A low, mournful wail filled the void, and countless afterimages on the banner raised their heads in unison. Countless indistinct whispers overlapped and echoed, causing the faces of the spectators with shallow cultivation to turn deathly pale. The stone platform beneath their feet turned to ashes, and within a radius of three zhang, all kinds of origins circled around it. Even the Vast Sea Dao-Burying Sword emitted a soft clang, its dark blue cracks resonating with the crystal at the top of the banner.
Hua Jingmeng gripped the banner pole tightly with both hands, pouring out the essence of her Fate Soul, and held the divine banner horizontally in front of her. The Historyless Void Severance Sword crashed down with a thunderous roar.
The historical black curtain, capable of erasing the foundations of all-time history, collided head-on with the Vast Annihilation God-Burying Banner! Suddenly, the jet-black spot in the center of the banner expanded.
There was no earth-shattering explosion. The sword intent of Wushi fell into the black spot, and countless historical remnants, Great Void echoes of fate, and ancient traces of the void were all forcibly dragged into the banner. The ancient divine remnants that had been dormant on the banner surface were awakened, transforming into layer upon layer of gray-blue silent tides that blocked in front of it.
The first layer of silent tide came into contact with the sword intent and instantly dissolved; the second layer followed, also returning to nothingness; the third, fourth, and fifth layers overlapped, and the afterimages on the banner also dimmed and disappeared one after another.
With each additional breath it held, the Vast Annihilation God-Burying Banner lost a portion of the divine remnants accumulated over countless eras, and Qin Yu's sword strike was slowly slowed down by this barrier built from the remnants of countless ancient souls.
Hua Jingmeng's arms trembled violently. "Block it for me!!!" he roared, recklessly pouring his Fate Soul essence into the divine banner. A torrent of energy surged forth!
The gray-blue tide surged and rolled wildly, the black spots expanding once more, like a gigantic maw of Eternal Silence, constantly devouring the remaining sword intent of the Historyless Void Severance Sword. With each portion devoured, Hua Jingmeng's own Fate Soul dimmed a little. On one side was the forbidden transformation of rebirth with every breath, and on the other was the wielding of an ancient ferocious beast to withstand the sword moves of the Great Dao. The two forces tore at each other from within and without, and the cracks in his Fate Soul deepened rapidly.
Crack!!! A clear sound of shattering came from the source of his Fate Soul in his chest, and his face turned ashen in an instant, but he still held on to the flagpole tightly and refused to give in.
The dark curtain of history relentlessly pressed down, causing the banner to bend sharply backward. The gray-blue silk threads along the edge of the banner were worn away one by one by the sword intent, and the black spots were covered with lonely white cracks. Hua Jingmeng's feet were firmly nailed to the arena, the stone platform beneath her feet crumbled layer by layer, and her body was pushed backward by the enormous force.
Crash!!! The ground cracked open with his footsteps, creating a deep ravine hundreds of feet long. Finally, the last wisp of Wushi sword intent crashed into the black spots on the Vast Annihilation God-Burying Banner.
The entire Myriad Worlds Graveyard fell into a deathly silence. The next moment, the banner suddenly rolled inward, and the boundless, timeless black curtain slowly dissipated.
The remaining sword intent of Qin Yu Silent Origin Stainless Sword's third form was ultimately exhausted by Vast Annihilation God-Burying Banner, at the cost of endless ancient divine remnants and Hua Jingmeng's own Fate Soul.
And Hua Jingmeng reached her Limit, poof!!!
A mouthful of blood gushed out, the crimson stain landing on the gray-blue banner. Before it could flow, it was silently absorbed by the deathly stillness within the banner. His body staggered forward, his knees nearly slamming off the stone platform, only managing to stay upright by gripping the banner pole tightly with both hands.
He vomited another mouthful of hot blood, his breathing became extremely heavy, and the cracks in his Fate Soul spread wildly across his chest. The forbidden state of being reborn with each breath had become chaotic and disordered. In a certain instant, two overlapping afterimages appeared on his left arm, belonging to the selves of the previous and next breaths respectively. They could not merge, and only after a violent shock to his soul did they barely become one.
Hua Jingmeng stood with her head bowed, her disheveled hair obscuring her face, drops of blood trickling down her chin and landing on the broken stone platform. She stood there for a long time, leaning on the divine banner, before slowly raising her head. All her former arrogance, composure, and cold mockery had been completely crushed by that one sword strike.
His eyes held only rage, exhaustion from overexertion, and a deep-seated, unspoken fear. He stared intently at Qin Yu, who stood silently in the distance, sword in hand. His lips moved slightly, his voice hoarse and broken. "Qin Yu..."
Hua Jingmeng lay half-crouched in the center of the shattered arena, his right hand gripping the gray-bone banner pole of the Vast Annihilation God-Burying Banner tightly. His fingers were pale from the excessive force, and the veins on the back of his hand were bulging. The wounds inflicted by the Historyless Void Severance Sword were still spreading deep within his Fate Soul. With each breath, fine gray-white cracks appeared between his brows and on his chest.
The outline of his Fate Soul in this breath occasionally shifted for a very brief moment. It was clear that the forbidden method of forcibly abandoning fixed history and rebirthing himself with each breath had damaged his foundation. Blood dripped from the corner of his lips and fell onto the broken stone surface at his feet. Hua Jingmeng did not get up immediately. He lowered his head and gasped for breath for several breaths. His messy black hair covered half of his pale face, and the muscles at the corners of his eyes were still twitching slightly.
Only after the churning of his Fate Soul in his chest subsided slightly did he straighten up slowly, supporting himself with the divine banner. When he looked at Qin Yu again, the look in his eyes was completely different from when the battle had begun.
The previous contempt, mockery, and condescension had vanished completely, replaced by a deep-seated hatred and a fear he absolutely refused to acknowledge. Qin Yu's sword strike had made him truly understand that the man before him, whom he had once considered a mortal, now indeed possessed the power to kill him, and that power was not obtained by chance.
Since the start of the war, the Eternal Tribulation Fate-Determining Wheel has been broken, the Blameless Karma Scale Blame has been suppressed, and even the first and second moves of the Vast Sea Dao-Burying Sword have failed one after another. In the end, he was even forced to use the Vast Annihilation God-Burying Banner to barely block the Historyless Void Severance Sword. All these things and scenes are like sharp thorns piercing his heart.
The more Hua Jingmeng recalled, the deeper the hatred in his eyes became. Yet, a chilling coldness always lingered deep within that hatred, and he finally dared not treat any of Qin Yu's gestures or changes in gaze as insignificant.
Hua Jingmeng's Adam's apple bobbed as he forced down the bloody taste that surged into his mouth. He slowly reached into his sleeve with his left hand and took out a thumb-sized bluish-gray jade bottle. He uncorked the bottle, and an extremely rich primordial medicinal aroma immediately escaped from the bottle's mouth. As soon as the aroma spread, the tiny life marks around him, torn apart by the Wushi Sword Intent and unable to close for a long time, all trembled slightly.
Without hesitation, Hua Jingmeng poured the only pill into her palm. The pill was no bigger than a longan, and its color was a mixture of deep blue and silver-white. Nine ring-shaped life patterns naturally grew on its surface, and each life pattern was slowly circulating on its own. Deep within the pill, there was a soft silver glow that flickered with Hua Jingmeng's breath.
When some Lineage elders with keen eyesight saw this pill, their expressions immediately became solemn. They could naturally tell that this was not an ordinary pill for restoring physical injuries; it nourished the damaged Fate Soul and the foundation of the body that was on the verge of breaking.
Hua Jingmeng tilted his head back and swallowed the pill. After entering his stomach, the pill did not explode violently. Instead, it transformed into an extremely gentle silver-blue medicinal stream that slowly spread along his Fate Soul. The cracks that had previously covered his brow, chest, and the depths of his Fate Soul were enveloped by strands of silver-blue light.
Buzz!!! Hua Jingmeng's body trembled slightly, and the originally misaligned outline of her Fate Soul began to return to its original shape. The deepest cracks also slowly healed under the nourishment of the medicine, and her pale face finally regained some color.
He closed his eyes and regulated his breathing for a moment, his chest gradually rising and falling steadily. His right hand still did not leave the Vast Annihilation God-Burying Banner, and even during the recovery period, he always held the banner horizontally in front of him to guard against Qin Yu's sudden attack.
That caution caught the attention of many powerful figures, causing their expressions to change slightly. Everyone could see that Qin Yu had forced Hua Jingmeng to truly put aside all her contempt.
He opened his eyes again, his gaze first falling on the Silent Origin Stainless Sword in Qin Yu's hand, then slowly moving to Qin Yu's eyes. Hua Jingmeng did not speak immediately, but her knuckles tightened quietly.
He knew very well that if it weren't for the Vast Annihilation God-Burying Banner, he would most likely have fallen under the Historyless Void Severance Sword. This fact was almost unbearable for his pride and made him more wary of Qin Yu than ever before.
Over the decades, he had seen too many so-called prodigies and personally defeated too many self-proclaimed geniuses, but Qin Yu gave him a completely different feeling. Every time Qin Yu cracked a spell, he went straight to the deepest part of the supernatural power and never got entangled with the surface power. Once he found the root cause, he would directly strike the most fatal spot.
For the first time, a very clear thought arose in Hua Jingmeng's mind: if Qin Yu cannot be completely captured and killed here today, it will be difficult to predict who will hunt whom when they meet again in the future.
On the other side, Qin Yu simply stood quietly, the Silent Origin Stainless Sword hanging naturally at his side. The lingering echo of silence on the sword's edge had gradually dissipated. His face showed little emotion, and he did not show any pride for having almost killed Hua Jingmeng.
However, when Hua Jingmeng took out the Fate Soul Pill and used the Vast Annihilation God-Burying Banner to protect herself and restore her original essence, a very subtle hint of scrutiny flashed deep in Qin Yu's eyes.
He didn't stop her, because he had changed his mind. Hua Jingmeng had revealed far more than expected, and the Vast Sea Dao-Burying Sword was followed by the Vast Annihilation God-Burying Banner, which were clearly deeply connected. Since that was the case, Qin Yu wanted to see just how much more this person, who had been kept hidden by the Hua Lineage until the final competition, was still holding back.
Qin Yu's gaze lingered on the gray-blue divine banner for a moment, a slight smile playing on his lips. His expression remained indifferent. After a brief silence, he finally spoke, "Not bad, Hua Jingmeng. I didn't expect you to have a second divine weapon. It truly surprised me!"
The voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly throughout the arena.
The anger that Hua Jingmeng had just suppressed surged up again, and his face gradually darkened. There was still lingering pain in his chest. When he heard Qin Yu's words, his face twitched slightly, and the cold light in his eyes became even more sinister. But this time, he was not easily provoked into losing his composure by a few words as he had before.
He stared at Qin Yu for several breaths, his gaze shifting from Qin Yu's shoulder to his right hand holding the sword, then from the blade to his feet, not missing a single small movement. He had begun to actively search for any possible openings Qin Yu might make.
"Qin Yu." Hua Jingmeng's voice was low, his teeth clenched slightly, and the hatred in his eyes was so intense that it could no longer be concealed. "Even if we perish together today, I will make you pay a thousandfold." As the last word fell, his right hand suddenly and slowly loosened its grip on the banner pole, only to clench it again in the next instant. With this clench, his entire aura completely changed.