"What's happening?"
Yu Zhongfu's body froze on the spot, giving Gu Yue an opportunity to dodge.
The next second, Yu Zhongfu regained movement. He looked at Chen Jie in disbelief.
The scene just now was too bizarre; he hadn't reacted at all.
However, seeing Chen Jie's heavily injured body, he didn't take Chen Jie seriously.
He then charged at Gu Yue again: "Today, you will surely die!"
"Your opponent is me!" Chen Jie said nothing more and rushed towards Yu Zhongfu.
Gu Yue's expression grew serious. She hadn't expected Chen Jie to save her at such a critical moment, nor had she expected Chen Jie to immobilize Yu Zhongfu for a second with such strange means.
Gu Yue said, "Chen Jie, this person is too fierce. Only by joining forces can we have a chance of survival!"
"Hmph, a weakling and someone who is dying and heavily injured, and you still want to survive under my hands? Overestimating yourselves!"
Already displeased by Gu Bao and Gu Chong's escape, Yu Zhongfu lost his usual calm composure and spoke impolitely.
"That's not necessarily true!" Gu Yue shouted angrily and proactively met Yu Zhongfu's attack.
Chen Jie had also arrived.
Yu Zhongfu struck at Gu Yue with a palm, his hand emitting a strange flow of light, a manifestation of spiritual energy.
He intended to kill Gu Yue with one palm strike before dealing with Chen Jie.
Gu Yue's heart filled with dread. She felt a world-ending energy emanating from the opponent's palm. She feared that if she faced this palm strike, she would be severely injured, if not killed.
"Get away, you're no match for him!" Chen Jie shouted and met the palm strike with his own.
At that instant, Gu Yue felt a surge of emotion. She hadn't expected Chen Jie, despite his severe injuries, to actively shield her.
At the same time, a strange feeling began to grow within her.
Women liked men stronger than themselves, and even more so, they liked the feeling of being cared for and protected.
No matter how strong-willed Gu Yue was, or how aloof she believed herself to be, her fundamental nature wouldn't change.
When the moment truly arrived, her instinct couldn't help but be moved.
But in the next second, Gu Yue was plunged into shock once more.
Because Chen Jie, dragging his heavily injured body, had actually taken Yu Zhongfu's palm strike. He had only staggered back a few steps and didn't look like someone who had been crippled.
"You're so heavily injured, and yet you could take my full-force palm strike?" Yu Zhongfu said in disbelief.
Chen Jie wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression calm and composed.
"If I weren't injured, how could I have lured you into attacking? Did you really think Gu Chong and Gu Bao could injure me? Even you, in front of me, are nothing but trash!"
The reason Chen Jie had retreated earlier was because he hadn't yet used his cultivation abilities.
"You were faking it?" Yu Zhongfu was greatly alarmed.
Gu Yue also looked at Chen Jie in shock.
She had personally witnessed Chen Jie taking several solid blows and spitting blood.
Now, Chen Jie was telling her that it was all a pretense. How was that possible?
Considering that Gu Bao alone was stronger than her, and Gu Chong even more so, how could Chen Jie withstand such powerful attacks without getting hurt?
It seemed impossible.
He Yifei and Wang Xiaoyan also looked at Chen Jie with a mixture of surprise and joy.
They hadn't expected all of this to be Chen Jie's act.
In that case, Chen Jie was perfectly fine?
In the distance, Jiang Xue and Lin Shuang, who were about to help Chen Jie, smiled upon hearing this.
"I thought it was strange earlier, Chen Jie's strength should be considerable. How could he get injured so easily? So that's how it is."
Jiang Xue sneered, "Have you forgotten who he is?"
Lin Shuang gave her a surprised look but said no more.
"Hahaha... Chen Jie, I knew it. Since you're one of us, these low-level martial artists would be no match for you. How could you get injured?"
Yu Zhongfu wasn't surprised but pleased. In his eyes, even if Chen Jie wasn't faking it, he must have been seriously injured.
Facing so many powerful opponents, even if he wasn't injured, his body must have been greatly depleted.
"One of us? Chen Jie, what kind of people are you?" Gu Yue looked at Chen Jie with curiosity.
She suddenly felt that Chen Jie was rather mysterious.
"Show me your true abilities, let me see how strong you really are!"
Yu Zhongfu gave Chen Jie no chance to speak and directly channeled his spiritual energy, launching a furious assault on Chen Jie.
"This Yu Zhongfu is probably at the ninth level of Qi Condensation. Let's see how strong my martial arts are against a cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Condensation!"
Chen Jie once again mustered his internal energy and met the attack.
Soon, he reached a conclusion.
He had been fighting solely with his martial arts strength, and his internal energy was now nearly depleted. He couldn't defeat Yu Zhongfu relying purely on martial arts.
However, Chen Jie realized that if his internal energy hadn't been so heavily consumed earlier, he might have been able to fight Yu Zhongfu to a draw with his martial arts alone.
His martial arts strength was equivalent to that of a cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Condensation!
Because his internal energy was exceptionally pure, it was no weaker even when facing spiritual energy.
It seemed the teachings of his master were indeed not bad!
But if Chen Jie was this strong, the same couldn't be said for Gu Chong and the others.
Chen Jie had clearly sensed earlier that Yu Zhongfu's spiritual energy seemed inherently superior to the internal energy of Gu Chong and the others.
This indicated that the cultivation techniques they practiced were not the most perfect.
"Aren't you going to reveal your true strength? Stop pretending! Chen Jie, show me your real power!"
Yu Zhongfu was pushing Chen Jie back step by step, but his expression grew increasingly serious.
The longer Chen Jie delayed in using his cultivation abilities, the better his foundation must be.
The longer this dragged on, the less chance he had of winning.
He was now even considering his situation in terms of winning chances, which he found incredible.
"What true strength?"
Gu Yue was bewildered.
The other women were no different.
Did Chen Jie have any true strength left?
How come they didn't know?
They had clearly seen Chen Jie being pushed back.
"It's here!"
As Chen Jie was passively taking hits, the internal energy in his dantian surged.
It began to grow rapidly.
Simultaneously, his body's resilience increased.
He had actually broken through!
Chen Jie was both surprised and delighted.
His martial arts strength had broken through again, and this time, it was a major realm.
"Still not revealing your true strength! Die!"
Yu Zhongfu suddenly sensed a heart-pounding energy from Chen Jie and began to panic.
He frantically attacked Chen Jie.
Chen Jie was in a state of profound enlightenment.
As Yu Zhongfu's attack arrived, Chen Jie simply turned his head, dodged, and with a flick of his hand, two fingers clamped onto Yu Zhongfu's palm.
Yu Zhongfu's hand instantly felt like it was caught in iron pincers, unable to move.
"How is this possible!" Yu Zhongfu cried out in disbelief.