Boom!
Just as Lin Zhengren pressed close to Zhang Linchuan and was about to unleash a Daoist Art,
Zhang Linchuan exploded.
This wasn't an exaggeration. It was an objective description.
Lightning, its power building for who knew how long, erupted from his body.
His hair stood on end, his body was scorched black in patches, and sparks of electricity flickered across him.
Lin Zhengren, who had been almost pressed against him, was caught in the blast as well. He was sent flying in an instant, and even after he hit the ground, his body continued to twitch and convulse.
This was the first time Lin Zhengren had been left in such a sorry state since entering the competition.
The cause was an upper-grade Class B Daoist Art: Thunder Strike.
What no one had expected was that Zhang Linchuan's Daoist Art had targeted himself, not Lin Zhengren.
When Lin Zhengren interrupted his Class A Daoist Art, Zhang Linchuan hadn't tried to maintain it. Instead, he had immediately triggered the instant-cast Daoist Art imprinted in his Heaven-Connecting Palace, and sent it straight at himself.
It was an undoubtedly risky move, one that could even be called insane. If Lin Zhengren hadn't immediately chosen to close in and attack—or if he'd been even a little slower—Zhang Linchuan might well have become the only cultivator in this Three Cities Dao Discussion to lose to his own Daoist Art.
He would have become the laughingstock of the entire arena.
Fortunately, he'd gambled and won, seizing a sliver of a chance at victory.
Thunder Strike had wounded both of them, but Lin Zhengren had only just entered the sixth rank and hadn't yet reached the peak in any respect. Zhang Linchuan, who had long specialized in the Thunder Method, recovered a few breaths sooner.
Zhang Linchuan's