Chapter 93: Chapter 86: Extreme Realm
The sound of trickling streams transformed into the sound of river water flowing.
Zhou Leng continued.
After a while, the sound of the river flowing transformed into the sound of the Yangtze River roaring.
One year, two years...
Zhou Leng was completely unaware.
In the end, the Yangtze River changed again, turning into the sound of river tides.
At first, coming faintly from a distance, finally roaring like thunder, rumbling endlessly.
Zhou Leng used all his strength to send out a palm strike.
Boom...
Zhou Leng’s entire body suddenly exploded, and unexpectedly, a great river appeared on the beach.
One end of the great river flowed into the sea, and the other stretched across thousands of miles, disappearing among the mountains and clouds.
The river divides the long land, the water connects west and east.
Under the great river, deep within the river water, Zhou Leng continued to use the Great River Entering the Sea technique.
The entire great river seemed to be propelled by Zhou Leng’s moves, the river water flowed faster and faster, rushing into the vast ocean.
Great River from Kunlun, grandly entering the sea.
Zhou Leng sent out palm strike after palm strike, and the great river slowly widened.
One year, two years, three years...
After a long time, Zhou Leng stopped, took a deep breath, and pushed forward the simplest, most direct, clumsy but most solid and ancient move of his life.
The sixth style of the Overlapping Waves Palm, Great River Entering the Sea.
Rumble...
The Yangtze River, from beginning to end, exploded simultaneously, white waves hanging in the sky, resembling a dragon’s spine.
Waves overlap for ten thousand miles, Qi suffusing three thousand layers.
Boom!
The rivers and seas shattered, the world in front of Zhou Leng’s eyes twisted again.
Upon opening his eyes, he was back in his original seated position.
The light around him disappeared.
The Book of Spirituality floated in front.
"Congratulations, child, for passing the third test."
"As the first person to pass the third test, you will receive..."
A square, broken stone wall suddenly appeared in Zhou Leng’s mind.
The stone wall stood in the void, about ten thousand feet in length and width, square and gray-white in color.
On it, black lines outlined rough waves.
Such a large stone wall, apart from the black wave lines, had nothing else.
Zhou Leng looked towards the edge and vaguely felt that the stone wall was not complete, seemed to be part of a larger stone wall, perhaps just a small piece.
Zhou Leng stared at the stone wall, thought, and used the Unity Technique, focusing on the top left corner of the lines to observe and ponder carefully.
Slowly, those lines gradually changed, transforming into sea waves.
Those sea waves constantly changed shape.
After a long time, the shape of the waves changed again.
Sometimes transforming into a shape of True Qi flowing, sometimes resembling an arm, sometimes appearing as legs.
Without a fixed form, without fixed momentum, flowing freely, unpredictable.
Zhou Leng watched quietly, remembered quietly.
Unknown how much time passed, the Mystic Tide True Qi within suddenly moved automatically.
Zhou Leng focused mentally, sensing the Mystic Tide True Qi.
The Mystic Tide True Qi unexpectedly opened up a new path, a new cycle.
The Mystic Tide True Qi circulated smoothly along the path, ultimately forming a new fixed cycle path.
After nine cycles, Zhou Leng felt clearly that his True Qi was like a great tide, slowly rising.
The True Qi had already achieved perfection, and now it was rapidly strengthening.
Unknown how long passed, the True Qi exceeded perfection, reaching a legendary realm, its quantity directly doubling.
Above perfection.
Such a realm, not without existence, but very few have reached it, thus not recognized as an official standard realm, only circulating among a few people and online.
Zhou Leng had heard of it, called the "Extreme Realm."
A realm only super geniuses could achieve.
Zhou Leng sensed the new Mystic Tide True Qi, realizing that this was no longer Mystic Tide True Qi but a completely new inner power.
"What is this cultivation technique?"
"Since it’s in pictorial form, let’s call it Sea Suppression Map."
Zhou Leng carefully recalled the entire process, more certain of the purpose behind this test.
Zhou Leng completed his cultivation, stood up, and surveyed his surroundings.
Around the Book of Spirituality, hundreds of light columns appeared, no one was paying attention to him.
Zhou Leng removed his mask and bandages.
Went to a secluded place and began practicing the Overlapping Waves Palm.
Three slow sets, three fast sets.
After finishing, Zhou Leng let out a long breath.
The Overlapping Waves Palm Technique perfected.
Zhou Leng sensed the Sea Suppressing True Qi, its quantity more than twice the original Mystic Tide True Qi.
The intensity of the True Qi increased accordingly.
The layered and returning tide characteristics of Mystic Tide True Qi remained.
Zhou Leng took another careful look at the people within those light columns.
Most were from the Human Race, with some Demons, Steel Dwarves, Giants, and Demon Spirit Masters.
Zhou Leng looked at the Giants, with rough blue skin, a square head slightly different from humans, not the Mountain and River Origin seen that day.
Among those Demon Spirit Masters, he saw one he had seen before.
Last time entering Shuizhou Demon City, the young person who felt the strongest in power.
As for the Dwarf, it was the one mistook by Wei Hong as his grandfather, with short red hair, carrying an iron hammer.
Suddenly, Zhou Leng looked into the distance, where numerous Demons surrounded some humans.
At the edge of the light aperture, many humans stood within the circle, hesitating to advance.
Zhou Leng originally wanted to try out the Sea Suppressing True Qi and the perfected Overlapping Waves Palm, so he strode forward.
Along the way, many people stayed inside the aperture and did not go out, including demons.
As he got closer, he saw that those surrounded by hundreds of demons included not only his fellow Martial Arts Hall student, Lu Juncai, but also his long-time schoolmate Rao Mingxian, and even some individuals from the East China Martial Arts Academy he had previously rescued. However, the leader was not present.
Zhou Leng did not act rashly and observed the situation.
Within the encirclement, Lu Juncai fought with all his might, his gaze sweeping past the aperture to suddenly catch sight of a familiar face.
Zhou Leng.
He was about to shout when he saw Zhou Leng remain unmoved, sighing internally.
With hundreds of demons surrounding them, even if it were himself, he might not dare to offer help.
Rao Mingxian also saw Zhou Leng, glanced over, and then continued fighting on his own.
The two were barely acquaintances with a shallow relationship, and Rao Mingxian held no expectations.
A person from the East China Martial Arts Academy realized that their rescuer was present, saying, "Ji Changnian is also here; it seems he doesn’t intend to help."
"There’s nothing we can do; there are too many demon people. Going in would be tantamount to suicide."
"It’s a pity Senior Tian Chengchang and his friends left, or we might have had a chance to break through the encirclement."
Suddenly, a classmate screamed miserably.
Everyone looked over, seeing a student being grabbed by a demon and dragged into the mass of demons.
Then came sounds of struggle, tearing, and chewing.
"Kill!" Everyone grew even more enraged.
Zhou Leng observed carefully and found, in a spot away from the aperture, a demon with two clusters of candles standing on its shoulders, white skin, and no face except for two candles, with candle flames as eyes.
The Candleholder of the Melted Candle Legion.
With his extensive demon knowledge, Zhou Leng judged that the Candleholder was likely the leader among this group of demons.
Zhou Leng quietly slipped away from the crowd, circled into the forest, and slowly approached the Candleholder from another direction.
When he was fifty meters away, the Candleholder suddenly turned around, and the candle flames of its eyes suddenly blazed.
It gave a light snort, waved its hand, and the flesh candles on its shoulders flickered, activating mind control.
Ten lower-rank demons, with blood-red eyes, lunged at Zhou Leng.
Zhou Leng suddenly accelerated, stepping into the Flying Crane Technique.
Fifty meters, just two seconds.
Zhou Leng bypassed the ten lower-rank demons and charged toward the Candleholder with lightning speed.
The Candleholder snorted lightly, a calm expression on its face, as its eyes suddenly burst into flames, green light shooting out, enveloping Zhou Leng.
Mental shock.
Every Candleholder is an expert in manipulating spirit and toying with the mind.
The Candleholder proudly raised its head, waiting for this insignificant lower-rank human to clutch their head and wail in agony.
Zhou Leng only felt a curtain of water appear before him, slightly hindering his movement, and then, he directly passed through it.
Stepping into the Eight Trigrams Step, the Rushing Tide, Zhou Leng’s speed surged twofold.
The Candleholder was left dumbfounded and, before it could react, Zhou Leng struck its chest with a palm.
Poof!
Chest exploded, single palm pierced through the body.
The Candleholder’s body stiffened, and the candle flames in its eyes slowly extinguished.
A shocked expression froze on its face.
Nearby demons, intending to attack Zhou Leng, also paused, staring blankly at him, not comprehending how the powerful Candleholder could die just like that.
Zhou Leng withdrew his arm, twisted off the inverted pyramid head, and kicked the body away.
With a flick of his right arm and a spray of True Qi, he shook off the Candleholder’s blood.
Zhou Leng, holding the Candleholder’s head aloft, shouted loudly in crude Demon Language, "The Candleholder is dead. If you dare to persist, you will all be slaughtered! Get out!"
The voice echoed, driven by True Qi.
Most demons, originally controlled or influenced by the Candleholder, fled upon its death.
There were still over a hundred demons frantically attacking.
While avoiding demon pursuit, Zhou Leng shouted to those within the inner circle, "The demons are just over a hundred, fewer than us. If not now, when will we fight!"
"Well said!" a short-haired dwarf, having finished his inheritance, raised his iron hammer and rushed forward.
The surface of the hammer, red like lava, grew bright.
He leaped high, raising the hammer over his head, and landed atop a demon’s head, smashing down forcefully.
Boom!
First, he drove the demon’s head into its chest, then smashed the entire body apart.
Some people in the aperture were inspired and joined the fight.
Zhou Leng took the lead, charging into the demon horde.
Within the demon horde, Zhou Leng swayed like ocean waves, as elusive as an eel.
The demons seemed exceptionally clumsy, never able to land a hit on him.
Zhou Leng, however, seemed to be a demon nemesis, always swiftly finding the demons’ weakness, landing a palm or punch, dealing heavy damage.
Even directly killing them.
Zhou Leng clearly felt that his Sea Suppressing True Qi was not only faster, more abundant, and stronger, but also its overlapping nature had been enhanced.
The same amount of True Qi now had more than double the destructive power it had before.
Three of the most powerful lower-rank demons stared at Zhou Leng.
The lower-rank of demons is equivalent to the blood transporting period of the human race, with humans classifying demons into the early, middle, and late stages according to human standards.
Those three demons, like the Candleholder, had the strength of the lower-rank middle period, but unlike the Candleholder’s strong spirit and frail body, these three demons had particularly robust bodies.
Three lower-rank middle-period demons with hard red skin, horns on their heads, wielding steel forks, were common long-horned demons.
They rushed jointly toward Zhou Leng.
Zhou Leng, only in the early period of blood transporting, did not waste time with the three, stepping into the Eight Trigrams Step, his body like a breeze, focusing only on killing ordinary demons.
More and more people from the aperture charged over, killing more and more demons.
The three long-horned demons, seeing too many humans, led the remnants to retreat, taking some corpses with them.
Everyone chased for a while, returning with high spirits, marking their accomplishments.
"Zhou Leng! Thank you." Rao Mingxian, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, walked over quickly, extending his right hand.
Zhou Leng also extended his hand and shook it.
Rao Mingxian said with gratitude, "Thanks to you, otherwise, I would be dead by now."
"Not necessarily, you would definitely have broken out."
Rao Mingxian’s eyes flickered, "That Candleholder knew I was relatively strong and kept demons on me. I couldn’t escape. No words can express my gratitude. If you need any help in the future, just say the word!"
"We’re classmates, no need to be so polite," Zhou Leng replied.