A crack in his dao heart would naturally mean a crack in the Yin Yang Barrier as well. Jiang Chen’s attack almost seemed like it had a mind of its own. It went on a frenzy and concentrated at the barrier’s weak point. Yang Shen was now trembling with fear. He could sense that the barrier was on the brink of shattering. The sword aura hadn’t penetrated the barrier yet, but the killing intent had already seeped through the cracks. He understood how weak his innate defense was. His body would be sliced into two if the sword aura managed to break through the barrier.

“Yang Shen, you are already on the brink of death. When will you admit defeat if not now?” A stern voice suddenly appeared from the skies. It was Emperor Peafowl!

The crowd instantly broke into rapturous applause when they heard the voice. Emperor Peafowl had spoken! He had publicly told his own true disciple to admit defeat!

Jiang Chen smiled wryly when he heard Emperor Peafowl’s voice. The ties between master and disciple are strong indeed. It may seem like he was asking Yang Shen to admit defeat, but he was actually telling Jiang Chen to show some mercy.

Jiang Chen was peerless in martial dao. His vision was actually sharper than many of the great emperors. It hadn’t taken him long to notice the weak point in Yang Shen’s barrier. The barrier was a much greater toil on the body than any of the whip’s attacks. Jiang Chen kept increasing the power and speed of his attacks because he’d noticed this flaw. He focused his attacks solely on the weak point to further increase the barrier’s toil on Yang Shen’s body.

Emperor Peafowl may have exaggerated a little when he claimed that Yang Shen was on the brink of death, but it wasn’t too far from the truth. Yang Shen was actually in extreme danger even though he was still barely able to scrape by.

Yang Shen immediately fell down from the stage after Jiang Chen slackened his sword aura slightly. It was as though something had sucked away all of the strength within his body. All he could do was gasp for air while sitting beneath the stage. Defeat! He’d lost in the end. There was no longer any pride or arrogance to be found within his eyes. It had been replaced by exhaustion and disappointment. Jiang Chen didn’t plan on kicking his enemy while he was down. All he did was wave his hands at the crowd to enjoy the victory, instead of making snarky remarks to his opponent. Yang Shen watched the scene unfold with a blank look on his face. He was feeling a little depressed and also a little helpless. He wasn’t a person without ambition, but his memories of young lord Fan had begun to surface yet again. That person had been equally as insurmountable as he had been unfathomable.

Yang Shen had begun to sense something similar from Pill King Zhen. The pill king was definitely no less mysterious than young lord Fan. Young lord Fan may have possessed a higher cultivation than the pill king, but the pill king was definitely above young lord Fan in terms of potential and unpredictability. But, no one ever cared about the thoughts of the defeated. Everyone was only curious whether the pill king would continue his challenges

According to the rules, every young lord was given three challenge opportunities. Jiang Chen had defeated the 17th ranked young lord. This meant that he still had two opportunities left. He was now allowed to challenge a young lord six places higher than him. Since he was 17th, he was now allowed to challenge the 11th ranked young lord.

11th. This was the strongest genius outside of the top ten ranked young lords. A cultivator of this rank was definitely capable of holding his own against the top ten.

“Pill King Zhen, will you be continuing the challenge?”

"Challenging the 11th ranked genius is no small matter.”

“If he manages to defeat number 11, he could climb to the top ten!”

“Is there anything Pill King Zhen cannot do? I truly believe that the pill king is capable of anything, even challenging the young lord of the first rank.”

“Haha! I’m so excited for that! How exhilarating would it be to watch the pill king challenge the champion of the Ranking of Young Lords? If he manages to win, wouldn’t he be first person in Veluriyam Capital’s history to become champion of all three rankings?”

“The champion? You’re asking for too much. I’ve heard that there’s an extreme climb in difficulty with each rank in the upper half of the rankings. Why don’t we wait and see if the pill king is going to continue climbing the ranks? See who he picks to challenge?”

“I’m certain that the pill king is going to challenge the 11th ranked young lord. He’s not the type to back down from a good challenge.”

Jiang Chen’s each and every move was now under scrutiny. People had become very expectant of him. He was the only dark horse remaining in the Ranking of Young Lords. The other challengers had very little hope of climbing the ranks. None of the other battles in the first half of the rankings identified any other dark horses. Because of that, Pill King Zhen was widely regarded as the only remaining dark horse. Many were hoping that he’d charge through the ranks and become the champion.

Even though the pill king had dominated previous matches, those with a logical head on their shoulders understood that it was going to be an uphill battle from now onwards. The power discrepancy between each rank was only going to become greater and greater. Everyone stared at Jiang Chen, waiting for him to make a decision. Was he going to remain at this rank, or was he going to continue the climb?

It didn’t take long before they finally got their answer. He chose to continue. 17th wasn’t enough to satiate his appetite. He was going to challenge the 11th! His words caused a great commotion within Veluriyam Capital. He’d chosen to fully utilize his rank-jumping qualifications. The seven great emperors were somewhat surprised by Jiang Chen’s decision. Some factions were even privately discussing how Jiang Chen had finally worn shoes too big for his own feet.

Consecutive victories didn’t count for much at this point of the tournament.

They all knew that the duels between the top ten were ones between the strongest in the Martial Pagoda battles. And to be more precise, only seven geniuses were in the run to become champion. The other geniuses were mostly just side dishes in the Ranking of Young Lords. Every great emperor would only have one true disciple that would inherit their legacy and stand heads above the others. Because they had multiple disciples, each of them were trained like eagle younglings. In an eagle’s nest, only the strongest and fiercest youngling survived.

Every single great emperor had multiple true disciples, but only one would truly inherit their legacy. These seven disciples were the true main characters in the ranking battles. Even though the pill king had won every single battle up to this point, many were certain that he wouldn’t win against them, save for a few optimists.

The 11th ranked genius laughed angrily when Jiang Chen had challenged him. He was the second-ranked disciple under Emperor Vastsea. His name was Zhuang Min, the older brother of Zhuang Jie and another true disciple of Emperor Vastsea. They were brothers from the same mother.

Zhuang Min was incredibly furious at Jiang Chen for eliminating his younger brother. He understood that his brother’s loss was all due to his own inadequacy, but it was all the pill king’s fault that his brother no longer held a rank within the Ranking of Young Lords! There was no way he wouldn’t blame the pill king for this. He shook his head in disapproval when the pill king decided to skip six ranks to challenge him. Is Pill King Zhen truly that formidable? How dare he challenge my authority after eliminating Zhuang Jie?

Zhuang Min was certain that he was qualified to make it into the top ten. He had only been ranked 11th due to certain reasons. He didn’t believe that he was any worse than the other geniuses in the top ten. Being challenged stoked the fires of his rage even further.

“Brother! You have to teach him a lesson! I may have lost against him, but something seemed a little off about him. I strongly believe that he managed to devour my water pillars by using some sort of cheat! Otherwise, how could I be defeated by a mere sky sage realm bastard?” Zhuang Jie was being incredibly rude. He’d been in a bad mood ever since he was eliminated. Losing a great deal of face in front of Emperor Vastsea didn’t help either. Fortunately, he had an older brother that was even more formidable than him. Things were still salvageable since his brother was around. This was his chance for revenge!

“Even if he was cheating, it’s his accomplishment for not being caught by the seven emperors. Zhuang Jie, learn to humble yourself after a loss. You should try to learn from him.This is the only way you can hope to defeat him and trample him under your feet in the future.” Zhuang Min gave a stern lecture to his slightly irreverent brother.

“Brother, can we talk about this later? You have to teach that bastard a lesson and take him down a notch!” Zhuang Jie said in an agitated manner.

Zhuang Mei frowned. “Since he dares challenge me, I’m certain he’s not as simple as you say he is.”

“Who cares if he’s simple or if he’s complex! You’re an initial emperor realm cultivator! Your domain alone will make this match a cinch!” Zhuang Jie smacked his lips in an excited manner. He hated Pill King Zhen for eliminating him and was incredibly excited when he saw a chance for revenge appear.