The moment that he muttered these words, an enormous amount of his qi was gathered in Shun Long's eyes.
Almost two-thirds of his remaining qi were sapped almost instantly, as a bright blue light had filled his golden eyes.
Suddenly, time around the red-haired man was forcefully halted for a single instant, as Shun Long's gaze had placed him in a time prison.
The red-haired man's hand had also stopped in mid-air, but that only lasted for a single breath of time, before it once again continued forward.
And yet, this single breath of time was all that Shun Long needed.
In a fight between experts, the slightest mistake could make the difference between victory... and death.
The young man's eyes were filled with horror when he noticed that his hand that punched forward, had actually been a moment too late.
The purple-colored staff brushed past the red-haired man's left hand, before it appeared in front of his face.
It wasn't just the red-haired man who was shocked at this scene. Everyone inside the House of Rankings watched with their mouths agape, as the Purple Blossom staff hit the man's face directly.
Blood spurted in the air like a fountain, as the young man's head exploded on the spot.
The discussions and noises inside the House of Rankings instantly died down, as silence permeated the Survival Gate's hall.
''Wh-What happened?''
It wasn't until a young man's voice sounded, that everyone in the hall snapped out of their reverie.
Seeing the scene inside the screen of light, where the headless corpse of the red-haired young man was now falling from the sky, the crowd exploded in heated discussions
''This! What happened to Shi Zhong? His hand was powered up with his flames, ready to punch the purple rod but... he hesitated?..''
''HA! What an idiot! Wasn't Shi Zhong supposed to be a rank 4 Spirit realm expert? What kind of idiot makes a mistake like that?''
A young man whose body was covered in injuries, couldn't help mocking loudly when he saw the red-haired Shi Zhong's death. It was obvious from the tone in his voice, that he was clearly rejoicing in the red-haired man's death.
However, no one rebuked his statement for a while, until the voice of a young woman at the early rank 2 of the Spirit realm, sounded in everyone's ears
''I... I think that this person in blue robes did something to Shi Zhong before he threw his staff.''
''Right! He must have done something when he was covered by Shi Zhong's flames. I'm sure I saw a blue light appearing inside the flames before the staff hit Shi Zhong!''
''Of course he did something! Otherwise, Shi Zhong would have never stopped his punch.''
As the crowd in the Survival Gate's hall tried to guess what had happened to Shi Zhong, the scene inside the screen of light changed, showing 2 peak rank 3 Spirit realm experts fighting with each other.
After all, there were only a few hours left until the Survival Gate's challenge finished, making the remaining fights extremely scarce.
Only those who were truly confident in their strength would still roam around the challenge grounds, while the rest would hide, as they wait for the day to end.
At the same time, Shun Long was still covered by the crimson flames, with barely 20 percent of his qi left in his body.
Using the Gale steps, it was as if a gust of wind had appeared beneath his feet, as he quickly appeared a few tens of meters away from his original location.
Without the red-haired man's support, the crimson flames had already started to die down, but the damage they had done to Shun Long's body was already immense.
Burn marks had covered his body from head to toe, and even with his peak third stage 'Monarch's Eternal body', Shun Long still felt pain with every step that he took.
He felt as if his skin was going to be peeled off if he kept walking, as he sat down cross-legged on the ground.
His blue robes had been destroyed almost completely by now, with barely a few pieces of cloth that were stuck on his body.
Suddenly, a golden light appeared from Shi Zhong's headless body that had just crashed on the ground, before it shot towards Shun Long.
The light entered his golden medallion and Shun Long saw his ranking points rising rapidly, from the original 158, all the way to 297.
Without paying any more attention to his golden medallion however, Shun Long circulated the remaining energy inside his 'Monarch's Eternal body' to heal his damaged body.
At the same time, he also took out a handful of top-grade rank 4 'Sun-healing pills', as well as a stalk of a rank 5 'Dragonblood grass' from the 'Stone of Time', before he consumed them directly.
The healing energy from the top-grade 'Sun-healing pills', along with the powers of the 'Monarch's Eternal body', were restoring his horrifying injuries at a speed visible to the naked eye.
As for the 'Dragonblood grass', it immediately restored the energy that the 'Monarch's Eternal body' had lost, before it brought it back to its peak.
A little more than an hour passed, and almost 90 percent of Shun Long's injuries had already been healed by now. The burn marks on his body had already disappeared, and as for the rest of his internal injuries, Shun Long estimated that he only needed to half an hour at most, until he was back in perfect condition.
Standing up, he put on a spare blue robe on his body, before he once again sat down to heal the rest of his injuries.
4 hours later, a bright light appeared from his golden medallion, completely covering Shun Long's body.
Shun Long once again felt the familiar feeling of spatial teleportation, as his vision turned dark.
A few breaths of time later, Shun Long opened his eyes, and found himself back on the giant teleportation circle inside the Survival Gate's hall.
Liu Mei had a bright smile on her face beneath her white veil, once she saw Shun Long appearing to be fine.
Seeing that his injuries had already healed, a feeling of relief spread through Liu Mei's heart.
After all, Liu Mei had already heard from the crowd earlier, that the red-haired man that Shun Long had fought against, was an early rank 4 Spirit realm cultivator.
Shun Long smiled lightly as he walked towards Liu Mei who was waiting for him next to the black panther, when suddenly a terrifying pressure covered his body.
Little Black's eyes inside the 'Stone of Time' had suddenly turned serious when he felt their pressure around Shun Long's body.
It wasn't just Shun Long, but everyone else inside the House of Rankings... no... everyone in the entire Heaven's Dome city could feel a terrifying pressure looming above their heads.