The fellow didn't look like he was joking. Runes were already welling out of his body, a myriad of golden tadpoles hovering all around him.

“Tremble at my power!”

His runes rushed forward as he said this, hurtling towards Jiang Chen in a stream of distorting, devastating force.

The runes were capable of bending the fabric of space itself, which affected an opponent’s ability to react to them.

The man’s skill with runes was quite remarkable. Even Old Pill Rune back on Divine Abyss was a far cry from this venerated elder of the Golden Glyph Sect.

However, Jiang Chen wasn't the same man as he’d been on Myriad Abyss.

At ninth level divine realm, he possessed a consciousness that rivaled a godking’s. A seventh level god was no threat to him. His biggest problem was how to hide as much of his real strength as possible. He couldn't let Godking Crimsonwater perceive how strong he was.

Ordinarily, he could kill this elder ten times over with a single slap.

Jiang Chen called upon his tempered body, then raised up his magnetic golden mountain in hand. This treasure was relatively unknown in the Taiyuan Plane, so there was no problem with him using it here.

The mountain’s magnetic storms roiled all around, countering the spatial distortion that the runes administered.

Golden Glyph’s elder was astonished at the toughness of his opponent, and Jiang Chen wasn’t exactly going to give him time to rest. He pushed his mountain to new depths in order to unleash a magnetic tempest that would crush his opponent against the wall.

In martial dao, having the upper hand mattered a lot.

When Jiang Chen had the upper hand, his opponent was prevented from using most of his abilities. In using the magnetic golden mountain to achieve this, that would fool observers into thinking that he relied on the power of his treasures rather than his personal cultivation.

This was his strategy to remain undetected.

The unfortunate Golden Glyph elder had no idea that his defeat was a foregone conclusion.

Even the magnetic golden mountain wasn't something he could resist.

The magnetic storms quickly intensified into a great cyclone, a torrential sea that trapped the Golden Glyph elder within.

There was no chance for him to fight back; he was completely stuck.

The venerated elder from the Golden Glyph Sect wanted to viciously curse out loud.

“What the hell is this? Is this kid even human? What treasure does he have? Why is he able to create a spatial storm?”

A profusion of questions filled his mind, but no one answered them. Moreover, he noticed that he was utterly hemmed in.

Boom!

The magnetic winds came to a roaring head. The Golden Glyph elder’s body was picked up like a leaf and tossed out of the arena.

Thump!

The Golden Glyph elder felt a splitting pain in his rear as he was dropped onto hard ground.

“First victory for the Fiendstar Sect!” Someone reported the results immediately.

Locked in a fierce battle, Han Shuang was immediately bolstered when she heard the good news.

A moment later, there was a similar report. “Second victory for the Fiendstar Sect!”

What amazing momentum!

Han Shuang didn’t need to look to know that the winners weren’t Elders Ge and Xu. No, it had to be the two Elder Zhens.

Jiang Chen and Jiang Huan had won with minimal effort, but they’d also both been obligated to pretend that they had tried very hard. This kind of performance art was draining in itself.

Nevertheless, their victories shocked the audience.

When had the Fiendstar Sect become so strong? The twelve factions participating in the competition had universally believed it to be last place.

What a reversal of expectations! Many disappointed not to have drawn them were strangely relieved. Wouldn’t they have been crushed in the first round due to their underestimation?

There were a number of sects who were definitely weaker than the Golden Glyph Sect.

If Golden Glyph had lost so badly, could they do any better?

Han Shuang fought increasingly harder due to the encouragement from the Jiangs. Regardless of how the Golden Glyph elder moved against her, she kept him tightly under control until his eventual loss. Her victory was decided very shortly after Elders Ge and Xu were defeated.

Therefore, they had won three out of the five bouts.

Golden Glyph was eliminated; Fiendstar would advance!

Was this the appearance of a new dark horse? Everyone else found the development nearly miraculous. Even amongst Crimsonwater’s officials, many of the elders and advisors exchanged amazed whispers.

The godking himself peered with interest in Han Shuang’s direction. Jiang Huan and Jiang Chen’s successes garnered his curiosity.

“Where did little Han Shuang find that pair of capable helpers?” he asked his subordinates.

“According to her, sire, they’ve always belonged to the Fiendstar Sect. They’re simply introverts and usually keep to themselves.”

“Is that so?” The godking wasn't so convinced. The two men didn't seem trivially explicable, but he could hardly investigate further into the secrets of a subordinate sect.

Instead, he kept the thought in mind for later.

The other sects began to compete against each other.

Han Shuang was quite excited. She exchanged high-fives with Jiang Chen and Jiang Huan in celebration.

“Nicely done, Sectmistress Han!” Jiang Chen smiled in welcome.

His impression of her hadn’t been too great before. What he had seen moments earlier changed his mind about her.

Han Shuang wasn’t just a curse-spewing shrew, that was merely how she survived in the world. She could fight as hard as anybody, and deserved the leadership position much more than Elders Ge and Xu.