Chapter 252: Zhang Yu's Foundation Establishment

Chapter 252: Zhang Yu Forms the Base

"Not good!"

Chi He lunged frantically to the side.

In that exact heartbeat, a streak of sword light materialized from the encroaching shadows, striking down like a bolt of cosmic thunder upon the scrambling man.

Staring at the silhouette wreathed in that blinding radiance, Chi He glared with eyes near to bursting: "Bai Zhenzhen!"

"That madwoman! She didn't flee... she stayed back to ambush me?!"

From the very moment she resolved to strike, Bai Zhenzhen had no intention of squandering a single advantage.

"The enemy knows we intend to purchase the Celestial Spiritual Root, so they will keep their eyes glued to the courier delivery. That means wherever the delivery address is, that is where the battlefield will be."

"In other words, I choose the battlefield, and I can set the trap in advance."

Having crouched in ambush along the outer perimeter of the factory for what felt like an eternity, the moment she spotted Chi He, she marked him as her first target.

"Wang Yin's lapdog. He must be the one leading the hunting party this time."

"Cut him down first, and it will throw them into utter chaos."

Channeling the inner mantras of the Cold Soul Ice Heart Technique, she whipped her physical form into a state of hyper-vitality amid this desperate crisis, forcing her muscles and nerves to react with lethal celerity.

With her True Spiritual Root as an anchor, she marshaled every ounce of raw physical strength throughout her body, erupting into a strike of ultimate devastation.

Utilizing the localized electrical field she had woven beforehand with the Nine Heavens Thunder Step, she catalyzed her own speed to its absolute limit.

And with the Thunder God's Thunderbolt Absolute, she unleashed the entirety of her lightning-attributed spiritual essence in a single, breathless instant, executing this blindingly fast slash...

Though Bai Zhenzhen’s raw, foundational strength had stagnated since the conclusion of the Foundation Establishment Examination, her continuous cultivation, the deep refinement of her techniques, and her ceaseless contemplation of swordcraft had granted her a profound, ever-deepening comprehension of her own martial path—and of that supersonic strike she had once delivered in the exam hall.

This sudden explosion of power culminated in a strike that shook the heavens, clean through Chi He's chest in a flash, leaving a gaping, hollow ruin.

Boom!

The strike, akin to a heavenly blade forged of pure lightning, instantly arrested the attention of every other master in the area.

Met with a sea of gazes painted in shock, bewilderment, fury, and mounting dread, Bai Zhenzhen bellowed toward the crowd: "The Inspection Team is executing a mission! Who else seeks death? Let this man be your answer!"

With a brutal kick, she sent the half-dead form of Chi He flying through the air, before adding coldly: "Allow me to remind you all: killing you now violates no law. If any of you dare raise a hand against me, prepare to watch your families ruined and your fortunes stripped away."

The moment the final syllable left her lips, she triggered the residual charge of the Nine Heavens Thunder Step's electrical field, shooting backward like a phantom.

Simultaneously, through the rhythmic cadence of her internal breathing, her True Spiritual Root began frantically drawing in the ambient spiritual energy of the world, replenishing her drained reserves.

After nine months of rigorous cultivation, she was now capable of maintaining a vital spark of circulation even after unleashing the total devastation of the Thunder God’s Thunderbolt Absolute. Paired with the swift restoration offered by her True Spiritual Root, she no longer faced the fatal vulnerability of being left entirely spent.

With the True Spiritual Root fueling her, every breath she stole in the heat of battle restored another fraction of her power to sustain the fight.

Awed by that single, murderous stroke and her thunderous proclamations, the remaining Qi Condensation masters on the field seemed frozen in place, watching helplessly as she retreated into the darkness.

Just then, a sudden torrent of divine power cascaded from the heavens, surging directly into Chi He's broken body.

The flesh of his moribund form began to knit back together at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Someone cried out in astonishment: "It's a surgical talisman from the Ministry of Health!"

In the same breath, every mobile phone in the area chimed in unison, automatically answering to broadcast the cold, resonant voice of Wang Yin.

"I am channeling the talismans from afar; you need not fear death."

"As for financial ruin... no matter how grievous your losses in the coming battle, I shall compensate you twofold."

"And when the dust settles, my rewards have never disappointed those who serve me."

Stirred by Wang Yin's grand declarations, the crowd felt their spirits surge.

After all, Director Wang's boundless generosity and lavish spending were well known to everyone present; a few calculated words were all it took to ignite their fighting spirit anew.

Ye Mantian took the vanguard, hurtling like an arrow toward the direction Bai Zhenzhen had fled.

"Capture her!"

Watching the scene unfold, Bai Zhenzhen’s heart sank.

Seeing Chi He—whom she had barely managed to cripple by exhausting nearly all her spiritual power—mend his wounds in the blink of an eye, she could not help but curse inwardly: "Damned filthy rich bastards."

"This is going to be a brutal fight."

Yet, a quiet sense of relief washed over her. It was fortunate she possessed the shield of her status as an Inspection Team member, and Deng Binting had assured her that the true gods of either faction would not directly descend into the fray.

Otherwise, that celestial talisman would likely have been directed at her instead.

"Hmph."

Glancing back at the crowd pursuing her like rabid hounds unleashed from their cages, Bai Zhenzhen spun around, trailing a slipstream of electric sparks as she vanished into the night.

"Come then."

"Let us see just how many times you can die by my blade!"

...

While the legion of masters from the Oasis Group were thoroughly diverted by Bai Zhenzhen’s gambit,

Zhang Yu slipped quietly out from the shadows of a commercial plaza.

Looking down at the container held fast against his chest, he let out a slow, measured breath.

Resting inside that box... was the Celestial Spiritual Root he had just secured within the depths of the plaza.

As for the courier delivery meant to draw their foes, it was nothing more than a cash-on-delivery ruse engineered to misdirect their gaze.

Navigating deep into the pre-arranged sanctuary of the underground sewers, Zhang Yu unlatched the box, well aware that from this moment until his foundation was fully forged, he could not afford to move an inch.

He murmured silently in his heart: "Zhenzhen, hold on."

"The moment I form my base, I will come for you."

Without further hesitation, Zhang Yu swallowed the Celestial Spiritual Root whole, initiating the painful, intricate process of merging the root into his flesh to break through the barrier of Foundation Establishment.

... In the whistling rush of clashing air,

over a dozen silhouettes tore through the narrow alleyways in a desperate game of predator and prey, the silence broken by the sporadic, violent rings of brief engagements.

As a battlefield hand-picked by Bai Zhenzhen, this abandoned industrial sector was a labyrinthine sprawl of tangled alleys, subterranean tunnels, and skeletal, half-finished structures.

In their relentless pursuit of her, the variations in speed among the dozen-odd hunters, compounded by the treacherous terrain, quickly fractured their formation.

At the absolute front of the pack was Ye Mantian, trailing a mere dozen meters behind her heels.

The laggards of the hunt had already been cast more than a hundred meters into the distance.

Thus, when Bai Zhenzhen executed a sudden, violent halt, pivoting on her heel with sword bared, the only adversary standing before her in that singular moment was the overextended Ye Mantian.

Ye Mantian understood the reality of the situation in an instant... Though Bai Zhenzhen was still hunted by an entire squad of experts, in this precise breath of time, he could rely on no one but himself.

Boom!

With a fierce roar, the muscles across Ye Mantian's frame swelled violently as he threw both fists forward with the devastating force of siege rams.

"Stay right there!"

He remained confident that if he could merely ensnare her for the space of a few breaths, his companions would swiftly bridge the gap.

And with his caliber of strength, even if victory eluded him, how could he fail to survive a mere handful of heartbeats?

Yet, under Night Mantian's shocked gaze, Bai Zhenzhen neither parried nor dodged, nor did she evade; she simply raised her head and charged straight at his iron palms.

Night Mantian knew that Bai Zhenzhen was by no means a master of external martial arts, nor had she trained in any iron-head technique; one strike from his palm could very well shatter her skull.

"Not good!"

Night Mantian remembered all too clearly that Wang Yin and Chi He had repeatedly instructed him that Bai Zhenzhen must not be killed.

Wang Yin: "Even if you yourselves are severely injured, you must never kill Bai Zhenzhen!"

"Dead or alive, fresh or frozen—the price difference is like heaven and earth!"

Night Mantian let out a furious roar, abruptly withdrawing his palms and pulling back his strength.

Having just unleashed his full power, he now had to suddenly retract it, feeling as though he were fighting against himself; his muscles and sinews twisted as if sprained, and the mana within his body clashed chaotically.

But Bai Zhenzhen seemed to have anticipated this all along; the tips of her fingers carried a flash of thunderous sword light, leaping past Night Mantian's rigid body.

With a loud bang, a burst of blood light flickered across Night Mantian's body—his hands, feet, eyes, and dantian—all swept by the sword light.

Then, with a thud, Night Mantian collapsed to the ground, left to watch helplessly as Bai Zhenzhen's retreating figure.

Night Mantian thought to himself: "This woman... she's a madwoman. Wasn't she afraid I wouldn't hold back just now? She was practically gambling with her life."

Meanwhile, Bai Zhenzhen glanced at the power of the surgical talisman settling on Night Mantian's body, watching as he began to heal, and mused inwardly: "Indeed... since there's such a remote healing method, not killing him is the best outcome."

"Though I had some confidence just now that I could slay this man."

"But once I made a killing move, under the threat of death... even if he had Wang Yin's restraint, he might not have continued to hold back against me at the critical moment."

Watching Chi He, who had circled around to block her path ahead, Bai Zhenzhen assessed her own mana reserves, and with a flicker of her form, she veered off in another direction.

Thus, relying on the complex terrain, she fought and retreated, occasionally leaving behind an electric field to accelerate suddenly, sometimes actively risking her life to break through encirclements, and at other times gathering sword techniques to unleash the fifteenth strike of the Ten Thousand Swords Without End, breaking the sound barrier...

Bai Zhenzhen charged left and right, dragging the fight out for over forty minutes.

But the encirclement tightened around her, leaving less and less room for her to maneuver.

Just as it seemed she would be captured, she slashed open a manhole cover with her sword and leaped to dive inside.

"Physical strength, mana, and room to maneuver are all nearly at their limits," Bai Zhenzhen thought to herself. "Following the escape route I prepared earlier... I'll withdraw for now."

Under the furious gazes of Chi He, Night Mantian, and the others, a figure suddenly burst out from the sewer.

It was none other than Zhou Yang of the Zhou family.

With his appearance disguised, he had even hidden his title of Purple-Gold Merit Lord; with a low shout, boundless cold air enveloped Bai Zhenzhen.

Feeling the terrifying chill that seemed to freeze her very blood, Bai Zhenzhen stared at him in disbelief: "Who is this guy? When did he get here?"

Zhou Yang had begun his actions the moment he learned that the Green Oasis Group was hunting down Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

On one hand, he wanted to see if he could seize the opportunity to capture them.

On the other hand, with the Zhou family in steady decline, he sought to curry favor with Wang Yin and secure a way out for himself.

So he had been gathering intelligence, tracking Chi He and the others, and when he discovered the conflict erupting, he silently waited for an opportunity... finally arriving at this moment.

With the full force of his Frost Sky Freeze Field unleashed, Zhou Yang struck out fiercely with his palm.

With a thunderous boom, Bai Zhenzhen hastily met the blow with her own palm; her body temperature plummeted rapidly, and patches of frost instantly formed on her arms and face.

With a crash, Bai Zhenzhen slammed into the wall, vomiting a mouthful of icy blood that exuded waves of cold air.

Just as she was about to leap back, Zhou Yang's hand gently pressed onto her shoulder.

As streams of cold air surged into her body, Bai Zhenzhen was completely subdued on the spot.

Chi He and the others surrounded them, glancing at the disguised Zhou Yang and the restrained Bai Zhenzhen, frowning as they asked, "Who are you?"

Zhou Yang nodded politely and said, "Just a nobody who wants to work for Mr. Wang."

Chi He sneered, "Hand Bai Zhenzhen over to us."

"I'll take you to see Mr. Wang shortly."

Zhou Yang's heart leaped with joy, and he was about to hand Bai Zhenzhen over when suddenly a thick white fog spread around them.

The factories, alleys, and buildings were instantly swallowed by the white mist, as if the entire factory area had been pulled into another world.

At the same time, Zhang Yu's icy voice drifted slowly from within the fog.

"Clown, take your filthy paw off her."

(The chapter ends)