Chapter 827
Song Changsheng vs. Ji Liangyu
Although Song Changsheng has always been considered the dark horse of this Five Academies Competition, apart from his first match against Ji Bingxiu of the Tianshui Ji Clan, his subsequent opponents either conceded defeat or were relatively weak, and he even received a bye once.
This was his first time facing a seeded player.
Ji Liangyu has already proven his reputation by defeating Long Han!
Now, it's Song Changsheng's turn to prove himself.
Whether he is the dark horse whose fate is yet to be decided depends on this battle. If he can fight Ji Liangyu to a standstill, he will be able to join the ranks of the top talents in the southwest. If he can win the battle, he will have a chance to be ranked alongside Zhao Yin!
Despite his inferior cultivation level, Song Changsheng deeply understood the importance of striking first to gain the upper hand.
"Chong-"
[Stunning Swan] was drawn from its sheath, a flash of silver light appeared, and a hundred-foot sword aura transformed into a white streak in the air, sweeping across as if to tear the sky apart.
Faced with such an opponent, Song Changsheng held nothing back and immediately used his full strength. The power of this sword strike was no less than the killing blow he delivered against Ji Bingxiu!
Before the sword energy arrived, the sharp edge struck first, the chilling sword light stinging one's eyes.
Ji Liangyu stood with his hands behind his back, his face as calm as a still lake.
Even though the space around her was trembling violently due to the sword energy, she didn't make the slightest move. This composure made everyone watching the battle feel uneasy.
Just as the sword energy was about to strike, Ji Liangyu actually took a step forward. Before her foot landed, her tall figure had already flashed past the enormous sword energy, and the bronze cone in her hand drew a deadly arc.
Song Changsheng was not surprised by this scene, as Ji Liangyu had demonstrated superb mastery of the [Spatial Laws] in the previous battle against Long Han.
His sword strike was merely a deliberate attempt to create an opening for his opponent.
With a swift and deadly strike, he unleashed several sword strikes, annihilating the arc formed by pure death energy. He then shot forward, his yin and yang energies surging behind him. After closing the distance between them, he let out a soft shout, gathered his magic power at the tip of his sword, and unleashed a powerful strike.
As the [Sword of Startling Beauty] fell, the Yin and Yang energies behind Song Changsheng converged into a Tai Chi diagram and merged into it.
"One sword can cleave the heavens and the earth!"
A vast black and white world unfolded before Ji Liangyu's eyes. A sword light of extreme sharpness suddenly appeared before Ji Liangyu's eyes. This sword seemed to come from the depths of the universe, and it was about to split the chaotic and void world!
"This is what Bingxiu was talking about... the Sword that opens the heavens?" A slight ripple finally appeared on Ji Liangyu's usually impassive face.
She had initially thought Ji Bingxiu was exaggerating, but now it seemed that everyone had underestimated Song Changsheng's strength.
Even though she knew in her heart that the scene before her was just a wisp of Song Changsheng's artistic conception, she still felt a little breathless when she saw that sword, and her usually stable Dao heart trembled slightly.
Perhaps it was this slight tremor that stirred a sense of crisis in her heart. A drop of blood fell onto the bronze awl in her hand, its rust spots gleaming with an eerie light and emanating a dense aura of death, as if opening a door to death.
The bronze cone transformed into a streak of dark light, piercing directly through the black and white dome of the sky and tearing it apart in an instant.
As soon as she regained consciousness from Song Changsheng's "Opening Heaven Intent", she was greeted by a storm of sword energy from Song Changsheng, which surged towards her like a violent tempest.
"Great Divine Power [Hun Yuan Palm]"
Ji Liangyu's eyes were like torches, and death energy rapidly gathered in her palm. With a single strike, the sword light that filled the sky instantly dissipated.
"Great Divine Power [One Finger to Dust]"
Song Changsheng gave her no chance to catch her breath, gathering his magic power at his fingertips and gently tapping the void in front of him. The invisible spatial power spread out, instantly freezing the three-dimensional space within a radius of several hundred feet, including where Ji Liangyu was.
"Great Divine Power [Spatial Strangulation]"
Ji Liangyu, who was also proficient in the [Laws of Space], had an extremely keen sense of smell and reacted with extraordinary speed. Dozens of spatial forces condensed into crescent blades around her, flying around in disorder, annihilating all the spatial forces that Song Changsheng had hidden under the spatial barrier.
This supernatural power is both offensive and defensive, condensing the power of the void into a tangible form. It is actually quite similar to the [One Finger Dust] technique he cultivated, but he had never thought about it in this direction before. When he suddenly saw it, he couldn't help but feel a sense of enlightenment.
"Great Supernatural Power: Drawing a Circle on the Ground as a Prison"
As Song Changsheng's finger fell, several white circles suddenly appeared in the air. These white circles overlapped and expanded rapidly, instantly covering a radius of a thousand miles with himself as the center.
All the white circles overlapped to form an indestructible spatial barrier, which then suddenly contracted towards the center.
Even though Ji Liangyu quickly took countermeasures, thanks to the fact that the spatial barrier within the Cloud Arena was reinforced by the power of the laws of the five deans, the strength of Song Changsheng's supernatural ability directly increased by a level, and he was unable to break through it in a short period of time.
She is proficient in the laws of space and death, and speed is one of her greatest advantages. Now, Song Changsheng has directly locked down her space of movement, and her speed advantage has been completely restricted and is difficult to exert.
"Great Divine Power [Mountain-Turning Seal]"
Beautiful landscapes appeared alternately around him, and a solid, jet-black seal materialized in Song Changsheng's palm. He slammed it down.
Under the blessing of the [Law of Power] at the Great Perfection realm, this great seal formed from magical power crashed down like a meteorite from outer space, causing large sections of space to collapse and shatter in its wake.
Ji Liangyu's pupils contracted slightly, and a glimmer of light flashed in her eyes, precisely pinpointing the weakness in the supernatural power.
With a raised hand, a silver streak shot out from under his sleeve like an arrow, leaving a dark trail in the air, and accurately struck a corner of the seal. The seal shattered like porcelain that had been hit.
"A pupil technique!" Song Changsheng's eyes narrowed slightly. This was the first time anyone had discovered a flaw in the [Mountain-Turning Seal] since he began cultivating it, and all of this was because Ji Liangyu had cultivated a special pupil technique.
What he feared most was the special magical artifact that Ji Liangyu had hidden in his sleeve. It had previously broken the true form of Long Han and severely injured it, and now it had also broken his own supernatural power.
Its attacks are launched silently and swiftly, making them difficult to defend against.
It looked like some kind of hidden weapon, but the rules of the Five Academies Grand Competition clearly state that one-time magic weapons are not allowed. Hidden weapons are also a type of one-time magic weapon. Before going on stage, each magic weapon needs to be inspected and registered. Therefore, what she used was definitely not a hidden weapon.
Several possibilities flashed through Song Changsheng's mind, but he couldn't be sure of any of them. For the time being, he could only remain vigilant.
"Om..."
Warm blood was poured onto the bronze cone, which then flew out of his hand, transforming into a dark blue light that directly pierced through the barrier formed by Song Changsheng's supernatural powers.
After the confinement was lifted, she felt as if she were a dragon swimming in the vast ocean.
"You've been hiding your abilities quite well all this time." Ji Liangyu's eyes were icy. Song Changsheng hadn't shown off his supernatural powers much before, mainly relying on the [Law of Power] and swordsmanship to fight. But he never expected that the opponent's supernatural powers would be so fierce, giving no one a chance to breathe once they started fighting.
"I've always been lucky. Since the start of the competition, I haven't had a chance to showcase my skills." Song Changsheng stood with his sword in hand, his black hair flying wildly behind his head, and his robes fluttering, giving him an air of otherworldly elegance.
If Li Yufeng was the luckiest contestant in the Five Academies Competition, then Song Changsheng was the next luckiest, having encountered almost no pressure along the way and concealing his true strengths very well.
Unfortunately, Ji Liangyu was incredibly powerful. The bronze spike, combined with her [Law of Death], unleashed power far exceeding that of ordinary high-grade spiritual treasures, helping her break through several situations and preventing her from gaining the upper hand initially. "Innate Divine Ability [Death Domain]"
With a soft shout, Ji Liangyu unleashed a chilling aura of death that emanated from behind her, gathering in the air to form a suffocating black cloud that shrouded the sky and blocked out all sunlight.
Inside, ghostly figures lurked, and faint screams could be heard, sending chills down one's spine.
"Innate Divine Ability [Yin Yang Annihilation]"
The yin and yang energies surged like the tide, and a pair of enormous, oppressive eyes appeared behind him, exuding an ancient and weathered aura, as if from the distant past or from the mysterious heavens.
As the giant pupils slowly opened, Ji Liangyu was instantly plunged into a completely different black and white world. Powerful forces came from all directions, tearing at her body madly.
The domain formed by the condensation of death energy was also violently clashed by the yin and yang energies, and countless ghostly figures were torn apart.
Song Changsheng's chosen strategy was simple: to use his own power of law to counter Ji Liangyu's power of law and directly break her law domain.
Ji Liangyu was well aware of his thoughts. With her heroic sword-like eyebrows raised her hand for the first time and threw out the bronze cone in her hand. The cone hovered in front of her, and the death energy in the Law Domain was frantically poured into it, emitting an aura that was enough to make anyone feel genuine fear.
Even so, she still felt it wasn't enough, so she pointed her finger like a sword at her chest, forcing out a drop of blood from her heart, which landed on the bronze cone.
In an instant, the mottled rust on the bronze cone gradually peeled away, revealing the gleaming gold underneath.
Sensing the immense power contained within, Song Changsheng frowned slightly, and his hand seals rapidly changed.
"Great Divine Power [World-Destroying Millstone]"
One breath transforms into chaos, chaos gives rise to heaven and earth, and heaven and earth are divided into yin and yang.
As the yang energy rose and the yin energy descended, separated by a thin line, the two energies were clearly distinct. In front of Song Changsheng, the two energies condensed into a huge black and white millstone, causing the surrounding space to tremble uncontrollably.
If Song Changsheng hadn't had a deep enough understanding of the laws of life, this black and white world created by the yin and yang energies would almost have shattered because it couldn't withstand the power of the two supernatural abilities.
"break!"
With a soft shout, Ji Liangyu's sharp cone, now completely free of bronze rust, transformed into a beam of golden light and shot out, almost tearing the world apart.
The yin-yang millstone that had materialized in front of Song Changsheng also began to slowly advance.
The sharp cone and the yin-yang millstone collided with a deafening roar, unleashing a world-destroying force. This black and white world, constructed from the power of laws, could no longer withstand the impact and collapsed in an instant.
"click click"
Centered on the point of collision, the space that had just been mended was like an ice surface shattered by a boulder, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading out, and the dense, cracking sounds were chilling.
The sharp cone and the millstone were locked in a stalemate.
Both sides were continuously pouring their magical power into it.
If the previous contest was a battle of supernatural powers and laws, then now the two sides are competing to see whose magical power is more abundant.
When the two sides have similar understanding of the laws, magical power becomes the sole criterion for measurement. This is a contest that will directly affect the outcome between the two.
"As expected of someone chosen by the Palace Master, Fellow Daoist Zixu truly possesses the strength to become one of the top geniuses." Gu Xueying murmured softly from the stands below the arena.
Upon hearing this, Ji Shinian responded softly, "The Palace Master's judgment is certainly not wrong. The two sides are evenly matched now, and it is unknown who will win this contest in the end."
“Fellow Daoist Zixu is ultimately a step behind in cultivation. Ji Liangyu has already used his heart's blood, so it will be difficult for him to win,” Baili Yuntu said in a deep voice.
Clearly, none of them were very optimistic about Song Changsheng's situation.
They acknowledged Song Changsheng's formidable strength, but the gap between geniuses is like a chasm, and crossing it is no easy feat.
Being able to fight to this extent is enough to prove oneself, but without other trump cards that can influence the outcome of the battle, it is almost impossible to win.
Do you think Master will win?
Behind the group, Xu Miaoyin stared intently at the sky and asked Song Jingxiao beside her in a soft voice.
“The clan leader will definitely win.” Song Jingxiao blurted out without hesitation.
His decisiveness surprised Xu Miaoyin for a moment before she asked again, "How can you be so sure?"
"A qualified hunter is good at assessing his own strength and never hunts prey that is beyond his capabilities."
"The clan leader's prey has always been that one person, so how could he possibly stop here?" Song Jingxiao said with certainty.
His confidence stemmed from his absolute trust in and understanding of Song Changsheng. If he hadn't been absolutely certain, Song Changsheng would have chosen to challenge Zhao Yin from the very beginning, rather than Ji Liangyu.
As if confirming Song Jingxiao's words, with the passage of time, the scales of victory gradually shifted towards Song Changsheng, and the huge black and white millstone slowly turned, grinding away the deathly aura on the sharp cone bit by bit.
"How could his magic be so strong!" Ji Liangyu frowned slightly, his heart filled with confusion.
No matter how hard she racked her brains, she couldn't have imagined that Song Changsheng's golden core had twelve cyclones!
The twelve cyclones granted him a recovery ability far exceeding that of a top-grade Golden Core cultivator, and the continuous flow of mana was the key to suppressing his opponents!
Seeing that he was about to be eliminated in this struggle, a cold glint flashed in Ji Liangyu's eyes. He raised his hand, and a cold light shot out from his sleeve.
Song Changsheng had been on guard against this move, and the moment she raised her hand, he immediately opened his sleeve.
"The Great Divine Power [Universe Within a Sleeve]"
As the power of space erupted, that cold light was directly banished into the void.
Although he escaped the ambush, being distracted by using his supernatural powers made it difficult for him to sustain his magic.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the sharp cone shattered the Yin-Yang millstone, transcended the barrier of space, transformed into a streak of black light, and, carrying a sinister aura of death, pierced into Song Changsheng's chest...
……
P.S.: Sorry for breaking my promise. I originally planned to update a long chapter today and push straight to the finals, but I had a big meeting after get off work, so I only managed to write 4,200 words despite rushing. I'll try to finish it all tomorrow. Mwah! (End of Chapter)