Chapter 318: The Grass Sword Art, the Willow Spirit Technique—Not Just Simple Grass and Willow Branches

On the Elder Tian Xing Platform, Fang Yu and Wan Luo stood firm, their gazes blazing.

Outside the Elder Tian Xing Platform, many true disciples watched with bated breath.

One was a newly risen prodigy of the Yuhua Sect, cultivated to the 5th Stage of Divine Abilities, Heavenly Man Realm; the other was a veteran Golden Core giant, Wan Luo of the Five True Disciples. This duel drew the attention of nearly every true disciple within the Yuhua Sect.

Most true disciples sided with Wan Luo, for he was not only at the 7th Stage of Divine Abilities, Golden Core Realm, but had also cultivated the Panwu Great Strength Divine Art, his magic power ten times greater than others'.

The gap was simply too vast—ordinary true disciples dared not challenge Wan Luo.

To leap across two realms and face a top Golden Core cultivator? They couldn't even imagine it.

Fang Yu and Wan Luo did not strike first; instead, they placed their wagered cultivation arts. Fang Yu set the Great Cutting Art beside the right side of the inscription "Tian Xing."

Wan Luo waved his hand and placed the secret scripture of Panwu Great Strength Divine Art on the left side of the plaque.

This was the rule: when Yuhua Sect disciples wagered on the Elder Tian Xing Platform, the stakes were placed behind the Elder Tian Xing Hall's plaque. No one dared to take them—anyone who did would be executed on the spot.

"Younger Brother Fang Yu, you are only at the 5th Stage of Divine Abilities, Heavenly Man Realm—you may not yet understand the strength of the Golden Core Realm. Let me grant you the first move."

On Wan Luo's face appeared an expression of certain victory; his robes stirred without wind, flapping like banners, making his figure tower in the eyes of many.

He did not strike first, yet a powerful battle aura, an unshakable belief in triumph, surged forth like an ocean tide, pressing upon him.

His magic power continuously rose, the movement of his energy producing audible sounds—first the thunder of ten thousand galloping horses, then a roaring surge reaching a hundred thousand Xuan Huang warhorses' worth of strength.

Then this force surged higher still, directly reaching three hundred thousand Xuan Huang warhorses' worth of strength.

Five hundred thousand.

Eight hundred thousand!

Finally, it halted near nine hundred thousand.

Nine hundred thousand Xuan Huang warhorses' worth of strength surged across the Elder Tian Xing Platform, overwhelming and terrifying.

This sight caused many onlookers to turn pale—no one had imagined that Wan Luo, who had not fought in ages, possessed such overwhelming magic power!

Ordinary Heavenly Man Realm experts had only ten thousand Xuan Huang warhorses' worth of strength; after passing through the Return to Oneness Realm and entering the Golden Core Realm, they might reach three or four hundred thousand. Even the greatest Golden Core experts rarely exceeded five hundred thousand—but Wan Luo's magic power was nearly a million Xuan Huang warhorses' worth of strength.

From this, it was clear that Wan Luo's challenge to Fang Yu and his heavy wager were certain to end in victory.

"My current magic power is eighty thousand Xuan Huang warhorses' worth of strength. I thought I still had hidden cards to match Wan Luo, but now I see it's impossible."

The True Person Xuantie, a Return to Oneness Realm expert, paled. He had always believed he merely lacked a stroke of fortune—that with more cultivation, he could reach the Golden Core Realm and stand equal to the Five True Disciples. But now, seeing Wan Luo, he realized he was no match.

"Fang Yu is finished—completely finished. No matter how talented he is, at the 5th Stage of Divine Abilities, his magic power is only thirty to fifty thousand. Brother Wan Luo can crush him effortlessly!"

Beside Xuantie, a true disciple named Wu Li spoke, as if pronouncing Fang Yu's fate.

"This time, Fang Yu has lost badly—he's been toyed with by Brother Wan Luo."

Other true disciples shook their heads; the outcome now seemed sealed.

As the crowd exchanged thoughts, Fang Yu's voice rang out in the arena: "Fine. Since you let me strike first, then take this."

In that instant, a nine-leaf sword grass bloomed in the void, directly before Wan Luo.

Though merely a blade of grass, its sword qi exceeded all imagination—silver light flowed like a condensed galaxy, intricate and vast, as if about to suppress all eternity.

Sword qi filled everywhere; as the leaf swirled, it erased all things in heaven and earth. In the boundless cosmic void, only this single blade of grass remained eternal—all else was rendered void.

"What?"

The moment Wan Luo saw the nine-leaf sword grass, he sensed an unimaginable danger—his spirit was flooded by this sword grass capable of severing stars. Instantly, beads of sweat erupted across his body, and by instinct, he summoned a magic treasure.

The treasure took the form of a gauze canopy; as it emerged, layers of thin, pink, emerald, black, pale yellow, and other colored gauzes drifted in the air like clouds.

Chisss, chisss, chisss…

The nine-leaf sword grass filled the void, yet when it met the five-colored mist of the gauze treasure, it was momentarily held back.

The five-colored mist gauze appeared frail and pitiful, yet it was a mid- to high-grade magic treasure, forged by gathering cloud aura from the heavens and blending in countless gang-sha energies through years of painstaking cultivation.

Yet Wan Luo showed no pain or regret—he had intended to sacrifice this treasure merely to buy himself time.

But he did not gain time, for the instant the nine-leaf sword grass was slightly blocked, a willow branch pierced through in an instant—light and graceful, adorned with threads of green light, yet this gentle branch concealed another terrifying power, striking directly forward.

"What is that? Has Brother Wan Luo fallen on the defensive?"

"Just moments ago, Brother Wan Luo's aura was overwhelming—nearly nine hundred thousand Xuan Huang warhorses' worth of strength—how could he be on the defensive so quickly? What is that grass? Where did Fang Yu get this Divine Art? It's terrifying!"

"If I were in the arena, the moment that grass appeared in the void, I'd be dead. Strange, strange—how can a blade of grass be this strong? Even stronger than our Yuhua Sect's Eight Divine Arts, the Great Freedom Mystic Golden Sword Qi!"

"And what is that? A willow branch? What kind of willow tree produces such a branch?"

"Brother Wan Luo is falling behind again—this is too shocking."

Outside the arena, many true disciples widened their eyes, faces filled with disbelief.

They had expected Brother Wan Luo to unleash his overwhelming might and crush Fang Yu—yet now, Fang Yu held the upper hand, and a single blade of grass and a single willow branch had forced Brother Wan Luo into utter embarrassment.

"Fang Yu's power is also immense—it rivals Wan Luo's."

Ling Xiao, one of the Five True Disciples, trembled inwardly—he finally saw Fang Yu's true strength. His magic power was not inferior to Wan Luo's. This was too terrifying.

How could a 5th Stage of Divine Abilities, Heavenly Man Realm expert match a Golden Core Realm expert?

No matter how one looked, it seemed impossible.

Especially since Fang Yu appeared to have received some plant inheritance—this sword grass, this willow branch—were utterly horrifying. One misstep, and you were doomed.

"Younger Brother Fang Yu has always planned ahead—he's given me another surprise."

On Jialan's face appeared admiration and delight—this rising star was simply too powerful.

"I don't believe it—a willow branch can defeat me!"

In the arena, Wan Luo sensed another lethal danger in an instant—he had thought he understood Fang Yu's cards, but now he realized he was utterly wrong.

That sword grass, that willow branch—why did they possess such terrifying power? They had thrown him into chaos.

He now wanted to slap his earlier self hard—why had he been so foolish as to let Fang Yu strike first? Now he was already on the defensive.

But Wan Luo was a seasoned expert. As the willow branch hurtled toward his body, his Tianmen opened instantly, and a fist-sized Jin Dan rose from his head.

Yes—Wan Luo had summoned his Jin Dan.

This was the most formidable technique of a Golden Core expert.

On Wan Luo's Golden Core, many abilities manifested: Great Freedom Mysterious Golden Sword Qi, Heavenly Cold Mystic Black Force, Purple Lightning Yin Thunder Blade, Mountain Peak Refining Form gang-sha, Ten Thousand Waters Divine Technique, Heavenly Wood Great Art… and so on—the Eight Great Abilities of Yuhua Sect were all complete.

Besides these Eight Great Abilities, Wan Luo had also cultivated a supreme ability: Haozhen True Fire, which Fang Yu had also practiced.

This array of Haozhen True Fire was immensely fierce and violent.

Additionally, there was another ability, seemingly formed from the condensation of seven emotions; those who beheld this ability could not help but feel the seven emotions of mortal life—joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, grief, and worry—binding them, leaving enemies utterly devoid of mental focus to mobilize magic power.

This appeared to be one of Wan Luo's most powerful abilities, equivalent to Fang Yu's Great Cutting Technique; deploying it at the outset could directly disrupt the opponent's spirit, leaving them completely at a disadvantage, unable to summon any magic power.

But Fang Yu's assault was too swift; Wan Luo had no time to summon this supreme ability.

Besides this mind-disrupting ability, Wan Luo's Golden Core bore several other abilities; the most powerful of them coalesced into a talisman resembling a human yet not quite human—this talisman contained boundless power, clearly the Supreme Ability: Pan Wu Great Strength Technique.

Overall, Wan Luo's natal Golden Core contained seventeen abilities!

This was Nan Wan Luo, the famed and unmatched among Yuhua Sect's Five True Disciples, who had reached the Golden Core Realm and harbored seventeen abilities!

He was already among the most elite of Yuhua Sect's True Disciples.

As for cultivating thirty or forty abilities to achieve Golden Core, such peerless geniuses might appear only once every tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years.

The Golden Core Realm simply does not allow sufficient time to cultivate so many abilities.

When Wan Luo instantly summoned his natal Golden Core, all seventeen abilities surged forth from it, attempting to block Fang Yu's Willow God Art.

At this moment, violent collisions erupted.

Wan Luo's Golden Core hovered before him as he unleashed his strongest technique—a punch that shook the entire heavens and earth, as if the very breath and exhalation of the land were absorbed into the fist's force.

As soon as this punch was thrown, its might transformed utterly. The heavens cracked open with fissures, and the land's breath and exhalation seemed to merge into the fist's momentum.

"Heaven-Shaking Divine Fist!"