Could it be that I am the cruel villain?

A completely different style from next door.

A massive hammer fell to the ground, creating a dense network of cracks on the earth.

Even though at the high-grade of the Core Formation realm one cannot yet change the landscape with a mere gesture, a full-force strike is still enough to shatter stone and break metal, causing quite a commotion.

Among the Five Elements Taoism, only earth is the heaviest. The disciple who claimed to be Wang Quan is from Zhu Mingfeng, whose Peak Master is named Wei Buyue, a name that suggests he's quite adept at playing with mud.

"Shocking the heavens! Shaking the earth!"

His body was strong and tall, and his speech boomed like a drum, appearing honest and simple.

At first glance, he seemed a bit similar to Cen Zhuangzhuang, an honest man skilled in body cultivation, but the problem was...

How could an honest man catch Jiang Feng in the second round?

The jade token doesn't reveal names and can be freely swapped. On the first day, no one knew where Jiang Feng was. It was obvious that after gathering information, this Brother Wang here deliberately negotiated with Jiang Feng's original opponent to swap tokens.

And then caught him perfectly.

One should know that Jiang Feng's opponent yesterday was only at the peak of Foundation Establishment, and today he directly faced a high-grade Core Formation. Such a huge gap obviously spells trouble.

He had already guessed it.

Yes, Mr. Jiang knew after the first day's martial event that someone would definitely want to treat him as a soft persimmon to pinch. After all, he had just recently reached Core Formation, and clearly had an advantage in cultivation.

Additionally, there was fame.

Being able to defeat the Chief Disciple of Swordmaster Peak, this title alone would be enough to let him boast for years, and even if he surpasses others in realm later, they could still bring it up.

The cost of exchanging jade tokens with an Inner Sect Disciple and Wang Quan must have been significant, given that his original opponent was likely a low-grade Core Formation, and now he had to face a high-grade Core Formation master.

It's almost no different than forfeiting.

"Senior Brother Jiang, great movement technique. Take another of my hammers!"

Whoosh—

Although he shouted to take his hammer, he actually stopped the flow of spiritual energy in his right hand and attacked from behind with a flying sword. This tactic would catch ordinary people off guard, but Jiang Feng sidestepped and used a butt-slanting sword move to deflect the flying sword.

He appeared to be a burly brute with muscles for brains, but in reality, his Daoist skills and Sword Control Technique were exceptional, his little tricks and schemes innumerable.

Despite cursing him in his mind, Mr. Jiang's expression remained unchanged, calmly dealing with the brother's techniques. To be honest.

The pressure from this senior brother was not immense.

It wasn't that Jiang Feng was being arrogant; he was just accustomed to fighting across realms. Although there were differences in cultivation, as long as he didn't encounter a Nascent Soul Stage or body cultivation opponent, their physicality was more or less the same.

Another factor was the number of life-risking battles.

Each time after a life-and-death battle, spiritual energy would overwork his body. While this did damage, it greatly squeezed every ounce of potential, especially the insights and those fleeting inspirations in life and death, which are precious to a cultivator.

"The heavens execute the killing move, shifting stars and altering constellations!"

A point with the iron wire!

He clasped his sword technique, uttered a low cry, and sword qi burst forth. The frightening sword intent made everyone present gasp in surprise. Wang Quan took two steps back, and before he could retrieve his longsword, eight meteors came streaking towards him!

With a point of his sword, thunder light surged from within, and eight flying swords shot out in eight directions, spiraling to force the opponent back.

With the eight flying swords and the iron wire in Jiang Feng's hand, the sword shone with thunder light, mimicking constellations in the sky.

"What kind of move is this?"

"Such fierce sword qi, this kid truly captured some of Peak Master Liu's essence, though I've never heard of the peak master being good at Thunder Technique."

"Could it be a technique he devised himself?"

"Impossible, it must be personally taught by an elder in the sect. The boy is lucky..."

The crowd discussed animatedly, and even Yan Fengchun, hiding in the corner and peeking, was a little startled, muttering secretly.

"Why did this kid hide so many tricks when sparring with me?"

Unlike Mr. Jiang, he didn't receive much attention and had no so-called grudges, so his battles were easy, a half-hour workout at most.

Only Jiang Feng's were life and death struggles, and he had originally found some schadenfreude thinking someone would teach this brat a lesson.

But now, it seems...

It's Wang Quan of high-grade Core Formation being taught a lesson.

"The earth sets the killing move, dragons and serpents rise from the land!"

The aura became increasingly terrifying.

At this point, the young man could no longer hide his skills. Though he had internally cursed all the idioms he knew, Jiang Feng still maintained his composure, rarely resorting to profanity in the sect.

After all, he represented the face of the mountain gate.

"How could this be? Thunder Technique, who taught him Thunder Technique? Isn't he a disciple of Swordmaster Peak... Thousand Weight Pillar, stand, block it for me!"

Before he could stabilize his stance, the young man held a three-foot iron wire entwined with a thunder dragon. The purple thunder crashed down, forcing him to drop his hammer.

Clasping both hands together, he slapped them fiercely, veins bulging on his arms, hideously glaring. Facing the overwhelming thunder dragon, he had no confidence, for such a move exceeded all low-grade Core Formation he knew, with intensity and burst that didn't match the opponent's realm.