NOVPUB
Chapter 89: Chapter 89: Tempering
"It is indeed bold,"
Gu Jinlai nodded.
He looked at Zhang Luu: "I crushed your men, and that made you angry?"
At the same time, his figure rapidly expanded.
A height of one meter ninety burst into a three-meter giant in an instant.
Also revealed was the Protective Treasure Armor that had transformed from his regular armor.
He thrust his heavy sword into the ground.
Discarding the sword, no longer needing it.
"So... you came to kill me."
"Booom!"
Gu Jinlai’s qi and blood surged explosively. The strength of his body, tempered by the Eternal Furnace, became a roaring deluge that cascaded into his right hand, aimed at seizing and killing Zhang Luu.
"Do you really think I’m afraid of you?"
"Slaying Dragon Sky Shattering!"
Facing the eruption of Gu Jinlai’s qi and blood power, Zhang Luu’s eyes blazed with fury as he recklessly advanced towards him.
He did not use a sword, but...
Hands.
Adorned with a pair of gloves similar to mitts, yet the fingers were extremely sharp.
In the instant just before their collision, his figure twisted at an inconceivable speed, grasping with his palm, forged like vajra, towards Gu Jinlai.
A shockwave of Gang Qi ruthlessly burst into his arm during their swift crossing.
With one strike, the insides of Gu Jinlai’s wrist and back of the hand felt as if a miniature bomb had been detonated...
"Crack..."
The metallic sheen of his heavy armor arm deformed and shattered!
It was torn apart by Zhang Luu’s Gang Qi in a single grasp.
This was...
Transformation Realm!
"I, Zhang Luu, started from scratch, ascended as the Meteor Star Guard, Star Master. I’ve never relied on status or background, but on the adversaries I’ve defeated with my own blade and spear! Over the years, countless Refining Gods have perished by my hand, Gu Jinlai, do you really think that by condensing a demon body, you can contend with me? Today, I’ll let you understand what true strength is!"
Accompanied by a resounding howl, Zhang Luu, having shattered Gu Jinlai’s arm armor, didn’t pause for a moment.
Taking advantage of Gu Jinlai’s momentary disorientation without the chance to gather strength, Zhang Luu pushed his advantages in the Transformation Realm to the limit. He feigned a step, swiveled rapidly, and with a lightning-fast move, he advanced right in front of Gu Jinlai, with the golden light gleaming arresting Gang Qi bursting forth from his right hand, boldly grasping for Gu Jinlai’s throat.
"Qin Long Void Shattering!"
At the moment of his grasp, the Inner Qi within him roared, as if the sound of tigers roaring and dragons chanting emerged, like a raging dragon waking and roaring out from within him.
"Die!"
Gang Qi collided.
Before the grab had reached him, a trail of blood had already appeared on Gu Jinlai’s neck.
In a critical moment, Gu Jinlai’s body sank. His left foot stamped the ground fiercely, bending slightly with explosive giant force, then straightened violently.
"Booom!"
Stone chips on the ground shattered.
Crossing the World·Four Seas!
Speed erupted!
He ignored Zhang Luu’s grab, charging brutally towards him.
At this moment, he held no weapons.
But his body itself was the strongest weapon.
It was as if a furnace within him was fully operational, the force of qi and blood provoked in that instant transformed him into a primordial Fierce Beast, rampaging and smashing any life, any matter obstructing his path into dust.
"Huh!?"
Gu Jinlai’s sudden outburst made Zhang Luu’s grab aimed at his neck miss and land on his shoulder instead.
Although relying on the fierce Gang Qi and the "Six Divine Gloves" on his hands which were of Half-Spirit Level Artifact quality, he was confident he could shatter the War Armor on Gu Jinlai’s shoulder, or even further crush his collarbone. Yet as he did so, he would be rammed by Gu Jinlai.
With the opponent’s robust demon body, such an impact would surely leave him with broken bones and severe internal injuries, even with his Treasure Armor and True Qi protection.
Once his internal organs were seriously damaged...
With that thought, Zhang Luu rapidly retracted his hand, his Inner Qi bursting from his feet.
As a Refining God Immortal, combined with the precise manipulation of his strength provided by the Transformation Realm Martial Arts, it was as if his feet had energy thrusters installed, allowing him effortlessly to shoot back several meters and evade Gu Jinlai’s ferocious assault.
Not just that, as his figure retreated in an instant, his arms vibrated, and once again the sound of tigers roaring and dragons chanting echoed through the void, targeting Gu Jinlai’s arm, now unprotected by the Treasure Armor.
With a grab, Gang Qi extended outward, ripping through the void, its speed so incredible that it left no trace to be captured. 𝔫𝖔𝖛𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝖈𝖔𝔪
"Qin Long Wuji!"
If this grab landed, Gu Jinlai’s entire arm would be torn apart into a bloody mist.
"This is your strength? Direct and straightforward? No variation or technique whatsoever? Against those newly ascended Refining Gods, you have an absolute advantage and naturally find it easy, but I, Zhang Luu, have honed my skills on the Refining God path for twenty years, with the Yin God soon to converge, and also mastering the Transformation Realm Martial Arts. My Inner Qi has been forged through a thousand tempers. You alone, what makes you think you can stand against me?"
Zhang Luu let out a fierce cry.
"You’re fast?"
Gu Jinlai’s dense voice sounded.
Next, it was as if a blazing, splendid Great Sun had risen in front of Zhang Luu.
Great Sun Infinite.
Emitting a brilliant radiance too intense to gaze upon directly.
Under this dazzling brilliance, he felt as if his thought processes had slowed down by a beat.
"Not right!"
Zhang Luu quickly realized something.
His Divine Thought was honed to the extreme, approaching the Divinity Transformation, and he was startled awake in mere moments facing the Great Sun Divine Light.
But by this time, Gu Jinlai had already taken a large step forward, and the instant his right foot touched the ground, the power coursing through his thigh bones erupted, transforming him into an arrow shot from a tensed bowstring, with the radiant splendor of a meteor chasing the moon, he smashed towards Zhang Luu with fierce resolve!
Feeling the terrifying air wave brought by the three-meter-tall Gu Jinlai as he thundered towards him, Zhang Luu’s face changed drastically.
Dodge?
It was too late!
He could only take the hit head-on!
At the moment of crisis, Zhang Luu’s eyes widened as he took a deep breath, his skin turning a shade of blood red, and his body, no more than one meter eighty in height, suddenly swelled to two meters, similar to Gu Jinlai, with muscles bulging on his arms and even the veins clearly visible.
"Slaying Dragon Demon God Descending!"
In this strike, both men were straightforward in their clash, and despite the lack of enough distance to use a charging momentum to elevate the gravity potential energy to the ultimate, the instantaneous outburst of might still made the ground where they stood tremble violently.
"Boom!"
The terrifying pressure exploded from the ground beneath their feet, blasting the gravel and stone chips into powder, scattering in all directions with shock waves that caused the area within a hundred meters to tremble as if an earthquake had occurred.
And the two who had collided...
Gu Jinlai, with the momentum of an active strike, Zhang Luu on the defensive.
Although Zhang Luu erupted with a Forbidden Technique instantly, when Gu Jinlai’s three-meter-tall body encased in gravity potential energy slammed into him, the fearful and pure force still sent him flying, the penetrating power tearing through his Protective Gang Qi, piercing his Protective Treasure Armor, hitting his internal organs. Even though his organs were extremely toughened by refining the organs and blood, they still cracked, oozing blood...
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
However, the characteristic of the Transformation Realm is the minute control over one’s own body.
Besides, Zhang Luu was a Refining God Immortal.
As his organs were torn, a surge of True Qi rapidly flowed, rehydrating and suppressing the spread of the severe injuries throughout his body just in time.
It enabled him to still retain his fighting capacity at that moment.
With a twist of his body mid-air, he managed to adjust his center of gravity at high speed, turning from being blown away to standing upright.
His feet even plowed two ten-meter-long trenches in the gravel-covered ground.
"Good."
Gu Jinlai’s momentum surged rapidly, "You indeed have not disappointed me!"
In this period, the number of Refining God Immortals he had fought was not small.
Yan Xuejian, Yang Kan, including the Red Blood Sect Leader, the Red Saber Ancestor, although they were formidable, fighting against them was not thoroughly thrilling.
In this situation, he had always been unaware of his current level.
Zhang Luu, as a Star Master at the Refining God Peak, was undeniably strong.
Apart from the Divinity Transformation, he was already one of the strongest in the Refining God Stage.
Therefore, in catching up to Zhang Luu, he abandoned his sword and sought to use him as a whetstone to test the extent of his ultimate state.
Zhang Luu’s performance...
He was very satisfied.
"Come, use all your strength for the next blow, take on my punch!"
Gu Jinlai let out a long howl, and the True Qi within him resonated with the Eternal Furnace inside, gradually merging with the power in his body, infusing into his flesh.
Behind him, the Great Sun Divine Light shone brilliantly, resonating with the Eternal Furnace within him as if lighting up a Great Sun in the void.
Though he had not fully grasped the Transformation Realm, with this punch, he mobilized all the strength in his body.
The Great Sun Star, seemingly originating from the Eternal Furnace, plummeted down abruptly, carrying the aura of incinerating everything, reducing all to ashes, and hammered ferociously at Zhang Luu.
Before the fist arrived, the intensity of the Great Sun Divine Light made Zhang Luu feel a burning pain all over his body.
"This Fist Technique... carries traces of the Heavenly Master’s Secret Skill!? Could it be... he has incorporated the Heavenly Master’s Secret Skill into his fists!?"
Combining Fist Technique with the Heavenly Master’s Secret Skill!?
Impossible!
With a legacy of ten thousand years, the Heavenly Master’s lineage never saw such a feat.
But he knew that this Fist Technique indeed had the capability to influence the Divine Sense.
If he relied on his movement technique to take further risks, a single misstep could result in him being slapped to death.
Faced with this kind of tactic, there was no other way but to confront it and kill him.
"Gu Jinlai, you can’t kill me!"
Zhang Luu let out a long howl, the Forbidden Technique in operation, his Qi Blood Power inside erupted, and facing the intense blow from Gu Jinlai like a falling Great Sun, his Spirit and will ignited to an extreme.
He discarded all distractions.
As a cultivator, he launched his punch.
"Slaying Dragon Slaughter the World!"
In this world, there are dragons.
Before the devils appeared, dragons were the peak among Fierce Beasts.
In the ancient times, when the human Cultivation System was not yet perfected, all cultivators and beings aimed for the supreme glory of killing these formidable creatures.
Zhang Luu, having executed Slaying Dragon Slaughter the World, seemed to burn himself, elevating his consciousness.
At that moment, he was as if transported back to the heroic era when dragons wreaked havoc, and the human forerunners contested bitterly with the beasts, shedding their blood and courage.
Even though Gu Jinlai caused the Great Sun to fall, incinerating everything, he still could not suppress the determination that burst forth from Zhang Luu’s being, the determination of human pioneers fighting against the heavens, the earth, and all things for the main role in the world.
If he could maintain this state, if he did not die after today...
The Divinity Transformation Realm was within reach.
