Chapter 11683 — Ten Layers of True Mandate Burst Suddenly From His Body

Wei Zhao narrowed his eyes slightly.

Ten layers of True Mandate were clearly not this instructor's limit. To him this was merely a game, so naturally there was no need to unleash his full reserve.

"Any method at all?"

The whole crowd perked up at once.

They knew well enough that this instructor was not to be trifled with. With conventional means, even though every one of them had been reborn anew, stripping a single layer of True Mandate from him would be extraordinarily difficult.

But since he had declared they might stop at nothing, the room for maneuver here was enormous.

A frontal assault was one option, but by comparison, outwitting him clearly held the advantage.

The question now was how, exactly, to outwit him.

Di Liankong immediately rallied his little clique.

Under this kind of trial format, teamwork was plainly the superior approach.

Yet before he could even begin his rallying cry, Ye Yinxiao suddenly walked up to Wei Zhao and volunteered, "I'd like to team up with you. Is that all right?"

The crowd: "..."

Di Liankong's face darkened.

Though he was well aware that, on the strength of a mere first-round acquaintance, his little clique was far from possessing any real cohesion—someone jumping ship was entirely within his expectations.

But that Ye Yinxiao should jump ship so decisively still caught him greatly off guard.

The others wore odd expressions as well.

This woman truly was a realist.

Wei Zhao had just displayed his strength in the previous round, and she was already rushing to cling to the strong. Had she no sense of restraint at all? Still, for all that, Ye Yinxiao's choice was hardly outrageous in the world of cultivation.

After all, the truly naive and innocent could never have reached their present level. Respecting reality was the most fundamental way to survive.

The only difference among them was who reacted faster and who slower, whose posture when kneeling to reality was more graceful and whose more awkward.

All eyes turned to Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao was quite forthright. "Sure."

Ye Yinxiao nodded and promptly stepped behind Wei Zhao.

Watching this scene, the rest of the crowd showed varying degrees of strangeness in their expressions.

Di Liankong's heart tightened. Fearing a herd effect, he hastily set about soothing the crowd.

If these people all followed Ye Yinxiao's example and defected to Wei Zhao one after another, how was he supposed to play his hand?

Fortunately, Di Liankong did have some knack for winning hearts. Whatever the others thought, at least none openly went to team up with Wei Zhao.

Song Junzhu reminded them lazily, "The mission time limit is one day. You may begin whenever you like."

Everyone's heart chilled at once.

With a time limit in place, the difficulty was now something else entirely.

After all, no one knew how much effort this instructor would exert, nor whether he would strike back.

Once he truly got serious, given the gap in strength between them, they would be lucky not to be obliterated outright—let alone each stripping a layer of True Mandate from him within a single day.

Still, since this was a trial training for newcomers, Song Junzhu surely would not go that far.

The crowd exchanged glances.

Time was pressing, and they naturally did not wish to waste it, but the trouble was that no one wanted to be the first to charge in and serve as cannon fodder.

Letting someone else go first, observing the situation to devise a targeted response, and then seizing the moment to enter the fray—that was the most rational choice.

But if no one was willing to be that cannon fodder, time would simply drag on, and in the end it would be everyone present who suffered.

As if by unspoken agreement, the crowd looked toward Wei Zhao.

The implication was plain: whoever is strongest goes first.

Wei Zhao was unmoved.

Outside the arena, Di Xuanwang watched this scene and sneered. "So what if it's ten layers of True Mandate? Without even this much nerve to take the lead for the world, he's ultimately just a coward who isn't fit for the stage!"

Shi Wushuang countered softly, "If Wei Zhao is a coward, then Senior Di, who suffered such a great loss to him last time, must truly be a model of humility. A veritable paragon of our generation."

Di Xuanwang was choked speechless.

Those around them secretly stifled their laughter.

Though the matter of the Sinful Realm had never been made public, many among them had witnessed with their own eyes the sight of Di Xuanwang fleeing back in disgrace a year ago.

There had been much speculation at the time.

Now that Shi Wushuang had let slip this revelation, things had indeed grown more interesting.

As they were talking, someone in the arena finally made the first move.

It was none other than Liu Han, who like Di Liankong before him had concretized five layers of True Mandate.

Seeing his figure blur, everyone's eyelids twitched. "This one really is ruthless and sparing with words."

Liu Han was fast, and in a flash he had darted behind Instructor Song Junzhu.

Song Junzhu did not stir. He did not even turn his head, still standing lazily where he was.

The next second, a cold white gleam flashed suddenly into being.

Song Junzhu's feet did not move; he merely tilted his head slightly, and the cold gleam swept past his ear.

The crowd's eyes flickered. Only at this moment did they see clearly that this cold white gleam was in fact a bone sword more than half a meter long.

The source of the bone sword was none other than Liu Han's right arm.

Only then did the crowd catch on.

"The outcome paradigm he chose is related to bones?"

Only Wei Zhao had known this all along. After all, he had seen all ten jade talismans, and whatever outcome paradigm each person present had chosen, even if he did not know every detail with perfect clarity, he at least had a general grasp of it.

The outcome paradigm Liu Han had chosen used the human skeleton as an amplifier combining inner and outer forces.

Its essence was to pour vast power of external laws into the bones, then release it in the form of skeletal abilities. One infusion, one release—and the might was elevated in quality.

Still, this was only a reference paradigm. How far it could ultimately be developed still varied from person to person.

Watching the bone sword sweep past, everyone's hearts tightened.

To look at, it was unremarkable. Compared with the vast scenes of mountains roaring and seas surging that they had conjured when deploying the power of laws before, its visual impact was utterly incomparable.

But they all knew full well that if this bone sword struck them, it might very well wipe out a layer of True Mandate outright!

Unfortunately for Liu Han, his opponent right now was Song Junzhu.

His feet still did not move. Again he tilted his head slightly, and the ferocious bone sword fell wide once more.

Yet it was at this moment that Liu Han's left hand pressed against Song Junzhu's back.

Just as everyone thought he was about to condense another bone sword, a string of earth-shaking explosions suddenly rang out, and the shockwaves of surging force spread across the entire arena.

"Did he get him?"

Before the crowd could react, the dust abruptly dispersed, and Song Junzhu—who had just been facing away from Liu Han—had somehow already turned around.

He extended his one remaining right hand and slowly opened it.

Five startling sections of finger bones dropped to the ground one after another.

The crowd exchanged looks. All that terrifying commotion just now, its momentum almost rivaling a small tactical nuke—and the source was nothing but five ordinary-looking finger bones?