48: Chapter 48 Sandstorm

After the first round of the Provincial Tournament concluded, 128 people were halved, leaving 64.

It was already dusk when Shen Ye returned to the Provincial Association camp, the artificial lake reflecting the lights from the dome of the main venue in the distance.

He ran into Fang Yan in the cafeteria.

Fang Yan had won his first round; the Rock Giant's four-node triangular cycle had pried open the hurricane of the Sandstorm from within, shattering the eye and securing victory.

But it wasn't an easy win; a silk ribbon of spiritual power was wrapped around the web of his right hand, with bloodstains faintly seeping through.

That was an injury left by the backlash of his Cultivation Divine Kingdom when the Rock Giant's chest core was cracked by the counter-force of the storm eye.

Lu Chuan had also won.

His Undead Sea had maintained a crushing momentum in the first round of the Provincial Tournament, but Shen Ye noticed that his Blood War Aura had been opened to its maximum expansion state from the very beginning.

No leeway, no chance for his opponent to probe.

This meant he knew his opponent in the Provincial Tournament was worthy of his full strength.

Back at the dormitory, Qin Shu had already projected the complete intelligence of the next opponent onto the light screen.

Sun Mo, a returning qualifier, S-rank talent Sandstorm, Cultivation Divine Kingdom attribute: Quicksand Domain.

Not a fresh graduate—a returning qualifier meant he had awakened last year, allowing him a full extra year of development.

His Cultivation Divine Kingdom was larger, his kin were more numerous, and his combat experience was richer.

The kin of the Quicksand Domain were Sandworms and Sand Demons. Sandworms were extremely fast and could travel freely within the Sandstorm; Sand Demons were huge, elemental creatures purely condensed from sand and dust, immune to physical attacks, and could only be targeted by energy attacks.

"Sandstorm is a complete counter to the Water and Wood dual-element."

Qin Shu flipped the data board, and the screen displayed the internal structure of the Quicksand Domain. "Water-element attacks will be absorbed by the sand and dust, and Wood-element vines will be buried by the quicksand. You rely on the guidance system of Elder Quan and Mu Sheng, so this match will be restricted. But Sandstorm has one fatal weakness—the Wind Vent. All quicksand surges out from the Wind Vent; the Wind Vent is located to the right of the center of the domain, where the sand density is highest. If you can make Jin Lin's sword intent pierce through the Sandstorm and strike the Wind Vent directly, the entire domain will collapse."

Shen Ye looked at the structure of the Quicksand Domain.

The Wind Vent was wrapped in layers of sand and dust, and a frontal attack would be absorbed by the sand wall.

He thought for a moment.

"Is the position of the Wind Vent fixed?"

"Fixed. In all of Sun Mo's public combat footage, the Wind Vent has never moved. It's not that he doesn't want to move it; the Wind Vent is the law core of the Quicksand Domain. Moving the Wind Vent is equivalent to moving the foundation of his entire Cultivation Divine Kingdom. He can't do it."

Qin Shu paused. "But to find the Wind Vent within the Sandstorm, you need extremely strong perception. Sand and dust block divine sense, and the effective range of your mental connection will be drastically shortened within the Sandstorm."

Shen Ye closed his eyes.

The Succubus's perception network could lock onto divine sense fluctuations, but the Wind Vent was not a living being; it had no divine sense fluctuations.

He needed another method of perception.

He recalled the way He Nian used perception enhancement to detect Void Race divine sense fluctuations when they were in the Seventh Pioneering Team—but that was in the future.

Right now, he had something else in his hand.

Twilight.

Holy Light Purification, Abyss Perception.

An Angel's holy light could penetrate sand and dust, and a Succubus's abyss energy could maintain the integrity of the perception network within the Sandstorm.

But his Cultivation Divine Kingdom was the Land of Cultivation; on the surface, he had no Angels or Succubi.

However, Holy Light could be disguised as a Light-element cultivation technique—he had already used a Light-element cultivator's Holy Light Purification in the City-level Competition, and both the admissions officers and his opponents had accepted the explanation of a "hidden inheritance of the Cultivation Divine Kingdom."

And for the perception network, Elder Quan's water flow perception could partially substitute for it.

The speed at which water flow penetrates sand and dust is not as good as abyss energy, but it would suffice.

"I'll try."

Shen Ye said.

Qin Shu looked at him.

"Can your Light-element cultivator penetrate the sand and dust?"

"Yes."

Shen Ye did not say more.

That night, Shen Ye simulated a Sandstorm environment in the training room.

Qin Shu pulled up the projection parameters from Sun Mo's public footage, and the entire training room was filled with yellow sand; visibility was almost zero, and the range of divine sense detection was compressed to a minimum.

Shen Ye summoned Mu Sheng and Elder Quan.

Mu Sheng's vines were indeed struggling in the Sandstorm—the vines were swept up by the quicksand as soon as they extended, causing them to deviate from their direction.

Elder Quan's water flow was constantly absorbed by the sand and dust, and the volume of water shrank at a rate visible to the naked eye.

But they did not stop.

Mu Sheng retracted his vines to the shortest length, no longer attempting to extend them, but instead drove the vines into the soil beneath the sand layer.

The surface sand was fluid, but there was a relatively stable soil layer deep beneath the sand.

The vines traveled through the soil layer, using the Law of Life to sense the vibrations of the soil.

Every Sandworm produced friction while traveling through the sand, and friction produced vibration.

The white flowers at the tips of the vines were the most sensitive vibration sensors.

Elder Quan's water flow no longer permeated from the front, but turned into extremely fine water threads, seeping in through the gaps between the sand particles.

The water volume no longer shrank—the water threads were too fine, so fine that the sand and dust could not absorb them.

After the water threads seeped into the Sandstorm, the conductivity of water allowed them to capture the faint law spiritual power fluctuations between the sand particles.

The Wind Vent was the law core of the Quicksand Domain, where the law spiritual power fluctuations were strongest.

Finding the point with the strongest fluctuation meant finding the Wind Vent.

Mu Sheng's vines and Elder Quan's water threads wove into a dual perception network within the Sandstorm.

Vibration positioning, law spiritual power fluctuation locking.

The coordinates of the Wind Vent became clearer and clearer.

The day of the match soon arrived.

Shen Ye stood on the battle platform, with Sun Mo opposite him.

The City Champion of Gobi City, his face roughened and reddened by the wind and sand, his knuckles large, standing there like a poplar tree that had been scorched by the Gobi sun for decades.

The Quicksand Domain spread out beneath his feet, yellow sand surged from the Kingdom Projection, and the entire battle platform was swallowed by sand and dust.

Sandworms shuttled through the sea of sand, revealing only rows of sharp sand blades on their backs.

Sand Demons stood up from the sand vortex, their massive sand-dust bodies casting oppressive shadows on the battle platform.

Shen Ye expanded the Land of Cultivation.

This time, he did not summon the Fire Spirit Root Artificer; in the last match against the Mystic Ice Domain, their Fire Marrow had worked wonders, but the Sandstorm also countered the Fire-element—flames would be extinguished in the sand and dust, and the power of high-temperature rays would be drastically reduced after being scattered by the sand.

He only summoned three kin.

Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, and Elder Quan.

Jin Lin did not leap into the air immediately today, but stood in front of Shen Ye with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

The small golden dragon on his shoulder swam slowly, its dragon whiskers swaying gently.

All twenty-one vines of Mu Sheng were tucked into his sleeves, leaving only a circle of emerald green leaves at the cuffs.

Elder Quan held his hands in his sleeves, water mist condensing around him without dissipating.

Low whispers erupted from the spectator stands.

Three against hundreds of Sandworms and Sand Demons.

The same configuration as the match against Zheng Chuan.

But this time it wasn't a speed-type, but the Sandstorm that countered both Water and Wood elements.

The referee raised his hand.

The Sandstorm domain surged over the moment the referee's hand fell.

Not probing, but full force.

Sun Mo had studied all of Shen Ye's combat footage and knew he couldn't give him space to develop his tactical guidance.

Sandworms charged from all directions simultaneously, sand blades tearing through the air.

Sand Demons swung their giant arms, and fists condensed from sand and dust smashed down from the air.

At the same time, the sand and dust itself was constantly eroding the spiritual power patterns on the law slate, attempting to assimilate the entire battle platform as part of the Quicksand Domain.

Mu Sheng and Elder Quan attacked at the same time.

The vines did not extend frontally, but were all driven into the soil beneath the sand layer.

Twenty-one vines traveled through the soil deep under the sand layer; the five white flowers at the end of each vine bloomed, petals pressed tightly against the soil, sensing the friction and vibration of the Sandworms as they traveled.

Elder Quan's water flow turned into thousands of extremely fine water threads, seeping into the Sandstorm through the gaps between the sand particles, adsorbing the faint law spiritual power on the surface of every sand particle.

A dual perception network unfolded silently within the Sandstorm.

Vibration positioning located the Sandworms, and law spiritual power fluctuation locked onto the coordinates of the Wind Vent.

Jin Lin's flying sword left its sheath.

Not the three-in-one Dragon Sword, not an explosion of Ring Sword Intent.

Today, he only used the most basic sword move—straight thrust, point-kill.

The flying sword pierced through the sand and dust, every strike landing precisely on the core of a Sandworm's back.

The core of a Sandworm moved extremely fast in the sand, but Mu Sheng's vibration perception had already locked onto the core position in advance.

Jin Lin closed his eyes, switching his mental connection from Shen Ye's command to Mu Sheng's perception network.

In Mu Sheng's vibration landscape, the Sandworm's core was as clearly distinguishable as a reef in a sea of sand.

One sword, one kill.

The momentum of the Sandworms' charge was disrupted, the Sand Demons lost their coordination, and the rhythm of their punches began to fall into chaos.

Sun Mo gritted his teeth and summoned all the Sand Demons back around the Wind Vent, attempting to use the area with the highest sand density to hold out.

Jin Lin opened his eyes and looked at Shen Ye.

Mu Sheng and Elder Quan simultaneously transmitted the final coordinates of the perception network into Jin Lin's mind.

The Wind Vent, the law core of the Quicksand Domain, coordinates locked.

Jin Lin leaped into the air.

The flying sword left his hand, and the golden dragon patterns on the sword extended from the hilt to the tip.

He did not use the three-in-one Dragon Sword; he merely integrated Twilight Sword Qi into the dragon patterns.

The flying sword pierced through layers of sand and dust, and the sand wall was stripped away layer by layer in front of the sword tip by the Holy Light purification attribute—to others, it looked like Metal-element sword radiance forcefully breaking through the sand wall.

The flying sword pierced into the very center of the Wind Vent.

Ring Sword Intent erupted from within, and a golden shockwave, carrying a faint twilight light, spread in all directions.

The law structure of the Wind Vent began to collapse from the core under the impact of the sword intent.

The sand and dust lost its law binding, like iron filings losing their magnetic pole, falling from the air in a flurry.

The Sand Demons disintegrated into loose sand, and the Sandworms lost the cover of the sand sea.

The battle platform returned to its original gray-white appearance.

Sun Mo stood in the remaining sand and dust, his lips moved, and finally, he raised his hand to concede.

The second round of the Provincial Tournament, 64 into 32, passed.

Shen Ye retracted his kin, nodded to Sun Mo, and turned to walk off the battle platform.

In the last row of the spectator stands, the admissions officer from Wanxiang University wrote a line on the data board: "The Holy Light penetration attribute of the Light-element cultivator is suspected to have a purification effect on Void Race energy. It is the same inheritance source as the Light-element skill observed during the City-level Competition, traceable to the Nanjiang City-level secret realm. Temporarily classified as 'Ancient Inheritance Mutation', continue to observe."

The admissions officer from Cangqiong University wrote: "Able to accurately lock onto the opponent's domain core coordinates in a Sandstorm environment; perception ability has surpassed the vast majority of S-rank contestants in the Provincial Tournament. Suitable for the Pioneer sequence."

The admissions officer from Shenyu University only wrote four words: "Core candidate."

Shen Ye walked out of the contestant passage and met an unexpected person in the preparation area.

Gu Changfeng.

The top seed of Provincial Capital No. 1 High School, SS-rank Wind-Thunder Dual-born, Lightning Pool attribute, one of the highest-ranked contestants in this Provincial Tournament.

He was wearing the silver-gray uniform of Provincial Capital No. 1 High School, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, standing by the passage like a bamboo stalk that had been blown by the wind for a long time but never bent.

Shen Ye had watched his match footage—his Lightning Spirit's speed was so fast that the naked eye could only see electric light, and his destructive power was so strong that the defensive-type Cultivation Divine Kingdom of his opponent in the last round was like paper in front of him.

The two looked at each other for a moment.

"Your kin don't look like ordinary kin."

Gu Changfeng said.

His voice was not loud, but every word was clear, like the dry static in the air before a thunderstorm.

Shen Ye did not speak.

"My sister watched all your matches."

Gu Changfeng said again, "She said there are some things in your tactical system that are completely different from ordinary S-ranks—your kin don't rely entirely on your divine sense commands when fighting; they can judge independently, coordinate independently, and even make decisions independently. This kind of tactical literacy isn't trained; it's forged in real, hard-fought battles."

He paused. "My sister is named Gu Qinghan, A-rank talent, Cultivation Divine Kingdom attribute: Ice Domain. She is a specially hired tactical analyst for the Provincial Association. She asked me to tell you—after the Provincial Tournament ends, she wants to see you."

Shen Ye remembered.

Qin Shu's intelligence had mentioned the name Gu Qinghan.

Gu Changfeng's sister, not a combat type, but an analytical type.

The Ice Domain could freeze and analyze every detail of a Kingdom Projection, and she was somewhat famous in the tactical analysis department of the Provincial Association.

The complete combat data of Lu Chuan compiled by Su Wanqing during the City-level Competition had some technical means of divine sense fluctuation analysis that were highly similar to the methodology published by Gu Qinghan in academic journals.

"Okay."

Shen Ye said.

Gu Changfeng nodded, did not say another word, and turned to leave.

His back stretched long under the lights of the contestant passage.

Shen Ye looked at his retreating figure, recalling a sentence Gu Qinghan had said—she had studied all of Shen Ye's public combat records and said his tactical system was perfectly abnormal.

Now her brother had come to pass on a message in person.

The Provincial Tournament wasn't over yet, but some people had already started laying their plans in advance.