104: Chapter 104 I refuse to accept this!

Half an hour later.

Passing through the inter-planetary teleportation array again, Su Yu's figure reappeared in the freshman residential area of Planet Five.

"Having these space teleportation points is truly convenient. It saves the trouble of traversing the starry sky." Su Yu walked out of the central teleportation plaza, muttering softly to himself.

He was in a great mood right now, his mind filled with thoughts of hurrying back to his villa to perform the blood-drop ownership ritual and thoroughly bind that companion divine weapon.

However, just as he had stepped off the stairs of the teleportation building and was about to set foot on the tree-lined avenue...

...a tall, young figure descended from the sky like a meteorite, slamming heavily onto the ground right in front of Su Yu with a "bang," blocking his path.

The immense impact force cracked the hard bluestone floor, creating countless fine spiderweb-like fissures.

The newcomer slightly raised his chin, staring fixedly at Su Yu with a condescending gaze filled with the thrill of revenge, and shouted: "Su Yu! I've finally cornered you!"

"I want to issue a challenge to you!"

The sudden turn of events caused Su Yu's forward steps to pause slightly.

He frowned slightly, his cold, grim eyes sweeping over the arrogant face of the other person.

He quickly filtered through his memories.

After a full three seconds, a flash of realization finally crossed Su Yu's calm face.

"Oh... it's you."

Zhang Zihua.

Su Yu finally remembered.

About a month ago, during the semifinals of the "First-Year Martial King Championship," this guy had been one of the hot favorites to win the title, touted as a once-in-a-century peerless Genius from some high-level star sector.

In the end, on the arena floor, after this guy had blathered on with a bunch of harsh words, Su Yu, who was in a bad mood at the time, hadn't even drawn his blade. He simply gave him a slap, defeated him in one move, and sent him flying outside the arena like a dead dog.

This humiliating history had clearly become an insurmountable Heart Demon in this Genius's heart.

"It seems that after being KO'd by me in one move, you are quite unconvinced," Su Yu said, looking at the other person. His tone was flat, without a hint of fluctuation, as if he were stating an objective fact.

"Shut up!" Hearing the words "KO'd in one move," Zhang Zihua's face instantly turned the color of liver. That was the greatest humiliation he had ever suffered in his life!

"Su Yu! Stop putting on an act here! Back at the championship, everyone was only at the Martial King Realm! You just relied on having a slightly more solid Foundation than me and a stronger Physical Body, catching me off guard!"

Zhang Zihua's eyes were bloodshot as he stepped forward abruptly.

Boom!

A terrifying surge of Qi and blood, far exceeding the limits of a Martial King and truly belonging to the Early Stage of the Martial Emperor Realm, erupted from his body like a volcanic eruption, without any reservation!

The surrounding air emitted sound of explosions under this pressure, unable to bear the weight!

"Open your dog eyes and look clearly!" Zhang Zihua laughed arrogantly: "Just three days ago! I successfully broke through the shackles of the Martial King and ascended to the Martial Emperor Realm one step ahead of you!"

"Everyone here is a top-tier Seed selected from various star sectors! Why should you, Su Yu, be able to suppress me?! I refuse to accept this!" Zhang Zihua pointed his finger arrogantly at Su Yu's nose. "Today, I will wash away my past shame and prove my Dao Heart!"

Logically speaking, as a Martial Emperor who had already made a Breakthrough, Zhang Zihua coming to challenge a Martial King was somewhat suspicious of bullying the weak.

But in the cruel, Gu-rearing-like environment of Aolan Academy, the academy did not forbid such challenges at all.

As long as you were still in the first year and both parties agreed, you could fight in the arena! The strong take all, the weak are eliminated; this was the only Law!

Facing Zhang Zihua's provocation, Su Yu was not angry; he just stood there quietly.

It really was like being handed a pillow just as one felt sleepy.

Ever since his Divine Thought had inexplicably soared to the "Martial Saint level," he had been struggling for the past half month to find a suitable opponent to test his true combat power under his current abnormal stats.

A freshly ascended, newly transformed Divine Thought, overconfident Early Stage Martial Emperor? Isn't this just a perfect living test punching bag?!

"Fine." Su Yu couldn't even be bothered to say any superfluous nonsense, simply spitting out one word crisply and cleanly: "I accept. Let's go to the arena."

Hearing Su Yu agree so readily, Zhang Zihua narrowed his eyes slightly instead.

He clearly hadn't expected that in the face of his genuine Martial Emperor pressure, Su Yu, a Martial King, would show no trace of retreat or fear?

"Putting on a front! Let's see if you can still laugh when you get to the arena!" Zhang Zihua snorted coldly and turned to lead the way.

Combat Arena Area 307.

This kind of Advanced arena, constructed from special memory alloys and star Formations, could be seen everywhere in the academy. It was specifically provided for challenges between students.

Due to the huge commotion from Zhang Zihua's provocation just now, plus the inherent traffic of Su Yu, the "dark horse," within less than five minutes, dozens of students had already gathered around the arena!

"I heard it seems that Zhang Zihua broke through to Martial Emperor a few days ago! He's trying to take revenge on Su Yu across a major Realm!"

"Su Yu is too arrogant! No matter how strong a Martial King is, their Divine Thought cannot compare to a Martial Emperor's! Once a Martial Emperor moves their Divine Thought, the Martial King's movements look like slow motion in their eyes. How can they fight?"

"Yeah, Su Yu is likely going to stumble this time, but being the number one Martial King isn't just empty talk either. Let's see..." The crowd below the stage was whispering.

In the starry sky, the chasm between Realms is an iron Law! Especially for a watershed like the Martial Emperor, where the Divine Thought undergoes a qualitative change!

On the arena, a wild wind howled.

Zhang Zihua stood on the left side of the arena, his whole body wreathed in a thick layer of Qi and blood Protective Aura.

He looked down at Su Yu, who stood opposite him, still without having drawn his blade, his hands empty.

"Su Yu! To thank you for the humiliation you gave me that day, today I will use my strongest move—'Furious Lion Star-Shattering Fist'—to break every bone in your body!"

"Take this!!!" Zhang Zihua roared!

Boom!

The alloy arena beneath his feet was instantly stomped into a large pit.

He transformed into an enraged lion burning with violent Qi and blood, like a heavy cannonball, smashing fiercely toward Su Yu's chest!

Fast! Too fast!

In the eyes of the Martial King Realm students below the stage, Zhang Zihua's speed had completely exceeded the limits of their retinas' capture, leaving only an afterimage and the piercing sound of air being torn apart!

This was the absolute crushing power of Martial Emperor speed and strength!

However, Su Yu, standing in place, watched the furiously rushing Zhang Zihua, and in his deep, cold eyes, not even a ripple was stirred.

"A Martial Emperor's attack, so... that's it?"

Hum—!!!

At the very moment Zhang Zihua threw his punch, Su Yu's terrifying Martial Saint level Divine Thought erupted completely without reservation! It covered the entire arena!

In an instant!

In Su Yu's perceived world, an incredibly unbelievable scene occurred!

Time... had slowed down.

No! It wasn't that time had slowed down! It was that his Martial Saint level thought-processing speed had become fast to an outrageous degree!

Under the shroud of this invincible Divine Thought, like a god looking down upon a Mortal, Zhang Zihua's swift attack, which seemed as fast as lightning in others' eyes, looked as if the 100x slow-motion button had been forcibly pressed in Su Yu's sight!

Slow! Too slow! It was simply like a snail struggling to crawl through a quagmire!

From a god's-eye view, Zhang Zihua's seemingly incomparably powerful and flawless punch was, in Su Yu's eyes at this moment, full of holes to the extreme!

The trajectory of his Qi and blood, the force points of his muscles, were all presented without reservation in Su Yu's perception.

It was like a three-year-old child leaving themselves wide open in front of an adult boxing champion!

This was a dimensionality-reduction strike! This was the absolute crushing of the Divine Thought Realm!

Watching Zhang Zihua's fist, laced with terrifying wind, less than half a foot away from his face, Zhang Zihua's face even showed a hideous look of vengeful pleasure in advance.

"It's over!"

In that split second, faster than a spark from flint!

Su Yu moved.

He just shifted his figure slightly to the right with extreme, extreme ease.

Swish!

With just this seemingly understated, tiny movement, Zhang Zihua's powerful, fatal punch brushed past the tip of Su Yu's nose and hit empty air! It missed completely!

"What?!" The hideous grin on Zhang Zihua's face instantly froze! His pupils suddenly contracted!

He never imagined that his punch, which had gathered all his Martial Emperor Divine Thought lock-on and was fast to the extreme, would be dodged by a Martial King so casually!

Moreover, the timing of the other party's evasion was so precise that it made one's scalp tingle, as if he had anticipated all his movements in advance!

The punch missed, the old force was spent, and the new force had yet to be born. Zhang Zihua's chest was left wide open!