65: Chapter 65, Round Two

In the second round of the National Competition, Shen Ye's opponent was Han Feng, an S-class genius from Cangcheng No. 1 Middle School whose Kingdom attribute was the Myriad Sword Tomb.

He was Ye Qiu's cousin—Ye Qiu was a retained qualification holder from the Provincial Tournament and a top representative of the Sword Cultivator Kingdom who had been defeated by Shen Ye's Five Elements Trapping Formation in the Provincial Tournament years ago.

Han Feng's Myriad Sword Tomb belonged to the same Sword Cultivator system as Ye Qiu's, but it was of a higher grade—his dependents were not ordinary sword cultivators, but 'Sword Spirits,' elemental life forms condensed from pure sword qi. They were immune to both physical and energy attacks; only law-level attacks could deal effective damage.

When Qin Shu sent over the intel, he only attached one sentence: "A bit more troublesome than the Provincial Tournament. Use the Five Elements Trapping Formation in conjunction with Law Guidance—that Multi-Guidance System you used last time to neutralize the Wind Elemental's blitz will be equally effective against a sword cultivator swarm."

On the day of the match, Shen Ye ascended the third platform of the Wanxiang University Main Arena.

Opposite him, Han Feng had already deployed his Kingdom Projection—the Myriad Sword Tomb, a wasteland of sword graves piled high with countless broken and remnant swords.

Sword Spirits flew out from the sword tomb in dense clusters, their numbers far exceeding the intel's estimates.

Each Sword Spirit was a levitating longsword with a transparent body; only the faint outlines of sword qi glinted coldly under the law-reinforced lights.

The referee raised his hand.

Shen Ye deployed his Land of Cultivation.

Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, and Daoist Quan stood at the very front—these three had fought all the way from the City-level Competition. Jin Lin's Sword Intent guidance could divert the charge trajectories of all the Sword Spirits, Mu Sheng's Guidance Vines could curve and constrict along their flight arcs, and Daoist Quan's Spiral Water Flow could gather the scattered Sword Spirits into a single point.

The overlapping of these three powers perfectly countered this type of dispersed, high-speed swarm.

Behind him, over four thousand dependents were all lined up in formation—today, he was going to commit all his preparations into this battle.

The referee's hand dropped.

Han Feng was the first to strike.

The swarm of Sword Spirits surged out from the Myriad Sword Tomb like a rain of swords, the shrill whistles of sword qi tearing through the air merging into a massive wave of sound.

They didn't charge in a straight line; instead, like Zheng Chuan's Wind Elemental Warriors in the City-level Competition, they moved in curving interceptions, surrounding Shen Ye's dependent formation from all directions simultaneously.

Shen Ye did not retreat.

Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, and Daoist Quan acted at the same time.

Jin Lin leaped into the air and released his flying sword. His Golden Dragon-Pattern Sword Intent transformed at the sword's tip into countless ultra-fine Guidance Sword Silks. Each silk precisely entangled a Sword Spirit, guiding their direction at a minute angle along their flight paths.

Mu Sheng's Guidance Vines extended along the Law Slabs, curving in advance according to the interception arcs of the Sword Spirits to gather them from all directions.

Daoist Quan's Spiral Water Flow wove into a net in the air, the three spirals working together to further compress the trajectories of the Sword Spirit swarm.

The flight paths of thousands of Sword Spirits were disrupted simultaneously.

The precise rhythm of their curving interceptions became chaotic under the multi-guidance, causing them to collide with one another.

Han Feng gritted his teeth and recalled all the Sword Spirits to the core area of the Myriad Sword Tomb, shrinking them into a ring-shaped defensive formation—the Sword Spirits layered over one another with restrained sword qi, forming a rotating Blade Storm around the core area's perimeter.

Shen Ye had been waiting for this exact moment.

He raised his right hand, and the four thousand-plus dependents behind him changed formation simultaneously.

The Gold Spirit Root Sword Cultivator hundred-man squad was in front, the sound of their flying swords unsheathing as one; the Wood Spirit Root Array Master hundred-man squads were on both sides, their vines plunging beneath the stone slates; the Water Spirit Root Mage hundred-man squad was in the center, their Spiral Water Flows weaving into a net in the air; the Fire Spirit Root Artificers and Alchemists were in the rear as backup; and the Earth Spirit Root Body Refiners were scattered at various nodes, their hands pressed against the ground.

Xiao Zhi's Spirit Synchronization Net had already covered the seas of consciousness of all four thousand-plus dependents. Under the coordination of the network, the spiritual power of the four thousand people resonated at the exact same frequency—what a defensive Ten Thousand Sword Formation feared most was not a single attack, but the resonance pressure generated when an entire army advanced in sync with the same breath and step.

The four thousand people took a step forward as if they were one, and the resonance wave conducted through the Law Slabs to the outer layer of Han Feng's Blade Storm. Under the resonance, the rotating blades experienced an almost imperceptible lag.

It lasted only for an instant.

Jin Lin's flying sword leaped into the air from the center of the four-thousand-man formation, its Three Dragon Sword Light merging into one and piercing through the gap in the Blade Storm's lag.

The Ring Sword Intent exploded from within, and thousands of Sword Spirits collapsed simultaneously.

Han Feng's Kingdom Projection shuddered violently and then disintegrated.

The referee raised his hand.

Amidst the deafening cheers of the crowd, a middle-aged woman wearing a Wanxiang University instructor's uniform rose from the judges' bench and nodded slightly toward Shen Ye.

Pinned to her collar was the emblem of the Ancient Archives.

On the other side of the stands, a girl wearing the dark green uniform of Eternal University sat alone in the back row, holding a Miniature Sandbox in her hands.

Her name was Teacher Cang Yue, Cang's younger sister.

On the sandbox, every platform and player passage of the Wanxiang University Main Arena was clearly visible. The synchronous resonance data from the dependent formation in Shen Ye's recent battle was slowly scrolling along the edge of the sandbox.

Her gaze lingered on Shen Ye's back for a long time as she softly said to the assistant beside her, "He isn't fighting alone. The synchronous resonance of four thousand dependents... his dispatching capabilities are quite remarkable."

She paused, tapped her finger lightly on the sandbox, and pulled up the intel on Shen Ye's next opponent in advance. "In the next round, he will need this."

Shen Ye withdrew his dependents and turned to walk off the platform.

Qin Shu was waiting for him in the player passage and turned his data pad around to show him.

On the screen, the Wanxiang University Core Tier candidate list had been updated—a remark had been added after Shen Ye's name: "Dependent formation of four thousand people in synchronous resonance, law-level coordination. Recommended for inclusion in the Core Tier priority observation list."

Other SSS-class players on the list included Bai Ye, Chi Yan, Cang, and Yun Qianqian.

Shen Ye handed the data pad back without saying much.

His gaze passed through the player passage and fell upon the top of the deep blue giant tower on the distant Lake Heart Island—the golden halo at the tip of the Ancient Archives was flickering slightly in the twilight.

Still a few more matches to go.

Once he entered the Core Tier, Lin Tianyin would be able to help him apply for borrowing privileges at the Ancient Archives.

The first of the four archived files Jiang Yue needed was right there.

He continued walking forward.