My Martial Dao Has No Bottlenecks

"Senior Brother Liang."

He didn’t say much, but that one address—"Senior Brother"—said it all.

Liang Cheng nodded in acknowledgment. His gaze swept over the Main Courtyard’s seating area. Seven of them were injured, their auras weak and listless.

He also saw Qin Lie.

The man ranked first on the Four Islands Main Courtyard’s Dragon and Phoenix List was currently leaning back in his chair. A tear ran across the front of his robes, its edges stained with dried blood.

He had been defeated by Meng Hu of Profound Turtle Island in three strikes of his staff.

Liang Cheng offered no words of comfort, only saying, "You’ve worked hard."

Qin Lie looked up at him and was silent for a moment.

"Now that you’re here, I don’t have to worry about what comes next."

He closed his eyes and said no more.

...

Just then, a voice called out from the Profound Turtle Island seating area.

"Liang Cheng."

Meng Hu stood up, long staff in hand, and walked step-by-step toward the edge of the arena.

He stood below the stage, looking up at Liang Cheng, who was in his seat.

"A month ago, my junior brother Luo Zhan lost to you."

"I don’t believe it."

The entire venue fell silent.

Meng Hu tilted his chin up.

He slammed the butt of his long staff onto the ground.

"I want to see what you’re really made of."

At his words, the entire audience erupted in an uproar.

In the Main Courtyard’s seating area, where the mood had been bleak just moments before, everyone now sat up straight.

Ye Zhiqiu let out a cold snort.

Meng Hu didn’t look at him, his eyes fixed only on Liang Cheng.

"I’ll only ask one thing: Do you dare to accept?"

Liang Cheng looked at him and rose to his feet without a word.

The arena was twenty zhang from the Main Courtyard’s seats.

Liang Cheng took but a single step.

The stone slab beneath his feet cracked without a sound.

And he was already on the stage.

Meng Hu’s pupils contracted.

He hadn’t even clearly seen how Liang Cheng got up there.

The saber at Liang Cheng’s waist was still in its sheath.

Meng Hu took a deep breath, gripped his staff with both hands, and held it horizontally before his chest. Gang Qi erupted from his body with a roar, the inky-black energy spreading like spilled ink and solidifying into a three-zhang-tall phantom image of a profound turtle around him.

The secret technique of Profound Turtle Island.

Profound Turtle Guardian.

Unlike Luo Zhan’s solid, rounded defense, Meng Hu’s turtle shell was like a suit of Battle Armor, integrating both offense and defense.

"I have been in the True Gang realm for twelve years."

Meng Hu began in a low voice.

"Among my peers, there are no more than five who can force me to use my full strength."

He took a step forward.

The arena trembled.

"Even fewer can make me use a second strike."

He took another step.

The phantom profound turtle behind him seemed to roar at the heavens as the inky-black Gang Qi surged like a tide into the staff in his hands.

"And as for you—"

A third step.

He shot forward like a cannonball, man and staff becoming one as he hurtled straight for Liang Cheng’s face!

"Are you even worthy?!"

This strike held no fancy moves.

It was just fast!

It was just heavy!

Before the staff even landed, the Gang Wind it generated was already crushing the arena’s stone slabs, shattering them layer by layer!

Faced with such an attack, Liang Cheng didn’t move an inch.

He didn’t even draw his saber.

He simply raised his right hand, curled his fingers as if grasping something, and held it before him.

CLANG—!!!

The sound of metal on metal exploded!

Meng Hu’s strike had landed squarely in Liang Cheng’s palm.

Gang Qi detonated, and a powerful wind blasted outward.

The stone slabs beneath Liang Cheng’s feet shattered on impact, and his feet sank three cun into the ground.

But his body remained absolutely still.

His palm was as steady as a boulder, showing no reaction at all.

Meng Hu’s pupils contracted.

He felt as if his strike hadn’t hit a person, but a mountain.

Below the arena, the entire crowd was deathly silent.

"He just blocked it like that?"

"Was Liang Cheng really so arrogant as to catch Meng Hu’s strike with his bare hand?"

"That was a full-power strike from someone at the True Gang Peak!"

"And a prodigy at that, one of the best at the True Gang Peak!"

On the high platform, Liu Jingtiao’s teacup paused in mid-air for an instant. ’This boy’s defense... it’s reached an even higher level than before.’

Beside him, the curve of Chen Xuanfeng’s lips deepened involuntarily.

...

「On the arena stage.」

Meng Hu pulled back his staff and retreated, staring intently at Liang Cheng’s hand.

There was only a faint white mark on his opponent’s palm, and even that was fading at a visible rate, leaving not a single trace behind.

"What a tough Protective Divine Skill."

His voice was low, his heart growing even more cautious.

’He’s even stronger than the rumors say!’

Liang Cheng lowered his hand, his expression unchanged.

"Try again."

Still just two words.

Meng Hu clenched his jaw.

He didn’t dare hold back any longer.

His staff technique changed, transforming into a sky full of afterimages.

Profound Turtle Spear·Thousand Waves!

Luo Zhan had used this move before.

But when Meng Hu executed it, the power was far greater.

Each afterimage was as heavy as a mountain.

One wave after another.

They blotted out the sky, completely inescapable!

Yet Liang Cheng still did not draw his saber.

He just stood there.

He activated his Mixed Element Gang Body to its absolute limit, and a faint, golden Glazed Light Membrane covered his entire body.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG—!!!

The staff afterimages rained down like a torrential storm, every strike landing solidly on his body.

Shoulders, back, arms, ribs.

Each impact produced the ear-piercing shriek of metal on metal.

The arena’s stone slabs completely disintegrated, and Liang Cheng’s feet had now sunk half a chi into the ground.

But his spine remained ramrod straight, showing no sign of faltering.

The faint golden light membrane flickered but was incomparably tough, never once shattering.

...

Thirty strikes.

Fifty strikes.

Seventy strikes.

Meng Hu’s breathing grew ragged, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

Liang Cheng remained in his original spot, not having retreated even half a step.

No one in the audience was speaking anymore. All eyes were glued to the arena, afraid to miss a single move.

...

"Why aren’t you fighting back?!"

Meng Hu pulled back his staff, roaring hoarsely.

Liang Cheng looked at him.

He raised his hand and gripped his saber.

"Fine."

The next moment.

The Zhenxian Saber left its sheath.

Liang Cheng didn’t build up power, nor was there any telltale preparatory motion.

Just a simple, vertical slash.

The moment the blade flashed, the hairs on Meng Hu’s entire body stood on end.

He felt it.

This was not a Combat Knife Technique.

It actually contained a hint of Blade Intent.

’But how is that possible?’

’How could he have Blade Intent without undergoing the Breaking Mortality transformation?’

Atop the high platform, everyone jolted in unison!

Liu Jingtiao’s eyes, in particular, were filled with continuous surprise and delight.

’How is this possible?’

...

「On the arena stage.」

The light from Liang Cheng’s saber was like a collapsing mountain, like tearing Wind and Thunder.

Heavy and swift, combined into one.

Meng Hu felt the absolute resolve in that slash—a resolve to sever everything.

"Profound Turtle Guardian!!!"

Meng Hu roared, pouring all the power he had accumulated in his life into the phantom turtle shell behind him. The three-zhang shell solidified, its inky-black Gang Qi becoming three chi thick.

’Since my debut, my defense has never once been broken head-on.’

’This time will be no exception!’

And then, the saber’s light fell.

It arrived without a sound.

A thin crack split the phantom turtle shell right down the middle.

The crack spread to both sides.

CRACK.

With a deafening roar, the phantom turtle shell collapsed and shattered.

The saber’s light, its momentum undiminished, slashed directly across Meng Hu’s chest.

He was sent flying backward like a kite with a snapped string, soaring thirty zhang before his back slammed heavily into the light barrier at the edge of the arena.

The light barrier trembled violently, on the verge of shattering.

Meng Hu dropped to one knee, supporting himself with his staff.

He looked down at his chest.

His robes were split open, and a shallow, bloody line ran from his collarbone to his abdomen.

Half a cun deeper, and he would have been disemboweled.

’The control over the force was absolutely perfect!’

Meanwhile, Liang Cheng had already sheathed his saber.

The entire venue was instantly plunged into a dead silence.

Three breaths.

Five breaths.

"He won!!!"

"In one slash!!!"

"Senior Brother Liang broke through Meng Hu’s turtle shell in a single slash!!!"

From the Main Courtyard’s seats, a tsunami of cheers erupted in an instant.

Ye Zhiqiu clenched his fists so tightly that his bandages began to seep blood again, though he was completely unaware.

Xiao Qingxue let out a soft breath.

Qin Lie opened his eyes.

He watched the figure on the stage who stood with his saber sheathed, remaining silent for a long time.

Then he lowered his head and chuckled.

「On the arena stage.」

Meng Hu struggled to his feet, looking down at the slash mark on his chest.

His staff was still in his hand, completely undamaged.

His opponent’s slash had been utterly precise.

It broke his defense, but didn’t kill him.

The gap between them was all the more difficult to accept.

He raised his head and looked at Liang Cheng.

"Why didn’t you kill me?"

"You weren’t here to kill me."

Meng Hu was silent for a moment.

"I am impressed."

Meng Hu cupped his fist in his palm in a salute.

Then he turned and leaped off the stage.