Chương 388: Cheng Zhi's approval

"What're you staring at, weakling?" The voice pulled Long Feng out of his thoughts and left him confused for a split second. Along with the voice came an irresistible pressure that crushed down upon him, completely restraining his movements and sealing the space around him. There was no room to resist whatsoever, as both his cultivation and physical strength were rendered completely useless in the blink of an eye.

Long Feng had always thought that he attracted trouble to himself, but today, he fully confirmed that fact. He was literally a magnet for trouble, and it always found him no matter where he was. Couldn't this Hua Zhen had found someone else to unleash his rage upon?

"Puny Imperial!" Hua Zhen saw through Long Feng's realm at a glance, just like how Cheng Zhi did.

"When did trash like you become an inner disciple? Have the inner peak fallen so much?!" He snorted while lifting an arm. An invisible force struck Long Feng from all directions, smashing his body into the ground. A copious amount blood rushed out of his mouth as his organs all shifted. Hua Zhen clearly wasn't done, as he slowly clenched his fist. No one knew who Long Feng was, so no one stepped in to help. Who would go against a top inner disciple for an unknown brat?

Zhou Zheng's eyes rippled with excitement and expectation as he waited impatiently for the blood to splash. Unfortunately, he was bound to never witness that scene. A powerful force split the pressure around Hua Zhen as a ridiculously large pole descended upon him with the weight of a mountain.

"You hurt little fellow! I'll crush you!" His move caught everyone off guard as he fearlessly attacked Hua Zhen. Hua Zhen's eyes glimmered coldly as he glanced at Cheng Zhi, who was standing there without moving. He clearly knew that Xiao Hu was Cheng Zhi's younger brother, which was mostly why he picked the unlucky Long Feng to face his rage. Now that Xiao Hu was suddenly attacking him, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Get lost!" He swung his arm, smashing both Xiao Hu and his huge pole aside. But there wasn't much power behind his attack, making sure that Xiao Hu suffered no damage.

"You are courting death!" Hua Zhen's expression changed drastically as he turned around, only to glimpse at a blur before a surging force sent him spinning into the ceiling. The entire hall seemed to shake with the impact as he bounced back to the ground with a pale expression and a trickle of blood on his lips. Hua Zhen's face was livid as he staggered to his feet and glared at Cheng Zhi who now stood where he was previously standing.

"How dare you sneak attack me?!" He roared furiously. Cheng Zhi didn't reply. Instead, his figure turned into a blur and appeared meters away from Hua Zhen, whose breathing instantly ceased. His expression was alarmed as he retreated at once. Cheng Zhi coldly lifted his arm and thrust a palm gently, as though he was caressing the air. Hua Zhen's nose instantly flowed with blood as he crossed his arms before his chest.

Even then, a formless energy struck him, embedding him deeply into the walls and forcing him to cough up a mouthful of blood. His pupils blazed with a mixture of rage and fear as he knelt on one knee.

"Cheng Zhi! Do not push me too far! Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Push you too far?" Cheng Zhi repeated coldly, sending chills up Hua Zhen's spine. The voice had actually sounded from right beside him! A palm landed on his back, and just as he began to turn in terror, an irresistible force crushed his defenses and surged into his body, breaking his bones like dry twigs. An extremely miserable scream erupted from Hua Zhen's throat as he tumbled over and coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, enough to pool up around him.

The entire hall was silent as everyone watched Cheng Zhi nearly cripple the seventh ranked inner disciple within three moves! Forget fighting back, Hua Zhen couldn't even resist a single of those attacks!

"You dare to touch my brothers. That arm of yours… I'll be taking it." Cheng leaned over and whispered, his voice sounding like the voice of a devil to Hua Zhen.

"You! …" The latter couldn't form a single coherent sentence as more blood streamed out of his mouth. He laid there, twitching painfully as he glared at Cheng Zhi with palpable hatred and unconcealed fear in his eyes. Just as Cheng Zhi reached out to grab his arm, a light voice resounded throughout the hall.

"That's enough. Cheng Zhi, let him go." All gazes turned to the person who spoke, none other than the head disciple who had watched in silence from the start, Gui Wu. His every action exuded an aura that was at the extreme limit of any mortal. A step further would mean shedding his mortality and becoming a higher lifeform… a Dao realm master. Long Feng regulated his breathing as he glanced at Gui Wu, then at Cheng Zhi and couldn't help but feel worried.

There was an indescribable tension between these two, one he couldn't explain. But there was certainly a grudge between them, especially when he recalled Hua Zhen mentioned Cheng Zhi losing the head disciple position, and Gui Wu happened to be the current head disciple. Things couldn't possibly end peacefully.

"You don't tell me what to do." Just as nearly everyone predicted, Cheng Zhi didn't bother to give Gui Wu face and responded indifferently. At the same time, his arm reached out to grab Hua Zhen's right arm. Long Feng couldn't describe the speed of what happened next. Everything was a blur that lasted a second, and he couldn't see anything no matter how hard he pushed his eyes and mind. A faint breeze filled the hall, rattling the robes of everyone.

But concealed within this gentle breeze was an indescribably powerful shockwave, so powerful that it could kill a refined early stage deity at once if it wasn't controlled. The next second, Cheng Zhi was standing in another position and Gui Wu was no longer standing in his original spot. As for Hua Zhen, he had somehow been teleported to behind Gui Wu. There was no remains of any energy to signal an exchange, but anyone could tell that the two had already exchanged casual moves in that second.

"You've punished him already. There's no need to take this any further." Gui Wu calmly stated with no change in his expression. Cheng Zhi's pupils were deathly cold as he stared at the latter.

"And if I insist?"

"Then I'll have to interfere. As the head disciple, I can't watch you ruin another disciple's life." Gui Wu replied without delay. Many people's expressions changed at his words as they retreated to the walls.

"They held back just now, dispersing the shockwave from their brief exchange, otherwise…"

"If these two exchange blows seriously, then we'll all suffer!"

"I hope Cheng Zhi backs down… where are the deacons?!!" Cheng Zhi stared for a minute longer before he lowered his arm and turned around to walk back to Xiao Hu and Long Feng's side without a word. Hundreds of disciples sighed as they saw him walk away without stirring more trouble. Otherwise if they had fought, then it would be a catastrophe for many disciples. Gui Wu stared at Cheng Zhi's back thoughtfully for a moment before he threw a pill at Hua Zhen and returned to his spot.

Hua Zhen received the pill gratefully and swallowed it, healing some of his injuries. He glared hatefully at Cheng Zhi, Xiao Hu and Long Feng before he staggered to a side of the hall and sat down to hasten his healing. Several minutes passed in silence before one of the female top disciples approached Cheng Zhi with a beautiful smile.

"Brother Cheng Zhi is still as powerful as always." Cheng Zhi smiled back warmly, making it impossible for others to believe he just caused an uproar in the hall.

"And you look prettier than I remember, Zhuo Ping. At this rate, you'll soon cause the moon to lose it's job." Long Feng halted his healing and blinked several times, glancing at Cheng Zhi's back speechlessly.

'he's good…' he thought.

'i could tell that to Yue'er or Liuli the next time I meet them…' Zhuo Ping giggled lightly, enchanting several men.

"I'm not falling for your sugary tongue." She shook her head.

"It's nice to see you again. What do you think the Deacons want to announce?"

"I have no idea. But it should be something important. They're already here." Cheng Zhi replied and casually glanced in the direction of the entrance. Nearly instantly, a few figures strolled in, instantly becoming the center of attention. Each and everyone of them was a Deacon, responsible for managing the inner peak in place of the inner elders. The leading deacon swept his gaze across the hall, pausing briefly on both Gui Wu and Cheng Zhi. Roughly seven hundred inner disciples were gathered.

As for the remaining few hundreds, they were either away from the sect or deep in seclusion and unable to arrive.

"I have two things to announce." He began, his voice reaching everyone's ears.

"Firstly, a honored elder has decided to take some of his precious time and give a lecture to the disciples." This announcement sent a wave of excitement through the disciples. The elders were undoubtedly powerful figures who stood at the upper rank of the entire mainland. Each inner elder had surpassed the Dao realm and usually spent their time seeking the paths ahead. Even the inner peak was left to the Deacons to oversee and only extremely important stuffs required the attention of the elders.

The last time an elder gave a lecture was over three years ago. Most times, it was the deacons who organized such lectures. Who wouldn't want to listen to the insights of an above Dao realm master? Even the deacons themselves wouldn't hesitate to give anything for that.

"The lecture will take place on the Dao assertion platform in three days. It is advised for all disciples on the mountain to be present so as to gain some enlightenment from the elder."

"The second announcement is regarding the Supreme Heaven Mystic realm." The Deacon stated, restoring absolute silence to the hall. The supreme heaven mystic realm was something all disciples dreamed about, and few could ever have the opportunity to enter it. Long Feng was deeply interested in entering the mystic realm, so he paid extreme attention to this announcement.

"The mystic realm only accepts a hundred people below the age of thirty each time it opens, and the core disciples currently are exactly 73 in numbers. All core disciples are automatically granted a spot, leaving twenty seven spots for the inner disciples." The Deacon explained, leaving many disciples feeling disheartened. To pick twenty odd disciples from the thousand inner disciples? Ninety percent of them were automatically eliminated.

Only those ridiculously powerful disciples like the top disciples could possibly compete for the spots. Long Feng also felt his heart sink. Twenty three… he would need to have the strength of at least two refinements to even stand a slight chance of taking a spot. What he needed to confirm was how long until the mystic realm, so he would know how possible his plan was.

After waiting for the noise to settle, the Deacon continued, "The battle to select the twenty three disciples will take place in six months, and the mystic realm will open between half a month to one month later."