Chapter 691: Sword Embryo Upgrade, Foster Father

Shouldn't we be the ones running?

Hearing Zhang Yu's words, Liujin Zhenjun thought to himself, "Truly… low-level taunting technique."

Liujin Zhenjun let out a cold laugh and said, "Zhang Yu, hearing such childish provocation from you puts my mind at ease."

"Because at this moment, I understand that not only is your strength lacking, but your practical combat skills are also lacking."

Zhang Yu, upon hearing this, chuckled inwardly: "Very good. With this attitude of yours, you probably won't run away easily before my reinforcements fully arrive."

As he spoke, Liujin Zhenjun had already released his Nascent Soul, which looked like a potbellied old man.

"The battle of Nascent Soul cultivators is a battle of Nascent Souls."

Liujin Zhenjun understood that the techniques empowered by the Nascent Soul were often what Nascent Soul cultivators were best at.

It was a technique chosen from the time of breaking through to the Golden Core stage, starting from forging the extraordinary meridians.

It was a power accumulated over many years, day after day, year after year, through countless cultivation, honing, and comprehension, and after layers of strengthening, it became the strongest power in battle.

And all other magical bodies, treasures, techniques… were often supplementary, centered around this.

When Liujin Zhenjun released his Nascent Soul at the first moment, it signified that he was ready to use his full strength.

His potbellied Nascent Soul let out a cry and had already activated the military-grade technique of the Finance Department of Underworld University—the Dao-Burning Life-Loan Scripture.

It was as if an invisible flame had ignited on Liujin Zhenjun's Nascent Soul.

For Liujin Zhenjun, who had advanced through Golden Core and Nascent Soul over many years, this military-grade technique was one he had cultivated since his Foundation Establishment period in university, and it had been his livelihood… his strongest and most familiar technique.

Liujin Zhenjun still remembered the first day he obtained this technique, how excited he was and how much he looked forward to the future.

Back then, not every finance student was wealthy.

At that time, Liujin Zhenjun was also not a rich man; he could only rely on loans and selling everything he had to study and cultivate.

And the was the military-grade technique most suitable for him at that time.

Magical power, quality of magical power, physical strength, Dao heart… all the fruits of hard cultivation could be used to drive this technique.

By burning all of one's cultivation, one could exchange it for a more powerful burst in a short time.

The Liujin Zhenjun of that time relied on this technique, cultivating arduously time and again, burning, then recultivating, then burning again…

Repeatedly from early to late Foundation Establishment stage, he recultivated nearly seven times. Relying on the explosive power gained from each burn, he won four competition championships and thus successfully secured a postgraduate recommendation, becoming a master's student in the Finance Department of Underworld University.

At that time, Liujin Zhenjun told himself that he would not recultivate again, he would not work odd jobs, he wanted to become the richest person…

At this moment, as the invisible flame fiercely burned on Liujin Zhenjun's Nascent Soul, his various stats rapidly declined.

His magical power dropped from the original peak of 100,000 to 90,000, 80,000, 75,000…

Physical strength fell from the original peak of Level 40 to Level 39, Level 38…

Even his Dao heart directly dropped from Level 40 to Level 39.

And as his cultivation regressed, his Nascent Soul underwent a drastic change in an instant, from the original potbellied old man to the appearance of a lean and muscular middle-aged man.

Just then, shouts came from all around.

Evidently, with the signal of the entire building cut off, cultivators using the study rooms kept coming out to check the situation. Some noticed the scene here but could not see Liujin Zhenjun's burning Nascent Soul.

A security guard noticed the anomaly here and began to speak, "Sir, please…"

"Scram…"

Liujin Zhenjun lightly uttered a single word, and with a flick of the finger of his Nascent Soul, which had burned into the form of a middle-aged man, the bodies of several security guards burst apart with a bang, exploding into a cloud of blood mist.

The various cultivators around, seeing this, showed terrified expressions and immediately shrank back into their study rooms, slamming the doors shut.

Watching these security guards easily crushed by him, Liujin Zhenjun remembered his former self—the one who struggled bitterly in the Finance Department, called a recultivation beggar, a desperate waste.

At the same time, dazzling light burst forth as the Heavenly Sun God shot out from Zhang Yu's Taixu Cloud Storage, carrying scorching golden flames and rolling waves of heat, surging toward Liujin Zhenjun.

The Heavenly Sun God, having reached Level 31, possessed the might to burn mountains and boil seas, capable of building skyscrapers single-handedly, and even if Zhang Yu wished, he could use the Heavenly Sun God to blow up the entire study building and then rebuild it.

But facing the imposing Heavenly Sun God, Liujin Zhenjun merely moved his mind and urged his Nascent Soul to meet it head-on.

Boom!

The Nascent Souls of Solar Deity and Flowgold True Lord collided head-on.

Blazing flames completely enveloped the Nascent Soul.

Even though Zhang Yu tried to control it, the floor and ceiling all around were gradually melting under the dissipating flames.

But in the midst of this extreme burning, Flowgold True Lord's Nascent Soul let out a roar, directly burst through the flames, and shattered the漫天 flames entirely with punch after punch.

The flames pressed toward the Nascent Soul again and again, only to be broken apart by a few punches and kicks each time.

The next instant, the Nascent Soul had already grabbed Solar Deity's head in its grip.

Flowgold True Lord thought in his heart: "In this world, either others oppress me, or I oppress others."

His gaze swept across the blood mist of the security guard, passed over the roaring Solar Deity, and finally settled on Zhang Yu.

"Today I infiltrated behind enemy lines, risking my life, just so I never have to risk my life again... I will no longer be oppressed by others; I will oppress everyone!"

Accompanying Flowgold True Lord's furious shout, the *Burning Dao Loan Life Scripture* was pushed to its limit. With his cultivation burning intensely, his Nascent Soul transformed from a middle-aged form into a youthful form.

Bang! With an explosive sound, the Solar Deity in the Nascent Soul's hand was torn apart, turning into a ball of sparks that scattered into the atmosphere.

"Pathetic."

"Zhang Yu, let me take you down."

Flowgold True Lord reached out to grab, watching Zhang Yu with excitement, anticipation, and delight, roaring in his heart: "As long as I accomplish this great deed! I can repay the resurrection debt! Pay off the back wages! Pay the artifact spirit's child support! Everything can turn around!"

Swoosh! With Flowgold True Lord's will poured into it, the young Nascent Soul also let out a wild roar and charged furiously toward Zhang Yu.

In a flash, the Nascent Soul appeared before Zhang Yu and violently grabbed at him.

Faced with this scene, Zhang Yu's expression was icy. He reached out and grasped the incoming Taihao Sacred Law Flying Sword, slashing it toward the Nascent Soul.

Bang!

The Level 31 flying sword was shattered by the Nascent Soul. Under Flowgold True Lord's burning cultivation and fully mobilized power, it proved utterly fragile.

But Zhang Yu did not stop. His other hand grabbed another incoming Taihao Sacred Law Flying Sword and struck out again.

Bang! Bang! Bang...

In a series of explosions, Zhang Yu met the Nascent Soul with one flying sword after another as they shot toward him.

And with every collision, the sword broke and he was wounded.

With each clash, the impact transmitted through the flying sword inflicted internal injuries on Zhang Yu. All over his body, cracks burst open, spraying out large patches of blood mist.

After shattering twelve flying swords in a row, the Nascent Soul's palm pressed down above Zhang Yu's head.

"It's over..."

Just as Flowgold True Lord thought this, he saw the blood-soaked Zhang Yu punch forward, his fist violently colliding with the Nascent Soul's palm.

Having adapted through the previous twelve consecutive impacts, Zhang Yu was confident that his Nascent Soul realm physical divine ability, the "Formless Free Body," could now withstand the opponent's full-force strike.

Boom!

The floor beneath his feet shattered, and the entire floor was instantly blasted open into a large hole, becoming shaky and unstable.

Amid the violent tremors, many cultivators who had been hiding in their rooms screamed. They tried to jump out of windows to escape, only to find the whole building sealed. Now they could only open doors and flee.

Flowgold True Lord ignored the chaotic crowd. His eyes were fixed on Zhang Yu, who was floating in midair as his wounds slowly healed. He thought to himself in great surprise: "This guy... actually took a full blow from my Nascent Soul head-on?"

Flowgold True Lord knew that this was no ordinary Nascent Soul strike; it was one empowered by the *Burning Dao Loan Life Scripture*, burning mana, burning the Dao heart, burning physical strength, and amplified through layers of reinforcement.

"Has this guy really just broken through to Nascent Soul?"

"No wonder he's so confident... Zhang Yu, your confidence does have some basis."

Flowgold True Lord had to admit that Zhang Yu's performance had caught him extremely off guard.

But at the same time, he felt fortunate: "If I had come alone on this mission, I'm afraid you might have actually slipped away."

"But luckily... luckily Venerable Xiang was cautious enough to invite the three of us, allowing us to claim this great prize."

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu saw the other two Nascent Soul cultivators, one above and one below, each bursting through the floors and rapidly closing in on his position.

The entire building was like a toy before these two Nascent Soul cultivators; any random charge or collision punched hole after hole through it.

If not for deliberately controlling the damage to the structure to avoid attracting outside attention, they could have blasted the entire building to pieces the moment the battle began.

At the same time, Liujin Zhenjun's warning voice reached the other two: "Be careful—this kid's physical divine ability is probably defensive and adaptive. Don't get tangled up with him; aim to subdue him in one strike."

Upon hearing Liujin Zhenjun's reminder, Taihao Zhenjun said to himself calmly, "I never planned on using a second move anyway."

On the other side, Huanqie Zhenjun had already made the first move.

A flash of light flickered around him, and a nascent soul detached from his body.

That nascent soul took the form of a pair of conjoined, seductive beings—part male, part female—joined back-to-back and constantly emitting peals of laughter.

"Zhang Yu, look at me."

And in Zhang Yu's eyes, that conjoined-baby-like nascent soul had transformed into the image of Bai Zhenzhen, radiating a breathtaking charm.

Immediately afterward, Zhang Yu felt the magical power within him being drained at an alarming rate.

Zhang Yu's brow tightened. He tried his best to circulate his internal magical power, attempting to rein it in, only to find that he had become like a punctured balloon—his magical power kept leaking out like air, almost impossible to stop.

Huanqie Zhenjun chuckled lightly and sent a telepathic message to his two companions: "He's already under my Heart-Meld Ultimate Joy Sutra. His magical power will be exhausted before long."

"Of course, if you keep fighting him, his magical power will drain even faster."

The military-grade cultivation art of Huanqie University, the *Heart-Meld Ultimate Joy Sutra*, can change its appearance in the eyes of others into the form the target most admires and loves, stirring up their affection and turning them into a lover of the caster.

The lower one's cultivation realm, the weaker one's Dao heart, and the more sentiment and loyalty one has, the less resistance one has against the *Heart-Meld Ultimate Joy Sutra*.

Once someone becomes Huanqie Zhenjun's lover, in the most severe cases, Huanqie Zhenjun can even transfer injuries and debts onto that lover.

Even if one does not become a lover, even just admiring the image seen with one's own eyes allows Huanqie Zhenjun to tug at one's magical power, accelerating its consumption.

And matters of admiration and aesthetic taste are generated by a person's own mind—unless they brainwash themselves or undergo long-term correction, it's impossible to easily change them.

Just like Zhang Yu at this moment: to him, the appearance of Bai Zhenzhen was good, was beautiful, was what he admired.

This judgment had nothing to do with the current situation; it was purely an almost instinctive reaction of his aesthetic sense, which was ultimately manipulated by Huanqie Zhenjun, causing his magical power to continuously leak away.

"This guy..." Zhang Yu squinted at Huanqie Zhenjun, thinking to himself, "Was that a lucky guess, or did he accurately pinpoint my current biggest weakness... insufficient magical power?"

Meanwhile, on the other side, watching all this, Taihao Zhenjun merely said indifferently, "Superfluous."

In his view, every move made by both Liujin Zhenjun and Huanqie Zhenjun was an unnecessary redundancy.

To capture Zhang Yu, one move from him alone was enough; the others should have just controlled the scene and protected the building to avoid prematurely drawing in reinforcements.

He, Taihao Zhenjun, was the combat power designated to suppress any unexpected situations in this mission.

Wherever Taihao Zhenjun passed, figures that had been running wildly exploded in bursts.

Amid the piercing screams of those around, the users of various study rooms shattered as if struck by invisible forces, turning into splashes of blood mist blooming on the walls, floors, and ceilings.

And the thing that had shattered them was none other than Taihao Zhenjun's nascent soul.

That nascent soul looked like an infant, but its long navel cord was attached to a coffin.

"What move should I use to suppress Zhang Yu as quickly as possible?" That was a question Taihao Zhenjun had carefully considered during his preparation for battle.

Taihao Zhenjun, who cultivated the *Moving Lineage Changing Ancestors Sublime Canon*, had buried and paid homage to too many cultivators, and had obtained the abilities of one after another.

Among these varied abilities, he quickly selected the one best suited for the current situation.

Power! He needed the strongest, fiercest power to violently suppress and capture Zhang Yu.

Netherworld Body Dismantling Method! This technique involved self-destructing one's body to unleash terrifying destructive force; in ancient times it was a last-resort, final-life gambit technique.

But in modern society, especially after Netherworld University provided abundant spare bodies, this technique became a standard-issue one for many wealthy cultivators.

However, Taihao Zhenjun was different: the Netherworld Body Dismantling Method he used borrowed power from his own ancestors—naturally, it dismantled not his own body, but the bodies of his ancestors.

"Ancestors above, bless me today to suppress the enemy, and may everything go smoothly."

In a tomb somewhere far away, a coffin exploded violently. The corpse inside was crushed into powder, erupting with an extremely dense blood light that blasted the entire tomb into the sky.

At the same time, Taihao Zhenjun's nascent soul stirred violently, and the coffin connected by the navel cord seemed to surge with a crimson power that poured directly into the infant-like nascent soul's body.

The next moment, the nascent soul's hand reached out, and the palm, glowing with a scarlet light, swelled enormously, grabbing toward Zhang Yu like a sky-covering strike.

This strike was a death-defying blow of ancestors' blessing, abandoning everything after death—a blow that, in terms of power, was enough to dominate the peak of the nascent soul stage.

Under this strike from Taihao Perfected Lord, pressure as solid as substance rushed to his face, crushing every wisp of air at the scene.

Under the suppression of violent power, every inch of matter in the entire space seemed to be forcibly frozen, leaving them only able to watch helplessly as the Nascent Soul's palm slowly descended.

At the same time, Liujin Perfected Lord's Nascent Soul also struck out with a palm, having already burned from a middle-aged form into a young form, driving the power of the Burning Dao Life-Lending Scripture, and together with Taihao Perfected Lord, they completed a combined strike from left and right.

Watching this scene, Taihao Perfected Lord frowned and thought to himself, "Unnecessary..."

Amid the rumbling explosions, Zhang Yu fell rapidly like a meteor crashing to the ground under the combined strike of the two forces.

Bang, bang, bang! Layer after layer of the ground was forcibly broken open and pierced through.

Thus, Zhang Yu was pressed down all the way by Taihao Perfected Lord and Liujin Perfected Lord, shattering thirteen floors in succession before crashing straight into the basement.

Watching this, Bai Zhenzhen clenched her teeth and fists, her sword qi flickering within her body as the impulse to charge downward surged repeatedly.

But recalling Zhang Yu's instructions, she ultimately remained rooted in place, hiding herself, and stared intently at the underground space behind the large broken holes in the floors.