zhao yan''s lungs were almost bursting with rage, as xu nian had actually called him a "salted fish," which was undeniably the greatest insult he had ever received in his life.

    "i want to see just how arrogant you can be," zhao yan snorted coldly, as the spiritual energy inside his body suddenly erupted, breaking through the bottleneck of the silver moon martial sect and officially advancing to the battle sect level of one-star silver moon.no?v(el)b\\jnn

    spiritual energy danced wildly and fierce winds stirred, enveloping the entire giant sword square in a hurricane, their robes rustling loudly in the storm of spiritual energy.

    "he really broke through; i didn''t expect zhao yan to choose this moment during the academy tournament to break through."

    "yes, there have always been students who choose to break through during the academy tournaments, but those usually occur before or after the competitions. it''s rare to see someone choose to break through right on the battlefield."

    "this xu nian is really arrogant, letting zhao yan break through just like that. doesn''t he realize that when talents like this break through, their strength increases significantly?"

    ...

    the crowd on the field was abuzz with discussions, all surprised by zhao yan''s breakthrough.

    the breakthroughs of talents like zhao yan vastly differed from those of ordinary star warriors. zhao yan and his kind had already reached the peak of star realm and had been suppressing their advancements, making their foundations far stronger than those of average peak powerhouses.

    furthermore, as talents, their skills would also enhance along with their cultivation, so zhao yan''s breakthrough wasn''t just quantitative, but qualitative.

    "haha, xu nian, you were ultimately too arrogant, letting me break through until the moment i did, only then did i realize how vast the gap between the silver moon realm and the star realm is, so this time, you are definitely losing," zhao yan laughed heartily, his black hair flying wildly, his spirit soaring.

    "oh? how big is this gap?" xu nian asked with a dismissive smile.

    "hmph, it seems you won''t shed tears until you see the coffin. then let me show you," zhao yan coldly huffed, and with a single gesture, a terrifying flame erupted from his body.

    the flames soared high into the sky, this time not just a fireball but a three-meter-long fire dragon, and most importantly, the color of the fire was no longer red but blue, its temperature triple that of the previous flames.

    "blue flames?" xu nian''s eyes flickered with surprise.

    the audience on the field gasped in amazement, watching zhao yan enshrouded by the blue fire dragon, all immensely impressed.

    "haha, this is the special aspect of the ''divine flame demon technique'' i practice. every time i ascend a major realm, the quality of my flame surges explosively. i want to see how you try to block my demonic flame attack now," zhao yan laughed heartily.

    having said that, he immediately propelled the blue fire dragon towards xu nian, the terrifying dragon unbearably hot.

    xu nian found that his spiritual sense could not control this blue flame, which somewhat surprised him.

    in the chengfeng academy''s preparation area, feng rain was dazedly watching xu nian on stage.

    initially, she was somewhat skeptical of dugu jingcheng''s words, but now she realized that this young man''s comprehension of the sword dao had indeed reached a level far beyond her reach.

    at this moment, dugu jingcheng also had a profound look in his eyes, visibly surprised by xu nian''s understanding of the sword, which had clearly surpassed his own.

    of course, the most surprised person at this moment was zhao yan, who could clearly feel the terrifying sword radiance swirling around xu nian.

    "stop playing tricks, break it for me, fiery flame slaying god whip!" zhao yan''s eyes flashed with intense unwillingness, and with a roar, he swung the long whip in his hand viciously towards xu nian.

    the blue-flamed whip, like a swinging fire dragon, roared as it lunged to swallow xu nian.

    at this moment, xu nian also made his move. he lifted his arm, a movement that seemed slow yet was extremely fast.

    as his arm was lifted, the sword radiance swirling around him gathered onto his xuan iron sword.

    as the sword radiance merged into the sword, the aura of the xuan iron sword became more terrifying with each moment, eventually reaching an indescribably powerful state.

    "gale sword technique, the most perfect sword slash!"

    xu nian gave a low shout, and the sword light chopped out.

    a cyan sword radiance shot forth, directly slashing towards the fire dragon whip.

    find more chapters on empire

    the fire dragon whip was instantly cut, and its blue flames were dissipated in a flash.

    yet the cyan sword radiance did not stop and flew directly towards zhao yan, tearing through the floor of the battle platform as it went.

    zhao yan was also sent flying by this slash, blood spraying wildly.

    if it weren''t for song heng''s timely intervention, zhao yan would likely have been cut in half by this slash.

    even so, the battle platform was left with a long trench, twenty-some meters in length and three inches deep.

    the audience was petrified on the spot, looking at the long trench, too shocked to speak.