As soon as the shout came out,five figures kicked off the ground and distanced themselves from one another. Only Cheng Hao stood still, not moving a step from where he was, wearing a mocking smile on his face.

Zhao Bu scoffed at the sight and looked at his other five opponents: Sou Rou had already entered a fighting stance, three big symbols floated behind her.

One was a rose, one was a lion and one was a picture of the ocean. Zhao Bu, who had fought her countless times due to their rivalry, knew full well the power of those three glowing seals.

Sou Rou glanced his way and he nodded. He didn't wait any longer and rotated his cultivation base: the power of the peak Advanced stage rushed out applying pressure on his surroundings...

Breaking through the Superior stage didn't need much effort but talent and enlightnening had a major role in it: becoming Superior meant knowing more, understanding more.

After doing that, you would turn those enlightenings and knowledge into Qi, this Qi would then condense and become like a Satellite that would orbit around the Core!

It would generate a lot more energy as it both rotates on its axis and orbits around the Core, so it could be said that the Core is only a tool, used to nurture the Satellite. However, it is still needed: just like a man needs water or food to survive, the Satellite needs to orbit around a Core to exist.

Zhao Bu rotated his Core, pushing it as fast as he could, to the brink of collapse. His whole body tensed and a gigantic spearhead appeared hovering behind him.

Cheng Hao's eyebrow rose "A Phalanx... Quite the nice Sensed Qi you got there. It won't miss as long as it is aligned with the target and it would grow bigger and bigger the closer it gets to the opponent until it becomes as tall as a mountain..."

He turned to look at the three floating seals with interest "The three seals of the Animal, Plant and Nature. You seem to have chosen the Strength Lion, the Retaliation Rose and the Ever-changing Sea... You truly have good intuition, this is among the best two hundred combinations possible among hundreds of thousands"

Hearing those words, the Second Protector Wu Rou scoffed: even she didn't know what her own disciple's Qi's three attributes were and now this youth came out of nowhere claiming to know them... 

She turned to look smilingly at her apprentice, ready for her to slap him in the face, face as in pride not the actual face, but her smile froze when she saw Sou Rou gaping.

"H-How did you know?"

Cheng Hao smiled "If you are talking about cultivation techniques, there is nobody in this plane as knowledgable as me who has read all seven-million seven-hundred-seventy-seven-thousands seven-hundred-seventy-six-books of the Tower of Babel!" He smiled amused "And even got the chance to gaze upon the Sealed Prohibited 7,777,777th book on the top floor!"

Sou Rou's eyes opened even wider: she didn't know what that boy in front of her was talking about at all, but it seemed like a completely colossal feat...

And it really was.

Back when he had been Xu Ling, he had the occasion of entering the mighty tower... However, it had only been for seven-hundred-seventy-seven-days. To accomplish that and read all those books and manuals in less than seven-hundred-seventy-seven days it took all of his resources and knowledge on Space-Time dilations and restriction techniques. But it was worth it. What one reads in the Tower of Babel he remembers, no matter the language or the text it is written in, he would remember it.

And such a lowly cultivation technique such as the Three Mirrored Seals and the Phalanx, shouldn't the apparent omniscient being who created the tower be ashamed if such techniques weren't recorded down?

The two youths gritted their teeth and entered a fighting stance. Cheng Hao looked at their body once and then smiled "Stances... Useless, unless you wish to let your opponent know of your movements beforehand! I learned this lesson the hard way, when the Glacier Old Man almost ripped my heart off! Using a stance won't help you once you reach the pinnacle of power!"

His eyes glinted and he put his arms behind his back, showing his defenseless front: the two older geniuses seeing this were enraged and charged at him. Sou Rou waved her hand and the Red Lion seal began glowing. Her beautiful figure turned red and she looked as if she had just gotten strong enough to rip an elephant apart with a mere finger.

Illusory red lions began to appear around her and roar at the people surrounding her. They began to circle around her slim body just like clothes made of fiery flaming lions.

Zhao Bu wasn't any less showy. He bit the tip of his index finger and a drop of blood flowed out: he took out some kind of talisman and let his own blood fall on the talisman where the character for 'undodgeable' had been noted down. 

Talismans were somewhat like runes, except their strength was much weaker and there were less varieties of them too. They also were consumable only, a one-time item unlike Runes that, if wanted, could last forever as long as they were kept in good conditions.

Still, when Zhao Bu strapped the glowing talisman on top of the spear, it began to glow. At that moment, it glowed just like a weapon only a god should wield, yet now the mortal young master of the Zhao family was clearly no god, still that weapon would make anyone who was facing its might head on tremble and gulp.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Cheng Hao showed no reaction to either of the two young cultivators' strength, instead he took out a plain-looking shortsword. If it weren't for the fact that there was a weird and complicated symbol on the blade making it glow slightly blue, it would look like the same weapon you could buy at the cheapest weapon store for the lowest price.

Cheng Hao threw the weapon in the air and it landed blade-first into the ground, embedding itself up to the hilt. Seeing that, everyone couldn't help but shiver: such a weapon was sharp enough to cut the stones of the Arena like butter, it would be pointless to think what would happen when it met with the soft skin and tender flesh...

Meanwhile, behind Cheng Hao, the Seventh Protector's disciple that had joined in the fight had also finished his preparations: his body had turned slightly yellow and sparks were going on and off at times and brightened his surroundings, making him look like some kind human-shaped electric bulb. It was also difficult to look straight at him as the light was truly blinding!

Still, Cheng Hao showed no sign of fearing the young man in any way and instead let out a frightening amount of killing intent. The young man shivered and wished to squat down and beg forgiveness at once. 

Suddenly, he couldn't bear the pressure any longer and snapped, he charged at Cheng Hao headfirst. The child felt the older male approaching and he sidestepped, turning on himself and grabbing the youth's head with his palm.

He turned and sent the boy crashing into the ground, sending many bits and pieces of rock flying everywhere and raising a lot of dust in the impact. When it fell back down, everybody couldn't help but shed a drop of cold sweat at the sight of the Seventh Protectors's Disciple's face smashed into the concrete.

Cheng Hao smiled and lifted himself back up as he stomped on the ground. When he did that, the shortsword embedded into it flew up and the boy snatched it in midair.

Lao Jianghu smiled 'This brat, just what is your true strength?' 

Cheng Hao slashed the air in front of him and a strong current made his robe flutter "I'll take you on all at once! Come at me!"

Zhao Bu, Sou Rou and the old faced Dan Yang exchanged a glance and they all entered into strange and mysterious stances.

Seeing that, Cheng Hao sighed "You never listen, do you?" He pointed his sword towards Zhao Bu, turned his body towards Sou Rou but didn't even take a glance at Dan Yang.

Yin Hei looked at the boy surrounded by the three disciples and couldn't help but frown "No openings... I can't see any openings at all! If I had his same cultivation base I would be unable to beat him even once out of a thousand times!"

Mu Gu smiled bitterly but his eyes held no malicious intent "Lao Jianghu, this kid reminds me of you. Unbeatable in your own stage. However, he is not only like our Lao Jianghu, he even surpasses him! Even more powerful opponents are unable to fight on equal terms with him! Even Sung experts would have to watch out for this child!"

Sou Rou pursued her lips and then kicked off the ground. She disappeared and reappeared right beside Cheng Hao, the red seal resembling a roaring lion glowed and her body's strength increased by many times. Unfortunately, the boy had already sidestepped so her punch only hit the afterimage that was left in the air...

She was stunned for a bit but then regained her cool, the blue Ever-Changing Sea seal glowed and her body twisted as if it wasn't made out of bones and flesh, but of running, flowing water.

She feinted a punch with her right arm but then she turned and kicked the boy in the temples with his left leg. Cheng Hao lifted his arm and effortlessly caught her foot with his right hand as he palmed her chest with his left. The last of the three seals, the Retaliation Rose brightened up but it was a moment too late so it had no effect at all.

Sou Rou's expression changed and her face turned blue. She flew back like a kite with its sting cut and landed on the ground a few meters away, curling up and grabbing her tummy, blood trickling down from the sides of her mouth.

Cheng Hao looked at her expressionlessly and simply jumped over. Wu Rou trembled in her throne and she looked at Lao Jianghu beside her in hope he would stop the fight. However the old man seemed just way too interested in the match as he showed no sign of noticing her pleas...

Cheng Hao got closer and he kneeled beside the young woman. She looked at him enraged but also pridefully as she showed him her neck, ready to die.

Cheng Hao smiled bitterly seeing that. For such a young girl to be able to accept death was both a good and bad thing. It was good as in the path of Martial Cultivation, wether one lives or dies is decided depending on luck. To know this is to be prepared, hats off to her master for teaching her that.

However, it was also bad, because this would make people unable to bow their heads down one day to be able to survive and hold it up proudly another.

He didn't want to see another young person such as that dying in vain, especially such a beautiful and talented young girl, so he leaned in and whispered something into her ear. Her eyes widened hearing his words and they burned with excitement. She nodded and Cheng Hao poked with his finger in a spot on her forehead.

The girl fell unconscious and the boy effortlessly lifted her light body up. He delicately brought her to one corner of the arena and nobody dared to do anything to hinder him.

Seeing that, Zhao Bu blinked his eyes twice, trying to dispel the unconscious fear in his heart and preparing himself for the shameless action he was about to do. He clenched his fist and the image of the spear behind him began to rotate as it pointed towards Cheng Hao's head... Then suddenly switched to the girl laying on the ground, the blood talisman with the words 'undodgeable' on it shone with a bright, red light!

The golden spear suddenly glowed as the child grabbed onto it and threw it, not aiming at the young boy that surpassed them all, but at the unconscious girl behind him instead! The blood red talisman brightened up, making the spear hurry up in a beeline towards Sou Rou.

Cheng Hao noticed this. He turned to see the young girl right behind him and he smiled bitterly in understanding: if he dodged the blow, Sou Rou would die!

Wu Rou paled seeing that: she could not interfere right now because Yin Hei would most likely stop her and Lao Jianghu would most probably not help her as, if Cheng Hai truly wanted, he could evade the blow effortlessly. She could do nothing but hope that Cheng Hao would have the heart to help her disciple. 

But seeing how ruthlessly the boy acted, he would most likely not do anything like that. She sunk into her throne powerless as she could only watch the fight in front of her with the eyes of a common spectator and pray in her heart that Sou Rou would come out of that alive.

Although Wu Rou had correctly thought of the young boy as ruthless, she didn't take one thing in calculation: it was his hatred for unfairness and the brotherly love he showed towards his friends! 

The moment the girl had nodded her proud head and accepted Cheng Hao's mysterious proposal after he had defeated her, she had become a comrade of Cheng Hao and thus, his martial sister!

And nobody, nobody can think of even touching Cheng Hao's family!