The dust had not yet settled when Adrian stepped forward alone.
Kai wanted to move with him. Smith, still recovering, tried to rise again. But Adrian lifted one hand slightly, stopping them without turning back. This was his fight now. Whatever had been awakened inside him during the previous clashes was demanding to be tested fully, without interference, without shelter.
Across the broken ring, Karl stood tall.
Karl was not like the others. His presence was compact, terrifyingly controlled, as though every strand of power he possessed had been folded inward and sharpened into a blade. His reputation alone made cultivators tremble. No one in this lifetime had defeated him, not in open combat, not in secret duels, not even through schemes.
Karl studied Adrian carefully, his eyes narrowing. “You should be dead,” he said calmly. “You’ve taken blows that would erase most cultivators from existence.”
Adrian wiped the blood from his chin, straightening his spine. “Then I suppose you’ll have to try harder.”
A ripple of disbelief swept through the audience.
“Is he insane?”
“He’s standing alone against Karl!”
“No one survives that!”
Freya leaned forward in her seat, nails digging into the armrest. This was not how it was supposed to go. Adrian wasn’t supposed to inspire hesitation. He wasn’t supposed to look… inevitable.
Karl moved.
There was no warning. One moment he stood still, the next he was in front of Adrian, his fist already descending with a force dense enough to warp space. The sound of the impact cracked like thunder as Adrian raised his arms just in time to block.
The ground beneath them exploded.
Adrian was driven backward, skidding across the shattered stone, his feet carving deep trenches. Blood surged up his throat and spilled freely this time. Pain roared through his body, sharp and unforgiving.
Someone in the crowd shouted, “That’s it! He’s finished!”
Adrian stopped himself at the edge of the ring, coughing violently. His knees trembled. For a brief, dangerous second, darkness threatened to take him.
Then he stood again.
Karl’s expression finally shifted, irritation flickering through his composure. “You’re persistent,” he said. “But persistence without foundation leads only to destruction.”
He raised both hands, power condensing around him like a storm trapped in human form. The pressure alone forced weaker cultivators in the stands to retreat. Some fell to their knees, gasping for breath.
Adrian felt it too. The crushing weight. The absolute dominance Karl exerted over the field.
And yet, something inside him answered.
The ring on his finger pulsed violently, heat spreading through his veins. But this time, Adrian didn’t let it overwhelm him. He anchored himself, remembering the hall from his vision, the title whispered through time, the promises left unfinished.
His eyes sharpened.
C
He moved.
Not faster than Karl–smarter.
Adrian slipped inside Karl’s range, avoiding the brunt of his power by a breath, striking not where Karl was strongest, but where his control thinned. His fist landed against Karl’s ribs, not with brute force, but layered intent.
Karl staggered half a step.
The arena went silent.
“That… that can’t be right.”
Karl’s eyes widened for the first time. He retaliated instantly, unleashing a flurry of strikes meant to crush Adriani outright. Adrian took them head–on, his body screaming in protest as bones cracked and blood sprayed, yet he did not fall.
Instead, he adapted.
Each strike sharpened him. Each wound refined his movements.
Adrian countered, twisting Karl’s momentum against him, redirecting power, dismantling technique piece by piece. It was not cultivation in the traditional sense. It was combat memory, instinct older than this era, awakened through pain.
Karl roared, unleashing his full power at last.
The sky darkened.
The ring screamed.
Adrian was thrown into the air, his body spinning violently before crashing back down. He lay still for a heartbeat too long.
Freya smiled.
Then Adrian moved.
He pushed himself up slowly, blood pouring freely now, his clothes torn, his breathing ragged. The crowd stared in disbelief as he stood once more.
“That man…” someone whispered. “He won’t stay down.”
Karl advanced, fury replacing composure. “You refuse to die,” he growled. “Then I’ll erase you.”
Adrian met his gaze–and in that moment, he saw her.
Elena.
She stood at the edge of the arena, having just arrived, her expression unreadable, eyes fixed on him. For a split second, Adrian’s heart clenched.
She came to watch me fall, he thought bitterly. To see me destroyed like everyone else expects.
Something fierce ignited inside him.
If this was to be his end, then he would not fall quietly. He would not fall weak.
He straightened fully, pain fading beneath resolve. “You won’t erase me,” Adrian said quietly. “You’ll remember me,”
He moved before Karl could respond.
This time, Adrian didn’t dodge. He didn’t retreat. He walked directly into Karl’s power, letting it wash over him, enduring it, bending through it. The ring flared blindingly bright as Adrian struck.
Chapter 75
+25 Bonus
The impact shattered Karl’s core.
A sound like glass breaking echoed through the arena as Karl’s cultivated power collapsed inward. His aura imploded violently, sending a shockwave ripping across the ring.
Karl screamed.
He fell to his knees, blood pouring from his mouth, his eyes wide with disbelief as his strength bled away. Adrian stood over him, shaking, battered, but victorious.
Silence reigned.
Then chaos.
“No… impossible…”
“Karl lost…”
“He destroyed his power!”
The remaining cultivators recoiled, fear flashing openly now. This was no longer entertainment. This was terror. A man who broke the undefeated was not something they could comprehend.
Karl collapsed fully, unconscious, his cultivation shattered.
Adrian turned away slowly, his gaze flicking once more toward Elena. Their eyes met briefly. Whatever she had come to witness, she had seen something no one else had dared imagine.
Moments later, an announcement echoed across the arena.
“Due to the severity of the clashes, the duel will enter a temporary recess. All parties are ordered to stand down until the next round.”
The crowd erupted into frantic noise, but Adrian barely heard it.
He stood amid ruin, bloodied and unbroken, knowing one truth with absolute certainty.
This duel had already changed everything.
P
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
