Chapter 494 - 486: No Longer Holding Back! Battle the Martial Venerable

Chapter 494: Chapter 486: No Longer Holding Back! Battle the Martial Venerable

’Damn it!!’

Chu Aoqing’s heart skipped a beat. She lunged forward to intercept Shan Tianyu’s vicious sword strike, but stopped halfway. Her face instantly went pale. She knew she was too late...

"Haha! Die!!"

The sword blade sliced through the air with a SHINK. Every student in the dining hall instinctively shut their eyes. To them, a Three-Ring Martial Venerable was nothing more than an ant to an Eighth-Ring Martial Emperor!!

"THUD!!"

But to everyone’s surprise, just as Shan Tianyu’s Gentleman’s Sword made contact, a dull thud echoed through the hall. That was by no means the sound of a sword cleaving a head, so the students who had just closed their eyes snapped them open in an instant. The scene that greeted them was... Shan Tianyu’s body being flung away from Mu Chen. Before they could even process the situation, the Mu Chen who had been standing in place suddenly vanished, replaced by a Thunder Phantom that was clearly a clone! There were no fluctuations of Primordial Power! No spatial ripples! It was as if he had simply evaporated into thin air!

With Mu Chen’s figure gone, everyone’s eyes naturally fell upon the still-recoiling Shan Tianyu. But one look sent another wave of shock through them! And this shock was followed by a deep, profound fear! Because... the very same Mu Chen who had just disappeared had now reappeared beside Shan Tianyu like a ghost... He raised his right leg, which was crackling with the force of ten thousand bolts of lightning, locked onto Shan Tianyu’s waist, and unleashed a devastating kick!

Time seemed to freeze at that moment. Before everyone’s disbelieving gazes, Shan Tianyu’s body, which had been flying backward, suddenly veered ninety degrees and shot toward the dining hall entrance like a cannonball!

Thump.

Mu Chen landed softly on both feet. A faint, satisfied smirk touched his lips as he muttered to himself, "Is that all? You’ll make me a cripple for all eternity? Do you even have the right?!"

BZZT!

With a flash of lightning, Mu Chen’s figure disappeared once more, still without any spatial ripples!

"What... what just happened?"

This was the biggest question on everyone’s mind. The narration might make it seem like a long time passed, but for the onlookers, it all happened in the blink of an eye!

"Let’s go! Let’s see what’s happening outside!"

It was unclear who yelled it, but after the shout, all the students flooded out like a tidal wave. Within a few short breaths, only two people remained in the dining hall. One was Chu Aoqing, her pupils shrinking in shock. The other was Shan Ziyan, her hand clamped over her mouth to stifle a scream.

Others may not have seen it, but the two of them had witnessed the entire exchange between Shan Tianyu and Mu Chen without so much as blinking. To them, the scene had defied all logic. Shan Tianyu’s seemingly guaranteed killing blow had clearly passed right through Mu Chen’s neck, yet it hadn’t drawn a single drop of blood. Instead, Mu Chen’s form had suddenly erupted in a brilliant white light, and in that instant, Shan Tianyu was blasted away. What followed was the scene the rest of the students had seen.

They exchanged a look, and each saw the profound fear mirrored in the other’s eyes. With a silent, shared understanding, they both tapped their feet and vanished from the dining hall. They left behind a hall of chaotic tables and chairs, and Master Ling, who stood leaning against a window with his arms crossed.

"Oho... hehe. Looks like I was blind. It’s been a long, long time since Holy Tomb Mountain has seen a monster like this, not since that punk Qiye went missing."

"Just a monster?" Suddenly, three figures emerged from an inconspicuous, shadowy corner. One was the grim-faced Shan Qiuhen; the other two were, of course, Dilaka and Zhu Jiuqian. The one who had spoken was none other than the mountain of a man, Elder Zhu Jiuqian.

"Hm? You old coots actually have time to visit my place of quiet self-cultivation? Don’t tell me you’re here to beg me for some pills?" Master Ling gently pushed himself upright from his leaning position, a long toothpick dangling from his lips as he flashed a toothy grin.

"You’re right about that. We’ll need to ask you for a Heritage Transformation Pill later. Otherwise, the Primordial Power that silly kid Mu Chen just got back will probably be drained for the next few days." Dilaka stroked his beard and turned to Shan Qiuhen. "Old Dan, what do you think the outcome will be?"

Shan Qiuhen sighed, his expression grim. "The outcome doesn’t really matter. I just never thought that with my leniency, that boy Tianyu’s disposition would become so... warped. If it’s possible, I’d rather hope Mu Chen gives that brat a good thrashing..."

"Good. Your wish will be granted soon enough." With a flash of dark light, Dilaka vanished from inside the kitchen.

Shan Qiuhen’s face grew even grimmer. He rolled his eyes. "I wasn’t finished! Do you think the gap between the Emperor Realm and the Venerable Realm is so easy to overcome?"

With that, Shan Qiuhen vanished, leaving Zhu Jiuqian and Master Ling to stare at each other blankly.

"What are you staring at? Let’s go! If you miss this today, Old Ling, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. Dilaka has been praising that kid Mu Chen to the heavens. Now’s our chance to see if it’s all true." Without giving Master Ling a chance to respond, Zhu Jiuqian grabbed him, took a single step, and plunged into a Spatial Rift.

「The Outer Realm!」

It was already a sea of people! Because of their Cultivation, the dining hall wasn’t a place everyone had to visit daily. Some might not even eat a single meal in a week.

But today was different, far beyond anyone’s expectations! Nearly every student from the entire Inner Mountain had gathered before the dining hall on the first level. (News spread like wildfire, thanks to the Sound Transmission Stones.)

In the massive, open area before the dining hall, two figures hovered in the air, facing off. One was dressed in black robes, his ice-blue hair streaked with purple-gold fluttering in the wind. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, a strange Sword Scabbard strapped to it. Three silver Martial Rings emanated a subtle pressure. The other looked utterly disheveled. His hair was a mess and his clothes were covered in dust. He clutched his sword in one hand, a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth as he glared with burning hatred at the blue-haired youth before him. Eight Emperor Realm Martial Rings flickered around him, glowing with an eerie purple light. Who could it be but Shan Tianyu, who had just been sent flying by Mu Chen’s kick?

"Pah!"

Shan Tianyu spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. He roared in fury, raising his pale green Gentleman’s Sword above his head. A terrifying amount of Wind Attribute Primordial Power surged from his body, making the very space around him vibrate. In an instant, thousands of illusory clones split off from his body, immediately surrounding Mu Chen.

A sense of danger suddenly pricked at Mu Chen’s subconscious. ’It seems those last two hits really pushed him over the edge. To come out with a powerful Earth Tier Combat Skill right away!’ With a faint, careless smile, Mu Chen said aloud, "Then let me see just how powerful an Earth Tier Combat Skill is when used by someone in the Emperor Realm!"

The moment Mu Chen finished speaking, Shan Tianyu’s sword came down. The very air seemed to shift as he roared, "Void Shattering Shadow!"

The sword slash was earth-shattering. The thousands of phantoms instantly broke apart, transforming into thousands of Wind Blades that converged into a gigantic vortex, rushing to devour Mu Chen! At first, Mu Chen had thought it was an Illusion Technique attack, but it turned out the phantoms were merely a prelude to charge the Combat Skill. The real killing move was this Wind Blade Vortex!

"Dragon Transformation - Profound Dragon Arm! Demonization - Nether Bone Arm!!"

’From the start, I never planned on holding back in this fight! You want a war? Then you’ll get one!!’

ROAR!

Two draconic roars tore through the sky. Before the stunned eyes of the crowd, two long, slender Giant Dragon silhouettes shot out from Mu Chen’s body. One was blue, shrouded in a dense, icy mist. The other was black, wreathed in searing Demonic Flames. The twin dragons crisscrossed and coiled in the air for a moment before letting out another resounding cry, then dove from the heavens and fused into Mu Chen’s arms.

CRACK!!

With a soft crack, his sleeves, from the shoulders down, completely disintegrated. Two bizarre, otherworldly arms were revealed to everyone. His left arm was a claw of ice, covered in the Dragon Scales of the Ice Dragon, and it glittered with a brilliant crystalline light. His right was a pitch-black arm engulfed in searing black Demonic Flames, radiating a heat so intense it seemed to burn and warp the very space around it. Crimson patterns flowed across this arm like lava, a truly strange and terrifying sight!

Looking at his face, they saw it was now covered in black and blue Scale Armor. Two sharp Dragon Horns protruded from his temples, sweeping backward. From the sides of his mouth, two razor-sharp fangs jutted downward! He looked utterly ferocious!!

"What... what is that?"

Chu Aoqing, now outside with the crowd, stood beside Shan Ziyan. It was the first time she had ever seen Mu Chen transform like this. Shan Ziyan, however, instinctively explained, "This is Mu Chen’s special Transformation Secret Technique. It’s like Beastification, but it’s the Beastification of an Ancient Divine Beast!"

"Transformation?"

Frowning, Chu Aoqing could clearly sense that Mu Chen was now wielding a power that was beyond her comprehension! Ice and Fire Power!

In the air, watching the Wind Blade Vortex draw ever closer, Mu Chen’s Ice Extreme Demon Pupils spun wildly. With a single thought, Red Refinement and Blue Wings screeched as they shot out from his Sword Scabbard. SWOOSH! They landed in his hands, and the Ice Breath Demonic Flame instantly spread to cover both Heavy Swords!

"Hmph. You dare show off such a petty trick! Overlapping Waves Form! Spin!"

Mu Chen sneered, his voice now a distorted, synthetic-sounding tone. He spread his arms, holding Red Refinement and Blue Wings flat, then tilted his body and began to spin rapidly, moving in the opposite direction of the Wind Blade Vortex’s rotation but perfectly aligned with its path.

As Mu Chen spun at high speed, the diametrically opposed attributes of Ice Breath and Demonic Flame began to inexplicably merge, forming a violent Red-Blue Storm that pierced straight through the center of the Wind Blade Vortex!

The scene was strikingly familiar! It was the very same Wind Reversal Technique that Shan Tianyu had used in the dining hall to shatter Chu Aoqing’s Thousand Leaves Falling! After seeing it only once, Mu Chen, with the power of his Broken Ring, was actually daring to use it to directly confront an Earth Tier Combat Skill unleashed by an Eighth-Ring Martial Emperor!

But to everyone’s utter astonishment, the Wind Blade Vortex couldn’t even withstand Mu Chen’s Red-Blue Storm for a single exchange before it was utterly annihilated! The power of a Fusion Attribute was just that terrifying! After destroying the Wind Blade Vortex, the Red-Blue Storm absorbed its residual Primordial Power, swelling into an even larger tempest. With a howling blast of hot and cold air, it surged violently toward Shan Tianyu!!