Mo Yuan defeated Zhang Tianyuan and advanced to the finals in dominating fashion. The news swept across the entire plaza like a storm.
Defeating a ninth-layer peak opponent while only at the eighth layer of Qi Refinement—and a direct disciple of Dragon Tiger Mountain at that—was an achievement enough to carve Mo Yuan's name into the history of the Three Sects Tournament.
At this moment, no one dared underestimate this Maoshan rising star who had entered the sect less than a year ago. Their gazes were filled with shock, admiration, and even a trace of awe.
After a brief period of meditation, some color returned to Mo Yuan's pale face, though the spiritual power within him remained depleted.
The finals would begin in half an hour. His opponent was Ge Zao Mountain's mysterious formation prodigy—Luo Li.
The atmosphere atop the high platform was subtle.
Celestial Master Zhang of Dragon Tiger Mountain stroked his beard in silence, revealing neither joy nor anger.
Qingxu Zhenren of Ge Zao Mountain looked meaningfully at Shi Jian. "Brother Shi, this disciple of your sect truly made a name for himself in one stroke. Such thunder arts, such spear intent—he already faintly possesses the bearing of one who has formed his own system. His future is limitless."
Shi Jian's expression remained composed, though the satisfaction and regard in his eyes were difficult to conceal completely. "Brother Qingxu flatters him. My disciple merely got lucky. Your sect's junior niece Luo Li has unfathomable mastery of formations. The outcome of the finals is still uncertain."
Although Uncle Nine did his utmost to remain calm, his slightly trembling fingers betrayed his excitement. Qian He and Four Eyes were even more openly delighted, as proud as if they themselves had won.
Below the stage, the Maoshan disciples' section had erupted.
"Senior Brother Mo is mighty!"
"I knew Senior Brother Mo would win!"
"The finals! Senior Brother Mo, go for it—take the championship!"
Those fellow disciples who had previously harbored jealousy mostly shut their mouths now. Strength was the best authority.
Mo Yuan sat cross-legged in the area beside the arena reserved for finalists, holding two Medium-Grade Spirit Stones as he recovered his spiritual power with all his might.
His finals opponent, Luo Li, gave him a feeling even more unfathomable than Zhang Tianyuan.
Since the tournament began, every one of her opponents had been trapped by her wondrous formations, rendered helpless, and ultimately surrendered voluntarily. She herself had never even truly launched an attack.
Her attainments in formations were downright inscrutable.
"Formations borrow the power of heaven and earth, trapping enemies invisibly. They are the most troublesome to deal with."
Mo Yuan pondered inwardly, My Geng Metal Thunderous Evil and Thunder Dragon Evil-Slaying Spear are formidable, but if I fall into her formation and cannot find its core, then no matter how much strength I have, I will have nowhere to use it.
I have to end this quickly. I can't give her time to set up her formation!
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.
"The finals begin! Mo Yuan of Maoshan and Luo Li of Ge Zao Mountain, take the stage!"
At the referee's call, the entire audience focused on the largest arena in the center.
Mo Yuan took a deep breath and rose to his feet, gripping the Thunder Dragon Evil-Slaying Spear as he stepped onto the arena one measured step at a time.
On the other side, a slender woman in a moon-white Daoist robe floated gracefully onto the stage. Her features were as beautiful as a painting, and she was none other than Luo Li.
She possessed an ethereal aura, her eyes as tranquil as an ancient well. In her hand rested an antique compass, faint starlight flowing across its surface.
"Senior Brother Mo, please," Luo Li said, her voice crisp as jade striking jade.
"Senior Sister Luo, please." Mo Yuan did not dare relax in the slightest. Every muscle in his body was taut, and his mind was perfectly clear.
The referee gave the order!
Almost the instant the match began, both moved at once!
Mo Yuan aimed to end the battle quickly. He activated Ghost Shadow Footwork, his body flashing like lightning as the Thunder Dragon Evil-Slaying Spear became a streak of purple thunder and shot straight toward Luo Li.
He intended to use the fastest speed and strongest attack to disrupt her formation-setting rhythm!
However, Luo Li seemed to have anticipated this long ago. She did not retreat. Instead, she merely flicked the compass in her hand with a slender finger.
Buzz!
The scene atop the arena changed abruptly.
Mo Yuan's vision blurred. The previously clear arena was instantly shrouded in dense mist, while the scenery around him warped and twisted. He lost all sense of direction, and even Luo Li's figure vanished.
An illusion formation!
Not good! Mo Yuan's heart sank. He knew he had still been a step too slow and had already fallen into her formation.
He immediately halted his charge, guarded his mind, and spread out his divine sense with all his strength, attempting to find a flaw in the formation.
But this illusion formation was exceptionally ingenious. It not only confused his sight, but even distorted and interfered with his divine sense, making it difficult to determine his true location.
"Senior Brother Mo, this is the Small Sky Illusion Array. Please appreciate it." Luo Li's ethereal voice came from all directions, making it impossible to pinpoint her position.
Then the mist churned and condensed into countless ice spikes, wind blades, and earth thorns, attacking Mo Yuan from every bizarre angle.
These attacks were not entirely illusory. They had been formed by the formation drawing upon Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, and they possessed real killing power!
Mo Yuan swung the Thunder Dragon Evil-Slaying Spear, its shadows coiling like a dragon as they shattered every incoming attack.
Yet the attacks were endless. Within this illusion formation, he was like a blind man, able only to defend passively, and his spiritual power was being consumed at an enormous rate.
I have to break the formation!
Mo Yuan's thoughts raced as he pushed his Primordial Comprehension to its limit, analyzing the formation's flow of energy.
At the same time, he attempted to draw upon the power of lightning. "Brilliant heavenly thunder, heed my command—destroy evil and reveal righteousness!"
A thick bolt of purple-gold lightning blasted from his palm and struck toward the mist ahead.
However, the lightning vanished into the fog like a mud ox sinking into the sea. It only caused the mist to churn more violently and failed to break the formation.
This illusion formation clearly possessed an extremely strong ability to disperse and absorb energy attacks.
"It's useless, Senior Brother Mo.
The Small Sky Illusion Array forms its own space, isolating what lies within from what lies without. Ordinary attacks cannot shake it." Luo Li's voice remained calm.
The spectators below could only see the arena shrouded in dense mist, with occasional flashes of lightning and rumbles from colliding energies emerging from within. Unable to see the battle clearly, they grew frantic with anxiety.
"Senior Brother Mo is trapped!"
"Ge Zao Mountain's formations are too powerful!"
"Is he going to lose?"
On the high platform, Qingxu Zhenren nodded slightly, quite satisfied with Luo Li's performance.
Shi Jian and Uncle Nine, however, furrowed their brows as they watched the movements in the mist closely.
Inside the formation, Mo Yuan's situation was far from optimistic. Passive defense consumed too much power, and he could feel the formation's oppressive force gradually increasing, as though it were brewing an even stronger transformation.
A prolonged defense would inevitably lead to defeat!
I can't keep using conventional methods... Mo Yuan's eyes turned sharp as he thought of the strand of Innate Gengjin Thunderous Fiend Energy he had refined not long ago. This fiend energy was incomparably sharp and specialized in breaking all manner of energy barriers and falsehoods.
He stopped attacking blindly and instead contracted his divine sense, focusing with all his strength on sensing the densest and most central energy node within the formation.
At the same time, he poured all the little spiritual power remaining in his Dantian, along with that strand of Innate Gengjin Thunderous Fiend Energy, into the Thunder Dragon Evil-Slaying Spear.
The spear shaft trembled violently. Platinum lightning interwove with purple electricity as its aura of destruction continued to rise.
Relying on his Primordial Comprehension and keen sensitivity to energy, he finally caught a relatively stable energy hub hidden within the shifting illusion formation.
Now!
He gripped the spear with both hands, pouring all his strength, will, and desire to break the formation into this single strike.
Within his mind, he visualized that strand of Chaotic Thunder Source Dao Rhythm and drew upon a trace of its intent to shatter all techniques.
"Break the surface with a single point—Geng Metal Thunderous Evil, BREAK FOR ME!"
With a furious roar, he moved with the spear. The Thunder Dragon Evil-Slaying Spear transformed into an extremely condensed, nearly pure-white bolt of lightning, ignoring the surrounding layers of illusions and attacks as it shot toward the hidden energy node with a speed beyond thought and incomparable precision.
Screech—!
An exceedingly sharp sound rang out, as though space itself had been torn apart!
That incomparably sturdy energy node, capable of dispersing and absorbing powerful attacks, was like fragile glass before the lightning bolt containing Geng Metal's sharpness, lightning's destruction, and even a trace of chaotic annihilation intent. It was pierced through and shattered in an instant!
Crack!
A sound like a mirror breaking echoed across the arena.
The dense white mist churned violently, then rapidly receded like a retreating tide. The arena became clear once more.
Mo Yuan stood with his spear in hand, its tip pointed at the empty space three feet before Luo Li. That was where the phantom of the formation's core compass had been, but it had now dimmed and shattered.
Luo Li's face had turned slightly pale. The antique compass in her hand had lost its glow, and a thread of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. The formation had been forcibly broken, and she had clearly suffered backlash.
She looked at Mo Yuan, and for the first time, shock and disbelief appeared in her cool eyes.
The Small Sky Illusion Array, the formation that had made her famous, had actually been forcibly broken by him in such a domineering and precise manner.
The entire venue fell silent enough for a needle to be heard.
Everyone stared dumbfoundedly at the figure standing tall on the arena with a spear in hand.
It had been broken? Ge Zao Mountain Luo Li's unfathomable formation had been broken just like that? And in such a direct, violent manner!
The referee stood stunned for a moment before finally reacting and announcing loudly:
"The finals winner is Mo Yuan!"
Whoosh—!!!
After a brief silence came cheers and uproar like crashing mountains and roaring seas! The Maoshan disciples in particular were so excited that they nearly jumped up!
Champion! Champion of the Three Sects Tournament! It belonged to Maoshan! It belonged to Mo Yuan.
At last, a smile he could not suppress appeared on Sect Master Shi Jian's face. Uncle Nine let out a long breath, his eyes brimming with pride.
Qingxu Zhenren shook his head with a sigh, yet still cupped his hands toward Mo Yuan in congratulations.
Mo Yuan withdrew his spear and cupped his hands toward the pale-faced Luo Li. "Senior Sister Luo, thank you for yielding."
Luo Li gave him a complicated look before softly saying, "Senior Brother Mo, your thunder arts are divine, and your method of breaking formations is even more inconceivable. Luo Li is convinced by her defeat." She accepted her loss wholeheartedly.
Mo Yuan stood at the center of the arena, bathed in the gazes of the entire crowd. He was exhausted, yet unable to conceal the surging emotions in his heart.
At this moment, through his own strength, he had earned everyone's respect and truly begun to distinguish himself among the younger generation of the cultivation world.
However, amid this glorious moment beneath countless eyes, no one noticed that within the shadows at the edge of the plaza, several cold gazes like venomous snakes were fixed tightly on Mo Yuan atop the arena, filled with greed and killing intent.
"Target confirmed... possesses dragon aura, thunder arts, and a strange treasure... priority raised to the highest level..."
"Wait for the right moment... we must succeed..."
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