The echoes of Nangong Xingyun's words, "The competition begins," still reverberated in the vast sky of the Myriad Worlds Graveyard, when the aura of the Great Dao above the final arena underwent a dramatic change in an instant.
Before Qin Yu could even fully assess the situation, Hua Jingmeng instantly concealed the lingering annoyance between her brows, her eyes losing all traces of the faint malice, leaving only a cold, focused expression. He knew perfectly well...
Qin Yu's most terrifying aspect, despite his numerous battles, was not his supernatural powers or might, but rather his extraordinary insight that traced the origins of all laws and penetrated their very foundations. He could discern the patterns of the Dao and Fate Soul; nothing could escape his eyes, no matter how ordinary or illusory things became.
With a light half-step of his right foot, the moment his body landed, he raised two fingers together and drew a horizontal line across the Grand Void Dao Transformation Art instantly permeated his entire body and the origin of his Fate Soul. The originally clear and solid human figure suddenly rippled out layers of flowing and illusory shadows.
One figure remained stationary, another floated ten feet away, and countless other phantoms emerged one after another from the void rifts. In an instant, dozens of figures of Hua Jingmeng appeared on the entire arena, each with a perfect aura, a genuine Fate Soul, and an independent Daoist charm, making it difficult to distinguish between the real and the illusory, as they shared the same origin.
Buzz--
The intricate Dao patterns of heaven and earth resonated with the rise and fall of his Dao heart, and the clear sky above the arena rippled with circles of transparent Great Void waves. A faint dark light appeared in Hua Jingmeng's eyes, and her right palm slowly unfolded. Between her five fingers, there was no fierce killing intent or condensed powerful origin, only a vast and endless flow of Dao rhyme that never ceased to exist.
Blazing fire, frigid silence, Annihilation, nothingness, cause and effect, birth and death—all these contradictory principles of the Dao rotate and alternate in the palm of one's hand. Each Dao rhyme, as soon as it reveals its full form, dissolves on its own, and new principles arise from the ashes of dissolution. This cycle repeats endlessly, until finally all the myriad Dao rhymes lose their original form and all converge into a slowly rotating, transparent Dao vortex in the palm of one's hand, becoming formless and containing all changes.
"The Grand Void Dao Transformation Art - The Myriad Phenomena Impermanence Tribulation." The five fingers suddenly closed, gathering their power, and...!!!
The vortex of the transparent passage surged and roared, causing the entire final arena to be stirred up by Great Void tides. These tides had no fixed shape, no fixed pattern, and no fixed trace. In an instant, they covered the sky with flowing light, and in an instant, they dispersed into billions of fine Dao patterns, and in the blink of an eye, they transformed into formless waves that spread in all directions.
Each wisp of tide that approached Qin Yu would autonomously alter the fundamental meaning of the Dao. The previous wisp was still eroding the foundation of the void, while the next wisp was already exploring the depths of his Fate Soul along the dark thread of cause and effect.
The first signs of death appeared at her feet, the sharp marks on her head suddenly solidified, and the void behind her was filled with hidden attacks. Her myriad attacks never remained in one state, changing in an instant and shifting in countless forms. Hua Jingmeng's move had already broken free from the shackles of change and self-preservation, transforming the Great Void changes of the void into a supreme attack that was invisible and deadly.
He deliberately left no fixed origin or established principles, solely to force Qin Yu to his Limit and see how he would unravel the calamity of this unpredictable and ever-changing Great Dao.
On the viewing platform, many veteran experts wore solemn expressions. In the past, when they saw Hua Jingmeng, they used the principle of change and transformation to avoid all laws. Now, they saw the true ferocity of the method: not rejecting the enemy, not guarding, but actively trapping the enemy with myriad changes. If the enemy breaks through one aspect, that aspect will be annihilated immediately; if the enemy traces back the cause and effect, the cause and effect will be changed immediately.
The terror of the Myriad Phenomena Impermanence Tribulation lies not in brute force, but in making it impossible for the opponent to find a single point of attack or weakness throughout their life.
In the center of the arena, Qin Yu stood at the core of the vast Great Void tide, his robes billowing in the swirling winds. His feet firmly planted on the stone platform, not retreating an inch. He remained calm and composed, neither attacking nor defending, his eyes clear and bright as he quietly surveyed the layers upon layers of ever-changing Daoist tides.
Only when a transparent, multi-layered blade, having undergone seven transformations, swept towards his face, its force sharp and piercing, did he slightly turn his head to calmly dodge it, hissing as he did so.
The sharp edge grazed past his temple, and a deep, dark rift was instantly torn open in the void a hundred feet behind him, which did not heal for a long time.
Hua Jingmeng's eyes narrowed slightly, a secret alarm settling in her heart.
He saw it clearly: Qin Yu neither anticipated the attack nor blocked it with brute force. He simply slipped away at the exact moment the sharp edge completed its final transformation and the dust settled. This single instant was enough to prove that Qin Yu had already glimpsed the gaps in his ever-changing world and begun to capture the extremely difficult-to-detect rhythm within the infinite changes.
Without hesitation, Hua Jingmeng pressed down with her five fingers, causing the Great Void tidal wave to surge several times over, covering the entire arena. The speed of the change and the intensity of the killing reached their peak.
"I'd like to see how many layers of change you can perceive." Upon hearing this, Qin Yu's lips curled into a faint smile, his demeanor calm and composed, devoid of arrogance or impatience.
He slowly raised his palm, gently forming a hand seal with two fingers in front of his brow. The nine illusory Dharma wheels that had been dormant deep within his Fate Soul began to slowly rotate.
Om -- The first cycle begins, the second cycle ends, and the nine cycles overlap in sequence, interlocking one another.
In an instant, the Silent Beginning Ring Master Soul Diagram slowly unfolded in the sky behind him, with Nine-Wheel True Evolution Dharma Wheel intertwining and rotating, their bodies engraved with Source Dao patterns of varying depths, profound and boundless. At the very center, the Boundless Realm Source Wheel floated motionless, like the Dao Source Return to the Ruins, encompassing all laws.
The ever -Great Void Daoist principles that swept across the sky, under the clear light of the Soul Diagram, completely shed their layers of illusion, revealing their original essence, evolutionary trajectory, and intermittent flow in perfect clarity.
Qin Yu remained silent, neither attacking nor blocking, neither dismantling nor breaking down, simply observing quietly.
The first tide transforms Annihilation into cause and effect; the second transforms cause and effect into nothingness; the third rebirth and annihilation from nothingness; and then there is an attack that, within three zhang of the body, continuously transforms eleven layers of Dao principles, unpredictable and untraceable.
The Silent Beginning Ring Master Soul Diagram slowly rotates with its flow; as the enemy changes, a new Dao trace is engraved on the Soul Diagram; as the enemy dissipates, a new source is absorbed into the Boundless Realm Source Wheel. Thousands of illusory appearances are peeled away layer by layer, and all the traces of change are preserved.
Qin Yu's mind became increasingly clear, and his eyes grew more insightful; he had already seen through the key to the matter.
The Hua Jingmeng can change myriad forms, alter auras, and shift the laws of nature. It can make the form, trajectory, and attributes of each strike perpetually change, unpredictable and unlockable by anyone. Yet, all these changes have a source. The alternation of all new and old forms of nature, and the transformation of all forms of illusion and reality, are all maintained by the same wisp of the Great Void Origin.
"Though things change, they all return to their origin." These four words fell softly, without a ripple, yet they caused Hua Jingmeng's pupils to shrink slightly, and a strange sense of dread to rise in her heart.
The next instant, Qin Yu moved, whoosh—
His figure vanished from his spot in an instant, his speed so fast that he broke free from the shackles of the void. The layers of Great Void tides ahead were still shifting and changing, not yet fully formed, yet he had already passed through the fleeting gap between the two Daoist auras, appearing in front of Hua Jingmeng's left in a flash. Without any earth-shattering divine power or overwhelming might, he simply struck with a single palm, aiming directly at the opening in Hua Jingmeng's shoulder.
Hua Jingmeng reacted with lightning speed. With a flick of her shoulder, her true form instantly dissipated into three Great Void shadows, separating reality from illusion to evade the attack, causing Qin Yu's palm strike to miss its mark.
Among the three flowing shadows, one of the true forms suddenly solidified, closing in on Qin Yu's side. The edge of its palm was wrapped with ever-changing Great Void Xu Dao patterns, unpredictable in their strength and softness, and aimed directly at Qin Yu's vital ribs.
With a hiss, Qin Yu's right arm suddenly sank down, his elbow striking sharply, directly colliding with the palm.
Bang!!!
A deep tremor resounded across the arena as the two primal forces collided violently. The stone platform on which the two stood instantly sank, and fine cracks spread like a spider web, covering several feet of ground.
Hua Jingmeng lightly twirled her wrist, and the Great Void Dao pattern on the edge of her palm instantly changed from hard to soft, deflecting the force and guiding the momentum, allowing Qin Yu's frontal force to slide outward along her arm bone. At the same time, she took a half step closer, and her other palm quietly condensed its energy, pressing directly against Qin Yu's Fate Soul gate in his chest.
Qin Yu's eyes flickered slightly, his mind discerning the change. He suddenly lowered his shoulder, giving the opponent no chance to change course or continue the attack, his shoulder bone hard clashing against the palm strike.
Bang!!! The force exploded, and the wind and waves surged.
Hua Jingmeng retreated several feet, her feet scraping against the stone platform, leaving two deep furrows. However, her movements were extremely unpredictable. Before her retreat could stop, her waist suddenly twisted, her afterimage breaking through the air, and she instantly turned back, a sharp leg sweeping from the side, the force of the wind blocking Qin Yu's escape route.
Qin Yu raised his arm to block, taking the blow head-on. Bang!!!
Two pure, Source Dao collided violently, creating visible, transparent ripples in the surrounding air that spread outwards in layers. No divine weapon was drawn, and no secret technique resounded.
From this moment on, the final arena witnessed the most simple yet most dangerous close-quarters battle between the prodigies. There was no bombardment of revealing all their trump cards, only the Ultimate clash of Dao principles, the hardcore confrontation of Fate Soul foundations, and the Ultimate tug-of-war of offensive and defensive rhythms.
The thousands of cultivators in the audience gradually held their breath, and no one dared to make a sound.
Hua Jingmeng's movements became increasingly masterful, and the Grand Void Dao Transformation Art was pushed to its Ultimate. With each step, she altered the traces of her own existence. Although she was approaching head-on, her fists would suddenly attack from the side; the previous punch still contained the power of Annihilation, but the moment they touched, it would transform into a continuous flow of power, invading the body and probing the Fate Soul along the trajectory of the opponent's force.
For a fleeting moment, the two were only half a zhang apart. Qin Yu firmly gripped her right fist and wrist with his five fingers, locking down her attack. Everyone thought the battle was about to end, but Hua Jingmeng's entire arm suddenly transformed into Great Void fragments of light from the void, disappearing without a trace from Qin Yu's palm.
His true form materialized three steps behind Qin Yu in an instant, his palm carrying a chilling, ever-changing power, aimed directly at the vital point in Qin Yu's back.
Qin Yu neither turned his head nor glanced to the side. Deep within his Fate Soul, the Silent Beginning Ring Master Soul Diagram turned slightly, its Daoist essence clear in his mind. He took a half step forward with his left foot, rotated his waist to the side, and calmly pushed his right palm backward from under his ribs, precisely meeting the unexpected attack from behind.
Bang!!! Their palms collided, their energies clashing. Hua Jingmeng's expression froze slightly, and for the first time, a genuine sense of surprise arose in her heart.
Qin Yu's palm strike was devoid of any clever tricks or mysteries; it was a pure, head-on crushing force from the foundation of his Eternal Silence Realm Initial Stage cultivation and the origin of his Fate Soul. It was heavy, steady, and indestructible. The Great Void Dao Patterns on his palm tried to deflect the force, but he found that Qin Yu's strength was as solid as a rock, and he could not borrow any force to neutralize it.
In a flash, Hua Jingmeng suddenly raised her knee, aiming it directly at Qin Yu's abdomen. Qin Yu released his grip, turned to the side, and pressed down with his elbow; the three movements flowed seamlessly together, like clouds and water.
Clang!!! Knees and elbows collided violently, the powerful force exploding in all directions, and both men were simultaneously thrown back by the impact.
Qin Yu steadily retreated three steps, his posture upright and his breathing perfectly steady. Hua Jingmeng retreated five steps before regaining her footing. Outside the arena, a low gasp of surprise quietly rose.