Chapter 717: Invincible Beneath the Gods (Today totaling three chapters 9,000 words, requesting monthly tickets)

Chapter 717: Undefeated Below the Divine (Three chapters totaling over 9,000 words today—please vote with your moon tickets!)

He bowed slightly toward Zhang Yu, making an ancient martial artist’s gesture, then said, “True Lord Zhuyi, as they say, words alone carry no weight. Whether it be design schematics, artifact-forging theory, or spatial techniques… among those present, few dare claim true mastery.”

“This matter, however, concerns our very lives and livelihoods—our lifelong fortunes hang in the balance. We cannot afford to be anything less than utterly cautious.”

“Your move just now halted the duel between our two sects—a truly exquisite technique. Yet there were aspects I failed to fully grasp.”

“I ask you to accept one more strike from me. If you can withstand it, I shall have nothing further to say.”

True Lord Tiansha had decided to test Zhang Yu’s abilities through combat.

Having fought countless battles large and small, True Lord Tiansha firmly believed that combat revealed a person’s true nature, character, thoughts—their very essence—more clearly than anything else.

In particular, he intended to use his own method to probe Zhang Yu’s command of spatial techniques, to see whether the young man truly possessed the prowess he claimed—and which his blueprints seemed to promise.

Listening to Tiansha’s words, Zhang Yu’s expression remained unreadable. He merely gave a faint nod and said calmly, “True Lord Tiansha, make your move.”

Under the watchful eyes of numerous Nascent Soul True Lords, Tiansha began walking slowly toward Zhang Yu.

With each step, an oppressive aura radiated outward from his body, spreading in all directions.

A fierce battle intent surged from him, so intense that every onlooker felt as though Tiansha might leap at them from any angle at any moment—yet he never did.

This was the hallmark of Security Sect’s mental assault technique: a state hovering between engagement and restraint, designed to unsettle the opponent’s mind.

If the adversary, overwhelmed by these illusions, struck first out of anxiety, the Security Sect cultivator would instantly seize the initiative—either playing the victim to demand compensation or retaliating with full force.

Now, wielded by Tiansha, this mental art had become truly uncanny. It left everyone with the unnerving sensation that he could pounce from any direction at any instant.

Even ocular constructs, arcane constructs, and detection talismans were thrown into disarray, their constant false alarms rendering cultivators utterly unable to predict Tiansha’s next move.

Twenty steps… fifteen… ten!

As Tiansha drew closer to Zhang Yu, his battle intent grew ever more suffocating. Several nearby Nascent Soul True Lords found their minds involuntarily disturbed. Lei Ji True Lord even reflexively summoned his defensive artifact—only to realize a moment later that Tiansha had no intention of attacking him at all…

This relentless tension—always expecting an attack that never came—gnawed at everyone’s nerves. Bei Wufeng and Yan Qianji felt their spirits stretched to the breaking point, their blood and spiritual energy stiffening with strain.

Yan Qianji watched Tiansha lift his right foot, perceiving each motion as if it unfolded inch by agonizing inch.

He knew it wasn’t that Tiansha’s movements had slowed—it was the effect of his mental art, forcibly dragging Yan’s focus, compelling his mind to hyper-fixate on every minute detail of Tiansha’s actions…

Seven steps!

When only seven paces remained between them, Tiansha finally struck.

His arms blurred into two faint shadows.

In the next instant, four bolts of Tai Xu Flying Thunder shot forth from his hands like streaks of lightning, hurtling straight toward Zhang Yu.

Tai Xu Flying Thunder—weapons popularized during wartime alongside the last release of the Tai Xu Cloud Vault.

These sword-shaped artifacts, once activated, transformed into bolts of black lightning, encased within a layer of spatial barrier as they raced forward.

The barrier shielded them from external damage while allowing the internal thunderfire to erupt outward unimpeded.

Purely offensive, these weapons had captivated Tiansha from the moment he first encountered them—especially when combined with his Tianya Godspeed Scripture, which amplified their destructive potential to terrifying levels.

But this time, Tiansha wasn’t aiming to defeat Zhang Yu. He wanted to see how the young man would block the attack.

Faced with four bolts of Tai Xu Flying Thunder screaming toward him—mere instants from impact—Zhang Yu remained perfectly composed. He simply extended his right hand and made a gentle scooping motion.

In that moment, the very heavens and earth seemed to dim. All light in the funeral hall appeared to vanish into Zhang Yu’s palm—gone in an instant, then restored just as swiftly.

Then, to everyone’s astonishment, Zhang Yu plucked the four bolts from midair as effortlessly as one might scoop fish from a stream, holding them suspended in his grip.

No matter how frantically the bolts accelerated, writhed, or struggled, Zhang Yu’s palm expanded like an ever-growing fishbowl, trapping them within its confines.

Yet as Tiansha watched this display, a flicker of disappointment crossed his eyes.

At that same moment, three more bolts of Tai Xu Flying Thunder flashed behind Zhang Yu.

Unseen earlier, Tiansha had secretly launched three additional bolts that circled the perimeter before striking from behind.

Silently, they collided with an invisible barrier mere inches from Zhang Yu’s back—and froze in place.

Miao Shou True Lord’s eyes narrowed. “Has Zhang Yu erected a spatial barrier behind himself to block this strike?”

But Tiansha’s disappointment only deepened.

Meanwhile, Lei Ji True Lord frowned inwardly. “Didn’t Tiansha deploy his Nascent Soul?”

All present knew well: for a Nascent Soul True Lord, the Nascent Soul itself was their ultimate weapon.

The next instant, the ground beneath Zhang Yu erupted violently as he stamped his foot, shattering the floor into a gaping crater.

From within the debris rose a faint silhouette—Tiansha’s Nascent Soul—clutching two bolts of Tai Xu Flying Thunder, standing motionless directly beneath Zhang Yu.

Yet both the Nascent Soul and its weapons were held fast by an unseen spatial barrier deep underground.

Lei Ji True Lord’s gaze sharpened. “Tiansha sent his Nascent Soul to ambush from below? I didn’t sense a thing—was I affected by his mental art?”

“This Tiansha… after months of war and cultivation, he’s grown even more fearsome.”

“But in the end, Zhang Yu still holds the upper hand. Truly worthy of being Senior Sister’s prized disciple—and my esteemed junior nephew.”

Silently, Lei Ji moved Zhang Yu’s contact to the top of his list—second only to Ci Ji Godlord—then laughed heartily and called out, “Tiansha, are you convinced yet? All nine of your Tai Xu Flying Thunder bolts were blocked!”

Tiansha ignored him, fixing his gaze squarely on Zhang Yu. “True Lord Zhuyi,” he said, “you blocked the Tai Xu Flying Thunder—but only through brute force. You failed to dismantle their spatial barriers.”

“If you cannot even breach the barriers of our own Tai Xu Flying Thunder, how can we trust you to pierce the Firmament?”

At these words, the assembled Nascent Soul True Lords stirred, their eyes turning as one toward Zhang Yu.

Miao Shou True Lord thought silently, “He’s right. If we can’t even break our own Tai Xu Flying Thunder, how can we hope to breach the Firmament?”

Under their collective scrutiny, Zhang Yu spoke calmly, “True Lord Tiansha, among the nine Tai Xu Flying Thunder bolts you just unleashed—did you not load them with Shen Xiao Demon-Purging Thunder?”

“Each contained eighty-one pellets, totaling seven hundred twenty-nine.”

“Since this is merely a friendly exchange, I took the liberty of extracting all the Demon-Purging Thunder.”

“I now return them to you in full. Please verify that none are missing.”

As he spoke, Zhang Yu curled his left hand into a fist, then gently opened it downward.

From his palm drifted down specks like dust motes—which suddenly swelled midair into thumbnail-sized Shen Xiao Demon-Purging Thunder pellets.

All seven hundred twenty-nine pellets floated gently before Tiansha, leaving the assembled True Lords stunned.

“When? When did he extract the Demon-Purging Thunder from the Tai Xu Flying Thunder?”

Tiansha, too, was shaken. Suddenly, he recalled the moment Zhang Yu had scooped the bolts from the air—the entire hall plunging into darkness.

“Could it have been then? Has he disarmed all my Tai Xu Flying Thunder from the very beginning?”

“My entire technique… was dismantled cleanly before it even began.”

A bitter smile tugged at Tiansha’s lips. He bowed again to Zhang Yu. “I’ve made a fool of myself.”

“True Lord Zhuyi, your skill has won my complete respect.”

A veteran of countless wars, a law-abiding teacher for decades, always adaptable and attuned to the times—Tiansha’s mind shifted swiftly.

Having confirmed Zhang Yu’s mastery of spatial arts and accepted his own defeat, he saw no shame in lavishing praise upon the victor. Doing so would support Zhang Yu’s upcoming plans—and salvage some dignity from his loss.

At the same time, his earlier suspicion resurfaced in his mind.

“Is Zhang Yu truly human… or is he the reincarnation of some celestial-era tycoon?”

Then, aloud, Tiansha declared, “With your current cultivation, True Lord Zhuyi, you stand unmatched among all beneath the Divine across the Ten Great Academies. Truly, you are ‘Undefeated Below the Divine.’”

Whether Zhang Yu was genuinely invincible below the Divine Realm, Tiansha couldn’t say for certain—but he’d sing his praises first anyway.

Standing on the opposing side, Perfected Lord Xianyin nodded in agreement, murmuring, "Even when the several incarnate deities were still in the nascent soul realm, I fear they could not compare to the Perfected Lord Zhuyi of this very moment."

Faced with the assembly's effusive flattery, Zhang Yu accepted it with a tranquil grace, for he well knew the grand endeavor that lay ahead—to intervene upon the deity-transformation battlefield required a reservoir of prestige, the grander and more towering, the better.

Concurrently, sensing the spiritual essence within his form verging upon absolute depletion, a silent sigh of relief brushed through his heart; it was a stroke of fortune that he had temporarily overawed the numerous nascent souls present before his essence ran entirely dry.

Then, with the faintest silhouette of a smile, Zhang Yu spoke softly, "Every Perfected Lord here is a paragon of this generation, the very elite of Wanfa. In the task that follows—to pierce the firmament and bring succor to the divine lords—we cannot proceed without the steadfast allegiance of you all."

Perfected Lord Tiansha declared without a moment's hesitation, "The Security Faculty is willing to remain, to deliberate upon this grand design alongside the Perfected Lord."

In that very breath, Perfected Lord Miaoshu, standing closely by, chimed in accordance, "The Medical Faculty likewise pledges to stay, to join forces with the Perfected Lord in aiding the Principal."

As each nascent soul lord declared their stance, the bitter schism that had once fractured the evacuation and defensive factions was utterly dissolved into nothingness.

Zhang Yu immediately commanded, "I must trouble you all to notify the other nine academies, that we might collectively deliberate upon this momentous affair."

At the same time, Zhang Yu resolved to bestow the design schematics of the magical treasures upon the remaining nine academies entirely free of recompense, ensuring that even should they refuse to cooperate with Wanfa, they would still possess the means to rupture the sky.

Hearing these words, Perfected Lord Xianyin could not suffer herself to remain silent and sought to stay his hand, saying, "To grant it to them without charge? Is that not rendering things far too easy for them?"

The other nascent soul lords similarly wore expressions of profound reluctance; with a product so pivotal, a magical treasure of such supreme consequence, how could they not seize the occasion to reap immense profits and exert the harshest leverage?

Yet Zhang Yu merely dismissed the notion with a wave of his sleeve, declaring, "We stand now at the precipice of life and death for the ten great academies; every passing breath is of absolute essence, leaving no leisure to negotiate or squander on profit with the other nine institutions."

"The war of deity transformation was delayed precisely because the incarnate deities of each academy squandered martial opportunities in their pursuit of gain; we absolutely must not fail to learn from this grievance."

"So long as it elevates our prospects of victory in this struggle, I am entirely willing to forego all profit."

Hearing that Zhang Yu was truly prepared to abandon all monetary gain, the gathered nascent soul lords froze in collective bewilderment, their hearts immediately seized by a profound consternation that seemed to surpass even the shock of witnessing Zhang Yu halt the factional strife with one hand and unravel Tiansha's ultimate technique with the other—it was altogether too staggering, too miraculous, and utterly beyond their comprehension.

To forego profit? How could a man exist without seeking gain?

Yet, in the face of the multitude's remonstrance and utter lack of understanding, Zhang Yu simply waved his hand once more, leaning upon the absolute authority he had just established to forcibly drive the matter through.

Beyond the central gathering, Yan Qianji stared fixedly at Zhang Yu, his mind relentlessly echoing with the display of methods Zhang Yu had so recently unveiled.

At last, he let forth a long, weary sigh, thinking secretly to himself, "It seems Bei Wufeng spoke the truth after all. Zhang Yu... he has been striving silently in realms beyond our sight, possessing an extraordinary talent we have remained blissfully ignorant of, having long since ascended to heights we could never fathom."

But at the recollection that he had actually requested to resign, demanded to depart from the laboratory of Perfected Lord Zhuyi, a fierce and biting remorse welled up within his soul.

"The mightiest artifact-crafting cultivator in all of Wanfa, and not only did I fail to glean any knowledge from his side, I went so far as to proffer my own resignation?"

Seeing that Zhang Yu was on the verge of departure, Yan Qianji could not contain himself and hurried forward, uttering, "Perfected Lord, I was mistaken. I should never have spoken of resigning..."

Watching this spectacle from the periphery, Jin Jun permitted himself a secret, mocking smile.

Zhang Yu extended a hand to check Yan Qianji from speaking any further, and declared plainly, "The manner in which you dare to bring forth problems is something I do not disrelish; indeed, I rather admire it."

"Perform your duties well, and in due time, I shall see to your full confirmation."

Having spoken with such swift and decisive authority, Zhang Yu turned and departed from the funeral hall; the monumental tasks ahead were tangled in a thousand disparate threads, with far too many crises demanding his resolution.

As Yan Qianji listened to Zhang Yu’s final words, a sudden tremor shook his heart, and he stared blankly at Zhang Yu’s receding figure, a myriad of chaotic thoughts surging through his mind all at once.

Jin Jun, witnessing the scene, was left with his mouth agape in sheer astonishment; then, his gaze shifted restlessly as he pondered inwardly, "Perfected Lord Zhuyi favors those who present problems? Then I, too, can pose questions—though what should I ask?"

Jin Jun cast his eyes upon Yan Qianji nearby, reasoning within himself, "Since the Perfected Lord Zhuyi holds this fellow in high regard, can I not simply emulate his ways?"

For a cultivator, nothing short of immense, unyielding willpower could bring about completion. What Qi Lin sought to achieve was to forge his realm, his techniques, and indeed every single matter to the absolute pinnacle, thereafter to sit enthroned within his divine kingdom of ten thousand mechanisms, watching with cold detachment as those so-called geniuses raised high towers, feasted their guests, and watched their towers come crashing down into ruin.