Boom!
The might of the Great Radiance Heaven-Suppressing Fist erupted, and ferocious True Qi slammed down.
Zhou Chenlong's crimson protective True Qi was instantly torn through. Power like a star crushing everything in its path poured into his back.
In an instant, he spat out a mouthful of blood and was blasted hundreds of feet away, spinning like a top.
Yet even in midair, he reacted instantly, his gaze utterly calm:
He's right behind me!
The mist he created won't block his own vision. The enemy is hidden while I'm exposed-a cardinal sin in combat!
At this point in the battle, his defeat seemed all but certain.
Yet he showed not the slightest discouragement or hesitation. True Qi surged within him as he prepared to unleash another martial technique:
Heavenly Light-
But just as he moved, another fierce, crushingly heavy punch interrupted the circulation of his True Qi in a flash.
What?
Startled, Zhou Chenlong instantly used his light-borrowing movement technique and saw the scene behind him.
Chen Qingyu was still just three feet behind him, like a ghost!
Caught off guard, Zhou Chenlong had nowhere to dodge. Chen Qingyu's fist struck him again, sending him flying backward.
This time, Zhou Chenlong finally saw it clearly.
After throwing his punch, Chen Qingyu had swiftly followed him without the slightest delay, clinging to him like a shadow.
It was as though an invisible thread, or a powerful force of attraction, bound the two of them together, never allowing them to break free.
This was the power of the Celestial Star Attraction Method!
A technique like this...
Zhou Chenlong's pupils contracted. With no time to think further, he met the rapidly approaching Chen Qingyu head-on with a punch.
Their violent True Qi collided with terrifying might. A shock wave exploded outward, sending ripples like those on water through the air.
As the shock wave spread, towering waves rose from the sea below.
Zhou Chenlong gave a muffled grunt and staggered back a step, the Qi and blood throughout his body unsettled.
By contrast, Chen Qingyu's body merely shuddered slightly before he easily dissipated the backlash without retreating a single step.
"Hahaha!"
Chen Qingyu laughed heartily, pressing his advantage without mercy as he threw another punch.
He had already discovered that although Zhou Chenlong's mastery of fist techniques surpassed his own, the power of those techniques held little advantage over the domineering Great Radiance Heaven-Suppressing Fist.
Combined with his unrivaled physique, Zhou Chenlong's defeat was now certain!
His face as still as deep water, Zhou Chenlong said nothing. He drove his True Qi and likewise threw a punch, meeting him head-on.
Thud! Boom! Bang!
In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged more than twenty punches.
Rumble...
They fought from the sky into the sea, then burst through its surface and flew back into the sky.
Wherever they went, fist shadows filled the air in every direction. True Qi surged and shock waves roared, while towering waves exploded around them.
At first, the two were still evenly matched;
But soon, Zhou Chenlong's condition rapidly deteriorated. Completely suppressed by Chen Qingyu, he grew increasingly powerless in their head-on clashes, hard-pressed on every side and barely holding on.
In the spectator space:
Tens of trillions of people watched this scene with somewhat complicated feelings.
Anyone could see that, at this stage of the battle, Chen Qingyu held an absolute advantage. Zhou Chenlong's defeat was only a matter of time.
"Zhou Chenlong, invincible beneath the heavens, is really going to lose..."
Many people sighed with emotion:
"After this battle, Zhou Chenlong will fall from his divine pedestal."
"Yes. Zhou Chenlong's era has ended. The era of Chen Shaojun has arrived..."
"The old god falls, and a new god is born."
The girl in the purple dress and the others watched the battered Zhou Chenlong in silence.
How could this happen?
Thoughts flashed incessantly through the purple-dressed girl's mind, her eyes blank:
Big Brother has been unrivaled for so many years. To think the day would really come when he lost to a prodigy of the same realm...
She had thought she had come to witness yet another victory for Zhou Chenlong.
She had never expected to witness the historic sight of Chen Qingyu bursting onto the scene, defeating Zhou Chenlong, and standing at the pinnacle of the world.
A full quarter of an hour later:
Boom!
Chen Qingyu's fist struck the wounded, blood-drenched Zhou Chenlong, blasting him into the sea and sending up towering waves.
This time:
Zhou Chenlong struggled briefly, but finally could no longer get up. He lay on the surface of the sea, barely able to move.
"Remarkable..."
Looking at Chen Qingyu as he slowly descended from the sky, he managed a strained smile:
"Congratulations. You won."
As his words fell:
His body turned into white light and dissipated over the sea.
"Whew!"
Chen Qingyu drew a deep breath, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
You have won this battle! Both sides wagered the maximum amount of Great Void Points. You have received a victory reward of one hundred thousand Great Void Points! This battle has ended. Spectator numbers reached the upper limit. You have received fifty thousand Great Void Points as your share of the spectator fees!
The cold, mechanical voice rang out between the sky and the sea, suddenly growing grand and resonant:
Congratulations! Your position on the [Blood Sea Heaven] Overall Combat Victory Rankings has risen! Your current rank is first!
Hearing the Great Void Primal Spirit's voice, Chen Qingyu felt joy and satisfaction, but also a faint trace of melancholy.
At that moment, he seemed able to understand Zhou Chenlong's earlier thoughts.
After this battle, not a single person in the Blood Sea Realm anywhere in the world could challenge him. He could no longer find another suitable opponent.
Invincible throughout the world! Silence throughout the world!
Heh, it's only the Blood Sea Realm. There's still a long road ahead...
He shook his head with a chuckle, pushed aside these stray thoughts, and vanished from the battle space with a thought.
As he departed:
A wave of excited cheering, applause, and shouting suddenly erupted through the battle space like mountains roaring and seas surging.
At that moment, the hundreds of millions of Blood Sea Realm martial artists of the Chen Clan of Changluo erupted together:
"Number one in the world! Number one in the Blood Sea Realm!"
"The world's number one Blood Sea Realm cultivator is our Chen Clan's Chen Shaojun!"
Feeling the fervent atmosphere around him, Chen Qinggu sighed:
"To think he really won!"
"The world's number one in the Blood Sea Realm..."
At that moment, his feelings were somewhat complicated too.
Number one in the Blood Sea Realm was a supreme honor, a crown that stood above all others beneath the heavens.
He, too, had once dreamed of claiming that crown, only to abandon the dream in dejection because of the enormous gap in strength.
Yet he had never expected this:
Just as he decided to give up on reaching the summit and advance to the Golden Bridge Realm, an extraordinary prodigy had burst onto the scene, first defeating him and finally ascending to the summit in a single bound, standing directly upon the divine pedestal.
In less than seven short days, an unknown youth from [Divine Capital Changluo] had become number one in the world!
Such an experience could only be called legendary in the extreme!
Having witnessed all of this with his own eyes, he was filled with emotion, but he was even more certain of one thing-
Hundreds or thousands of years later:
Perhaps their stories would long since have been forgotten, becoming dust in history.
But Chen Shaojun's name might still shine brightly, and his legendary story would remain a tale familiar to every Blood Sea Realm prodigy.