Translator: CinderTL
Upon hearing Huang Canglong's words, Qiu Cang and the white-robed elder, Mo Sheng, both turned their attention to the projected image.
"Those are geniuses from the Fire Ember Civilization," Mo Sheng observed.
"What's going on? Why are Su Haiyue, Lin Qing, and the others clashing with them?" Qiu Cang frowned.
Though they represented different universities, they stood united against foreign races and were deeply concerned about the safety of Blue Star's prodigies.
"Seven geniuses from the Fire Ember Civilization are present, including two who have achieved the third breakthrough," Huang Canglong reported, sensing the situation. "Su Haiyue's group only has four members, and she's the only one who has reached the third breakthrough."
"This doesn't look good," Qiu Cang muttered.
"Su Haiyue and her team are in serious trouble," Huang Canglong's expression darkened further.
Those competing for treasures in Thunder Sound Valley were undoubtedly exceptional talents, at least on par with Blue Star's elites. Moreover, the Fire Ember Civilization's civilization level was one tier higher than Blue Star's, granting their geniuses superior equipment and cultivation techniques.
With their numerical advantage, the seven Fire Ember Civilization members could easily overwhelm Su Haiyue's group of four.
Just then...
"Don't rush," Qiu Cang said, his eyes suddenly brightening. "Judging by Jiang Ye's trajectory, he might have noticed the situation with Su Haiyue."
"Jiang Ye?" Huang Canglong and Mo Sheng both turned to look at the holographic projection.
Just as Qiu Cang had predicted, Jiang Ye's path was leading directly toward the battlefield where Su Haiyue and her group were engaged.
"That kid's only focused on getting out of here. He probably won't intervene," the white-robed elder Mo Sheng remarked.
"He will," Qiu Cang insisted, understanding Jiang Ye's character better.
Huang Canglong remained silent beside them.
"Jiang Ye..." Huang Canglong sighed inwardly. "Even if that kid decides to help, he won't make much of a difference."
Su Haiyue and her three companions were being besieged by two third breakthrough prodigies. Jiang Ye, on the other hand, was only approaching the third breakthrough. He seemed unlikely to significantly alter the course of the battle.
"Look!" Qiu Cang suddenly pointed at the projection screen. "Jiang Ye's almost there!"
Huang Canglong immediately looked up. Though he held little hope, a flicker of anticipation remained. Could Jiang Ye truly turn the tide of battle?
Ancient Star No. 7, Thunder Sound Valley, northeastern region.
Boom! Boom! Boom! A fierce battle raged, the deafening explosions shattering trees and pulverizing rocks into dust. The combatants were locked in a desperate struggle.
"Damn it!"
"Why won't these Fire Ember Civilization bastards leave us alone?" Lin Qing, a short-haired girl, clashed fiercely with a bearded youth, her sword emitting continuous flashes of light as she parried his relentless attacks.
"Blue Star's geniuses deserve to die!" the bearded youth roared, hacking downward at her relentlessly.
Had Jiang Ye been present, he would have recognized this bearded youth as Yun Hong, the Fire Ember Civilization genius who had escaped earlier.
In just two days, Yun Hong's strength had surged again. Though he hadn't yet achieved a third breakthrough, he was significantly stronger than before.
"Die!" Yun Hong bellowed, unleashing a devastating strike at Lin Qing.
Boom! Lin Qing's legs buckled, and she staggered backward under the force of the blow.
Ignoring her own pain, she glanced toward the distance and cried out, "Sister Haiyue!"
There, Su Haiyue, clad in sea-blue battle armor, was besieged by two third breakthrough powerhouses.
Su Haiyue was undeniably formidable, her swordplay seamless and flawless. Yet, against the combined assault of two third breakthrough geniuses, she was gradually losing ground.
"Haven't Zhu Hua and the others taken down that woman yet?" Yun Hong muttered, slightly surprised by the situation.
Zhu Hua and another Sea-Scorching-grade genius who had achieved a third breakthrough were jointly attacking Su Haiyue.
They still haven't taken her down?
This alone proved the Sea Blue Armored Girl's formidable strength.
"But she's about to collapse," Yun Hong observed, glancing at the battlefield.
"I can't hold out much longer," Su Haiyue thought, struggling against the two experts' relentless assault. If this continues, I'll die here.
Escape?
The thought flashed through Su Haiyue's mind.
But in the next instant:
No.
I could shake these guys off, Su Haiyue reasoned, but Lin Qing and the others would never escape. They'd die here.
I can't abandon them! Su Haiyue bit her lip, desperately resisting.
She had to wait for an opportunity—a chance to lead everyone out of this encirclement.
Yet as Su Haiyue fought tooth and nail against Zhu Hua and the white-haired youth's relentless attacks, her condition deteriorated rapidly.
Gradually, her once flawless swordplay began to show cracks.
The white-haired youth's eyes lit up as he seized the opening, slashing his blade toward her.
Damn it! Su Haiyue's pupils constricted.
She knew she couldn't block this strike.
Just as the critical moment arrived...
Whoosh!
The air crackled faintly, followed by an ear-splitting sonic boom.
A figure materialized from nowhere, piercing through the air with a blinding, dazzling sharpness.
The brilliance was so intense that Su Haiyue couldn't open her eyes for a moment.
Swish!
The next second, Su Haiyue's eyes widened as she finally recognized it: a spear strike!
Boom!
An overwhelmingly ferocious spear thrust, radiating terrifying energy waves, slammed into the white-haired youth.
The terrifying assault made the white-haired youth's expression change drastically as he hastily raised his blade to parry.
Clang!
The clash of blade and spear erupted in a deafening roar.
The white-haired youth's face contorted as a monstrous force surged through the spear's tip, sending him staggering backward.
"This... third breakthrough? No, just approaching it?"
"His power is this terrifying?" The white-haired youth stared at the newcomer with a mix of shock and disbelief.
He wasn't the only one.
Su Haiyue, Lin Qing, and the other Blue Star geniuses turned their attention to the unexpected arrival.
A handsome young man stood suspended in mid-air, clad in jet-black battle armor and wielding a long spear.
"A Blue Star native?" Su Haiyue exclaimed, her voice a mix of surprise and delight.
But her expression quickly shifted to disappointment.
"Only approaching the third breakthrough..." Su Haiyue's heart sank. She didn't want this Blue Star genius to die because of her.
Meanwhile, on the other side:
"It's him!"
"Senior Brother Zhu Hua," Yun Hong said urgently, his eyes flashing. "He's the Fallen Star-level genius from Blue Star I told you about!"
"A Blue Star genius?"
Nearby, Zhu Hua, whose forehead bore three crimson brand marks, narrowed his eyes and chuckled. "Not even at the third breakthrough, yet he dares to come here to die."
"Feiying, deal with that Blue Star woman from earlier," Zhu Hua said calmly. "I'll take care of this newcomer."
"Understood," Feiying, the white-haired youth, nodded and resumed his assault on Su Haiyue.
"Kill!"
"Kill!!" The battle erupted anew.
Whoosh!
Zhu Hua moved with lightning speed, his long spear flashing as he charged toward Jiang Ye.
In an instant, his spear transformed into hundreds of ten-meter-long shadows, each one a deadly strike, blanketing the sky and descending upon Jiang Ye like a storm.
"Watch out!" Su Haiyue shouted, her voice strained as she fought Feiying, the white-haired youth, while desperately trying to keep an eye on Jiang Ye's situation.
"Damn it, such terrifying power!"
"Can he withstand this?" Su Haiyue's heart pounded with anxiety. She longed to shake off her opponent and shield Jiang Ye from the overwhelming assault.
But Feiying, a Sea-Scorching-grade genius with Eighth Breakthrough potential, was no ordinary foe.
Coupled with Su Haiyue's already weakened state, she couldn't break free, forced to watch helplessly as the spear shadows rained down upon Jiang Ye.
"It's over," Su Haiyue thought in despair.
Then, in the next instant—
Boom! An overwhelmingly powerful Martial Dao Aura erupted from Jiang Ye's body. He moved with sudden ferocity, his long spear spinning.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
In the blink of an eye, he unleashed over a hundred spear strikes, shattering every spear shadow in the sky.
And that wasn't all.
Jiang Ye's figure blurred into a streak of lightning, closing the distance to Zhu Hua in an instant.
Boom! A spear swept out horizontally.
The terrifying kinetic energy unleashed an explosive force.
This spear contained over a hundred thousand strands of scorching stellar energy, which erupted the instant it hurtled toward Zhu Hua.
Zhu Hua's gaze sharpened as he swiftly raised his long spear to parry.
As a third breakthrough powerhouse, he possessed far more potent stellar energy and explosive power than a second breakthrough cultivator.
In an instant, Zhu Hua condensed hundreds of thousands of strands of stellar energy, channeling them all into his spear.
Spear met spear!
Boom!!
A clash of unimaginable ferocity.
The terrifying energy waves surged outward like a storm, pulverizing the surrounding mountains and rocks into dust.
The devastating impact sent both combatants hurtling backward in unison.
"He actually...?" Su Haiyue's beautiful eyes widened in disbelief. "He blocked it?"
Lin Qing and the other Blue Star geniuses were even more astonished.
"What?!"
"That Blue Star prodigy wasn't crushed by Zhu Hua?"
"He actually managed to withstand Zhu Hua's attack?" Yun Hong, Feiying, and the others watched in stunned silence.
Zhu Hua was a third breakthrough powerhouse!
The Blue Star prodigy was only approaching the third breakthrough, yet the gap between them was more than tenfold!
Jiang Ye's ability to withstand Zhu Hua's attack suggested his current strength might already rival that of a third breakthrough powerhouse!
"Yun Hong!"
"Are you sure you fought that guy?" Feiying asked incredulously. "You escaped unscathed?"
"He was only at the peak of the second breakthrough back then!"
Yun Hong's expression was equally grim. "It's only been two days. How could he have become so strong?"
He had originally planned to personally avenge himself.
But now, it seemed that was no longer possible.
"What first-tier civilization inheritance does this person cultivate?" Zhu Hua's pupils constricted as he stared at Jiang Ye in the distance.
"His stellar energy burst is even stronger than mine?"
Zhu Hua's heart trembled, far from the calm facade he maintained.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Jiang Ye's expression was equally grave.
"Third breakthrough powerhouses are indeed formidable," Jiang Ye thought to himself. "That single strike just now pushed me to the very edge of my limits."
Despite the seeming stalemate, the truth was far more precarious.
That terrifying collision had been far beyond what Jiang Ye's current life level could withstand.
If Jiang Ye hadn't activated his second-tier innate ability, Bone Armor, granting him a 70% defense boost, his arms would likely have shattered from the impact.
Even so,
Jiang Ye felt his arms trembling violently, barely able to exert any force.
"I need to end this quickly," he thought.
"I can't let them activate their Innate Domain."
In the next instant,
Buzz~
An indescribably strange wave of energy erupted from Jiang Ye's body, instantly engulfing the entire battlefield.
In that instant,
A boundless sea of blood materialized, centered on Jiang Ye, stretching hundreds of meters in all directions. The crimson ocean churned violently, unleashing hundred-meter-high waves that radiated an utterly terrifying pressure.
Under this oppressive force, not only Yun Hong and Feiying but even the Fallen Star-level genius Zhu Hua finally paled.
Battle Soul Domain—Third Tier: Berserk!
Blood Sea Domain!
Within the boundless sea of blood, all enemies suffered a 50% reduction in their highest attributes!
In that instant, both Zhu Hua and Yun Hong, Feiying, and the others felt a suffocating pressure. Their movements were severely restricted, and their attack, defense, and agility were all drastically weakened.
At that moment, an overwhelmingly terrifying aura erupted from Jiang Ye's body.
"Huh?!"
"Jiang Ye," Bai Gui's voice, filled with astonishment and disbelief, echoed in his mind. "How do you possess an Innate Domain?"
Even Bai Gui, the guardian of a third-tier civilization, was stunned.
In her eyes, Jiang Ye was merely a Nascent Aptitude. How could he manifest an Innate Domain, a power typically exclusive to those with Dao Bone Aptitude?
"Senior Bai Gui, I'll explain later," Jiang Ye said with a faint smile, offering no further elaboration.
He quickly focused on sensing his newfound power.
"So this is what it means to have all attributes boosted by 200%?" Jiang Ye gripped his long spear tightly. "I've never felt so powerful!"
He gazed at the boundless sea of blood.
Was this sea of blood an illusion? No, it was not.
Since ascending to Dao Bone Aptitude, Jiang Ye had come to understand that the Substantial Domain manifested by innate abilities was, in essence, the resonance between a martial artist's own being and the fabric of the cosmos.
The underlying principles were profoundly intricate, steeped in countless mysteries. Such profound concepts could hardly be conveyed in mere words.
To put it bluntly, within this Substantial Domain, Jiang Ye had become the absolute master of this "mini-world."
These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.
"Kill!"
Jiang Ye's figure blurred, transforming into a bolt of lightning in the blink of an eye.
His long spear moved like a dragon!
"Cold Sun Spear Technique!" Jiang Ye gripped his spear tightly, its tip conjuring countless spear shadows.
Each shadow birthed a white sun wheel. These wheels rapidly coalesced, merging into a colossal Great Sun thirty meters in diameter within a mere finger snap.
A bone-chilling yet scorching wave swept outward.
"Kill!" Jiang Ye thrust his spear forward.
The white Great Sun shot forth, hurtling toward Zhu Hua.
Though it sounds like a lengthy process, the entire sequence unfolded in a single, fleeting moment.
From Jiang Ye's activation of his Innate Domain to his execution of the Cold Sun Spear Technique, no more than a few seconds elapsed.
"This power...?"
"Damn it!" Zhu Hua's expression shifted abruptly. He had no time to activate his innate ability and could only sweep his long spear horizontally.
Boom!
A cataclysmic collision erupted.
Jiang Ye's spear strike was amplified by seven major buffs: Beauty's Inquiry, Tilting at Windmills, Playing the Fool to Catch the Tiger, and four others.
It carried the icy fury of a blizzard and the scorching intensity of the midday sun, its power surging to unprecedented heights.
Boom! A deafening roar erupted.
Pshh! The Cold Great Sun pierced through Zhu Hua's defenses, tearing through his chest as blood splattered violently.
"How is this possible?" Zhu Hua's eyes widened in terror.
But Jiang Ye gave him no chance to retaliate.
Immediately after the first strike, a second spear thrust erupted with even greater speed and ferocity.
Whoosh!
A dazzling spear beam, radiating the power to annihilate any quasi-third breakthrough opponent, crashed down like a thunderbolt.
Clang! Zhu Hua raised his spear to block, but his defenses shattered once more.
Pshh! Another spear pierced through his left chest.
"Die!" Jiang Ye roared, gripping his long spear and unleashing a series of rapid strikes. Each thrust, delivered in a fraction of a second, channeled over a hundred thousand strands of stellar energy, unleashing his full power.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Under Jiang Ye's overwhelming onslaught, Zhu Hua didn't even have a chance to unleash his ultimate move. He was forced to retreat continuously, his body riddled with terrifying bloody holes.
Each of these wounds would have been fatal to a peak-second breakthrough powerhouse, causing instant death.
But Zhu Hua, as a third breakthrough powerhouse and a Heavenly Pride, possessed extraordinary vitality, allowing him to endure this far.
Even so, he was completely outmatched.
"No!"
"I refuse to accept this!" Zhu Hua roared inwardly, his frustration reaching its breaking point.
From start to finish, he hadn't even used his ultimate move or activated his innate ability, yet Jiang Ye had completely suppressed him.
He hadn't even displayed a third of his true strength!
To be defeated like this was unbearable.
Unfortunately, under Jiang Ye's relentless suppression, Zhu Hua's defeat was inevitable.
(End of the Chapter)
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