Chapter 736: Current Me is Stronger Than You (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 736: Today, I Am Stronger Than You (Monthly Tickets Requested)

The Underworld Soul-Washing Sutra was a divine manual capable of bridging samsara, awakening innate wisdom, and summoning the memories of past lives.

And at this very moment, True Monarch Zhanxian was circulating the Underworld Soul-Washing Sutra precisely to force Zhang Yu to awaken his previous life, the life before that, and the memories of one past existence after another—the memories of reincarnation.

"Since you believe your choice is the correct one, then today I shall let you convince yourself."

"Let the memories of your countless lifetimes tell you, let them make you understand... just how foolish, how utterly powerless the choice you are making today truly is."

As True Monarch Zhanxian spoke, his fingertips seemed to stir the very cycle of reincarnation between heaven and earth, radiating waves of a mysterious aura.

And just as True Monarch Zhanxian operated the Underworld Soul-Washing Sutra, the divine monarchs within the Deity Transformation battlefield also sensed that faint abnormality.

Divine Monarch Nielian said in a frigid voice, "This fellow can also manipulate the power of samsara!"

His memory of the Underworld Soul-Washing Sutra's power remained fresh. After all, not long ago, Fu Xiantian had deployed this very move on the Deity Transformation battlefield, throwing his sea of consciousness into absolute chaos with a single strike, making him feel as though he had split into hundreds or thousands of different people, and it had taken immense effort just to slightly recover and temporarily suppress those fractured consciousnesses.

"Though the grandeur stirred by Zhanxian falls far short of Fu Xiantian, his target, after all, is only Zhang Yu alone."

"Originally, the two sides were barely evenly matched, but if Zhang Yu's consciousness is thrown into disarray, he will likely fall into an absolute disadvantage immediately..."

Divine Monarch Nielian understood that to a master like Zhanxian, any minute flaw would be seized upon and expanded into a winning advantage, to say nothing of the massive disadvantage Zhang Yu would suffer after being struck by the power of samsara.

Just as the numerous divine monarchs observed this battle with solemn gazes, True Monarch Zhanxian pointed a finger toward Zhang Yu, his intent bridging samsara, seeking to summon the memories of past lifetimes into Zhang Yu's body.

Yet despite the repeated circulation of the Samsara Soul-Washing Sutra, True Monarch Zhanxian could only perceive a vast, empty blankness.

"Nothing?"

"Why is there nothing?"

"How can there be nothing?"

In the process of repeatedly bridging samsara and locking onto Zhang Yu, True Monarch Zhanxian discovered that he actually could not trace a single shred of Zhang Yu's origins, nor find even a speck of past-life memories.

"Zhang Yu has no past life?"

Looking at Zhang Yu before him, True Monarch Zhanxian's eyes were filled entirely with astonishment.

"Is this your first life? How is that possible... In your very first life, without an ounce of accumulation, you actually managed to walk to this step?"

True Monarch Zhanxian exhaled a long breath: "So that is how it is. It seems you truly possess extraordinary natural talent. No wonder the Ancestral Master favored you, even bestowing such precious power upon you to use."

He looked at Zhang Yu with a complex gaze, speaking slowly, "But what you are doing now is squandering your own natural talent and brilliance."

"Since you do not know how to use it, then hand it over to me."

As he spoke, True Monarch Zhanxian once again unleashed the power of the Underworld Soul-Washing Sutra, except this time it was not to awaken Zhang Yu's past memories, but to thrust his own prior memories into Zhang Yu's mind.

In an instant, accompanied by the furious howling of yin winds between heaven and earth, True Monarch Zhanxian's face turned abruptly pale, feeling as though his sea of consciousness had been crushed by a giant wheel, creating the agonizing illusion of being torn apart amidst violent tremors.

True Monarch Zhanxian understood that this was the side effect of using the Underworld Soul-Washing Sutra to shake the power of samsara. Especially since he had not yet achieved Deity Transformation and had not refined his primordial spirit, this side effect caused even greater damage to his soul.

This was also one of the reasons he would not lightly employ the Underworld Soul-Washing Sutra; after all, such damage to the soul touched upon his very foundation. If done a few more times, to say nothing of a severe decline in his battle prowess, it would leave him with little time to live, rendering him unable to continue executing the plan.

On the other side, Zhang Yu, locked on by True Monarch Zhanxian, shook violently, feeling countless memories frantically boring into his mind, ceaselessly distorting his self-perception, his worldview, and his core values...

"I..."

"I am..."

Zhang Yu suddenly clutched his head, speaking with great difficulty and pain, "I am Xiao Wuwang? No, no... I am Chen Qingfeng?"

At this moment, within a single instant, Zhang Yu remembered a great deal.

...

He remembered a lifetime... where, in order to enter the ten great sects, he and seven companions who had grown up and cultivated together slaughtered one another. In the end, he won a tragic victory, only to be ambushed and killed by his master, who took his place and entered the ten great sects.

He remembered another lifetime where, to fight for a chance to enter the ten great sects, he endured corporate war after corporate war, only to end up as a sacrificial lamb for his master's sect, a stepping stone for his senior brother to enter the sect.

And there was another life where he finally achieved a breakthrough in the research of the immortal path, gaining the opportunity to enter a sect, only to have his mother strip away all his achievements...

He remembered his failures across three consecutive lifetimes, remembered how the difficulty of entering a sect grew higher and higher, and how the competition grew fiercer and fiercer.

"But in the end, I finally... got in."

Recalling the scenes after he entered the sect, not a trace of a smile could surface on Zhang Yu's face.

Arriving at the place where the sect resided, he had no housing, no household registration, and certainly no official sect status. He was merely an external staff member serving the sect disciples, with a working term of a mere ten years.

Within ten years, he had to overcome countless hardships and obstacles, outcompeting countless formidable experts, just to have a chance at obtaining an opportunity to remain.

Back then, he thought being driven out of the sect was the worst possible outcome.

But only later did he discover that if one could return alive, how could that not be considered a stroke of fortune?

Having managed to stay with great difficulty, he could only maintain his cultivation, maintain his memories, and maintain his lifespan by maintaining his income...

If he had no work, no income, and no money, he would not even qualify as a human being, nothing more than a puddle of rotten flesh.

Yet the development of immortal path technology caused job positions to grow fewer and fewer, while the competition grew fiercer year by year.

In order to stay, he had to accept lower and lower wages.

His income decreased, but his cultivation could not decrease, nor could his lifespan decrease. Thus, he could only reduce the storage cost of his memories.

And so, imperceptibly, his memories grew fewer and fewer.

He gradually forgot his life as a child, gradually forgot his life before entering the sect.

Master, parents, clan... joy, sorrow, nostalgia... all of it drained from his mind bit by bit.

Gradually... he could no longer remember why he worked.

He only remembered the employee handbook, daily tasks, and performance evaluation metrics. He only remembered that he had to keep working, that he had to keep working forever...

When he died once more and plunged into samsara again, looking at that label that read "Heart Yearning for the Immortal Path," he could not help but burst into loud, mocking laughter.

...

At this moment on the battlefield.

True Monarch Zhanxian stared at Zhang Yu, saying word by word, "Do you understand now? It should be very easy to understand, right?"

"Just like the moment all of us witness the process of reincarnation, we understand instantly."

Zhang Yu opened his mouth, and from it issued the voice of True Monarch Zhanxian simultaneously: "We are firewood, cast time and again into the great furnace of Kunxu, burning away like mere fuel."

"The people of Kunxu, from top to bottom, are already beyond redemption. They ceased being human long ago!"

Zhang Yu clutched his head with one hand, feeling the chaotic, noisy voices echoing in his mind, and said with great difficulty, "They are human."

At this moment, Zhang Yu fought to recall his own memories, recalling the figures of Bai Zhenzhen, Zhang Pianpian, Yu Xinhan, Ciji, Qingmu... one individual after another.

Zhang Yu gritted his teeth and said, "If they could be changed by Kunxu, they can be changed back..."

"Yes! They can be changed," True Monarch Zhanxian said coldly. "And the best way to change them, as you should already understand, is to slaughter them all and reshape everything..."

Clutching his increasingly aching head, Zhang Yu said with irritation, "Changing the living is what truly changes Kunxu!"

"The living?" True Monarch Zhanxian countered, "I have said it, they are no longer human. They possess no value worth changing."

Zhang Yu glared at True Monarch Zhanxian: "Then if you slaughter this batch of people, and you are still unsatisfied in the future, what then? Keep slaughtering?"

"Otherwise?" True Monarch Zhanxian said indifferently, "Samsara changed them, so use samsara to change them back. Slaughter until satisfaction is reached. This is what it means for the strongest to decide everything."

Zhang Yu looked at True Monarch Zhanxian in disbelief: "Madmen. What kind of bullshit new world is a world like yours? It is nothing more than your own personal zoo."

True Monarch Zhanxian cast his gaze downward, a myriad of heavenly tribulations coiling about his frame, shifting into wave after surging wave of increasingly torrential sword intent.

"Zhang Yu..." he spoke in a low murmur, "it appears you do not truly understand the adage that the strongest decide all."

"Your might, your talent, your everything... you had best surrender it all to me, that I may put it to a far more fitting use."

In the next breath, the True Monarch’s visage turned abruptly ashen, the soul within his bosom suffering yet another grievous blow.

Simultaneously, another torrent of his past-life memories was cast into the sea of Zhang Yu’s consciousness.

Twice the essence of True Monarch Zhanxian!

In a fleeting instant, a flash of profound clarity crossed "Zhang Yu’s" eyes, and he let out a weary sigh, saying, "Zhang Yu, you have lost."

Even as the words left his lips, he had already brought his fingers together like a blade, driving them straight toward his own brow.

Yet in the very next heartbeat, he froze, a creeping bewilderment rising in his chest as he stared at his own palm, now thick with coarse beastly fur.

"Me?"

Only now did True Monarch Zhanxian realize that the vessel he commanded was not Zhang Yu’s flesh, but the frame of a colossal ape.

"Zhang Yu... you..."

Before the realization could fully settle, a multitude of beastly silhouettes surged from the periphery, converging in a murderous web; beneath the onslaught of fifteen monstrous avatars, this great ape, whose mind had been seized by Zhanxian’s memories, was on the verge of total subjugation within moments.

Bang! The hands and feet of the Zhanxian Ape were pinned by successive pairs of savage claws, its massive head forced violently into the dirt by a draconic talon, yielding a resounding crack.

"Zhanxian!" the fifteen beastly avatars bellowed in unison, "Even if the strongest decide all, on this battlefield, you are by no means the strongest!"

On the other side, the genuine True Monarch Zhanxian beheld this spectacle, a sudden jolt of alarm piercing his heart. "An avatar? The one ensnared just now was merely his avatar?"

"Has he been using this great ape clone all along, shifting it into his own likeness to contend with me?"

"No, at the very beginning, it was absolutely his true self!"

"When did he make the exchange? To think I failed to perceive it entirely."

At that very juncture, Zhang Yu burst forth from the depths of the earth, materializing directly behind True Monarch Zhanxian.

In a flash, the surrounding space warped violently, dragging Zhanxian toward Zhang Yu’s position. "Do not even dream of it!" the True Monarch roared, unleashing a spatial barrier to intercept the effects of the Kunlun Within the Palm.

Yet in the following instant, Zhang Yu’s hand extended with monstrous speed, resembling a long-armed gibbon imbued with the legacy of celestial ancestors, tearing through layer after layer of spatial walls to seize True Monarch Zhanxian’s form in a vice-like grip.

"Zhanxian!"

In this moment, Zhang Yu and Zhanxian locked eyes, a fierce, blazing fighting spirit erupting simultaneously within their gazes.

"Right now, I am stronger than you!"

Across the sky, cracks of violet thunder rumbled, coalescing into pillars of lightning that cascaded from the heavens, entirely swallowing the two figures below.

Zhanxian shifted his posture, intending to retreat with violent force, but Zhang Yu held him in an unyielding embrace, forcing them both to endure the bombardment of the heavenly tribulation.

"Zhang Yu!" Amidst his furious roars, True Monarch Zhanxian pushed the Heaven and Earth as My Sword technique to its absolute zenith, continuously converting the destructive energy of the tribulation into his own sword aura, hacking relentlessly at Zhang Yu.

However, the intensity of the tribulation had ceased its ascent; instead, under Zhanxian’s relentless assaults, Zhang Yu’s adaptability steadily grew, allowing him to navigate the blanket of lightning with increasing ease.

By contrast, True Monarch Zhanxian’s spiritual essence was draining at a staggering rate; each conversion of the tribulation’s power demanded a massive toll on his magic, his vigor, and his mental resolve.

This burden weighed especially heavy upon him after executing the Hell Soul-Washing Scripture twice in rapid succession.

Amidst the crackling snapping of electricity, fractures began to splinter across True Monarch Zhanxian’s flesh under the ceaseless pounding of the thunderbolts.

As sword intent and lightning clashed time and again in violent fury, True Monarch Zhanxian glared at Zhang Yu with mad rage, bellowing, "Why can you not understand? What you do is utterly meaningless! You cannot change them, and you can save no one!"

Zhang Yu regarded him with a gaze as cold as ice, his voice deep and resonant. "Zhanxian, in my homeland, I knew of a truly strong man. Even when heaven and earth fell to ruin, even when thousands upon millions turned to ghosts and corpses, even when everyone told him these people were beyond saving and could never be changed—even when his former companions and brothers-in-arms had abandoned hope—he never gave up, not until the final breath of his life."

Zhang Yu enunciated each word deliberately: "That... is what it means to change the world."

True Monarch Zhanxian spat in fury, "Stubborn fool! Do you truly believe you can best me by relying on the Divine Power Network?"

The might of the heavenly tribulation rained down without pause, as if it would not rest until these two titans of the earth were thoroughly blasted into nothingness.

Under this earth-shattering, continuous onslaught, True Monarch Zhanxian’s flesh ruptured repeatedly beneath the lightning, the spiritual energy within him growing increasingly insufficient to combat this infinite, boundless calamity.

Yet just as his entire physical form seemed on the verge of being utterly consumed by the thunder,

the storm clouds in the sky abruptly withdrew, and the tribulation that had been fiercely rampant a moment before dissolved away into the atmosphere, unbidden and rapid.

Simultaneously, a flurry of messages from Zhang Pianpian manifested within Zhang Yu’s vision.

Zhang Pianpian: The evil gods have placated the Divine Power Network.

Zhang Pianpian: I will hold them off for you for a short while.

Within the Spiritual Realm, Zhang Pianpian had already engaged the evil gods in a savage struggle; relying on the formidable might of the Taiqing Realm, she temporarily obstructed their interference with the battlefield.

Yet Zhang Yu knew his sister could not hold them off forever on her own; he had to vanquish Zhanxian with the utmost speed...

With a booming strike of his palm, Zhang Yu thrust his hand directly toward True Monarch Zhanxian’s chest.

Covered in blood, True Monarch Zhanxian countered with a sweep of his sword, colliding violently with Zhang Yu and sending a tempest of shockwaves blasting into the air.

"Zhanxian!" Another fist struck, erupting a fresh cloud of bloody mist from the True Monarch’s body as Zhang Yu shouted, "You have lost!"

But right at that moment, waves of majestic energy swept in from all sides.

With the cessation of the tribulation, one Nascent Soul cultivator after another from the Righteous Qi Alliance re-entered the domain of their battlefield.

Beholding this sight, True Monarch Zhanxian let out a chuckle. "Zhang Yu, the one who has lost is you."

Simultaneously, the first to arrive on the scene, True Monarch Dazhuan, let out a furious roar: "True Monarch! I am here!"

In the next instant, streaks of vast, oppressive force slammed into Zhang Yu’s frame, dragging him outward.

Crawling forward even as his lower body trailed behind, the halved True Monarch Zhanyuan shouted with manic excitement, "Do not strike him! Use pure, brute force to suppress him, just pin him down!"

True Monarch Zhanyuan (halved) bellowed with mad glee, "I have seen through his weakness! No matter how formidable his defense may be, can he truly match all of us combined in sheer strength?"

"Without the tribulation to cover him, if this many of us throw our weight directly onto him, I guarantee he won't be able to move a single inch."

With a dull thud, Zhang Yu felt as though mountain after mountain was being piled upon his back.

Yet he knew well that these were no mountains, but the bodies of Nascent Soul cultivators from the Righteous Qi Alliance, pressing their full might down upon his flesh.

True Monarch Dazhuan’s expression was solemn as he threw out another mass of astral energy, pinning it squarely against Zhang Yu’s shoulder.

At the same time, he urged, "Everyone, lend a hand! Do not let him thrash about any further!"

Boom!

As one Nascent Soul master after another lent their strength, he felt great hand after great hand pressing into his form, forcing him down inch by inch toward the earth, straining to break his spine, to force him to his knees, to make him grovel in the dirt.

Amidst a succession of explosive cracks, the ground beneath Zhang Yu’s feet shattered violently under the immense pressure, blasting outward into a massive crater.

True Monarch Zhanxian was helped away by others, swallowing medicinal pills in succession as he looked upon the scene with a cold eye. "Without the power of the heavenly tribulation surrounding you, you are nothing but the weak."

"Every effort put forth by the weak is entirely futile. You can change absolutely nothing!"

Meanwhile, an even greater number of Nascent Soul cultivators from the Righteous Qi Alliance were converging on the location.

Before Zhang Yu had breached their battle lines, the Righteous Qi Alliance had deployed hundreds of Nascent Soul experts, encircling the area within a hundred-kilometer radius of the formation's core.

Though Zhang Yu had later leveraged the terrifying majesty of the tribulation to repel nearly a hundred Nascent Soul masters, he could not prevent the others from watching from just beyond the storm's edge.

As the great battle between Zhang Yu and True Monarch Zhanxian raged on, the numerous Nascent Soul experts of the Alliance had concentrated their gaze here, though the continuous eruption of the tribulation had forced them to withdraw to a great distance.

Awed by the horrifying power of the heavenly tribulation, they had not dared to take a single step across that thunderous threshold.

But as the heavenly calamity dissipated, they surged forward all at once, converging to suppress Zhang Yu.

With a thunderous boom, the radiant Tianri Huangshen—who moments before had blazed with brilliance—was already subdued by several Nascent Soul True Lords acting in concert, shattered into pieces.

The twelve Taihao Shenglv Flying Swords were likewise captured one by one, each claimed by a different True Lord.

Fifteen beast-avatar manifestations collapsed onto the earth one after another, each pinned down by distinct forces of suppression.

Within the Spirit Realm space,

Bao Shen spoke coldly: “Half-God, this is not your domain. Leave at once.”

Zhang Pianpian replied calmly, “Heh… It’s been so long—so very long—since any demon god dared speak to me like that.”

At that moment, Bao Shen suddenly froze, his gaze dropping to his Demon God Register, a flicker of astonishment stirring within: “Fu Shen…”

At the heart of the battlefield, as they watched Zhang Yu’s waist bend inch by inch downward and his knees slowly descend toward the earth, Zhanxian True Lord—recovering his breath mid-cultivation—grew ever colder in expression; Dazhuan True Lord’s breathing quickened; Banla Zhanyun True Lord’s eyes gleamed brighter and brighter, filled with mounting excitement.

In this instant, lofty figures encircled heaven and earth, their gazes fixed unanimously upon Zhang Yu, as though awaiting the moment when this Zhu Yi True Lord would kneel before them, surrendering in defeat.

Just then, whistling sounds tore through the air—countless Taixu Flying Thunders, guided by Tian Sha True Lord and others, shot straight toward Zhang Yu.

Dazhuan True Lord sneered, “Tian Sha! Are you still struggling in your death throes?”

“Stop him!”

“How did you let him slip through?”

“No—something’s interfering with our Spirit Realm signal!”

Zhanyun True Lord chuckled softly, “Missed again? What good does shooting at Zhang Yu do?”

One by one, the Taixu Flying Thunders struck an invisible spatial barrier and halted—but one among them radiated a sharp sword intent, cleaving through the barrier layer after layer until it finally aimed straight for Zhang Yu’s chest.

Yet in the next heartbeat, as the outer shell of the Taixu Flying Thunder shattered, a graceful figure burst forth from within and flew straight into Zhang Yu’s arms.

“A-Zhen!”

Feeling Bai Zhenzhen cling tightly to him, Zhang Yu blinked in mild surprise. “You’ve come…”

Bai Zhenzhen held him close and gave a soft laugh. “Last time, during your battle with Wang Yin in the First Layer, I couldn’t help you—you had all the glory to yourself.”

“This time, we face it together.”

With those words, she clasped Zhang Yu’s hand firmly, pouring her Nascent Soul-level spiritual power steadily into his body.

Through arduous cultivation, Bai Zhenzhen had now unmistakably ascended to the Nascent Soul realm.

At the same moment, Fu Ji’s voice echoed inside Zhang Yu’s mind: “Look at you—without me by your side, you go rushing in so recklessly! Who told you to take such insane risks?”

In the next instant, a world-shaking sword qi erupted from within Bai Zhenzhen, surging into the blade she held.

The sword hummed gently, and the Qingtian Sword Spirit within laughed softly: “It’s been ages since I’ve felt such pure, extreme-emotion sword qi… Ah, what a pity—if only this Zhang Yu died, your sword qi would grow even purer, letting me unleash far more of my divine subtleties.”

Without hesitation, Bai Zhenzhen raised her sword skyward and slashed.

Blinding white sword qi exploded from the Qingtian Sword, severing every oppressive force weighing down on Zhang Yu.

Then, without mercy, the sword qi continued surging upward, flooding heaven and earth, spilling in all directions—limitless, ceaseless, like a mountain torrent unleashed or oceans overturning skies—sending everyone present stumbling backward in alarm.

As a single thread of that white sword qi neared his face, Zhanxian True Lord’s previously serene expression hardened abruptly. He turned his head slightly, narrowly evading the sliver of qi.

At that moment, his master’s words echoed in his mind:

…

“Zhanxian, you cultivate ‘Heaven and Earth as My Sword,’ transforming wind, fire, earth, water, light, thunder—all the myriad forces of this world—into your own sword qi.”

“But there is one thing—only one thing… that you may never be able to transform.”

Perplexed, Zhanxian had asked, “What is it?”

Fu Xian Tian sighed. “Something you can no longer comprehend, no longer believe in, and thus can never truly grasp.”

“That thing… is called emotion.”

(End of Chapter)