All the Holy Son Candidates, including Su Yichen, and the forty-nine Saintess Candidates gave a slight bow to Yao Ruoxi—except for two people.
“Why didn’t the Archaic Sacred Body greet the Saintess?”
Many Supreme Profound disciples watching through the formation projection noticed this scene.
“Outrageous! Does Ye Junfan think he’s already a Holy Son? How dare he show such disrespect to the Saintess?”
Seeing Ye Junfan fail to greet Yao Ruoxi, most male disciples were outraged and indignant.
In their hearts, the Saintess was sacred and untouchable—their secret dream, the woman they only dared to admire from afar. Since the Supreme Profound Holy Land had no Holy Son yet, that meant the Saintess was “single”—which gave everyone a chance!
This motivated countless disciples to cultivate harder.
In truth, even before becoming Saintess, Yao Ruoxi already had many admirers. After her ascension, her cultivation soared, and her aura became increasingly noble and pure, far surpassing the other Saintess Candidates.
She quickly became the goddess of the entire Supreme Profound Holy Land.
To these disciples, failing to greet the Saintess was the same as blatant disrespect!
But soon, they shifted their focus from Ye Junfan to another figure.
“Look! Chu Ying didn’t greet the Saintess either!”
“Hmph! It’s been said that Chu Ying used to pursue the Saintess, acting like a simp for her. But now he’s crippled. What right does he have to act like this?”
On Martial Peak, Ye Junfan stood tall and proud.
As the Archaic Sacred Body, and with his rise imminent, he believed he had no need to bow to Yao Ruoxi. His strength was peerless among his peers. That pride would never allow him to lower his head.
He smiled at Yao Ruoxi—only to notice Chu Ying hadn’t greeted her either.
Others noticed too, and their expressions grew odd.
It seemed… something had indeed happened between Chu Ying and the Saintess.
Chu Ying looked calm and unbothered, completely unaffected by Yao Ruoxi’s arrival.
You rose to your position using the cultivation resources I gave you. Why would I bow to you?
Not in the past. Not now. Never again.
Yao Ruoxi scanned the crowd with a cool gaze. She naturally noticed Chu Ying, and seeing his complexion was still decent, she was slightly surprised. But that was all. Her gaze toward him was cold, as though all past ties had vanished into smoke.
She soon shifted her attention to the Martial Dao Stele, where Ye Junfan had struck.
One-restriction, nine-star. Half-step into two-restriction combat power.
As expected of the Archaic Sacred Body—reaching such heights while still in the Spirit Sea Realm was truly terrifying.
Even she, during her time in the Spirit Sea Realm, had only barely reached one-restriction, nine-star. And that was with double the cultivation resources, constant opportunities, and long accumulation. You are reading on novelping . com, the official source.
Ye Junfan had just reached the 9th stage Spirit Sea Realm and already achieved this level—it spoke volumes.
Yao Ruoxi gave Ye Junfan a gentle nod, her stunning face blooming with a faint smile.
“Elder Wu, please continue,” Yao Ruoxi said.
She had come to observe the Holy Son Candidate competition, believing Ye Junfan would certainly win the Holy Son title. She was also prepared in case any Saintess Candidates wanted to challenge her.
Elder Wu Lin returned to his senses and turned his gaze to Chu Ying.
He clearly remembered—out of all eighty-one Holy Son Candidates, only Chu Ying hadn’t tested yet.
He felt some regret for the former number one, but he no longer cared much. Chu Ying used to have the highest combat power level, and Martial Peak had once considered recruiting him. They had planned to wait until he stepped into the Cave Heaven Realm before sending him an invitation.
But then the Archaic Sacred Body appeared.
Their peak master chose to bet on Ye Junfan, naturally abandoning Chu Ying.
No one expected Chu Ying to cripple himself by cultivating some forbidden technique, leaving Martial Peak to sigh in disappointment. Even if they chose Ye Junfan, that didn’t mean they didn’t value others.
Now, everyone looked toward Chu Ying.
The former number one Holy Son Candidate.
Chu Ying looked unbothered and calm as he walked up to the platform at a relaxed pace.
Seeing him move like that, some Holy Son Candidates couldn’t help but scoff.
“Is Chu Ying so crippled he can’t even jump onto the platform anymore?”
“The waves of the Yangtze River push forward endlessly. The old wave dies on the shore. The name Chu Ying… soon he’ll be forgotten in the crowd.”
Supreme Profound disciples watching through the formation projection murmured in disbelief.
“Why is Chu Ying still participating in the competition in this state?”
“Because of pride! He used to be the top-ranked Holy Son Candidate, and was once closest to becoming the Holy Son!”
“He brought it on himself.”
…
Lin Zhixue stared at Chu Ying’s figure and silently grumbled. This guy moved so fast, yet deliberately walked onto the stage—it was hard to understand.
But… it seemed like no one else knew that Chu Ying wasn’t actually crippled.
Her beautiful eyes sparkled with anticipation. She was eager to see what Chu Ying would do.
Her intuition told her—this was not the same Chu Ying. This Chu Ying was far deeper and more unfathomable.
At that moment, Chu Ying raised his hand, formed a fist, and casually punched the Martial Dao Stele.
“Once a proud genius, now a joke. Pitiful, shameful, laughable!”
The Holy Son Candidates all mocked him. To them, that punch was way too average. No martial technique, no explosive force, no full power. It only proved one thing—Chu Ying was truly finished.
The 80th-ranked Holy Son Candidate, who had previously sworn to challenge Chu Ying, laughed even louder, “Told you! Chu Ying’s done for! Once the match starts, I’m challenging him first—”
His words abruptly cut off. His eyes widened as if they were about to pop out.
He wasn’t the only one.
Everyone thought they were hallucinating.
On the Martial Dao Stele, star marks began lighting up—one after another.
They shot from the first star… to the eighteenth!
But it didn’t stop.
Eighteen… nineteen… twenty…
Twenty-one!
Two-restriction, three-star!
The arena went silent. No one even breathed. They had forgotten they could.
“H-He… how did he reach two-restriction, three-star?” Xiao Yan trembled uncontrollably, his voice stuttering.
“This guy… with just an ordinary punch… how can it result in two-restriction, three-star combat power?” Su Yichen’s brows twisted tightly. His shock was matched only by his confusion.
Chu Ying’s last recorded combat level was one-restriction, eight-star. Now that he was supposedly crippled, there was no way his strength could increase, right?
The most stunned expression belonged to Ye Junfan.
He possessed the Archaic Sacred Body, famed for being invincible among equals. Yet even he had only achieved half-step into two-restriction. How could Chu Ying possibly reach this level?
Before the Martial Dao Stele.
Chu Ying didn’t stop. That was just a casual punch—not even his full strength.
As for reaching this combat level, he wasn’t the least bit surprised.
Let’s not forget—he had refined two Dharma Images: Azure Phoenix and Glutton Fiend. Both were extraordinary.
He had immense talent to begin with. Even before Yao Ruoxi became Saintess, she was no match for him.
Now, with his system activated, if his combat power didn’t skyrocket, that would be truly shameful.