When he thought about it, Li Canghai was a highly-born person, with a supremely powerful master. Moreover, his talent, cultivation resources, experience, and knowledge were all superb. Even in the Leaderboard of Swords and Immortals, he was an exceptional one.
Besides, he was about Wu Yu's age.
Wu Yu had initially thought that his level at this age already determined his success. But here at Shushan, there were constantly younger, more outstanding talents appearing. For example, Nangong Wei, Li Canghai, and that 40-year-old Heaven sword rank Galaxy Sword Sage.
Therefore, he was not content. He knew that his own quality surpassed all, only that he had been too lowborn, and had poor access to resources!
He needed time - and competition - to carve out his own future!
"Torrential Water Dragon Slash!" Even Li Canghai's moves were elite dao techniques executed at the appropriate strength. In Li Canghai's hands, the Sword of the Overflowing Sea flipped and exploded with the loud roar of a dragon. Wu Yu could see that the Sword of the Overflowing Sea was currently shifting into a mystical dragon made of seawater. Coiling around its body was incredible sword qi!
The water dragon was made out of immeasurable Jindan essence!
The power in the transformation alone proved that his sword arts were far superior to Wu Yu's. In terms of his level, Wu Yu was completely suppressed.
His immortal root, the Sea Summoning Bauble, complemented with this sword cultivation dao technique, meant that Wu Yu was fully tested from the moment Li Canghai attacked. The whole arena was cheering, and even jeering, judging Wu Yu's spectacular failure.
"Hu...." At this moment, Wu Yu was extremely calm.
He knew that he could not lose this battle. This was perhaps the most critical battle in determining his entire fate. The winner would soar ahead, the loser thrown back into the abyss! Zhang Futu was waiting for the very moment when he would lose.
Wu Yu did not need to look to know the coldness of the gaze he directed towards him.
From the moment Wu Yu rang the ancient bronze bell, he had broken all ties with Zhang Futu.
Weng!
The water dragon thrashed, the sword technique exploding forth in power to the cheers of the crowd. In the deep sea, the huge water dragon made out of prodigious sword qi swam forward to Wu Yu!
"Sky Fissure Thrust."
Against such a colossal water dragon, Wu Yu used both swords at the same time!
The Triple Kill of the Heavens was still the core of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
"Heavenly Sword Thrust!"
As a huge fissure ripped out to answer the water dragon, the dragon's head was split. This was a straight up clash of power!
The Sword of the Blazing Rainbow morphed into rainbow-colored fire, splitting into seven different bursts of fiery sword qi. At the same time, they wrapped themselves around the water dragon. As its head exploded, Wu Yu combined the power of the two swords to shred the water dragon completely!
Bang!
To everyone's surprise, the water dragon shattered!
Regardless of victory, Wu Yu had already shown that he had the strength to hold out against Li Canghai. Among those at the fourth tier of the Jindan Dao Realm, Li Canghai was already a fairly powerful opponent. And Wu Yu was only at the second tier of the Jindan Dao Realm, yet he could stand up against Li Canghai. This was a miracle!
"His immortal root is very special. It blesses him with very strong talent in terms of sword dao, and even allows him to split his focus into two. In terms of sword dao, he is equal to two people teaming up and fighting."
"His Jindan, immortal root, and physical body are all excellent! Although he is a tad old, and his level a tad low, it cannot be denied that this Wu Yu is the greatest surprise among the newcomers. Quickly, go and investigate this person."
"Although many people have seen him now, I wonder if he has a master? I wonder if he is willing to accept me as his master?"
In the crowd, that singular moment had immediately caused all of the sword cultivator seniors from the Clear Sky of Shushan to notice him.
On Shushan, talent was not easily buried.
As long as he showed himself, he would immediately be watched by many pairs of eyes.
"Even if this Wu Yu loses, he has proven himself today. Although this child's level is not high, his future may be extremely bright indeed."
Although Wu Yu was naturally not aware of the hot debate around him, he still considered this wager a joke if he lost. His fate was in his hands.
"I want to take the world by storm! I want my name to shake Shushan!"
In his heart, he made this strong vow. It shook his very soul itself. This was his will and purpose!
Roar!
In the instant that the water dragon had been smashed by Wu Yu, Li Canghai reformed his Sword of the Overflowing Sea without changing his expression. But his eyes went hard. With a twist of his hand, the Sword of the Overflowing Sea actually shifted into two water dragons that coiled around him. With another roar, the water dragons charged through the water!
Wu Yu could clearly see two dragons coming for him with deadly power!
This time around, he was fired up to his limit. He stowed the Sword of the Mystic Eye and then held the Sword of the Blazing Rainbow in both hands. It burst into flames in response, and the rainbow-colored fire began to grow, twisting around Wu Yu until he was completely immolated. As the fire began to expand outwards, it began to push back the water.
"Immortal Ape Transformation!"
Crash, bang!
Many superstrong beings could see through the rainbow-colored fire, and they saw Wu Yu grow, becoming a golden ape that was unbelievably strong. His physical strength was still growing.
"This is an Atavistic Bloodline! This person is full of surprises! Why have I never heard of this person before?!"
"After atavising, his physical strength has grown considerably."
Just as they were discussing this, Wu Yu's arms, covered in golden fur, began to thicken. This was because he had employed the Violent Art, and he had paid the price of injury to use this skill of the 72 Transformations!
With the change, his physical strength surged!
His level of physical strength instantly rose to an incredible limit!
With an angry roar, Wu Yu shot towards the two dragons like a cannonball.
The fiery sword tore into the mystical dragons!
Like a miracle, the two dragons' heads were shredded, and Wu Yu continued to blast forth, cutting through the water as though shredding bamboo. The rainbow-colored fire coiled around Li Canghai!
"Burst!"
The opponent's defensive moves were strong. Wu Yu used his last vestige of strength from the Violent Art on him. With an alarmed cry, Li Canghai was forced back into his original form due to the water's returning. He was surrounded by flames, and Wu Yu's violent power again rang out. Suddenly, he found himself knocked out of the battle zone, and even coughed a mouthful of fresh blood on the way!
By the time he had stabilized himself, he could see that he was still on fire, and his face was pale.
When Wu Yu withdrew the flames from his body, Li Canghai stared at him in consternation.
He had no idea how Wu Yu had defeated him. Although his injuries were not severe, the problem was that he had already been knocked from the battle arena. By the rules, he had lost.
He was on the Leaderboard of Swords and Immortals, and naturally was familiar with the rules.
And in the instant that he had been wounded, he lost control over the sphere of sea, which was recalled to his hand, forming the Sea Summoning Bauble again. Only Wu Yu remained on the battlefield.
Wu Yu turned back from his Immortal Ape form to his human form. His clothes had been shredded and only his long pants remained. Under the intense rays of the sun, this bare-chested youth radiated sparkling golden light. His skin itself shone brilliantly as though it were encrusted with golden gems, and his eyes were as intense as the sun itself, sweeping across the land. On his back, the golden sauvastika compelled attention.
Many years later, people would still remember that day, where a youth called Wu Yu had entered his first formal fight at Shushan. They could not forget his impressive aura, nor the shocking, golden symbol on his back.
"Thank you for going easy," Wu Yu said. He put his hands together and spoke in a loud, clear voice that rang through the field.
Although other battles were still continuing around them, not many were watching those now. In just a moment, Wu Yu had attracted the majority of the attention.
And even from those high up above.
The Huang sword rank disciple hosting this was a little shocked. He only recovered when Wu Yu spoke, saying, "This battle was won by Wu Yu. He enters the Leaderboard of Swords and Immortals, and takes Li Canghai's place. Li Canghai falls to the end of the Leaderboard of Swords and Immortals!"
Wu Yu laughed from the sheer relief. Only now did he have the presence of mind to see how many people were watching him. As he looked around, he had a feeling that the number of those watching him surpassed what he had expected. Even if he did not look, he could still feel the heat of their gazes. This was the feeling of being at the center of attention, being discussed and admired....
Many could not believe their eyes at the last miraculous burst of effort. This victory had definitely caused his reputation to soar. The entire Common Sword Domain would know him from now on!
This glorious feeling was simply sublime!
Of course, this was Wu Yu's greatest counter against Zhang Futu. As he looked over, Wu Yu saw that Zhang Futu's fists were tightly clenched, his face grim. He was feeling extremely frustrated now. He could not even meet Wu Yu's eyes, instead looking down, cowed by Wu Yu's brilliance.
Wu Yu naturally knew how much Zhang Futu hated him now. Wu Yu had been like a juicy piece of meat in his jaws.
And now the juicy meat had flown away.
"From now on, you had best stop thinking about controlling me, Zhang Futu." Wu Yu's gaze was cold. he knew that he would shrug this Zhang Futu off sooner or later.
And now he heard the discussion--
"This youth Wu Yu is a rare talent. Even at Shushan, he is peerless among thousands! Given his performance today, as long as he continues to improve rapidly, his future is limitless!"
"I guess that many hidden Xuan sword rank disciples will favor him, and even those of the Earth sword rank. After all, he defeated an Earth sword rank's disciple. That's right, what will Shen Xingyu think?"
"According to what I know, this Wu Yu seems to be the disciple of a Huang sword rank called Zhang Futu, and was brought in from outside. He has been in the sect for less than a year. However, he seems to be that Zhang Futu's disciple."
"Who is this Zhang Futu? A puny Huang sword rank dares to take on such a disciple?"
Hearing those last words, Wu Yu knew that he had made it.
Suddenly, he saw a flash of starlight, and a figure landed before him.
1. T/N: polite set phrase after winning a battle