A terrifying aura was carried along in the next moment, as Cao Ling's body descended on the platform, while his deep black eyes were angrily staring at the blond-haired Dong Cheng in front of him.
''Dong Cheng, how dare you? I ordered you to stop and yet not only you broke the rules of the tournament by entering the arena and attacking another outer disciple, but you even ignored the orders of an inner court Elder!'' Cao Ling's voice was utterly furious as he shouted ''Kneel!''
Dong Cheng looked at Cao Ling fearlessly without responding. Although others may have been scared of this inner court Elder in front of him, he, Dong Cheng wasn't afraid of Cao Ling in the slightest!
''Hmph!'' Cao Ling's eyes narrowed when he saw this scene as he snorted angrily, before the terrifying aura of a Dao Emperor that came from his body soon enveloped the entire arena.
Even Shun Long could feel the powerful aura coming from Cao Ling's body as it pressed down on Dong Cheng, before Cao Ling shouted for the second time
''Kneel!''
The look on Dong Cheng's face changed as the powerful aura of a Dao Emperor pressed down on his body, trying to force him into a kneeling position.
And yet, the moment that Cao Ling's aura touched him, a powerful white light erupted from Dong Cheng's chest as it covered his entire body in a single instant.
The look on the bald Cao Ling's face turned ugly in the next moment, as he sensed that his aura was actually incapable of penetrating the white light around Dong Cheng.
''Hahaha! Cao Ling, you dare to ask me to kneel? I, Dong Cheng, only kneel in front of experts at the same level as my father! As for you who is just an early-stage Dao Emperor... you are not qualified! If you want to punish me for breaking the sect rules go ahead, but you can forget about making me kneel!''
At the same time, the crowd in the audience seats that was previously stunned after seeing Shun Long destroying Dong Ai with a single punch, seemed to have finally woken up after hearing Dong Cheng's voice, as they erupted in frenzied discussions, while their eyes were either staring at the arrogant Dong Cheng at the center of the platform, the white-robed Cao Ling whose face had turned exceedingly ugly, or Shun Long who was calmly watching that scene.
''So it's true! Dong Cheng really has a protective artifact at the Dao Emperor level! But still, isn't this too much? Not only did he break the rules, but he even dares to talk back to Elder Cao Ling like that! He will definitely not escape punishment this time.''
''What do you know? Only the heir of one of the top 5 clans like Dong Cheng would dare to act so arrogantly in front of an inner court Elder! The patriarchs and the clan leaders of the strongest families and clans are definitely strong enough to rival in power the inner court Elders, while some of the most powerful ones even surpass the Elders in terms of power. Only the Grand Elder or the sect master himself can keep those powerful families and clans in check. But the normal Elders would avoid offending those powerful clans if they can. This is why Dong Cheng dares to act so arrogantly.
Considering that he is the heir of the Dong clan and even has an immortal fate, it's practically guaranteed that in the future, he will reach at least the middle stages of the Dao Emperor realm or perhaps even exceed that.
Thus, even powerful inner court Elders would be hesitant to really offend those disciples for no reason considering how strong they will become in the future. Even if they break the rules, the Elders will often act like they didn't see anything.
I suspect that the only reason why Elder Cao Ling acted this time, was because Dong Cheng broke the rules in front of everyone else, and he even attacked that monster, Shun Long.''
''Things are now difficult for Elder Cao Ling. The protective artifact around Dong Cheng's neck can take on even the full-powered attack of an early stage Dao Emperor once. It makes sense that Dong Cheng wouldn't be afraid of an inner court Elder like him.''
''Right! Although Elder Cao Ling can destroy it, he would really have to go all-out to do so, and if he really does that, he will end up offending the Dong clan. I heard that this is a protective artifact that the Dong clan leader gave to Dong Cheng himself to save his life.''
''Who cares about this! What I want to know is what type of Dao that Shun Long has comprehended. He defeated Dong Ai with a single punch and he even took on Dong Cheng's attack head-on!''
Even though most of the disciples in the crowd didn't seem to know what was going on or why Dong Cheng had dared to act so arrogantly in front of an inner court Elder, there were a few outer disciples who knew about some of the secrets of the sect.
But although most disciples had their eyes on Dong Cheng and Cao Ling, a number of extremely powerful outer court disciples were scrutinizing Shun Long with their gazes instead.
Previously, none of those disciples had cared about a middle rank 7 Nascent Soul cultivator like him, but now... things were entirely different. The power that Shun Long had showed was enough to threaten even some of the peak rank 9 Nascent Soul disciples in the crowd.
Although it wasn't nearly enough to match up against the power of a Dao King, they all knew that Shun Long was only a middle rank 7 Nascent Soul stage cultivator right now.
''If he can threaten peak rank 9 Nascent Soul cultivators now, then what will happen when he himself reached the peak of rank 9 in the Nascent Soul instead?''
As this thought appeared in their minds, even some of the more powerful experts in the rankings started to look at Shun Long solemnly.
No matter what, once he reaches the peak of the Nascent Soul, even some of them will feel threatened!
At the same time however, Cao Ling wasn't paying any attention to those outer court disciples in the crowd, as his gaze was entirely focused on the smirking Dong Cheng.
Cao Ling knew clearly that Dong Cheng was only releasing a tiny hint of aura from the protective artifact on his chest to resist his own aura, and he would still be able to use it again in the future if he met a Dao Emperor. But if Cao Ling really attacked and broke it while forcing Dong Cheng to kneel, then the Dong clan would really be offended once Dong Cheng lost a protective artifact at the Dao Emperor level.
This was why Cao Ling was now hesitant.
Although he wanted to punish Dong Cheng he didn't dare to really destroy his protective artifact either.
Most likely, the Dong clan leader had paid an enormous price to obtain it, and he would definitely have a lot of resentment against Cao Ling in the future.
At that moment however, a melodious laughter sounded from the sky above the arena, as the figure of a beautiful middle-aged woman appeared a few tens of meters above Dong Cheng
''Little brat of the Dong clan, you really are arrogant. What about me then? Am I qualified to make you kneel?''
Although Elder Xuan's voice was calm, the expression on Dong Cheng's face quickly changed as he raised his head and looked at her figure in the sky above him with a disbelieving look on his face.
And yet, Dong Cheng didn't even have enough time to open his mouth and speak, as along with Elder Xuan's voice, a terrifying force also descended from the sky at the same time, as it collided with Dong Cheng's protective white light in the next moment.
The protective white light around Dong Cheng's body that could even take on the attack of an early-stage Dao Emperor without shattering seemed to have been nothing more than a weak bubble in front of Xuan Jiao's aura, as it popped without any resistance, before Xuan Jiao's aura continued to press down heavily on Dong Cheng's body.
Dong Cheng hadn't expected that Elder Xuan would meddle in this matter considering that she was the master of his younger sister and his sister had been injured by Shun Long just now.
Unfortunately, Elder Xuan didn't seem to care about what Dong Cheng thought, as her aura instantly forced Dong Cheng into a kneeling position.
''It doesn't matter who you are, the rules of the sect aren't for you to break them as you please. Remember, this is the Holy sect, not your Dong clan!''
Silence immediately filled the arena once again, as everyone stared at the white-robed figure of Elder Xuan in the sky with disbelieving looks in their eyes. She had really dared to destroy Dong Cheng's protective treasure without even a second thought!
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Author's note: Next chapter will come in a few hours. Mass release again tomorrow as well, so look forward to it.