Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao now stood atop separate elevated platforms.
Each platform stood roughly five or six ters high, spaced dozens of ters apart.
Down below and throughout the surrounding air, threads of divine power rippled out, weaving into countless runes that ford a vast array.
As the array activated, the platforms would cyclically generate extre hazards to threaten both Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao.
Between the two towers stretched a taut Dragon-Binding Chain, each end firmly grasped in their hands.
Ye Lingxiao took a deep breath. Every muscle, every fiber of his body was calibrated to its peak, like a rocket fully fueled and monts from liftoff.
He licked the Dao-Stabilizing Slow-Release Capsule resting in his mouth. The mont the test began, he planned to crush the capsule and swallow it whole.
Staring at Zhang Yu across the distance, Ye Lingxiao’s eyes glowed with fighting intent. He had already made up his mind—he would go all-out the instant the duel began.
From the last two trial rounds, Ye Lingxiao had concluded: Zhang Yu’s physical body now rivaled his own. But due to either a less-honed Dao Heart or insufficient tempering ti, his body control was lacking.
Recalling how Zhang Yu floundered during the Profound Dark Heavywater trial in the last Foundation Establishnt exam, Ye Lingxiao grew even more certain.
“He’s caught up to my level of physical strength, but because he rushed it, his control is still sloppy.”
“That ans my best bet is to unleash everything at the start—capitalize on my superior control to maximize my physical output and end this fast.”
“If I wait, as the environntal hazards wear our bodies down, my advantage in control will shrink.”
He felt the capsule in his mouth and thought, “Thank the heavens I’ve improved over the last three months. My opening strike will crush him.”
Just then, a countdown began to flash midair.
3!
At that mont, Zhang Yu also tensed every muscle. He gripped the Dragon-Binding Chain with ironclad hands.
In his mind, Zhang Yu whispered, “I need to stall.”
“I can’t match him in control. If we brawl head-on, it’s anyone’s ga.”
“I have to rely on the toxic burst from Endless Spring and Autumn ditation. When the ti is right, brute-force him into defeat.”
“Even if Ye Lingxiao has the sa trick, he doesn’t have the High School Saint Body. His toxicity output can’t match mine.”
He could feel the ‘Zen’ rune still absorbing dicinal Toxins. “The longer I stall, the more toxins I absorb, the greater my eventual outburst. If I explode all at once, I’ll overwhelm him with sheer force.” RÂ𝐍ȏBĚ𝙎
“Drag it out as long as I can. Only unleash when I absolutely have to.”
He glanced at the Chain Diagram’s readout of the High School Saint Body, hesitating to switch it to the Martial Saint Embryo.
He chose to keep the High School Saint Body active, relying on its peak Qi Refinent-level digestion and tabolism to absorb even more drug power and build up more poison.
Zhang Yu could feel it: every second he greedily hoarded now would translate to more strength later—and more chance of passing this exam.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the countdown changed.
2!
Ye Lingxiao bit down, shattering the capsule’s shell and swallowing it. The dicinal power surged, sending icy tendrils up to his crown.
Zhang Yu drew a deep breath, his muscles ballooning. In an instant, he transford into a 2.8-ter-tall muscle giant.
1!
Roar!
Zhang Yu roared, every muscle twisting like dynamite charges exploding. He yanked the Dragon-Binding Chain with a thunderous snap.
On the other platform, Ye Lingxiao—still in the mont of capsule activation—froze.
He didn’t react at all. Caught off-guard, he was yanked forward, left with just three ters to the edge.
His mind beca a battleground: one voice urged him to activate the Wish-Granting Bone Structure, another insisted on unleashing Grand Heavenly Dragon Strength.
His body wavered—swelling, shrinking—his techniques colliding with one another.
Ye Lingxiao panicked: “Did the capsule malfunction? Was the cooldown ti between doses too short?”
The looming edge of the platform radiated danger. The word “failure” pressed down like the weight of a collapsing sky.
“I can’t lose!”
In that instant, mories flooded Ye Lingxiao’s mind.
He rembered his fallen siblings. He rembered the Ye clan’s long-standing family creed:
“All are born unequal. Better to abandon the diocre than waste resources—only the most elite of each generation shall be cultivated.”
That’s what the clan patriarch told him before high school.
“Talent defines a clan mber’s ceiling.”
“And to ensure the birth of truly gifted heirs, the simplest thod is mass production.”
“Lingxiao, rember the gacha gas our company makes? You pull enough cards, you’ll eventually get sothing legendary.”
“Sa with children. The more you produce, the better your odds of a genius. That’s the way of the heavens.”
The patriarch had stroked his head and smiled: “That’s why our Ye clan births over ten thousand children each generation, yet only a few are chosen as true bloodline heirs. Through this, and modern Immortal Dao technology, we refine the perfect bloodline.”
“But I took it further.”
“So heirs may not shine overall, but certain body parts have freakish strengths.”
“So are born with longer arms. So have indestructible hearts. So have nerves of steel… These traits run through your siblings, and all of you share the sa blood.”
Proudly, the patriarch declared, “Lingxiao, your talent was already the best among your ten thousand siblings.”
“That’s why you bear the Ye na.”
“But after rging the strongest traits of your brothers and sisters, you’ve beco the ultimate evolution of our clan.”
“You must cooperate. Move as one. Understood?”
Back on the platform—
At the brink of defeat, as Zhang Yu yanked him closer to the edge, sothing awakened in Ye Lingxiao.
Perhaps it was fear. Perhaps pressure. But those clashing thoughts in his mind suddenly unified.
Across the way, Zhang Yu felt the shift.
“What’s going on with him?”
“Am I about to win—just like that?”
He almost triggered Endless Spring and Autumn ditation to crush Ye Lingxiao on the spot.
But the montary lapse didn’t last.
Boom!
Ye Lingxiao stomped, muscles surging. Dragon-scale-like fibers erupted along his body. He had activated both Wish-Granting Bone Structure and Grand Heavenly Dragon Strength in tandem.
Then he fired off technique after technique—activating Endless Spring and Autumn ditation’s toxic burst, expanding his fascia with Elephant-Demon Muscle-Binding Form…
In a blink, Ye Lingxiao stabilized himself right at the platform’s edge.
Snap!
The Dragon-Binding Chain stretched taut, crackling in midair.
Inside his mind, the two voices rged into a singular fury:
“We are the elite!”
“We can’t lose!”
“To lose would disgrace our perfect bloodline. How would we market the new tech then?”
“Do you know how much we’d lose in stock value?”
“And without money, how would we afford college? Compete with the rich?”
“If we lose money—he dies!”
Driven by unified will, Ye Lingxiao felt like two selves co-piloted his body. As he unleashed one technique after another, his power skyrocketed.
For the first ti, Ye Lingxiao’s strength surpassed Zhang Yu’s.
Bang!
With one step back, he yanked Zhang Yu forward by a step.
Zhang Yu staggered closer to the edge, step by step, until…
The air turned hot.
The divine array shifted—high-temperature mode activated.
The air scorched their lungs. Their skin burned.
Both imdiately stopped breathing.
Zhang Yu switched to the low-temperature mode of Cold-Fla Dual-Temper Body Technique.
Ye Lingxiao wrapped himself in a keratinous shell with a defensive technique to block the heat.
Only after stabilizing again did Ye Lingxiao grit his teeth and pull—dragging Zhang Yu forward another two steps. Just five steps now separated Zhang Yu from defeat.
But then the array shifted again.
The heat vanished. Gravity warped.
It felt like mountains crashed down on their shoulders. Their organs scread.
Both had to activate internal techniques to reinforce their guts.
After adapting slightly, Ye Lingxiao tugged once more—pulling Zhang Yu two steps forward. Three steps from the edge now.
Then—another shift. High-pressure mode.
The air thickened like they’d plunged miles beneath the sea.
The sudden compression crushed their bodies. Blood poured from their ears, noses, and eyes.
They frantically adjusted their inner pressure to survive.
Even so, Ye Lingxiao pulled again—dragging Zhang Yu two more steps. Only one remained.
“I can’t wait any longer.”
Zhang Yu focused on the Chain Diagram, taking two seconds to switch from High School Saint Body to Martial Saint Embryo.
The mont the switch completed, a surge of regenerative power filled him. The crushing pressure no longer seed so terrifying.
But in that brief two-second window, the environnt shifted again.
The pressure faded—replaced by waves of acidic mist.
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