Lin Ran lightly rubbed his forehead and eyes, obscuring half of his face.
Luo Qingyan also found it hard to maintain composure, and could only stammeringly bury her head against Lin Ran's chest and nuzzle him.
Those outside the arena were all stunned.
Su Lie's revelations were utterly shocking, each one more explosive than the last.
Even the smallest piece of gossip he let slip would have been enough to cause the entire Su family considerable trouble.
Let alone the fact that Su Lie revealed everything so completely...
The sheer magnitude of the information was almost beyond comprehension.
Inside the arena,
Su Lie, mistaking their despair for surrender, couldn't help but let out a wild laugh:
"Good, good, good! Excellent!"
"Now that you know what you needed to know..."
"Since that's the case, then meet your end!"
"Relax and don't resist, and perhaps I can grant your souls a swift release..."
"Otherwise, the torment you will suffer is far beyond anything you can endure!"
With that, Su Lie transformed his palm into a claw and launched a lightning-fast strike at Lin Ran.
A tenth-order awakened one's speed was astonishingly fast; before a single breath could pass, Su Lie's claw-like hand was already above Lin Ran's head.
Unfortunately, Su Lie felt no resistance whatsoever in his hand.
He missed?
An attack from a tenth-order awakened one, and Lin Ran could still dodge it?
Su Lie's heart, long unused to panic, raced as he hastily turned his head to look.
What he saw then surprised him even more.
Lin Ran hadn't moved an inch; he hadn't even blinked.
And Su Lie's hand had simply passed right through him!
"Hmph!"
Unwilling to accept defeat, Su Lie attacked again, but the result was still futile.
Lin Ran and Luo Qingyan seemed to exist on a different plane from him; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make any contact with them.
"How is this possible?!"
Su Lie was horrified, looking at Lin Ran with disbelief.
He wasn't unaware of Lin Ran's ability to evade attacks out of thin air.
At first, Su Lie had assumed it was some illusion or a special ability, not worth considering.
After all, the gap in their ranks was simply too vast; in the face of absolute power, all trickery should be mere illusion.
But now, Su Lie could confirm with absolute certainty that he wasn't affected by any illusions, nor had he detected any magical energy fluctuations.
How was Lin Ran accomplishing all this?
Even the most potent techniques couldn't ignore such a disparity in strength!
Lin Ran sighed, tilting his head to look at Su Lie:
"Old Master Su, didn't you say you wanted my life? How can you be so weak when trying to kill someone?"
"Or perhaps, your conscience finally kicked in, and you've decided to wash your hands of evil and let us go."
Su Lie's face darkened. After a guttural cry, he once again lunged at Lin Ran, but to no avail.
Watching Su Lie continue his futile efforts, Lin Ran proudly bounced Luo Qingyan, who was slung around his waist, and looked down at him with disdain.
The saying goes that all are equal beneath the veil of intangibility.
Against this spatial skill, which was a dimensional attack, even a tenth-order being like Su Lie was powerless.
The only weakness of this ocular technique was that it couldn't be maintained indefinitely, with a maximum duration of five minutes.
However, as long as he had a moment to rest mid-fight, he could recover.
Not to mention, if Lin Ran truly couldn't hold on, he could simply retreat into the Divine Might space, which was perfect.
The Divine Might ability was designed to be invincible.
Sensing Lin Ran's contempt, Su Lie grew even more anxious. He immediately summoned his innate talent, the Dragon Spring Sword, and unleashed a boundless wave of sword energy.
But no matter how fiercely he attacked, how he ravaged the land, darkening the sky and dimming the sun, and repeatedly plowed through the hilly terrain that had been created by the Heavenly Obstruction Planetfall, he couldn't even scratch Lin Ran.
Lin Ran strolled leisurely through Su Lie's sword light, praising him with a click of his tongue:
"As expected of you, Old Master Su! The ferocity of your sword energy is unparalleled in the entire Longguo!"
"Keep trying, and maybe you'll manage to snip off a strand of my hair!"
Su Lie, having achieved nothing and being endlessly mocked by Lin Ran, finally broke.
As a tenth-order awakened one backed by the Su family, when had he ever endured such humiliation?
Even in the rare instances he encountered someone stronger, he had never felt this powerless.
This was simply an unfair game!
The onlookers, upon witnessing Lin Ran's bizarre methods, could only feel a sense of despair and trepidation.
How terrifying Lin Ran was... such ruthless methods...
The wielder of the Dragon Spring Sword, one of the pinnacles of SSS-class offensive talents, the tenth-order awakened one Su Lie, could do nothing against Lin Ran. What hope did they have?
Just how invincible was this young man...
"Ahhhh! Crashing Waves!"
Su Lie's sword energy flared once more, his skills unleashed in a torrent, his aura so fierce it obscured the heavens and earth.
However, before this sword energy could even be unleashed, it vanished into thin air.
With a flash of starlight, all sword intent was reduced to zero.
"Boss!"
Lin Ran and Luo Qingyan cried out in surprise.
The onlookers, upon clearly seeing the white-robed elder, also sprang to their feet in shock.
Matt! It's Matt! Matt has arrived!
As the most renowned heroic figure in the entire Longguo, and concurrently the current principal of Yan Yun University, Matt's name carried immense weight.
It could be said that throughout the Longguo, he was a figure known to all and unknown to none.
And after today's battle, Lin Ran would likely enjoy a similar status...
Su Lie's heart trembled violently upon seeing the newcomer.
Matt had arrived? What was there to fight for!
Even though they were both tenth-order, Matt's unfathomable strength was far beyond his reach.
At best, he was a nascent tenth-order awakened one.
As for Matt, even tenth-order peak wasn't enough to describe him...
Having stood at the highest pinnacle of humanity for many years, he might even have transcended the tenth-order barrier.
Furthermore, Matt's talent was rumored to be the strongest among all SSS-class talents – Cosmic Chaos!
"Pr-Principal Matt..."
Su Lie forced out a smile that was more like a grimace, already feeling the urge to retreat.
Matt smiled calmly:
"Su Lie, is it?"
"Putting aside everything else for now, why did you attack Lin Ran and Luo Qingyan, who are students of my university and also my direct disciples?"
Wow!
The entire fortress and the internet erupted in a frenzy.
Principal Matt had direct disciples again? And two of them!
After all, the five direct disciples Matt had previously taken – Xu Lei, Lü Qiufeng, Lin Miao, Ling Shangqing, and Gao Xian – had all reached the peak of eighth-order by their early thirties!
Xu Lei, with his slightly older age, had even successfully reached ninth-order!
Such growth rates were unimaginable even among the most outstanding prodigies.