At that moment, everyone's gaze was locked on Hun Xiu, who stood deep in the massive crater. Despite his current battered and disheveled appearance…
No one looked down on him.
Instead, each person felt an overwhelming sense of shock in their hearts.
There was only one thought echoing in their minds:
"Hun Xiu, you're incredible."
That had been a high-tier Earth-rank Dou Technique. Its power? Absolutely terrifying. With just that one strike, Hun Duluo had displayed enough strength to slay a Douhuang (Battle Emperor)—fighting well above her level.
An ordinary Douhuang expert would have struggled to withstand such a technique even if they went all out.
But Hun Xiu?
He didn't dodge. He didn't block. He didn't even fight back.
He simply stood there…
And took it.
No defense. No counterattack.
Just his body. His flesh and blood.
And he survived that devastating blow.
People couldn't help but admire him. The shock in their hearts was indescribable.
Besides "incredible," they couldn't think of another word that truly captured the fearsome strength Hun Xiu had just displayed.
"A monster…"
One of the younger generation from the Hun Clan on the viewing platform finally came back to their senses and muttered in awe as they looked down at Hun Xiu in the crater.
With that, more and more people snapped out of their daze. Their gazes fell upon Hun Xiu as if they were staring at a living freak of nature.
He had taken a high-tier Earth-rank Dou Technique head-on with nothing but his physical body. Such bodily strength was something none of them possessed.
Many of them were confident they could defeat Hun Duluo in a duel.
But if they were to take that same blow without using any Dou Techniques, without resistance?
They'd be reduced to dust, scattered by the wind.
They couldn't do it. But Hun Xiu did.
And that alone was enough to shake them to the core.
"If his body is already that terrifying, just how strong is his actual cultivation?" Hun Feng stared at Hun Xiu down in the crater, his heart filled with a subtle sense of defeat.
He had truly believed that Hun Xiu's recklessness would cost him his life under the weight of Hun Duluo's "Extreme Wind Finger."
After all, Hun Xiu had clearly given up resistance. Death had seemed inevitable.
But who would've thought… he actually survived.
And not because of a last-minute technique.
He endured it with sheer physical strength.
Such a body—unprecedented, unfathomable.
Even someone as proud as Hun Feng had to admit it:
He wasn't as strong as Hun Xiu.
But alongside that bitterness grew a more sinister thought.
If someone as overwhelmingly talented as Hun Xiu didn't die…
Then Hun Feng—no, not just him, but all the younger elites of the Hun Clan—would live forever in Hun Xiu's shadow.
It wasn't that they weren't talented.
It was that Hun Xiu was too extraordinary—just like his name, always excellent, a wind that never ceased to blow.
With him around, no one else would shine.
All the other so-called geniuses would become nothing more than stepping stones beneath his feet.
Hun Feng wasn't alone in this.
Many others on the martial stage felt the same way.
Hun Xiu was simply too brilliant, so much so that others couldn't even see their own light in comparison.
And more than anything… they were curious.
Just how strong was Hun Xiu now?
Was there still any chance to surpass him?
Meanwhile, Hun Duluo—his opponent in this duel—let out a breath of relief upon seeing Hun Xiu alive.
"Thank goodness you're alright…
If you'd died, I probably wouldn't have been far behind."
Then her thoughts turned:
"But… what are you, Hun Xiu? You freak!
How are the rest of us supposed to live with you constantly looming over us like this?"
Her eyes locked on Hun Xiu in the crater.
What she wanted to know now was—
After taking that devastating "Extreme Wind Finger" with just his body… could Hun Xiu still fight?
She wasn't the only one wondering that.
The whole crowd wanted to know.
Rumble!
The stunned spectators finally snapped back to reality.
Instantly, a wave of noise swept through the arena as gasps and murmurs exploded like a thunderclap.
All were shocked.
All were in awe of Hun Xiu's monstrous body.
"Damn…"
Hun Xiu wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and thought to himself:
"So that's what a high-tier Earth-rank Dou Technique looks like when performed by a Douwang expert…"
"The power really is insane."
He'd originally wanted to test the limits of his body against a full-force Earth-rank Dou Technique from a Douwang…
But he'd nearly died doing it.
His body wasn't actually that powerful.
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The only reason he was still standing…
was thanks to his system.
If the system hadn't absorbed most of the impact from that "Extreme Wind Finger," he would've been obliterated.
Hun Xiu had always followed a careful, low-profile strategy—growing strong in the shadows.
But this time…
He got cocky.
Trying to tank a technique like that with flesh and blood?
It was idiotic.
Looking back, he could clearly see:
If the system hadn't intervened at the last moment, he'd already be dead.
A cold sweat ran down his back.
"I was still too arrogant…"
Even though the system had absorbed most of the force, the remaining impact had still injured him badly.
This was definitely a brush with death—
A complete act of stupidity.
Luckily, he survived.
Otherwise, he would've died as just another overconfident transmigrator who got himself killed.
He raised his eyes to look at Hun Duluo floating in the sky.
With a single thought, a pair of massive crimson wings appeared behind him.
Whoosh!
The wings flapped, and Hun Xiu's body slowly rose into the air until he stood opposite Hun Duluo.
He said calmly:
"Hun Duluo, that was the second move. There's still one more. Let's finish this."
But Hun Duluo couldn't respond.
She just stared blankly at him, as if struck by lightning—
her eyes locked on the crimson wings behind Hun Xiu.
Her pupils were dull, her pretty face full of disbelief and shock.
She wasn't the only one.
Everyone on the martial stage—every member of the Hun Clan's younger generation—stared wide-eyed at those wings.
Each one of them looked as though their souls had been ripped from their bodies, frozen in place as they gazed at the wings behind Hun Xiu.
Even the previously rowdy crowd fell silent.
All eyes were locked on those wings—
as if they'd just seen a god.
Time seemed to stop in that moment.
No one moved.
No one even breathed.
Everyone wore the same expression—
utter shock as they stared at Hun Xiu.
It wasn't just as if time had stopped.
It had.
Hun Duluo finally snapped out of it.
She swallowed hard, her throat dry, eyes still filled with disbelief.
Then, in a voice full of awe and confusion, she muttered:
"Dou Qi Wings…"
"You're… a Douhuang expert?"
Her voice wasn't loud.
But those few words shattered the frozen moment.
Time resumed.
And instantly, a deafening roar exploded across the sky.