ACSP: Chapter 228: A genius who grows up in a greenhouse is just trash!
Following Zhao Dingtian's frantic roar, the tactical net snapped shut.
In a fraction of a second, hundreds of elite Zhao family combatants converted into a violent storm of blurring afterimages, converging on the central platform from every single vector. Their high-level movement techniques tore through the atmosphere, generating a deafening, overlapping chorus of supersonic whistling sounds as they closed the gap with blinding speed.
"Do you truly believe a disorganized pack of rabble possesses the operational metrics to collect our heads?"
"Trash belongs in the incinerator, old men! Just watch from the sidelines while I blow your entire vanguard into a billion microscopic pieces..."
Ronan and Li Dala didn't wait for the perimeter to compress. Moving in perfect sync, the two of them exploded forward into the frontlines of the incoming mob, their high-tier combat loops immediately drawing the aggro of the level 90 elders and intercepting the human wave. By completely pinning down the surrounding army, they cleared a flawless, isolated lane for Jiang Chen to dismantle the main target.
Simultaneously, Zhao Dingtian's face contorted as he drove his massive spiritual avatar forward. The dark, towering titan condensed two colossal, blazing swords of concentrated black chakra, swinging them down in a devastating, dual-cleave trajectory meant to cleave Jiang Chen's purple defense in half.
Two titanic structures, each looming dozens of zhang above the ruined plaza, collided head-on once more.
BOOM!!!
The surrounding space seemed to warp under the sheer kinetic impact, the shockwave expanding outward from the epicenter like a catastrophic, high-density tsunami. As the localized displacement wave ripped across the terrain, the heavy stone foundation of the plaza was systematically torn up, and ancient ornamental trees were uprooted entirely, snapping like dry twigs with sharp, violent cracks.
The spectators watching from the outer ring felt a sudden, crushing atmospheric weight hit their chests, as if an invisible, mountain-sized fist was ruthlessly shoving them backward.
The lower-level Class-Holders in the crowd instantly lost all color in their faces. Thick veins bulged aggressively on their foreheads as they circulated their internal reserves to resist the expanding pressure wave—but their defensive baselines simply lacked the stats to withstand the passive splash damage. With looks of sheer, unwilling horror, dozens of onlookers were violently thrown backward, forced to retreat hundreds of meters just to keep their internal organs from collapsing under the sonic vibrations.
"Both of their avatars are fully locked into the advanced Fourth Stage... this frame-data output is absolutely insane to watch!"
"The leadership of the Southern Pavilion has completely kicked a titanium plate this time. Jiang Chen is a verified walking calamity. I just checked the archive database—he systematically executed multiple level 95+ apex powerhouses back during the Kang City incident, his raw scaling is completely off the charts!"
"I can see that with my own eyes, you idiot! Look at the collision metrics right now—Jiang Chen is actively suppressing Zhao Dingtian's blade work in almost every single trade! His micro-mechanics are too incredible..."
"Damn it all... we are literally both newcomers who completed our basic Contract Ceremonies in the exact same cycle this year! Why on earth are his parameters so aggressively god-tier while I'm struggling to farm standard rifts?!"
"Nonsense! He is a premier Super Kage-level anomaly with a double-contract framework locked into his soul. Trying to compare your basic sheet to his is a mechanical joke!"
"Wait a localized millisecond... if Jiang Chen's primary faction house is registered over in the Kang City sector, what is his tactical objective for suddenly infiltrating our Magic City?"
"The global forum mentioned he cleared a hidden instance a while back and obtained an S-rank localized teleportation matrix skill. It's highly probable that spatial ability dropped him right onto our grid."
"My goodness... a dual-wielding Super Kage-level combatant with unlimited, instantaneous spatial mobility. If he decides to systematically overturn the current corporate families, I'm afraid the entire political structure of our Great Xia Kingdom is about to be forcefully rewritten!"
"Not just our Great Xia Kingdom... if his developmental curve continues at this rate, I estimate the balance of power across the entire global meta is about to change along with it..."
More and more people started gathering from all over the Magic City. Some were drawn by the earth-shattering commotion of the clash, while others rushed over the moment they saw the viral updates flashing across the local networks. In no time at all, the perimeter surrounding the Secret Realm gateway was packed with dense, suffocating crowds. It was a literal sea of heads, the entire zone bustling with electric excitement and a deafening roar of voices.
Among the newcomers were quite a few subordinate factions and vassal families affiliated with the Southern Pavilion. The moment they spotted Zhao Dingtian and his elite core fighting a high-intensity battle, their leadership immediately stepped forward to show their loyalty.
"It's the Great Elder! Quick, get into formation and support them..." a representative of a subordinate family shouted, his face tight with feigned anxiety as he leaned forward, scanning for a gap to breach the perimeter.
"Damn it, what kind of suicidal bastard dares to challenge the absolute sovereignty of the Zhao family on our home turf? Are they completely tired of living?!" another syndicate leader spat fiercely, a murderous light flashing in his eyes as his hands gripped his weapon, eager to join the fray and score political points.
However, before these reinforcing units could throw their numbers into the meatgrinder, Zhao Xuansu anticipated the disastrous shift in variables. Moving with decisive speed, he led his East Pavilion detachment forward, forming a rigid line that blocked them all entirely.
"The Great Elder has already personally taken the field with his core vanguard," Zhao Xuansu stated, his voice cutting through their momentum with cold, aristocratic authority. "Without his explicit command, if you rabble blindly interfere in this clash, are you implying that the Great Elder's elite formation is incompetent? Are you worried that his peak-tier avatar is about to lose?"
The threat and warning laced within his words were palpable. The subordinate leaders looked at one another, their aggressive strides grinding to a sudden, awkward halt.
Although they belonged to the Southern Pavilion's logistical tree and weren't under the direct jurisdiction of the East Pavilion, Zhao Xuansu's psychological lever caused a deep wave of wariness to rise in their hearts.
Because the old man was mechanically correct. Zhao Dingtian was the undisputed strongest combatant of the Southern Pavilion. If these minor vassal forces deployed themselves without an explicit order, it would be a massive optics disaster—indirectly signaling to the thousands of watching citizens that the apex ancestor was failing to suppress a handful of rogues.
Under the stern warning of the East Pavilion detachment, the auxiliary forces began to hesitate. Although a few shrewd commanders easily saw through Zhao Xuansu's true intentions—knowing he was deliberately keeping the battlefield clear to protect the boy—they also knew the internal politics of the clan too well.
Given Zhao Dingtian's fiercely competitive, prideful nature, if they rashly interfered in his duel now, the consequences would be catastrophic. Even if they somehow helped secure the kill on Jiang Chen's squad, once the dust settled, the Great Elder would view their unprompted help as a personal insult to his martial prestige. At worst, the paranoid old man might even slap them with a fabricated charge of 'treason and insubordination,' using it as a convenient excuse to completely erase their families from the Magic City's registry.
'Jiang Chen, this is the absolute limit of what I can safely do to manipulate the board for you. Whether you walk out of this sector alive or die on this stone now depends entirely on your own hidden parameters...'
Having successfully pacified the incoming wave of reinforcements, Zhao Xuansu immediately snapped his gaze back to the epicenter of the destruction.
By now, the cataclysmic exchange between the two titans had entered a brutal, white-hot stage. Although the structural density of Zhao Dingtian's dark armor was noticeably inferior to Jiang Chen's refined purple output, a Level 98 stat pool was still a massive mountain of raw health and chakra. In such a compressed timeframe, even a dual-binding anomaly like Jiang Chen couldn't instantly crush him into paste.
"Grandfather! Hold him frame, I'm coming to lock down his flank!"
Seeing that his grandfather had been unable to secure a definitive victory after multiple high-tier trades, Zhao Quan's patience finally shattered. He chose this exact moment of deadlock to aggressively force his way into the apex equation.
His contracted spirit, Uchiha Izuna, was an absolute top-tier existence in the Naruto Dimension. During the brutal Warring States period, Izuna's martial prowess was widely recognized as second only to the legendary gods of shinobi, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. He was revered by the world as a practically "flawless" warrior.
Although Zhao Quan's character sheet was only hovering around Level 70—meaning he was mathematically incapable of inheriting the full, unmitigated strength of his contracted target—his talent was enough to successfully awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan. At this moment, he successfully forced out a towering, fully armored Third-Stage Susanoo.
His explosive entry immediately forced a subtle shift in the tactical landscape of the battlefield.
However, this structural change quickly proved to be completely unfavorable for Zhao Dingtian's side. The cold, glaring reality was that Zhao Quan's actual combat experience was simply too pathetic.
After aggressively forcing his way into the deadlock, he didn't bring any meaningful utility or cross-coverage to Zhao Dingtian's offensive pattern. Instead, he constantly broadcasted glaring flaws in his positioning, exposing his blind spots and landing himself in perpetual, lethal danger. Several times over, if it weren't for the veteran Great Elder frantically shifting his own attention to execute a timely intervention, Zhao Quan would have already been cleanly decapitated by Jiang Chen's precise counters.
"Now this guy is genuinely amusing..."
Jiang Chen's optimized perception instantly isolated the fatal structural drawbacks in Zhao Quan's loop.
Undoubtedly, this privileged scion had spent his entire career being coddled and shielded under the absolute protection of his clan elders. The end result was a mechanical disaster: despite possessing a character sheet overflowing with god-tier skills and legendary bloodline traits, his actual combat execution was dead weak.
Jiang Chen genuinely found himself questioning the database integrity of the region. How on earth had a coddled amateur like this managed to hold the top record for that high-level secret realm? Could it be that the scoring metrics and leaderboards of the Magic City were just as heavily rigged as the rest of their corrupt infrastructure?
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