In the spectator space:
Chen Qinggu came back to his senses, but his heart was profoundly shaken.
He drew a deep breath, his gaze utterly grave:
In this battle:
The strength Chen Qingyu had displayed alone made him feel impossible to shake.
If he really fought Chen Qingyu, he would probably lose within two or three exchanges.
Yet Zhou Chenlong had revealed even more terrifying means.
Once the Heavenly Light Illuminates the World Method took shape, its power soared with virtually no upper limit. Even a Golden Bridge Realm prodigy would face certain death here.
He turned to look around and found the entire spectator space deathly still.
The countless Blood Sea Realm martial artists seemed stunned by this sight, not a peep escaping them.
They were all in the Blood Sea Realm:
Yet the strength Chen Qingyu and Zhou Chenlong had displayed exceeded theirs a hundredfold.
The gulf was already beyond imagination!
Among the front ranks, he saw the familiar figures of Chang Qianjiao, Princess Ao, Li Changhe, and the others. They, too, looked dazed, horror written across their faces.
Whoosh!
He drew a deep breath, looked back at the scene in the battle space, and shook his head:
Things aren't looking good.
My younger cousin Shaojun will probably lose.
When two evenly matched opponents fought, if one seized the initiative, it would be difficult for the other to turn the tables.
Now, Zhou Chenlong held an absolute advantage and stood in an unassailable position.
He could no longer think of any way to break the deadlock.
Yet within the battle space, there was little panic on Chen Qingyu's face:
The Desolate Continent truly does produce monstrous geniuses in droves.
The power of this Heavenly Light Illuminates the World Method probably rivals my [Flying Sand and Moving Stones] only after it has been enhanced.
As this thought passed through his mind, he gave a sharp cry:
"Rise!"
As his True Qi surged:
Whoosh!
A breeze swept past, and the dense clouds of steam billowing in every direction below were immediately drawn by an invisible force, gathering into thick masses of cloud that soared upward.
Mass after mass gradually turned into dark clouds, shrouding the sky.
At the sight, Zhou Chenlong's expression shifted slightly:
"Trying to break my Heavenly Light Illuminates the World Method with something like this?"
"How naive!"
His Heavenly Light Illuminates the World Method possessed unimaginably immense power. What could these clouds possibly do?
Sure enough:
The pillars of golden fire and blazing sunlight blasted straight into the thick, dark clouds. Like hot broth poured onto snow, they swiftly melted away vast swathes.
The dark clouds filling the sky soon crumbled into a rout, unable to stop the sunlight from continuing to shine down.
Yet there was little joy on Zhou Chenlong's face. Instead, his pupils contracted:
This is bad!
Within his field of vision:
An unending stream of steam surged up from the sea below, continuously gathering into thick, black clouds.
Though weak, they regenerated without end.
"It seems you've noticed the problem too."
Chen Qingyu smiled faintly and said calmly:
"Seawater doesn't vanish into thin air. It only turns into gas. The stronger your Heavenly Light Illuminates the World Method becomes, the more steam it produces."
"That steam is my weapon."
Even as he spoke:
The pillars of golden fire and blazing sunlight filling heaven and earth continued melting away vast swathes of dark clouds.
But the steam rising from the sea replenished them without a moment's pause.
A few breaths later:
The rate at which the fire pillars and flames melted the clouds, overwhelmingly dominant at first, grew slower and slower until it exactly matched the replenishment of the thick clouds, reaching a kind of equilibrium.
Without the continuous replenishment of sunlight, the power of the flames and fire pillars began to diminish.
Meanwhile, Chen Qingyu continued circulating his True Qi without pause. Thick, dark clouds formed endlessly, soon completely covering more than half the sky and causing the power of the fire pillars and flames to decline ever faster.
Whoosh!
Zhou Chenlong took a deep breath.
He knew full well that his Heavenly Light Illuminates the World Method had effectively been broken.
He had borrowed the power of the blazing sun overhead to increase its might without limit;
Chen Shaojun, however, had borrowed his power to use against him.
Unless the blazing sun overhead could completely boil dry the boundless ocean below, he could not possibly win this contest.
"Impressive!"
Zhou Chenlong reined in the True Qi throughout his body, voluntarily dispelling the Heavenly Light Illuminates the World Method.
He gave Chen Qingyu a long look. With little sign of defeat on his face, he said solemnly:
"It seems this battle is moving on to the next round."
Although his Heavenly Light Illuminates the World Method had been broken.
Chen Shaojun had merely recovered from his disadvantage, without gaining an advantage of his own.
After all this fierce fighting, they had effectively returned to where they began.
The only difference was that both now understood quite a few of the other's methods. The fighting to come would therefore only grow more perilous; the slightest carelessness would mean defeat.
"The next round?"
Chen Qingyu smiled and said meaningfully:
"You're overthinking it."
"This is the final round!"
As his words fell:
Air currents stirred and a breeze blew. Dense white mist swiftly formed, filling the space above the sea in a short time.
Chen Qingyu's figure vanished completely into the thick mist.
"Heh."
Zhou Chenlong chuckled and narrowed his eyes, seemingly sensing something.
But soon:
His body stiffened, his pupils abruptly contracted, and the True Qi throughout his body surged, ready to erupt.
He could no longer sense Chen Qingyu's location!
This is bad!
Without another word, he activated the Light-Reversing Concealment Technique as well, beginning to flee through the omnipresent light and silently shift his position.
Meanwhile, on the other side:
You run pretty fast.
Hidden within the mist, Chen Qingyu held his breath and quietly approached Zhou Chenlong.
At that moment, he was maintaining three divine abilities simultaneously: [Standing Upright Without a Shadow], [Seeing Through Walls], and [Summoning Wind and Rain].
He had considered a question just moments earlier:
Even spiritual-eye techniques could not see through his [Standing Upright Without a Shadow], so just how had he exposed a flaw that allowed Zhou Chenlong to pinpoint his location?
At first, Chen Qingyu had been unable to figure it out.
Only when Zhou Chenlong unleashed the Heavenly Light Illuminates the World Method, revealing the mystery of heavenly light and blazing flames interconnecting, of light and fire transforming into one another, had realization dawned on him.
It was temperature!
Although [Standing Upright Without a Shadow] could conceal his own temperature, he still needed to breathe, and the air he exhaled carried heat.
Zhou Chenlong could sense things through sunlight with an inconceivable range and precision. Naturally, he could use that slight change in temperature to pinpoint Chen Qingyu's true location with ease.
Once he understood this, he only needed to hold his breath, and Zhou Chenlong could no longer track him.
Conversely, his [Seeing Through Walls] was enough to discern the location of Zhou Chenlong's true body.
A few breaths later:
Zhou Chenlong was quietly shifting his position, approaching the sea in an attempt to use the thick mist as cover and secretly slip beneath the surface.
However-
What he had no way of noticing was that Chen Qingyu had already arrived less than three feet behind him.
Boom!
Without another word, Chen Qingyu suddenly threw a punch. His violent True Qi drove the Great Radiance Heaven-Suppressing Fist straight toward Zhou Chenlong's back.
"I've won this battle!"