Chapter 631: Complete Suppression

The Sword Momentum shifted from chopping to entanglement. The silver-white sword light slithered like a nimble snake, gliding along the spear shaft as it thrusted rapidly upward, aiming straight for Xu Wuyi’s spear-wielding right arm. This change in moves was as smooth as flowing water, without the slightest hesitation. Xu Wuyi lowered the butt of his spear, spinning the shaft with the momentum. The dark-gold spear shaft rotated a hundred and eighty degrees like a wheel, its butt tapping precisely against the spine of the sword.

DING!

The blade tilted, its thrusting momentum broken. Zhou Chen borrowed the force to glide backward, opening up a distance of ten meters. In their first clash of two moves, Xu Wuyi hadn’t retreated half a step, his Spear Momentum calm and unhurried.

Zhou Chen landed, the wrist holding his sword tingling slightly. He looked down at the blade of the Jinghong Sword. It was intact, but his heart had already sunk.

The force behind that tap of the spear’s butt against the sword just now had been controlled with extreme precision. It perfectly broke his Sword Momentum without damaging the blade. This wasn’t a level of control that someone of equal strength could achieve. This was ease. His opponent hadn’t used his full strength at all.

Zhou Chen raised his head and looked at Xu Wuyi again. The young man’s face held no expression whatsoever—neither pride nor contempt. He merely held his spear calmly, waiting for the next attack.

"Could a genius of the Star Yuan Federation actually be this strong?" he thought.

Zhou Chen took a deep breath, deciding to no longer hold back. The blade of the Jinghong Sword lit up with a blinding white light, and Sword Qi surged out like a tidal wave. His entire being underwent a Transformation into a streak of silver-white light as he charged rapidly toward Xu Wuyi. This sword strike held no more probing and no more variations. It was simply fast. It was fast to the extreme, so fast that the sword light and his figure almost merged into one, so fast that a visible vacuum channel was torn through the air.

With this strike, Zhou Chen had once defeated Xie Yunfeng of Heavenly Sword Mountain on the seventy-third move. That had been the fastest sword strike of Xie Yunfeng’s life, but Zhou Chen’s had been faster. He intended to decide the victor with this single strike.

Xu Wuyi’s gaze narrowed slightly. He saw that sword light clearly. It was very fast. But in front of Xu Wuyi, it was still far from enough, because he had seen much faster swords. After directly facing the Sword Sect of the True Dragon Star Realm, looking back to face an Innate Level Swordsman, Xu Wuyi could already remain completely calm and unhurried.

He didn’t retreat. Instead, he gripped the spear with both hands, the tip pointing diagonally downward at the ground. Then, the spear rose. It wasn’t a parry, nor was it a counterattack. It was simply a basic upward flick. From bottom to top, the spear tip traced a dark-gold arc.

The arc was very slow—so slow that the spectating Innate Martial Artists around them could all clearly see the trajectory of the spear tip’s movement. Yet Zhou Chen’s sword simply could not pierce into this arc. It wasn’t blocked. It was suppressed.

The moment the spear tip flicked upward, Zhou Chen felt the surrounding air suddenly solidify. It wasn’t psychological pressure; it was a physical change. Gravity.

The ground beneath his feet was caving in, his sword was growing heavier, and his body felt as if it were bearing a crushing weight of thousands of pounds. Every inch of muscle and every bone was resisting this sudden, heavy pressure. Zhou Chen clenched his jaw. He knew what this was—the "Gravity Manipulation" mentioned in the intelligence. Zhao Yuanwu had been defeated by this exact move.

But knowing was one thing; dealing with it was another. His sword speed was forcibly reduced by thirty percent by the Gravity Field. His Sword Momentum, which had previously been flawless, was now full of openings. And the opponent he faced was most adept at seizing those very openings.

Xu Wuyi’s long spear had arrived. It wasn’t the probing light tap from before, but a true strike. The dark-gold patterns on the spear shaft all lit up, and a point of crimson light at the tip condensed like a scorching sun.

Liaoyuan Spear Technique, First Stance: Spark. The spear shot out like a meteor.

Zhou Chen held his sword horizontally to block.

BOOM!

The silver-white sword light and the dark-gold spear radiance collided, and the erupting shockwave leveled the grass within a ten-meter radius. Zhou Chen stumbled back seven steps in a row. With every step, he stomped a deep footprint into the ground, and with every step, he felt his Qi and Blood churning. When his seventh step landed, a sweet taste rose in his throat, and he nearly spat out blood.

The blade of the Jinghong Sword trembled slightly, emitting a low, mournful hum. Zhou Chen looked down. A fine crack had appeared on the spine of the sword. He stared at the crack, completely stunned.

This was the Divine Weapon bestowed upon him by his imperial father. This was a famous sword treasured by the Great Liang Royal Family for a century. This was Jinghong, which had accompanied him in battle for seven years without a single defeat. At this moment, the blade had a crack.

"Could it be that our Great Liang’s weapon forging standards are inferior to theirs?!" he thought.

Zhou Chen raised his head and looked at Xu Wuyi. The young man still stood in place, his long spear pointing diagonally at the ground, his expression as composed as ever. He hadn’t even pursued; he was merely waiting calmly.

Zhou Chen took a deep breath. He gripped the sword hilt tightly, and the silver-white Sword Qi lit up once again. "Again."

This time, disregarding the crack on the blade, he struck with his full strength. The sword light poured down like a torrential rain storm, every strike aiming straight for the vitals. Various Sword Techniques were unleashed alternately, the Sword Qi crisscrossing to envelop Xu Wuyi’s entire body.

He didn’t believe it. He didn’t believe that his sword was inferior to his opponent’s spear. He didn’t believe that the Great Liang Royal Family’s century of accumulation was inferior to a young Martial Artist from an extraterrestrial civilization. He didn’t believe that his twenty years of ascetic Cultivation and thirty-five years of tempering would stop here.

The Sword Momentum grew increasingly urgent and ferocious. Zhou Chen forgot everything. He forgot that this was a scheduled duel between two nations, forgot that his imperial father and the State Preceptor were watching, forgot that he was a Prince representing Great Liang. He only remembered that he had to win.

Xu Wuyi still did not retreat. He shuttled through the sword light, pushing the Quicksand Step to its absolute limit, every step landing on the weakest point of the Sword Momentum. The Liaoyuan Spear occasionally blocked and occasionally counterattacked, every thrust forcing Zhou Chen to draw his sword back to defend himself.

Twenty moves. Fifty moves. Eighty moves.

Zhou Chen’s Sword Momentum began to fall into Chaos. It wasn’t due to physical exhaustion. With his Cultivation at the peak of the Sub-Saint realm, he wouldn’t run out of strength even if he fought another three hundred moves. What fell into Chaos was his heart.

He clearly felt that his opponent still hadn’t used his full strength. That dark-gold long spear was like a mountain, steadily pressing down on his Sword Momentum. He couldn’t break through it, couldn’t bypass it, and couldn’t sever it. Every time he thought he had found an opening, his opponent would casually neutralize it with just a single spear strike. Every time he thought he had gained the upper hand, his opponent would simply retreat and reopen the distance.

This wasn’t a battle. This was a lesson. His opponent was using him to sharpen his spear.

Zhou Chen bit the tip of his tongue, the sharp pain jolting him into a degree of clarity. He couldn’t go on like this. He had to take a risk.

On the ninety-first move, Zhou Chen’s Sword Momentum suddenly changed. The blade of the Jinghong Sword lit up with an unprecedented white light. The Sword Qi rolled back like a tidal wave, launching a forceful frontal assault against Xu Wuyi. This sword strike held no technique, only brute force. He wanted to force his opponent into a head-on clash.

Xu Wuyi’s gaze shifted slightly. He saw through Zhou Chen’s intention. He also saw through that massive opening in his Sword Momentum. But he didn’t dodge.

Holding the Liaoyuan Spear with both hands, he raised the shaft horizontally. Then, he chopped down with the spear. It wasn’t a thrust; it was a chop. He was using his spear as a saber. The dark-gold spear shaft descended like a mountain-cleaving giant axe, fully enhanced by the Gravity Field, slashing down right at the center of the Jinghong Sword’s blade.

CLANG!

The crisp sound of shattering metal echoed far across the plains. The blade of the Jinghong Sword broke into two pieces. The upper half with the tip flew more than ten meters away, piercing diagonally into the ground. The lower half with the hilt remained in Zhou Chen’s hand. The cross-section of the broken blade was jagged, and its silver-white brilliance instantly dimmed.

Zhou Chen was stunned.