Chapter 622: Ten Thousand Dao of Sword Qi Rushes to the High Heaven, Slashing Open Chaos to See the Clear Sky

Chapter 622: Ten Thousand Sword Qi Pierces the Firmament, Cleaving the Chaos to Reveal the Azure Sky

The water currents condensed by the mountain-moving divine power of Heavenly Kunlun, mingled with the aquatic field force of the Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor, surged under Zhang Yu's propulsion, sending violent tremors through the surrounding seawater.

Though taken aback, the A Zhen before him remained composed, unleashing thread after thread of amorous silk to shield herself.

As the two forces collided beneath the waves, Zhang Yu felt as though his palm had pressed into a mass of cotton; the terrifying might was dismantled layer by layer by the amorous threads, ultimately dissipating completely into the depths.

Zhang Yu's full-strength palm strike had, astonishingly, come to nothing.

Yet at that very moment, Mu Qiansi felt a faint sting at her fingertips, where a slender cut had already been carved.

Gazing at the flying sword her opponent had concealed within that strike, Mu Qiansi knew that while she had dissolved his palm force, she had failed to block the sneaking blade.

Mu Qiansi asked in surprise, "You actually remained unaffected by my amorous threads?"

She touched her face, morphed into A Zhen's likeness, and said, "Isn't this your type? I transformed myself to look exactly like Bai Zhenzhen."

Mu Qiansi was confident that with her cultivation in the Great Rhapsody of Heaven and Earth's Yin and Yang, bolstered by a military-grade dharma shell, the slightest reaction to her allure would plunge her opponent into a brief daze.

Staring at her burly physique, Zhang Yu suppressed a visceral revulsion and barked, "Where is the similarity?!"

"And what if the face is the same?"

"Beyond the face, A Zhen is nothing like you!"

"From the inside out, you cannot hold a candle to her."

Even as he spoke, Zhang Yu hurled the relay orb in his hand with fierce momentum.

Watching the relay orb shoot forth like a meteor, propelled by the mountain-moving divine power of Heavenly Kunlun, Mu Qiansi froze for a fraction of a second before her expression drastically shifted.

"You!"

In an instant, she realized that not only was Zhang Yu entirely unaffected by the charm amplified by her Great Rhapsody, but he had even feigned being swayed, seizing the opportunity of their close clash to snatch her relay orb.

"This guy... how on earth did he manage that?"

"Even Kuang Tianqing couldn't remain indifferent to my charm, so how could he still be plotting a sneak attack on me?!"

Despite her shock and fury, Mu Qiansi wasted no time, spinning around and darting toward the direction where the relay orb had vanished.

Watching her retreating figure, Zhang Yu mused that if destroying the relay orb weren't against the rules, he would have at least tried to crush hers.

Then Zhang Yu slowly uncurled his palm, where a faint trace of blood flashed and faded—a single drop shed when Mu Qiansi's fingertip was sliced by his blade.

Yet now, as this drop of blood dissolved in his hand, Zhang Yu sensed no reaction from the Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor, while the deep, ravenous thirst for blood within the armor continued to churn.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Is this blood useless too?"

In the next breath, Zhang Yu's figure blurred as he shot forward at high speed once more, catching up in a flash to Ling Pojun, who had just overtaken him, and reclaiming fourth place.

Watching Zhang Yu's receding figure once again, Ling Pojun cursed inwardly, "Back and forth, passing and repassing, is he just playing around?"

...

At the final checkpoint.

Watching the broadcast of Zhang Yu and Mu Qiansi's standoff, Bai Zhenzhen felt her sword qi roil and churn.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"This feeling... the feeling of emotional turbulence, the feeling of my friendship with Zhang Yu soaring."

"And using emotion to command emotionlessness..."

Bai Zhenzhen clicked open the video series of "Kuang Tianqing and Zhang Yu" once more, and with just a single glance, felt the sword qi within her surge far beyond anything before.

Enduring a pang of heartache, a piercing epiphany flashed through her mind: "This is using emotion to command emotionlessness."

"Only the more turbulent, the more profound 'emotion' can erupt into a deeper, more unstoppable 'emotionlessness'."

Recording the live broadcast of Zhang Yu and Mu Qiansi, Bai Zhenzhen clutched her chest and thought, "First observe emotion, then observe emotionlessness, and my Sword Dao of Extreme Emotion will unleash even more terrifying might."

At the same time, the flying sword on Bai Zhenzhen's back trembled slightly, as if resonating with her turbulent state of mind.

Meanwhile, watching this scene, Kuang Tianqing was secretly astonished: "Zhang Yu actually blocked Mu Qiansi's charm so effortlessly?"

She pondered inwardly, "No matter how powerful Mu Qiansi's Great Rhapsody of Heaven and Earth's Yin and Yang is, she is only at the Foundation Establishment realm; to amplify her charm and pull at the threads of affection, she must cater to the target's aesthetic."

"The Foundation Establishment stage of the Great Rhapsody cannot simply make someone fall in love with a pile of excrement."

"That Zhang Yu could so easily withstand Mu Qiansi's allure is no longer a matter of a steadfast Dao heart; is this guy's aesthetic just completely divorced from the mainstream?"

"Hmph, no wonder, no wonder he barely reacted to me last time."

Thinking of this, a smirk flashed across Kuang Tianqing's mind: "Zhang Yu... you've exposed a fatal flaw before me. Next time, next time I will devour you completely."

Just then, someone nearby shouted, "Jiutian Liu is about to overtake first place!"

Anzhen Zhenjun watched the live broadcast and saw the Jiutian Divine Shuttle streak into first place like a bolt of thunder, becoming the undisputed leader of the race, an existence almost no one could shake; he nodded inwardly, knowing everything had unfolded exactly as he had foreseen.

"Now Jiutian Liu is in first, Yu Yunzhan in second, Xue Jiuyou in third, Zhang Yu in fourth, Ling Pojun in fifth, and Mu Qiansi in sixth..."

At the same time, someone else shouted, "Ying Zhoufan has entered the water."

"With his dragon form from the Myriad Transformations of the Heavenly Demon, his underwater speed should be remarkable..."

"More than just remarkable, he's practically catching up to Jiutian Liu!"

...

With a swooshing splash of water.

The giant dragon transformed from Ying Zhoufan writhed beneath the waves, the water behind him seeming to morph into thousands of tiny hands, frantically shoving him forward.

The water ahead parted like courtiers welcoming their sovereign, naturally splitting to either side at his will, daring not to offer the slightest resistance.

With his draconic body as the foundation, the depths seemed to form a rippling, high-speed tunnel, allowing him to accelerate endlessly, growing faster and faster.

Wherever the giant dragon passed, accompanied by a roaring rush, waves swept up great swathes of silt, churning and surging outward in all directions.

"Fast! Fast! Fast! Fast! Fast!"

Ying Zhoufan let out a draconic roar, his writhing body accelerating once more.

Having waited on the shore for so long, the wrath and battle lust within him had long been suppressed to a boiling point.

At this very moment, he had but a single thought: accelerate and catch up to Zhang Yu! Then crush that scoundrel ruthlessly beneath his feet.

Roar!

Arriving at the first registration zone, Ying Zhoufan unleashed a dragon's roar, stirring countless schools of fish in the waves as if they were his eyes and ears, sweeping across the entire area and swiftly locating a registration orb.

Having completed the registration, Ying Zhoufan roared and surged forward in another sprint.

Eighth place!

Seventh place!

Sixth place!

One contestant after another fell behind him, and Ying Zhoufan's eyes burned with mounting excitement. "Scoundrel! Scoundrel! Scoundrel!"

"All of you are useless scoundrels!"

Sprinting madly all the way, accelerating with all his might again and again, until two-thirds of the course had passed, Ying Zhoufan had already reached fourth place.

"Ahead, only Jiutian Liu in first, Yu Yunzhan in second, and Zhang Yu in third remain..."

"Two-thirds of the race is over, and I still haven't caught up to him?"

Ying Zhoufan thought to himself, "Is this guy really that fast?"

Just as irritation began to simmer in Ying Zhoufan's heart, he finally caught sight of Zhang Yu's figure not long after.

"Caught you."

With a draconic roar from Ying Zhoufan, pillars of water surged upward, transforming into underwater tornadoes that hurtled toward Zhang Yu's position.

"Hm?" Zhang Yu's gaze sharpened as the aquatic field around him violently expanded, blocking the incoming water twisters.

Yet the effort slowed his pace, forcing him to turn and look back at the pursuing Ying Zhoufan.

Hu Yuntao: "Little beast!"

Zhang Yu: "You're here? I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Ying Zhoufan: "Scum, keep talking tough while you still can."

Even as he spoke, Ying Zhoufan closed the distance to the slowed Zhang Yu like a bolt of lightning, then opened his maw and spat out a round pearl that hurtled fiercely toward his foe.

Amidst a booming explosion, just as Zhang Yu was knocked backward by the pearl, he saw a second one already being spat from his opponent's mouth.

"Military-grade magical treasure, the Mountain and River Pearls." Information about the artifact flashed through Zhang Yu's mind as he thought, "A treasure capable of storing vast amounts of water and altering its own weight."

"Normally used for transporting valuable liquid processed goods."

"But in combat, it's simply used to... smash people."

The complete set of Mountain and River Pearls consisted of eighteen orbs, and as Ying Zhoufan spat them out one by one, the force behind each strike grew increasingly terrifying.

His draconic form shifted continuously, unleashing a myriad of mighty powers.

Yet to Ying Zhoufan's astonishment, the Zhang Yu before him was displaying strength far surpassing his performance in the previous round.

Without the aid of any formations, his movements stirred up towering waves and sword shadows, meeting every attack head-on and neutralizing them all.

As the fierce battle raged on, Zhang Yu's garments tore apart, revealing the armor beneath.

"The Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor?"

Ying Zhoufan raised an eyebrow as Zhang Yu's intelligence dossier flashed through his mind.

"Wasn't it said that he hadn't finished forging this armor yet? No wonder he can stir up such massive waves even underwater."

"Before this, his overall strength was mid-tier at best among all contestants, but now he's reached the upper echelons."

"It seems the popularity and traffic he gained from the last round have propelled his strength to yet another leap."

Thinking this, Ying Zhoufan's gaze toward Zhang Yu grew increasingly greedy, as if he wished to utterly trample his opponent and harvest a massive surge of popularity to nourish himself.

Seeing Zhang Yu turn and flee, Ying Zhoufan bellowed, "Don't even think about running!"

But as they fought and moved, tumbling and clashing in a fierce melee, Ying Zhoufan deployed all eighteen Mountain and River Pearls and even spat out another military-grade treasure, the Demon-Summoning Banner, commanding countless demon-descendant soul cultivators to attack, yet he still could not overcome Zhang Yu.

This caused Ying Zhoufan to frown inwardly: "No, I'm wasting too much time on this guy. How can I continue the race like this? The guys behind are going to catch up."

Just then, Ying Zhoufan suddenly felt a surge of magical power within Zhang Yu's body, and the surrounding seawater began to churn violently.

Driven by the Seven Absolutes Dharma Remains and supported by the Inverted Kunlun Chain Dharma Diagram, Zhang Yu's Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power shattered its previous limits, erupting with a thunderous boom and spreading wildly beneath his feet.

The seabed of the artificial ocean became a maelstrom of flying sand and rolling stones, as countless rock strata either thrust upward from the depths or collapsed into abyssal depressions.

Witnessing this scene, Ying Zhoufan's expression shifted slightly: "No... it's not water, it's the earth."

Sensing the shifting spiritual energy in the water, Ying Zhoufan was even more startled: "Where did this formation come from?"

"And this place is..."

Only then did Ying Zhoufan realize that amidst their relentless fighting and chasing, they had unknowingly arrived at the next registration zone.

"When did he set up a formation here?"

Zhang Yu remained silent; naturally, he would not tell his opponent that shortly after setting off, he had begun breeding demon beasts and dispatching them to the subsequent registration zones for reconnaissance and construction.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "This underwater speed race requires us to complete a lap around this artificial ocean, and the distance between the start and finish lines isn't far to begin with."

"So, shortly after entering, I sent my demon beasts ahead to the later registration zones."

"Unlike me, who has to swim the full lap, the demon beasts could arrive much earlier and even complete some basic infrastructure."

"Now that I've reached this spot and unleashed the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power to finish the remaining large-scale work..."

Zhang Yu stepped forward, his foot landing firmly on a newly uplifted slab of rock.

"Formation, rise!"

In the next instant, a torrent of spiritual energy converged upon Zhang Yu.

The topography of the entire region materialized in his mind, while countless spiritual realm data streams flickered within his eye remains.

With a telekinetic grasp, Zhang Yu used his Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power to wrench hundreds of long stone pillars straight out of the earth.

Then, as the Formless Mind Weapon of the Heaven and Earth Calamity was activated, starting from the rock beneath Zhang Yu's feet, a vast area shimmered with spiritual light, beginning its temporary transformation into a magical treasure.

Those stone pillars gleamed with a sharp, biting cold, aligning like a multitude of flying swords, all aimed squarely at Ying Zhoufan.

A chill rose in his heart; Ying Zhoufan tried to command his body to retreat, only to feel a sword intent locking onto him—the Taihao Moral Sword Intent.

"Ten thousand paths of sword qi surge to the heavens, cleaving through the chaos to reveal the azure sky..."

Seeing these lines of projected text appear above Zhang Yu's head, the chill in Ying Zhoufan's heart deepened: "Is that the slogan of the Myriad Paths Artisan Sect? A sponsored move? He's about to unleash a killing strike!"

Yet no matter how Ying Zhoufan's draconic form darted and flashed, the sword intent remained firmly locked onto him, impossible to shake off.

Violent ripples shook out from Ying Zhoufan's body, and just as Zhang Yu raised his guard, expecting a massive ultimate technique, a voice transmitted through the water reached his ears.

"Zhang Yu, how about we join forces?"

Ying Zhoufan: "With your Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor and Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power, combined with my draconic form and military-grade dharma remains, our alliance could achieve the fastest speed in the entire arena."

Sensing Zhang Yu's skepticism, Ying Zhoufan continued to transmit his voice through the water ripples in a manner impossible to record, saying, "The demon-descendant discrimination and all that, it's just to drum up popularity and scam the poor suckers. You didn't actually take it seriously, did you?"

(End of Chapter)