"For our third match, we have Warrior Gulag and his opponent, Tian Yang!" Giant Emperor Kulas personally announced the matchup, showing his favoritism.
"That human will be squashed like a bug by Warrior Gulag in the blink of an eye. What's the point of this match?" A giant mocked upon sensing Yuan's insignificant cultivation base.
"Warrior Gulag sure is lucky. This is essentially a free round for him!"
"Good luck, Yuan! I know you can beat him!" Huang Xiao Li's loud cheering overlapped the surrounding mockery, attracting several displeased gazes.
"Hahaha! How dare a mere Spirit Realm human cultivator stand in the way of a Divine Realm expert? I can kill you with a sneeze!" Warrior Gulag laughed out loud.
Despite the mockery and disdain, Yuan's facial expression remained the same, completely tranquil.
'Even though he's at the Divine Realm, he doesn't seem any stronger than Bai Xutao at Spirit Enlightenment. As expected of a genius from the upper heavens.' Yuan thought to himself.
Of course, Bai Xutao's actual cultivation was much higher than the Divine Realm, which plays a factor in his overwhelming prowess.
This match confirmed Yuan's current strength to be comparable to an ordinary cultivator at the Divine Warrior realm, meaning he could fight someone four entire realms above his own cultivation.
'No… this is not my limit…'
Yuan raised his fists and stood in a fighting pose, "Let's see if your strength is as impressive as your mouth."
"You…!" Warrior Gulag's face flushed with redness.
"Let the match begin!" Giant Emperor Kulas suddenly declared.
"You will regret standing before me, human!!!" Warrior Gulag roared, and his skin abruptly s.h.i.+fted to a silver-gray hue with a s.h.i.+ny and smooth texture, resembling a body made of steel.
"That's the Steel Mountain Physique! I've been told that it's one of the top 5 most durable physiques in the continent!" One of the spectators commented in an excited tone.
"Warrior Gulag's giving that human too much face by using his physique."
Meanwhile, Yuan acted as if Warrior Gulag's physique didn't exist and jumped at him.
A vicious light flickered in Yuan's eyes as he threw a fist at Warrior Gulag.
Warrior Gulag, who was too prideful to block the attack, decided to stand still with a confident look on his face.
'b.a.s.t.a.r.d will only hurt himself!' he laughed inwardly.
However, when Yuan's fist connected with his stomach in the next moment, Warrior Gulag's face contorted in extreme pain as his body arched backward.
"Gah!" Warrior Gulag flew all the way to the edge of the stage, barely managing to stay within its bounds.
The audience fell silent after witnessing such a scene, their eyes wide with disbelief.
"Hahaha! That's what these fools get for underestimating my rival!" Giant Emperor Kulas laughed out loud as he slapped his leg, causing ripples to appear.
Yuan didn't chase after Warrior Gulag and allowed him to regain his composure, which took a good moment.
'Impossible!' Warrior Gulag cried inwardly.
'Why does a human have such strength?! How can a mere Spirit King inflict such damage on my Steel Mountain Physique?!'
Warrior Gulag quickly recognized Yuan's strength and immediately ceased underestimating him. Upon standing back up, he spoke in an apologetic tone, "I apologize for underestimating you. His Majesty had a good reason for taking interest in you, but I was too filled with envy to accept it."
"Does this mean you'll fight me seriously now?" Yuan asked.
"Of course."
Warrior Gulag immediately released all of his cultivation and activated his body enhancement technique, further boosting his Steel Mountain Physique.
Seeing this, Yuan could no longer afford to go easy and activated his transformation technique.
"What kind of technique is that?! Is he really human?!"
"Is that even a body enhancement technique?! I have never seen or heard of such a mythical technique before!"
The audience was greatly shocked by Yuan's transformation and doubted whether it was within the tournament's rules.
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Giant Emperor Kulas narrowed his eyes at Yuan for a moment before speaking, "It's within the rules."Since Yuan's dragon transformation technique only affected his body, it would fall in the category of body enhancement.
After his transformation, Yuan's aura soared all the way to the heavens.
Warrior Gulag broke into a cold sweat just from the pressure being emitted by Yuan.
"Human or not… I will be victorious!" Warrior Gulag took the initiative and charged at Yuan this time around.
Seeing this, Yuan also advanced.
"Die!" Warrior Gulag hurled his fist with all his might, and Yuan confronted it head-on.
Upon the collision of their fists, the s.p.a.ce surrounding them began to twist and warp.
Most of the audience antic.i.p.ated Warrior Gulag's victory, but the results greatly disappointed them.
Yuan's strength was simply far superior, quickly overwhelming Warrior Gulag and blowing up his entire arm almost instantly after their clash.
Warrior Gulag fell to his knees while coughing up a mouthful of blood.
"Can you continue?" Yuan asked him with a relaxed face, looking as if he'd barely put any effort into their fight.
"I forfeit." Warrior Gulag shook his head.
"Winner—Tian Yang!" Giant Emperor Kulas announced with excitement.
Yuan deactivated his transformation and walked off the stage before going to where Huang Xiao Li was standing.
The audience immediately made room for him, their faces filled with awe and shock.
"That was amazing, Yuan!" Huang Xiao Li was smiling from ear to ear.
"Thank you, but that was barely a warm-up."
In his mind, Yuan was also surprised that he'd managed to defeat a Divine Warrior so easily.
'Did Tian'er really increase the difficulty? That was too easy even if it's a warmup match.'
The tournament immediately continued to the fourth round with both fighters being giants, and unlike Yuan's match that ended in the blink of an eye, these two giants would spend the next several hours beating each other with nothing but their fists, their bodies soaked in blood by the end.
Since martial techniques were banned, it looked like an ordinary fight between mortals, but each of their punches packed enough force to create powerful gusts of wind at every impact.
The audience was hyped and screamed throughout the entire match, making it seem they were in a festival of sorts.