Bu Wentian gaped at Fang Yi's ultimate skill in shock.

Zhang Lie grinned. "Well? Wasn't that exciting?"

Bu Wentian belatedly came to his senses. "What sort of monster is this? What was that last technique? Some amalgamation of all sorts of energies—and he can still balance them all? Is that something humans can even do...?"

The combination of seven different energies caused the trial space to quake and tremble. Even before the attack was released, the world of the trial was breaking apart. The ground quaked, and the sky looked as though it had been cleaved by a bladed weapon.

The clash between the energy of chaos and that of time and space caused the wheels of time on Fang Yi's back to shatter one after another. His spear vibrated ceaselessly, and huge quantities of chaotic energy gushed out.

Fang Yi was no longer the cultivator he had been in the third realm. His five wheels of time cracked, and the energies began to meld together uncontrollably. All that energy, linked by the karmic power that Fang Yi had manifested, led to an unbelievably complex combination.

His hands trembled as the energies combined. At the most crucial moment, Fang Yi concentrated as the energy of chaos and spacetime merged into a brand new, mysterious strength, that of primordial chaos.

The combination of energies gave off such a fearsome aura that anyone would be worried upon sensing it. All around Fang Yi, space and time began to splinter and crack. Unusual pitch-black thorn-like protrusions appeared by the edges of Fang Yi's vision, seeming to skewer space.

The skin on his arms cracked. Veins protruded from his forehead and his arms turned bright red.

As Fang Yi concentrated on controlling the transformation, that energy took on the shape of a spear.

Fang Yi wasn't able to control the energy fully, but it was far less rambunctious than before. It grew even more chaotic and boasted a more frightening strength.

Zhang Lie couldn't help but feel simultaneously comforted and worried. Against Fang Yi's chaotic spear, Zhang Lie felt an astonishing sense of threat.

"Fang Yi's caught up."The entire world seemed to come to a standstill at that moment. As Fang Yi thrust forward, a howling storm, void lightning, mysterious temporal charge, the wind of ages—the mishmash of elements exploded.

The black lion was shocked. Against this overwhelming strength, it felt like a little tabby cat instead.

The confluence of energies transformed into a laser beam, or rather a giant spear, that pierced through heaven and earth.

The black nine-headed lion's divine aura, compared to the incredible energy of chaos, was like a firefly's glow to that of the full moon. It was snuffed out instantly.

The black nine-headed lion tried to flee.

The chaotic energy shot through the world of the trial, but it didn't stop there. It swept through five identical trial worlds in a row before its energy finally dissipated.

A huge hole was pierced through the world of the trial, causing a void storm to spawn. Sand, dust and stone were sent swirling through the air, and Bu Wentian sighed in weariness. "It looks like I have a lot to do now..."

To repair the damaged trial worlds would take an inordinate amount of time.

The total destruction wreaked by all challengers before Fang Yi was less than what Fang Yi had managed all by himself.

At his level, all cultivators knew to judiciously conserve their strength, to not waste excess energy, which significantly reduced the excess destruction of their attacks. For a cultivator like Fang Yi to waste so much energy and pierce through five trial worlds in a row sounded frightening, but it was a tremendous waste of energy.

Bu Wentian sighed. "Your companion wasted far too much energy. If he had been able to control that power, the technique would be four grades more destructive."

Zhang Lie shrugged. "Of course he wants to control it—he just can't."

Bu Wentian gaped. "Then why use such a dangerous technique at all? If he can't control it, what's he doing?"

Zhang Lie gave him a thumbs up. "But it was amazing, wasn't it?"You were shocked by Fang Yi's technique, too.

Bu Wentian didn't know how to respond. He couldn't have expected to be so shocked by the first of Zhang Lie's candidates. He was shocked by the strength of Fang Yi's technique, and shocked again by his lack of control over it.

Zhang Lie smirked inwardly. If Bu Wentian were to learn that Fang Yi had an ultimate technique that he had yet to reveal, what would he say? Would he pass Fang Yi immediately, or kick him out of the trial?

Zhang Lie decided to stay silent and give Bu Wentian a huge surprise.

Kicking Fang Yi out of the trial now would be far too boring.

The black nine-headed lion barely made it out from the killing ray of energy. Half its body had been pierced through, and only four of its nine heads remained. It howled in pain. Even its remaining four heads looked as though they were about to crack.

Fang Yi sighed in exasperation. Though he now had more control over his technique than in the third realm, it still didn't represent full control. If he had been more skilled, the black nine-headed lion would have had all its heads destroyed.

"Better this way." Fang Yi had been very worried that the energy of chaos would even shatter the lion's disaster-grade core.

At the very least, if the black nine-headed lion remained alive, its core would be fine too.

The black nine-headed lion, sensing that Fang Yi's aura had grown considerably weaker and his face pale, immediately understood that such a frightening technique had come at a commensurate cost.

It realized that this was its final chance to strike back. Its black fur stood on end; one of its heads suddenly grew multiple times larger, like an umbral millstone brimming with light.

It opened its maw, transforming the air before itself into a crackling ocean of lightning.

"[Tiger's Howl, Dragon's Bellow]!"

Fang Yi's spear took on the aspect of a dragon of the winds and a storm tiger as he charged forward.

Wind and storm roared around him, and his spear resonated with his genetic energy. The spear which the king of chaos had granted him demonstrated shocking strength, infusing chaotic energy into the mix.

The pitch-black lightning strengthened the effects of the chaotic lightning. The black nine-headed lion growled in fear. It had missed a crucial aspect of the calculus between itself and Fang Yi:

Fang Yi had indeed grown much weaker after launching his technique, but it was severely wounded itself, and might well fare no better than Fang Yi. The black nine-headed lion had been so excited to see his opponent's weakness that it had forgotten about its own injuries.