Chapter 36 | The Divine Ability Practitioner

At the peak of Duel Mountain, where the Golden Gang Sword Hall was situated.

Lin Changkong, who had been standing with his hands behind his back with a calm and indifferent expression, finally showed a slight change in his expression. He stared at Lu Ming's figure, his brow slowly furrowing.

He had never expected that this absolute certainty of a hunt would encounter such a variable.

While everyone was still in shock, Lu Ming did not pause for even a moment. Lightning flickered beneath his feet as his figure transformed into a bolt of lightning, shooting straight toward Lü Xiao.

Seeing Lu Ming charging toward him, Lü Xiao's face couldn't help but change. He stared at the dark gold fire blade in the latter's hand, his eyes filled with wariness.

Although his perception told him that the primordial energy fluctuations currently radiating from Lu Ming were not as formidable as his own, that Flame Blade at Great Perfection was simply too great of a threat.

A Flame Blade of this level was practically an invincible weapon of mass destruction within the Bone Refining Realm.

Lü Xiao no longer dared to underestimate Lu Ming in the slightest. Facing the rapidly approaching Lu Ming, he tapped his toes on the ground and retreated swiftly, trying to open up some distance.

At the same time, blood-red flames rose from his palms.

The heat and intensity of his Flame-Kindling Palm were clearly a large step above what Gong Hu had displayed earlier.

Lü Xiao's mouth suddenly puffed up, and a flash of fire appeared. In the next instant, a massive storm of scorching red sand swept out. As the red sand passed through the blood-red flames rising from Lü Xiao's palms, it instantly became even more blistering.

Great Success, Flying Sand Technique!

Lü Xiao was indeed the strongest among the young disciples of the Red Sand Hall. This combination of a Great Success Flame-Kindling Palm and a Great Success Flying Sand Technique was truly a trump card.

The billowing red sand swept toward Lu Ming with the momentum of a prairie fire.

In the face of this, Lu Ming merely swung his roughly one-zhang-long dark gold fire blade and slashed downward.

Instantly, a scorched blade mark several zhang long appeared on the ground ahead. The air was completely evaporated by the high temperature, and even the billowing red sand that swept forward was utterly incinerated by the blistering blade light.

Before the Flame Blade at Great Perfection, Lü Xiao's techniques failed to obstruct it in the slightest.

Boom!

With a cold expression, lightning flashed beneath Lu Ming's feet as his speed suddenly surged. He appeared directly in front of Lü Xiao and slashed down without hesitation.

The dark gold fire blade swept past, bringing with it a sharp, scorching sound of breaking wind.

Lü Xiao's scalp went numb. In his desperation, he could only let out a roar and channel all the primordial energy in his body. His palms turned exceptionally crimson, and his fiery primordial energy grew viscous, covering his palms like layers of red lava.

Mid Divine Ability, Red Sand Iron-Melting Hand!

To counter the threat Lu Ming posed, Lü Xiao no longer dared to hold back in the slightest and directly unleashed his strongest technique.

With bloodshot eyes, Lü Xiao put all his cards on the table like a desperate gambler. Although he didn't know how Lu Ming had managed to cultivate the Flame Blade to Great Perfection, regardless of the method, the latter had not yet completed his third bone refining, which meant Lu Ming's own primordial energy strength was lacking.

Furthermore, a Flame Blade at Great Perfection consumed an immense amount of primordial energy. As long as he could hold out for a bit longer, Lu Ming would definitely fall into a state of depleted primordial energy.

At that point, the crisis would resolve itself.

Thinking this, Lü Xiao hesitated no longer. His palms, covered in what looked like red lava, met the descending dark gold fire blade head-on.

Clang!

The instant they collided, a metallic screech rang out. Lava splattered everywhere, burning tiny black holes into the ground as it fell.

Violent primordial energy surged wildly.

Lü Xiao used his palms to desperately resist the dark gold fiery blade, roaring, “Come on! I can block this!”

Sizzle!

The fiery blade edge and the lava on Lü Xiao's palms continuously melted each other away.

Lu Ming's gaze cut like a knife as he stared at Lü Xiao and said slowly, “I said earlier that I strike very hard.”

The primordial energy inside his body rumbled, and the Fire Lotus imprint on his Divine Ability Bone grew increasingly bright.

Dark gold fiery light suddenly erupted.

As the blade sliced down, the lava-like red primordial energy on Lü Xiao's palms was cut open like grease. Lu Ming's blade swept through, cleanly slicing off both of Lü Xiao's hands right before his horrified eyes.

Lü Xiao let out an agonizing scream as his body flew backward and crashed to the ground.

Lu Ming's eyes were icy. Without pausing the dark gold fire blade in his hand, he slashed it straight down toward Lü Xiao's head.

“Ah! I yield! I yield! I yield!”

Lü Xiao's scalp went numb from the ruthlessness Lu Ming displayed. My god, this is just a sparring duel! You're cutting off hands and aiming for heads—there's no need for this! This kid looks so refined and gentle, so why does he fight like a god of slaughter?

The dark gold fire blade didn't slow down, but just as it was half an inch away from Lü Xiao's forehead, its light suddenly dimmed. It actually shattered into countless sparks that scattered, and as the sparks fell, they set Lü Xiao's hair on fire.

Extremely disheveled, Lü Xiao hurriedly extinguished the fire on his head, staring in shock and terror at Lu Ming, who had finally stopped in front of him.

Lu Ming looked at the dissipating Flame Blade, his brow furrowing slightly as he said coldly, “I'll spare your life this time.”

Lü Xiao's expression shifted rapidly. You motherfucker, your primordial energy just ran out, didn't it? That slash just now was clearly meant to kill me.

However, he was truly terrified of Lu Ming's killing intent by now. His lips trembled, and he didn't dare to talk back.

Enduring the excruciating pain, he gathered his severed hands. Although such an injury was very troublesome, it could still be treated and healed.

Lu Ming paid him no more attention. Instead, he turned around to look at the three people still standing on the platform: Gao Yu, Yuan Da, and the Red Sand Hall's Gong Peng.

At this moment, all three of them were staring at him with somewhat numb expressions.

Who could have expected the situation to turn out like this?

Gao Yu had originally thought this would be a bitter struggle. Yet, before she could even exchange blows with Lü Xiao, Lu Ming had suddenly exploded with power, revealing a Flame Blade at Great Perfection. With one strike per person, he had crippled Gong Hu and Lü Xiao in just two slashes.

“Lu Ming, you... you hid this way too deeply...” Gao Yu said, only recovering her senses with great difficulty.

“You two deal with him,” Lu Ming said, pointing at Gong Peng, who still possessed combat capability.

Gao Yu and Yuan Da complied with his instructions almost like a reflex, closing in on Gong Peng from the front and back.

Looking at the incapacitated Lü Xiao and Gong Hu, a bitter smile appeared on Gong Peng's face. He tactfully squatted down with his hands over his head and said, “I... I yield too.”

Gong Peng knew that struggling alone was pointless. Moreover, he was afraid of Lu Ming turning ruthless again. He could already tell that as long as this kid made a move, blood would definitely be spilled. He was a ruthless character.

With the surrender of the three, the outcome on the lower flag's side had actually been decided.

However, this outcome was truly far too unexpected.

Everyone had thought that the Red Sand Hall would have some advantage on the lower flag's side and had a high probability of capturing it. Once the lower flag was captured, Lu Qingyan and Lu Jinglei's primordial energy on the middle flag's side would be mostly depleted, making it very difficult for them to resist Zhu Lian and his partner from the Red Sand Hall.

In that case, the Thunderfire Hall would directly lose two flags. Thus, without even needing a clash between the two Hall Masters, Shi Tong and Lu Jin, the second-ranked hall position would change hands.

But... who could have expected that the Thunderfire Hall, which was supposed to be at a disadvantage on the lower flag's side, would end the battle in such an overwhelmingly destructive manner?

Consequently, the Thunderfire Hall had actually taken the first victory.

Next, even if the Red Sand Hall defeated Lu Qingyan and Lu Jinglei on the middle flag's side and successfully captured the flag, they would only have one win and one loss. If the Red Sand Hall wanted to seize the second-ranked hall position, they would have to rely on their Hall Master, Shi Tong, defeating Lu Jin head-on.