A massive man, brawny as a ferocious lion, with a head full of golden hair, radiating an overwhelming sense of power.
His sudden appearance sent a shockwave of alarm through the crowd.
"Where did this giant come from?"
"This guy has been keeping a low profile this whole time — since when is he making such a grand entrance?"
The martial artists in the first arena zone buzzed with discussion as they watched the big man vault onto the stage. It was obvious from his aura alone that he was nothing like the others.
Even Jiang Chen felt a flicker of surprise watching the man spring up from below.
A martial artist's razor-sharp instincts tugged at Jiang Chen's mind — a sense of latent danger washed over him like a cold wind.
Ever since he first set foot on the path, Jiang Chen's intuition had never steered him wrong. This big man might look like a brute, but the fact that he could trigger Jiang Chen's instinctive threat response meant he was absolutely no ordinary opponent.
"So people really were hiding their strength," Jiang Chen thought, casting a brief glance at the man. It was clear that during the earlier formation screening, this fellow had deliberately suppressed his power.
With this man's presence and strength, there was no way he'd fall outside the top one thousand. Jiang Chen even had the nagging suspicion that this giant might rank in the top three.
In that instant, Jiang Chen grew quietly vigilant. Beneath his calm exterior, his defenses rose.
A man like this — one who went to such lengths to conceal his strength and then chose this exact moment to challenge him — this was no string of coincidences.
"Pill King Zhen, I've come to face you." The big man spoke with natural authority. His voice boomed like a great bell.
Jiang Chen's gaze was placid. "And you are?"
The man let out a cold laugh. "No need to ask. I'm here for one fight. No rules about life and death — just a good, thorough battle."
No rules about life and death?
Generally speaking, in an arena duel, occasional injuries or deaths might occur, but participants mostly exercised restraint. If you could avoid killing, you avoided killing.
Nothing strictly forbade it, but nobody treated it as a goal either.
"What's the matter — don't you dare accept?" The big man bellowed with laughter, took a single step forward, and his aura erupted. A tremendous wave of oppressive force surged outward, like a lion bound in iron chains straining to break free and lunge at its prey.
Every gesture, every strand of that wild mane, worked in concert with his presence to produce an all-encompassing aura of intimidation.
The moment this aura erupted, it crashed toward Jiang Chen like an avalanche.
Below the stage, the spectators all sucked in a sharp breath.
What kind of monster had just appeared? This man's strength clearly dwarfed all previous challengers — by so much that all nine of them combined wouldn't equal half of him.
In an instant, the entire arena fell utterly silent, as though the giant's aura had smothered everything.
Jiang Chen suddenly broke into a smile. "Trying to win without fighting? Is that the strategy — crush your opponent with sheer presence?"
The big man replied with arrogant pride. "What if it is? Don't let it go to your head just because you're the reigning champion. Survive my opening salvo first, then you'll earn the right to accept my challenge."
His tone was wildly overbearing, dripping with domineering confidence.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "A clumsy provocation. You probably think your little aura display is terrifying, but honestly, you look like a noisy brat who only knows how to shout."
A noisy brat?
Rather than anger, the big man laughed and nodded. "Sharp tongue on you. Well then, take my fir— fir— roar— roar—"
Without warning, the giant's tongue cracked like thunder. The word "first" stretched into a long, resonant howl — part tiger's roar, part ape's shriek, part dragon's call, part phoenix's scream. In a flash, the sound wave coalesced into a titanic wall of force, rolling toward Jiang Chen like a cataclysmic tide.
Heaven and earth seemed to dim; sun and moon lost their light.
Forget the stage — even the spectators below felt their faces change. They hurriedly activated their Divine Abilities to resist, and many clamped their hands over their ears.
But this sound wave was clearly no ordinary attack. It wasn't merely an assault on hearing — it struck directly at the mind. The sensation was as though countless savage beasts, fangs bared and claws extended, were lunging at one's consciousness, ready to shatter the sea of awareness at any moment.
The martial artists below recoiled in horror, scrambling backward while sealing off their spiritual senses to block the wave's intrusion.
Fortunately, the attack hadn't been aimed at them. Its primary target was Pill King Zhen.
But if they, merely caught in the periphery, felt such devastating impact — then Pill King Zhen, standing at the epicenter, must be like a lone boat adrift in a raging ocean, in mortal peril.
Jiang Chen's eyes narrowed, a flash of surprise crossing his gaze.
Clearly, mastering a sound-wave Divine Ability to this level was far beyond what any ordinary rogue cultivator could achieve. His mind raced, and he finally reached a firm conclusion: this man had come specifically for him.
"Whose agent is he? Another Great Emperor's disciple from Glazed King City? Someone from Pill Fire City? Or perhaps from the Nine Sun Heavenly Sect or the Immortal Demon Heavenly Capital?"
A dozen possibilities flashed through Jiang Chen's mind in rapid succession.
His whole body shimmered as he activated the Divine Demon Golden Body, its ten-zhang golden radiance enveloping him in a protective shell. At the same time, his sleeve swept repeatedly, the Flying Feather Mirror flickering to life and arranging a defensive perimeter around him.
The sound waves bore down like crashing waves, but as they struck the light refracted by the Flying Feather Mirror, they were continuously broken apart and dissipated.
The power of a sound wave lay in its concentration, its sharpness, the condensed force of that single instant. Once fragmented, it was no different from any ordinary blast of air.