Dustin Du smiled at Evan Yang, saying nothing. He simply spread both hands, then shook his arms. A metallic vibration echoed from his arms, as if iron was resonating through spiritual energy.
"So he was hiding his strength too." Hearing that sound, Evan Yang focused several strands of his divine sense on Dustin's arms, watching as they vibrated.
Although no one knew what effect this vibration would have, only a fool would waste effort for nothing. So everyone outside the arena paid close attention.
Shan Xiaokun hadn't expected Dustin Du to use this move right from the start.
"Take this!" Dustin said coldly, then swung his right fist and punched out.
Although Dustin was three arm-lengths away from Evan, the moment he extended his arm and punched, a wave rippled out from his fist toward Evan.
The speed was extremely fast.
At such close range, Evan couldn't gauge the power of his opponent. He could only dodge quickly, but his arm was still grazed by the ripple. With a hiss, it was as if his arm had been cut open.
Everyone was amazed by Dustin's technique, while Xiao Tiange and the others were shocked for Evan, fearing he might be seriously hurt. But Evan spun around, glanced at his torn clothes, and laughed, "Fast enough, and powerful enough too."
"He isn't hurt?" Dustin clearly saw his attack slice Evan's arm. By rights, Evan should be bleeding, yet he seemed perfectly fine.
Actually, Evan wasn't completely unharmed. He had indeed been cut just now—a small wound. He considered his body very tough, but even so, he was still sliced open a bit. However, the Heaven-Cold Seed quickly repaired the wound, so to outsiders, it looked like nothing had happened.
Shan Xiaokun and the others looked at the scene suspiciously. He knew Dustin's power well—even an early Out-of-Body cultivator would bleed heavily if hit by that ripple. Yet Evan was fine, which made Shan's expression turn strange.
Only the Star Lord kept his eyes fixed on both of them, unsure who would win.
Evan's unbroken wound astonished the spectators, but no one was more surprised than Dustin. As the attacker, he knew exactly how powerful his move was.
Seeing that his move had little effect on Evan, Dustin could only snort coldly. "Watch closely," he said, then crossed his hands and swung them forcefully. An even louder vibration rang out than before.
"He powered up?" The crowd was stunned.
Evan was moved as well. Last time it was just a small wound—if he got hit by this stronger vibration, he'd definitely bleed. What worried Evan most was others seeing his blood, so he opened multiple strands of divine sense and activated his Sky-Soaring Boots, doubling his speed.
When Evan used his footwork again, splitting into eight overlapping afterimages, the crowd was shocked. "He was hiding his strength too!"
Even the Star Lord's eyebrows twitched, and Dustin's eyes widened. But his attacks didn't slow at all. They'd already been fast, but now, with enhanced power, his arms unleashed even greater speed and strength. Evan had barely moved before the ripple struck his position.
This attack-and-dodge cycle quickly reached a fever pitch.
"I still can't get close!" Evan could only dodge at this point. He couldn't approach—if he did, Dustin's attacks would be even faster and deadlier. Even Evan felt the pressure; it was hard to close the distance.
Dustin also felt the strain. If Evan kept dodging like this, his own spiritual power would soon be depleted.
The ripple struck the protective formation, causing it to flicker repeatedly. It was hard to imagine how painful it would be if it actually hit someone.
Evan's rapid, high-frequency dodging consumed a lot of spiritual power. Soon, the two were locked in a stalemate. Relying on his unique physique, Evan seized the right moment, flashed to Dustin's side, and threw a punch.
Just as everyone thought Dustin would be seriously injured, Dustin sneered, "You've fallen for it." Evan suddenly felt he'd hit something very hard.
The reason was that Dustin wore a powerful treasure armor. Evan had gotten this close, and now realized something was wrong.
As Evan tried to retreat, Dustin landed a punch squarely on Evan's arm.
Evan's expression changed dramatically as pain surged through his arm.
"Ugh." Evan grunted, making the crowd gasp in shock.
Dustin unexpectedly had treasure armor for protection, while Evan had none. At that moment, Evan endured the pain, thankful it wasn't a vital spot and nothing serious happened.
"His arm is actually this tough." Dustin was surprised to find Evan's body extremely hard, but he couldn't detect any protective aura.
"Brother Evan!" Xiao Tiange exclaimed in alarm.
Ling Tian frowned and was about to stand up to intervene.
But Evan returned to his original position, smiled at Xiao Tiange and the others, and said, "I'm fine." He shook his arm, the pain fading as the Heaven-Cold Seed slowly repaired it.
The Shan Family was delighted, knowing Evan must have been injured, while Dustin felt no joy. When he struck Evan's arm, he realized it was abnormally tough—different from ordinary people.
Seeing Evan say he was fine, the crowd drew a collective breath.
Spectators outside the arena exchanged glances and muttered, "He really isn't hurt?"
The Star Lord stared at Evan's arm. He'd clearly seen it struck, yet now Evan could swing it freely, with no sign of injury.
"Let's go again," Evan said with a smile.
"Bring it on!" Dustin locked eyes with Evan.
With that, the two resumed their fierce battle. Evan knew Dustin had treasure armor, so he wouldn't attack recklessly like before. He was now thinking about how to break through Dustin's defense.
"Even if I unleash fifty-fold strength, I might not be able to pierce that armor—unless I use the gauntlet." Evan muttered to himself.
Dustin, unaware of Evan's thoughts, was focused on speeding up his attacks to surpass Evan's footwork.
Both calculated their moves. Finally, under everyone's gaze, Evan took out an ordinary-looking glove and put it on.
Evan believed only by wearing the gauntlet could its true power be revealed. To outsiders, it just looked like a normal glove.
Only Evan and Xiao Tiange knew the truth about the gauntlet. As soon as Evan took it out, Xiao Tiange relaxed, secretly thinking, "Now he should be able to hit Dustin properly."
"Kid, you think wearing a glove will let you hurt me?" Dustin sneered.
The Shan Family and the spectators all assumed Evan's glove was useless.
Evan ignored their opinions and just smiled. "For some reason, when I wear the gauntlet, my strength flows much more smoothly."
"Are you kidding? That's impossible," Dustin said, not believing him.
"Try it and you'll see," Evan replied with a smile. He absorbed spiritual power from the Spirit-Draining Box, and his whole demeanor shifted—he looked far more energetic, almost like a different person to the onlookers.
Even Dustin felt something was off.
Evan kept dodging Dustin's attacks at high speed, then seized the perfect moment. With his spiritual power full, he accelerated to maximum speed, dodged the now-tired Dustin, and slammed a heavy punch into Dustin's back.
Dustin staggered, nearly sent flying. He turned around in disbelief, blood already dripping from the corner of his mouth.
"How does it feel?" Evan smiled. It was only forty-fold strength, but it still left Dustin badly hurt. If Evan really wanted to kill him, he'd probably need a hundred-fold attack.
The Shan Family stood up, staring in disbelief. They knew Dustin wore treasure armor, so Evan's first punch hadn't done much. But now Dustin was badly injured, making the Shan Family anxious.
Others grew curious about Evan's gauntlet, wondering if simply wearing it really boosted his power.
Evan had no intention of telling anyone, nor would he let it be studied. If people learned it was an Immortal artifact, the Three Palaces would seize it instantly.
So Evan stubbornly refused to let anyone examine it. He just smiled at Dustin, while Dustin, unwilling to accept defeat, shouted, "Damn it, kid, let's go again!"
It was the first time anyone had seen Dustin so enraged. In previous matches, he'd always been relaxed, but now he was up against Evan—a Spirit-Wandering expert.
Everyone had expected Dustin to easily defeat Evan. When Evan was injured earlier, they thought it was over. But Evan quickly turned the tables and badly wounded Dustin instead.
Dustin didn't want to lose to Evan in front of everyone. He spat a mouthful of blood onto his hands.
His whole spirit revived, much like when Evan had filled himself with spiritual power earlier.
"He's using a blood cultivation art. I didn't expect the Shan Family to teach him that," Ling Tian quickly sent a sound transmission to warn Evan.
Evan had never seen blood cultivation before, so he watched Dustin closely as Dustin's whole body filled with killing intent.
A strange, pungent smell of blood spread from Dustin's body. His arms vibrated rapidly again, unleashing powerful ripples.
"Stronger than before!" Evan saw the ripples and didn't dare be careless, quickly dodging.
The spectators soon noticed Dustin's new transformation. Those with sharp eyes immediately realized he'd learned blood cultivation.
Few cultivators use blood arts, because activating them burns one's own blood. If you lose control, it's easy to go berserk. In short, it pushes you to your peak, but can easily lead to qi deviation.
But at this moment, Dustin could still clearly control every one of his attacks.
Evan had to keep absorbing the spiritual power he'd prepared in advance. If he slowed down, he'd risk getting hit.
The performance of these two shocked everyone present. The Star Lord, especially, was curious about Evan's seemingly endless spiritual power. "Does he have some artifact that replenishes his energy?"
The Shan Family gradually noticed something unusual about Evan. When Dustin used his blood art, they realized he'd been angered, and Evan was in trouble.
But Evan's persistent speed frustrated both Dustin and the Shan Family.
At this point, Evan could have used needle attacks, but with so many people watching, he saw no need. As long as he could defeat his opponent, that was enough.
Dustin, unlike Evan, wasn't so scrupulous. Seeing he couldn't take Evan down, he snorted coldly and flicked out a small pill.
Everyone then heard a loud boom echo through the arena.