Chương 374: Three moves test

"Anyone who can withstand three moves from me and still be standing passes the test." The youth unhurriedly stated, emphasizing each word. A few of the outer disciples instantly flared up, unable to believe their ears.

"What did you say?" None of them could believe their ears in fact. Could this get any more ridiculous than this? This had gone beyond just disdain and belittlement. It was now pure Idiocracy and a blatant insult to them all. The inner peak was taking this too far! They sent a disciple instead of an elder to test them? Fine. They chose an early stage deity out of all others. That was also fine. Now, this idiot actually dared to look down on them so much? What gave him the right?

"Hm?" The youth frowned.

"You didn't hear me?"

"Damn you! Who the hell do you think you are?!" One of the two new deities exploded with rage and shouted coldly. He didn't see a need to hold back his rage. This youth was an inner disciple? He was only an early stage deity! What made him so insufferably arrogant? Long Feng and everyone else stared at the youth coldly, waiting for his response. The youth suddenly smiled. The smile was extremely cold and didn't reach his eyes. He focused his gaze on the deity who spoke, then grinned.

"Who do I think I am?" His voice echoed throughout the hall, but his figure had already vanished into a mere after image.

"I'm someone who can take your puny life at will!" When his voice sounded again, he was standing in their midst, more precisely behind the new deity who spoke. The deity's pupils trembled as he turned around as fast as he could, only to be greeted by a fist landing on his chest before he could react. The deity was sent flying in the opposite direction while coughing up several mouthfuls of blood before he slammed into the ground. He didn't move after that.

His heart was completely still and his breathing had vanished completely. Nearly every bone in his body was shattered while his organs ruptured! He was deader than he could ever be. Silence. Absolute silence filled the hall as everyone watched an early stage deity reduce another one to death with a casual fist. Among them all, only three of them had actually seen the youth's movement. Situ Hong's pupils were dilated as he felt his heart shivering in shock.

"This... impossible! He's probably even stronger than Qiu Yushi!" He found that extremely hard to believe, because in his understanding, Qiu Yushi already stood at the limit of what early stage deities were capable of. After all, he was already a refined early stage deity. How could any other early stage deity be stronger than him? Even if this youth was also refined, which he most likely was, he should only be on par with Qiu Yushi at most! Situ Hong knew exactly how strong Qiu Yushi was.

The rumors of the latter defeating both he and Bai Zijun together was true. In fact, he defeated them within five moves! That was why they were both so fearful of him. His power had left a profound mark on them both. Long Feng's mind was rapidly replaying the scene of the youth's movement, trying to capture his speed, but all he could manage to see was his after images. This... couldn't possibly be an early stage deity! Compared to Bai Zijun, he was more than a level higher.

Qiu Yushi frowned deeply but quickly regained his calm as he stared at the youth. Within his eyes, the youth's movement was perfectly reflected. The youth lightly flicked his wrist and walked back to his original standing spot before the warden. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Old man, you can take his corpse back along with you. I merely wanted to punish him but I didn't expect he would be so fragile." He casually stated. The warden stared at the corpse on the floor with a deathly cold glint in his eyes which he quickly concealed and lowered his head.

"It's his fault for offending you. Young friend doesn't need to bother."

"Good. We can proceed, unless anyone else has something to say?" No one said anything this time. In fact, they were all rapidly dissecting the power behind that casual fist and wondering if they could really withstand three attacks.

"Don't worry. I'll hold back. I really don't care if you all pass the test. This is just boring to me." The youth added magnanimously, causing the disciples to feel grateful, even while they felt disappointed in themselves. Long Feng stared at the youth with a deep frown.

"That fist didn't even contain much of his energy! If that's the same attack he will use on us, then I'll have no problem withstanding even more than three moves. But... how the hell is he so powerful?" This was the real question. This wasn't making any sense at all. It was all the same early stage deity realm. There might be some difference in power, but it really shouldn't be so vast. Long Feng felt like he wasn't facing an early stage deity but a mid stage deity! How was that possible?

Was it that this youth had a combat power of one stage above his cultivation? That would mean he was a mid stage earth grade talent at the least! That wasn't very likely. There was definitely something Long Feng was missing.

"Who is going first? I'm already being kind as to give such a simple test. If I follow the normal means, three among you all passing would be excellent already." The youth impatiently added. After a brief silence, He pointed randomly.

"You, step forward. Otherwise you fail." The person he was pointing at happened to Fang Feichen! Fang Feichen's expression turned bitter as he cursed his luck.

"Damn it! He is definitely a refined early stage deity like Qiu Yushi! It actually makes sense! Would there be a normal early stage deity like us in the inner peak?" He was extremely bitter as he stepped forward and faced the youth while reinforcing himself with his energy as much as he could.

"Please go easy on me!" He didn't hesitate to clasp his fists and speak in a low tone. The youth indifferently nodded and punched out without wasting a second more. His fist sent a powerful energy that contracted the air before him into a vacuum that swept towards Fang Feichen. The latter's expression turned solemn as he waved his hand, forming sending dozens of piercingly sharp golden weapons that rained upon the approaching attack as well as the youth himself.

"Hm? Metal Dao? Only so so." The youth watched casually as the weapons descended before he clasped his palms together, generating a wave of energy that erupted in all directions with him as the center. The weapons heading towards him were directly exterminated while his fist broke through the rest and surged towards Fang Feichen. Sweat oozed from his forehead as he formed a massive golden shield with his metal intent, focusing on defense.

The plan worked and the shield blocked the fist, but it was riddled with countless cracks in exchange. This scene left everyone gawking in shock. Wasn't this a bit too ridiculous?

"Good. I've made two moves. This is the last one." The youth really didn't seem to care at all about this test. Even from his moves, he was barely using less than half of his strength while Fang Feichen was going all out already. Fang Feichen instantly dispersed the shield and decided to attack before the youth could do so. He formed several gleaming weapons and merged them together into a giant axe that emanated a fearful aura.

"Cleave!" He moved his arms in a descending manner and the axe swung down like a divine punishment upon the youth.

"Not bad. I'll let you pass." He glanced up at the axe and punched out, his fist directly meeting the descending axe and shattering it to fragments. Fang Feichen's face turned pale as a line of blood leaked out from the side of his mouth, but he wasn't badly injured.

"You pass." The youth casually declared then pointed at someone else.

"step out!" The next person was Yang Qian. He calmly walked out and drew out his sword without hesitation, evidence that he was holding nothing back from the start. He also attacked first, unleashing powerful attacks while the youth indifferently blocked them thrice.

"You pass." He casually stated, then pointed at someone else. A single glance at the situation would reveal one thing; the youth was overwhelmingly stronger than nearly everyone present, but he was clearly too lazy to bother about it, therefore allowing them to pass easily. After Yang Qian, Zhou Zheng and another disciple also passed. The next person happened to be the second new deity who was until just a few minutes ago, extremely confident in his ability.

Now, all he hoped was to withstand these three moves without losing his life! Unfortunately for him, he was overwhelmed with the first move and lost directly. While he didn't lose his life, he was slammed into a nearby wall and fell unconscious. The power gap was just too wide that even a single casual punch was deadly to him.

"Hm? What was such a weakling doing here? What a joke!" The youth chuckled and didn't bother about the unconscious deity. The next person happened to be Long Feng. When he was called out, he calmly stepped forward and drew out his sword. This was the second Imperial armament sword he received after the hundred continent meeting. Before the youth could speak, he used the second firmament steps and vanished, reappearing behind the him and swinging the sword in his grasp.

"Earth Firmament!" A glint flashed in Long Feng's eyes as he pushed his sword intent to it's limit. The attack directly hit the youth's back, but didn't slow down and sliced through his figure. But Long Feng didn't feel relieved. Without even thinking, he knew that this was an after image!

"Three waves demon annihilation!" He didn't even try to turn around, instead opting to erupt with all of his demon energy at once. His action saved him from receiving a direct punch from the youth as the youth retreated once more while waving his hand, sweeping the raging demon energy away. A deep frown coloured the youth's face as he stared at Long Feng.

"Is it just me or are you really a rank five Imperial?" He decided to question as he refused to believe his senses. From the moment Long Feng moved, his aura was no longer hidden and became clear to all.

"You've moved, twice!" Long Feng didn't reply to the question, instead tightening his grip around his sword.

"Right. Not bad. You completely stopped me from attacking." The youth decided to disregard the cultivation issue for now and casually applauded. Long Feng didn't wait any longer and rushed forward again, using the second Firmament step to it's limit and appearing beside the youth. To everyone watching, it looked like he wanted to use the same tactic he used first. The youth grinned mockingly.

"What do you take me for?" He turned around and sent a fit towards Long Feng's chest. His speed was even faster than the sword in Long Feng's grasp, meaning the fist would land first. But Long Feng's lips suddenly curled up.

"Third step!" The youth's fist completely passed through Long Feng's body and his expression changed for the first time.

"An after image?" He didn't think that Long Feng was still holding back his speed. Before he could react, a powerful attack rushed towards him from behind.

"Heaven Firmament!" Frowning, the youth turned around and punched straight at the sword attack, causing it to crumble. After that, he no longer moved and stared at Long Feng.

"Impressive. That was my third move. You pass." This was actually the first time he praised someone so directly. Long Feng didn't respond and simply walked over to stand behind the warden, where the others who had passed also stood. The youth continued calling them forth, and not surprisingly, they all passed. It looked like he really wanted them all to pass out of boredom. In a few minutes, only one person was left. And he happened to be the strongest.

"You... step forward." Qiu Yushi glanced indifferently at the youth then strolled forward leisurely and stood a hundred meters away from the youth. The youth began to assess him with a curious look.

"You're different, on another level than those others. You've refined your cultivation once already, haven't you?" He asked.

"I have."

"Interesting. Most times, outer peak disciples don't even know about the refinement stages till they join the inner peak. To think you've already began."

"Let's get over with this. And if you believe that the little power you've shown is enough to bother me, then you're sorely mistaken. You'll have to use more than that to make this exciting." Qiu Yushi calmly stated, leaving everyone else speechless. They hoped the youth would hold back, and Qiu Yushi was asking him to go all out? Could he really withstand the youth if he unleashed more power?