Chapter 635: The Final Eight
As the battle concluded, Zhang Yu, still carrying Ying Mingchi, was enveloped in layers of divine light and transported back to the waiting area.
“Finally won,” Zhang Yu murmured, glancing at the half-destroyed Ying Mingchi. He secretly marveled at his opponent’s physical resilience, truly the strongest he had ever faced.
“Compared to humans, the physical limits of monsterfolk are inherently higher. He almost escaped.”
“But… why does this guy smell so good all of a sudden?”
The aroma of roasted dragon meat wafting from Ying Mingchi made Zhang Yu’s stomach rumble and his mouth water uncontrollably.
Wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, Zhang Yu landed in the waiting area alongside Ying Mingchi.
Watching Zhang Yu return victorious, Jiutian Liu’s expression grew complex.
He had never imagined that Zhang Yu, whom he had merely tasked with gathering intelligence on Ying Mingchi, would actually defeat him — and in a direct, head-on clash.
In that moment, Jiutian Liu saw something he recognized as ambition burning within Zhang Yu.
This junior, who had risen from the Civil Engineering Department, whom he had once looked down upon, who had remained obscure at Myriad Laws University, and whom he had never considered a rival, had unknowingly grown to rival his own level.
“My Junior Brother, who’s only in his fifth year…”
Jiutian Liu thought to himself, “Just how far does his ambition reach?”
As Jiutian Liu observed Zhang Yu, Kuang Tianqing beside him was also watching Zhang Yu with keen interest, wondering, “Has he improved again?”
“Although nearly every student in the Ten Greats League has shown progress in each battle, the scale of Zhang Yu’s improvement is almost unprecedented.”
“No wonder Dao Qiankun values this kid so highly.”
“And that toughness…”
Kuang Tianqing recalled the final moments of their team tournament match, when she had relentlessly attacked Zhang Yu.
Zhang Yu’s resilience after his Living Stake Transformation had left a deep impression on her.
“What a tough guy. Even tougher than I estimated during the team tournament.”
“Heh, if we ever fight again, should I test his toughness directly? Or use softness to overcome hardness?”
Kuang Tianqing licked her lips, finding Zhang Yu increasingly worthy of being defeated.
Thud!
Upon returning, Zhang Yu casually tossed Ying Mingchi’s half-severed dragon body onto the ground.
Waves of injuries surged across Ying Mingchi’s body like relentless tides.
Yet, compared to the physical pain, the anger and humiliation in his heart tormented him even more.
“I was completely defeated in a direct, close-quarters battle by this scum, this monsterfolk discriminator…”
“A supreme disgrace… truly a supreme disgrace.”
At that moment, Ying Mingchi didn’t even dare open his Bionic Eye, fearing that the moment he connected to the Spirit Realm, he would be overwhelmed by a tsunami of mockery, criticism, and insults.
He could particularly imagine a significant portion of these insults coming from monsterfolk.
Beyond the damage to his reputation, this defeat had also shattered Ying Mingchi’s long-held values.
“The Immortal Dao values the human form as the ideal because it is the most standardized form, the foundational form considered when the Ten Great Sects designed the framework of the Immortal Dao. It is the form most suitable for cultivating various cultivation arts and wielding Bionics and magical artifacts.”
“Although the monster race possesses powerful physiques and diverse abilities, their potential and adaptability within the Immortal Dao are inherently inferior to those of humans.”
“But now… I’ve been defeated even in physical prowess… defeated by a human?”
“Even if I were to find an Immortal Sect Technique to transform human bloodlines into Monsterfolk Bloodlines… what would be the point?”
He pondered endlessly, yet no answer came.
Just as his thoughts crumbled like waves, threatening to completely crush the True Dragon within him, Ying Mingchi suddenly recognized a familiar glint in Zhang Yu’s eyes.
It was the gaze of one monsterfolk looking at another.
Images flashed through Ying Mingchi’s mind: Zhang Yu conjuring dragon beasts in the arena, their fierce clash in the Sea of Fire.
These fragmented memories coalesced into a single line of text from the Human-Monster Origin Theory:
“Humans are also monsters.”
“Perhaps Zhang Yu’s ancestral awakening, which unlocked his human-monster bloodline, is what allowed him to defeat me,” Ying Mingchi thought. “I didn’t lose to a human; I merely lost to another monsterfolk.”
Distracted and nauseated by the overwhelming aroma of Ying Mingchi’s flesh, Zhang Yu activated his Bionic Eye and shifted his focus to the other ongoing matches.
Besides himself and Jiutian Liu, Yan Xiang of Netherworld University and Cang Shenyu of Vajra University had already secured their victories.
Yan Xiang defeated Xu Haixuan, the top student of Myriad Laws University’s Talisman Department, while Cang Shenyu triumphed over Di Lianzhong, the champion of White Bone University.
Three matches remained in progress.
Zhang Yu’s gaze flickered as images of Tian Shengong and Yan Qianji clashing flashed through his Bionic Eye.
Both were powerhouses from the Artifact Refinement Department, yet their combat styles were diametrically opposed.
Tian Shengong commanded a single military-grade puppet over a hundred meters tall, while Yan Qianji deployed an entire army of military-grade puppets across the battlefield.
Yan Qianji’s puppet army, in particular, struck Zhang Yu with an uncanny familiarity, making him feel as though he were witnessing Dao Qiankun, Kuang Tianqing, or even himself in action.
Tian Shengong’s giant military-grade puppet felt even more familiar.
Its applications of Earthly Fiend Gravity, condensation of water vapor, lightning strikes, biomimetic structures, spiritual energy pollution… Zhang Yu felt as though he were seeing students from every school in the Ten Greats League stitched together into a single entity.
“Fucking Extreme Tiger Battle Art — how is this not plagiarism? Not copyright infringement?”
Zhang Yu immediately reported the situation to True Monarch Tranquility, the school team’s instructor.
The bad news was that Tian Shengong’s techniques could only be considered “borrowing” at best, not outright plagiarism. With technical support from Immortal Armaments University and Extreme Tiger Group, they had cleverly circumvented all technical copyrights, skirting the edge of infringement.
The good news was that this approach meant Tian Shengong’s technological applications fell far short of the original versions.
The worse news was that the Tian Shengong before them was far from its full potential.
True Monarch Tranquility: “If he were willing to infringe on patents during a critical moment in battle, his combat prowess could likely increase by several tiers.”
True Monarch Tranquility: “If Immortal Armaments University or Extreme Tiger Group were willing to fund his patent-infringing combat…”
True Monarch Tranquility: “…he might even be able to contend with Kuang Tianqing.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu felt his heart sink.
He understood that Kunxu’s entire order was built upon its economic system. For instance, patent infringement wasn’t deterred by fear of legal consequences, but by fear of financial loss and bankruptcy.
If the profits from infringement far outweighed the losses, the Kunxu People would simply engage in massive-scale infringement.
Take the current Ten Greats League, where the stakes were the ownership of Immortal Sect Techniques. Each student might have the backing of their school.
Given the scale of the Ten Greats, the patent infringement losses from a mere Foundation Establishment Stage individual battle would be utterly insignificant compared to the profits from acquiring an Immortal Sect Technique.
As Yan Qianji’s puppet army was systematically destroyed, Tian Shengong swiftly secured victory in the battle.
Within Zhang Yu’s Bionic Eye, another battle unfolded: Wen Wuya’s duel against Mu Qiansi.
By the time Zhang Yu focused on this encounter, the outcome was already decided — Wen Wuya had triumphed over Mu Qiansi.
Zhang Yu instinctively went back, rapidly reviewing the entire course of the battle.
Initially, Zhang Yu had believed distance would be the key to this fight.
To his surprise, Wen Wuya had never intended to evade Mu Qiansi. Instead, he had clashed head-on, demonstrating remarkable resistance to the Joyous Union techniques.
Unbeknownst to Zhang Yu, Wen Wuya had undergone a transformative surgery before the battle, rendering himself asexual.
He had also enlisted Bai Zhenzhen to use the Seven Emotions Sword Dao to temporarily suppress his emotions, allowing him to approach the fight with absolute rationality and composure.
Even Wen Wuya’s Bionic Eye had been specially modified to obscure gender distinctions and blur the lines between beauty and ugliness.
Faced with Wen Wuya’s rapidly increasing resistance to physical dual cultivation, Mu Qiansi attempted to strike through the Spirit Realm, planting Love Threads within his mind.
This was precisely Wen Wuya’s intention — to lure Mu Qiansi from the dual cultivation battlefield to his own domain of expertise: mental warfare.
After reviewing this battle, Zhang Yu turned his attention to the fight he had been most eagerly anticipating.
The scene suddenly shifted to Ying Zhoufan and Bai Zhenzhen’s confrontation.
Ying Zhoufan had transformed into a massive black eagle, soaring through the atmosphere at lightning speed, his shadow darting across the battlefield like a living thunderbolt.
Bai Zhenzhen stood rooted to the spot, her face as dark as a stormy sea, her killing intent growing ever more palpable.
Ying Zhoufan felt a chill creep into his heart. Bai Zhenzhen’s gaze felt like that of a mortal enemy.
“Wait…” Ying Zhoufan thought to himself, “I don’t owe her money, do I? Could this woman… be a severe monsterfolk discriminator?”
Remembering Bai Zhenzhen’s apparent closeness to Zhang Yu, Ying Zhoufan’s suspicion grew stronger.
In Bai Zhenzhen’s eyes, the video of Kuang Tianqing and Zhang Yu played on repeat, but Kuang Tianqing’s avatar had been replaced with Ying Zhoufan’s.
Bai Zhenzhen knew it was all fake, but her emotions still surged uncontrollably. The crimson sword qi deepened to dark red, then gradually darkened further, becoming increasingly profound.
Wen Wuya, who had returned to the waiting area after his victory, watched this scene and thought to himself, “The Extreme Emotion Sword Dao is already a Demonic Path. Now that Zhenzhen is said to be using falsehoods to cultivate reality, it’s become even more sinister.”
Wen Wuya recalled records he had read about practitioners of the Extreme Emotion Sword Dao. Many had used illusions, dreams, fake photos, and fake videos to advance their cultivation.
But with each such attempt, many practitioners eventually lost the ability to distinguish between reality and illusion, unable to tell the difference between fake and real videos, ultimately descending into madness.
At that moment, black sword qi pierced through Ying Zhoufan’s body, and Bai Zhenzhen secured her victory in the match.
With this, only the final eight competitors remained in the Ten Greats League.