Chapter 459: The Eleventh Sword
"Sword Flight!"
Facing Lu Fantian's Myriad Things Sword Technique, Zhang Ruochen immediately calmed his mind, mobilized his Sword Heart Intent, struck the sword hilt with his palm, and sent the Abyssal Ancient Sword flying out.
"Whoosh!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword shot forward like a black streak of light, incredibly fast, arcing through the air as it flew past the circle of sword Qi formed by the Myriad Things Sword Technique, stabbing toward Lu Fantian's back from behind.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen's arms emitted a cyan light.
The Azure Void True Qi circulated rapidly through his meridians, surging into his Qi Sea and converging at his thumbs.
Two sword ripples flew out from his thumbs.
Lu Fantian had long known that Zhang Ruochen had reached the Sword Heart Illumination realm, so when Zhang Ruochen executed the Sword Flight technique, he showed no surprise.
His expression remained calm and unflustered, his footwork becoming even faster.
"Break!"
He shattered the two sword ripples Zhang Ruochen had sent out with his Myriad Things Sword Technique, swung his arm, and slashed out a sword light, striking first toward Zhang Ruochen's neck.
Attack as defense.
As long as he forced Zhang Ruochen into a passive defense, the Sword Flight technique would lose its effect.
Lu Fantian's sword technique, though not reaching Sword Heart Illumination, had still reached the peak of Sword Following the Heart.
"Myriad Things Without Boundaries, One Sword Toward the Divine."
The third sword of the Myriad Things Sword Technique—its sword momentum was domineering and fierce; its sword Qi was like ten-thousand-year-old cold ice; its sword light was more dazzling than the scorching sun.
"What a formidable sword strike," Zhang Ruochen praised inwardly.
If he didn't mobilize the power of his Martial Soul, Zhang Ruochen would definitely be unable to block this strike.
"Excellent! The Divine Wood Body lives up to its reputation."
Zhang Ruochen recalled the Abyssal Ancient Sword, let out a loud laugh, and executed the Wind-Riding Flying Dragon Shadow footwork, continuously stepping and moving like a divine dragon soaring, constantly dodging and constantly striking out with his sword, trying to break Lu Fantian's Myriad Things Sword Technique with cleverness.
On the Heavenly Level Battle Platform, dragon-shaped afterimages appeared, shuttling among the sword Qi.
Lu Fantian said, "Zhang Ruochen, aren't you going to release your Martial Soul?"
"Just a little more," Zhang Ruochen said.
Lu Fantian asked in confusion, "What?"
"You haven't shown your full strength yet. Once you reveal your final trump card, I will definitely release my Martial Soul." Although Zhang Ruochen was in a precarious situation, he still didn't use his Martial Soul.
With Lu Fantian's current strength, he couldn't force Zhang Ruochen to use his Martial Soul.
"In that case, as you wish."
As his true Qi circulated, Lu Fantian's long hair stood on end, making him look like a battle demon king. He roared, "Martial Soul Merge with Sword!"
The Divine Wood Martial Soul, which had been floating behind and above Lu Fantian, transformed into a soul shadow, flew in front of him, and merged with the golden-threaded war sword.
"Whoosh——"
The golden-threaded war sword immediately emitted a golden light, forming a four-meter-long giant sword afterimage. The giant sword afterimage enveloped the outside of the sword body.
The golden-threaded war sword seemed to have gained sentience, rapidly absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Zhang Ruochen's eyes focused, staring at Lu Fantian's sword. "That is... that is..."
Previously, Zhang Ruochen had only thought Lu Fantian's sword was an eleventh-rank True Martial Treasure. It was only now, when he activated his Heavenly Eye, that he saw it was actually a wooden sword.
A wooden sword carved from a piece of the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood.
The golden threads on the sword were not inlaid later but were the meridians of the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood.
It should be known that the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood had been cut down in the Middle Ages.
Legend had it that every vessel made from the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood possessed sentience, could absorb spiritual energy, grow automatically, and could even feed spiritual energy back to its owner.
It could be said that any Divine Wood vessel was a priceless treasure, incomparable to ordinary True Martial Treasures.
In other words, Lu Fantian's Divine Wood Sword could also grow. If it could absorb enough wood-attribute source energy, it might even have the opportunity to grow to the level of a Sacred Sword in the future.
Of course, another person's Martial Soul could not merge with the Divine Wood Sword, but Lu Fantian had cultivated the Divine Wood Martial Soul.
The Divine Wood Martial Soul merged with the Divine Wood Sword, greatly increasing its power, rapidly absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and driving the Divine Wood Sword's power to its extreme.
Zhang Ruochen immediately released his Martial Soul, mobilizing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to converge toward him.
Zhang Ruochen's strength rapidly increased. He grabbed the returning Abyssal Ancient Sword, circulated his true Qi, activated the inscriptions within the sword, and charged forward to meet the attack.
He was going to go all out and have a true battle with Lu Fantian.
"Boom!"
The two swords clashed, producing a loud noise, like two bolts of lightning colliding.
Lu Fantian's body trembled, unable to withstand the immense force, and he took a slight step back.
"My Martial Soul is already very powerful, but... Zhang Ruochen's Martial Soul is even stronger than mine."
Under the impact of Zhang Ruochen's sword techniques, Lu Fantian felt as if his Divine Wood Domain was about to shatter.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen executed eleven sword techniques in succession, each sword strike stronger than the last. Finally, on the eleventh sword, he forced Lu Fantian to the edge of the battle platform.
With a *shua* sound, a sword light flashed.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword pointed at Lu Fantian's neck, pressing against the top of his throat. With just a slight exertion of force from Zhang Ruochen, he could have cut off Lu Fantian's head.
Lu Fantian clenched his teeth, his eyes filled with disbelief as he stared at Zhang Ruochen standing opposite him. "This... this is your true strength..."
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his sword. "I have used all my strength. I have great respect for you as an opponent."
Lu Fantian said with some self-mockery, "If we had fought three days ago, when I hadn't yet refined the Purple Cloud Agarwood, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to withstand three of your moves. No wonder you were unwilling to fight me back then."
Zhang Ruochen smiled. "That's not necessarily true. Three days ago, my sword technique hadn't reached its current level either."
Why did Zhang Ruochen say such a thing?
Lu Fantian looked at Zhang Ruochen with some confusion but ultimately didn't ask further, only guessing in his heart that Zhang Ruochen must have had some kind of fortuitous encounter in the past three days.
Zhang Ruochen's sword technique was indeed frighteningly superb.
Lu Fantian had never been convinced by anyone, but today, he was truly conquered by Zhang Ruochen's sword technique.
"I will remember today's defeat. We will definitely have another chance to fight in the future."
Having said this, Lu Fantian walked down the battle platform.
Although he admired Zhang Ruochen's sword path attainments, he was not willing to admit defeat. As long as he could break through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm Great Perfection as quickly as possible, he was confident he could defeat Zhang Ruochen.
How could he break through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm Great Perfection as quickly as possible?
The Ruins Realm Battlefield!
Lu Fantian made his decision: he would go to the Ruins Realm Battlefield for life-and-death training. Only through continuous battle could his combat skills and battle will be further improved. Only then would he have a chance to defeat Zhang Ruochen in the future.
The purple-robed old man sitting above the Heavenly Level Battle Platform nodded, a smile on his face, and announced, "Zhang Ruochen of the Martial Market Academy defeats Lu Fantian of the Divine Sword Sacred Land, becoming number 5,800 on the *Heavenly Ranking*, accumulating 287,000 military merit points."
"Defeating Lu Fantian in just eleven moves—the title of Young King is indeed well-deserved." The bald burly man laughed heartily, becoming more and more interested in Zhang Ruochen.
"Lu Fantian is only ranked 5,800th on the *Heavenly Ranking*. Defeating him is nothing remarkable," the veiled woman said coldly and sharply.
The bald burly man glanced at her. "Lu Fantian's strength is far beyond just the 5,800th position. If he hadn't encountered Zhang Ruochen, with his strength, he would definitely have entered the top 2,000 of the *Heavenly Ranking*, or even higher. Moreover, Lu Fantian is only at the Heavenly Extreme Realm Great Extreme Position, with plenty of room for improvement."
"Is that so? Then I'll go and test just how strong Zhang Ruochen really is."
By the time the veiled woman finished the word "strong," she was already standing on the Heavenly Level Battle Platform, facing Zhang Ruochen.
There were many martial arts experts present, but very few could clearly see her movement technique.
The several young geniuses who had been sitting next to the veiled woman were all startled. It was only then that they realized a formidable expert had been sitting right beside them.
"What an impressive woman! Just the movement technique she displayed just now is already beyond our reach. Who is she? Could she also be a *Heavenly Ranking* expert?"
"She must be a *Heavenly Ranking* expert. Otherwise, why would she challenge Zhang Ruochen?"
Zhang Ruochen glanced at the veiled woman and immediately felt a sense of familiarity. He was certain he had seen her before.
Then, Zhang Ruochen mobilized his powerful spiritual power to observe the woman. After a moment, he had already figured it out. "So it's you."
"You can see through me?" the veiled woman said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Your disguise is flawless. Even a Fish-Dragon Realm martial artist couldn't see through your true form. But you can't fool me."
Then, Zhang Ruochen called out her title. "The proud daughter of heaven from the Black Market First Class Hall, Orange Moon Star Envoy. I didn't call you wrong, did I?"
Zhang Ruochen hadn't had much interaction with Orange Moon Star Envoy. He had only seen her a few times, and every time, Orange Moon Star Envoy was wearing a veil.
If Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power hadn't reached the forty-first rank, he would never have been able to see through her true form.
"Boom!"
When Zhang Ruochen called out the veiled woman's name, the entire Martial Market Arena erupted. Everyone showed expressions of disbelief and exclaimed in shock.
As everyone knew, the Martial Market Bank and the Black Market were sworn enemies. No one knew how many years of open and secret strife there had been, with deep-seated grievances. Who would have thought that a Star Envoy from the Black Market First Class Hall would dare to venture alone into the territory of the Martial Market Bank?