The silver long saber in the sky suddenly vibrated, and the saber instantly split into three. One long saber continued to entangle with the white flying sword, while the other two rapidly slashed towards Zhang Zhengyan himself.
Zhang Zhengyan’s expression changed slightly. With a flip of his hand, he cast a golden spirit talisman, which instantly transformed into a golden giant phantom that enveloped him.
Under his divine sense's command, the giant phantom extended its palms and struck the two silver long sabers head-on.
*Bang!* *Bang!*
After two loud noises, the two silver long sabers were shattered in mid-air by the giant phantom’s palms. They were revealed to be avatars of the artifact itself.
"Not good, Zhang Zhengyan fell for it!"
A cry of alarm erupted from the spectators of Qingfeng Villa. The Nascent Soul stage disciples’ faces had already changed, feeling that this match was going to be lost.
However, the Tribulation Stage disciples remained composed, and none showed any unease.
Some with keen eyes even revealed disdainful smiles.
Yang Hong glanced at the cultivators of the "Boundless Buddha Dharma Alliance" and noticed that the high-ranking Buddhist cultivators there had relatively calm expressions, as if Shi Yu successfully luring out Zhang Zhengyan’s precious fifth-grade spirit talisman was expected.
Yet, their faces showed no joy, seemingly indifferent to the subsequent battle.
"The reactions of these people..."
Yang Hong's heart sank, worrying about how Zhang Zhengyan might handle this. He then looked back at the battlefield.
As the golden giant phantom outside Zhang Zhengyan shattered the incoming attacks, it retracted its palms and resumed a defensive stance.
At the same time, Zhang Zhengyan himself sat cross-legged in mid-air, closed his eyes, and rapidly formed seals, casting some secret technique.
Shi Yu, on the other side, saw this. The smile that had appeared due to luring out the opponent's fifth-grade spirit talisman froze instantly, and his eyes turned sharp.
Although he didn't know what secret technique Zhang Zhengyan was preparing, his intuition and experience told him that he absolutely could not allow the enemy to safely cast such a time-consuming secret technique on the battlefield.
A cold glint flashed in his eyes. He immediately raised his hand and took out a red bead, about the size of a fist, hurling it towards Zhang Zhengyan.
*Rumble!*
Before the red bead could approach Zhang Zhengyan, it was blown up by a punch from the golden giant phantom outside him. The terrifying explosion of fire light engulfed half the battlefield.
This power even made Yang Hong's face change. He glared at Monk Tongyuan and said, "Bald donkey, you're breaking the rules! You're even using a fifth-grade Fire Thunder Bead. Its power surpasses that of a sixth-grade mid-grade magical artifact!"
"Heh heh~ Benefactor, this is still a fifth-grade magical artifact, just a disposable one, but with greater power."
After all, the red bead sealed a fire-attribute divine thunder, equivalent to a mid-stage Tribulation Stage cultivator personally making a move.
"So disposable artifacts can be used too?"
"Naturally."
"Good! Bald donkey, don't regret this!"
Hearing Yang Hong's threat, Tongyuan's heart tightened, and he quickly added, "At most one can be used!"
*Rumble...*
The sound of explosions from the battlefield instantly turned Tongyuan's face red.
"Ahem~ Two pieces, at most two pieces."
Yang Hong said with a sneer, "Heh heh~ Not even two are needed. One is enough."
With that, he calmly looked towards the battlefield.
Surprisingly, when the explosion subsided, Zhang Zhengyan was still in his seated posture, not even a single strand of his hair out of place.
"What kind of talisman is this? What talisman did he just use?"
"Oh~ A Buddhist spirit talisman, the Immovable Vajra Talisman. I just improved it a little."
"You~ You~"
Tongyuan was somewhat angered. Using a Buddhist spirit talisman against a Buddhist, and the image of the golden giant was not of the Buddha, but of Yang Hong.
This was blasphemy against the Buddha.
What angered Tongyuan more was the image of the golden giant.
Yang Hong feigned ignorance and added, "I'm not gifted in talismans, so I didn't improve it well. This Vajra Talisman can only resist attacks below the sixth-grade."
"Hmph~"
Tongyuan snorted and fell silent, mentally calculating what trump cards he should prepare for the next match.
On the battlefield, Shi Yu clearly hadn't expected this. Seeing that his strongest attack couldn't harm the enemy in the slightest, panic appeared on his face.
He knew without thinking that Zhang Zhengyan had used some special treasure to withstand his attack without budging. Once the secret technique he was preparing was unleashed, it would undoubtedly be a world-shattering blow.
"I must interrupt his spellcasting!"
A flash of fear crossed Shi Yu's face. He gritted his teeth and immediately took out five fifth-grade attack spirit talismans, activating them. They transformed into a string of large, blue thunderballs and blasted towards Zhang Zhengyan.
He was ruthless, directly using five rare mid-grade fifth-grade thunder talismans.
But just then, Zhang Zhengyan, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, suddenly formed his hands into a sword-finger and pointed at the white flying sword, letting out a low roar:
"Slash!"
As the word "Slash" fell, the white flying sword suddenly vanished from its spot. When it reappeared, it was hundreds of feet behind Shi Yu.
"Void-Breaking Slash! It's the secret sword technique of the Deyuan Sect, Void-Breaking Slash!"
"I never expected Zhang Zhengyan to be such a genius! He's only at the Nascent Soul stage yet has mastered this secret technique that even Tribulation Stage cultivators might not be able to wield!"
Exclamations erupted. Patriarch Chaoyang, who had lived in the Yuruo Plain cultivation world for over ten thousand years, naturally recognized the origin of Zhang Zhengyan's sword strike and couldn't help but exclaim.
"Tribulation Stage secret technique?"
Monk Tongyuan also exclaimed. Using spells across cultivation levels was not just talk; it required not only talent but also comprehension. Such cultivators were rare in the entire Taiyuan cultivation world.
As more surrounding cultivators gasped, Shi Yu's four limbs were suddenly severed and flew off his body. A white flying sword was lodged in his Dantian, and terrifying sword qi was constantly erupting from it.
"Disperse!"
Shi Yu was decisive enough. He directly abandoned his physical body, and his Nascent Soul flew out of the formation barrier before the sword qi could shred it.
"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"
Seeing Shi Yu's Nascent Soul escape, Zhang Zhengyan ignored Shi Yu's physical body and released three more flying swords, pursuing the Nascent Soul.
Unfortunately, the Nascent Soul's escape speed was even faster than the flying swords. In the end, Zhang Zhengyan's flying swords could not intercept Shi Yu's flying sword before it rushed out of the formation barrier.
Outside the formation barrier, the three flying swords were stopped by the Buddhist referee with a spell.
"Nascent Soul battle, first round, Qingfeng Villa's Zhang Zhengyan wins!"
The referee announced this with a hint of gritted teeth.
Shi Yu was his disciple!
In any other circumstance, he would have immediately pulverized Zhang Zhengyan into ashes!
For now, he had to suppress his anger, return Zhang Zhengyan's three flying swords, retrieve Shi Yu's broken body, and do his best to clear the sword qi from the Void-Breaking Slash.
Ke Jiemei stood beside Zhang Zhengyan, escorting him back to the Qingfeng Villa disciple area. Then, she returned to the formation barrier and shouted:
"Nascent Soul battle, second round, Qingfeng Villa's Wu Luan..."