The Day the Sun rose in the West
Yu Hao stared at Zhang Baichi, who suddenly got all fired up about destroying the sealed chamber they were trapped in, with a dumbfounded expression. "How did you get to that conclusion?"
He stared at Zhang Baichi for a moment and shook his head in defeat. "You know what? Don't even tell me. Let's just go."
By now, Yu Hao had already gotten used to Zhang Baichi's unreasonable shifts in mood and simply attributed it to Zhang Baichi being weird. Though he still had a hard time deciding whether getting used to this was a good thing or a bad thing…
"That's the spirit!", Zhang Baichi spoke with a smile and walked further away from Lu Zheng.
Although they were about to destroy the sealed chamber, they still had to look out for Lu Zheng, who had not been able to fully recuperate, yet.
A good distance away, Zhang Baichi came to a stop and looked around. 'Alright, system. I choose option one. How do I destroy the sealed chamber?'
[Ding! The sole purpose for the chamber's existence was to seal the Demonic Treasure away. With the Demonic Treasure destroyed, the chamber will naturally collapse within a short time. Simply causing as much destruction as possible will speed up the collapse.]
'You're telling me to wantonly destroy anything in sight? Just like that?', Zhang Baichi asked, his expression somewhat weirded-out.
[Ding! Host is correct. Host may use this as an opportunity to get accustomed to your current strength.]
Ever since Zhang Baichi had a sudden epiphany and comprehended the Intents of the Sword, Stars and Fracturing, he had never had an opportunity to let loose and fight with his full strength.
At the moment, even Zhang Baichi didn't know how strong he actually was: Since his last fight, he had not only comprehended three Intents, but he had also opened his Soul Space just recently.
While the increase in spiritual power could not directly affect his strength like a rise in cultivation, it would still strongly boost his control over his powers and raise his natural limits on controlling Qi and other forces.
For example, the Fractured Star Sword Technique's second stage, the Star Stage, requires the cultivator to comprehend Star Intent and infuse it into their swordplay. Not only was comprehending an Intent incredibly demanding, but then infusing that Intent into the Sword Technique was another massive hurdle.
However, with Zhang Baichi's enormous spiritual power, he should have no problem with this combination of sword technique and Intent given some practise.
With a thought, Zhang Baichi summoned his sword from his Inventory and rolled his shoulders. 'Let's try it first… Star Intent focuses on imitating the movements and events occurring during an actual star's life cycle. This includes their natural movements, the incredibly explosive chain reactions going on within, and even the collapse of stars; Supernovae.'
When he first started cultivating, Zhang Baichi could not wrap his head around any of the descriptions within the Fractured Star Sword Technique, and everything sounded like gibberish to him.
The explanations and descriptions within the manual were simply too far from the 'truths' he knew from his old life on Earth. But now, with his understanding of martial arts, sword technique, and cultivation in general, and even comprehending the true Star Intent, all of it was abundantly clear in his mind.
'Let's see… the Stardust Stage focused on imitating the movements of stars to create an inescapable net of Sword Qi, decimating the enemy with cunning and precision. However, the Star Stage is different: The focus lies completely on suppression through overwhelming strength…', Zhang Baichi recalled the introductions within the sword technique again.
He took a deep breath and circulated the Black Heaven Qi in his body to great effect. The signature black aura of the Black Heaven Scripture quickly shrouded his body and pushed his momentum to the extreme.
He willed his Star Intent to manifest, and a silver aura coated his sword entirely, before coiling around his whole body and merging with the Black Heaven Qi shrouding him.
His aura rose sharply, and the pressure he gave of was increasing by the moment. Even from quite some distance away, Yu Hao could feel the pressure, much to his surprise. 'What's going on? His aura is even stronger than when he had his epiphany… Just what is he doing?'
To Yu Hao, the current Zhang Baichi hardly felt like a human. He was more like a dormant volcano, ready to erupt an any second. Just his aura alone was enough to overwhelm most cultivators at the same layer, much less anyone below that.
Even after half a minute, Zhang Baichi's aura was still on the rise, with no end in sight. Zhang Baichi's eyes were still closed, so Yu Hao was sure that he was still trying to figure out his own limitations.
'Just… Just what did this monster actually comprehend? This isn't even remotely close to just mastering a martial technique.', Yu Hao's eyes were fixated on Zhang Baichi.
There was hardly anything more interesting to Yu Hao than martial techniques, and he was always starved to learn just one more, but he had never seen techniques like the one Zhang Baichi was using.
Even when he saw his father or Elder Jian Fu practise their Sword Technique, he never felt this drawn to any technique before. It was simply on another level. 'His epiphany changed the whole technique. This silvery glow is definitely the same as when he fought Ji Jian, or any of the Demonbeasts in the Mystic Realm, but it's completely different at the same time.'
Yu Hao's mind was spinning at breakneck speed trying to understand what was so special about the technique Zhang Baichi was using, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, Zhang Baichi was completely immersed in the feeling of fusing the Star Intent with his Black Heaven Qi.
The Fractured Star Sword Technique required him to use the Star Intent to fuel his attacks rather than Spiritual Qi, which was one of the reasons the technique was so powerful. Even without any Qi in their bodies, a cultivator could show their full strength with just their comprehension of Intents.
But that was exactly the crux Zhang Baichi wanted to circumvent: Unlike other cultivators, he did not cultivate Spiritual Qi, which was inferior compared to Intents. His Black Heaven Qi was far, far superior to normal Spiritual Qi, and he not bound by the Laws of Heaven. It should, by all means, be superior to even Intents, which were based on the Laws of Heaven.
'I'll fuse the Intent into the Black Heaven Qi to strengthen it. Then I'll use the Black Heaven Qi to fuel the Fractured Star Sword Technique. The only question is if that will result in a stronger technique or not…', Zhang Baichi mused.
Everything was going smoothly, and he managed to find a balance between the two forces in just a few minutes.
His aura alone was powerful enough to affect the physical world, causing the air around his to tremble, and the bones littered on the ground to crack under the pressure; With just this alone, Zhang Baichi could stand equal against cultivators in the upper layers of the Qi Condensation Realm, and that was without actually using any techniques!
A few seconds later, Zhang Baichi opened his eyes, and pressure vanished entirely. There was only a hazy, black and white aura swirling around Zhang Baichi left.
Yu Hao, who was still looking at him from afar, felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand up the moment Zhang Baichi's aura was restrained. This was a feeling of danger! Extreme danger!
This feeling was even more intense then when he stood in front of the Sect Master for the first time. It felt like his own life was no longer in under his control, as if a single move of Zhang Baichi's could instantly decide his life and death.
Cold sweat poured down Yu Hao's back, while Zhang Baichi leisurely inspected himself. 'There doesn't seem to be any problem… It's completely stable, with no strain on me, or any energy spilling… It even feels alleviating, as if I had infinite energy… Let's test this out.'
Zhang Baichi's demeanor changed from one moment the next. He lifted his sword to his chest and followed the standard routines of the Fractured Star Sword Technique.
He took a few steps and sword his sword, fully displaying the beautiful sword technique, then he took one last step towards the small hill he chose as his target and swung his sword horizontally.
There was still no lingering pressure in the air, but the moment Zhang Baichi swung his sword to attack, the surrounding space seemed to shake.
An absolutely surreal amount of force was unleashed by Zhang Baichi's attack, that tore the air apart, decimated the small hill a few metres away from Zhang Baichi, split the ground beneath his feat, and exploded in a massive burst of light and energy – all at the same time.
Without any time to react, Zhang Baichi was pulled off of his feet by the burst of energy and flung over a hundred metres through the air, blood splattering from his nose, ears, and mouth.
Moments before, Yu Hao grabbed onto Lu Zheng, only for both of them to be blasted away by the burst as well, both spitting mouthfuls of blood.
For a mere instant, the entire sealed chamber was lit up in a breathtakingly beautiful glow of golden light, only to be devastated by the following shockwave and rattled by a sonic boom a second later.
It was as if Zhang Baichi had dropped the sun on the battlefield.
As if, on this day, the sun rose in the west.