Chapter 552 - 269: Overwhelming the Crowd! Fleeing Without a Fight

Chapter 552: Chapter 269: Overwhelming the Crowd! Fleeing Without a Fight

In that moment.

It was as if time itself had frozen solid.

Every gaze, filled with shock, instinctively fell upon the figure standing atop the Blood Bell. Their eyes held a thick mixture of horror and disbelief.

Before this, no one could have imagined the battle would end in such an anticlimactic fashion.

After all, Monk Yikong was a true top-tier prodigy of Yunzhou.

A formidable existence ranked in the top fifty of the Dragon and Tiger List.

He was the man who had single-handedly dealt a heavy blow to Chu Kuangfeng, the renowned Sect Leader of the Initial Saint Sect who had been making headlines recently.

He had put so much pressure on the Government Office that they could only avoid a direct confrontation.

Besides, Yikong had arrived so brazenly and aggressively that everyone assumed he was acting with complete confidence.

Of course, Chen Sheng was no pushover, either.

How could a man who had suppressed all the major powers of Ning’an in such a short time be a simple character?

Thus, many had believed this fight would be a clash of titans, an earth-shattering battle.

Some even thought that Yikong had the better chance of winning.

But the result...

...left everyone utterly dumbfounded!

One move.

Just one move.

From beginning to end, Chen Sheng had not used a second move. He had utterly suppressed the immensely powerful Monk Yikong. And judging by the current situation, it was uncertain if Yikong would even survive.

Everyone present fell into a deep silence.

But after a moment of dead silence...

...a massive, surging wave of excitement erupted.

Cries of alarm, gasps of wonder, and sharp intakes of breath followed one after another, endlessly.

On the second floor.

Xiong Lie’s gaze burned as he stared at the figure below, who seemed like a Demon God. His palms were trembling faintly as he whispered:

"Chen Sheng... Lord Chen Sheng is truly incredible. As expected of the man who bested me by half a move back then."

Hearing these words, which seemed to express shock but were actually a strained boast,

Wang Zhaoning, who was beside him, paid him no mind. His own heart was reeling from shock.

The image of Chen Sheng fighting one against seven during the battle at Wushan Mountain, suppressing the entire younger generation of Ning’an, overlapped with the current scene in his mind. It was like looking at an insurmountable mountain.

The more he watched, the more insignificant he felt.

On the third floor.

Li Chengyin and Wei Jing were also trapped in a deathly silence. The teacups they had been holding moments ago were now a pile of fragments on the floor, the ground stained with water.

The sight of Chen Sheng suppressing Yikong had left the two of them frozen in place.

"This man... This man is... utterly terrifying!"

Li Chengyin’s mouth moved, but his voice was dry.

’I was thinking about it earlier,’ he thought. ’Whether Yikong defeated Chen Sheng, or Chen Sheng defeated Yikong, it would weaken the victor, giving me an advantage when I made my move later.’

But now, watching Chen Sheng suppress Yikong with a backhanded move, Li Chengyin’s confidence was instantly shattered.

He had been conceited enough to think he was in no way inferior to Monk Yikong—perhaps even a cut above.

But he had no confidence that he could suppress Yikong so easily.

Strictly speaking,

he and Yikong were experts on the same level.

And Chen Sheng was more than just one level above them.

The defeat in Wei Jing’s eyes was even more profound.

First, there was the humiliation he suffered at the Nie Family estate. Second, there was the shock of hearing that Chen Sheng had reached fifty-second place on the Dragon and Tiger List.

And third, there was this moment.

He had personally witnessed Yikong’s suppression, and he couldn’t even muster a shred of jealousy or resentment in his heart.

’Because the gap between me and Chen Sheng... seems a bit too wide.’

So wide, in fact, that the very idea of provoking him felt unthinkable.

’Otherwise, what if Chen Sheng also said to me...’

"Are you prepared to die?"

’...and then suppressed me with a single, backhanded palm strike? What would I do then?’

"Li, are you still going to make a move later?"

Wei Jing turned his head to look at Li Chengyin.

Li Chengyin glanced at him without a word, a flicker of hesitation and uncertainty now in his eyes.

Given the strength Chen Sheng had just displayed, challenging him would be no different from asking for humiliation.

.....

"Stop!"

As Yikong struggled desperately and the surrounding crowd buzzed with discussion, an expert from the Celestial Dragon Temple, who had been hiding in the shadows, could finally restrain himself no longer. With a raise of his hand, he blasted a palm strike toward Chen Sheng.

Yikong was one of the Celestial Dragon Temple’s most elite True Disciples of this generation, and a future core figure of the temple. If Yikong were to fall here, he would have no way of explaining it upon his return.

Even before the man had shouted for him to stop, Chen Sheng was already holding a piece of white jade that emanated a soft, shimmering light.

The item was called the Lingxi Jade. It was a Protective Talisman given to him by Nie Lingxi after their engagement. According to her, activating it was enough to block a strike from a Golden Core cultivator.

The only regrettable thing was that, despite its wondrous abilities, Chen Sheng was reluctant to use it.

This was because the Talisman Treasure could be activated three times at most.

After the third time, it would lose all its power.

But at this moment, he had to use it as a precaution.

However, just as the high-ranking monk from the Celestial Dragon Temple made his move, gathering a monstrous Buddha palm to press down, a brilliant sword cry suddenly rose up between heaven and earth.

The next moment.

Before everyone’s eyes, a beam of azure Sword Light descended from the sky, instantly striking the Buddha palm.

BOOM!!!

Along with a violent roar,

the azure Sword Light and the golden Buddha palm annihilated each other.

The shockwave from their clash was like a torrent, sweeping out in all directions. The terrifying aftershock far surpassed that of the earlier exchange between Chen Sheng and Yikong.

"Who is it?!"

Seeing this, Monk Huineng’s expression changed drastically, and his heart sank.

"What? Can’t the people of the Celestial Dragon Temple afford to lose? Now that you’ve lost the fight, you resort to bullying with your status?"

Nie Xiangjun, dressed in a simple white Daoist Robe, stood in the void with her hands behind her back, a chill in her eyes: