Golden light twisted and shredded, blood splattered everywhere.
Zhuiyang Old Freak's screams hadn't ended when his body was ground to bits, not even a whole bone remaining—completely pulverized.
Suddenly, the void rippled, and a strange bead shot out from the magnetic storm.
At that very moment, a single petal of a fire lotus unfurled and swallowed the bead whole.
Jiang Chen spread his arms, and all the vines shot back, vanishing without a trace in an instant.
Apart from a mess of flesh and blood residue left by Zhuiyang Old Freak, nothing remained at the scene.
From Jiang Chen's attack to the annihilation of Zhuiyang Old Freak, the speed was so fast it was nearly impossible for the eye to follow. By the time everyone reacted, all that was left of Zhuiyang Old Freak was a pile of bloody scraps.
For a moment, the entire arena fell into complete silence, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
When Jiang Chen's burst of golden light erupted earlier, even someone as powerful as Feng Beidou hadn't seen clearly what happened.
And Dan Chi had only a vague understanding, completely unaware of what kind of divine ability Jiang Chen had used.
Only after the Ice Fire Demon Lotus swallowed the Ice Fire Spirit Bead did Feng Beidou react, a cold light shooting from his eyes.
"Daring beast, you dare kill so ruthlessly?"
As he spoke, his body flickered, and with a single grab of his hand, he was already in front of Jiang Chen.
At the same moment, Dan Chi also arrived almost simultaneously, thrusting his palm forward.
Boom!
Two Earth Saint-level powerhouses clashed palms. The powerful energy surged like a wave, making the air throughout the arena stall instantly.
Dan Chi followed the momentum and swept Jiang Chen's body away from the scene.
Then his figure flickered as he stood composedly, chuckling calmly: "Envoy Feng, does this second battle mean you and I will take the field? Very well!"
Although the two Earth Saint-level powerhouses had only made brief contact, they immediately gauged each other's depths.
Feng Beidou felt a chill in his heart, greatly shaken.
"Dan Chi is said to only be at the fourth level of the Saint Dao? How can this palm strike be so powerful? It's absolutely not inferior to a fifth-level Saint Dao cultivation. Has Dan Chi broken through again recently?"
Feng Beidou had recently achieved a breakthrough, entering the fifth level of the Saint Dao. With this strength, combined with the backing of his Heavenly Sect, he believed he could dominate the Myriad Phenomena Region.
According to the data he'd gathered, the top figures in the Myriad Phenomena Region were at most at the fifth level of the Saint Dao.
And Dan Chi, the Palace Master of the Dan Qian Palace, was reportedly only at the fourth level of the Saint Dao.
But just now, in their palm clash, Feng Beidou felt from Dan Chi a power completely comparable to his own.
Facing the imposing Dan Chi, Feng Beidou fell into silent contemplation.
This battle, he absolutely could not afford to lose. If he lost to Dan Chi, it wouldn't just be him personally—the entire Heavenly Sect of Nine Suns' layout in the Sixteen Kingdom Alliance would completely collapse.
If that happened, no matter how high his status in the Heavenly Sect of Nine Suns, he would inevitably become a laughingstock, possibly even face punishment, and his future prospects would dim.
Originally, Feng Beidou had planned for Zhuiyang Old Freak to win one round, then send his ninth-level inspector to defeat a Vice Sect Master of the Dan Qian Palace.
This way, winning two out of three battles, he, Feng Beidou, wouldn't need to personally act.
But Zhuiyang Old Freak's defeat had completely thrown his plans into disarray.
And Dan Chi had clearly seized upon this, using Jiang Chen's victory as a psychological advantage to proactively issue a challenge, instantly gaining the upper hand in momentum.
Once a Saint-level powerhouse's momentum rose, that kind of pressure was entirely different from the Spirit Realm.
The Spirit Realm involved refining spiritual energy, extracting its essence to condense a Nascent Soul within the body.
And the Saint Dao was the sublimation of the Spirit Realm.
If you compared the Nascent Soul of the Spirit Realm to a towering tree, then the Saint Dao was opening a Purple Mansion within the body, like countless towering trees forming a forest.
Thus, Saint-level powerhouses were also called Purple Mansion Great Saints.
The Purple Mansion Great Saint was subdivided into nine levels, but in practice, people usually distinguished Saint-level powerhouses as Human Saints, Earth Saints, and Heavenly Saints.
Levels one to three were Human Saints. Upon breaking through, three lights appeared above their heads.
Levels four to six were Earth Saints. Upon breaking through, golden lotuses sprang from the ground, an even more spectacular sight.
Levels seven to nine were Heavenly Saints. And a Heavenly Saint's breakthrough was even more exaggerated, causing heavenly maidens to scatter flowers, celestial debris to fall, and a fragrant aroma to permeate for thousands of miles—a heavenly and earthly anomaly.
Dan Chi had broken through to Earth Saint ten years ago. At his age, he held the record for the youngest to reach Earth Saint in the Myriad Phenomena Region in nearly a millennium.
For ten years, he had remained at the fourth level of the Saint Dao without a breakthrough.
Until some time ago, when Elder Shun visited the Dan Qian Palace, stayed for seven days, imparted much knowledge to Dan Chi, and told him to pay attention to Jiang Chen of the Treasure Tree Sect.