Chapter 1726 — Chapter 1726 Cold Resistance

"N-no… let's think about this properly… There's no way anyone could achieve resistance after just a few minutes from that level of attack. He must've already been on the verge of attaining cold resistance before fighting her. Yup. This has to be the explanation." Kelan suddenly convinced himself that this must be the explanation, as he found it impossible to believe that Yuan had started from nothing and attained cold resistance in just a few minutes. In other words, he was in denial, unable to accept the reality of Yuan's rapid progress.

Meanwhile, on the stage, Chu Liuxiang was sweating buckets after exhausting all of her spiritual energy. Unbeknownst to her, her efforts ended up benefiting Yuan greatly.

"Thank you for the training. It helped me a lot." Yuan said to her afterward.

"As a thank you, I'll face you seriously."

Yuan thought about going easy on Chu Liuxiang because she was his partner. However, after thinking about it, he decided to do the opposite.

'Although we've sparred with each other plenty of times, she never really experienced fighting 'me'.' Yuan smiled inwardly.

No matter how intense their sparring became, it was still just a spar in the end. Even if they fought with full seriousness, Chu Liuxiang never felt threatened because, deep down, she knew Yuan would never hurt her.

This made it impossible for Chu Liuxiang and the others close to Yuan understand what it's truly like fighting a monster like Yuan. 'Facing someone unfathomably stronger than her… This will be a good experience for her, even if it might scare her a bit.' Yuan believed that Chu Liuxiang needed this valuable experience since most people tend to freeze from fear, which could be the difference between life and death.

A moment later, Yuan's aura surged dramatically, shifting from a suppressed state to one that was outright tyrannical and terrifying. However, it wasn't killing intent; instead, it was a destructive and ominous aura that radiated immense power.

His aura was so overwhelming that Chu Liuxiang instinctively let out a terrified scream as she fell backward onto her buttocks, even raising her arms to shield her face.

Li Jinxi and the other Demon Sealing Faction members instinctively retrieved their weapons and tiptoed as they tried to jump on the stage to protect Chu Liuxiang, but they managed to control themselves at the last second. As a matter of fact, pretty much everyone at the tournament became defensive after sensing Yuan's aura—participants or not.

"What's wrong? I only revealed some of my aura, and you're already shaking on the ground?" Yuan spoke as he slowly approached her with small and steady steps. "Get up and show me some more of the ice techniques that you're so proud of."

Yuan retrieved his weapon—a spirit-grade spear. "Why's he using a spear when he knows Sword Aura?" Kelan frowned, being more intrigued by his weapon of choice than his aura.

Suddenly, the tip of Yuan's spear began emitting a sharp aura—that one resembled Sword Aura.

"Spear Aura!" Shi Lang exclaimed after seeing his aura. "He knows Sword Aura and Spear Aura?!"

This was not only Yuan's first time using Spear Aura. It was actually his first attempt using Spear Aura. Despite this, he didn't feel unfamiliar with it. After all, the God of War, who had mastered all sorts of weapons, also achieved weapon auras for many of them.

The system only recognized his achievement once he used it even though he had the capability to do so for a long time now.

"Where did your bravery a minute ago disappear to? Stand and fight me." Yuan provoked her.

However, Chu Liuxiang didn't respond, almost as if she couldn't hear him.

"..."

Seeing the petrified expression on Chu Liuxiang's face and how much she was shaking, Yuan began to wonder if he'd scared her a little too much.

'She won't hate me when I reveal my identity to her later, right?' he swallowed nervously at that thought.

Suddenly, a loud voice resounded, "Stand up and face your opponent properly! Have you forgotten about what I told you?!"

Kelan could be seen shouting from the Ning Family's booth.

Hearing Kelan's voice and recalling about the conversation he had with everyone some time ago, Chu Liuxiang gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand up to face Yuan.

"If I'm going to stand beside Yuan, who will face many powerful figures in the future, I need to get used to this feeling of overwhelming difference!" Chu Liuxiang muttered as she faced her opponent.

Seeing this, Yuan smiled behind his mask and said in a genuinely proud voice, "Not bad. Then here's your reward."

Yuan's spear flickered the next moment.

Chu Liuxiang suddenly felt a sharp pain in the area between her eyebrows. Despite being aware of the formation that protected her life, Chu Liuxiang was not in the situation to remember such things, and her life flashed before her eyes.

'Yuan…' The last image that appeared in Chu Liuxiang's flashback was Yuan's childish face when they were still back at the orphanage before she lost consciousness.

Li Jinxi suddenly appeared on the stage to catch Chu Liuxiang's falling body, her gaze staring intently at Yuan, almost as if she wanted to tear him apart.

"Are you going to fight me next?" Yuan asked in a provoking tone.

"No, I will." Xi Murong said as he entered the stage with a dagger in his grasp.

"Sure." Yuan calmly nodded.

Li Jinxi carried Chu Liuxiang off the stage while Xi Murong approached Yuan.

"You can't scare me with your aura," he said.

"Oh, really? I swear I saw you flinch when I first emitted it." Yuan laughed.

Xi Murong gritted his teeth and eagerly said, "Can we start already?"

"You're itching to fight me, huh? Are you her boyfriend, by chance? Anyway, whenever you're rea—"

Before Yuan could even finish his sentence, Xi Murong's figure disappeared like a ghost.

'A movement technique, huh.'

Although Yuan couldn't see Xi Murong, he didn't need to, as he could sense Xi Murong's position very clearly with his powerful soul strength and divine sense.

"There you are," Yuan muttered as he suddenly thrust his spear at a specific spot.