The Quest for Immortality Chapter 2250: Collapse! (3)

They might not grasp the intricacies of the Reversed Spirit Formation or the Life-gate, but the reality unfolding before their eyes is undeniable.

Mo Hua orchestrated a devastating Formation blast, wiping out the vast array of Heavenly Talents indiscriminately, leaving him as the lone survivor.

This signifies that Mo Hua stands as the victor of the Asura Battle.

He is the ultimate champion of the final confrontation within the Earthly Sword Debate!

The entire Taixu Gate sat in stunned silence.

The Sect Leader of the Three Mountains tremored with such intensity that his hands shook, leaving him utterly speechless in the face of such overwhelming shock.

First place!

Not merely the top among the Eight Great Gates.

Though the final tallies remain uncalculated, Mo Hua claiming the peak of the Asura Battle and accumulating such a mountain of victory points suggests, by all accounts, that the Taixu Gate is destined to be...

The leader of the Four Great Sects! The pinnacle of the Qianxue Debate!

This outcome was something they previously dared not even contemplate.

Confronted with this reality, the Sect Leader of the Three Mountains felt a suffocating pressure in his chest, nearly unable to draw breath.

The summit of Qianxue!

Within the Qianxue State Boundary, a realm teeming with elite Heavenly Talents and prestigious clans, this is the ultimate ambition that countless Sects, Sect Leaders, Elders, and disciples chase for a lifetime, only to fall short.

Even if it currently denotes only the first place in the Earthly Sword Debate.

Provided they commit themselves fully to the Heavenly Sword Debate ahead, maintaining this top rank remains a genuine possibility.

Even should they slip from the lead, they must at minimum secure their place among the Four Great Sects.

Once they cement a position within the Four Great Sects, they can remain in contention for first place.

The sheer ecstasy born of such unexpected acclaim threatened to destabilize the Daoist hearts of the three Sect Leaders, despite their centuries of cultivation.

Yet, they soon regained their composure, their brows furrowing in deep thought.

In their surge of joy, they had been momentarily blinded, but now, a chilling realization dawned upon them.

Is the Sword Debate... truly over?

Had Mo Hua truly been the last one standing, he would have secured the crown, and the Asura Battle would have concluded.

Since the conflict persists, it suggests that... Mo Hua is not the sole survivor.

As the initial euphoria evaporated, the Sect Leader of the Three Mountains felt a cold dread permeate his soul.

Within the observant crowd, others began to voice the same suspicion.

"Others have survived?"

The frantic chatter ebbed, replaced by the unified, intense gaze of the spectators directed toward the arena.

As the suffocating smoke and debris stirred by the reversed spiritual energy began to thin, visibility improved significantly.

Amidst the desolate expanse of ash and jagged mountain debris, several distinct figures slowly rose to prominence...

Shen Linsu appeared with an ashen face, the golden dragon marks upon his form shattered. Duanmu Qing stood pale, her protective Jade Pendant reduced to fragments, her inner Qi exhausted, and the defensive Taoist Armor of Myriad Clouds utterly dissipated. Xiao Wuchen glared with savage intensity, his innate sword scars broken, the Heavenly Sword held in his grip flickering with dying light. Ao Zhan, scarred by burns and his Battle Armor pulverized, revealed a frame of steel-hard bone, his back marked by bloodied, raw Dragon Cauldron Refining Body Patterns.

The Qianxue Four Talents had all endured.

And, separated by the ruin, another individual stood with great effort, gravely wounded and faint of breath, yet still cloaked in a lingering Sword Qi that signaled he was far from defeated.

It was Ye Qingfeng, the Big Senior Brother of the Daluo Sect.

A total of five survivors emerged from that catastrophic detonation.

The revelation rippled through the spectators, inciting a fresh wave of uproar.

"The Qianxue Four Talents have survived!"

"Even Ye Qingfeng of the Daluo Sect remains!"

"To survive such an ordeal is beyond belief..."

"Mo Hua walked away unscathed by utilizing his mastery of formations. These others, however, survived by brute-forcing their way through that lethal shockwave..."

"Truly worthy of being the preeminent Heavenly Talents of the Qianxue State Boundary!"

"Their cultivation is profound indeed, their Taoist Skills extraordinary, rarely seen in this world..."

"The balance of the situation has shifted once again."

The witnesses were awestruck, lavishing the survivors with unrestrained praise.

Conversely, the members of the Taixu Gate felt as if submerged in an icy abyss, their morale shattered.

Within the gathering, figures like Zhang Lan, Gu Changhuai, Wenren Wan, Murong Caiyun, and Hua Qianqian heaved sighs of deep regret.

Perched upon the Sword Observation Tower, the Sect Leader of the Three Mountains let out a bitter, weary sigh:

"Such is... destiny..."

"Those blessed with Bloodline Talents, these top elites, possess strengths that defy measure."

"And those Four Great Sects, they loom like massive mountains, simply impossible to bypass..."

"Reaching this point in the Sword Debate is already our absolute extremity. If we still cannot prevail, then it truly is..."

"Determined by heaven, beyond the reach of human effort..."

A melancholic gloom enveloped the three Sect Leaders.

Inside the Dongxu Hall.

The Old Ancestors of the Shen, Duanmu, Ao, and Xiao Families, alongside the Daluo Sect, felt a hidden weight lift from their chests.

They had come dangerously close to a humiliating disaster.

This Old Ancestor Xun from the Taixu Gate is certainly no simple adversary.

That boy Mo Hua from the Taixu Gate is a genuine Evil Monster.

To think he single-handedly pushed the pride of their Four Great Sects to such a desperate brink—it left the Old Ancestors deeply unsettled...

Happily, the heavens continued to smile upon the Four Great Sects.

The Old Ancestor of the Daluo Sect cast a cold glance at Elder Master Xun and sneered:

"Formations, ultimately, are external trifles, lacking in reliability."

"In the Sword Discussion Conference, sheer personal strength dictates the truth."

"Cultivation, Body Techniques, Spells, and Swordsmanship constitute the authentic skills a cultivator utilizes for combat; they are the bedrock of one’s standing, the true essence of the Sword Discussion."

"Your Taixu Gate has strayed into erroneous practices. You stand in a sword debate, yet your disciples cannot even wield a blade, propping themselves up entirely on formations—what an utter embarrassment..."

Elder Master Xun absorbed the stinging insult in silence, his gaze dark and unfathomable, lost in distant contemplation.

...

Within the arena of the Sword Debate.

Though Shen Linsu and his peers clung to life, they were clearly hanging by a thread, their faces ghastly.

Without exception, they directed venomous, murderous intent toward Mo Hua.

Mo Hua stood alone as the only cultivator to drive them, the prized Heavenly Talents, to such a pathetic state.

The residual power of that formation explosion remained etched into their minds, a source of lingering terror.

Were it not for the frantic warnings of their bloodlines and their superior defensive Taoist relics, they would have perished.

If not for the fifty-plus Heavenly Talents who served as meat shields, diluting the formation’s unleashed violence, the blast would have surely claimed them all.

Now, the arena lay in total desolation, its geography reduced to ruins, devoid of life.

Mo Hua had no formations left to deploy.

A Formation Master shorn of his formations is stripped of his relevance.

He was now utterly impotent and marked for death!

Shen Linsu raised his blade against Mo Hua, Xiao Wuchen concentrated his Sword Qi, Duanmu Qing wove complex spell hand seals, Ao Zhan ignited his Dragon Cauldron Strength, and Ye Qingfeng summoned his Unity Sword.

The five premier Heavenly Talents united, zeroing in on Mo Hua with their most lethal strikes.

The crowd watching from the outside was transfixed by the escalating tension.

These were the five most potent talents of the Qianxue State Boundary, launching a five-against-one onslaught.

Across all the Four Sects and Eight Gates, perhaps only Mo Hua could warrant such a concentrated assault.

Facing the combined fury of these five elite disciples as they unleashed their finishing moves, Mo Hua remained chillingly serene.

He murmured faintly:

"You five were all aboard that ship, were you not?"

The question struck with the force of thunder from a cloudless sky, cutting through the tension with jarring precision.

No one dared to answer.

Yet, the visages of Shen Linsu and his counterparts shifted instantly.

Their expressions hardened into masks of icy fury and raw, exposed bloodlust.

A desperate urge to tear Mo Hua limb from limb flared in their eyes.

Mo Hua emitted a soft, resigned sigh.

He had surmised that the elusive "young master" was hiding among these five participants.

In the end, exactly which individual was the young master no longer mattered; the outcome remained unchanged.

Mo Hua slowly stood to his full height.

While seated, he had been the inscrutable Formation Master, a puppeteer of fate who dismantled great foes with the flick of a wrist—his formations akin to malevolent shadows. But upon rising, his temperament underwent a violent metamorphosis; his eyes sharpened into blades, his demeanor turned glacial, and he stood like a long-dormant sword suddenly unsheathed. He scanned the area with an authority that felt like an Azure Dragon surveying his domain.

Mo Hua spoke with a cold, absolute disdain:

"I possess but one sword. Once it is unsheathed, you shall all meet your end."