184: Chapter 184 The Provocation from the Neighboring Sect: I Heard You've Gone Mad?
Outside the mountain gate of the Heavenly River Sword Sect, the once peaceful cultivation territory was now stained a fiery red.
"Rumble—" Rolling heat waves accompanied by thunderous war drums swept in from the horizon. Dozens of flaming flying ships spanned the Void Realm, each filled with Cultivators wearing crimson Daoist robes and carrying giant swords on their backs. Their aura was scorching and violent, converging together as if to set half the sky ablaze.
This was the Blazing Fire Sect.
As the neighbor and centuries-old rival of the Heavenly River Sword Sect, the Blazing Fire Sect primarily cultivated fire-attribute Cultivation Techniques, emphasizing "Aggressive as Fire, Explosive as Thunder." In previous years, the two Sects had often fought over spirit mines and Secret Realms.
But today, they came aggressively, not to seize territory, but to—watch the fun.
"Stop!" A thunderous shout came from the leading giant flying ship, which was carved with a flaming mad lion.
A burly man with red hair exploding like a lion's mane stepped out and hovered in mid-air. He was the chief Disciple of the Blazing Fire Sect, Zhu Yan.
Zhu Yan looked down from above, his eyes burning like torches as he scanned the Heavenly River Sword Sect's mountain gate below, a look of undisguised mockery hanging on his lips.
"What? Is the Heavenly River Sword Sect out of people?"
"I heard that Old Ancestor of yours who only knows how to sweep the floor has gone crazy? He won't let you practice swords, but instead leads you to play with mud and fire boilers?"
"Hahaha! I said it, Sword Cultivators are all stubborn; the more they practice, the easier it is to suffer Qi Deviation. It seems the rumors are true, this Heavenly River Sword Sect... is finished!"
The Blazing Fire Sect Disciples behind him also burst into raucous laughter.
"Senior Brother Zhu, look at those few Disciples guarding the gate, what are they wearing? Rain capes? Or burial shrouds?"
"And that hairstyle... pfft hahaha! Were they struck by lightning? Why do they look like hedgehogs with frizzy fur?"
In their field of view, at the mountain gate of the Heavenly River Sword Sect, there really stood a row of... "creatures" with an extremely bizarre aesthetic.
These Tianhe Disciples were dressed in drab, one-piece suits (insulation suits) that emitted a pungent rubber smell, with huge, fluffy afros (sequelae of static electricity) on their heads, and what they held in their hands were not cold, glistening Flying Swords, but...
Some held a thick, pitch-black tube (insulation rod).
Some held a metal disc resembling a pot lid (radar/signal receiver).
Others had coils of black, snake-like whips (high-voltage cables) wrapped around their waists.
How could this look like a Sword Cultivator Sect with an immortal aura?
This was clearly a group of refugees who had just escaped from an explosion site, or miners from some underground sweatshop.
Facing the mockery of the Blazing Fire Sect, the few Tianhe Disciples guarding the gate did not draw their swords to rebuke them as usual. On the contrary, they were very calm. In fact, there was a kind of... pity in their eyes, as if looking at "lab rats."
One of the Disciples pushed up the goggles on his nose, pulled a small notebook from his bosom, and whispered to his companion: "Record: Target appeared. Blazing Fire Sect, fire attribute, estimated number of people: 300. Average energy level response: Foundation Establishment Late Stage. Leader energy level: Golden Core Great Perfection."
"Senior Brother Zhang, this data is not bad." The companion licked his lips, slightly adjusting the angle of the "pot lid" in his hand to aim at Zhu Yan above the Tianhe, "If this is used to test 'electromagnetic wave interference on fire spirit power,' the sample is definitely sufficient."
"Don't rush." The Disciple referred to as Senior Brother Zhang—who was none other than Zhang Yuan, who had just won the "Grand Prize" and wrapped the cables around his waist—calmly waved his hand, "Teacher said, courtesy first, force later. We must demonstrate the quality of 'scientific workers.'"
Thus, under Zhu Yan's incredulous gaze, Zhang Yuan stepped forward, did not draw his sword, but pulled out a... loudspeaker.
"Ahem." Zhang Yuan pressed the switch of the amplification Formation. The static of electric current resonated throughout the mountain gate.
"Hello? Testing, one, two, three." "That... red-haired monster in the sky, yes, you."
Zhang Yuan held up the megaphone, his voice lazy and casual. "This is the Heavenly River Sword Sect 'High-Energy Physics Experimental Base'... oh no, the Heavenly River Sword Sect mountain gate. Ahead is a 'High-Voltage Danger Zone,' entry is prohibited for personnel not wearing insulation suits."
"If you ignore this warning and any accidents involving electric shock, carbonization, or being pierced by unidentified flying objects occur, this Sect will not be held responsible." "I suggest you... go hang out somewhere cool. Don't delay our experiments."
Silence. Deathly silence. The crowd from the Blazing Fire Sect in the sky was stunned.
They had imagined countless types of opening lines. Perhaps "What kind of monster dares to invade our mountain gate," or "Zhu Yan child, cease your arrogance." But they never expected it to be... "High-Voltage Danger Zone"? And "will not be held responsible"? What the hell kind of nonsense is this?
Zhu Yan's face instantly turned the color of pig liver, and the veins on his forehead bulged. As a famous Prodigy for ten thousand miles around, when had he ever been called a "red-haired monster"?
"Presumptuous!" Zhu Yan roared, his voice like a great bell, causing the leaves in front of the mountain gate to rustle down. "A bunch of trash playing god! You dare to be stubborn when death is imminent!"
"Today I want to see if your so-called 'experimental base' can withstand my Blazing Fire Sect's 'Heaven-Burning True Fire'!" "Burn it for me! Burn this broken mountain gate down! Force these freaks out!"
Following Zhu Yan's order, the dozens of Blazing Fire Sect Disciples behind him simultaneously formed hand seals. Boom! Fireballs filled the sky like raindrops, and the air was instantly scorched, twisting and deforming.
"Sigh... didn't listen to advice." Zhang Yuan sighed and shook his head. He did not dodge, nor did he activate the mountain-protecting Formation. He simply turned around and shouted to the back: "Senior Brother Ye, stop debugging. The samples have delivered themselves to our door."
Before the words had even faded, a steady, calm, yet mechanically cold voice slowly emanated from within the mountain gate. "Received." "Data calibration complete." "Target locked." "Cooling System... preheating."
Thud, thud, thud. Heavy footsteps echoed. With every step, the ground seemed to tremble slightly. In the uncertain and suspicious gazes of the Blazing Fire Sect crowd, a figure wrapped tightly from head to toe walked out from the smoke and dust.
The person wore a special silver-gray heavy armor—not ordinary spirit armor, but anti-radiation/anti-electromagnetic armor made of multi-layered tungsten steel alloy. His face was covered by a full-face mask, revealing only a pair of eyes flickering with blue-purple light.
Most eye-catching was the thing on his back. It was not a sword box. It was a... huge, coffin-like metal square cabinet. The cabinet was covered in cooling grilles, occasionally emitting a puff of white steam. Two thick insulation tubes extended from the cabinet, connecting to the weapon in his hand.
That weapon was not a sword either. It was a... two-meter-long, pitch-black iron rod (electromagnetic railgun) composed of two parallel metal rails.
This was the chief Disciple who had just won the bronze prize of the "Tianhe Science Award" and had stayed up all night modifying his equipment—Ye Guyun. At this moment, where was any of the elegance of the former "White-Clothed Sword Immortal" in Ye Guyun? He was now every bit a heavily armed thug who had transmigrated from a cyber Wasteland 4.0.
"Ye Guyun?" Zhu Yan in the sky was stunned for a moment, then burst into even more unbridled laughter. "Hahahaha! Is this your Heavenly River Sword Sect's Senior Brother?" "Ye Guyun, did you go to dig coal? Or did you go to pick up trash?" "Why are you carrying a coffin on your back? Did you know you were going to die today and prepare it for yourself in advance?" "And that fire poker in your hand... tsk tsk tsk, where is your 'Liuguang' sword? Did you pawn it to buy alcohol?"
Zhu Yan laughed until tears almost came out. He had originally considered Ye Guyun his only opponent. Now it seemed the other party was not only finished but also crazy. He had even lost the most basic "Sword exists, person exists" principle of a Sword Cultivator to mess around with these strange iron lumps.
Facing Zhu Yan's mockery, Ye Guyun was not angry. In fact, his eyes did not even flicker. After obtaining the [Electromagnetic Control] entry granted by Li Mo and reading through that "Introduction to Electromagnetic Fields," Ye Guyun's worldview had completely changed. In his eyes, Zhu Yan was no longer a powerful opponent. He was a... high-energy heat source. A mobile, unstable, and flaw-filled plasma.
"Zhu Yan." Ye Guyun's voice came out through the mask, carrying a metallic reverberation. "Have you laughed enough?"
Zhu Yan's laughter stopped, and his eyes turned vicious: "What? Angry from embarrassment? Then draw your sword! Let me see how much weight you, a piece of trash, still have!"
"Draw my sword?" Ye Guyun shook his head slightly. "The sword is a backward energy transmission carrier." "It relies on the Cultivator's Divine Sense guidance, not only having high latency but also low kinetic energy conversion rates." "True power does not need to be 'drawn'." "It only needs... 'charging'."
Ye Guyun slowly raised the "railgun" in his hand, aiming at Zhu Yan in the sky. "As for the spirituality you mentioned..." "Sorry, within my range, spirituality... is just a joke."
Hum— As Ye Guyun's words fell, the "coffin" (high-energy battery pack) on his back suddenly lit up with a blinding blue light. The cooling grilles suddenly spewed out a plume of scorching steam, emitting a roar like the breathing of a giant beast.
Zzzzz—! Countless purple electric arcs leaped around his body, surging along the conduits into the launcher in his hand. The two parallel tungsten steel rails were instantly lit up, and the air between them began to twist and ionize due to extreme electromagnetic compression, forming a dazzling ball of light. A scalp-numbing aura of destruction instantly locked onto Zhu Yan in the sky.
Zhu Yan's laughter came to an abrupt halt. His intuition as a Golden Core Great Perfection Cultivator was ringing alarm bells like crazy. What was that thing? There was no fluctuation of spirit power, no lingering charm of Dao arts. There was only one kind... of pure, violent, physical oppression that seemed to want to tear everything apart.
"Playing god!" Zhu Yan suppressed the palpitation in his heart and roared to embolden himself. "I don't believe this fire poker of yours can hurt me!" "Blazing Sun Body Protection! Fire God Descend!"
Boom! Flames surged across Zhu Yan's entire body, transforming him into a three-zhang-tall flame giant, and the giant sword in his hand condensed terrifying high temperatures, preparing to strike first.
However, Ye Guyun did not Move. He just looked coldly through the crosshairs on his mask at the living target that was "casting" its skill. In his field of view (System auxiliary interface), strings of data were refreshing frantically: [Target distance: 1200 meters.] [Wind speed correction: East to West, level 3.] [Target heat source intensity: High.] [Shield analysis: Plasma flame shield, thickness 20cm.] [Recommended ammunition: Armor-piercing projectile (tungsten steel alloy nail).] [Recommended voltage: 80 million volts.]
"Is this what Teacher meant by... dimensionality reduction strike?" Ye Guyun muttered to himself. Before, when fighting, one had to watch the opponent's expression, predict their Moves, and compare the depth of spirit power. Now? One only needs to calculate.
"Parameter correction complete." "Capacitor charging complete." Ye Guyun's finger gently clicked onto the trigger. "Goodbye, primitive."
... Scripture Pavilion, second floor. Li Mo sat by the window, holding a cup of freshly brewed goji berry tea, with a water mirror floating in front of him, broadcasting the scene in front of the mountain gate in real-time.
"Squeak. (Boss, this kid Ye Guyun has quite a bit of your charm when he acts cool now.)" Squeak commented while gnawing on a piece of insulating rubber (teething).
"That is natural." Li Mo blew on the tea foam, a smile on his lips. "After all, he is the first 'STEM Sword Cultivator' I taught."
"However..." Li Mo glanced at Zhu Yan, who was still posing in the sky and preparing to unleash a big Move. "These people from the Blazing Fire Sect are too cooperative." "They are simply perfect targets."
"If they knew that the 'gun' in Ye Guyun's hand uses the 'Red Lotus Karmic Fire Lightning' that was just caught yesterday as its energy source..." "I wonder if they would regret playing with fire." "Using lightning to fight fire..." Li Mo narrowed his eyes. "What is that called in physics?" "Oh, right." "It's called overload."
Just at this moment, Ye Guyun in the water mirror pulled the trigger. There was no earth-shattering explosion. Because the speed was too fast. It was a speed that surpassed sound. It was the ultimate venting of electromagnetic force on the material world. At that moment. Everyone saw a light. A blue-purple, straight, seemingly heaven-and-earth splitting... death line.