After interacting with the system for a century, Lu Wancheng had picked up a few very bad habits from it. Raising his head, he looked at the people attacking his sect. Then, moving his attention back to Ancestor Withering Bones, he said, "Will you go back if I tell you the reason?"

  Ancestor Withering Bones remained silent without giving an answer. Lu Wancheng simply nodded and said, "Thought so. How about we do it like this."

  He raised three of his fingers and moved them forward. "I will take three moves from you while standing in front of the sect barrier. If you somehow manage to push me back and break it, I will willingly surrender the recently discovered spirit stone mine to the Gravebone Hall." Then, moving his eyes toward Sect Master Li Wanruo, he continued, "And for the Blood River Sect, I will grant any wish that is not excessive."

  Hearing his words, the eyes of both Ancestor Withering Bones and Sect Master Li Wanruo narrowed. They looked at each other and nodded. Slightly covering his mouth and coughing, Ancestor Withering Bones brought everyone's attention to himself. "Since Sect Master Lu Wancheng wants to resolve this peacefully, we will naturally not make things difficult."

  Lu Wancheng sneered in his heart but maintained a cordial expression on his face. This old geezer is more concerned with obtaining resources than with the deaths of his own sect disciples.

  Waving his hand, Lu Wancheng signaled his sect members to back away. They obediently complied. From experience, they clearly understood that their Sect Master was anything but weak. For all his misgivings and the troubles he caused, he always came through when he was actually needed.

  After moving back a substantial distance, Fourth Elder said, "Why is he showing off like this? Weren't those guys brought here by him?" Suddenly, a light went out in all their heads. Truly, wasn't this trouble itself brought about by Lu Wancheng? His dependable back suddenly seemed less like a protective shield and more like an invitation for trouble. They just hoped they wouldn't lose the recently found spirit stone mine, or else all their resources would be greatly reduced once again—especially for Fourth Elder.

  Oblivious to the cursing as well as the well-wishing from the Elders, Lu Wancheng stood in front of the transparent protective barrier. The cracks on it were slowly being repaired by the energy supplied by the Nascent Soul Elders. Turning back to face Ancestor Withering Bones, he raised his hand and beckoned, giving a "Bring it on" gesture.

  The vein on Ancestor Withering Bones's temples bulged. With his withered appearance, it was even more prominently visible to his people. Everyone rapidly moved back from him, including Sect Master Li Wanruo.

  Looking at Lu Wancheng's frivolous demeanor, Ancestor Withering Bones clenched his fists. He slowly moved his hands back into a punching gesture. Spiritual energy rapidly began to converge behind his hand, forming an energy vacuum. After a certain amount of spiritual energy was gathered, it started to take shape. Slowly, a hand similar to Ancestor Withering Bones's but several times larger formed.

  But the hand continued to absorb more energy and grow even larger. It only stopped when its size had grown to a quarter of the Jade River Sect. The contours of the hand and even minute details were clearly visible. The veins on it seemed like large green serpents carrying poison instead of blood. Looking ahead, Ancestor Withering Bones punched out with his fist, and the large hand was propelled toward Lu Wancheng.

  A pressure far surpassing the Soul Transformation realm was thrown toward the Jade River Sect. The sky's color changed to dark red. The Elders, who had moved back quite a substantial distance, coughed out blood just from the pressure radiating from the attack.

  And Lu Wancheng faced such an attack head-on, a smirk hanging on his face. He raised his hand and coated it with spiritual energy. A blue coating slowly appeared around his fist. Just as the withered hand approached, Lu Wancheng punched it. The collision between the two forces created a large shockwave that parted the clouds and pushed everyone surrounding them further back. But it did not even scratch the barrier behind Lu Wancheng.

  After a few moments, the fluctuations died down, and everything returned to normal. Lu Wancheng's appearance was slightly disheveled, but nothing seemed out of place. Ancestor Withering Bones nodded in understanding while looking at Lu Wancheng. He already knew his first attack would be futile. He just wanted to check how much stronger Lu Wancheng had gotten over the past century. But from the looks of it, there was not much change. It was completely normal for people of their cultivation realm to progress slowly.

  Next, he once again raised his hand and formed a similar attack as before. But after the hand was formed, Ancestor Withering Bones began to burn his essence blood. This greatly amplified the power of the attack. Although it was hard to replace essence blood, he was willing to make such a sacrifice to get back at the man in front of him for past incidents. And he wanted to do it with his own power. Although killing Lu Wancheng was not possible, humiliating him was a different story entirely.

  The large withered hand's color changed to red, and dark burning flames began to cover it. Soon, the hand transformed from a simple withered mass into a dark burning inferno. The temperature in the surroundings shot up rapidly.

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  First Elder lightly wiped the sweat from his forehead. Even the Hall Master of Gravebone Hall was sweating buckets by now. Only the three strongest people present remained unaffected.

  Ancestor Withering Bones launched the burning mass straight toward Lu Wancheng. From the burning of his own hand from his self-created attack, one could understand just how powerful the attack was. As it slowly approached the Jade River Sect, all the water inside began to evaporate. All the disciples felt a burning heat, and some of the weaker ones fainted on the spot.

  Xiaomeng looked at the incoming attack from her courtyard. Her clenched fists were completely sweaty, and her clothes had already grown a little damp. The large silhouette of the dark fire inferno was easily visible from anywhere in the sect. Some new disciples were on their knees, praying for their safety, while the older ones simply watched on with expectation.

  Lu Wancheng once again faced the attack head-on. This time, spiritual energy gathered all around him, covering his whole body. Soon it solidified into a blue armor several times larger than him. Instead of waiting for the attack to land, Lu Wancheng launched several palm strikes to slow down its momentum. These blue large palms made of spiritual energy slightly diminished the power of the inferno, but not substantially.

  Finally, the inferno crashed into Lu Wancheng and completely engulfed him. However, as everyone had expected, the inferno stopped mid-motion in its place. Lu Wancheng was gritting his teeth, and his hands were placed on the dark fire sphere. The blue armor surrounding him was being melted into nothingness every moment. The attack was not just fire but the poisonous techniques of Ancestor Withering Bones mixed inside it. And these poisons were slowly encroaching on him.

  Finally, with a last grunt, Lu Wancheng pushed spiritual energy into his hands, and a large blue coating covered the now-reduced fire and properly sealed it. The blue coating continuously grew smaller and after some time shrank to just the size of a marble. Taking the small marble, Lu Wancheng lightly crushed it. His clothes were burned in several places, and some black soot was stuck to his face, making him seem like a beggar. But nobody laughed, as he had stopped an attack which would have easily annihilated any one of them.

  Looking at the small amount of damage sustained by Lu Wancheng, Ancestor Withering Bones's face fell. It's still not enough, he lamented. Knowing he had only a single strike left, he no longer sought to measure Lu Wancheng's strength. His hand moved to the withered branch hanging from his waist. Raising and pointing it ahead, he said, "Let's stop gauging each other. After I use this thing, even I can't predict the results." His face grew a lot more serious, his eyes narrowing. "If you want, you can still walk away from this."

  Lu Wancheng just shook his head. "No need to worry too much. A deal is a deal, and I fully intend to keep it."

  Ancestor Withering Bones slightly shook the withered branch. A small green aura was released from its green surface. The aura coalesced and formed a small needle which shot ahead with rapid momentum. Lu Wancheng only had a moment to think, during which he took out a golden shield with mythical beast engravings from his storage ring. The shield and the needle collided, but there was no loud noise or shockwave—just utter silence.

  The needle slowly melted the surface of the shield and pierced directly through it without a hint of slowing down. Lu Wancheng quickly made some calculations in his head. Just as the shield was melted, he brought his hand forward, and the needle pierced it. Then he proceeded to absorb the needle inside his body and circulate it throughout.

  His complexion became paler, and his fingertips turned green. Bringing his hand to his mouth, he lightly coughed out some blood. Looking at his stained hand, the blood was a mixture of red and green. The needle was continuously wreaking havoc in his body, trying to find an exit. But he reinforced his meridians and channels with spiritual energy. Whenever the needle remained in one place for some time, he pushed it at the slightest sign of it breaking free.

  Even Ancestor Withering Bones looked on with a dumbfounded expression. Lu Wancheng slightly raised his head and said in a small, raspy voice, "It seems that I won. I will not see Senior off since I have some place to be urgently." The space behind him tore open, and he disappeared inside. Li Wanruo narrowed her eyes and clenched her fist looking at this, her thoughts unknown.

  "What… just happened?" Third Elder asked, perplexed. He was not able to make heads or tails of the situation even after keenly observing it.

  "He took the attack inside his body to contain it," First Elder said solemnly. "Since the attack from a heavenly artifact couldn't be easily stopped and would have easily torn through the barrier if it connected, the Sect Master made a sacrifice and contained it inside his body."

  "I should go and start brewing some medicinal concoction for him," Fourth Elder said, also going inside the sect barrier.

  Standing opposite them, the Hall Master of Gravebone Hall approached Ancestor Withering Bones. "Ancestor, since Lu Wancheng is injured, isn't this the right chance to attack the Jade River Sect? From the looks of it, there doesn't seem to be anyone who will be able to stop us."

  Ancestor Withering Bones faced the new Hall Master. Suddenly, an enormous pressure engulfed the Hall Master, bringing him to his knees. An instant transmission entered his mind. "Did you think I didn't know that you were intentionally stirring up trouble in the areas under Jade River Sect? This is the first and last time I am warning you: until Lu Wancheng is alive, don't even think of such idiotic things. Or else I don't mind replacing you." After some time, when the pressure disappeared, he looked up at empty space. All he could do was clench his fist in frustration.

  Lu Wancheng had returned to his cave abode. Sitting in front of him was the original Lu Wancheng. "So, how was the experience?" Lu Wancheng asked his clone who had been fighting outside.

  "It hurts a lot." The clone took support from the wall and slowly sat down in a meditative position. He was trying his best to suppress the green needle. Although its size was reduced by half, it was still showing no sign of slowing down.

  "Quickly absorb me back. This thing is going to come out," the clone said in a pained voice.

  "No way!" Lu Wancheng exclaimed. "If I absorb you now, I'll have to bear it directly. From your looks, it seems like it's hurting more than just a bit."

  The clone opened his closed eyes and looked at the original body with gritted teeth. How could he be so shameless? No. No. How could I be so shameless?

  The Will of the World just observed the banter as if looking at idiots.