Chapter 1900: Which Era's Prodigy

Thunder's sudden attack undoubtedly caught the Nine Heavens Pirate Group off guard. The pirates hadn't expected such decisive action from their opponents. On the periphery of their warships, two Tiger Shark battleships had already been destroyed, and the cultivators within them had perished.

Now, the pirate group's main battleship was under attack. Against an opponent like Thunder, Nine Heavens was utterly powerless to resist.

All the pirates were filled with dread.

"Zixiao!" Lu Ye called out in a low voice.

"Here!" Third Commander Zixiao immediately responded.

"Take command of the fleet and try to break through!" The number of pirates under him who survived would impact the reward he received at the end.

Simply put, as the leader of the Nine Heavens Pirate Group, he was responsible for protecting the lives of his subordinates. The more pirates from Nine Heavens who survived, the greater the benefits he would gain from this trial. Naturally, Lu Ye did not want his pirate group to suffer heavy casualties.

"What about you, Leader?" Zixiao asked.

Lu Ye looked toward Thunder Pirate Group's main battleship, his expression indifferent. "To catch the bandits, first catch their king!"

As he finished speaking, he swept outwards, exiting the battleship, and directly charged towards Thunder's main battleship.

At this moment, at the command center of Thunder's main battleship, a cultivator, sharp-edged as if carved from stone, his entire body glowing with a gray luster, stood imposingly, his face a mask of ferocity and ruthlessness.

It was Tianyan, the leader of the Thunder Pirate Group.

The joint assault on Black Cloud Continent with various other pirate groups was his brainchild. Everything had gone smoothly since the plan began, and now it was finally time to reap the rewards.

"Leader, Nine Heavens is trying to break through!" A voice suddenly rang out.

Tianyan snorted coldly. "Break through? Kill them all! They defy orders and still hope to live? They're dreaming!"

"Leader, someone from Nine Heavens is rushing towards us. It looks like their leader, Lu Ye," another person called out.

"Kill him!" Tianyan showed no regard for his opponent.

At his command, over a dozen Tiger Shark battleships immediately moved to intercept Lu Ye.

However, moments later, amidst gasps of alarm, another voice cried out: "Leader, he can't be stopped! All the intercepting Tiger Sharks have been wiped out."

Tianyan was greatly startled by this news and quickly shifted his gaze from the main battlefield. Indeed, he saw a figure in the distance, like a fleeting glimpse of light, darting towards his position. His own Tiger Shark battleships tried to intercept, but the opponent either effortlessly evaded them or destroyed a Tiger Shark with a single blow.

Tianyan was slightly astonished. The strength of a Tiger Shark battleship was comparable to the physique of a newly advanced Moon Reaching cultivator. That Lu Ye could so easily destroy a Tiger Shark battleship showed he truly possessed considerable strength.

"Where did this formidable individual come from? According to the intelligence he had, while the Nine Heavens Pirate Group was decent, its leader's strength shouldn't be this formidable."

But the trials of the Asura Field were like this. This stellar treasure contained the imprints of countless prodigies from across history, and one might encounter one at any time.

Tianyan vaguely felt that this Lu Ye was likely an imprint left by a cultivator from a past era. Because if he were a participant from the current era, Tianyan certainly would have heard of someone with such power.

He had thought this trial seemed a bit too simple. Although the process had been quite arduous, the overall intensity of the trial felt distinctly off.

It turned out the problem lay with this Nine Heavens Pirate Group. From this perspective, this Nine Heavens Pirate Group was the greatest challenge of this trial.

"Second Commander, stop him!" Tianyan gave the order while pondering.

His Second Commander possessed considerable strength. In his estimation, even if he participated in a Moon Reaching combat arena, his Second Commander could rank among the top thousand. Moreover, being from the Insectoid race, his physique was exceptionally formidable, in no way inferior to Tianyan himself.

The Second Commander accepted the order and emerged, advancing directly towards Lu Ye.

An even more shocking scene unfolded before Tianyan's eyes. As he watched, his Second Commander, upon clashing with Lu Ye, mysteriously found himself at a disadvantage. Amidst a flash of saber light, the Second Commander's formidable body instantly turned into shattered remains, and then dissolved into specks of shimmering light, vanishing.

The entire engagement lasted merely three breaths. Lu Ye didn't even break a sweat.

Tianyan's eyelids twitched. He couldn't help but curse inwardly. "Which era's prodigy left such an imprint in the Asura Field? This is outrageously strong!"

A bright light suddenly flared. Tianyan clearly saw that as Lu Ye charged, a colossal saber shadow suddenly appeared. Even more terrifyingly, the saber shadow grew larger and larger as the distance closed.

Compared to this enormous saber shadow, Lu Ye's figure was as tiny as an ant. Yet, he wielded this massive saber shadow as if it weighed nothing.

An inexpressible sense of oppression enveloped the minds and bodies of all the pirates. Tianyan urgently bellowed, "Defend!"

At his command, the Thunder main battleship's defensive arrays were activated to their utmost. The entire battleship became enveloped in a hazy glow.

The colossal saber shadow was already raised high. At the very end of the saber shadow was the nearly imperceptible figure.

Lu Ye's flesh and blood rippled intensely. His gaze fixed on the battleship ahead. As his arm swept down, the colossal saber shadow descended with it.

Colossal Blade Slash!

In recent years, while traveling around and cultivating beneath the Myriad Manifestation Sea, Lu Ye had either been condensing his vital blood or probing the legacies left by his predecessors on the Talent Tree. Other times were spent in the azure hall within the Tusk Saber.

The saber arts he had acquired from Tusk now far surpassed what he had previously learned.

This Colossal Blade Slash was one such inheritance, originating from a predecessor of a race called the Flashmoon Tribe. However, according to information Lu Ye had gathered, this tribe was inherently small and had been annihilated countless years ago.

Only the inheritance left within Tusk remained as a trace of this tribe's existence.

Against targets like battleships with activated defensive arrays, Colossal Blade Slash was undoubtedly an excellent method. Moreover, this single strike consumed half of Lu Ye's spiritual power!

Compared to the Drawn Saber Slash, the power of this strike was no less. However, it required a slightly longer wind-up time, making it less suitable for direct confrontation between cultivators. Instead, it was more appropriate for the current situation.

With a single strike, the light halo enveloping the battleship suddenly dimmed considerably. The battleship shook continuously, countless arrays collapsing at that moment. Under the impact of immense force, the battleship was even sent drifting sideways for a thousand li.

Inside the battleship, many cultivators stumbled and swayed. Tianyan's eyelids twitched violently.

What reassured him was that under this strike, the battleship's defenses had held, not shattering. However, before he could feel relieved, he saw Lu Ye suddenly shift his body horizontally, his long saber pointing directly towards the battleship. His figure began to spin rapidly, and as he spun, fiery light began to spread, instantly transforming both man and saber into a fiery dragon drill.

How could Tianyan not know what Lu Ye intended? This was clearly an attempt to strike while the iron was hot and break through the battleship's defenses. Having personally witnessed Lu Ye's terrifying strength, how could Tianyan let him have his way?

He swiftly activated his spiritual power and immediately took personal control of the battleship, intending to evade the next strike.

However, the main battleship was considerable in size, and steering it was not as straightforward as he wished. Even with Tianyan exerting his full power, he failed. He could only watch helplessly as the spiraling fiery dragon violently slammed into the battleship's defenses.

This inheritance came from a predecessor of the Thunder Tribe. However, when performed by that Thunder Tribe predecessor, it was the Thunder Dragon Drill, which was somewhat different from what Lu Ye was currently displaying.

This was unavoidable. Lu Ye's spiritual power was fire-attributed, so what he manifested was the Fiery Dragon Drill.

With this strike, the battleship's defenses finally shattered. Lu Ye's momentum remained unchecked, and he, along with his saber, directly pierced through Thunder's main battleship. Only then did the fiery light recede, revealing his figure.

Inside the ravaged main battleship, a cacophony of screams and wails erupted. After the battleship's defenses were breached, countless unlucky individuals were affected by the Fiery Dragon Drill's power, either dying or being gravely injured.

Tianyan's heart sank to rock bottom. Lu Ye had single-handedly shattered the defenses of his main battleship, and almost rendered it useless...

"Is this even humanly possible?"

"Even the top two cultivators on the current Moon Reaching rankings couldn't achieve this, could they?"

"Which era's prodigy is this, exactly? If he had known the opponent was so strong, he would never have ordered the attack on the Nine Heavens Pirate Group. He would have welcomed and honored them, if only he had known."

But now, it was too late for anything.

Although he had genuinely experienced the formidable power of the Nine Heavens leader, Tianyan did not retreat. He had invested a great deal of time and effort into this trial. If he retreated now, all his previous efforts would be in vain. Moreover, he was certain that no matter how monstrous his opponent was, having used those two secret techniques, he must have expended an enormous amount of energy.

He might still have a chance to fight!

With almost no hesitation, Tianyan rushed out of the battleship. And at his command, several Moon Reaching cultivators from Thunder followed close behind.

He turned his head to look, and immediately spotted the Nine Heavens leader.

The scene that met his eyes filled Tianyan with delight. That fellow was currently consuming spirit pills!

He truly had expended a vast amount of energy. Otherwise, he wouldn't be consuming spirit pills at this moment, and certainly not in such large handfuls.

He could fight! Confidence surged within Tianyan. He immediately led his Moon Reaching cultivators to confront Lu Ye, determined not to give him any time to recover.

Lu Ye stood calmly in place, chewing the spirit pills in his mouth, his cheeks bulging. He then swallowed them whole. Under the activation of the Talent Tree's power, the pills' medicinal effects rapidly took hold, and his expended spiritual power was visibly replenished.

His gaze fixed on Tianyan. Lu Ye recognized at a glance that he was from the Stone Clan, though he wasn't sure if he was an imprint.

If the opponent was an imprint, he would have no qualms about killing him. But if he wasn't, then Lu Ye couldn't kill him. Regardless, he still had some ties with the Stone Clan; back in the Myriad Manifestation Sea, Mangdang had helped him quite a bit.

Even if their opposing stances were merely due to different assigned roles in the Asura Field trial, it would still be somewhat unjustifiable if he killed a member of the Stone Clan here.