novelraw Chapter 402 - 395: Choice
Chapter 402 - 395: Choice
Watching Doram lie in the enormous crater, the spectators on the Bosha Country side of the border fell into a collective silence.
Among these spectators were Bosha Country’s top financial magnates and most respected caste members, high-ranking officials from the state and the Military Department, and the upper echelons of the Bosha Teaching’s sects.
All of these people were undoubtedly deeply invested in the outcome of this battle, as it would directly determine the future course of Bosha Country.
Before the exchange began, they had been filled with confidence in the Bosha Teaching’s three Venerable Sanxiangs, for most of them had grown up basking in the light of their "miracles."
As figures from the country’s highest echelons, they understood the abilities of a Venerable Sanxiang better than anyone.
Though they were known as the Venerable Sanxiangs, if these three were placed in the ancient age of myths, they would be true Gods walking the earth.
Now, one of those Divine Spirits had fallen before their very eyes, and in a completely one-sided defeat.
The colossal tree that towered to the heavens and the terrifying, almost tangible aura made the God of the Earth in their hearts seem so small.
TAP. TAP. TAP!
A clear set of footsteps echoed through the canyon as Chen Qingmu walked slowly, step by step, toward Doram, who lay in the crater.
An uproar broke out in the Bosha Country encampment, with some even thinking Chen Qingmu was about to finish Doram off.
Weapon after weapon and cannon after cannon locked onto Chen Qingmu’s figure from a distance. This somewhat over-the-top reaction from Bosha Country immediately triggered a response from the Donghua side.
The surrounding soldiers raised their weapons, and the heavy weapons divisions providing support from the rear began to concentrate their aim. The atmosphere on-site instantly grew tense, ready to erupt at any moment.
But Chen Qingmu didn’t stop. He continued walking toward the crater with a calm expression, the immense magnetic field enveloping him slowly dissipating.
Finally, he reached Doram and slowly bent down, extending a hand to him under Doram’s astonished gaze.
"In the past, we had our disagreements. You could even call it a grudge. But that’s all in the past now."
"No matter what conflicts existed before, at least for the present and the future, our desire to seek the peak of human physical potential is one and the same."
"On the path of seeking the Dao, you and I will always be fellow travelers."
Chen Qingmu said to Doram, his expression sincere.
Hearing Chen Qingmu’s words, Doram’s expression flickered. After a moment of silence, he suddenly shook his head with a wry laugh and said frankly, "After all these decades, I have indeed lost."
As he spoke, he slowly extended a hand from where he lay on the ground, clasping Chen Qingmu’s.
The tense atmosphere at the scene immediately dissipated, and both sides couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Chen Qingmu pulled Doram up from the ground. The two exchanged a slight nod before turning and walking back toward their respective encampments.
As he walked back, Chen Qingmu’s body gradually withered once more. His hair turned white again, the intense life force subsided, and all his "Vitality" concealed itself within his body, returning him to his appearance of white hair and a youthful face.
Zhou Yuanjue and Tu Junshan gave Chen Qingmu a slight nod, then turned their gazes toward the three from Bosha Country.
"Last round, we made the choice. This time, you will choose your opponent."
An incredibly vast voice suddenly manifested above the canyon, as if appearing from thin air.
Among the three from Bosha Country, no one had spoken. The voice—or rather, the magnetic field—had come from Kekao, the one who resembled a mummy sitting in a wheelchair.
Hearing Kekao’s words, Zhou Yuanjue looked at Tu Junshan beside him and asked, "You or me?"
Tu Junshan shrugged. "I was just dragged along to fill out the roster. I never planned on fighting. You go ahead and finish this so I can get a free win."
Zhou Yuanjue was a bit speechless at Tu Junshan’s words.
The guy was built like a mountain, yet he always gave off an air of utter listlessness.
"Fine, I’ll go then."
Zhou Yuanjue shook his head, tapped his toes lightly, and his figure flew out as gracefully as a bird, swiftly crossing the space to stand before the border line.
"It’s Principal Zhou!"
Recognizing Zhou Yuanjue’s figure, Xiangtian’s and the others’ eyes lit up, and they couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.
It wasn’t just them. The other students and instructors from the Martial Arts University who had come to watch were also filled with keen anticipation.
To them, although Zhou Yuanjue was the principal of the Martial Arts University and famous throughout the country, he remained an incredibly mysterious figure in their eyes.
His elusive nature, like a Divine Dragon that shows its head but never its tail; his extraordinary charisma and presence; the immense power he revealed from behind a veil of mist; and his unbelievable age.
It was rumored that he was around the same age as, or perhaps even slightly younger than, the older students present. Yet, he was already an existence who stood at the apex of the world.
All the students were intensely curious about just what kind of power their young principal possessed.
"Judging from the papers he’s published, has that guy developed a new ability? I wonder how powerful it is."
Ji Yunzhou remarked with a look of great interest, and the other young Saint Awakenings showed similar expressions.
And among the students and instructors of the Martial Arts University, there was no shortage of people who knew Zhou Yuanjue.
The former senior brother of the Lanhai Society, now its president and the inheritor of the Dragon Elephant Unmoving Style, Yan Hao, was also standing in the crowd. His gaze was profound as he looked toward Zhou Yuanjue. Now an instructor for the Lanhai Society, his own strength had already reached a very high level of the Guardian Dao.
As the starting point for Zhou Yuanjue’s own path to breaking through to Saint Awakening, he had been a constant witness to the man’s endless miracles.
Once, he had believed he still had a chance to catch up to that figure and stand before him as a true equal once more.
After his battle with Zhou Yuanjue, his own strength had indeed improved by leaps and bounds. However, the distance between him and that figure had only grown, to the point where he could no longer even see his back.
Now, he finally had this chance.
’Let me see... just what level has your power reached...’
Yan Hao muttered to himself.
All eyes were fixed on Zhou Yuanjue’s figure, standing beside the national border, immensely curious as to which opponent he would choose.
Zhou Yuanjue’s gaze swept over the two remaining Venerable Sanxiangs.
First, there was the old man in the wheelchair who resembled a mummy.
Venerable Brahma, Kekao. He corresponded to Brahma Heaven of the God Sanxiang. According to the data, he was the leader of Bosha Country’s most famous practitioners, and since his youth, he had undergone all manner of inhuman ascetic practices.
Blinding his own eyes, cutting out his tongue, piercing his eardrums, slicing off his nose, and even damaging his spinal cord to induce paralysis.
The state of his body today was entirely the result of his asceticism. To think that such practices could reduce a powerful Saint Awakening to this state, one could only imagine how cruel the penance he had endured must have been.
This expert’s terrifying strength lay not in his physical body, but in his Spirit and magnetic field. It was said that he had already reached the abstruse realm of "Brahma and Atman as one, creating all things."