518: Decisive Moment

"Dodge? Where can you even dodge to?" Qiu Wudi, having missed his attack, pursued him.

Chen Yao ignored him, not dodging, but merely widening the distance a bit more. Then he summoned his Puppet. This situation was not good; he had to break the deadlock and make up for the missing bit of power. The only way he could think of was to convert the Puppet's power.

Before Qiu Wudi could catch up, Chen Yao quickly adjusted his position, placing the Puppet in front of him. From behind, he unleashed a full-powered Saber Qi, concentrating all his strength into this single strike. The Saber Qi hit the Puppet in front, and the Puppet activated, converting the power within into icy cold energy.

Immediately, a ice-blue icy Saber Qi pierced through the Puppet and struck towards the pursuing Qiu Wudi.

"Hmm?"

"A Divine Artifact?"

"Is it useful? What difference does it make to the outcome if you have one more Divine Artifact and I have one more Divine Artifact?"

Qiu Wudi ignored it and continued forward, his sword tearing through the air, clashing with the Saber Qi. The moment they met, he pressed down with great force.

"It's time to end this."

However, as soon as he finished speaking, the Saber Qi instantly exploded, transforming into a sheet of ice that froze the entire space.

Qiu Wudi, caught off guard, took the full brunt of it. Even his entire Giant Phantom was frozen. He was stunned for a moment but didn't panic; he even felt like laughing: "Just a futile struggle, a dying gasp. I told you, you can't escape."

He thought Chen Yao was trying to slow down his pursuit, hoping to use the opportunity to flee.

But Chen Yao had never even considered running. Why would he need to run?

Freezing the Giant Phantom provided a brief respite. Chen Yao knew it wouldn't hold him for long, but it was enough. He gathered his strength again and unleashed another Saber Qi. In the same manner, the Saber Qi pierced through the Puppet, but this time the Puppet converted it into lava power. A fiery red Saber Qi shot out, instantly raising the temperature to an extremely high level, scorching and melting the space itself. "Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle" sounds constantly rang out, and hot steam billowed.

The icy power was slightly weaker than the lava power. After all, one was a Divine Artifact, while the other was power converted from a super divine artifact. Chen Yao's icy power was only meant for control. He had used his full strength for both of these Saber Qi attacks, consuming a great deal of Qi, also to mislead Qiu Wudi, and only this way could he achieve the control effect.

After one breath, Qiu Wudi broke free from the ice and immediately felt an intense, super-high temperature. It was uncomfortably hot, and he frowned instantly: "What are these things? Where does this power come from?"

Seeing the fiery Saber Qi charging at him, Qiu Wudi immediately grew furious. Wasn't he the one pursuing? Why did it feel like he was being pursued instead? How dare you fight back?

The honor of the Academy, the suppressed frustration, coupled with his recent satisfying outburst—all these feelings converged. Qiu Wudi instantly lost himself, ignoring the faint unease emanating from the scorching Saber Qi. He swung his sharp sword, confronting the lava-covered Saber Qi with pure Divine Power.

The next instant, impact, dissolution, explosion—the entire process unfolded almost simultaneously.

With a series of explosions, the scorching Saber Qi erupted like flowing lava, with fiery tongues spewing everywhere, staining that entire area red. The high temperature melted everything, soaring into the sky, turning the sky above into a fiery red expanse.

The converted lava power possessed destructive properties, like an unquenchable fire, adhering to and scorching the Giant Phantom. Qiu Wudi tried his best to dissipate it, but he still couldn't do anything about these flames. He could only watch as they burned, watching the Giant Phantom's arms, then its legs, and finally its large head being burned away and melted.

The scorching pain suffered by the Giant Phantom was simultaneously transmitted to Qiu Wudi. Even a Super God Child found it difficult to endure this pain, grunting repeatedly.

Qiu Wudi clenched his fists even tighter, gritting his teeth, enduring the scorching pain to dissipate it. At this moment, he felt some regret. Why did he have to take this blow head-on? Why was he so reckless? He clearly had victory in his grasp. If he had avoided this desperate strike, he could have completely worn Chen Yao down. All his frustrations would have been resolved.

To suffer such heavy damage now was truly uncalled for.

"However, you must not feel good after using those two Saber Qi attacks either. Your internal Divine Power must be almost depleted, right?" Qiu Wudi said. He was enveloped in smoke and dust, unable to see the situation ahead, but from the power of those two Saber Qi attacks, it wasn't hard to deduce that Chen Yao must have exerted great force. As long as he could endure, the Divine Power he had left would definitely be much more than his opponent's. Small mistakes didn't matter; there was still room for error.

However, when the flames ignited by the lava continued to burn and grow stronger, with no sign of extinguishing, Qiu Wudi began to panic a little.

On the other side, outside the smoke and dust, Chen Yao was also panting heavily. Just as Qiu Wudi had anticipated, those two Saber Qi attacks he unleashed indeed consumed most of his Divine Power, bringing it close to depletion. All his hopes were placed on these two Saber Qi attacks. The converted elemental power was enough to bridge the slight gap between him and Qiu Wudi, and the attack power of the lava power even surpassed the opponent's.

This strike might not kill the opponent, but it could completely turn the tide of the situation. Chen Yao had wanted to laugh when he saw Qiu Wudi trying to take the lava Saber Qi head-on. It was really hard to hold back. He was still too young. Hiding and Cultivating diligently in the Academy was indeed impressive, but without the baptism of life and death, he ultimately lacked an invincible aspect.

The two were fiercely fighting in the Spirit Realm, locked in an intense battle, while outside the Spirit Realm, the hearts of countless Cultivators across the continent were captivated by them.

At the center of the continent, there were cheers and silences alternately, the noise never stopped, and sounds of shock and awe were endless. The most frequently heard phrase was: "What?!"

At the start of the battle, Chen Yao gained the upper hand, astonishing countless people, but it was also clear that Qiu Wudi had underestimated him and was careless. Subsequently, this slight disadvantage was infinitely magnified by Chen Yao, who steadily maintained the upper hand. Just as it seemed the battle was about to end, Qiu Wudi recovered.

That Divine Power extraction technique was truly brilliant, causing countless people to exclaim in awe, praising its awesomeness. Even people from the Academy, including the Academy Elders, showed expressions of surprise. Did even they not know that there was such a Divine Power extraction technique within the Academy? It showed how deeply the Old Dean had hidden it, and how much he favored Qiu Wudi, to have even taught him such a technique.

Soon, more and more people realized that it wasn't a technique, but a special method that even evaded the Spirit Realm's rules of tracking. They immediately guessed that this must be a life-saving technique given to Qiu Wudi by the Old Dean.

Then, when Chen Yao was pursued, everyone's expressions changed. They were all astonished. Could this really be a reversal? With such a huge advantage.

But upon closer thought, Qiu Wudi's trick of 'recovering' made any advantage useless. This was tantamount to cheating. Subsequently, they sighed with emotion, truly worthy of the Academy, the foundation of a Great Power, something they could not imagine.

Finally, it was now. Seeing Qiu Wudi, who had victory in his grasp, take those two Saber Qi attacks head-on, all his advantages were again completely lost. This made everyone's expressions turn strange. Was Qiu Wudi too arrogant, or did Chen Yao calculate too brilliantly?

At this moment, everyone looked up at the image in the projection above, their attention completely focused on that cloud of smoke and dust. The center of the continent was unusually quiet at this moment, with only the sound of rapid breathing. Everyone was waiting for the outcome within the Spirit Realm, even the three major figures were the same, their emotions swayed by the result of the battle inside.