"Conrad Kong, time to die!" Ryan Ling didn’t hesitate—he smashed a fist straight at Conrad Kong. Conrad flinched, and in that instant, the Judgment Sword flew from his grip. The Sword Domain he’d built up inside and out shattered like glass, not a single crack left behind. He was slammed straight into the ground!
"Did—did the great Saint Conrad just get wrecked?" The crowd collectively sucked in a breath, all of them stunned.
Sure, Conrad Kong might not be as strong as Ryan Ling, but his reputation in Jiangnorth was off the charts. In Lu Province, he was basically the mouthpiece of the gods. Everyone knew his power was supposed to be on some mysterious, unfathomable level. How could he get crushed right at the start of the duel?
Even if Huaxia’s Ancestor Saint was weak, he couldn’t possibly be this weak!
"Did we actually win?" Even Guihai One-Blade looked surprised. He knew how terrifying Conrad Kong was—back in the day, the reason he couldn’t stay inland and had to run off to the South Sea was because Conrad Kong branded him as an 'outlier.'
Those two words messed up his life so badly, the entire orthodox Huaxia scene kept poking him in the back. Even now, people still saw him as some kind of black sheep!
But right then, a streak of white light shot skyward. Conrad Kong’s body, wrapped in raging saintly qi, reappeared in full view!
He looked absolutely wrecked—his fancy clothes were torn to shreds, and that saintly vibe was totally gone. But people noticed something weird: Conrad’s power hadn’t dropped at all. If anything, it was shooting up—fast!
"Ryan Ling, you’re a beast. That fist style is basically invincible—calling you the god of Huaxia wouldn’t be wrong. Most folks don’t get it, but I do. You’ve hit Nascent Soul, haven’t you?" Conrad Kong flashed a sly smile, eyes glinting with mischief.
"Oh? You know about Nascent Soul?" Ryan Ling blinked. Ever since he started cultivating, this was the first time anyone had seen through his level.
"Not only do I know that, I know you just leveled up!" Conrad Kong grinned again, his eyes practically shooting lasers.
"If you’ve got something to say, spit it out!" Ryan Ling flexed his fists. This guy was the golden child of the saint clan, always had the upper hand—sometimes even more than Ryan himself.
"What I’m saying is, I’m absolutely stronger than you!" As soon as Conrad Kong finished, his power started skyrocketing!
"No way!" The crowd craned their necks. Conrad Kong was suddenly leveling up—no, he was straight up boosting his rank, and the saintly qi all around was pouring into him like crazy!
"This guy!" Ryan Ling frowned hard. Just a second ago, Conrad Kong’s power had barely reached Nascent Soul, but now he was going nuts—blink of an eye, he’d hit mid-stage Nascent Soul, actually stronger than Ryan!
"Ryan Ling, watch out! All the saints are backing him, plus this is his home turf—the whole world’s qi is revolving around him!" Ghost Elder piped up with a warning.
Ryan Ling nodded, realizing he’d kinda underestimated Conrad Kong!
But even so, Ryan Ling wasn’t fazed one bit. Sure, Conrad Kong’s power was a notch higher, but all that juice wasn’t from hard training—it was just saintly power pumped into him. On that front, Ryan had the edge!
Plus, Ryan Ling still had his ultimate weapon in reserve—the God-Slaughter Halberd. It wasn’t quite a celestial artifact yet, but in his hands, it was way deadlier than that Judgment Sword from earlier!
Right now, even with Conrad Kong leveling up, Ryan Ling didn’t feel the slightest bit of fear!