Alright, alright, alright."
"Enough talk. Let's go."
Long Chengyu rolled up his sleeves, ready to throw down. He intended to teach this ignorant member of an ancient clan a thorough lesson.
"Not so fast," Ouyang Kuangfei said. "This is just a spar, so let's set some rules. No martial skills, no divine weapons, and don't hit too hard. What do you say?"
"Fine," Long Chengyu agreed.
Ouyang Kuangfei then looked toward an elder standing nearby. The elder understood immediately. With a wave of his great sleeve, he tossed out a square iron box. Surrounded by formation light, the box rapidly expanded, finally landing in the center of the great hall and forming a space-world resembling an iron cage. Through the gaps in the cage, one could see the interior — blue skies, white clouds, mountains, rivers, everything one could imagine. It was like an independent world.
"Please."
After speaking, Ouyang Kuangfei stepped inside.
Long Chengyu followed right behind him.
BOOM— The instant they entered, two tremendous forces collided like twin tidal waves crashing against each other.
No martial skills, no weapons — this could only be a contest of pure martial power and bare-fisted combat.
At first, both tried to overwhelm the other with raw force, but finding that impossible, they switched to close-range fighting. It was Long Chengyu who closed the distance first, adjusting his body mid-flight and launching a kick aimed at Ouyang Kuangfei's right leg. If that kick connected, it would snap the leg clean in two.
But Ouyang Kuangfei's reflexes were sharp. His left foot stayed planted, his waist twisted, and the very leg Long Chengyu had targeted transformed into a spinning counter-kick. Not only did he dodge Long Chengyu's flying kick, but after a full rotation, he swept straight back at Long Chengyu head-on.
Long Chengyu clearly hadn't expected such swift reactions. Unable to dodge in time, he could only raise both arms to block.
BOOM!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the sky of the formation world.
Unable to absorb the tremendous force, Long Chengyu plummeted from the sky toward the ground at tremendous speed. But Ouyang Kuangfei gave him no quarter — he descended from above like a hurtling meteor, chasing Long Chengyu down.
"Don't hold back. Push your cultivation to the absolute max," Chu Feng secretly transmitted to Long Chengyu.
After only a brief exchange, Chu Feng could tell that Ouyang Kuangfei's speed and strength were roughly on par with Long Chengyu's. However, his reflexes, his powers of observation, and especially his close-combat technique far surpassed Long Chengyu's.
Cultivators at this level typically devoted themselves to mastering martial skills or the use of weapons. Bare-fisted close combat was something few bothered to practice — it was simply too impractical. But Ouyang Kuangfei was clearly an exception; he had obviously trained in it specifically.
On the surface, saying no weapons and no martial skills was a gesture of restraint for the sake of a friendly spar. In reality, it was designed to fully leverage his own advantages — setting rules that were anything but fair.
At this point, Long Chengyu could either break the rules or catch his opponent off guard. But breaking the rules was tantamount to admitting defeat, so his only option was the element of surprise.
Long Chengyu understood this well. Upon receiving Chu Feng's reminder, before he even hit the ground, he pushed his cultivation higher in rapid succession. As a majestic dragon clan aura exploded forth, his power surged from first-grade True God straight to fourth-grade True God.