Chapter 376 - Bewitched

All eyes were on Lu Tianzi as he calmly rose from his seat.

He did not bother replying Squad Leader Sanlong. At this point, nothing about the situation would change no matter what he said.

Here in Sacred Cliff City, the Burning Titan Overlord was absolute, and his word was the law.

The very moment that the Burning Titan Overlord openly approved of this 'demonstration', it became something that had to happen.

Anything other than that would be akin to disrespecting the Burning Titan Overlord, or in other words, against the law.

Even if the Burning Titan Overlord chose to overlook it, his fervent subordinates would not.

Having stayed in Sacred Cliff City for a while now, Lu Tianzi understood that much.

Then again, Lu Tianzi had never intended to back out anyway.

This was a good opportunity to show off a little to the top echelons in Sacred Cliff City.

By doing so, it would certainly improve their evaluation of him, which would in turn help him establish his position in Sacred Cliff City. At the same time, it could also help him get rid of some annoying people who kept trying to test his limits, like Squad Leader Sanlong for example.

Flying through the air, it did not take long before his feet landed lightly onto the stage floor.

Standing at the other end of the stage, Squad Leader Sanlong smirked as he sent a message to Lu Tianzi through voice conveyance. "I heard from Squad Leader Lingmu that you have a formidable treasure that guards against Origin Force pressure. Unfortunately for you, that will not be enough to get you out of this!"

"Let's cut the useless chatter and get down to it," Lu Tianzi replied out loud.

With a flick of his wrist, the Moon Culler appeared in his hand.

The moment the Moon Culler appeared, Grandmaster Tiequan squinted his eyes in focus.

Back when he was at the Sky Snow Manor, he was only able to confirm the physical enhancements brought about by the Bewitching Will Inscription.

However, what he was most interested in was something else – the inscription skill.

Since this was supposed to be a competition of Lu Tianzi's inscriptions against Squad Leader Sanlong's strength, at least on the surface, Grandmaster Tiequan was hoping that Lu Tianzi would finally reveal its inscription skill.

On his end, he would not miss even a single moment of the upcoming fight!

"Hahaha! Since you are so eager to disgrace yourself, then I shall gladly oblige!" Squad Leader Sanlong laughed.

As he did, Squad Leader Sanlong pulled out a greatsword that was more than twice as thick as the Moon Culler at its core.

If the two were ordinary weapons, the thin Moon Culler would not even be able to withstand a single strike from the greatsword!

"Don't say that I am bullying you with my higher cultivation level," Squad Leader Sanlong smirked while readying his greatsword in front of him. "I will allow you to go on the offensive for the first three moves. After three moves, I will end it once and for all!"

"There's no need for that," Lu Tianzi replied nonchalantly. "I will be starting then."

After casually waving his sword around to relax his arms, Lu Tianzi started taking steady steps to approach Squad Leader Sanlong.

"Hahaha, just do your best! Not that it is going to matter anyway!" Squad Leader Sanlong laughed out heartily. "All right, since I am feeling generous, perhaps I will let you have five moves instead. I guess that should be more than enough to let everyone understand the difference between the two of us!"

Initially, there were many among the attendees who snickered along with Squad Leader Sanlong, confident in the latter's ability to beat someone two full cultivation levels below him.

After all, that should be a given, right?

As the Burning Titan Overlord had put it so aptly, this was just entertainment, a short break from the serious discussions.

They were simply looking forward to seeing how this squad leader of the Sacred Cliff City Guards would manhandle his opponent.

However, the smile on their faces quickly faded.

In just a few short moments, Squad Leader Sanlong was the only one left laughing.

Apart from him, the chamber fell dead silent as everyone was dumbfounded by the scene playing out before them.

As Lu Tianzi approached Squad Leader Sanlong, the latter remained in his battle-ready stance and kept laughing to himself. His gaze was fixated and focused, but it never left Lu Tianzi's original position.

It was almost as though Squad Leader Sanlong was lost in his own world, completely oblivious to what Lu Tianzi was doing.

Initially, everyone still thought that he was deliberately exposing some openings to taunt the opponent, exhibiting sheer confidence in his own combat prowess.

However, nothing changed even as Lu Tianzi walked around to his exposed back.

Faced with an opponent who did not have a single reaction to him, Lu Tianzi casually rested the Moon Culler on Squad Leader Sanlong shoulder, sliding it horizontally across until the edge of its blade barely touched against Squad Leader Sanlong's neck.

At this point, everyone finally understood.

The match was over before it even started.

***

Even before the fight started, Squad Leader Sanlong was already thinking of how he should deal with Lu Tianzi after beating him.

He actually dared to challenge me in front of His Excellency and the Captains?

What insolence!

I shall first toy with him during the fight, humiliating him in front of everyone. That will teach him to mess with the Sacred Cliff City Guards.

Then I shall put him down with words while he squirms around the floor in pain, disgracing him and his inscription works so that his reputation would hit rock bottom. That will teach him to mess with me.

After today, everyone will see that the infamous Manor Lord Lu is nothing, and that anybody who dares go against the Sacred Cliff City Guards will not come to a good end!

In his mind, Squad Leader Sanlong was already trying to think of the best way to humiliate Lu Tianzi.

Should he carve numerous small cuts into Lu Tianzi's skin, turning him into a bloody mess?

Or should he just nimbly dodge around as Lu Tianzi fumbles all over the stage like a fool?

No, perhaps tossing Lu Tianzi around like a sack would be a better option...

But just when Squad Leader Sanlong was fully indulged in his thoughts of glory, he suddenly felt a cold sensation on his neck.

The very next moment, the scene before him started to blur, as though water had gotten into his eyes.

Everything blurred out and faded, replaced by a completely different scene altogether.

Lu Tianzi, who was originally standing in front of him, had now vanished without a trace.

Instead, Squad Leader Sanlong could see a long metallic strip stretching out over his shoulder from behind.

He recognised it immediately – it was the blade of Lu Tianzi's sword.

It was then that Squad Leader Sanlong once again felt the cold sensation of metal pressing against his neck.

No way…!

With a quick sweep of his perception, Squad Leader Sanlong instantly understood the situation that he was currently in.

But why… how...?!

He was just standing right in front of me!

Along with the feeling of confusion, Squad Leader Sanlong felt an uncontrollable shiver running through his entire body.

He could not help but think about how things would have ended up if this was a true life and death battle.

There was no doubt about it.

He would surely have died without even realising it.

Below the stage, the attendees continued to watch on in grim silence.

Most of them had long broken out of their initial state of shock, and were now trying to determine what exactly happened in that fight.

From the start till the end, it appeared as though Lu Tianzi had just casually walked up and placed his sword on Squad Leader Sanlong's shoulder, while Squad Leader Sanlong simply stood there and continued talking to himself like a fool.

Since Lu Tianzi had not turned himself invisible, the change should have been on Squad Leader Sanlong's end.

The question was… what exactly happened to him?

It was almost as though Squad Leader Sanlong was bewitched, no longer able to understand what was going on around him.

Yet despite everything having happened right before their eyes, only a few of those present were able to truly figure out the events that transpired beneath the surface.

"I believe the winner is decided," Grandmaster Xiangling's words broke the silence in the chamber. "Can I ask Manor Lord Lu to kindly retract your sword now?"

"Understood, Senior. Pardon me for getting carried away," Lu Tianzi promptly pulled back the Moon Culler and stored it away in his spatial ring. "But from the looks of it, perhaps my inscriptions are a little more useful than they seem. Wouldn't you agree, Squad Leader Sanlong?"

Lu Tianzi did not enjoy making enemies, but that did not mean he was afraid of making enemies.

If someone deliberately tried to step on his toes like Squad Leader Sanlong did, Lu Tianzi would not hesitate to repay it in kind.

For both his and Nanlan Qianxue's sake, he needed to send a message to everyone present, letting them know that his Sky Snow Manor was not to be trifled with!

Only then would they be able to firmly establish themselves here in the future.

Squad Leader Sanlong trembled slightly when he felt Lu Tianzi's attention fall upon him.

After what just happened, the previously insignificant Lu Tianzi in his head had now turned into a terrifying monster, one that could devour him whenever it wished.

And the most ridiculous thing was that even now, Squad Leader Sanlong still had no idea what Lu Tianzi had done to him!

What people feared most was the unknown.

With so much on his mind, Squad Leader Sanlong was simply not in the right mental state to find any words to reply Lu Tianzi.

"Seems like Squad Leader Sanlong is a man of few words?" Lu Tianzi smirked. "Then again, I guess one does not need to speak much when fighting against the enemies of the city. I am sure that Squad Leader Sanlong's contributions towards the safety of the city cannot be measured by today's events, or by how much he speaks. Since the demonstration is over, I shall return to my seat first."

Lu Tianzi respectfully clasped his fists in the direction of the Burning Titan Overlord. After receiving a nod of consent from the Burning Titan Overlord, Lu Tianzi flew back to his seat, leaving a stunned Squad Leader Sanlong on the stage.

"How long are you planning to stay up there?" Captain Emerald Wind said with a tone as cold as ice.

Anyone could tell that Captain Emerald Wind was in a foul mood right now, but who could blame him?

After acting so haughtily and initiating the fight, Squad Leader Sanlong was actually defeated in such an embarassing manner.

Not only did he lose to someone of a lower cultivation level, he even remained on the stage after the other party left, as though trying to show off his loss to the world.

It was a complete disgrace to the Sacred Cliff City Guards!

Captain Emerald Wind's words broke Squad Leader Sanlong from his daze, and the latter hurriedly exited the stage.

However, he did not return to his seat.

Instead, Squad Leader Sanlong told Grandmaster Xiangling that he was not feeling in the best condition today and had to return to recuperate, then quickly exited the chamber.

Grandmaster Xiangling let out a helpless sigh before looking over at Grandmaster Tiequan. She wanted to jokingly complain to Grandmaster Tiequan, only to find that the latter was lost in thought.

Right now, like some others, Grandmaster Tiequan was still analysing the fight in his head.

At the same time, he could not help but recall the name of the inscription that Lu Tianzi had placed on his sword.

The Bewitching Will Inscription.

Grandmaster Tiequan could not help but let out a smile.

The inscription truly lived up to its name.

From the looks of it, perhaps helping out the brat had been the right choice after all!