Chapter 596: Ancient and Unending until the End of Time
Sealing Dragon City’s City Lord, Zong Liang, said, “The strength and sharpness of this fellow is as strong as an Inferior Grade Martial Monarch’s.”
An even more horrifying thing was yet to be seen. Xuanyuan Zhantian pointed with his halberd and stomped heavily on the ground with his right foot. A long crack appeared on the Wind Cloud Platform, extending quickly. The vast Wind Cloud Platform instantly split in two.
With the strong rebound from his foot, Xuanyuan Zhantian’s speed instantly broke Mach 4. He had reached the limits of a half-step Martial Monarch. In a few flickers, he arrived before Chu Chaoyun.
“Life-Extinguishing Blood-Reversing Swordplay!”
Chu Chaoyun’s reaction was faster than the eyes of the cultivators in the spectator stands. At Xuanyuan Zhantian’s seventh step, Chu Chaoyun let go of his sword. Then, he formed a circle of golden light with his right hand.
Instantly, eight pillars of light descended and Chu Chaoyun’s eyes turned golden, giving him a noble, honorable, powerful, and aloof aura.
“Go!”
Chu Chaoyun heavily smashed his palm into the floating sword. A golden beam of light quickly elongated, crashing into Xuanyuan Zhantian, who was rapidly approaching with a surging aura.
“Dang!”
The golden light made visible the Xuanyuan Zhantian who was moving so fast that no one could see him. It froze him in the air. The timing of this attack was extremely precise.
This magnificent sword seemed to have a tacit understanding with Chu Chaoyun.
After striking the weak point of Xuanyuan Zhantian’s move, the sword continued to easily break his Point at Heaven, Stamping on Earth in two or three moves.
“Ha ha ha! Unexpectedly, you are able to break my Point at Heaven, Stamping on Earth. This is an eye-opener! A great eye-opener, indeed. In that case, receive another move from me!”
Xuanyuan Zhantian felt extremely happy; he was not dispirited at all when his move was broken. Instead, he laughed loudly. As the waves surged, he unleashed all sorts of powerful moves supported by the state of kingship, wildly attacking Chu Chaoyun.
Every move Xuanyuan Zhantian made was not weaker than Point at Heaven, Stamping on Earth. Several more cracks appeared on the Wind Cloud Platform; its recovery could not keep up with Xuanyuan Zhantian’s rate of destruction.
Chu Chaoyun did not fluster. A boundless golden light came out from his eyes. Encased by the eight pillars of golden light, he looked divine as he swung his sword and moved around.
Bringing out the might of the state of light to an incredible level, Chu Chaoyun clashed head-on with Xuanyuan Zhantian’s state of kingship, not appearing inferior at all. He broke Xuanyuan Zhantian’s moves one by one.
“It has been such a long time since I have had such a hearty fight. You are even able to break my chain of eighteen attacks. If you can break my next attack, then, I, Xuanyuan Zhantian, can only concede defeat to you!”
Xuanyuan Zhantian shouted, “Ancient and Unending until the End of Time!”
The vast sea changed strangely. First, it became a river, then a lake, after that, a small brook.
Finally, that vast boundless sea ended up as a boundless plain covered in farmland.
In an instant, all the spectating cultivators saw time move forward very quickly—seeing a boundless sea turn into a vast farmland.
The strange changes conveyed the sense of “till the end of time.” Even with how complex the world was, it was gone like a wisp of smoke.
Faced this long passage of time, the spectators could not help but feel insignificant. If even the vast sea turned into farmlands, what then do humans count for?
However, there was an exception to everything. Within that vast sea, an ancient and immortal person appeared. He carried the state of kingship and after the tempering of the many thousand years, his sharpness gained a venerable and solemn quality, becoming much stronger by an unknown number of times.
In the blink of an eye, ten thousand years passed. The vast sea turned into broad plains. Even to the end of time, I will still be here. The state of kingship is ancient and unending.
Using this concept of the end of times, Xuanyuan Zhantian tempered his state of kingship and his fighting spirit for ten thousand years in one breath. Then, he quickly unleashed his move.
Just thinking about this attack made one tremble despite the warmth. Horror filled the spectators’ hearts as they thought about how to block this.
An ancient and drawn-out aura appeared on Xuanyuan Zhantian’s halberd. Everyone felt a heavy pressure, like a mountain pressing down on them. The dense state of kingship poured out uncontrollably, immediately tearing many tiny cracks in space.
Sima Lingxuan frowned slightly. This was his first time to see a Martial Technique that he could not understand in this competition. He could not help but enter deep thought until suddenly reaching enlightenment.
He muttered, “So, that is what’s going on. He nearly scared me. He is not a true Sage, so how could he have materialized a mysterious phenomenon of ten thousand years passing? He had only used the state of this Martial Technique to imitate such an effect. This kind of mysterious phenomenon can only last for three breaths.
“However, with just that, it is already very strong. With a ten-thousand-year-old state of kingship, Chu Chaoyun will be defeated without a doubt!”
Xiao Chen’s conclusion was the complete opposite. He shook his head, not giving this Martial Technique a good evaluation. However, he did not give voice to his opinion.
Facing this peak move, Chu Chaoyun finally looked serious.
He quickly formed ancient hand seals, and the eight pillars of light that descended from the sky merged together. Then, the pillars of light all poured into his body.
This lent the golden glow that Chu Chaoyun gave off a sense of density. Somewhat stunned, Xiao Chen quickly used his Spiritual Sense to check the situation before saying softly, “Amazing. Unexpectedly, he has condensed his Essence until it is solid. I thought that I was the only person under Martial Monarch that managed to do that.”
At this moment, Chu Chaoyun was completely covered with golden light. His holy and aloof mien became even richer. The light accumulated without him moving at all, like he was a gold sculpture made by a divine sculptor.
Seeing his motionless opponent, Xuanyuan Zhantian had a strange feeling. However, this state of kingship that was tempered for ten thousand years could only last for one breath.
This was Xuanyuan Zhantian’s sure-kill technique. If it did not defeat his opponent, he would suffer from a huge backlash and lose his combat prowess.
Xuanyuan Zhantian’s only option was to defeat Chu Chaoyun. There was no other way!
“Ka ca!”
When the Heavenly War Halberd was less than half a meter away from Chu Chaoyun, who had turned into a gold sculpture that seemed to have stopped moving since the ancient times, he moved.
The light that condensed on Chu Chaoyun’s body suddenly exploded. All 321 acupoints of his entire body released light. Every acupoint could release several thousand beams of light.
When the three-hundred-odd acupoints worked together, the boundless light layered endlessly; there were so many, they could not be counted, numbering at least in the millions. Chu Chaoyun became like a bright, blazing sun on the Wind Cloud Platform, giving off a piercing golden light.
“Eternal Light!” When Chu Chaoyun opened his mouth, golden sound waves came out. It seemed like a divine sound—solemn, dignified, serene, and impossible to profane.
The sword in Chu Chaoyun’s hand moved at lightning speed, executing a complicated sword art; it was so fast that it could not be seen with the naked eye. However, the multilayered, boundless, and unending golden light broke down every one of his moves for everybody.
With each swing of Chu Chaoyun’s sword, time paused. It seemed like another Chu Chaoyun had appeared in the world. From within the light, he swung his sword 99,900 times with every swing done with his full power.
Eternal Light and Ancient and Unending until the End of Time unexpectedly produced similar results via different methods. When the cultivators in the spectator stand felt the similarities between the two techniques, they could not help but feel excited.
The crowd originally thought that after Xuanyuan Zhantian executed Ancient and Unending until the End of Time, tempering his state of kingship for ten thousand years in the blink of an eye, his victory was assured.
Who would have imagined that Chu Chaoyun would silently execute Eternal Light? In that instant, he sent out 99,900 sword strikes. The victor of this match was now hard to guess.
When the numerous figures merged together, they sent out several thousand beams of light. The Eternal Light formed by Chu Chaoyun’s 99,900 sword strikes clashed with Xuanyuan Zhantian’s state of kingship, tempered for ten thousand years by Ancient and Unending until the End of Time.
Bang!”
A thunderous sound echoed. The eyes of the crowd, who had been staring intently, could not react right away. They did not even manage to hear the explosion in time.
When the two people, who had executed their best techniques, clashed, an intense energy exploded forth. That energy far surpassed the two’s control.
Before Xuanyuan Zhantian could make a move, he was blasted back like a fired cannonball. He broke through the strong Wind Cloud Barrier and fell towards a spectator stand with undiminished force.
A rumbling explosion resounded. The blast felled a group of spectators, leaving them a complete mess. Several cultivators sustained severe injuries from the shock wave and fainted immediately.
“Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou!”
However, when Chu Chaoyun was sent flying by that energy, a beam of golden light descended from the sky. Then, after it exploded, another beam of golden light descended.
A total of nine beams of lights descended from the sky. As each beam of light exploded, it buffered some of the incredibly strong force.
Chu Chaoyun stood on the Wind Cloud Platform with a pale complexion. He panted slightly and looked very unsightly, his clothes very tattered.
The golden glow had already vanished and the holy aura Chu Chaoyun had given off was gone. Although he was in a miserable state, in the end, he was still standing on the Wind Cloud Platform.
Compared to Xuanyuan Zhantian, Chu Chaoyun was in a much better condition. The victor was clear in one glance.
When the spectators saw this scene, they were dumbfounded. They had not expected a battle under the Martial Monarch realm to be able to create such a commotion. Even the Wind Cloud Platform could not hold up.
The referee was very stunned as well. However, as he was quite experienced, he quickly recovered his wits. He said, “Victor: Chu Chaoyun. You obtain two points!”
Only after a long time did the crowd finally react. They all sighed endlessly.
“The world has really changed. A battle between half-step Martial Monarchs unexpectedly caused such a commotion. They are even stronger than Inferior Grade Martial Monarchs.”
“Bai Qi’s Four Season Saber Technique’s third move nearly broke the Wind Cloud Barrier. If he used the fourth or fifth move, the Wind Cloud Barrier will not be able to stop him.”
“In that case, Sima Lingxuan should be even stronger. He definitely has the strength to break the Wind Cloud Platform.”
“If these fellows advance to Martial Monarch, then the older generations of Martial Monarchs would not be able to fight them.”
“I have a feeling that this Five Nation Youth Competition will be able to open the doors to the Kunlun Realm. An envoy of the upper realm will come.”
Despite the clamor, Xiao Chen closed his eyes and started to rest. Now that he had seen Chu Chaoyun’s strength, he no longer feared anyone in this Five Nation Youth Competition.
The peak was almost within reach!
“Next match: Xiao Chen versus Bai Qi!”
Finally, it was Xiao Chen’s turn to fight in the ninety-fifth round of the competition. Furthermore, this time, his opponent was the Noble Clan scion known as the strongest bladesman in the younger generation, Bai Qi.