Chapter 57: Ke Yu Kneels! Luo Fei Takes the Initiative to Make a Bold Move

Ke Yu's smile instantly froze on his face. Even his mind seemed to have stopped working as he stared blankly at the ground beneath Hun Cang's feet.

Just a moment ago, Luo Fei had spoken to him with extreme arrogance about how he was going to teach Hun Cang a lesson.

How was it that in the blink of an eye... Luo Fei was being trampled under Hun Cang's feet?

Shaking his head, Ke Yu wondered if he was experiencing hallucinations.

However, when he focused his gaze once more, the scene remained unchanged. No matter how wildly Luo Fei's Dou Qi surged, how fiercely the veins on his hands bulged, and how desperately he tried with all his might, he still could not shake off the foot resting on his head.

Sha Tie also sat stunned for a long time. After snapping back to his senses, he kept drawing in breaths through his teeth, making a hissing sound.

"Senior Luo Fei of the Jade Luo Gate has just been stepped on like that? No way, Elder, you actually let a guy like this participate in the Inner Academy exam?" Sha Tie was completely numb.

Honestly, he felt that Hun Cang's strength was sufficient to test him instead.

...

"Elder Lin, how... how do you explain this?" Elder Su withdrew his astonished gaze from the projection and directed it at Elder Lin, who wore a dazed expression.

Elder Lin's eyes were currently blank. To be honest, his understanding of Hun Cang was quite limited; he only knew that this young man possessed a Heavenly Flame and had the talent to become an alchemist.

He had never expected that Hun Cang possessed far more than just a Heavenly Flame—even his raw strength was so utterly absurd.

Although they were not present at the scene, the experienced eyes of the three elders still allowed them to discern that Hun Cang had barely utilized any Dou Qi power during his recent movements.

This indicated that Hun Cang's physical fortitude was terrifyingly formidable, easily rivaling that young girl in the Inner Academy.

Recovering his wits, Elder Lin warned vigilantly, "Elder Su, Hu Qian, I must make this clear to you both in advance: no one is allowed to leak a word about what happened today. At the very least, you are not permitted to reveal anything until I successfully take him as my disciple."

Possessing a Heavenly Flame alone made someone a hot commodity, but Elder Lin believed he could handle the competition.

However, with cultivation talent this monstrous, the elders in the Inner Academy would probably no longer be able to sit still.

Hu Qian chuckled, rubbing his fingers together. "Elder Lin, agreeing to your terms isn't impossible, but since you want me to keep a secret, shouldn't there be something substantial in it for me?"

Elder Lin's face darkened. With a flick of his wrist, he produced a porcelain vial and tossed it over. "Inside is a Clearing Mind Pill. Taking it during cultivation purifies impurities within the body and makes one's Dou Qi even more refined."

"Hehe, I'll have the girl go thank you later." Hu Qian smiled as he accepted the item.

Elder Su smiled and refrained from making any excessive demands. He was already immensely glad to witness such a genius joining Canaan Academy.

The three of them shifted their gaze back to the projection, where Ke Yu was stepping forward with a solemn expression, a long spear now in his hand.

...

Swish!

The chilling spearhead gleamed with a biting cold light, pointing directly at Hun Cang as Ke Yu spoke slowly, "You hid your depth quite well. Unfortunately, I am not a brainless idiot like Luo Fei. Even a lion uses its full strength to capture a rabbit. Next, I will make you understand what the true strength of an Inner Academy student is."

Hun Cang curled his finger without speaking.

"Ah!"

Feeling immensely provoked, Ke Yu charged forward fiercely. A layer of pale green Dou Qi coated the spearhead in his hand, tearing through the air itself in that instant.

In the blink of an eye, the spearhead was aimed straight at Hun Cang's throat. Ke Yu's move was nothing less than a fatal strike.

Yet, it certainly lived up to his own words.

Even a lion uses its full strength to capture a rabbit!

Ke Yu locked his gaze onto Hun Cang. Seeing the spearhead close in, a faint smile could not help but curl the corners of his mouth.

"Why isn't Hun Cang moving yet? Where is his weapon? Is he planning to take it with his bare body?" Sha Tie stared fixedly at Hun Cang, feeling somewhat anxious. "Ke Yu's Wind-Breaking Spear enjoys immense fame even within the Inner Academy. If someone in the top twenty of the Strong Ranking gets careless, they could still be knocked flat."

"He must have been scared out of his wits. The light in the forest is already poor, and it's nighttime now," speculated someone among the onlookers.

Under the flickering firelight, everyone felt as though their vision blurred before Ke Yu flashed directly in front of Hun Cang.

With a speed like that, it was difficult even to clearly distinguish a human figure, let alone notice the razor-sharp spearhead.

Meanwhile, Luo Fei, whose head was still pinned to the ground by Hun Cang, heard Ke Yu's voice and began to resist even more violently, clearly intending to coordinate with Ke Yu and disrupt Hun Cang's movements.

"Hmph!" A cold snort escaped Hun Cang's nostrils. The force in his foot erupted, driving the upper half of Luo Fei's body straight into the dirt, leaving only his two legs dangling and twitching in the air.

Facing the incoming spearhead, Hun Cang did not even blink. His hands rose and blocked in front of him before anyone knew it.

The next second, his ten fingers closed inward.

At that exact moment, a long spear appeared with absolute precision, tightly gripped by his two hands.

"What?!"

"I didn't even see when he raised his hands!"

"He caught it just like that? Just how much physical strength does that take?!"

"He's utterly insane. Exactly how confident is he in his own strength?"

When the chilling spearhead came to a halt less than a centimeter away from Hun Cang's throat, gasps of shock erupted one after another from the surrounding crowd.

"He... he actually caught it! Using just his bare hands?!" Ke Yu's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

He knew better than anyone else just how destructive the Wind-Breaking Spear was. Combined with the guidance of the Dou Qi within his body, even solid boulders could be pierced clean through by a single thrust.

Even a massive tree that required four or five people to embrace would be punctured right through.

Yet he had held nothing back just a moment ago—it was utterly impossible for anyone to catch it bare-handed!

Even more impossible for a mere Dou Shi to catch his long spear!

With a somewhat distorted expression, as if unable to accept the reality unfolding before his eyes, Ke Yu let out a roar, gripped the long spear with both hands, and attempted to yank it back.

Regrettably, even though he exerted every ounce of strength he possessed, the spear did not budge in the slightest.

"Kneel!" Hun Cang swept his gaze across him, flipped his hands to snatch the long spear away completely, and brought it down heavily across Ke Yu's shoulders, forcing Ke Yu to crash to his knees on the ground.

That was not the end of it. The long spear descended once more. A sharp "crack" suddenly echoed through the forest, accompanied by Ke Yu's agonizing wails.

"Go to hell! Go to hell!" Managing to crawl out from the pit with great difficulty, Luo Fei's eyes were bloodshot. Disregarding the mud on his face, he lunged to attack Hun Cang.

However, the moment he shifted his gaze and clearly saw Ke Yu kneeling and howling before Hun Cang, his hands—raised high above his head—instantly froze, his entire body stiffening in place.

When Hun Cang swept his gaze over, Luo Fei leaped abruptly and, executing a dive-like motion, resolutely plunged himself right back into the exact same pit he had just crawled out of, his legs trembling as he stiffened them straight.

"Next." Hun Cang withdrew his gaze, planted the long spear beside him, and looked toward the others.

The dozens of figures surrounding them looked at one another before kneeling down, one after another.

"Fellow student, we never intended to give you trouble. It was all instigated by Luo Fei and Ke Yu; we had no choice."

"That's right! Every debt has its debtor, every grievance its master—won't you please let us off?"

"Mm-mm, we were just responsible for the examination, we truly didn't want to make a move against you. Fellow student Hun Cang, please don't misunderstand."

They had seen it clearly just then: Hun Cang's attacks carried no concept of holding back whatsoever.

If they got dragged into this, they would either end up injured and bedridden for half a month or be forced to spend a fortune on medicinal pills for treatment.

No matter how they calculated it, it was a losing deal.