Chapter 237: Beyond Sound

Ever since witnessing Yun Jing's strength in the first two rounds of the Foundation Establishment exam and realizing the gap between them in terms of power and resources, Bai Zhenzhen quickly came to understand one thing.

"If I just improve my strength step by step, even if I go all out and eventually reach a level comparable to my opponent, the win rate in a fight would still be about fifty-fifty."

"So to obtain the Foundation Establishment qualification, just silently training to raise my strength is not enough."

"And I'm not without advantages... My advantage is that in the first two rounds, I was weak enough that he never took me seriously."

From the moment the group divisions were made, she had regarded Yun Jing as her greatest rival, constantly watching him, trying to understand him, and gathering intelligence.

"I know about his Dharma Skeleton, his cultivation technique, his dual-dantian technique... but he doesn't know much about me."

This information gap created by her weakness was Bai Zhenzhen's advantage.

"To make good use of this informational advantage, I must become stronger in a targeted way."

"My goal is not to surpass my opponent, but to defeat him in the arena."

"These are actually two different directions."

For example, surpassing a student from Songyang High School in strength requires day-and-night hard training.

But to defeat a student from Songyang High School, you might only need a dump truck, or to place a pirated cultivation manual under their desk.

It was at this realization that Bai Zhenzhen began to gradually adjust her training direction.

For instance, the choice of a new technique, the direction of true spiritual root deduction on techniques, changes in combat style... all began to target arena battles and Yun Jing as the ultimate goal.

Bai Zhenzhen was going to specialize herself into the state most suited to defeating Yun Jing in the arena.

Even if it meant sacrificing improvements in other areas, she would do it, just to obtain the Foundation Establishment qualification.

And now, at the very start of the third round of the arena, after hearing Bai Zhenzhen's words, Yun Jing once again activated his dual dantians, streams of mana turning into a sea of fire that blasted wildly toward Bai Zhenzhen.

Watching Bai Zhenzhen dodging left and right, scurrying back and forth under his bombardment, Yun Jing sneered inwardly: "You say you'll defeat me with one sword? First get close to me."

But soon Yun Jing felt something was off, because Bai Zhenzhen wasn't trying to approach him at all. Instead, she was slashing through the sea of fire with one sword after another, as if she and those flames were the real enemies.

"What does this woman want to do?"

"No, no matter what she intends, I have to stop her."

"I cannot fall here; the Yun family still depends on me to revive it."

"Once the family company collapses, all I can rely on is myself and this Foundation Establishment certificate."

With a bad premonition rising in his heart, Yun Jing let out a low roar, pushing his mana circulation to the limit. His dual dantians roared like giant dragons, spitting out lava-like mana that turned into fiery dragons charging toward Bai Zhenzhen.

The moment these fiery dragons touched anything, they exploded violently; aside from dodging, a direct block would surely cause injury.

But Bai Zhenzhen's face remained calm. Facing the roaring fiery dragons, she neither dodged nor retreated, but met them with her long sword using the Ten Thousand Swords Without End technique.

With a thunderous boom, Bai Zhenzhen split one fiery dragon with her sword, her body covered in burn marks, yet she didn't stop and charged toward the next fiery dragon.

One sword... another sword... another sword... The electric light on Bai Zhenzhen's long sword grew brighter and brighter, and the speed of her strikes became faster and faster.

This was the effect after the level-10 Ten Thousand Swords Without End technique had been deduced by her true spiritual root—the sword technique continuously accelerated under the infusion of lightning mana, each strike faster than the last, reaching the limit at the fifteenth strike and breaking the sound barrier.

And in an instant, her Ten Thousand Swords Without End had already reached the fourteenth strike.

At this moment, Bai Zhenzhen's aura suddenly changed. Her eyes emitted a sharp gaze, locking onto Yun Jing on the other side of the sea of fire.

Then Bai Zhenzhen activated the martial art she had been cultivating for the past three months—the Thunder Stride Nine Step.

Apart from using lightning mana to accelerate movement, the greatest feature of this technique was its ability to leave residual lightning mana on the ground, forming an electric field in a certain area that continuously accelerated the cultivator's movement.

In other words, the longer one fought within a fixed range with this technique, the stronger the electric field became, and the greater the acceleration effect on the cultivator.

After Bai Zhenzhen had deduced it with her true spiritual root, the duration for which the technique could leave residual lightning mana to form an electric field was greatly increased.

This was the technique she had specifically chosen, cultivated, and deduced for arena battles, further enhancing her speed advantage in the arena.

And today's two-out-of-three rounds rule was even more suited to her than she had expected.

Just now, in the second round, she had deliberately stalled for time, not seeking victory at all, in order to leave enough lightning mana on the arena floor, maximizing the effect of Thunder Stride Nine Step for the third round.

Right now, arcing bolts of lightning suddenly burst out from the arena floor, forming an invisible electric field that enveloped the entire arena.

Bai Zhenzhen felt this electric field mutually attracting with the lightning mana all over her body, as if layers of springs were tightening behind her, waiting only for her command to launch her like an electromagnetic cannon.

"Not enough…"

Bai Zhenzhen knew she only had one chance with this sword strike, so she had to make it perfect. Thus, she activated another martial art she had never used in front of Yun Jing—the Thunder God Pili Strike.

The Thunder Gang Qi, condensed from her magical power, enveloped her body, increasing her speed while resisting the physical pressure of high-speed movement.

The deduced effect of this technique allowed Bai Zhenzhen to unleash all the thunderous magical power within her in a single burst, striking a sword faster than her own limit.

Whether it was the Endless Sword Technique, the Thunder Walking Nine Heaven Steps, or the Thunder God Pili Strike, Bai Zhenzhen had always pursued one goal in selecting and advancing her techniques: to gain an advantage in battle against Yun Jing on the stage and maximize her chance of victory.

As she fully activated the Thunder God Pili Strike, Bai Zhenzhen felt all the thunderous magical power in her body surge out, leaving not a trace behind.

But under the operation of the Cold Soul Ice Heart Technique, even in this desperate situation with no room for error, Bai Zhenzhen felt her blood, flesh, power, and Gang Qi grow more and more energetic under the technique's boost.

Boom!

The next moment, with the acceleration of layers of electric fields, Bai Zhenzhen took a step forward, charging headlong into the sea of fire and slashing her sword at Yun Jing.

And the fifteenth strike of the Endless Sword Technique, as if mounted on a rocket, let out a series of explosive collisions between thunder and air.

Then, with the activation of the Thunder God Pili Strike, Bai Zhenzhen poured all the magical power in her body into that one sword strike.

"Go! Take all my magical power and Gang Qi!"

!

She howled in her heart, even pouring all her protective Thunder Gang Qi into that strike, only to make it faster, even faster.

But without the protection of Gang Qi, Bai Zhenzhen's body turned into a blur of blood and flesh under the extreme high pressure, splitting open with cracks.

Amid the continuous booming sounds, Bai Zhenzhen had already, faster than the sound, passed through the sea of fire crushed and shattered by waves of air pressure, arriving before Yun Jing.

Her long sword had been accelerating little by little since the first round of today's matches, and at this moment in the third round, the speed of this strike finally reached its limit, surpassing sound!

With the technique fully activated and her mind intensely focused, even though the strike had already surpassed sound, Bai Zhenzhen felt as if the entire world had slowed down in her eyes.

She watched her long sword inch toward Yun Jing's shoulder, but the other's eyes were blank, completely unresponsive.

"As expected, based on my earlier calculations, accelerating to this point should surpass the observation limit of Yun Jing's eye dharma skeleton…"

Having thoroughly memorized all parameters of Yun Jing's eye dharma skeleton, Bai Zhenzhen knew the safest way to breach it was to accelerate to a speed beyond its recognition.

"Today's three fights have all been to accelerate this strike to this level…"

"No…" In Bai Zhenzhen's mind suddenly surfaced the bitter training of the past year, each life-or-death battle, each time she endured boundless pressure.

She even thought of more—the childhood struggles to hide her spiritual root, the hard study to climb the immortal path…

"For this strike, I have amassed for more than a decade, accelerated for more than a decade, pursued you for more than a decade."

"Now… this strike has finally caught up with you."

Bang!

As the sword collided with Yun Jing, his skin, muscles, and bones shattered layer by layer, and a large hole was blown through his upper body, then with a boom he flew backward.

And Bai Zhenzhen, after that all-out strike, her body followed the strike that had crossed the limit and surpassed sound, covered in blood and flesh, every muscle and tendon feeling as if they would tear apart.

Feeling the divine power enveloping her, Bai Zhenzhen suddenly opened her eyes and said, "I… did I win?"

Huang Zichou looked at Bai Zhenzhen before him and nodded. "You won. One of today's four Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificates is yours."

Bai Zhenzhen smiled slightly upon hearing this, thinking to herself, "Yu Zi, Mom has handled this side. The rest is up to you."

The next moment, Bai Zhenzhen had completely passed out.

In the audience, the "Crying-Laughing Emoji" said after watching the full replay of the three-stage arena match, "That's somewhat interesting."

"This Bai Zhenzhen's raw strength is weaker than Yun Jing's, but clearly her combat talent and potential surpass his."

"And now she has a Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate…"

The "Crying-Laughing Emoji" immediately sensed that Bai Zhenzhen had great investment value, and also realized that many universities were likely already discussing what recruitment conditions to offer her.

"Oh? Also from Songyang City?"

The "Crying-Laughing Emoji" glanced at the candidate's profile and smiled slightly. "And from the same school as Zhang Yu? Then I might as well hire her too."

"It just so happens that by the time they start university, I should be almost done and back, right?"

This time, even the "Smiley Face" beside him didn't veto the proposal, instead saying: "Although this Bai Zhenzhen is also an ultra-poor person, since she managed to pass the Foundation Establishment exam on her first try and obtained the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate, she is indeed a talent. She might be able to help you in the future when she goes to university..."

"But don't forget to give her proper new employee training, set the rules for her, so she doesn't bring up the habits of the first-tier poor in the future..."

Just then, on the other side, Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao had already begun the final match, and the audience immediately focused their attention there.