Outside the barrier, the line dissolved into a crowd surrounding the stage. Most of them were at the same level as Wu Han, around the sixth stage of Qi Condensation. Among them, Hong Qing was arguably the strongest.
Even so, she was breathless. She had seen many battles, fought even more herself. She knew the limits of someone at the sixth stage, or so she thought, until now.
"Is that even possible…?" she whispered.
Sky Piercer!
The moment the spell activated, the spear vanished into a spiral of light that pierced through the Iron-Scaled Thunder Wolf.
BOOM!
The explosion shook the entire array. The barrier flickered from the sheer force. Since the formation balanced its durability proportionally to the challenge, that meant Wu Han's attack far exceeded the expected power for his level.
The array immediately recalculated, reinforcing the barrier and commanding the wolf to strike back.
Its fur sparked with thunderous fury as it lunged like a bolt of lightning. Wu Han readied himself, Gale Stride He slipped aside, try dodging the fangs.
But the wolf's speed had grown; its movement blurred beyond what his eyes could follow.
A sharp pain tore through his right arm. He looked down to see his sleeve shredded, blood spraying as his arm hung useless, torn from the socket.
And with no weapon in hand, the next claw came straight for his throat.
He flicked a finger.
CRACK!
The spear shot back from the air, piercing into the wolf's side. The blow staggered it, its hide already showing cracks where the first strike had landed. Wu Han recalled the spear to his hand and smirked.
"Isn't this wonderful?"
Now that it worked, he could feel it, his spear wasn't just a weapon anymore; it was an extension of himself.
By linking their essences, he could control it with the slightest movement. Sadly, full mental control was still out of reach. This body was too underdeveloped.
If he reached Foundation Establishment, controlling a spear with his mind would be possible.
Sky Piercer!
The spear moved like a flash of emerald light, the air splitting behind it. The wolf's iron scales shattered upon impact, the force once again surpassing what the array had anticipated.
The formation struggled to compensate. The wolf growled, crouching low as sparks gathered across its body. The air hummed with pressure, Wu Han sensed it immediately.
This next move couldn't be dodged.
"Then take it!"
He commanded the spear to strike again. But as it plunged forward, the electric field around the wolf turned magnetic. The weapon locked against its fur mid-charge. When Wu Han tried to pull it back, it trembled but wouldn't move.
He smirked. "Magnetism? Of course."
Redirecting the magic flow within the spear, he shifted its propulsion, turning linear thrust into a spiraling charge. Aligning with the magnetic field, the weapon drilled through the wolf's hide and sank deep into its body.
ROAR!
The wolf's thunderous buildup destabilized and erupted outward. Lightning bolts lashed across the platform, scorching the ground black. One struck toward Wu Han, his robe flared, hexagonal runes shining as a barrier appeared, absorbing the impact.
Physical attacks were dispersed; elemental ones were absorbed.
The wolf growled weakly as Wu Han called the spear back.
"I guess this is the end."
Wu Han was a little disappointed.
The wolf was still only using half its true combat power.
Even after he pushed more energy into it, it still wasn't enough.
Maybe I should push it to the limit, see how I fare against a ninth-stage version.
But this wasn't the end, far from it.
The sheer dominance he displayed, the power he unleashed, began to conflict with the array itself.
Since its creation, the formation had been designed to help disciples test their limits.
But Wu Han's abnormal methods made the system believe it was failing its purpose.
And for the first time since the array's creation, an error occurred.
The wolf howled, and thunderclouds formed above.
"That's its innate Dao!" Hong Qing gasped. "But that only triggers at ninth-stage difficulty! How is this possible?"
Her face paled. The wolf's true power had been drawn out!
The beast gnashed at the empty air, its jaws snapping hard enough to shatter bone.
It wasn't biting what was in its mouth, it was biting at what should have been its prey.
Thunder rolled overhead, answering its rage.
BOOM!!
Blinding light filled the entire platform as a bolt rained down like heavenly judgment.
The explosion that followed was far beyond the array's capacity.
The barrier separating the spectators from the stage shattered in one strike, and the roaring thunder echoed across the Luo Clan grounds.
Hong Qing shielded her eyes, the light searing through her vision. When she finally spoke, her voice was cold.
"I guess you got unlucky, junior."
The array must have shut down. He'd probably fainted from the lightning backlash, she'd seen many lose consciousness when their minds couldn't handle the illusion.
An opportunity for her. Gaining favor with the Miracle Doctor's disciple wouldn't hurt.
But when the smoke cleared, her expression froze.
A melted spear lay stuck in the ground, still steaming.
Wu Han stood beside it, unharmed.
He had used the weapon as a lightning rod to ground the current, and with his robe's heat-resistant shield, he'd barely taken any damage.
Then something impossible happened.
Dust. There was dust in the air.
How could that be, when the entire fight was an illusion?
A deep growl rolled across the field.
The wolf's soul manifested into a physical body,
its spirit forcibly pulled from the array as the formation went beyond its limits.
The full power of the Iron-Scaled Thunder Wolf had been summoned, a true beast born from illusion, now made real.
ROAR!!
The wolf's howl merged with the pulse of thunder, each beat shaking the air. The force of it turned the wind into a storm, and weaker disciples nearby clutched their ears, some nearly fainting under the pressure.
The beast now stood in the flesh, fully manifested, its soul burning at the ninth stage, same as its original power.
"Manifested illusion…" Wu Han's smile widened. "To think something like this exists in a small-town array."
But the wolf didn't care for marvels or explanations.
It still carried the same primal instinct, to kill him at any cost.
Its body blurred, lightning bursting across the stage.
What once took a full breath to charge up for the wolf, now happened in a flash.
With just a flick of its body, the wolf blurred through space, and before Wu Han could move, its fangs were already closing around him.
"Sadly," Wu Han said, his grin sharp, "I'm out of toys to play with you, so I'll have to play a bit dirty."
The wolf had made one mistake.
A manifested soul was still just that, a soul.
And unlike illusions, soul magic was his specialty.
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
The jaws came down but the beast was gone, erased before its fangs even touched him.
"I guess that's enough for today."
Wu Han called his broken, half-melted spear back into his hand and slipped it into his storage ring. Now that he understood his limits and potential, it was time to find a real test subject to practice with.
"Wait!"
Hong Qing's voice cut through the fading storm, her ears still ringing from the wolf's final howl. "How can you be that powerful?"
Wu Han glanced back, exhaled, and waved dismissively. "People been asking me that a lot."
He turned away, walking toward the exit with his usual calm.
"If you really want to know," he said over his shoulder, "meet me another time."
Hong Qing stood still, watching Wu Han walk away as elders and officers rushed toward the training ground.
In the thousand-year history of the Luo Clan, nothing like this had ever happened. Disciples were questioned one by one about what they saw and who caused it.
That night, when Hong Qing returned to her quarters, she found her fiancé sitting cross-legged in meditation. Yan Fei's shoulder was still wrapped with herbs and medicine, his face calm as he focused on recovery.
She said nothing, walking past him.
Hearing footsteps, Yan Fei opened his eyes slightly, then widened them with joy when he saw her. He jumped up and rushed to her side like an excited dog.
"How was training today?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her waist. "I was so lonely here all day. Come, let's spend some time together, my love."
Hong Qing slapped his wrist and pushed his arm off. "Not today. I'm tired."
Her voice was flat, cold even. It wasn't the tone she usually used with him.
"…Okay." Yan Fei backed off, confused. "I heard loud noises this morning. Do you know what happened?"
Hong Qing froze. The image of the thunder wolf, massive and roaring, flashed before her eyes. But stronger than that was the memory of the man who had stood against it.
She looked at her fiancé, at the bandaged shoulder, at the eager light in his eyes.
Then she smiled faintly. "I'm going to bed."
She turned, walked into the bathing room, and locked the door behind her.
As she undressed, smooth skin caught the lantern light, pale and soft as silk. Her body bore the marks of discipline, tightened muscles beneath delicate curves, the faint outline of a hardened core earned from years of training.
She turned the valve. Warm steam rose to meet her, curling around her figure as she sank slowly into the bath.
Her eyes closed. The tension in her shoulders eased, her breath deepened. Ripples spread across the surface, catching glints of light that danced along her arms.
For the first time that day, Hong Qing allowed herself silence.
In her mind, the scene replayed.
She had faced the Iron-Scaled Thunder Wolf once before. It had taken her and three teammates to bring it down back when she was still at the sixth stage.
Yet today, Wu Han, had faced it alone.
Her lips curved faintly, breath catching in her chest.
"How…" she whispered to the empty room.
There had always been strong people in her life, warriors who came and went, men who tried to win her heart away from her childhood love.
But they were strong in a familiar, human way. Even the eldest son of the Han family, once praised as a prodigy, hadn't shown such overwhelming force when they were at the same level.
Wu Han's strength was something else, monstrous.
And she couldn't help but admire it.
Then her thoughts drifted to her fiancé, the man nursing his wound next door.
He was reckless, always chasing fights he could only win with family artifacts, and now he couldn't even move without pain.
Compared to her man, Wu Han had healed off injury like a god.
Just the thought of him, his figure cutting sharp against the lightning, made her breath come uneven.
The wolf's howl had split the air, a sound that froze her where she stood, even though she was stronger than him in cultivation, yet he remained unshaken.
Her lips parted, a tremor curling through her as she bit down.
The scene replayed again and again; his defiance, his raw, brutal beauty made something deep inside her clench.
Her fingers, trembling with want, drifted downward, the ghost of his name lingering at the edge of a whisper as her hand slid between her thighs.
"Wu Han... Wu Han..."