Chapter 1372 - Forcing Out Chen Fan’s True Strength?

It was a long story, yet everything unfolded in the blink of an eye.

Tie Rushan panted heavily for air, having narrowly avoided disaster. He looked at Chen Fan in horror, with large beads of cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

For a brief instant, he had truly felt the aura of death.

With just a single stroke, Chen Fan had forced him into a desperate corner, showing the raw dominance and ferocity of the saber Dao.

Tie Rushan, the inheritor of an Immortal Emperor’s legacy, was a joke in front of Chen Fan.

Hoo, hoo, hoo.

The ragged sound of his breathing filled the air, each inhale costing him dearly. In using his life-saving method to break free, he had burned through half his true primeval essence.

Through this exchange, he finally realized that a gap still existed between him and Chen Fan. He had been too arrogant, ignorant, and narrow-minded.

He thought he was invincible after obtaining a legacy. But with one decisive strike, Chen Fan shattered that illusion and taught him a lesson: there was always someone stronger.

A bitter smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He had been full of confidence, thinking he could easily charge his way into the top three. After all, the opponents he’d faced so far had been little challenge, feeding his growing complacency.

But Chen Fan’s blade was like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, shocking him awake. The truth was simple: he had never encountered a true powerhouse like Chen Fan.

And worse, what if there were others in this contest even stronger than Chen Fan?

Although he had such an eye-opening realization, Tie Rushan’s heart burned with defiance; surrender was the last thing he was willing to accept.

Without any hesitation, Tie Rushan stood up with his saber in hand and shouted, “Chen Fan, you’re powerful, but I won’t admit defeat just like that. I’ll unleash my strongest attack next. If you can withstand it, I’ll concede. If you can’t... then don’t blame me!”

The saber in his hand began buzzing, unleashing ferocious saber light.

“Heaven-Splitting Eight-Step Slash!” shouted Tie Rushan as he stepped forward. His aura spiked significantly and pressed down.

Chen Fan furrowed his brow. What kind of martial art was this? Why was it so strange?

Tie Rushan’s movement didn’t stop: one step, two steps, three steps. With each stride, his aura surged higher, heavier, more oppressive.

“Eight-step slash, not good!” said Chen Fan, narrowing his eyes as danger coiled around his heart.

He quickly realized that this was a martial art that built power step by step.

As the name, the Heaven-Splitting Eight-Step Slash, suggested, one’s aura would reach the peak when they took eight steps forward. If they struck then, the resulting slash would be utterly devastating.

Chen Fan’s aura erupted at once. Saber qi swirled in his palm, giving birth to a terrifying saber light.

He immediately lunged forward. He couldn’t let Tie Rushan take all eight steps.

“Too late!” Tie Rushan sneered, seeing through his intention. His steps accelerated in a blur, completing all eight at once. In that instant, his aura soared to its absolute peak.

“Slash!”

Tie Rushan moved his saber.

He swung his saber high, the overwhelming aura around him collapsing inward, fusing into the strike. Saber qi howled through the air, surging upward as if to split the very sky.

Countless streaks of light converged, condensing into a colossal saber in the heavens. With a violent crash, it descended—an attack so fierce it seemed capable of cleaving the world itself in two.

The crowd outside was startled by Tie Rushan’s sudden outburst.

They weren’t the ones facing the attack, yet just by witnessing its sheer momentum, they could imagine its terrifying power. Even contenders for the top three, like Si Kong, Ye Kuang, and Mo Xue, turned serious.

“My god, Tie Rushan truly lives up to the title of an Immortal Emperor’s inheritor. He still has such terrifying methods. This strike could split heaven and earth apart.”

“I know, right? It looks like Chen Fan forced him into a corner earlier. Other than executing this move, his only option left is to surrender, which he would never do.”

“I wonder if Chen Fan can withstand this strike. It truly is too terrifying!”

Countless people murmured, shocked by the terror of Tie Rushan’s attack.

Even the higher-ups observing from the layered space had their eyes lit with interest, giving faint nods of approval.

Chen Fan was about to be swallowed by this strike, like an ant beneath a heavenly saber. He stood under the looming strike as if he were a fragile boat tossed about in a raging ocean, one wave away from capsizing.

Suddenly, Chen Fan shouted. A stream of golden light shot to the sky from those overwhelming waves.

“Open!”

At the same time, a berserk aura swept out. Chen Fan spread his hands open, as if cast from gold, and grasped at the falling saber qi.

Boom!

An incomparably terrifying and deafening boom rang out. The endless saber qi scattered violently, sending countless qi waves sweeping out in all directions.

“What happened?!”

“Did Chen Fan withstand it?”

“Chen Fan didn’t get cut down, did he?”

All eyes locked on the rolling storm ahead, hearts pounding as they waited for the outcome of this clash.

Very soon, when the storm dissipated, the crowd was met with a sight so unforgettable that many forgot to breathe.

In that space, a streak of saber qi, measuring a hundred thousand feet long, sliced through the air, seemingly about to slash through heaven and earth.

Beneath the edge of this saber was a comparatively tiny figure, like an ant. Yet his palms were clamped firmly on the falling saber, holding it in place.

Golden brilliance poured from him, dazzling like molten gold in motion. Waves of terrifying aura rippled outward, shaking the heavens.

It was this tiny figure that had stopped the enormous saber.

“This...”

“How is this possible? How could this possibly be?”

“My god, I’m not seeing things, am I? Chen Fan actually blocked it!”

After a moment of silence, the crowd completely erupted into chaos. Many people’s faces were in disbelief, rubbing their eyes as if they hadn’t woken up.

Even the behemoths, elders, and higher-ups in the layered space froze for a moment, struck dumb by the scene. Then, as their gazes sharpened, they caught the shift in Chen Fan’s aura and understood at once.

“Oh boy, it turns out that he is already in the peak Invincible Legendary realm!”

It turned out that Chen Fan wasn’t in the late-stage Invincible Legendary realm. Instead, he had already broken through to the peak and hadn't revealed it all this time. But now, Tie Rushan’s strike had forced it out of him.

Clearly, Chen Fan knew that if he fought with only his late-stage cultivation, he would never have withstood such an attack.