Chapter 649: This World Has Gone Crazy!!!

Chapter 649: This World... Has Gone Mad!!!

As for the new effects of the modified Seven Absolutes Dharma Remains, True Lord An Zhen had already gained some understanding when the seven Nascent Soul cultivators of the Artifact Refining Department were carrying out the modifications.

Replicating phenomena such as solar explosions and extreme heat through immortal dao technology was not particularly astonishing in True Lord An Zhen's eyes.

After all, the sun hanging above the second layer of Kunxu, the entity known as the Sun-Patrolling Golden Crow, was forged by the Myriad Laws University.

Compared to the Sun-Patrolling Golden Crow, the immortal dao sun in Zhang Yu's hands still fell far short.

If the Sun-Patrolling Golden Crow was a true sun, then the immortal dao sun in Zhang Yu's possession could only be described as a mere fireball.

Although both essentially replicated the sun through immortal dao technology, their power output, sustainability, controllability, and range of influence differed by countless millions of times, and the technological sophistication involved was naturally worlds apart.

It was like how both a matchstick and the military-grade technique Myriad Aspects of the Great Sun could start a fire, yet the foundations and techniques required were vastly different.

However, True Lord An Zhen knew that the new Seven Absolutes Dharma Remains, when linked with other military-grade treasures to unleash an effect greater than the sum of its parts, along with some creative weaponized applications, had earned the praise of several Nascent Soul True Lords in the Artifact Refining Department.

Yet none of these were the most important things in True Lord An Zhen's view.

By contrast, what truly caught True Lord An Zhen's attention was how Zhang Yu, since the start of the Top Ten League, had continuously demonstrated immense potential for growth through battle after battle, and in today's fierce clash with the Heavenly Saint Works, had exhibited top-tier university-level prowess, gaining a slight possibility of contending with Kuang Tianqing.

For with that slight possibility came the chance to influence the school's plans, draw the principal's attention, and provoke actions from the Deity Transformation Divine Lords.

And upon seeing the message left by the Heavenly Deduction Divine Lord, True Lord An Zhen knew his guess was correct.

"Does the principal intend to place his bets on Zhang Yu in this final week, to see if he can make Zhang Yu fight Kuang Tianqing?"

"Beyond that, he must be looking to confirm Zhang Yu's choice of immortal gate techniques."

"Just in case..." True Lord An Zhen thought to himself, "even if there is only the slimmest chance, if Zhang Yu wins the championship, preparations must be made in advance."

Various thoughts flashed through True Lord An Zhen's mind like lightning; with a shift of his gaze, his eye remains had already switched to today's other battle.

Although the battle between Kuang Tianqing and Bai Zhenzhen would be an uneventful one in True Lord An Zhen's eyes, he would still use this fight to see if he could gather more intelligence on Kuang Tianqing.

But just as his gaze shifted to the battlefield of Bai Zhenzhen and Kuang Tianqing, and after observing for a while, an unusual glint involuntarily appeared in his eyes.

True Lord An Zhen secretly mused, "Has the Samsara Group... made its move?"

...

After Bai Zhenzhen and Kuang Tianqing descended onto the battlefield, neither side made the first move.

Kuang Tianqing looked at Bai Zhenzhen with a beaming smile and said, "According to my original plan, I should have refined you into a flying sword during the first team match to use in my battle against Dao Qiankun."

Her palm glided through her long hair as she sighed with emotion, "I never expected Dao Qiankun to die, and yet here you stand, about to fight me in the semifinals."

Bai Zhenzhen's platinum-blonde hair fluttered fiercely in the wind, like a burning flame of platinum; she stared coldly at Kuang Tianqing before her and said, "Kuang Tianqing, I have you to thank."

"If not for your actions in the first team match, which made me realize my own incompetence and understand my own worthlessness, I could never have made such progress in the time since."

"Haha." Kuang Tianqing laughed, "Then after today's battle, you will thank me even more."

"Remember well everything I am about to do to you."

"Watch closely how I devour you."

"That will be a memory you will never forget in this lifetime."

Bai Zhenzhen flicked her sword fingers lightly, and a flying sword slowly floated before her; she spoke faintly, "Devour me?"

"Kuang Tianqing, to focus on the immortal dao and bravely climb to the peak of the path of cultivation, I had myself sterilized many years ago; those tricks of yours are useless against me."

Kuang Tianqing smiled faintly, spreading her five fingers, and a mass of crystal-like substance rose from her palm—it was a Yang-attribute Dharma Remain.

"Sterilized, you say?"

Kuang Tianqing said indifferently, "If mere sterilization could counter all dual cultivation techniques, then you underestimate the dao of dual cultivation far too much."

"A rootless person? Without weaknesses?"

Kuang Tianqing's fingertip gently tapped the Yang-attribute Dharma Remain before her: "If you have no weaknesses, I will install them for you, and then devour you completely."

"All the progress you've made recently, all the power you've accumulated through continuous comprehension of the Extreme Emotion Sword Dao, I shall take it all."

Bai Zhenzhen's gaze condensed, and she looked at Kuang Tianqing with eyes full of killing intent: "If you can do it, then come and try."

"Whether in mind or body, I have been sterilized for many years."

"No matter how many weaknesses you install in me, I can sever them all completely."

Accompanying their dialogue, the battle intent of both sides surged ever higher, causing the spiritual energy in the atmosphere to boil increasingly, gradually condensing into sheets of raindrops.

In the next moment, Bai Zhenzhen's figure abruptly vanished, and waves of invisible sword qi had already slashed toward Kuang Tianqing's position.

Yet in Kuang Tianqing's eyes, although Bai Zhenzhen's figure had disappeared, the changes in airflow, ground tremors, and spiritual energy currents caused by her high-speed movement... everything was clearly visible to her.

"Your abilities, I have long since deciphered."

"Under this kinetic model built specifically for you..."

"Bai Zhenzhen, you have nowhere to hide."

With a booming roar, the power of both sides fiercely collided, bursting into waves of air; at the same time, Bai Zhenzhen stared unyieldingly at Kuang Tianqing, her eyes revealing the other's true form, while the Dharma Remains within her body continuously purified the spiritual energy, helping her resist the effects of the illusion.

Bai Zhenzhen said, "Kuang Tianqing, along this journey, it is not only you who has progressed."

"Your Heavenly Demon Illusionary Avatar Technique is equally ineffective against me now."

The two engaged in fierce combat, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of exchanges had passed, with faint threads of golden lightning gradually emerging in the air.

Those were countless strands of Bai Zhenzhen's hair drifting through the atmosphere, gradually filling the battlefield.

From the moment she entered the battlefield, through their dialogue, and throughout the successive clashes, Bai Zhenzhen had been continuously shedding her hair into the atmosphere.

And every single strand of Bai Zhenzhen's hair was a sword weapon.

These strands of hair, indistinguishable to the naked eye, were now scattered across the battlefield, yet remained entirely under Bai Zhenzhen's control, imbued with the sword qi she had injected into them.

Unbeknownst to her, Kuang Tianqing was already surrounded on all sides by countless strands of hair.

In an instant, streams of sword qi shot out from the hair strands, striking Kuang Tianqing with several hits in a flash; although the sword qi could not pierce her Dharma Remains, it made her speed appear a beat slower.

Kuang Tianqing chuckled lightly, "Bai Zhenzhen, you don't actually think such weak, such worthless sword qi could harm me, do you?"

Bai Zhenzhen said quietly, "This sword qi is naturally hard to harm you with, but it can affect your emotions."

The sword qi Bai Zhenzhen left in her hair strands was precisely the sword qi from the Seven Emotions Sword Dao.

And the Seven Emotions Sword Dao could use sword qi to sever an opponent's emotions, temporarily stripping away various emotional changes like joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness from the opponent.

"Emotions are the source of human desire, the driving force, and a crucial factor in controlling the body."

"Without emotions, a person becomes numb, becomes sluggish, becomes... slow!"

As she spoke, the countless hair strands in the atmosphere erupted with surging lightning, originating from Bai Zhenzhen's thunderous magic power.

Accelerated by this long-accumulated electric field, Bai Zhenzhen's flying sword was like a bolt of lightning; amidst the dancing flashes across the field, it pierced straight through the atmosphere, thrusting directly at the space between Kuang Tianqing's brows.

Yet facing this thunderous strike, Kuang Tianqing stood frozen as if in a daze, as though her movements had truly become numb and slow with the weakening of her emotions.

But just as the flying sword invaded inch by inch before Kuang Tianqing, approaching her forehead inch by inch.

The thoughts in Kuang Tianqing's mind were operating at an even faster speed.

Under the high-speed operation of her brain, all speeds in the material world seemed incomparable, appearing as if in slow motion.

The Hatred Heart Art activates!

This heart-tempering art, forged in the crucible of hatred, was the very technique Kuang Tianqing had practiced with unwavering devotion since first stepping onto the path of immortality.

As countless searing visions flashed through her mind, memories etched deep and hatreds that pierced to the marrow, her spirit and brain, previously numbed by the dampening of her emotions, began to boil anew.

"Hatred is far more enduring, far more potent than any other emotion or thought harbored by mortal souls."

"You may dull every other feeling I possess, but hatred alone, the hatred I bear for my countless enemies and myriad rivals, shall forever remain etched in my mind, driving me ever onward."

"Bai Zhenzhen, your provocations before the opening of the Grand Ten Tournament, your defiance against me in the first team battle, are all meticulously recorded in my journal..."

Driven by this fierce hatred, Kuang Tianqing's body reacted on pure instinct; a mere breath before the flying sword's tip could pierce her brow, she instantly activated the Heavenly Demon Void Art, her form melting into a phantom to evade to the side.

Yet at that very instant, amidst her lightning-fast thoughts, a stream of alien memories began to surface.

"What is this..."

"The struggle between righteousness and evil..."

"The great flourishing of the demonic path..."

In a fraction of a second, as a torrent of unfamiliar memories flooded in, an unprecedented bewilderment took root in Kuang Tianqing's heart.

"Who is Kuang Tianqing?"

"Why am I here?"

"Why has the world become like this?"

Following the bewilderment came an agony of absolute extremes.

"Why have I become a woman?"

"Why? Why? Why must I engage in dual cultivation?!"

"Why... why am I being tutored by eight Soul Formation grandmasters?!"

Amidst boundless heartache and suffocating despair, a flame ignited in the darkness; an ultimate fury filled Kuang Tianqing's chest, driving her to rage, driving her to madness, driving her to destroy everything in existence!

In a thunderous roar, her voice echoed through countless broadcasts and myriad watching eyes, reverberating across the entire world.

"This world has gone utterly mad!!!"

As her thoughts churned violently and her heart drowned in immeasurable anguish and wrath, Kuang Tianqing no longer had the time to cast a spell to block Bai Zhenzhen's strike.

With a muffled tear of flesh, her body was instantly pierced through by the brilliant sword light.

(End of Chapter)