But the truly bizarre part came next.
Just as every gaze was locked onto the overwhelming force of that earthen vortex, the vortex itself began to dissipate—faster than it had formed.
The dust and debris swirling around it were being sucked away as though by some invisible hand.
In the space of a few breaths, every last speck of dust and sand had vanished completely, and the void returned to perfect stillness.
The earthen vortex's pressure had disappeared without a trace.
And there, standing right where the maelstrom had raged, Jiang Chen's figure appeared squarely before the brown-cloaked man—blindingly pristine. Not a single speck of dust clung to him, not a hair out of place. He looked for all the world as though he'd simply been standing there in a daze, entirely untouched by the turmoil.
What…
The brown-cloaked man was stunned on the spot. The other three cloaked figures were equally dumbfounded.
How was this possible? Even if the earthen vortex had failed to kill the boy—if it had left him some small shred of mercy—it shouldn't have been this effortless.
This was nothing short of the greatest humiliation the brown-cloaked man had ever suffered.
Over on Yan Wanjun's side, every pair of eyes lit up. Huang'er's face cleared like clouds parting to reveal the sun, and her anxious heart settled back where it belonged.
Elder Shun was practically vibrating with excitement. "I knew it! He'd be perfectly fine! Jiang Chen stepped into the fight—if someone existed who could defeat him, they haven't been born yet!"
Yan Qingsang pumped his fist with savage glee. "You said it! There's nobody in the Myriad Abyss Island who can take down Jiang Chen!"
At that moment, Jiang Chen let out a soft chuckle and regarded the brown-cloaked man. "Anyone watching would think you threw that first move on purpose."
If any words could sting worse than a blow to the face, those were it. The brown-cloaked man's chest clenched, his skin burning with shame. Had his cloak not concealed his expression, his face in that moment would have been a sight to behold.
A surge of fury roared upward through his chest.
There was no denying it—the brown-cloaked man's temper had been thoroughly ignited.
But he was also forced to admit that he had severely underestimated this young man. Underestimated this entire fight. This youth was far more troublesome than he had imagined.
"Nine moves left. Take your time deciding what to use." Jiang Chen's smile grew only more composed, and each word struck harder than the last.
It felt less like a battle and more like a training drill—as if the brown-cloaked man were nothing more than a sparring partner.
"Kid, I'll admit you've got a bit of something—a bit of craft. But that first move was just a warm-up, plain and simple."
The brown-cloaked man would never concede that his opening strike had been a serious technique. For the sake of his pride, he had to frame it as nothing more than loosening up.
Jiang Chen curled his lip. "Just make sure you're not still 'warming up' after all ten moves are done."
"Kid—move two. Move two will show you exactly what hell feels like." The brown-cloaked man had clearly been pushed past his patience by Jiang Chen's attitude.
The sequence of ten moves he had carefully planned was now completely overturned.
He had decided to open with a devastating technique and teach this brat a lesson he wouldn't forget. Three moves ought to do it—reduce him to a writhing, broken mess.
Despite his sharp words, Jiang Chen was fully locked in, pouring every ounce of his concentration into the fight. He harbored no illusions about his own superiority. He did not believe he was truly stronger than his opponent.
The truth of the matter was that the ease of the first exchange had been nothing but fortunate circumstance—he had leveraged the Earth Core Origin Pearl's immense power to neutralize his opponent's opening strike.
However, Jiang Chen's composure was also rooted in the Earth Core Origin Pearl. He had already deduced that his opponent was a powerful earth-element cultivator.
If the man continued attacking with earth-element techniques, Jiang Chen was confident he could neutralize them with relative ease. The question was how long it would take the brown-cloaked man to realize that.
Then again, a cultivator who specialized in earth-element arts was bound to be at something less than his peak when switching to other types of attacks.