Chapter 84: Fear

"Aura Force! It's Aura Force!"

"Li Pin could strike Aura Force too!?"

"Senior Brother Han!?"

Li Pin had exploded with power. He had first killed Han Li and now he had gone up against Zhou Chaoguang. It all went down in a matter of seconds.

The spectators had been shocked by what happened, and it was only now that they snapped out of it. Many people gasped in surprise and sprung up at the same time. Amongst them were Fang Lingjue, Jiang Zhenhai, Gu Haoran, and Zhou Yuanfei.

The people watching from the VIP area were similarly surprised, people such as Cao Tianyou, Luo Baihe, Jiang Qingyue, and Lian Hongchen.

"That wasn't just pure Aura Force! He used secret arts to elevate the power of his Fist Force to be on par with Aura Force! No, it's even stronger than the Aura Force an average Grandmaster would exhibit. Zhou Chaoguang had struck out Aura Force, but Li Pin's Aura-Force-alike strike triumphed over it!"

The few grandmasters exchanged looks of shock and horror.

Aura Force that could deal this level of damage...

"It's Five Elements Unity!" muttered Cao Tianyou with heartfelt emotion. "Even at my prime, the Five Elements Unity that I could strike out was but on par with this."

Jiang Qingyue glanced at him. Cao Tianyou had been a very strong Aura Cultivation Grandmaster in his prime, and he'd constantly make it to the top ten in national competitions. If Li Pin could strike out an Aura Force of this caliber....

Luo Baihe, on the other hand, was saddened.

"It's over for Zhou Chaoguang," he said. "He hesitated in his punch. He thought he was up against a mere Core Formation martial artist, so he thought it wouldn't have been an issue even if his strike was off its game. Little did he know... Li Pin's Force was this strong. A grandmaster has met his end just like that.... "

Lian Hongchen's face radiated with smiles. "To kill Han Li first and then defeat Zhou Chaoguang. Li Pin has truly brought us a great surprise."

Jiang Qingyue smiled too. "They've even lost a grandmaster. The Solar Vermillion Sect has suffered a great loss."

***

In the center of the training area.

Cough, cough.

Zhou Chaoguang continued to hack out blood as he coughed. His eyes were wide with shock and disbelief as he stared at the young man before him.

He has been defeated! Defeated! An Aura Cultivation martial artist like him had been defeated by a Core Formation martial artist!

Zhou Chaogang started, "You're...."

"Li Pin," Li Pin answered. He continued after a brief moment, "Although I found you despicable and this is the last you'll see of me, letting you know my name is only a gesture of respect towards your cultivation. "

Back on the Blue Planet, an Aura Cultivation expert was a legend. And to Li Pin, Zhou Chaoguang was the first Aura Cultivation Grandmaster he had fought. He was also the first one he defeated and one who'd soon die.

Coughs, coughs....

Zhou Chaoguang felt his body turning cold as his blood stopped circulating, a result of his crushed heart. His eyes beamed with a strong unwillingness to accept this outcome

"I can't accept this... If I had been allowed to adjust my condition... I... wouldn't have lost..." Zhou Chaoguang continued.

"Who knows," Li Pin replied. "I wish I had been able to fight you fairly, but you took the chance to launch a sneak attack on me while I was fighting Han Li. You left me no choice but to kill him first and then kill you."

He stared at the Aura Cultivation Grandmaster. "I apologize for not allowing you to adjust your condition before launching your sneak attack."

Zhou Chaoguang's eyes widened. He could sense the sarcasm in Li Pin's words. "You...."

Having been agitated, another mouthful of blood sprayed out of Zhou Chaoguang's mouth again. After that, Zhou Chaoguang lost control of his body and slumped to the ground. He lay on the floor like a fish out of the water. His mouth was agape, and blood continued to flow out from it.

His eyes were filled with the desire to live. However, unfortunately for him, there was no chance that he'd make it out alive. Astral equipment could only speed up the process of recovery. It couldn't heal the exhaustion of qi and blood, let alone the injuries of his internal organs being crushed by Force.

In the end, his life force gradually became weaker and weaker until it was completely extinguished with nothing left.

Li Pin swept the surroundings with his eyes.

He found that the followers of the Solar Vermillion Sect that had been causing a commotion earlier and shouting "A killer will end up being killed one day" had all gone silent.

As he glanced through the crowd, each Solar Vermillion Sect member shifted their gaze, not daring to meet his gaze.

Even a seeded competitor like Jiang Zhenhai was flustered under Li Pin's gaze.

Li Pin killing Han Li didn't bring them much of a shock. After all, Li Pin had shown his strength along his way in the competition, giving everyone time to prepare themselves mentally. But Zhou Chaoguang, on the other hand, was an actual Aura Cultivation Grandmaster! He was not an Aura Force martial artist; he was a real, full-fledged Aura Cultivation Grandmaster!

When a martial artist reached that realm, as long as they had some decent background, they wouldn't need to look for connections or give toasts to leaders to take the test for the Senior professional title!

But now, this bastard Li Pin had actually killed him!

One match resulted in two deaths. Both a fighter and the referee had died.

These two casualties deterred the Solar Vermillion Sect members from voicing their displeasure. After all, most of them were only level-one to level-two martial artists. How could they dare to make a move?

Li Pin saw this and calmly shifted his gaze away. He turned toward the staff members from the martial society and asked, "So... with the referee unfortunately passing on, who will announce the victory of this battle?"

The staff members exchanged a glance. Eventually, an assistant went up and shouted a bit weakly, "Li Pin... Master Li won."

By now, Jiang Zhenhai had slightly adjusted his state of mind. Under the watch of so many onlookers, the Solar Vermillion Sect lost a Core Formation martial artist. He couldn't just remain silent.

He eventually forced himself to get up to the front. "Li Pin... you dare to kill a martial society's referee. You..."

"Oh? Does the Solar Vermillion Sect have objections and want to stand up for this referee?" Li Pin asked.

Fang Lingjue, who had gone up to the front, sneered, "How dare a referee make a move against a participant? Who gave him the courage to do so? It's all good that he has died. If he was still alive, he would've needed to be investigated. There would be a need to investigate clearly to see if there's a deeper level of conspiracy! Did anyone instruct him to do what he had done? And who had given him the courage to make a move?"

As he said this, he glanced at Zhou Chaoguang's corpse. "If anyone dared to challenge the martial competition's rules, best case scenario they'd be forced to enlist in the military and spend a life sentence at the Death Valley!"

Considering the gravity of the situation should the Solar Vermillion Sect be implicated in this matter, Jiang Zhenhai stopped talking. After some time, he finally made out the words, "I'm not trying to speak up for him. I... I just want to collect my junior's corpse. Please... make way for us...."

Li Pin nodded. "Oh, respecting the deceased is of most importance."

As he left, he took another look at Han Li.

He was gifted and could feel that this Core Formation martial artist's qi and blood levels... seemed a little odd.

The average qi and blood levels of Core Formation martial artists lay between thirty-three and thirty-four. He, Li Pin, was at about thirty-seven or thirty-eight points. It was a figure that was comparable to that of an Aura Cultivation expert.

However, Han Li had already passed away, and Chairman Lin Yuzhi of the Jiang Province Martial Society had unquestionable authority. Not to mention that he had extremely close ties with the Solar Vermillion Sect. Li Pin knew he wouldn't be able to find out anything even if he used the Five Elements Sect's influence.

Moreover, the Five Elements Sect seemed to have already made it clear that they wanted to draw boundaries with him.

"Old Li, your injuries..." began Fang Lingjue.

"It'll be fine after I get some treatment with an astral equipment," Li Pin replied.

Fang Lingjue looked at him. "Astral equipment can only speed up the healing process... Your hand..."

"It's fine."

Li Pin had a deep level of sensing of his body. A normal person may worry that the healing effects that were several tens or hundreds of times stronger may lead to mutation. He, however, didn't have this worry since he could guide the process through very detailed fine-tuning.

Fang Lingjue let out a sigh of relief. "That's great. Let's go get you treated now."

He then quickly left with Li Pin, leaving behind the still-speechless Solar Vermillion Sect crowd as well as the other seeded competitors like Jiang Zhenhai, Gu Haoran, and Zhou Yuanfie.

Especially shaken was Gu Haoran, who couldn't help but think back to the decisiveness and desperation Li Pin had shown when he went up against the Aura Cultivation Grandmaster Zhou Chaoguang.

"Even an Aura Cultivation referee was killed...." A sliver of agony flashed past Gu Haoran's face. "This competition... how the hell are we supposed to go on with it?"