Chapter 226 | Lin Tian Vs Jian Wuchen(Bonus - )

Chapter 226: 226 | Lin Tian Vs Jian Wuchen(Bonus Chapter)

Dawn broke over Sky-Pillar City in a blaze of pale gold and biting mountain wind.

Long before the morning mist cleared from the nine colossal dragon pillars surrounding the city walls, every street leading toward the Heavenly Colosseum was packed into a solid river of humanity.

Over thousands cultivators filled the seats from the lowest arena wall to the highest.

Today was the fourth and final morning of the Regional Tournament. Only one match remained, yet it was a fight that no one in the northern region had predicted.

An Early Core Formation sword genius from the host Sky-Pillar Sword Sect, facing a Peak Level 9 Foundation dark horse from the Crimson Nimbus Sect who had torn through every opponent in his path without once being hit back.

Up in the Crimson Nimbus Sect Terrace Fang Yu, Chen Hao, and a injured Gao Chen stood behind the stone balustrade. Even Zhou Kai had been carried up in a cushioned wooden chair by two junior alchemists, his splinted right leg resting on a low stool so he would not miss the final match.

At the front of the terrace sat Elder Liu and Elder Bai.

Both women had returned to the Southern Maple Compound only an hour before sunrise.

Though neither showed a trace of fatigue on her face, when Lin Tian stepped onto the terrace and took his seat beside Elder Bai’s right armrest, Elder Bai turned her head slightly and gave him a single, almost imperceptible nod.

In the Frost-Moon Valley terrace draped in pale-blue silk, a dignified woman in white-silver robes—Elder Su—sat beside Su Ling.

And higher still, in the grand central terrace of the Sky-Pillar Sword Sect, the white-bearded Grand Elder Jin sat with his eyes half-closed, while four Core Formation sword deacons stood casually near the four main corner pillars of the upper colosseum dome.

To an ordinary spectator, the host sect had simply increased security for the championship match.

To Lin Tian’s Insight Eye, however, the deep spirit-iron conduits twenty feet beneath the arena floor had changed completely overnight.

The floor of Stage One still looks normal to blind the enemy—but the lower reversal valves connecting the four Demonic Blood-Sacrifice Spikes to the city’s spirit-vein had already been quietly severed from below.

Across the stage in the Black-Sun Sect’s elevated terrace, Elder Mo arrived last.

Neither Mo Yan nor Zhao Lie was with him today; both lay crippled in the Black-Sun compound. Instead, behind Elder Mo’s stone chair stood eight grim-faced men wearing oversized black cloaks pulled low over their brows.

Elder Mo did not even look at the trophy.

His eyes stared greedily down at the center of Stage One, his right hand tucked inside his wide black sleeve around a pulsing blood-jade talisman.

Fight, Elder Mo sneered inwardly as he looked from Jian Wuchen down to Lin Tian. Drain each other’s Qi and push the central spike past the final mark! Once the blood cage rises, your corpses will pay for my sect’s losses tenfold!

BONG—BONG—BONG!

The massive bronze war-bell tolled three times from the central tower, its deep vibration silencing thousands voices at once.

The three deactivated outer stages sank half a foot into the floor, channeling the entirety of the arena’s protective spirit-light into the expanse of Stage One.

"Grand Final of the Regional Tournament!" Grand Elder Jin’s voice echoed from the central terrace like rolling thunder. "Jian Wuchen of the Sky-Pillar Sword Sect, versus Lin Tian of the Crimson Nimbus Sect!"

A deafening roar shook the ironstone walls.

From the grand central staircase, Jian Wuchen walked down onto the western side of Stage One.

Dressed in plain white robes with his narrow ironwood scabbard at his waist, his gaze was as clear and focused as a polished mirror.

On the eastern side of the ring, Lin Tian coming with a steady pace, the unwrapped Profound Void-Yang Blade carried in his right hand.

Twenty paces apart at the center of Stage One, the two men stopped.

"Junior Brother Lin," Jian Wuchen spoke first, cupping his fists in a clean martial salute. "Over the past two days, I watched your matchs from the upper terrace. Your physical body has reached a realm I have never seen in the Foundation Establishment stage, and that blade in your hand was forged by a master who understands metal down to its marrow."

Lin Tian returned a slight nod, holding his heavy broadsword at his side. "Senior Brother Jian’s sword in the quarter-finals was just as clean."

Jian Wuchen’s lips curved into a faint, genuine smile.

"Against others, drawing a Core Formation blade in a junior tournament felt like bullying the weak," Jian Wuchen said, his right hand slowly gripping the silver hilt protruding from his ironwood sheath. "Against you, if I hold back a single thread of Qi from my Golden Core, I will be the one lying on the stone."

SHIIIIING—!

Jian Wuchen drew his blade in one fluid motion.

It was a three-foot-long, double-edged longsword forged from Starlight Silver-Iron—a Tier-3 High-Grade artifact named the Sky-Splitting Silver Sword.

The instant the silver blade cleared its sheath, the full, unrestrained majesty of Early Core Formation erupted from Jian Wuchen’s Dantian!

WUUUUUM—!

Unlike Mo Yan’s murky, pill-forced blood aura, Jian Wuchen’s spiritual pressure was as pure and condensed as liquid mercury. A hundred-foot pillar of silver sword light shot straight toward the clouds.

"Begin!" the chief referee dropped his flag and immediately retreated outside the stage barrier.

Jian Wuchen did not charge blindly into close quarters.

Having seen Lin Tian shatter both Lei Zhen’s shield and Mo Yan’s saber in a single close-range collision, the Sky-Pillar Sword Sect’s top genius chose a completely different path.

His left hand formed a sword-seal at his chest while his right wrist flicked seven times in half a breath.

"Sky-Pillar Core Art—Myriad Silver Sword Lattice!"

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

Instead of one heavy slash, Jian Wuchen’s Early Core essence split into thirty-six whistling threads of silver sword Qi!

Moving at blinding speed, the thirty-six silver threads crisscrossed the sixty-foot granite stage from every angle—front, flanks, and above—weaving a dense, razor-sharp cage of Core Formation sword intent designed to slice apart Lin Tian’s footing and bleed his stamina before he could swing his heavy broadsword!

Up in the Frost-Moon Valley terrace, Su Ling leaned forward slightly, her pale fingers tightening on the stone rail.

"He wasn’t giving Lin Tian a solid point of impact to smash," Su Ling murmured softly. "Each of those thirty-six silver sword Slashes carries true Core Formation Qi. If my Frost Curtain were caught inside that lattice, it would be cut to ribbons in three breaths."

Inside the whistling cage of silver light on Stage One, the hem of Lin Tian’s dark robe sliced cleanly at the corner as the first thread grazed past his calf.

Yet there was no trace of haste in his eyes.

Instead of swinging the Profound Void-Yang Blade wildly at empty air, Lin Tian shifted his grip, placing both hands on the long dark-gold hilt as his Primordial Yang-Tyrant Body and Insight Eye worked in absolute harmony.

To his crimson-runed vision, the thirty-six silver sword Slashes were not thirty-six separate attacks—they were all linked by six thin Qi flowing from the tip of Jian Wuchen’s Sky-Splitting Silver Sword.

Abyssal Void-Shadow Step.

Lin Tian glided across the stage in a silent, half moon arc.

Pouring a dense stream of golden Liquid Qi into the Profound Void-Yang Blade, Lin Tian did not chop downward—he swept the blade around his body in a continuous, roaring vortex of scorching Primordial Yang!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

A torrential storm of gold and silver sparks exploded across the center of Stage One!

Every time the Blade rotated, its wide side struck the exact Qi intersection where six silver threads crossed.

Instead of merely parrying them, the scorching heat of the Primordial Yang clinging to the Blade burned straight through the silver Core Qi on contact—melting the razor-sharp sword into harmless motes of silver mist!

Jian Wuchen’s eyes flashed with shock.

Stepping forward on the ring, he poured another surge of Golden Core Qi into his blade, shifting his sword stance from a wide net into a relentless, high-speed assault of piercing thrusts and diagonal cuts!

DING-CLANG-CLANG-BOOM!

For the first time in the entire tournament, the thousands spectators witnessed a true, breathtaking collision at the peak of the younger generation.

Across the stage, silver sword light and Void Yang Blade arcs clashed twenty-four times in less than ten breaths!

Every impact cracked another slab of array-reinforced floor beneath their boots.

Jian Wuchen’s sword was as fast as driving rain and as sharp as falling frost, pressing from every angle with the superior realm pressure of Early Core Formation.

Yet no matter how fast the Sky-Splitting Silver Sword moved, Lin Tian’s Profound Void-Yang Blade was always waiting ahead of its path—guided by the pinpoint calculation of a Master Refiner who could read the vibration of his opponent’s metal before the wrist even finished turning!

On the twenty-fifth clash, the two blades locked edge-to-edge at the dead center of the ring!

BOOOOOOM!!

A ring of visible white shockwaves blasted outward against the four corners of the stage barrier, forcing both of them to skid backward three paces across the pulverized stone.