With three sword strikes, he parried three slashes, forcing Qin Zhizhen, whose blade arts surpassed the absolute pinnacle of his realm, to retreat into the void.

He then unfurled his fire realm, preventing Qin Zhizhen from approaching him for a time.

Then, while Qin Zhizhen attacked his fire realm, he directly activated a pupil technique, seeking a life-and-death decision on the divine soul level.

Every choice he made could be called perfect.

The combat talent Jiang Wang displayed in this battle filled onlookers with alarm!

As the victor of the first half, Huang Sheri naturally focused intently on her opponent in the finals. In her aesthetic standards, Jiang Wang now possessed a certain “temperament beauty,” making her look at him a few extra times.

However, regarding this series of responses from Jiang Wang, she inwardly mused that even with the activation of her Bodhi insight, her grasp of battle opportunities would be no more than this. Yet, Jiang Wang had clearly not employed divine abilities!

He relied solely on himself…

Solely on his innate combat talent!

How terrifying was this?

Many spectators, including Chu Yuzhi, could not fathom the strength of Jiang Wang’s divine soul. However, merely considering Xiang Bei, they could make an educated guess or two.

Could it be that the much-anticipated Tianfu cultivator was destined to fall here?

No sooner had this thought arisen than he was suddenly startled. Why did he, who always felt Qin Zhizhen would meet Huang Sheri in the finals and who had even begun analyzing the outcome of the Tianfu realm’s absolute peak clash, now believe Jiang Wang would emerge victorious?

As a Chu national, he naturally hoped for the defeat of a Qin national. But Qin Zhizhen’s five mansions shone brilliantly, and he possessed blade arts that surpassed the absolute apex of his realm. How could he possibly lose?!

Seated beside him, Zuo Guangshu softly remarked to Qu Shunhua, “It’s even more than that!” His tone held a hint of pride.

Qu Shunhua raised his chin but remained silent.

The pupil technique Jiang Wang had learned from the Gan Yang Divine Pupils contained only one style: Setting Sun.

However, this single style had been employed to its absolute limit by him.

Borrowing the fragmented volume of the Single Rider Entering the Array Diagram, he forcefully intruded into Qin Zhizhen’s Tongtian Palace, expending his divine soul power to bring the battle to a swift conclusion.

The scene of “the great sun falls to ruin, heaven and earth are already absolute” scorched Qin Zhizhen’s body and mind.

Facing this spectacle and its might, he was compelled to wonder if even his divine soul had been drawn into the fire realm.

Was his body in the fire realm, and his heart also in the fire realm?

But Qin Zhizhen was Qin Zhizhen after all. This moment of bewildered doubt lasted only an instant before being斩断 cut short.

He recognized very clearly that he was currently within his own Tongtian Palace, and at this very moment, it was a matter of life and death!

Escaping into the void now would not evade the divine soul attack, and being restricted by the fire realm meant void escape was no longer unimpeded. At this juncture, a slight delay meant the difference between life and death.

However, in his divine soul form, Qin Zhizhen merely grabbed towards his body with his right hand, directly tearing off a piece of black clothing as thin as a cicada’s wing!

This “black clothing” was different from the one he wore in the physical world. It existed between the virtual and the real, thin yet not transparent, with a faint flow of baleful aura upon it.

As he tore off this piece of “black clothing,” his entire Tongtian Palace instantly became empty!

That Single Rider Entering the Array Diagram, that scene of the fierce sun falling upon the world, that terrifyingly potent divine soul power – all were imprinted upon this thin layer of black clothing, becoming pictures on the garment, torn away together with it!

This was the divine ability, “No Clothes”!

How can it be said “no clothes”? A war soul is one’s robe!

This garment was transformed from a war soul. It emerged for battle and retreated for defense.

When used for battle, it manifested outside the body, imbuing every fist and every blade with divine soul killing in addition to their original lethality.

When used for defense, it was worn upon the divine soul, resisting attacks on that level.

Just as now, with Qin Zhizhen tearing off this soul garment, Jiang Wang’s terrifying divine soul offensive dissipated into smoke!

In his battle against Beigong Ke of Yong, he held the absolute initiative, at ease and leisurely watching the battle between Jiang Wang and Xiang Bei conclude.

He had then specifically displayed his Five Mansions Shining Together, attempting to crush Jiang Wang’s fighting spirit and extinguish the confidence he had gained after his great victory over a powerful adversary.

Why, after clearly watching the battle between Jiang Wang and Xiang Bei and knowing Jiang Wang’s divine soul power was necessarily strong, did he still give Jiang Wang the opportunity to instigate a divine soul confrontation?

Because although this was Jiang Wang’s opportunity, it was also his opportunity!

While Jiang Wang was scheming against him, he was also scheming against Jiang Wang!

People are most dangerous when they are complacent. At their peak, they are instead most likely to fall to their deaths. This is because they stand too high and are too relaxed.

Jiang Wang wanted to end the battle in one strike, to kill him with his divine soul.

This was the timing he chose to counter-kill Jiang Wang!

Divine soul struggle, a war in an instant.

With the soul garment torn off, all attacks encountered on the divine soul level were shifted away, and the Tongtian Palace was already clear. In the fire realm, Qin Zhizhen, who still held his blade, suddenly sped up, swiftly completing his physical world annihilation and cleaving a gap in the fire realm!

Rumble!

Meteors scattered, flame birds fell.

The world of fire began to collapse.

Jiang Wang’s fire realm technique, after all, had not reached the realm of birth and death at will. Although full of vitality, once a “heavenly flaw” appeared, it still lacked the ability to automatically repair itself and was quickly headed towards collapse.

It was not that the fire realm was not strong, but that it had encountered too terrifying an opponent.

Qin Zhizhen held his blade in his right hand and with his left, again grabbed a piece of illusory black clothing, pressing it towards his body.

His body donned the war soul’s raiment!

A sound as light as a bursting bubble.

Upon that piece of illusory black clothing, the picture of the setting sun falling upon the world still lingered, but suddenly collapsed, turning into countless fragments together with the “black clothing,” and thus vanishing.

Qin Zhizhen had miscalculated on only one point—

That was, Jiang Wang’s divine soul attack was even stronger than he had imagined, strong enough to approach the limits of his No Clothes divine ability!

Although he had dispelled it with his No Clothes divine ability, the manifested soul garment had also shattered on the spot, making it difficult to gather again for a time.

In this exchange just now, if Jiang Wang’s divine soul offensive had been slightly stronger, his No Clothes divine ability might not even have been able to dispel it, and his feigned defeat might have turned into true defeat!

Fortunately, this round had passed, and a new exchange was just beginning.

His intention to wear the war soul’s raiment was merely out of caution towards Jiang Wang.

In fact, by seizing the gap in Jiang Wang’s failed divine soul attack, he had already gained a significant advantage.

Shattering the fire realm was just one part of it.

Just like countless battles in the past, every step he took was steady, accumulating one advantage after another, moving towards an unshakeable victory.

In everyone’s eyes—

Qin Zhizhen’s attempt to wear the war soul’s raiment failed, but his actions did not cease in the slightest. He still leaped forward, moving within the world of shattered fire.

Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble!

Five sources of light suddenly illuminated within his body, unleashing his Five Mansions Shining Together!

The vast distance between the two vanished in a flash.

He passed through scattered petals, broken feathers, and shattered stones, killing towards the master of the fire realm amidst its doomsday.

This was the style of an absolute peak prodigy!

Emerging from a killing formation, he immediately initiated another.

The momentum of victory and defeat shifted in an instant.

People could see, amidst the brilliant shattering scene, a set of black clothes flashing past, a dark black blade edge cutting through the long sky.

Qin Zhizhen, within the fire realm’s end-world, killed his way out!

Hoo…

Facing the approaching blow.

His divine soul felt cold.

Beside his ear… it was the sound of a gentle breeze.

A wisp of frosty white wind, turning into a body of dark black, a long nail with a frosty white tip, suddenly appeared before Qin Zhizhen, aiming for his heart!

Facing Qin Zhizhen in his Five Mansions Shining Together state, Jiang Wang met him head-on with the Life-Taking Nail!

Within the Eight Winds divine ability, the Bu Zhou wind possessed the foremost killing power.

The Yan Xiao bird is immortal and unextinguishable; the Yan Xiao’s beak annihilates absolute life, thus becoming the Life-Taking Nail.

The fusion of these two created unparalleled killing force. Once, on String Moon Island overseas, before a crowd of cultivators near the sea, it had nailed Ji Shaoqing to death, preventing the contemporary True Person, who had paid a heavy price to arrange an altar, from saving him.

Could Qin Zhizhen, in his Five Mansions Shining Together state, withstand its edge?

People were destined not to receive an answer.

Because in the very next moment.

In the sight of the onlookers, Qin Zhizhen suddenly disappeared!

After the fire realm shattered, he could once again walk leisurely in the void.

Moreover, in the Five Mansions Shining Together state, he was more free and rapid within the void, capable of ignoring many dangers.

The Life-Taking Nail emerged but found no target, again turning into a wisp of frosty white wind and drifting away.

And from behind Jiang Wang, a dark black long blade reached out.

Splash la la!

The sound of iron chains!

Dark black iron chains also drilled out from the void, crossing behind Jiang Wang.

A secret transmission of the Legalist School, the Body-Imprisoning Chains!

Jiang Wang had prepared early, using a restraint from the void to counter an attack from the void.

But that dark black horizontal-vertical blade merely turned once.

Crack!

Two dark black chains split into four sections and swung open.

Jiang Wang’s Body-Imprisoning Chains were actually found within the void and thus broken in half by a single blade!

The long blade continued forward, but was held back by a snow-bright sword edge.

Jiang Wang and his sword became one, and his entire person was chopped back three zhang!

This was absolute power suppression! With the Five Mansions Shining Together and five power sources mixed, Jiang Wang was fundamentally unable to resist!

But in his rapid retreat, he lightly tapped his foot, and the Qingyun mark flickered into existence and disappeared.

It possessed a kind of elegant and composed beauty.

He seemed to be chopped back, yet also seemed to be actively avoiding, in order to fight again.

Making it difficult for others to gauge the virtual and the real.

Qin Zhizhen, who had already suffered losses in close combat, did not linger in the battle. He withdrew his long blade and was already concealed within the void once more.

The Wenyu Stage was empty for a time.

Only Jiang Wang remained, holding his sword, retreating ethereally, with outstanding bearing.

A wisp of frosty white wind drifted in the distance.

And the fire rain all over the sky was just falling, seemingly weeping for someone, seemingly singing for someone—

This was the process of a brilliant world’s collapse.

Spectators could perhaps well appreciate such a painting scroll, skipping its cruelty and appreciating its beauty.

Those on the stage, however, only sought life and death, victory and defeat.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Suddenly, the sound of something swiftly breaking through the air arrived.

Above, below, left, right, rear.

A full five paths of pale, bone-like chains, shuttling between the virtual and the real, winded towards Jiang Wang.

They restricted the body and bound the soul.

Another of the Legalist School’s Ten Great Chains, named the Soul-Binding Chains!

Jiang Wang attacked with Body-Imprisoning, and Qin Zhizhen responded with Soul-Binding.

And it was very obvious that in the cultivation of the Legalist School’s Ten Great Chains, he was more than just a little stronger than Jiang Wang.

These five Soul-Binding Chains were swift and exceptional, coming and going suddenly.

But the red Gan Yang Divine Pupils merely glanced, and those Soul-Binding Chains, which were speeding between the virtual and the real, clearly paused for a moment, and then… collapsed!

Jiang Wang’s gaze swept over them, and the five paths of pale Soul-Binding Chains successively collapsed and scattered!

In the vision of the onlookers, this scene was simply terrifyingly strong!

Naturally, it was not so simple.

Within the Legalist School’s Ten Great Chains, the Body-Imprisoning Chain imprisons the physical body, making escape impossible once touched. The Soul-Binding Chain forbids the divine soul, rendering one powerless once imprisoned.

Relying on this technique, Qin Zhizhen also possessed the ability to conquer divine souls. Of course, it was more about binding than killing.

He was not a core true transmission of the San Xing Palace after all. The Soul-Binding Chains he cultivated, like the Body-Imprisoning Chains cultivated by Jiang Wang, were “outer transmission” versions. Although they were also very precious, they were not top-tier, not enough to truly match the reputation of the Legalist School’s Ten Great Chains.

Although Qin Zhizhen had cultivated this technique, the Soul-Binding Chains, to a certain realm, coupled with his No Clothes divine ability, was enough to cope with the vast majority of divine soul conquest scenarios.

But it was still far from being comparable to Xiang Bei.

Even less so comparable to Jiang Wang.

Using the Soul-Binding Chains at this time was clearly out of fear of Jiang Wang’s divine soul combat prowess, an attempt to temporarily seal his divine soul power.

And Jiang Wang merely used his Gan Yang Divine Pupils, one glance at them.

Gaze has weight.

Having cultivated to this point, and with his Gan Yang Divine Pupils opened, he could, to some extent, influence the weight of his gaze.

So when he glanced over, the speeding Soul-Binding Chains paused; that was precisely the force of his pupil power and soul power stopping them.

Of course, just this one glance could not do much to the Soul-Binding Chains.

What truly played a role was in this instant, they were imprinted into the Single Rider Breaking the Array Diagram. Jiang Wang used the secret method left behind by Xiang Bei to instead help them “enter the array,” and then tore them apart with a massive number of divine soul hidden snakes and divine soul flame birds.

No matter how strong the Soul-Binding Chains were, there were only five of them. Jiang Wang’s divine soul hidden snakes and divine soul flame birds, however, were counted in the thousands. They simply could not bind all of them!

But because exchanges on the divine soul level are difficult to detect, even if there were a hundred turns and a thousand back-and-forths, and the attack and defense were intense, in the eyes of many, Jiang Wang simply glanced over, and the Soul-Binding Chains collapsed.

Making it very difficult not to fear.

Qin Zhizhen’s dispatch of the Soul-Binding Chains yielded no results, and he also remained hidden in the void.

At that time, the fire realm had not yet been exhausted.

Jiang Wang, who shattered the Soul-Binding Chains with a single glance, held his sword and looked in all four directions.

Hoo… inhale.

The entire world was silent as if only breathing remained.

But in reality, all sounds were subject to Jiang Wang’s ears.

He heard, he heard…

The faint, crackling sound of scattered sparks.

The unwilling wail of collapsing flame birds…

The blooming and wilting of flame flowers, yesterday’s departure and today’s separation.

The light rustling sound of the corner of a robe gently stirring, subtly sorrowful. And…

The sound of blood flowing within another person’s body!

Jiang Wang turned and cut horizontally with his sword!

The “Scholar in Distress, Life-and-Death Hook of Enmity” style!

Between heaven and earth, a horizontal line was born.

This horizontal line divided heaven and earth, segmenting life and death.

It just intercepted the rolling night color in front of him.

Blade and sword intersected.

Jiang Wang again, stepped on Qingyun and retreated!

Qin Zhizhen again hid in the void.

Hoo… inhale.

Qi and blood surged, contained within his body.

The Dao rotated, supplementing true essence.

Despite being at an absolute disadvantage in terms of power, Jiang Wang’s expression remained composed.

Colliding with Qin Zhizhen in his Five Mansions Shining Together state, he naturally suffered some internal injuries.

Using the Level Step Qingyun immortal technique to unload force could be called luxurious.

But the Mountain Peak Qingyun technique has a continuous source, and he fundamentally did not mind this consumption.

Facing Qin Zhizhen, who had opened his Five Mansions Shining Together and activated his Lianxu divine ability, under the terrifying power suppression, merely suffering some forced internal injuries after the collision was already a good result.

The root cause lay in his ability to capture the divine, ghost-like blade of Qin Zhizhen!

Since he could capture it and resist it, and did not die, there was nothing to worry about.

Every exchange now was supplementing his “knowledge.”

The more rounds exchanged, the more precise his “capture” became.

Until…

Every single blade strike of Qin Zhizhen was thus insightfully perceived by him.