It wasn't because he was afraid.
But—enough.
"You were right about one thing."
Chen Changqing spoke, his voice calm.
"For someone in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm to bear the power of a Half-Step Heavenly Monarch, that truly is impressive."
"Unfortunately—"
He raised his right hand and spread his fingers.
Sword World, open!
Buzz—
The world power that had previously leaked out only a trace now unfurled in full.
With Chen Changqing at its center, the void within a hundred miles became his domain in that instant.
Within this world, he was the sole law.
The golden sphere of energy Feng Yu had poured everything into began to slow sharply the moment it entered the Sword World.
From surging forward at breakneck speed, to moving slowly, to... stopping.
It simply hung motionless in midair.
Feng Yu's eyes widened.
"H-how is that possible...?"
"A full-force strike from a Half-Step Heavenly Monarch... just stopped like that?"
Chen Changqing flicked a finger.
The golden sphere burst soundlessly like a soap bubble. Its violent energy was instantly broken down by the laws of the Sword World, turning into countless tiny motes of light that drifted away through the void.
It was rather beautiful, like a shower of golden snow.
But to Feng Yu, that snowfall chilled him to the bone.
The borrowed power within his body was completely exhausted the moment that energy sphere shattered.
His cultivation plummeted.
Half-Step Heavenly Monarch, True Lord, Half-Step True Lord, peak Tribulation Transcendence...
In the end, because his previous grave injuries had yet to heal and he had forcibly pushed himself beyond his limits, his cultivation even fell below the middle stage of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm.
More than half the meridians throughout his body had shattered. Blood seeped from his seven orifices, and he could barely stand.
Chen