Chapter 885
"You all stay here and don't move."
Ryan gave a brief but firm instruction to Li Wujie and the others behind him, his tone calm yet leaving no room for argument, and before anyone could respond further, his figure had already burst forward, heading straight toward the raging Fire Scorpion Giant Frog like an arrow released from a bowstring.
In the next instant, streaks of motion cut through the battlefield.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
Even without activating the Phaseless Divine Shadow Step, Ryan's speed had already reached an astonishing rank, his body flickering like a phantom between reality and illusion, so fast that the naked eye struggled to lock onto him, leaving behind nothing but fleeting afterimages that seemed to dissolve before they could be properly seen.
After advancing from a five-star Upper Exalt to a six-star Upper Exalt, every aspect of Ryan's physical prowess had undergone a qualitative transformation, his strength, speed, and explosive force more than doubling, as if his entire being had been reforged into something far beyond what it had once been.
"He's actually coming? This fool… wait...what kind of speed is that?! That's impossible!"
Shao Yushan had initially sneered, ready to mock the so-called "help" from the North District candidate, yet before his words could fully form, his expression stiffened abruptly as the figure rushing toward the battlefield blurred into something beyond comprehension.
He could not see clearly.
All he could perceive was a shadow.
For someone of his rank, an Upper Exalt with sharp perception and refined senses, this should have been unthinkable, and yet Ryan's speed had completely surpassed the limits of what his eyes could track.
How could a mere candidate achieve such velocity?
If even Shao Yushan could not follow it, then the rest of the candidates were left even further behind.
To them, Ryan had simply vanished.
There was no motion, no trajectory, no trace...only an empty space where he had once been.
Gasps and exclamations rippled through the battlefield as disbelief spread like wildfire.
On the opposite side, Li Wujie, Li Baijie, and Fan Wei could not see Ryan clearly either, yet they knew exactly where he was headed, and with unwavering trust, all three of them fixed their gaze in that direction, their hearts steady despite the chaos around them.
To them, Ryan was someone who had once defeated even a War Emperor.
A mere fifth-rank monster?
It was nothing more than a stepping stone.
"What happened to him? Why did he disappear from sight?" Jiao Zhiming asked in shock, his voice tight with disbelief.
"He didn't disappear," Shao Yushan replied after a moment, forcing himself to stay composed. "He's just too fast. Our eyes can't keep up, so it looks like he vanished. I can barely catch a trace of his shadow, nothing more."
Jiao Zhiming fell silent, but the meaning behind his unfinished words was clear.
If even they, as Upper Exalts, could not follow that speed, then what exactly did that imply?
A realization began to form.
Could it be…
"That guy… could he be the one Leader He mentioned? The second-ranked candidate?" Jiao Zhiming said hesitantly.
"It's possible," Shao Yushan replied after a brief pause, his eyes narrowing. "But let's not report yet. We observe first."
"Alright," Jiao Zhiming nodded, though the shock on his face had yet to fade.
At that moment, under countless stunned gazes, Ryan had already reached the Fire Scorpion Giant Frog.
Without any grand display, without any dazzling technique, he simply raised his fist.
It looked ordinary.
Too ordinary.
And yet within that unremarkable motion lay a force that seemed capable of shattering the earth itself.
"Boom!"
The punch landed.
A thunderous explosion echoed across the battlefield, the sound so immense that it seemed to tear through the air itself, causing countless candidates to instinctively flinch as the shockwave rolled outward.
The massive body of the Fire Scorpion Giant Frog, a creature that had withstood the combined assault of hundreds, suddenly trembled violently, its balance breaking as its enormous frame tilted and slid uncontrollably across the ground.
Dust erupted into the sky.
Gravel scattered in all directions.
Trees, grass, and debris were dragged along as the creature was sent skidding six or seven meters before crashing heavily onto the earth with a dull, resounding impact.
Silence followed.
Then chaos.
"Did I… just see that?"
"That… that was a fifth-rank monster, right?!"
"How is that even possible?!"
"We've been fighting it with everything we have and couldn't even shake it, but he knocked it away with one punch?!"
"This isn't a human, this is a monster in human form!"
"Is this some kind of illusion? Am I dreaming?"
"…What kind of existence is that guy?!"
Moments earlier, Ryan had been nothing more than a blur.
Now, standing still after his strike, his figure was finally visible to everyone.
And what they saw shattered every assumption they had ever held.
"It's him… it must be him," Jiao Zhiming said, his voice trembling slightly. "The second-ranked candidate. He has to be."
Shao Yushan did not refute it this time.
Because no explanation remained.
Speed alone could be attributed to skill.
But that punch...
That raw, overwhelming force...
That was something that could not be faked.
And among all candidates present, only one person could possibly possess such terrifying strength.
The one who ranked second in the standings.
The one whose name had already begun to circulate like a legend.
"What a surprise… I truly didn't expect we would encounter him here of all places. One punch, and he actually sent the Fire Scorpion Giant Frog flying… even I can't achieve something like that. It seems his strength is far beyond what we initially imagined."
Shao Yushan spoke with undisguised astonishment, his gaze fixed tightly on Ryan, the earlier arrogance in his tone now replaced by a cautious admiration that he himself had not noticed.
"Should we send word to Master Fu now?" Jiao Zhiming asked, his voice lowering slightly as if the very mention of reporting carried weight.
"Not yet," Shao Yushan replied after a brief pause, his expression shifting into something more calculating as he turned his head slightly and added in a meaningful tone, "Now is not the right time. Let's observe first… and besides, have you forgotten what Master Fu is currently occupied with? If we disturb him at this moment, the consequences… You understand."
Jiao Zhiming immediately stiffened, then nodded with a knowing look, abandoning the thought of reporting without hesitation as he said, "Of course, I understand. In that case, we'll wait a bit longer."
Although He Anmin had clearly instructed them to report immediately upon discovering this mysterious candidate, the current situation made such urgency impractical, because Xiaofu, who was responsible for relaying the information, was clearly preoccupied, and interrupting him now would not only delay matters but might also provoke his anger, making it far wiser to wait, observe, and act at a more suitable moment.
"Quack! Quack! Quack!!"
At that moment, the Fire Scorpion Giant Frog, having endured Ryan's devastating strike, forced its massive body upright once more, its enormous, round eyes blazing with fury as it scanned the battlefield, searching for the one who had dared to strike it.
The instant its gaze locked onto Ryan, recognizing that the one who had sent it flying was nothing more than a human, the fury within it surged uncontrollably.
The physical damage from the punch was significant, but what truly enraged it was the humiliation.
A creature of its stature, a peak existence among fifth-rank monsters, had been knocked back several meters by what it perceived as an insignificant human, and worse still, that same human now stood calmly before it, lips curved in a faint smile, as if the entire exchange had been nothing more than a trivial amusement.
Such contempt was unbearable.
Never before had it been looked upon in such a way.
Among the hundreds of humans present, every single one of them had shown fear, hesitation, or outright panic in its presence, yet this one stood unmoved, unshaken, as if facing something utterly insignificant.
That alone sealed his fate.
The Fire Scorpion Giant Frog's eyes slowly turned blood-red, its rage boiling over into something tangible, a suffocating aura that spread outward like a tidal wave.
Even those who were not its target felt it.
The candidates from the three major districts, who had moments ago been engaged in battle, now found their bodies trembling uncontrollably, their hearts gripped by an instinctive fear as they finally realized...
This was its true strength.
Everything before had been nothing more than restraint.
And they… had foolishly believed they could kill it.
"Quack!"
With a deafening roar, the Fire Scorpion Giant Frog opened its massive maw, and a torrent of flame burst forth, surging toward Ryan with overwhelming force.
This was no ordinary attack.
Amid the swirling flames and rising despair, countless voices murmured, some filled with regret, others with indifference, and a few with cold satisfaction.
To them, the outcome was already decided.
The moment the Fire Scorpion Giant Frog unleashed its full wrath...
That lone figure standing in its path had already been sentenced to death.