Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Hearing the other party suddenly call his name, Fang Zheng was also startled for a moment, and even thought some boyfriend of a girl he’d flirted with had come looking for trouble. But when he focused his eyes, he realized the one standing on the stage was no stranger at all, but that rich second generation who had attended the Bamboo Forest Lake Association with him before.

Oh... so that’s how it is.

Fang Zheng instantly relaxed.

Good, not here to catch a cheater.

Though even if he were, Fang Zheng wouldn’t be scared anyway.

After all, he was this handsome, dashing, suave and romantic; women being willing to share a one‑night affair with him was only natural, wasn’t it?

Thinking of this, Fang Zheng chuckled to himself, then leaped lightly onto the stage. Seeing Fang Zheng appear, the spectators around burst into cries of surprise, which made Fang Zheng quite pleased with himself. After all, every single person present, without exception, had probably never seen anyone as good‑looking as him.

Come on, I’ll let you feast your eyes today!

Fang Zheng fanned himself as he looked toward the challenger before him. The latter, hearing the cheers from below, had his face darken somewhat — yeah, because when he’d made his entrance, he definitely hadn’t gotten this kind of reception.

"Young Lord Jade Face! I’m challenging you this time not for anything else; I have only one demand!"

As he spoke, the man raised his Longsword and pointed it at Fang Zheng.

"If I beat you, you must apologize for your rudeness toward Miss Fan back at the Bamboo Forest Lake Association!"

"Oh."

Yet facing the aggressive challenger, Fang Zheng only answered lazily, not even bothering to lift an eyelid.

"Talk again after you’ve beaten me."

"You...!"

Seeing how little Fang Zheng regarded him, that young man’s expression turned icy. He suddenly clenched his teeth, lifted his Longsword and drew a flower with the blade. Then in the next instant, the Longsword in his hand transformed into lightning as it flew forward, stabbing straight toward Fang Zheng’s chest!

Seeing this, quite a few spectators cried out. Many among them were Martial Artists; with one look they could tell this young man was going all out, not holding back in the slightest!

If it weren’t for the Bamboo Forest Lake Association incident making such a huge stir these past few days, they might even have thought this young man had some annihilating‑the‑whole‑clan vendetta with Fang Zheng!

"Swift as wind, force like thunder."

Li Tianming watched this scene and gave a slight nod.

"As expected of a descendant of the Gale Sword Zhao Family; the reputation is well‑earned."

Hearing Li Tianming speak, the other Martial Arts World seniors present all nodded one after another. Although this Zhao Yide’s personality was rather arrogant, this one stroke indeed gave him reason to be arrogant.

"To achieve Inner Strength Release at such a young age is no easy feat at all. To call him one of the outstanding talents of the younger generation in the Jianghu is no exaggeration. But... that Young Master Fang..."

At this point, another Martial Arts World senior looked toward Fang Zheng with some doubt. In fact, he didn’t even need to say it; deep down everyone else was puzzled as well. Reasonably speaking, Fang Zheng’s Reputation was far louder than Zhao Yide’s. After all, among the people who’d become his stepping stones were quite a few infamous fiends, some of whom even Li Tianming himself wasn’t sure he could defeat. Yet those fiends had all been handled by Fang Zheng with ease. So by that logic, Fang Zheng’s true strength should be no weaker than these Martial Arts World seniors.

Of course, Fang Zheng’s looks always made people overlook that fact, and because he rarely fought in front of crowds, not many could truly confirm his strength. After all, those major criminals all hid in places with no people; only someone brain‑damaged would choose a busy marketplace to play "the most dangerous place is the safest place" — that kind of person was guaranteed to lose everything.

Thus, in the Jianghu there had never been a clear assessment of Fang Zheng’s actual ability. Naturally, more people believed Fang Zheng had probably relied on some kind of hidden weapon or poison mist‑type trick to succeed.

After all, a young man just over twenty being able to effortlessly accomplish things that many Martial Arts World grand old masters couldn’t — there had to be something fishy, right?

But Fang Zheng’s current behavior looked completely ordinary. He seemed like any common person, with no reaction at all to his opponent’s attack. These thoughts flashed through everyone’s minds in the span of a Flint; in just the blink of an eye, they saw that young man had already rushed up to Fang Zheng and thrust out his Longsword.

And then...

"Bang!"

With a soft Hibiki, the next instant everyone saw a figure trace an arc through the air and crash heavily to the ground below the stage, while Fang Zheng still stood atop the platform, gently swaying the fan in his hand, as if nothing whatsoever had happened.

"Th‑this... what just happened?"

"Did you see clearly?"

"I don’t know, what on earth was that?"

The spectators below looked at one another, completely clueless as to what had occurred. Their strength was limited, and the clash between the two had happened in a flash of Flint, so most of the audience below hadn’t figured out what was going on before the fight was already over.

However, at this moment, Li Tianming and the other Martial Arts World seniors on the stage all wore grave expressions.

"Did you catch it?"

"Mm..."

Faced with the inquiry from the man beside him, Li Tianming furrowed his brows and nodded slightly. He had, of course, seen the exchange clearly — and it was precisely because of that that he found it all the more unbelievable.

Li Tianming clearly saw that when faced with Zhao Yide’s thrusting sword, Fang Zheng didn’t even move his body. He just stood there, then swept out with the Ougi in his right hand, smacking the tip of Zhao Yide’s sword, and in the very next instant Zhao Yide was sent flying straight backward!

Just that simple!

Yet precisely because of this, Li Tianming felt an unparalleled shock in his heart. He knew how this was done; the principle itself was very simple—Fang Zheng possessed Inner Strength a hundred times more powerful than Zhao Yide’s. So when facing Zhao Yide’s attack, he didn’t need any fancy moves at all; he could just blast straight through.

It was like a strong adult man fighting a three-year-old kid: even if the kid used every last bit of strength he had, he still wouldn’t match a single finger of the adult. With a casual sweep he could Ougi the kid flying.

But... is that even possible?

Zhao Yide, as one of the standouts of the younger generation, naturally had outstanding Inner Strength. But to swat him away so effortlessly—Li Tianming asked himself and knew that even he couldn’t do it. No, not just him; even among other people of the Martial Arts World, there was probably no one who could send Zhao Yide flying so easily with that kind of method.

Could it be... this youngster is this overwhelmingly strong?

What in the world is his background?

Looking at Fang Zheng, who was still standing on the stage with that leisurely, carefree look, Li Tianming also started to think.

Down below the stage at this moment, the crowd of onlookers were all dumbfounded, and very soon, yet another person jumped up.

"Despicable cur, you actually ambushed Brother Zhao!"

"What a fresh take. Which eye of yours saw me ambush him?"

Hearing the other’s words, Fang Zheng snorted lightly, then chuckled as he looked at this idiot.

"With so many people here watching, are you saying they’re all blind?"

"Th-then how could Brother Zhao be defeated by you so easily?"

"Nonsense. His strength sucks, obviously. Such a simple truth and you still don’t get it?"

Fang Zheng spread his hands and shrugged helplessly. His reaction naturally stoked that man’s anger.

"Then let me experience your brilliant moves! Gale Sword, Zhao Family’s Zhao Eryi, has come to learn from you!"

Zhao Eryi...

Hearing this name, Fang Zheng also froze for a moment, then he swept a glance at Zhao Yide, who lay unconscious beneath the stage.

Could it be your names are meant to be ’virtue and art, both in fine form’?

"Take this!"

Seeing that Fang Zheng actually spaced out at the moment of engagement, Zhao Eryi was also furious. He bellowed, True Qi erupting through his whole body, and charged at Fang Zheng again with his Longsword in hand. However, this time he hadn’t even managed to close in on Fang Zheng and strike when Fang Zheng tilted his head, gave him a faint glance—

"Scram."

Just a single utterly ordinary word, yet in the next moment everyone was shocked to see Zhao Eryi, who had been charging at Fang Zheng, suddenly act as if he’d crashed into something. He screamed miserably as he toppled backward, then landed beside his Elder Brother, and the two of them passed out together.

At this point, the few elders on the stage could no longer sit still.

"What was that?"

"True Qi Release? How is that possible? This youngster is so young, and yet already has such power?"

True Qi Release was not rare to the people of this world. It had already been mentioned before: because of Fang Zheng, this world also had scenes similar to those in TV dramas where someone unleashes Dragon Subduing Palms with a ’bang bang bang bang’ from afar. But those were things only quite powerful Martial Artists could accomplish.

It’s just like in an online game: when a player casts a powerful Skill, it means they’ve already reached Level Eighty or Level 100. That’s nothing strange.

But if a Level 20 player suddenly casts a Level Eighty Skill, then there’s a serious problem, okay!

A Martial Artist capable of True Qi Release, and able to do it with such ease and lightness, already counts as one of the absolute apex existences in the Martial Arts World—comparable to East Evil, West Poison, South Emperor, North Beggar, and Central Divine Skills—an unparalleled presence in the Jianghu, enjoying unmatched Reputation, status, and strength.

Yet what appeared before their eyes now was just a man in his early twenties!

Could he be some old Yokai wearing human skin?

"Anyone else coming up to challenge?"

Fang Zheng flicked his Ougi, sweeping his gaze around. This time, the onlookers below all kept their mouths shut. You must be joking—True Qi Release that fierce is basically a Master Class existence. How were they supposed to challenge that? Going up there would just be suicide.

"Seems there’s no one."

After scanning the stage once more, Fang Zheng nodded, but then he still didn’t step down. Instead, he turned and looked toward the seats above the stage. Noticing Fang Zheng’s gaze, Li Tianming froze for a second, then seemed to think of something; his expression suddenly changed.

However, before he could speak, Fang Zheng’s voice rang out again.

"Since no one else is coming to challenge, then Miss Fan, why don’t you come down and have some fun with me? Always manipulating people from behind the scenes is really pretty dull, don’t you think?"