Chapter 217 | One Move & Elder Bai

Chapter 217: 217 | One Move & Elder Bai

A violent shockwave of compressed air and shattered iron burst outward across Stage.

Under the monstrous physical strength of Lin Tian’s Primordial Yang-Tyrant Body, Lei Zhen’s defensive Qi collapsed on contact like wet paper.

The Black-Iron Tower Shield’s centre caved inward by half a foot, cracks spread from top to bottom!

"Gaaah—!"

Behind the shield, Lei Zhen’s eyes bulged out of their sockets.

The terrifying force punched straight through the his braced left arm. The clear, sickening CRACK of both his forearm bones snapping inside his bronze gauntlet echoed above the roar of the crowd!

Before Lei Zhen could even scream out the word "concede," his body was lifted thirty feet through the air in a spray of blood and broken armor plates, Lei Zhen flew completely across the white boundary line of Stage One and slammed back-first into the base of the outer stone barrier wall!

CRAAAASH!

Stone dust rained down as Lei Zhen slid to the floor at the foot of the wall, his fractured left arm twisted inside the ruined straps of his caved-in shield, his eyes rolled back as he passed out cold on the first bounce.

Across the vast expanse of the Heavenly Colosseum, thirty thousand voices died at once.

The sudden silence was so complete that the sound of a broken iron rivet rolling across Stage One could be heard clearly from the front tiers.

On the edge of the stage, the referee stood with his flag half-raised, staring blankly from the crater in the outer wall back to the center of the ring.

Lin Tian hadn’t taken a single step forward from where he started.

He hadn’t unwrapped his weapon. He had simply swung a cloth-wrapped broadsword with one hand and blasted Iron-Peak Sect’s strongest defensive powerhouse forty feet into a wall in a single move!

Up in the Black-Sun Sect, the mocking smile froze solid on Mo Yan’s face. His right hand unconsciously twitched at his side, remembering the numbing pain of the backhand slap on the avenue yesterday.

Beside him, Elder Mo’s eyes narrowing into sharp slits as he stared down at the cloth wrapped around Lin Tian’s weapon.

Across the pit in the Frost-Moon Valley, three female disciples gasped softly.

Standing at the front of them, Su Ling rested her fingers lightly on the hilt of her frost-wrapped sword.

Higher still, in the central pavilion reserved for the host Sky-Pillar Sword Sect, a twenty-four-year-old youth in plain white robes—Jian Wuchen—slowly opened his eyes for the first time all day, casting a brief, calm glance down at Stage before closing them again.

"Lei Zhen is unconscious outside the boundary line!" the Stage One referee finally recovered his voice and raised his red flag high. "Winner of Match Sixteen—Lin Tian of the Crimson Nimbus Sect!"

In the Crimson Nimbus pavilion, Fang Yu and Chen Hao erupted into fierce cheers, slamming their fists against the stone as the pent-up frustration from Zhou Kai’s match finally found an outlet.

Instructor Qing let out a slow, quiet breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Watching Lin Tian calmly sent a warm, familiar flutter through her chest—making her quickly lower her eyes.

Lin Tian walked off Stage One at an slow pace and climbed the stone stairs back to the Crimson Nimbus Sect place.

"Well done, Junior Brother Lin!" Chen Hao grinned broadly as Lin Tian stepped onto the terrace. "Did you see the look on those Black-Sun dogs’ faces when Lei Zhen hit the wall?"

Even Gao Chen nodded in genuine respect. "Breaking Iron-Peak Sect’s Mountain-Splitting Stamp head-on with a single swing... I doubt anyone left in the first round will dare underestimate our sect now."

Lin Tian offered them a brief nod, then walked past the standing disciples toward the front of the terrace where the two Elders sat.

Lin Tian inclined his head slightly, his gaze shifting from Elder Liu to Elder Bai seated beside her.

With his Insight Eye, he could see the pale-blue medicinal mist of Elder Liu’s Jade-Lotus Spirit Pill still lingering half-undissolved around Elder Bai’s upper meridians. Because her spiritual consciousness had suffered when she forcibly use her Divine Sense during Zhou Kai’s match, the restless tremors in her soul.

Lin Tian did not ask if she was unwell, nor did he bring up arrays or formations.

Instead of walking back to the side pillar where he had stood in the morning, he stepped quietly behind Elder Bai’s stone chair—stopping less than two feet behind her right shoulder, as if merely taking a closer vantage point to watch the central pit.

Standing directly behind her, he allowed a warm, steady current of his Primordial Yang Aura to radiate downward around her chair.

He did not force his Qi into her body. He simply let the immovable, grounded weight of his ancient foundation wrap around the space she occupied.

The effect was immediate.

Elder Bai’s eyelashes fluttered.

To her over-sensitive Exquisite Spirit Body, the noisy, chaotic vibrations of thirty thousand spectators and clashing weapons had felt like endless static scraping against a bruised nerve. The moment Lin Tian stepped behind her chair, however, his warm, Yang presence settled over her like a silent shield—cutting off the outside clamor and anchoring her restless spiritual sea in a single breath.

With the mental turbulence suddenly stilled by his presence, the suspended medicinal essence of Elder Liu’s Jade-Lotus Spirit Pill no longer met any resistance.

Like cool spring water guided by a warm current, the pill’s soothing energy flowed smoothly and rapidly into her strained consciousness, melting away the sharp, needle-like ache behind her temples within ten breaths.

For the first time since Zhou Kai had been carried out of the ring, the tight knot between Elder Bai’s brows smoothed completely away, and natural warmth returned to her pale fingertips on the armrest.

Beside her, Elder Liu sensed the subtle shift in the air and glanced from Bai to Lin Tian standing quietly behind the chair. Understanding what he was doing to help the pill settle, Elder Liu gave him a soft, appreciative look before turning her attention back to the arena.

For two full matches, neither Lin Tian nor Elder Bai said a word.

He simply stood at her back like a silent pillar, letting the gentle warmth of his Yang foundation support her while the medicine finished repairing her mental strain.

As the eighteenth match ended on Stage, Elder Bai slowly turned her head a fraction toward her right shoulder.

"Standing behind my chair for the entire afternoon will draw unnecessary looks from the other," Elder Bai said quietly, her cool voice carrying a rare, softened undertone that only Lin Tian and Elder Liu could hear.

She gestured slightly with two fingers toward the empty stone seat half a pace to her right—a seat normally reserved for a senior deacon or personal attendant.

"Sit there until the first round concludes," she added calmly. "The view of Stage is clearer from the front row."

Lin Tian met her calm eyes and gave a slight, respectful nod.

"Thank you, Elder Bai."

As he stepped forward and took the seat beside her right armrest—keeping the warm radius of her aura right at her side—Elder Bai rested her elbow lightly on the stone divider between them, her mind quieter and clearer than it had been all day.

[Target 6 (Elder Bai) Obsession Level: 22% → 25% (Soothed by Host’s Quiet Support & Grounding Presence)]

By late afternoon, Chen Hao won a hard-fought twenty-move bout on Stage Four, bringing the first round of the Regional Tournament to a close with three Crimson Nimbus representatives—Lin Tian, Gao Chen, and Chen Hao—advancing into the Top Thirty-Two.

As the setting sun dyed the nine dragon pillars of Sky-Pillar City in shades of blood-red, the chief magistrate struck the bronze bell once more.

In the center of the arena pit, the towering black monolith hummed with spiritual light as the newly drawn brackets for tomorrow’s Second Round flashed into view.

In the Crimson Nimbus terrace, Fang Yu squinted at the top lines of the glowing stone and sucked in a sharp breath.

"Senior Brother Lin... look at Stage!"

Every eye in the pavilion lifted toward the monolith.

Carved in bright golden runes near the top of tomorrow morning’s schedule stood a single pairing:

Stage One, Match Two: Lin Tian (Crimson Nimbus Sect) vs. Zhao Lie (Black-Sun Sect).

Across the arena pit in the Black-Sun terrace, Zhao Lie—the stocky butcher who had shattered Zhou Kai’s jaw and knee that morning—stared at the monolith for a beat before baring his teeth in a fierce, bloodthirsty grin toward the eastern gallery. Beside him, Elder Mo leaned close and murmured something into Zhao Lie’s ear while slipping a heavy, dark-red talisman case into his hand.

Sitting beside Elder Bai’s chair, Lin Tian looked at the two names glowing on the black stone, his golden eyes completely still.

"It seems," Lin Tian said quietly as he stood up to depart, "we won’t have to wait long to return the Black-Sun Sect’s gift."