Chapter 379: The Competition's Hidden Health Bar (Thanks to 'hotpick')

Chapter 379: The Hidden Health Bar of the Competition (Thanks to 'hotpick' for the alliance leader reward)

Once Zhang Yu was buried in the subterranean cavity by Ma Xuan, he knew he had to hasten his escape.

For in the time he had been interred, his side had already lost a combatant on the field.

"If Ma Xuan and his team seize this window to eliminate one of ours... we shall be in dire straits."

Zhang Yu understood that while deaths were rare in the civil engineering competition, students surrendering and withdrawing from a match were common.

After all, medical bills, prosthetic repairs, and the maintenance of magical artifacts were costs the contestants bore themselves.

Once a fighter suffered repeated trauma, and the expenses exceeded their financial threshold, surrender became a pragmatic choice.

"Our team's overall strength is already inferior to Ma Xuan's."

"With me absent, the pressure on Che Yufei and Shi Yunxiang will only mount."

"If their bodies and prosthetics are continuously damaged..."

Zhang Yu reasoned that if he were in their position, surrender would be the logical path; otherwise, even a victory would be rendered meaningless by the debt incurred from repairs.

"In this competition, beyond the visible health bar, every contestant possesses a hidden one: their personal wealth."

"The greater one's financial resources, the more damage one can sustain, and the longer one can fight to the bitter end."

"The poorer one is, the less one can afford to lose, and the more likely one is to surrender."

Zhang Yu knew full well that while he was trapped underground, his teammates' savings were evaporating by the second.

He had to return to the fray before anyone else on his side was forced out.

As these thoughts surged, a figure of martial energy manifested behind him, radiating a chilling aura.

Within the waves of frost, the skeletal frame of the figure coalesced, and in mere seconds, it transformed into a Deep-Cold Warrior.

Boom!

As the warrior struck the ceiling of earth with a heavy fist, a cascade of soil tumbled down.

Immediately, another Deep-Cold Warrior followed, its blow rattling the very ground above Zhang Yu’s head.

One after another, these warriors emerged, fueled by Zhang Yu’s energy, unleashing a storm of fists.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom...

After summoning nine warriors, Zhang Yu himself invoked the Star-Vault Pulse-Surging Technique, driving his own fists upward with a spiraling, seismic force.

Beneath the earth, it was as if a small engineering crew had suddenly appeared; led by Zhang Yu, the barrage of fists carved a path through the suffocating soil.

The tremors grew more violent as he ascended, sending increasingly alarming signals to the surface.

Just as Ma Xuan began to notice the subterranean vibrations...

With a thunderous roar, Zhang Yu and his nine Deep-Cold Warriors burst through the surface, reclaiming the battlefield.

Zhang Yu: "My apologies for the delay."

On the field, Cong Na and Yang Yan were holding the front line.

Ji Yuanshu provided long-range bombardment from afar.

At the construction site, only Ma Xuan remained, controlling the field with his "Small Triad," alongside the busy builders Bu Ziran and Ji Susu.

The three were stunned by Zhang Yu’s sudden eruption from the earth.

Ma Xuan knew exactly how he had buried Zhang Yu; he had calculated that with Zhang Yu’s cultivation, it would take at least twenty minutes to escape—enough time to break the opposing line.

By then, Zhang Yu’s return would be too late to alter the outcome, and Ma Xuan would have ample time to finish him off.

Glancing at the nine warriors, Ma Xuan mused, "Did he use these to speed up the process? His energy consumption must be immense..."

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu swept the field with a gaze burning for battle: "Now... let us resume our fight."

The nine warriors flickered, charging toward Bu Ziran and Ji Susu in a gale of frost.

Bu Ziran roared, stepping forward to intercept: "I'll take him!"

Simultaneously, a message flashed across his teammates' ocular prosthetics.

Bu Ziran: "He has fought until now and used massive energy to dig his way out; he must be depleted and weak."

"He is bluffing to disrupt our construction and prevent Ma Xuan from supporting the front."

"Do not fall for his provocation; I will handle him."

Bu Ziran’s lung-prosthetic vibrated, and a blade of lung-gold energy coalesced at his fingertips.

With a flick of his finger, he unleashed the Profound Gold Free-Form Sword, slashing toward the incoming warriors.

His lung-prosthetic was designed to condense and store lung-gold energy with every breath.

The Profound Gold Free-Form Sword was a technique specifically crafted to shatter martial energy.

By channeling his lung-gold energy into this expert-level technique, he pushed its power far beyond its standard limits.

With a flurry of slashes, Bu Ziran tore a warrior to pieces. But before he could smile at the success of his bluff, a terrifying cold current erupted from the shattered remains.

Frost-poison surged into Bu Ziran’s body along with the dissipating energy, turning his skin purple and causing his internal temperature to plummet.

"How does Zhang Yu still have such reserves?"

Seeing the eight remaining warriors charging, Bu Ziran panicked, feeling his body temperature drop, and retreated.

He realized the dilemma instantly.

"Destroy these things, and I get poisoned."

"Leave them, and they destroy our project."

Bu Ziran felt a deep sense of revulsion; Zhang Yu was as nauseating to fight as his constructs.

He shouted: "Ji Susu, circulate your energy to raise your body temperature before attacking them!"

In an instant, both Bu Ziran and Ji Susu were forced to halt their work, struggling to warm themselves while dodging the onslaught of the eight warriors.

While Zhang Yu held them at bay, his own muscles bulged as he pushed the War-Demon Meteor-Life Technique to its limit, lunging toward Ma Xuan like a gale-force wind.

Ma Xuan glanced at his struggling teammates, then at the charging Zhang Yu, thinking, "He wants to challenge me while dealing with them?"

"How arrogant."

Yet, Ma Xuan did not release his "Small Triad" to engage Zhang Yu.

He calculated: "If I drop the Triad, Shi Weiyu and the others will rush in."

"If a full-scale brawl breaks out on the site, the situation will spiral into disaster."

"By comparison, Zhang Yu... what does it matter if I take a few hits?"

As Ma Xuan deliberated, Zhang Yu arrived, his War-Demon technique driving a Limitless Seismic Palm, tearing through the frost as he struck at Ma Xuan’s head.

Bang!

A surging protective aura rose from Ma Xuan, blocking the blow.

But feeling the biting chill within Zhang Yu’s fist, Ma Xuan could not help but frown.

Zhang Yu smiled at him and asked calmly: "How will you choose?"

"Shall I beat you into a frozen statue, or shall I let Shi Huaiyu and the others storm in to wreak havoc?"

"Ma Xuan, it is your turn to choose."

Looking at Zhang Yu before him, Ma Xuan replied indifferently: "Zhang Yu, the Nine Heavens Void Force has granted you a confidence you have no right to possess."

"I will not let Shi Huaiyu and his lot inside."

"And you... you cannot harm me."

As he spoke, a speck of gold bloomed from the center of Ma Xuan’s brow, spreading instantly to engulf his entire body, wrapping him in a swirling, luminous halo.

Watching the incantations ripple and drift beneath Ma Xuan’s golden skin, Zhang Yu’s eyes narrowed as he thought: "A dermal Dharma-remnant?"

He took a screenshot and sent it to the competition group, receiving an immediate answer from Tian Yang.

Tian Yang: That is the Vajra Spell-Skin of the Vajra Profound Craft. Once activated, it triggers the Vajra Protection Spell, granting immense resistance to both physical blows and magical arts. Ordinary methods cannot break it.

A thought stirred in Zhang Yu’s mind: "A Daoist-type Dharma-remnant, of all things?"

Zhang Yu unleashed a flurry of punches, but his surging aura was completely repelled by the golden halo; Ma Xuan’s body remained motionless, seemingly unaffected by the force of Zhang Yu’s strikes.

Seeing this, a confident smile tugged at the corners of Ma Xuan’s mouth, sensing that the situation had returned to his control.

But in the next heartbeat, another figure lunged out from the tunnel Zhang Yu had excavated.

"Xiao Qingxuan?!"

As Xiao Qingxuan emerged from the hole, wreathed in dragon-shaped auras, a flash of astonishment crossed Ma Xuan’s eyes.

Yet, he understood instantly: "No wonder he barely acted on the main battlefield... has this fellow been digging tunnels the entire time? No, Shi Huaiyu must have been assisting him from the front lines."

"And since Zhang Yu was also digging a path upward, he simply tunneled into Zhang Yu’s position, saving a vast amount of time and magical energy..."

In Ma Xuan’s mind, the process unfolded: Shi Huaiyu manipulating the earth to assist, Xiao Qingxuan digging the first half of the tunnel, Zhang Yu the second, until the two paths converged.

Observing the dragon-shaped auras surrounding his opponent, Ma Xuan realized why the man had been able to strike intermittently on the battlefield.

"His true body was underground, using aura with a range of nearly a hundred meters to support the battlefield through the tunnels, creating the illusion that he was still present."

Watching Zhang Yu and Xiao Qingxuan exchange a knowing smile, Ma Xuan understood they must have coordinated everything moments ago.

"This is troublesome."

As Xiao Qingxuan appeared and struck out with his palm, sending nine dragon-shaped auras, each over a hundred meters long, crashing toward the half-finished bunker, Ma Xuan realized he no longer had the luxury of choice or hesitation.

(End of chapter)