The Supreme God of Martial Arts

The crowd stood silently and watched on as Austin grabbed his opponent by the collar. His other hand formed a fist and punched

him across the jaw. The man groaned and peered at Austin through squinted eyes. Austin raised his hand again.

The sound of flesh meeting flesh cut through the tense air. With each hit, the man becweaker, slouching in Austin's grip.

Despite his hatred towards the man, Austin controlled his powers so that the man wouldn't pass out from the pain. Both of their

faces were twisted: Austin's in fury and the man's in excruciating pain.

Within seconds, the man's face had turned so swollen and purple that even his friends could not recognize him. Blood oozed from

his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose and dripped onto the dusty, dirt at their feet. His mouth opened and his eyes widened as Austin

aimed another punch at him.

"Oh, no!

Please letgo. I'm so sorry and | promise that | will never do it again..." the man pleaded in a trembling voice.

Austin scanned him. His shoulders were slumped and his knees were buckling. If he paid close enough attention, he could even see

the man's lips quivering.

The man had not expected Austin to overtake him. Austin had beat him so heavily that he could not attempt to fight back even if

he had wanted to. Fear was sitting in his bones and the hungry look in Austin's eyes made his stomach explode with nervousness.

A malicious smile slowly spread on Austin's face. He leaned closer to the man and the smell of blood filled his nostrils. "If you ever

insult my girl again, | will kill you," Austin whispered in the man's ears.

There was a promise of violence and an abundance of anger behind his words. His body tensed. One muscle at tpopped up

from his head down to his toes.

Before the man could respond, Austin punched him hard in the face.

The man's eyes crossed and he quickly fell away from Austin and landed on his back on the ground. A cloud of dust became

suspended in the air around him.

With a final grunt, he lost his consciousness.

Austin activated the Dominant Spiritual Sense Swordsmanship and chopped the man's arms with the sword-light. He lifted him up,

slapped him across the face, and knocked him down quickly in a one smooth blow.

It had taken him the couple seconds to do all this.

The resting area had fallen into a dead silence.

Thousands of participants stared at the scene with shock written all over their faces. Not one of them moved as Austin turned to

face them.

"How dare you hurt innocent participants in the resting area? You've violated the rules and you're provoking the royal family. You've

committed an unpardonable crand you must be punished for it.

Guards, capture Austin and throw him into prison. He's broken the test rules,"

Ladd shouted after he'd snapped out of his shocked trance.

He had initially planned to use that man to humiliate Austin in front of everyone. He did not expect Austin to win and upstage him.

However, things had not gone as Ladd had expected.

Also, the result of their fight had caught him by surprise. 'Austin has just reached the preliminary stage of Semi-holy Realm. He

should not have been able to defeat a Holy Realm cultivator of the preliminary stage at all, let alone so easily, ' Ladd thought in

confusion.

Austin's skill in battle had shocked him, along with the rest of the people in the resting area.

There were a few hundred guards in the resting area, and they were responsible for keeping order and serving the young

participants of the test.

After seeing how Austin had defeated the man, the guards glanced at once another. They shuffled back and forth on their feet.

Upon hearing Ladd's order, only sof them were brave enough to approach Austin.

"Humph! Austin is our guest. You can't put him in prison!

This man insulted our guest so he deserves this," Belle added, pointing at the man on the ground and frowning at the guards.

She stepped in between them and Austin.

The guards froze immediately. It was clear on their faces that they did not know what to do next.

One of their orders had cfrom the marshal's grandson and the other had cfrom the prminister's granddaughter. They

couldn't afford to offend either party or they themselves would be punished and put in prison.

"Humph. You're a son of a bitch, Austin. I'll allow you to live a little longer.

| want you to enjoy the tyou have because you will get killed in this tournament,"

Ladd declared before he turned away and let out a short burst of laughter.

Immediately afterward, he turned to face Austin again and his eyes filled with spite.

"After you die, | will take this woman and fuck her to my heart's content. And when | get tired of her, I'll kill her," he added, pointing

at Caroline.

With a wave of his hand, Ladd walked away with more than twenty young participants following him.

Austin narrowed his eyes at Ladd's back as he disappeared into the crowd. He started trembling with anger.

His foot took a step forward but a hand grabbed his, stopping him in his tracks. He looked back and saw Caroline standing there.

"Calm down,"

she said gently.

Austin nodded in her direction but scowled once more while he stared at the ground at his feet.

'l can't lay a hand on Ladd yet. His grandfather is the marshal and he has reached the Divine Bridge Realm. If | were to take Ladd's

life, Rodolfo would go to great lengths to killtoo, ' he pondered.

"Don't worry, Caroline, | won't spare him. Now that he has insulted you, | must hurt him. He will pay for this mistake with his life.

| won't let anyone abuse my woman or talk about her that way,"

Austin said with certainty as he squeezed Caroline's hand.

The other participants in the resting area looked at Austin with fear in their eyes.

Most of the participants were left shuddering after Austin's battle. Their eyes swept over every inch of him, memorizing how he

looked and moved. 'If my opponent ends up being this young man, I'll not let my guard down. I'll fight him at my full strength, *

they thought.

Belle's eyes fell on Austin as well. She was an observant girl, so she had guessed there was a relationship between Austin and

Caroline. She watched as they smiled sweetly at each other and released their hands.

'If you ever insult my girl again, I will kill you."

Belle recalled what Austin had said to the man.

'It looks like he is an overprotective boyfriend. He will never let anyone bully his girlfriend and get away with it, ' Belle thought,

staring at Austin.

Her eyes were full of admiration.

All of the other participants also hushed and looked towards the noise.

Gradually, the sound of drumbeats thundered clearly above the square.

The ground shook with each beat and the sound reverberated off the surrounding village. Austin was sure that even people that

were miles away could hear it.

One by one, each participant's face lit up with excitement.

Everyone present knew that sound of the drums meant that the Martial Arts Tournament, which was held every ten years, was

about to begin.

Moments later, the sound of drumbeats disappeared. A quiet, serious atmosphere filled the whole square. Austin stood straight

with his hands folded in front of him. Caroline placed a hand on his back.

Swoosh!

In a flash of light, a white-haired, old eunuch appeared above the center of the square. He gestured towards the crowd and his face

was kept serious.

His cultivation base was at the Bitter Sea Realm.

"Fantastic. All the participants are here," the eunuch announced loudly.

His voice was magnified over the crowd so that all the people present could hear him.

"So, I'm here to announce the official start of this year's Martial Arts Tournament.

All participants must be under 25 years of age and their cultivation bases must be above the Primal Holy Realm. If this does not

describe you, you may not participate.

Only our native, young cultivators or those recommended by sects or clans in our country are qualified to join the test.

There are three thousand qualified participants in total.

The rules are simple. You will perform draws to decide your opponent and anyone who defeats their opponent continues the test,

otherwise, you will be eliminated,"

the eunuch went on.

'The rules are simple and fair. The strongest person will be the winner, ' Austin remarked to himself, sighing contentedly.