219: Chapter 22 Blackwater Blade

The twenty-fifth floor.

Black water churned.

Lin Yi stood on the island-like battle platform, the stone surface beneath his feet covered by a layer of cold mist.

The black-scaled man opposite him did not attack immediately.

He simply gripped his scimitar, standing amidst the black water.

Yet, the surrounding water surface seemed to come alive.

Circles of black ripples spread out from beneath his feet, slowly creeping toward the edge of the battle platform.

Lin Yi looked down.

The black water did not attack him directly.

Instead, it was eroding the battle platform.

This type of water was unlike rivers, lakes, or seas.

It lacked grandeur, surging currents, or the calmness that encompasses all things.

It was heavy.

Cold.

Viscous.

Like stagnant water that had accumulated at the bottom of an abyss for countless years.

Inside the Yuanhe Divine Palace, Yuan Yi was also watching this scene.

"The twenty-fifth floor, it is finally starting to get interesting."

It flicked its tail.

"This opponent also walks the Dao of Water, but he is different from you."

"Your understanding of water in the past was more about flow, tolerance, neutralizing force, and borrowing momentum."

"But water has another side."

"Sinking, devouring, sealing, and corroding."

"This Blade of Black Water is exactly what you need to patch a shortcoming."

Lin Yi did not answer.

He had already realized it.

This was the value of the Hunyuan Tower.

It did not simply conjure up an opponent of equivalent Realm; it was forcing out the problems within the tower challenger layer by layer.

The nineteenth floor taught him that a blade cannot rely solely on strength.

The twentieth floor taught him that if there is no flaw, one must cut one out.

And the twenty-fifth floor began to show him the incomplete side of his Fourth Stage Intent of Water.

The black-scaled man raised his scimitar.

Boom!

The surrounding black water rose simultaneously.

It was not a wave.

It was more like countless black chains emerging from the water, coiling toward Lin Yi's limbs.

Lin Yi took a step forward.

Water ripples spread from beneath his feet.

Logically speaking, with his Water Dao Body and Fourth Stage Intent of Water, his control over water-elemental power should be far superior to his opponent's.

Yet this time, the moment the ripples beneath his feet spread out, they seemed to sink into mud, their speed abruptly slowing down.

The black water clung to his water momentum.

Lin Yi's eyes flickered.

The next instant, the black-scaled man had vanished.

A scimitar slashed out from the black water.

Not from the front.

But from the shadow beneath Lin Yi's feet.

Clang!

Lin Yi pressed his long blade down, blocking the strike.

But the moment the blades collided, a cold force crawled up along the blade, as if trying to seep into his palms, flesh, and Divine Body.

The Top-grade Divine Body within Lin Yi trembled slightly, directly dispersing that cold force.

But the black water had already spread along the battle platform to his ankles.

A layer of black water marks clamped onto his feet like iron rings.

The black-scaled man's second strike had arrived.

This strike was faster.

The scimitar came skimming over the black water, almost without a sound.

Lin Yi blocked horizontally with his blade.

Clang!

His figure sank slightly.

It was not because the opponent's strength was great.

But because the black water beneath his feet was dragging him down.

This was black water.

It did not seek to defeat him head-on.

It only needed to make you slower, heavier, and more difficult to escape.

Once all your variations are dragged down, the blade will naturally land on you.

Lin Yi did not explode with power immediately.

He continued to suppress his power.

He wanted to see.

To see exactly how this black water operated.

The black-scaled man had no emotions and would not give him a breather.

The third, fourth, and fifth strikes were unleashed in succession.

Every strike appeared from the coldest, most unpredictable places in the black water.

The surface.

Beneath his feet.

Behind his back.

Or even emerging from the afterimages left behind after Lin Yi's blade light passed.

If it were an ordinary Divine Body Realm Triple Stage, they would have already been cut open.

Yet Lin Yi blocked them time and time again.

Only the black water beneath his feet grew deeper.

From his ankles, to his calves, and then to his knees.

His movements also became increasingly heavy.

Outside the Hunyuan Tower.

In front of the light screen, the crowd watched Lin Yi stop at the twenty-fifth floor, and discussions arose once again.

"He stopped at the twenty-fifth floor."

"This is normal, the twenty-fifth floor is a small hurdle."

"I heard the opponent on this floor uses the Blade of Black Water, which specializes in slowing down, sealing, and eroding."

"Many strength-based Geniuses find it very difficult here."

"Doesn't Lin Yi also Cultivate the Dao of Water?"

"It is precisely because they both walk the Dao of Water that it is even more difficult. Whoever has a deeper understanding can control the situation."

The Purple-Clothed Woman watched the light screen, her eyes not shifting away.

The Grey-robed Elder said indifferently:

"He is watching again."

Someone nearby was startled.

"Watching?"

The Grey-robed Elder said:

"He could break the situation faster, but he did not."

"This Lin Yi from the Jiuzhou World is not just here to rush through the floors."

"He is genuinely using the Hunyuan Tower to Cultivate."

...

Inside the twenty-fifth floor.

Lin Yi forced the black-scaled man back with a blade strike and looked down at the black water that had already risen above his knees.

The black water was heavy.

Heavy, as if a lake were pressing down on his legs.

But water should not only be heavy.

When heavy to the extreme, it can also conceal momentum.

When still to the extreme, it can also swallow sharpness.

In Lin Yi's mind, the Luolong River, the Eastern Sea, the Heavenly Mountain Snow Lake, and countless water veins of the Jiuzhou World flashed by one after another.

In the past, he was more familiar with the flow of water.

Using softness to neutralize hardness.

Using momentum to borrow force.

Using rivers to converge into the sea.

But the black water before him told him that when water does not flow, it is equally terrifying.

Water can be a river.

It can also be a deep pool.

It can carry a boat.

It can also let all things sink to the bottom, never to make a sound again.

"So that is it."

Lin Yi said softly.

The black-scaled man attacked with his blade again.

This time, the black water surged, and the entire battle platform seemed to sink into a black lake.

Lin Yi did not dodge.

Instead, he withdrew all of his own water momentum.

The water ripples beneath his feet, which were originally suppressed by the black water, vanished.

In an instant, it felt as if only the opponent's black water remained in the surroundings.

The black-scaled man's scimitar slashed to within three feet of Lin Yi's brow.

At this very moment.

Beneath Lin Yi's feet, a point of deep blue suddenly appeared.

That point of deep blue was very small.

But extremely heavy.

The black water pressed over, but did not swallow it.

Instead, it was like encountering a deeper riverbed, and began to sink downwards.

The black-scaled man's blade momentum also sank along with it.

It slowed for an instant.

Lin Yi raised his blade.

It was not a violent slash.

But a gentle downward press.

Boom!

The entire expanse of black water felt as if it were being pressed down by an invisible deep sea.

The churning black waves abruptly calmed.

The black-scaled man's figure was forced to reveal itself from the black water for the first time.

His scimitar still slashed down.

But this time, the blade was no longer eerie.

No longer soundless.

No longer difficult to fathom.

Lin Yi saw it clearly.

A pitch-black long blade slashed horizontally.

The blade light was like a line opening in the deep sea, cutting straight through the black water.

The black-scaled man's scimitar shattered.

His body also split apart along with it.

The twenty-fifth floor, passed.

Lin Yi stood on the battle platform, the black water dissipating bit by bit.

His Intent of Water did not Breakthrough to the Fifth Stage.

It was even still a bit short of the Middle Stage of the Fourth Stage.

But this battle made his Fourth Stage Intent of Water a bit more complete.

Water is not just flow.

It can also sink.

Not just neutralizing force.

It can also swallow force.

Not just formless.

It can also be as heavy as an abyss.

Outside the Hunyuan Tower.

The light screen flickered.

Lin Yi, twenty-sixth floor.

In the plaza, the discussions rose in volume once again.

"He passed!"

"He even passed the twenty-fifth floor!"

"Divine Body Realm First Stage, passing the twenty-fifth floor on his first time challenging the tower, this is already worth reporting, right?"

On the high platform, an influential deacon stood up.

He looked at the words "Lin Yi, Jiuzhou World" on the light screen and said in a deep voice:

"Submit this to the Elder."

"This person is not just a Top-grade Divine Body."

"His Comprehension Ability is also terrifying."