Chapter 287: Be my Disciple?

Tony stood perfectly still in the absolute center of the roaring golden solar inferno.

The intense heat waves threatened to melt the very volcanic rock beneath his boots, but his expression remained entirely calm and lazy.

With a sharp, villainous smirk curling the corners of his lips, he locked his Truth Eye onto the exact, trembling core of Julian’s fire matrix. His fingers tightly gripped the void-spider silk string of the Void Dragon’s Shadow Bow and pulled it back to its absolute limit.

THWACK!

The bowstring snapped with a sharp, reality-shattering boom that unleashed the ancient Mighty Dragon Cry across the entire stadium.

The invisible shadow arrow, fully infused with a dense, concentrated mixture of shadow and wind attributes, shot forward like a ghostly comet of dark energy. It sliced straight through the blinding solar flames with zero atmospheric resistance.

Before Julian Faith could even register the release, the invisible arrow pierced directly through his core fire seals, detonating right inside his primary meridian junction with an absolute, thunderous CRASH.

The explosion was catastrophic. The entire golden solar matrix violently collapsed into thin air, turning into a harmless shower of gray sparks.

The pure, raw kinetic force of the shadow arrow did not stop there; it violently slammed into Julian’s chest, completely shattering his cultivation foundation into absolute dust within a fraction of a millisecond.

Julian let out a muffled, choked gasp as his internal energy pool completely disintegrated. His physical body was thrown backward across the arena like a broken ragdoll, crashing heavily onto the marble ground outside the ring, completely unconscious, disqualified, and permanently crippled.

The entire colosseum fell into a state of shocked, paralyzed stillness so intense that the sound of the wind rustling the flags became completely audible.

Tens of thousands of spectators, young nobles, and inner-peak geniuses sat with their jaws dropping to their absolute chests in sheer, unadulterated horror. They couldn’t comprehend how the premier martial hope of the Faith Family had been thoroughly dismantled and destroyed in a single, absolute shot.

Down in the front row, Selena Faith smiled brightly, her paintbrush rapidly moving across her wooden sketchboard to capture the brilliant, bloody masterpiece.

"Silence! This is an absolute outrage!" a furious, thunderous roar suddenly boomed from the highest floating VIP box, completely shattering the quiet atmosphere.

The space directly above Ring Number One violently rippled, and a stern-faced, powerful old man dressed in the grand, luxurious robes of a Faith Family High Elder descended onto the platform like an absolute avalanche.

His face was contorted with an intense, psychotic rage as he looked at the unconscious, crippled Julian on the floor. He pointed a shaking, venomous finger directly at Tony’s face, his voice echoing fiercely through the stadium.

"This match is completely invalid! Tony Clark has openly cheated by using forbidden, demonic upper-realm magic!" the Faith Elder objected loudly, trying to use his massive political leverage to save his family’s crumbling reputation.

"A talentless, blocked-meridian orphan cannot simply wave his hand and achieve a peak Elder Disciple foundation in two days! He must have utilized a foul, forbidden dark art to forge his strength and sabotage our premier genius! I demand the academy guards arrest this dirty criminal immediately, confiscate his weapon, and execute him on the spot!"

Tony casually slung his magnificent Void Dragon bow back over his shoulder, entirely unbothered by the heavy cultivation pressure radiating from the old monster. He let out a loud, booming laugh that echoed merrily across the entire stadium—a laugh that was full of pure, villainous amusement and supreme scorn.

He took a slow step forward, his dark eyes locking onto the Faith Elder with a sharp, predatory intensity that made the old man’s blood run cold.

"You family of clowns truly possess an extraordinary talent for barking like desperate dogs whenever the final curtain falls on your pathetic scripts," Tony sneered coldly, his deep baritone voice carrying a chilling, razor-sharp edge that completely crushed the elder’s aggressive momentum.

"You stand on the sacred platforms of the Black Fire Academy and shout about forbidden magic simply because your premier genius turned out to be nothing more than fragile glass beneath my boots. Tell me, old fool, where exactly is your physical evidence of cheating?"

Tony took another step closer, his posture radiating the absolute, unyielding defiance of a true conqueror as he verbally crushed the elder with flawless logic and cold reason.

"The automated screening barriers at the grand gates verified my physical frame, the testing crystals of your own senior inspectors verified my internal energy flow, and the absolute laws of this arena monitored every single microsecond of my arrow release.

If the ancient, supreme defensive arrays of the Black Fire Academy found absolutely no defects or forbidden anomalies in my power, are you openly suggesting that your short-sighted, senile eyes possess a higher authority than the grand founders of this entire institution?

Your family poisoned my duplicate body to cancel a marriage contract, you sent your lackeys to play dirty political games in the dark, and now that I have publicly ground your pride into absolute dust, you want to use empty legal words to save your skin? What an absolute, pathetic joke!"

The entire colosseum instantly erupted into a massive wave of murmurs and nodding heads, the tens of thousands of spectators completely swayed by Tony’s ruthless, undeniable reasoning. The Faith Elder stood paralyzed on the stone floor, his face turning an angry shade of purple as his hands trembled violently, entirely unable to find a single counter-argument to escape the trap Tony had built for him.

"Tony Clark speaks the absolute truth! Stand down immediately, Faith Elder!" a majestic, world-suppressing voice suddenly echoed from the highest viewing stands.

The clouds above the arena violently parted, and an old man dressed in the grand, blinding gold-and-white robes of the Academy Grand Elder slowly descended from the heavens. His presence was so immensely thick and powerful that his mere appearance made the Faith Elder instantly close his mouth and bow his head in deep fear.

The Grand Elder stepped onto the platform, his wise eyes scanning the mountain of rock dust before turning onto Tony with a look of great, unadulterated pride and deep respect.

"The rules of the Grand Obsidian Ascension Tournament are absolute and unyielding," the Grand Elder announced loudly, his voice echoing like a massive tolling bell through the souls of everyone in the stadium.

"Tony Clark has achieved a clean, flawless victory through pure physical strength and supreme archery comprehension! I officially announce Tony Clark as the ultimate winner of the Ascension Tournament!"

The entire stadium exploded into a massive, unprecedented wave of frantic cheers and applause. The Grand Elder waved his long sleeve, and a floating, silver-attribute jade tray materialized in the air before Tony, displaying the absolute grand prizes: the legendary Sun-Devouring Core Fragment gleaming with dense solar law energy, a premium inner-peak identity token, and a massive sack of high-grade Aura crystals.

"Furthermore, young master Tony," the Grand Elder spoke smoothly, a warm, encouraging smile gracing his wrinkled face.

"Your absolute talent and your unyielding, sharp character have thoroughly impressed my old spirit today. I am personally offering you a rare, historic opportunity to skip the standard inner ranks and become my personal, direct disciple. With my backing, no family in this city will ever dare to target your life again. What say you, junior?"

Tony casually reached out his hands, sweeping the legendary core fragment and the expensive rewards directly into his private storage space.

A slow, highly amused grin curled the corners of his lips as his mind perfectly registered the absolute success of his system quest, his gaze briefly flickering toward the pale, weeping face of Julie Faith in the distant stands.

"I accept your generous offer with great pleasure, Master," Tony replied smoothly, offering a polite, elegant bow of thanks toward the Grand Elder.

He knew that with the backing of the academy’s highest authority, a legendary dragon bow in his hands, and the system fully awake, the grand stage of the higher realms was now entirely his to command.

-

Thank you guys for support!