The seventh day of the Three Sects' Bloody Competition had arrived. At the boundary of the Mystical Forbidden Forest, the atmosphere was electrifying. Elders from the three major sects sat on the elevated dais of honor, while hundreds of surviving disciples lined up neatly in the Judgment Square. They deposited their beast cores and pouches of spirit stones onto the altar to have their points tallied.

In the corner of the Cloud Sword Sect's lineup, Lin Dong and Gao Lu stood side by side, their faces beaming with immense satisfaction. Before them glistened a pile of mid-tier beast cores, guaranteeing their positions at the top of the rankings.

"Are you certain that mortal rat has been reduced to spider dung, Lin Dong?" Gao Lu whispered with a sly grin, caressing his jade sword.

Lin Dong chuckled with disdain. "That Boulder Seal Formation cannot be broken by anyone below the Foundation Establishment Realm, let alone a Qi-less pest like him. Forget his corpse; even that tattered hemp bag he constantly clutched has surely dissolved in the venom."

"Good. With this, Senior Huo's reward will be ours," Gao Lu replied, feeling a massive weight vanish from his shoulders.

However, just as the Overseeing Elder was about to announce the conclusion of the competition, a violently powerful wind surged from within the forest. The normally dense gray fog suddenly cleaved into two clean paths, as though an invisible dragon were passing through.

Step... Step... Step...

The footsteps were slow, yet their vibrations echoed directly across the stone floor of the Judgment Square, causing the wine cups on the elders' tables to tremble softly.

Every eye instantly snapped toward the forest border. Out from the thinning mist strode a young man. His gray outer disciple robe was severely torn across the chest and shoulders, exposing clean, jade-white skin as unyielding as forged steel. His long black hair fluttered wildly, and his pitch-black eyes radiated a golden glint so dense that anyone who met his gaze instantly bowed their head in intimidation.

Bound securely to his waist hung the old hemp bag, stained with dried blood.

"Ye... Ye Tian?!" Gao Lu shrieked, his voice rising in a high-pitched panic that shattered the silence of the square. His face instantly turned pale as a corpse, as if all the blood had been drained from his body.

Lin Dong's eyes widened in horror, stepping backward as his body trembled violently. "Impossible... How could he have gotten out?!"

Ye Tian offered no answer. He walked straight through the crowd of disciples, who automatically parted ways out of sheer terror at his radiating aura. His steps came to a halt exactly ten meters in front of Lin Dong and Gao Lu.

"Lin Dong, Gao Lu," Ye Tian spoke, his voice flat yet reverberating with the deep resonance of a True Immortal Realm power. "You said that cave would be my grave?"

"Insolent! How dare you accuse your fellow disciples!" Lin Dong attempted to bluster to cover his panic, instantly summoning his flying sword into the air. "You must have used black magic or colluded with the forest beasts to survive!"

"Black magic?" Ye Tian sneered coldly. "To handle trash like you, I don't even need magic."

WHOOSH!

Before anyone could track his movement, Ye Tian shot forward. His speed cut through the air, creating a sharp sonic boom.

Lin Dong had not even had the chance to twitch his fingers to command his flying sword before Ye Tian's right hand clamped around his throat, lifting his burly frame into the air with a single hand.

"Let go—" Lin Dong choked, his eyes bulging in terror as he felt Ye Tian's grip as unyielding as an iron vise.

THUD!

Ye Tian slammed Lin Dong into the stone floor of the square with pure brute strength. The marble floor, reinforced by protective formations, instantly shattered into a thousand cracks. Lin Dong vomited a fountain of fresh blood as every meridian in his body broke. He was paralyzed in a single strike.

"Now it's your turn, Gao Lu," Ye Tian turned, glaring down at Gao Lu, who had collapsed onto the ground with his pants wet from sheer terror.

"E-Elders! Help me! He's gone mad! He wants to slaughter sect disciples!" Gao Lu screamed hysterically toward the dais of honor.

Seeing the public chaos, two senior inner disciples acting as Senior Huo's personal guards leaped down from the platform. They unsheathed their swords, radiating the powerful aura of the Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment Realm.

"Mad brat! Cease your rampage at once, or we will execute you on the spot!" barked one of the guards.

Ye Tian didn't even spare them a glance. As the two guards lunged forward with flaming sword strikes, Ye Tian casually backhanded the air with his left arm. A wave of pure air pressure generated by his True Immortal physical strength erupted like a hurricane.

BOOM!

The two Foundation Establishment guards were blasted backward like snapped kites, crashing into the dais of honor and reducing it to rubble. Their weapons snapped into three pieces.

The entire square erupted as if struck by an earthquake. Thousands of disciples held their breath, their jaws dropping to the ground. An outer disciple initially known as a talentless mortal without a spiritual root had just laid low powerful cultivators with a mere wave of his bare hand! This was no longer just strength; it was a miracle that violated the laws of nature.

Ye Tian stepped closer to Gao Lu, raised his foot, and stomped down onto Gao Lu's chest, accompanied by the sickening crunch of breaking ribs. "This is for your betrayal in the cave."

"Aaaghh!" Gao Lu shrieked before finally passing out from the unbearable agony.

"Enough, Boy!"

A deep baritone voice of profound authority descended from the highest heavens. An aura pressure far greater than anyone present locked down the Judgment Square. Three old men clad in pristine white robes—the Grand Elders and Core Elders of the Cloud Sword Sect—floated down from the clouds above.

Their eyes burned not with rage, but with intense shock and extraordinary interest as they looked at Ye Tian. As top-tier cultivators, they could clearly see that Ye Tian's body possessed no Qi, yet his cellular and skeletal density had evolved to the tier of an ancient deity.

"Possesses no spiritual root, yet capable of birthing physical strength on par with a True Immortal..." one silver-haired Grand Elder whispered, his hands trembling with excitement. "Brat... what ancient technique do you cultivate? What is your name?"

Ye Tian stood tall amidst the ruins of the square, staring up at the supreme figures of the immortal realm without a single trace of fear. He straightened his back, brushed his fingers against his sister's precious rice bag, and answered with a voice that boomed across the heavens:

"My name is... Ye Tian!"