Chapter 538: Bonds (Thanks to 'Qiandie Aomie' for Gifting Alliance Leader)

Chapter 538: Bonds (Thanks to 'Qianjie Aomie' for the grandmaster donation)

The next moment, the figures of Wuying and Xiao Qingxuan collided violently, the friction and expansion of their aura whipping up waves of air that swept outward.

At the same time, a heavy iron hammer appeared in Xiao Qingxuan’s hand, though none could say from where.

In his mind, the words of Director Gao echoed once more.

"This Mountain-Moving Hammer is a magical artifact I used during my Golden Core stage. With the current winds of change and unpredictable times, I’ve had it reforged by the magnetic pole experts; take it and use it for now."

"But it is a Golden Core artifact after all. Do not use it lightly. Keep it only for the most desperate moments, to protect yourself and to protect Zhang Yu."

On the other side, Wuying’s expression flickered slightly, a thought racing through his mind: "Is this fellow using the art of the External Core?"

"Ancient External Core techniques?"

"But this guy shouldn't even possess a Golden Core qualification certificate."

With that thought, Wuying used his ocular prosthetic to record the battle unfolding before him.

Though he still held the memory of his opponent's face, it was a pity that as he recorded... the figure was already completely shrouded in surging aura.

From this footage alone, it would be difficult to confirm his identity.

Yet Wuying did not care; the recording was merely a secondary task. Once he defeated his opponent and forced him into the Demonic Sect, he would have no shortage of ways to hold leverage over him.

"A mere False Core, and you dare to challenge me?"

While Xiao Qingxuan and Wuying were locked in fierce combat, Shi Yunxiang and Ying Xin, who had been frantically excavating the ground nearby, unleashed their cultivation simultaneously, carving a massive pit into the earth in the blink of an eye.

Amidst their long, piercing cries, Zhang Yu, Yu Xinghan, Shi Huaiyu, and Xiao Qingxuan all took note of the opening.

Through a series of collisions, Xiao Qingxuan and Wuying had shifted their position toward the edge of the great pit.

"Trying to run?" Wuying smiled faintly. "Do you truly believe you can escape?"

In a lightning-fast exchange, Wuying moved a step ahead of Xiao Qingxuan, blocking the path to the pit to prevent their retreat.

But in the next moment of their struggle, Wuying realized that his opponent seemed to be forcing him backward, toward the chasm.

Under the violent bombardment of the Mountain-Moving Hammer, Wuying’s body was forced to retreat step by step.

Wuying stomped hard, attempting to halt his momentum and counter-charge.

But at that same instant, the ground beneath his feet crumbled under Yu Xinghan’s control, causing him to step into thin air.

Hah!

With a roar, Wuying’s aura surged in a counter-blast, pushing his body back upward.

Shi Huaiyu unleashed the Earth-Sha gravity, forming layers of resistance that stood like a wall before him.

Xiao Qingxuan raised the Mountain-Moving Hammer and brought it crashing down once more.

"Get lost!" Wuying bellowed. After absorbing the brunt of his opponent's heavy strike, he fell slightly into the pit, intending to launch himself back out immediately.

But the next moment, following a violent strike from Ying Xin and Shi Yunxiang, blinding electric light erupted beneath Wuying’s feet.

Ying Xin thought to herself: "This is the mana circuit that powers the meta-magnetic conduit..."

Shi Yunxiang looked at Wuying, who was being swallowed by the electric light, and mused: "With the power of the meta-magnetic conduit, capable of transporting tens of thousands of tons of material per second, to be instantly pierced by its internal mana circuits and struck by such violent electromagnetic force... even a Golden Core..."

As civil engineering students who had long worked on construction sites, they understood the structure of the University City intimately, knowing the distribution of every major mana and spiritual energy circuit.

It was only under the pressure of the Demonic Sect’s Golden Core that their minds had initially gone blank, leaving them unable to muster the will to resist.

But once Zhang Yu stood before them, and after Yu Xinghan, Shi Huaiyu, and Xiao Qingxuan rose up one by one, they finally realized the form their own resistance could take.

The moment they finished digging the pit, the other civil engineering students grasped their intent, reaching a silent consensus.

At this very moment, as the building's mana circuits were actively ruptured by Ying Xin and Shi Yunxiang, Wuying fell directly into the breach, and muffled thuds echoed from the ground.

In an instant, countless meta-magnetic conduits were affected and damaged, a sight that left Ying Xin and Shi Yunxiang trembling with fear.

Both thought in terror: "Destroying public infrastructure... if they find out it was us, heaven knows how much we’ll have to pay in damages."

But the very next moment...

Roar!

With a furious cry, Wuying, his body wreathed in electric light and his flesh continuously tearing apart, surged upward, desperate to crawl out of the pit.

Xiao Qingxuan roared, raising the Mountain-Moving Hammer to meet him again: "Hold him down!"

"Die, damn you!" Yu Xinghan unleashed the Lesser Triad, continuously destroying the ground beneath Wuying’s feet to deny him any leverage.

Shi Huaiyu poured out all her strength, her Heaven-Kunlun Mountain-Moving divine power manifesting as countless invisible arms, dragging Wuying down with frantic desperation.

She screamed in her heart: "How can I let you live! Today, either you die or we do!"

Flames suddenly erupted from Wuying’s body, as if he had triggered some secret art, allowing him to block the successive waves of attacks. He was on the verge of breaking free.

Just then, Zhang Yu appeared before him.

"When did this guy show up?!"

Wuying was startled, and then he saw that the blood-soaked right arm of his opponent had been replaced by a magical prosthetic.

His peripheral vision darted toward the distance, toward the spot where he had discarded Mo Shangjin’s remains.

He saw Le Mulan clutching Zhang Yu’s severed arm, pouring deep, icy mana into it.

Wuying’s heart shook: "After this brat disappeared earlier... he went to detach his own injured arm and replaced it with Mo Shangjin’s prosthetic?"

Not only had he replaced it with Mo Shangjin’s prosthetic, but Zhang Yu had also used the Nine Heavens Cloud Sky Force to accumulate a fresh cycle of Heaven-Kunlun Mountain-Moving divine power. Thus, a dual-layered Heaven-Kunlun divine force erupted, channeled through his prosthetic arm, transforming him into a white comet that crashed down upon the head of the man trying to claw his way out of the earth.

This time, Zhang Yu did not use the Civil Engineering Saint Body to reinforce his defense; instead, he switched to the Martial Saint Body, pushing the Heaven-Kunlun Mountain-Moving divine power and the Nine Heavens Cloud Sky Force to their absolute limit...

Bang!

Facing Wuying’s desperate resistance, Zhang Yu’s flesh began to rupture, his entire body appearing as if it were about to be completely pulverized.

And Wuying, facing this ultimate strike from Zhang Yu, was forced to fall back down once more.

At the same time, the attacks from Yu Xinghan, Shi Huaiyu, and Xiao Qingxuan poured down again.

Beneath his feet, the surging electromagnetic mana poured into his body, the violent force shattering his meridians and flesh, erasing everything within his physical form.

"Damn it!"

Wuying widened his eyes, using his ocular prosthetic to watch everything before him, desperate to record the scene.

"Damn it!"

He struggled to connect to the Spirit Realm, trying to transmit everything his prosthetic had captured.

But the violent electromagnetic mana interfered with the magical components within him, causing his ocular prosthetic to flicker incessantly. Forget connecting to the Spirit Realm; he couldn't even maintain the recording.

"I..."

With a thunderous boom, Wuying’s body was completely swallowed by the electric light, and he fell silent forever.

On the other side, Zhang Yu collapsed backward, covered in blood, and was caught by Le Mulan. A massive surge of icy mana poured into his body, sealing his wounds.

At the same time, she sliced her own arm, feeding him her blood, which was rich with medicinal properties.

Feeling the medicine surge through his body, Zhang Yu opened his mouth wide, sucking forcefully on Le Mulan’s arm.

Nearby, Xiao Qingxuan followed closely, beginning to treat Zhang Yu with ancient medical arts.

A moment later, Xiao Qingxuan, while practicing his ancient medical arts, cast an unexpected glance at Le Mulan, seemingly stunned by the effects of her deep-freeze mana.

Feeling Xiao Qingxuan’s gaze, Le Mulan’s heart skipped a beat: "Has he discovered the properties of the deep-freeze mana? The effect of extending life?"

Yet, looking at Zhang Yu, who lay before her in a state of near-total fragmentation, Le Mulan gritted her teeth and did not cease the infusion of her frigid power.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu, his mind clouded and heavy, summoned every ounce of his strength to shift his chain-law diagrams from the Martial Saint Body back to the Earth-Wood Saint Body.

In an instant, his life force, which had been plummeting, stabilized and began to recover under the dual ministrations of Xiao Qingxuan and Le Mulan.

His flesh and blood, infused with the circulating heart-method, regained vitality and commenced a process of continuous self-healing.

Zhang Yu exhaled a long breath of relief: "It is fortunate that the Green Lotus Sword Embryo retained so many effects from the various chain-law sets, otherwise Wuying’s final strike... might have killed me outright."

While Le Mulan and Xiao Qingxuan tended to Zhang Yu, Shi Huaiyu, standing nearby, struck out with a palm from a distance, seizing Li Xiao.

The transformed Li Xiao opened his gaping maw, as if attempting to utter something.

But Shi Huaiyu gave him no such opportunity; she splayed her five fingers, unleashing the surging, mountain-moving divine power of Tiankunlun, which tore Li Xiao’s body asunder.

"Why!" Li Xiao’s eyes bulged as he stared at Zhang Yu, surrounded by his companions, his heart roaring with bitter resentment: "Why must you all risk your lives to help him?"

Shock, terror, fury... and jealousy surged incessantly through Li Xiao’s mind.

"Why did you not help me back then?!"

"Why... why..."

Li Xiao struggled to open his mouth, screaming his own name in the depths of his soul.

"At least... at least I must let you know, know that it was I, Li Xiao, know that it was because you offended me, Li Xiao, that you would..."

The next moment, his body was pulverized repeatedly by Shi Huaiyu, until it dissolved entirely into a mist of blood drifting through the air.

Immediately thereafter, Shi Huaiyu turned and approached the massive crater of the mana circuit.

The circuits within had entered a state of disconnection, triggered by emergency protocols following the malfunction.

Gazing at the charred remains of the Demonic Sect’s Golden Core, Shi Huaiyu once again invoked the mountain-moving power of Tiankunlun, crushing it into nothingness to ensure the total destruction of the evidence.

Yet, just as she finished, Shi Huaiyu noticed a black orb remaining amidst the pulverized remains, appearing entirely unscathed.

As Shi Huaiyu furrowed her brow, contemplating how to handle the orb, Zhang Yu’s voice drifted from behind her.

"Could you bring that to me?"

As Zhang Yu spoke, Fu Ji urged him incessantly in his mind: "Take that orb into your hand; that thing... that thing must have been crafted by a high-ranking evil god."

Fu Ji thought with a hint of excitement: "Did they succeed? Did they truly manage it?"

The moment Zhang Yu grasped the orb, he felt his consciousness forge a connection with it.

The next instant, under Fu Ji’s guidance, Zhang Yu felt his intent being dragged along, passing through layers of the spirit realm via the orb, until he arrived in an unknown expanse.

Beneath a vast, starry sky, three towering figures, radiating monstrous and heaven-defying evil, sat gathered around an ancient, wood-carved round table.

As Zhang Yu and Fu Ji arrived, these three twisted, colossal, and malevolent entities turned their gazes upon them in unison.