Novel11 Chapter 350 : Advancing to the Finals
Chapter 350 : Advancing to the Finals
Yuqing Immortal Sect Rest Area.Ye Xinya lowered her head, unable to bear the sight of Chen Beiwu’s defeat.
Not until she heard the voice ring out once more from the stage.
“Myriad Spirits Calamity Transformation!”
Upon hearing this, Ye Xinya hurriedly lifted her head, only to see Chen Beiwu activating a Yuqing Mystic Ability. A vertical eye appeared upon his forehead, and the aura around his entire body surged explosively.
‘He still has a trump card?’
Yu Zhaohua’s eyes brightened slightly as she held her breath, staring at Chen Beiwu, unwilling to miss a single detail of the duel.
Only Wang Chan on the stage showed a subtle change in expression. He abruptly lowered his head, his gaze locking tightly onto Chen Beiwu below.
From the latter’s body, he could clearly sense an indescribable crisis.
Especially the strange vertical eye on Chen Beiwu’s forehead—it instinctively filled Wang Chan with unease.
‘What is that thing?’
Wang Chan tightened his grip on the Taihuan Limitless Ring, alarm bells ringing wildly in his heart.
What an eerie Mystic Ability!
Was this Companion Beast Transformation, or Companion Fusion?
Logically speaking, under the suppression of the Taihuan Limitless Ring, Chen Beiwu should have already lost his ability to duel, unable to mobilize any mana or Mystic Abilities at all.
Especially this kind of explosive Mystic Ability—extremely difficult to control and liable to backlash upon the slightest mistake.
How exactly had Chen Beiwu managed to do this?
Wang Chan could not figure it out in such a short time—but he would not sit idly by and allow Chen Beiwu’s vertical eye to open.
At his level of cultivation, spiritual perception had already sharpened to near foresight.
His intuition told him that if Chen Beiwu opened that vertical eye, he would undoubtedly lose this battle!
“Limitless Revolution, Taihuan Returns to Dust.”
With a thought, Wang Chan spread his five fingers.
The Taihuan Limitless Ring spun rapidly. The light upon it visibly dimmed to the naked eye, yet the power contained within it multiplied severalfold.
“Not good!”
Seeing this, True Monarch Feng’s expression shifted slightly as he prepared to intervene at any moment.
“Roar!”
At the same time, Golden Egg threw back his head and roared. Brilliant radiance surged around him as he transformed into a stream of Three-Aspect light that violently poured into Chen Beiwu’s right palm.
“Zheng!”
The light reshaped itself, forming a ferocious and domineering Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade.
Gripping the blade, the pressure of a True Monarch radiating from Chen Beiwu surged once more. In the blink of an eye, he forcibly broke through the barrier of the Nascent Soul early stage and reached the Nascent Soul middle stage.
The overwhelming force and terrifying aura were enough to make the prodigies of the Thirteen Immortal Sects watching the battle tremble in fear.
‘Incredible! With merely a Golden Core body, he has comprehended the true meaning of Yuanshi Dongzhen Qinghua Immortal Art of Commanding Myriad Calamities and Myriad Spirits, controlled triple calamity power, and erupted with Nascent Soul middle-stage combat strength!’
‘In a hundred years, no one among the Thirteen Immortal Sects will be able to stop this child!’
High above the Dueling Platform, two Divine Transformation True Venerables’ spiritual sense avatars exchanged thoughts, unable to conceal their admiration.
This Yuqing Immortal Sect truly possessed enduring fortune and unfathomable depth!
Every time a generation of Yuqing disciples appeared to falter, on the verge of a break in prodigies, a peerless genius would emerge out of nowhere—someone who defied convention and shattered understanding.
Compared to Yuqing Immortal Sect, Tianyan Immortal Sect ultimately lacked a layer of foundation and fortune.
With that thought, the two spiritual sense avatars shook their heads slightly and fixed their gazes upon Chen Beiwu.
On the Dueling Platform, heaven and earth spiritual energy churned violently.
The Five Qi Vine flashed and tightly embraced Chen Beiwu. Its body glowed as rune-like Dao patterns spread rapidly across its surface, solidifying before merging with him.
In the end, it fused into one with Chen Beiwu, radiating the vitality of Wood, the ferocity of Fire, the solidity of Earth, the sharpness of Metal, and the gentleness of Water.
These five Five-Element auras circulated perfectly, maintaining stable balance and mutual coexistence, forming a seamless and flawless Five Elements Armor.
The armor was savage in design. The shoulder plates resembled enraged dragon heads, with five-colored dragons rotating in reverse.
At the center of the chest plate, a Taotie Dao pattern was engraved, causing Chen Beiwu’s aura—already at Nascent Soul middle stage—to surge once more, nearly reaching the peak of the middle stage.
“Rumble—!”
Chen Beiwu’s eyes sharpened. With merely a light clench of his fist, the spiritual energy of the entire Dueling Plaza exploded violently. The cloud-choked sky above formed into a massive, terrifying vortex.
Feeling the unprecedented, surging power within his body, Chen Beiwu slightly raised his head and looked toward Wang Chan.
Wang Chan’s expression hardened as he lifted his right hand.
The Taihuan Limitless Ring before him vanished abruptly, attacking Chen Beiwu with the might to stabilize heaven and earth and smooth out all transformations.
At the same time, Chen Beiwu moved.
Yet he did not use the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade in his hand, nor the power of the Five Elements Armor, nor the Mystic Ability of the vertical eye on his forehead.
He merely saw through the shifting trajectory and flaw of the Taihuan Limitless Ring—and then threw what appeared, to ordinary eyes, to be an utterly plain punch, directly striking the most core and essential point of spiritual light within the ring.
“Crack!”
With a crisp shattering sound, the fiercely advancing ring froze before Chen Beiwu.
A core fracture appeared upon its surface, rapidly spreading until the entire ring exploded apart, revealing the severely wounded Heavenly Azure Ox within.
Below its left shoulder blade, a horrifying, bowl-sized hole pierced straight through its body, blood pouring endlessly from it. Unable to support itself, the Beast King collapsed to its knees with a heavy thud, lowering its massive head weakly.
“Pfft!”
Wang Chan spat blood as well, his body violently retreating, nearly fainting from the backlash of Companion Beast Transformation.
Silence blanketed the entire arena.
The reversal had come too quickly. Some cultivators of lower cultivation could not even comprehend how Chen Beiwu had turned defeat into victory.
True Monarch Feng appeared beside Wang Chan in a flash.
“I have not lost.”
Sensing True Monarch Feng’s gaze, Wang Chan barely steadied himself and formed a hand seal.
Chen Beiwu was not the only one with a hidden trump card. Wang Chan also had a final move.
Though he had not fully mastered it and its power was incomplete—at best merely a Dharma Aspect prototype—he was unsure whether he could successfully manifest it at such a critical moment.
But it did not matter. Until the very end, he would never give up.
“Heavenly-Gang Companion · Limitless Heaven-Bearing Dharma Aspect!”
At the fall of his thought, the Heavenly Azure Ox—its injuries restored—roared and dissolved into endless clear radiance that surged into Wang Chan’s body.
The next instant, Yin-Yang profound patterns carrying the Dao’s Rhythm of heaven and earth slowly emerged across Wang Chan’s exposed skin, starting from his brow.
These patterns were not static; they flowed gently, lending his refined features a measure of solemn majesty.
Behind him, space twisted violently, attempting to condense into the Limitless Heaven-Bearing Dharma Aspect.
“Too slow.”
With those words, Chen Beiwu tightened his grip on the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade.
“Shing!”
The blade tore through the sky, severing Dao’s Rhythm and carving a thin, dark line across space.
At the instant that line appeared, True Monarch Feng’s expression changed drastically.
Without time to warn, he stepped through the void and appeared before Wang Chan.
Two fingers extended like a sword beneath his sleeve, he unleashed a True Monarch Mystic Ability and pointed directly at the incoming dark line.
“Chi!”
A drop of golden blood fell.
Time seemed to freeze.
Before the incredulous gazes of the Thirteen Immortal Sects’ prodigies, a bone-deep wound suddenly opened upon the tip of True Monarch Feng’s finger.
One must know—True Monarch Feng was no ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator. He was the Vice Minister of the Teaching Department of Tianyan Immortal Sect, a great cultivator at Nascent Soul Great Perfection, only one step away from Divine Transformation.
Yet such an existence had been injured during a duel between juniors!!!
Understanding what this implied, several prodigies felt their scalps tingle.
True Monarch Feng himself was also somewhat surprised.
Looking at the wound on his fingertip, he withdrew his hand behind his back and gave Chen Beiwu a long, deep look.
“This battle ends here!”
“The victor—Chen Beiwu of Yuqing Immortal Sect.”
Exercising his authority as host, he directly announced the result.
Wang Chan’s movements halted. Seeing the still-bleeding finger behind True Monarch Feng, he gave a bitter smile.
He knew clearly that he had already lost.
Had True Monarch Feng not intervened in time, he might have suffered severe vitality damage, foundation impairment, or even been reduced to a near-death state.
“You have won.”
Casting one glance at Chen Beiwu, Wang Chan turned and walked toward the Taiqing Immortal Sect rest area.
With a thought, the vertical eye on Chen Beiwu’s forehead, the Five Elements Armor on his body, and the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade in his hand all flashed with light and disappeared, replaced by the utterly exhausted Golden Egg, Iron Egg, and Five Qi Vine.
“Senior Brother Chen is invincible!”
Ye Xinya cheered and rushed toward the stage, intending to give Chen Beiwu an enthusiastic embrace, only to be stopped by Yu Zhaohua at her side.
Chen Beiwu coughed lightly, took out several recovery pills, and fed them to Golden Egg and the others before slowly walking down the Dueling Platform under countless gazes.
He walked slowly not for effect, but because the Yuanshi True Qi within his body was nearly depleted.
“I have some pills here.”
Xu Lingling stepped forward and handed him a bottle, asking with concern.
“I’m fine. I just need to return to my Cave Abode and adjust my breathing,” Chen Beiwu said with a slight shake of his head.
‘The younger generation is truly formidable!’
Watching his back, True Monarch Feng sighed inwardly.
At his level, blocking Chen Beiwu’s blade without injury would have been effortless—he would only have needed to mobilize a bit more Heavenly-Gang True Qi or redirect the blade’s force.
Yet a genius like Chen Beiwu was exceedingly rare. And as a referee, intervening in a duel was already inappropriate.
So, out of curiosity and to prevent Chen Beiwu from being injured by recoil, True Monarch Feng had chosen to take the blade’s full power head-on.
What he had not expected was that, before the public eye, he would actually be cut by a Golden Core junior, losing a measure of face.
But it did not matter.
Given the talent Chen Beiwu displayed today, his future ascension to Divine Transformation True Venerable was almost certain. Perhaps this incident would one day become a fine story.
…
Luoxia Courtyard.
Returning to the Cave Abode, Chen Beiwu looked up at his teammates.
He found Yu Zhaohua, Mo Qingshuang, Xue Tianyi, and Ye Xinya standing quietly. Their faces lacked the expected excitement; instead, the atmosphere felt faintly heavy and awkward.
“What’s going on? Where’s the excitement from just now?” Chen Beiwu said lightly. “Why do you all look like this… Didn’t we win?”
With morale dampened, he had no choice but to break the tension with humor.
Mo Qingshuang shook her head. “Sorry. I was too weak. I couldn’t secure a single victory.”
As a sword cultivator, if she could not even admit being outmatched, then she would be unworthy of practicing the Sword Dao.
“We’re not cultivators of the same era as them. Being able to fight with the bearing of Yuqing Immortal Sect—you’ve already done very well.”
Chen Beiwu looked at the four of them and spoke sincerely.
Not every cultivator could, like him, rely on talent to cross the accumulation of years.
Even as confident as he was, he had only dared to claim a ten-out-of-ten chance of victory against the Ten Great Immortal Sects during the preliminaries—never mentioning his odds against the Upper Three Immortal Sects.
Facing Taiqing Immortal Sect in the semifinals, he had proactively changed tactics, adjusting the battle order to improve their chances.
Unfortunately, even after altering Yuqing’s lineup, Yu Zhaohua and the others ultimately could not overcome the depth accumulated by time.
Fortunately, his strategy had been correct. The Supreme Above All battle initiated from the Final Pillar position had indeed reversed the situation and led the team to victory.
Hearing this, Xue Tianyi twitched awkwardly.
Among the five of them, he alone was from the previous era—yet he had only won once in the preliminaries. It was rather embarrassing.
That was also why he now understood why the Golden Core Great Perfection cultivators of Yuqing Immortal Sect’s Student Division had chosen to give opportunities to the younger generation.
The true reason was simple—they lacked confidence in victory. They believed this year was Yuqing’s least hopeful year and did not wish to lose face on stage.
“Senior Brother Chen, the day after tomorrow against Shangqing Immortal Sect—how many chances do you think we have?” Yu Zhaohua suddenly asked.
Chen Beiwu fell silent for a moment.
According to Yuqing’s intelligence, Wang Chan of Taiqing Immortal Sect was at Golden Core Great Perfection and in the process of condensing a Heavenly-Gang Dharma Aspect. His Companion Beast, the Heavenly Azure Ox, was extremely close to becoming a Fourth-Realm Beast King and could advance at any time.
Thus, before facing Taiqing Immortal Sect, Chen Beiwu had estimated his chances at fifty percent.
That fifty percent did not refer to strength, but to possibility.
If the Heavenly Azure Ox had not advanced to the Fourth-Realm Beast King, Chen Beiwu’s chance of victory would have been as high as ninety percent.
If it had successfully advanced, his chance would have dropped to thirty percent.
That remaining thirty percent existed only because Wang Chan himself was a flaw—defeat Wang Chan, and victory would be his.
Facing the Fourth-Realm Beast King alone, even with Myriad Spirits Calamity Transformation, Drawing Calamity into the Body, and Realizing Calamity as Truth, he could at most gain temporary advantage before ultimately being forced into strategic retreat.
The reason was simple.
A Fourth-Realm Beast King’s recovery ability was terrifying.
Though Chen Beiwu had pierced straight through the Heavenly Azure Ox’s shoulder blade with a single punch, that injury was merely minor to a Beast King. It could still cooperate with Wang Chan to manifest a Heavenly-Gang Dharma Aspect—and recover fully within a single breath.
In short, a Fourth-Realm Beast King (Heavenly-Gang Mystic Beast), if it fought to the death, could rely on Undying Blood and Undying Aura to exhaust Chen Beiwu, who was using explosive secret arts.
“About twenty percent,” Chen Beiwu said in a low voice.
After today’s battle, he trusted his spiritual intuition even more.
From the Three Firmament Fairies of Shangqing Immortal Sect, he sensed danger no weaker than from Wang Chan—perhaps even stronger, especially when the three gathered together.
In a one-on-one Dao Discussion Battle, even against Moon Firmament Fairy Zhao Yue, he would have nearly an eighty percent chance of securing a Victory Point.
Unfortunately, his four teammates were not strong enough, while all five members of Shangqing Immortal Sect were top-tier experts.
Yu Zhaohua would need to face their weakest member to barely secure one Victory Point with her Innate Dao Body.
As for the others—including Mo Qingshuang—whoever they faced among Shangqing’s prodigies would likely end in defeat.
Thus, just as against Taiqing Immortal Sect, when the team could not realistically secure three Victory Points, the only path Chen Beiwu could find was to shoulder the Supreme Above All battle alone.
If he won—Yuqing Immortal Sect would win!
If he lost—Yuqing Immortal Sect would lose!