Chapter 501: The Stimulation Brought by Yanshan's Breakthrough

As time passed, Zhou You gradually observed it.

If the battle between low-level martial artists and sorcerers was like a battle royale, then the high-end games were like playing chess—specifically, Chinese chess.

The two camps were clearly demarcated, as if separated by the Chu River and Han Border, with both sides arrayed in formation, confronting each other from a distance.

Liu Fengji and Gaoyang Ruoqiang were the commanders of the two sides; although the others had different duties, they were all expendable chess pieces.

Regardless of whether your horse moves in an 'L' shape, your elephant moves across the field, your chariot and cannon are sharp, or your pawns charge forward, once you are on the battlefield, you are cannon fodder; every step is a process of constant trading and exchange.

After one match after another, countless martial artists and sorcerers were killed or injured, yet the commanders of both sides remained unscathed.

Both sides were exhausting each other, watching and waiting for an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow and put the other side in check! As a chess piece, seeing things too clearly was obviously very uncomfortable.

"Brother Zhou, do you blame me for pulling you into this great whirlpool?"

Another match ended, with the sorcerer and the martial artist perishing together; scattered remains were everywhere, and cleaning them up took quite a bit of effort.

Pei Li suddenly spoke up and asked Zhou You.

Zhou You shook his head. "Pavilion Master Pei, saying that makes us strangers. A thousand people have a thousand perspectives; the same event may look like a desperate, dangerous situation to some, but to others, it is a rare opportunity!"

He was referring to this high-end game.

Zhou You did not think that Pei Li bringing him here was an act of pushing him into danger; on the contrary, it was a rare opportunity.

On an external battlefield, where else could one see so many experts competing, along with an endless stream of secret techniques and treasures?

Even more, Zhou You had a vague premonition that his opportunity to break through to Intermediate Martial Master lay right here.

"Brother Zhou is so much to my liking; these words speak to the bottom of my heart."

A spirit of pointing out the landscape and grand ambition showed between Pei Li's brows, and his gaze swept over the martial artists around him.

The heaven-favored children from noble families, the elite Disciples who received the elite education of the Jueguang Sect, the Gate Guests selected under strict conditions, and the top experts from Dayin Mountain and Wanxiu Mountain...

"The circle you and I are in, the martial arts world, is considered the lowest tier in the eyes of these people."

"The great war is like a hand thrust into stagnant water, stirring up silt and making the water murky; it is precisely because of this that you and I can fight side by side with these high-and-mighty figures and witness a broader world."

"Bian Zhou is too rigid and appears extreme, but you, Brother Zhou, are different; these words are things I can only say to you and have you listen."

Pei Li sighed, "I know that people in Fucheng privately call me a remnant of the rebels; I have the stain of having followed the rebels, which I can never wash off in my life, but your background is clean, and you have an infinite future."

"With the Black Cloud Spear Manual in your hands, in time, you will be the second Yanshan."

These words were a genuine outpouring of emotion, but Zhou You did not feel his blood boil or develop a sense of kindred spirit because of it; the reason was simple: he, Zhou You, had never been a sentimental person.

"What Pavilion Master Pei says is..."

Zhou You wanted to say something more, but both the enemy and his own side began to stir; a duel had just finished, and the next one had not yet begun, so what could be so sensational? The news spread from ear to ear until it reached the two of them...

"The Hating Overlord Yanshan has broken through to Strong Martial in a desperate situation, leaping out from the valley floor, using the Overlord Art to pierce the left shoulder of the sorcerer Strong Martial Tu Niushu, and retreating unscathed after challenging someone three levels of the First Heaven above him."

This sensational news quickly spread throughout both the martial artist and sorcerer sides.

Tu Niushu was a Great Sorcerer of the Zhongxi Tribe and an expert of the Strong Martial Fourth Heaven.

In terms of strength, Yanshan was not even worth a speck of dust in front of him; he could be wiped out with a casual wave of his hand.

Even if Yanshan had broken through to Strong Martial, he would have at most the strength of the first or second heaven, still three small realms behind him; how could he have pierced his shoulder and allowed Yanshan to retreat unscathed?

Wait...

The Hating Overlord Yanshan has broken through to the Strong Martial realm! After the shock, everyone realized where the true point of this news lay. The Hating Overlord Yanshan, the peak powerhouse among the high-level martial artists of Fucheng, was known as invincible in a hundred battles and had never suffered a defeat in his life.

However, among the many experts present, there was no lack of powerhouses standing at the peak of Martial Masters; for example, Liu Fengji had already stood at the threshold of breaking through to Strong Martial earlier, only to have his progress delayed due to unforeseen events.

Among the martial artists and sorcerers present, a conservative estimate was that at least ten people were not below Yanshan in realm.

Yet, they also found the Strong Martial realm to be something they could see but not reach, and they had been seeking the opportunity to break through.

Bloody battles, tempering, and bitter cultivation—they had tried all sorts of methods, and even the purpose of joining this war between the two races was to strike at their bottlenecks on the edge of life and death.

However, the Strong Martial Heavenly Moat was not just something to talk about; it was truly an invisible and intangible moat that separated the two realms of Martial Master and Strong Martial.

From the start of the war until now, tens of thousands had died on both sides, and the number of high-level martial artists who had participated was immeasurable, yet not a single person had broken through to this day.

From this, it could be seen that the Strong Martial Heavenly Moat lived up to its reputation.

Who could have expected that a piece of news sent from afar would contain...

From Liu Fengji and Gaoyang Ruoqiang on down, both sorcerers and martial artists felt a sense of loss; what was the point of fighting to the death anymore? Yanshan had already leaped to become a high-and-mighty Strong Martial, no longer on the same level as them.

It was too uncomfortable; seeing someone of the same level suddenly become a big shot you had to look up to, the psychological gap was just...

Zhou You carefully analyzed every detail in the news.

Yanshan had separated from the main group and plunged into the battlefield where Strong Martial experts were fighting, suffering the aftermath several times and narrowly escaping death.

The most dangerous time was when he was casually swept into the valley floor by Tu Niushu; his mount was smashed into meat paste, he had multiple injuries on his body, and he had persisted for days and nights while climbing the rocks with only one hand.

It was precisely this tempering while struggling on the verge of life and death that allowed him to break through the bottleneck and jump out of the valley floor holding the Bawang Shu.

After promoting to Strong Martial, he found Tu Niushu with the Overlord Art in hand and pierced the opponent's shoulder in one strike.

"Accumulating strength and tempering in a desperate situation; Yanshan is truly a character."

Sigh, it is a pity that his success cannot be copied, let alone pasted onto oneself.

Yanshan was a peak existence among high-level martial artists, and the barrier to the Strong Martial realm was as thin as paper; with his strength, he could of course roam around and court death by breaking into the Strong Martial battlefield.

Zhou You, however, could not; with his strength, if he were to set foot on the edge of the Strong Martial battlefield, he would certainly be left without a corpse.

However, this line of thinking about tempering in a desperate situation could be borrowed.

The firmer the bottleneck, the more it was inseparable from one's own situation; only by forcing oneself into a desperate situation could one have the chance to break through and stand again.

Extraordinary people do extraordinary things; if an ordinary person did this, they would lose their life a hundred times over, but the Hating Overlord Yanshan was able to survive death and achieve the greatest merit of this battle by crossing the Strong Martial Heavenly Moat.

Hmm...

With Zhou You's strength, no Intermediate Martial Master could fight him; even if it were a high-level martial artist, if they were not among the very top, the pressure they gave him was limited and could not achieve the effect of forcing him into a desperate situation.

Zhou You subconsciously looked at the sorcerer camp; Gaoyang Ruoqiang had delicate features, and using him as a whetstone would be quite good.

"Gaoyang Ruoqiang, did you hear that? I want to fight you to the death!"

Liu Fengji spoke up, and the companions beside him were greatly shocked.

This is being provoked, unable to endure the lukewarm turn-based combat, wanting to risk everything to seek a breakthrough in martial strength.

"I have the exact same intention!"

(End of this chapter)