The sheer, overwhelming pressure of Chaos Qi hanging over Platform Three made the surrounding air feel thick enough to drown in.
Envoy Chen’s heart pounded against his ribs like a frantic war drum. As a peak Qi Condensation Stage 9 expert, he was accustomed to lording his power over junior disciples. Yet standing before Leo—who had just casually skipped two entire sub-realms and entered Qi Condensation mid-sentence—he felt an instinctual, primal terror.
"D-Demonic transformation! It must be!" Chen roared, attempting to swallow his fear with a desperate, bloodthirsty scream. "No human can break through three stages in a single heartbeat! Die, monster!"
Chen poured every drop of his crimson fire Qi into his dragon-scale broadsword. The blade flared into a swirling vortex of scorching inferno as he leaped twenty feet into the air, bringing his weapon down in a violent, two-handed vertical strike meant to cleave Leo in half.
"Imperial Sunfall Style—Heavenly Dragon Execution!"
A thirty-foot blade of roaring fire descended toward Leo’s head, blinding the spectators in the front rows with its intense, searing heat.
Leo didn't even shift his posture. He simply looked up at the falling inferno with an expression of mild annoyance.
"Way too much heat, man," Leo criticized calmly. "You're gonna burn the crust."
Leo swung his rune-covered cast-iron skillet upward in a simple, horizontal backhand arc.
BOOM!
The heavy iron skillet collided directly with the thirty-foot flaming dragon blade.
There was no drawn-out struggle. There was no desperate clash of wills. The moment the dark-golden Chaos Qi swirling around Leo's skillet made contact with Chen's fire, the imperial flames were instantly devoured and extinguished.
CRACK!
The high-grade, spirit-forged dragon-scale broadsword—a weapon worth over five thousand Spirit Stones—shattered into a dozen glowing metal fragments.
"W-WHAT?!" Envoy Chen gasped in mid-air, staring in horror at the bare, shattered hilt in his hands.
Before gravity could pull Chen back to the ground, Leo stepped forward, his body blurring into a streak of golden lightning. He appeared directly above the airborne envoy, hoisting his glowing skillet high like a tennis racket.
"Detroit Style..." Leo's voice echoed with terrifying weight. "...Smash Burger!"
THWACK!
The flat, heavy bottom of the cast-iron pan struck Envoy Chen square in the back.
The kinetic impact roared through the arena like a naval cannon blast. Envoy Chen shot downward like a blazing missile, crashing violently through the surface of Platform Three.
KABOOM!
The entire sixty-foot obsidian platform disintegrated into a crater of cracked stone and rising dust clouds.
When the dust settled, the arena went completely, utterly silent.
Envoy Chen was lying flat on his stomach at the bottom of a six-foot-deep crater, his luxurious black dragon-scale armor cracked open like an eggshell. His face was buried deep in the rubble, his arms twitching weakly as tiny golden sparks of static Chaos Qi danced across his unconscious body.
One strike. Peak Qi Condensation Stage 9... crushed instantly.
[PING!]
[Target Defeated: Senior Envoy Chen (Qi Condensation Stage 9)!]
[Experience Converted: +1,500 Chaos Qi!]
[System Points Earned: +600 SP!]
[Current System Points: 720 SP]
[Trophy Claimed: Shattered Imperial Blade Fragments (High-Grade Alloy)]
Leo lowered his cast-iron skillet, checking the polished surface for dust before tossing it back into his System inventory with a satisfied nod.
"Man," Leo sighed, looking down into the crater. "All that armor and he still went down like a sack of wet flour. The imperial court really needs better physical conditioning."
Up on the VIP balcony, Grand Elder Xiao Tianbang collapsed back into his seat, his face completely drained of color. His hands trembled as he stared at the boy standing atop the destroyed platform.
"Qi... Qi Condensation Stage 1... beating Stage 9 in one hit..." Tianbang whispered, his voice shaking violently. "His foundation... his Qi capacity isn't normal... It's like comparing a puddle to an ocean!"
The surrounding disciples, who had been holding their breath the entire time, erupted into a thunderous storm of cheers, gasps, and frantic shouts.
"HE ONE-SHOT AN IMPERIAL ENVOY!"
"FAIRY LING'S BUSINESS PARTNER IS A MONSTER!"
"Forget the tournament! Is the concession stand still open?!"
Ling Yue walked gracefully over to the edge of the ruined crater, holding her wooden crate filled with remaining skewers and jerky. She looked down at Envoy Chen's unconscious body, then up at Leo, her ice-blue eyes gleaming with a mix of satisfaction and amused admiration.
"You realize," Ling Yue said softly, stepping beside him, "that knocking out Crown Prince Zhao Zhen's personal envoy in front of three thousand witnesses means you've officially declared war on the imperial court?"
"War?" Leo smirked, casually adjusting his charcoal-black robe. "Senior Sister, they sent a guy with bad form to ruin my food stand. That's not politics, that's a health code violation. If this Crown Prince wants to talk, he better bring more Spirit Stones and fewer arrogant speeches."
He turned to the cheering crowd, raising his hand to silence the noise.
"Attention everyone!" Leo announced, his voice carrying effortlessly across the plaza. "Due to unforeseen construction work on Platform Three, the concession stand is moving to my eastern courtyard! Today's special: Chaos-Grilled Imperial Pork! First ten customers get a free cup of honey-mint tea!"
The crowd cheered even louder, nearly trampling each other as they rushed toward the eastern mountain path to get in line.
Ling Yue shook her head, a small, beautiful smile finally breaking across her cold face.
"You really are hopeless, Xiao Long," she murmured, walking beside him as they headed back up the mountain trail.
"I'm an accountant, Senior Sister," Leo winks. "We don't do hopeless. We do profit."
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