Chapter 655: Descendant of Immortals

Chapter 655: Descendant of the Immortals

From the slums of the first tier of Songyang City, he had climbed all the way to the second tier, to the Top Ten, and now to the ultimate stage for university students.

The thoughts within Zhang Yu's mind had gradually begun to shift.

From his initial desires simply to eat his fill, to survive, to live a little longer... as his strength grew and his wealth accumulated, he began to crave more.

He wanted to protect Bai Zhenzhen, to save his classmate Zhao Tianxing, to shelter Yu Xinghan, to lead Che Yufei to riches, to found a company, to employ his fellow townsmen, to take in his classmates...

As he grew ever stronger, his desires multiplied in kind.

"I... have long since wanted more than mere survival."

"Survival is not enough for me, not nearly enough."

"Because I simply refuse to resign myself to fate."

"Because I am fundamentally dissatisfied with this world."

"I want to enter the sects, to climb to even greater heights, to amass even more wealth..."

"And I want to change this damn world, even if it's just a few people, a few things."

Watching Kuang Tianqing charge at him once more, Zhang Yu poured his entire spirit, his entire mind, his every thought... wholly and completely into this battle.

Soaring sword qi rose to meet Kuang Tianqing.

The earth shattered, the shockwave hurling them both into the sky.

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Yu and Kuang Tianqing had taken their fight from the ground to the heavens.

"Zhang Yu," Kuang Tianqing sneered. "Your aura has changed."

"Has your ambition swelled alongside your power?"

"You, mere immortal dregs... do you now wish to change the world too?"

As the two clashed fiercely, the sky erupted and dissipated like a succession of exploding suns.

Gazing at the fiercely spirited Zhang Yu, Kuang Tianqing mused inwardly, "In this world, the greater one's strength, the more profoundly one impacts the world."

He sighed inwardly, "The greater the impact, the more profit one reaps; the more profit one reaps, the stronger one becomes."

"And as cultivators climb step by step, as their strength grows ever more formidable, they increasingly yearn to influence the world, to change it."

"But who is to say which direction of change is right and which is wrong?"

Kuang Tianqing thought to himself, "Who knows? Be it an Immortal or a Foundation Establishment cultivator, regardless of whether the impact is great or small, the change vast or minute, it is all but a desire to subjugate the environment, to humble this world."

"And then to reshape it into what they need, what they desire, forcing the world to satiate their ambition, to fulfill their cravings."

Zhang Yu, too, felt the intensity of Kuang Tianqing's combat, sensing the other's ever-thickening battle lust.

"Prolonging life, the Dharma Realm, the Sentient Heaven and Earth... all of it is nothing but the selfish desires of the strong, seeking to force the world to bend, to make it operate according to their own will."

"But so what?"

"Am I any different?"

Zhang Yu sighed inwardly, "Are my ideas inherently more righteous than everyone else's in Kunxu? More suited to this place? No, when all is said and done, changing the world is ultimately just about imposing my own will, satisfying my own interests."

"At this moment, in this battle, the duel between Kuang Tianqing and me is a clash between the two students of the Top Ten with the fiercest ambitions and deepest desires, fighting and slaughtering to realize our grand visions, to satisfy our own interests..."

They fought from the earth to the sky, and from the sky down into the subterranean depths.

Mana was squandered without restraint, the repair costs of magical treasures ignored, and dharma shells were frantically worn down as golden cores shattered time and again.

Giving it their all, the two fought on and on and on!

One minute, ten minutes, an hour... when the two finally paused once more, a full ten hours had passed.

The sun in the sky had gradually sunk, and the lingering glow of the sunset bathed them both, as if heralding that one of them was about to reach the end of their power, the end of their life.

A full ten hours of combat, every technique exhausted, every ounce of power drained; both sides now understood their opponent with absolute clarity.

At the same time, they could feel that through this relentless melee, their opponent's strength was steadily waning, their condition deteriorating, becoming ever "weaker," ever less formidable.

And when this decline in strength reached a certain threshold, the two halted simultaneously.

"All techniques exhausted, all strength spent," Zhang Yu said faintly. "Kuang Tianqing, it is time to decide the victor."

Kuang Tianqing nodded. "Even with our profound foundations, our condition has dropped to its absolute limit. Zhang Yu... are you prepared to accept defeat?"

Looking at Zhang Yu before him, Kuang Tianqing could not help but feel a sense of surprise.

Infused with the power of countless top scholars from the Four Heavenly Demon Schools, Kuang Tianqing had believed his strength was not only the greatest among all students of the Ten Schools, but that his stamina and endurance would absolutely surpass every university student.

Yet he never expected that after ten hours of fierce combat, ten hours of desperate struggle, Zhang Yu before him showed not the slightest sign of yielding, as if infinite reserves and latent potential were continuously erupting from within his foe.

Zhang Yu, too, looked at Kuang Tianqing with equal surprise, never having imagined that after unleashing every ultimate technique, his opponent could still hold on until now.

The Holy Body of Earth and Wood granted his wounded flesh even greater defensive prowess.

Switching intermittently to the Endless Flow of Qi, combined with the synergistic effects of his dual spiritual roots, allowed his mana to recover with rapid speed.

Coupled with the reinforcement of his dual spiritual roots, Zhang Yu grew stronger and braver with every passing moment of the fight.

"It seems in the end... I must use that move." As Zhang Yu's eyes flickered, he had already awakened the power of the Descendant of the Immortals.

The Descendant of the Immortals was a Dao Seed harvested from the corpse of Dao Qiankun.

After Zhang Yu had racked his brains, attempting time and again, submitting modification blueprints to the artifact spirit over and over, he had finally succeeded in replicating this Dao Seed.

And the potential of this Dao Seed was unlike anything Zhang Yu had ever seen.

"The Descendant of the Immortals represents a kind of authority derived from the Immortals themselves."

"And this authority allows me to..."

As the power of the Descendant of the Immortals activated, Zhang Yu felt as though an extra dimension had opened within his body, a space connecting to some alternate dimension.

"A spatial pocket? A storage ring? Kamui?"

Zhang Yu did not know the true essence or the ultimate limit of this ability.

He only knew that the Level 1 Descendant of the Immortals allowed him to interfere with space within the world of Kunxu.

He could open a space of roughly ten cubic meters, linking it to his own body, and transfer any matter that touched him into that space.

"At least at Level 1, the Descendant of the Immortals can only transfer inanimate objects, and the contact area is limited to about thirty square centimeters."

By Zhang Yu's understanding, once he opened that space, there was only an opening of roughly thirty square centimeters for things to pass through.

And this thirty-square-centimeter portal could only be opened on his own body.

During the earlier fierce battle, Zhang Yu had refrained from using the power of the Descendant of the Immortals, partly because he was confident that even without this ability, he and the true sword in his hand would never be defeated.

More importantly, Zhang Yu did not want others to discover he possessed such power, so in this decisive battle watched by countless eyes, he was unwilling to wield it lightly.

But now, with the battle having reached this point, in order to secure victory and overcome his opponent, Zhang Yu decided to use this power to tip the odds in his favor.

"The Descendant of the Immortals, if used merely to store items, would have a negligible impact on the outcome of the battle."

"But if used for defense, even affecting an area of only thirty square centimeters, it is a nearly invincible force among all the immortal arts I know."

As Zhang Yu pondered, Kuang Tianqing had already made his move.

At this moment when both had pushed themselves to the absolute limit, Kuang Tianqing knew full well there would be no more room for maneuvering; all outcomes, all thoughts, all plans, all desires... would be decided in the very next strike.

With this single strike, she would wager everything and stake her very life, solely to obliterate Zhang Yu.

Death?

As long as Zhang Yu perished before her, as long as she could claim victory in this battle, death was a price she was more than willing to pay.

The power of the Golden Core coalesced, its astonishing aura surging ever higher, and beneath the astonished gazes of countless spectators, Kuang Tianqing was charging toward the Golden Core realm with an unprecedented momentum.

Ye Xingli exclaimed in astonishment, "What is she doing? If she builds such overwhelming momentum, she won't have time to shatter the Golden Core; she will step completely into the Golden Core realm."

A thought stirred in Jiu Tianliu's mind: "She is approaching the Golden Core realm closer than ever before..."

To shatter the Golden Core, each shattering must be accomplished before fully stepping into the Golden Core realm.

And quite evidently, the closer one drew to the Golden Core realm with each attempt, the more devastating the power unleashed upon shattering the Core.

Yet the closer one drew to the Golden Core realm, the greater the difficulty of the shattering; a single misstep would complete the breakthrough, resulting in an unlicensed Golden Core.

Through countless cycles of cultivation, Kuang Tianqing had already learned to control the progression of the Golden Core shattering to eighty percent, and sometimes even ninety percent.

But here and now, as Kuang Tianqing began her breakthrough without holding anything back, her aura swelling to unprecedented heights, she astonishingly surged to ninety percent in a single breath.

Yet she did not stop, but continued to charge onward to ninety-one percent, ninety-five percent... ninety-nine percent!

This all-out sprint through the realms allowed Kuang Tianqing to complete ninety-nine percent of the Golden Core breakthrough in an instant, as if in the very next moment she would fully step into the Golden Core and ascend to a new realm.

Was there still time to shatter the Golden Core?

Was there still time to halt the realm breakthrough?

Countless spectators watched this scene, the same doubts welling up in their hearts.

It was as if they could already see the moment Kuang Tianqing would be defeated because of an unlicensed Golden Core.

Then Kuang Tianqing told them with her actions that there was still plenty of time.

For she had no intention of shattering the Golden Core at all.

She was going to detonate her Golden Core; she was going to detonate her very flesh!

"Zhang Yu, how could I allow you to use the Dharma Realm to insult my world? How could I allow you to use the Dharma Realm to harvest my wealth?"

Rippling with the terrifying fluctuations of one infinitely close to the Golden Core, Kuang Tianqing's body erupted into a sky-full of blood mist, disintegrating layer by layer alongside the Netherworld Dissolution Art.

"I give you this life!"

"In this battle, all I want is for you to die before I do!"

A terrifying strike, an invincible strike, and moreover, the most powerful strike of Kuang Tianqing's entire life, came hurtling straight toward Zhang Yu.

And as for Kuang Tianqing, not a trace of human form could be seen on her body at this moment.

"Immortal scum! Accept your defeat!"

(End of Chapter)