Yang Qing still maintained his lazy posture with his head resting on his left palm with his right hand placed on the podium.
"The ten-second test starts now…ONE," Yang drummed his index finger once on the podium when he started the count. A sonic wave was produced from the collision and spread toward where the Shen brothers were.
The wolf embedded in their pavise shield transformed almost lifelike as it growled producing a black cloud that was part flame and part ashes as a white glow was produced that siphoned huge pools of qi from the surrounding. However, once the sonic wave clashed against the black ashed flame it was easily parted apart as it slammed itself against the shield.
The explosion that was expected to happen didn't happen. The attack seemed muffled or as if it had been absorbed by some spongy substance but what the Shen brothers experienced seemed to paint a different picture. There was nothing soft in that attack.
The moment the wave collided and disappeared into the shield they felt each of their bodies being bashed in by a massive force that carried the weight of a whole mountain with it. Worse was the force seemed to be evenly spread throughout their whole body. No body part was spared even down to their fingernails and even eyelashes.
CRACK
Part of the shield started creaking as a crack formed from the bottom spreading itself upwards. The Shen brothers were not far off from following the shield's footsteps as cracks started forming from their palms extending to their elbows. They madly roared and tried to block all the pain out as they pumped in more qi to the shield causing it to swell up and fill up the cracks formed on it. The dark cinder white wolf's head also increased in size to almost a meter in length with the dark ash flame it produced doubling in size and intensity. However, despite how big the flame was it couldn't even burn through the courtroom floor or even remotely affect the furniture in the courtroom. The furniture was made of 50,000-year-old red dragon wood which was a monarch-grade material one that was at the very top level as for the floor it was made of storm-devouring rock which could has no other properties other than its capacity to take a beating from an attack of any element as long as it doesn't exceed a peak palace realm cultivator's threshold of attack.
It was for this reason that Yang Qing didn't mind the Shen brothers using whatever means they had at their disposal. This was even without taking into account the various powerful arrays inscribed all over the courtroom just its base strength alone was capable enough to handle whatever attacks and effects that would be produced in those 10 seconds.
"TWO," Yang Qing softly said as he drummed his index finger once more. Just like before it easily parted the humungous dark ash flame and added fresh new cracks to the shield that were even deeper than before. The Shen brothers had their whole hands shredded with blood spraying out like a geyser. However this time the effects didn't just stop there as they soon started bleeding from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
The sonic wave attack didn't just ravage their outside but their innards were also in disarray. Their bones were vibrating and they could feel cracks forming in them too just like the shield. Their organs kept being violently shaken out of position. Their dantian had visible cracks in them which was even more painful than all the other things that were going around their body combined.
The weirdest part was despite how terrifying and powerful the attack was, the Shen brothers had not moved a single inch from the position they had anchored themselves in. It wasn't that they forcefully maintained their position but it seemed like the attack was precisely controlled to destroy them inside and outside while rooting them in place. The force in the attack created some sort of tug-of-war balance in their bodies. They were ravaged back and forth, up and down, side to side which formed a perfect balance of rooting them in place whilst suffering the full brunt of the attack with no energy in the attack being wasted.
When cultivators fought there were several things that determined the winner of the fight. Other than cultivation realms, grade of the cultivation art there was another component that played an equally effective role when the two cultivators had the same realm and their cultivation arts were of a similar grade. This was the proficiency level of the cultivator with their cultivation arts. The higher their proficiency level the better the effects they can draw from their cultivation arts by ensuring no qi and no movements are wasted.
Those with a good level of proficiency can exhibit 70% of the might of a cultivation art and what counted as good proficiency wasn't only calculated from the execution of the attack but how much of the executed attack successfully attack the opponent and to what degree. If one executes 80% of the power of their cultivation art but only half of that power manages to strike the enemy his/her proficiency will only be at 40% despite their skill with cultivation art.
It's for this reason that the institute of the Order regularly arranges life-and-death duels between its students and the convicts who are serving a long sentences. Of course, they intervene whenever a student's life is in extreme peril but the experience from those fights still achieve their intended purpose. As for those with long sentences, they get to shave time off their sentences with the victories they get under their belts but it also comes with the risk of dying in those fights. Though the instructors do take care of all their injuries no matter how severe should they survive till the end of the fight.
"THREE," Yang Qing's soft voice echoed again which now sounded like the grim reaper's voice to the Shen brothers. Zhong Quan who was at the side in view of all this couldn't help but nervously gulp.
"Is this the power of just a single finger," he thought warily as he scooted a few steps away afraid some remnant of the attack would spill over to him.
The flame that was almost 3 meters in height and 4 meters in width had been reduced to a quarter of its earlier size.
The cracks over the shield were evenly spread all over and even some were wide enough to see the Shen brothers through them who were a bloody mess. They had disheveled appearances with blood-soaked robes that had spread all over their bodies even their hair was not spared the blood bath. No single part of them wasn't covered in blood as they heaved with labored breaths. Their earlier determined looks had been broken down into unveiled fear and deep wrenching pain. Their hands were even trembling though one couldn't tell if it was from fear or pain.
Just as Yang Qing was about to continue with his count someone fell over. It was Shen Ding the yellow-robed shifty-looking brother.
"It seems like I can't keep on any longer," he whispered as he passed out the moment his face hit the ground. Shen Shi glanced at him briefly as he bitterly smiled to himself as for Shen Tian he had a listless look in his eyes.
"FOUR," Yang Qing drummed his finger again. This time the moment the attack landed Shen Tian coughed out blood and dropped instantly to the floor unconscious without even a word leaving his lips. Shen Shi was the last brother standing. Just as Yang Qing was about to count again he paused midway.
"It seems he has passed out standing. What an interesting fella it almost seems like he was waiting for his brothers to pass out first so he could too," Yang Qing thought to himself with an amused smile as he stared at Shen Shi whose head was on the shield as his legs buckled into a kneeling position.
"Four seconds, they are much sturdier than I expected. I had them at 2 seconds what about you Yi Jie?" Mao Yunru suddenly asked with shining interest in her eyes just like a seasoned gambler.
"I had them at 3 they would have reached 5 seconds if they decided to use the tenfold cedar to strengthen their bodies instead of powering the dark cinder white wolf," Yi Jie said after some thought.
"I had them at 2 seconds just like sister Mao. They are pretty impressive for surviving without their dantians and meridians shattering. Their arrogance isn't completely unfounded, they must have had some fortuitous encounters to further temper their bodies because I don't see how they would have survived otherwise even with that sky rank shield," Zheng Hu added as he eyed the three brothers like some fascinating specimens
"Why did I end up with troublesome cases today? even the one I thought would be easy had twists. Did that old demon Lei Weiyuan have something to do with it?" Yang Qing held up his chin suspiciously increasingly believing his guess to be true as he flashed to where the three brothers were.
