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Just the day before, Shen Xingyan had still been at the Nascent Soul Early Stage. But judging by the pressure of his Sword Qi now, he had somehow revealed the strength of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage. Every strike surged like a rainbow across the sky, carrying the force of ten thousand thunderbolts.

Terrifying!

How had Shen Xingyan broken through from the Golden Core Late Stage to the Nascent Soul Early Stage, then leaped again to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, all in just two or three days? Had he swallowed so many spirit herbs and medicines that he had forced his cultivation upward? Or had he been hiding his true strength all along?

Ye Qinghui had no time to think. He flicked his longsword, swift as lightning, sending several streaks of blue light toward Shen Xingyan.

Of all the martial arts under heaven, only speed was unbreakable. Even if his opponent's cultivation surpassed his own, a fast enough Swordsmanship could break through the limits of cultivation and defeat someone at a higher realm.

Ye Qinghui's Sword Qi seemed gentle, but his sword forms shifted in the blink of an eye. With the power of the Bodhi Spirit Pill, they carried a sustained force that could split mountains and shatter stone.

Shen Xingyan spun his ornate golden Spirit Sword. Golden light blazed around him, turning into a sky full of stars that collided with Ye Qinghui's cluster of blue sword light. A deafening boom rang out as their Sword Qi tangled together. Sparks sprayed from the point of impact, and light flared so brightly that every butterfly and Spirit Bird overhead fled. Even the arena seemed on the verge of cracking apart.

A clash between the strong was spectacular indeed—and devastating.

The sect masters looked on in amazement, marveling that "the waves behind pushed the waves ahead." The young disciples were enthralled. Across Jade Pool Island rose a thunderous uproar unlike anything heard earlier in the tournament.

"Ye Qinghui's Swordsmanship is so fast it's making my eyes spin. Can Shen Xingyan really beat him?"

"Shen Xingyan's Sword Qi is ferocious. The pressure is incredible. His cultivation has actually reached the Nascent Soul Middle Stage."

"Heavens! The Nascent Soul Middle Stage! Young Sect Master Shen is only seventeen, yet he's reached this level. His future is limitless! I'm afraid Ye Qinghui won't last much longer." ...

Hearing the discussion around him, Immortal Venerable Shen beamed with pride and stroked his beard. The best part is still to come. No matter how formidable Ye Qinghui's Swordsmanship is, his defeat is certain today.

Faster! Faster still!

Shen Xingyan and Ye Qinghui each played to their strengths as they fought back and forth, their figures flashing in and out of sight and leaving afterimages behind. Bursts of light collided above the arena again and again. They were so evenly matched that no one could look away.

As the fight dragged into a stalemate, Shen Xingyan suddenly changed tactics. Instead of alternating between attack and defense, he retreated in every direction, evading Ye Qinghui's fierce attacks and luring him across the four corners of the arena: southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest.

[Strange.]

[ First Senior Brother, watch out! ]

Before Ye Zhenzhen could finish sending her warning, Ye Qinghui had already fallen into a formation blazing with golden light. A mysterious, weighty force suddenly rose over the entire arena. Space stretched and twisted, and everything seemed to slow within that brilliant glow.

"Space-Binding Formation!" someone in the crowd cried, recognizing it.

The Space-Binding Formation had not appeared in the Cultivation World for years. No one had expected Shen Xingyan to use it in the Immortal Sects Grand Tournament. It was ill-suited to a fight without preparation: its runes had to be hidden around the arena in advance. During the match, the caster had to draw his opponent across all four corners. Once the opponent triggered the formation, it could bind his movements and slow him down.

No wonder Shen Xingyan had not come looking for Ye Qingyao the night before. He had been laying the formation ahead of the final. Ye Zhenzhen suddenly understood everything.

Unfortunately, she and Ye Qinghui had understood too late.

Ye Qinghui felt the air around him turn stagnant. Each swing of his sword took several times his usual strength. Even the Flowing Light Illusion Swordsmanship became slow motion inside the formation; he could not bring it to bear at all. The blue sword trails left by his blade as it cut through the air grew slow and plainly visible.

He forcibly drew on the Bodhi Spirit Pill within him, yet his Swordsmanship was still a third slower than before.

A formation's strength depended on its caster's cultivation. If even a pill made from the Ten-Thousand-Year Bodhi Spirit Pill could not free Ye Qinghui from the Space-Binding Formation's interference, then Shen Xingyan's current cultivation truly was formidable.

Ye Zhenzhen suddenly realized that Shen Xingyan's cultivation had not soared in such a short time because he had stuffed himself with miraculous Spirit Pills and medicines. He had used one of the Five Divine Artifacts—the Primordial Chaos Pearl.

After the ancestor of the Cultivation World had used the Five Divine Artifacts to seal the Ancient Evil Drought Demon, he had entrusted one artifact to each of the Five Great Sects for safekeeping. He had also decreed that no sect could use its artifact for cultivation, or it would suffer a backlash.

In the original book, Shen Xingyan and his father, Immortal Venerable Shen, had not begun studying the Primordial Chaos Pearl's uses until after the Immortal Sects Grand Tournament. Yet to win this tournament, Shen Xingyan had tasted the forbidden fruit early, using the pearl's ability to refine the vital essence of all things to accelerate his cultivation.

But using the Primordial Chaos Pearl came with a backlash. A large part of the reason Shen Xingyan kept pursuing Ye Qingyao was that her Furnace constitution could help repair the damage the pearl had done to his meridians.

In other words, Shen Xingyan looked imposing now, but the meridians throughout his body were already in chaos. If they found the point where that chaos was worst, they could deal him a devastating blow.

"You think you can beat me and win the Flying Boat? Dream on!" Suppressing the pain inside him, Shen Xingyan shot Ye Qingyao a look below the arena and unleashed a swift, vicious sword move that whipped up gusts of wind.

He wanted the woman he desired to see just how he would sweep aside the First Senior Brother she respected most.

[ First Senior Brother, don't meet his attacks head-on! His meridians are already in chaos! ]

[Focus! Strike where his meridians are most unstable, and you'll throw him off balance!] In Ye Qingyao's arms, Ye Zhenzhen gathered all her strength once more and sent her thoughts out as loudly as she could.

In fact, while fighting Shen Xingyan, Ye Qinghui had also noticed something wrong. After expending a great deal of spiritual energy to activate the formation, Shen Xingyan's expression had gradually tightened. His lips were pressed together as though he were enduring some inner pain. His Swordsmanship grew faster and faster, but in his haste to win, his moves had clearly lost their order.

Every sword move Ye Qinghui made inside the formation was slowed by invisible restraints, yet his senses grew sharper.

His gaze swept over his opponent like lightning. Just as Ye Zhenzhen had said, the meridians throughout Shen Xingyan's body showed signs of disorder, and the chaos was worst near the Fengchi Acupoint.

Rankings

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Transmigration into a Book

Power fantasy

Cannon fodder

Group favorite