Chapter 2673: Dominating the Top

As Su Yan had mentioned, spatial power and temporal power were, to some extent, equivalent. Therefore, spatial power could also be effective in this unique confrontation.

The moment Lu Ye stepped onto the waterfall, the downward rush of temporal power made him unstable. Although he didn't immediately fall, he was in a very awkward position.

However, as he activated the power of his Dao Seed, using spatial energy to protect himself, the situation improved.

He slightly adjusted his direction and steered his dugout canoe upstream against the current.

The waterfall was over ten thousand zhang high. At this moment, all the dragon descendants participating in the competition had already surged ahead by a thousand zhang, leaving him alone at the very back.

Suddenly, a scream came from above. Lu Ye looked up to see a dragon descendant spitting blood and falling, their dugout canoe shattered.

The "Race of a Hundred Boats" was not just about who could go higher or further; in such a competition, participants could also attack and interfere with others.

This unlucky individual had clearly been targeted.

After the first scream, more followed in quick succession. Dragon descendants were continuously eliminated, falling from above like dumplings.

Ahead, numerous dragon descendants were fiercely competing, making the scene extremely lively.

Lu Ye leisurely drifted at the back, enjoying a peaceful journey. Apart from having to avoid the eliminated dragon descendants, he had nothing else to worry about.

The temporal power surged downwards, growing stronger the higher he went. Fortunately, Lu Ye's current Spatial Dao Seed was exceptional; the dense spatial energy enveloping him was sufficient to counteract the temporal power of the waterfall for a short period.

He easily advanced several hundred zhang.

However, the distance between him and the dragon descendants ahead did not decrease; instead, it grew larger.

After passing one thousand zhang, the intensity of the temporal power seemed to suddenly increase to a new level, yet it remained within Lu Ye's tolerable range.

Gradually, he discovered a problem: using spatial power to resist put him at a disadvantage compared to the dragon descendants. In this kind of confrontation, they might only need to exert one unit of power, while he had to exert two or even more.

This was also why the distance between them didn't close but instead widened, as the dragon descendants were still operating with ease at this height.

However, this situation improved somewhat when the dragon descendants reached a height of three thousand zhang.

At this point in the competition, the strengths of the dragon descendants' bloodlines and their mastery of temporal Dao became clearly distinguishable. Only about ten were at the very front, seemingly neck and neck. They were all extremely cautious, unwilling to easily attack others for fear of revealing their own weaknesses.

Behind these ten were several dozen dragon descendants forming the second tier. After them, the group was scattered and lagging.

Lu Ye remained in the last tier, all by himself.

However, Su Yan, who had been observing him, clearly felt that the distance between Lu Ye and the dragon descendants ahead was slowly decreasing. This was because, at this stage, the dragon descendants were beginning to run out of stamina.

In contrast, Lu Ye, despite being at the back, maintained a consistent speed.

Finally, at one point, Lu Ye surpassed the first dragon descendant, drawing exclamations of surprise from many cultivators watching nearby.

Everyone knew that the Race of a Hundred Boats was currently a test for the dragon descendants, and no cultivators of other races had ever participated in such an unrewarding endeavor. Yet, today, a human was shining brightly within it.

Even if he were to be eliminated immediately, this human had proven himself in this competition.

At this moment, the dragon descendant whom Lu Ye had just overtaken stared wide-eyed in astonishment at Lu Ye's retreating figure, a look of profound surprise on his face.

He had seen Lu Ye before but hadn't paid much attention, as he didn't consider a human to be a rival. He had assumed that Lu Ye wouldn't last long, yet now he had actually surpassed him.

This distraction caused his body to suddenly sway. He tried desperately to regain stability, but at this point, he was already near his limit. With such a mistake, how could he possibly recover?

With an unwilling roar, his body was swept down by the waterfall.

At this point, fewer than half of the dragon descendants participating in the competition remained. Most were eliminated through mutual attacks, with very few truly reaching their own physical limits.

Lu Ye, meanwhile, continued steadily forward, gradually overtaking one opponent after another.

Due to their dragon bloodlines, these dragon descendants all possessed some proficiency in temporal Dao. While not comparable to pure-blood dragons, they surpassed other races.

However, compared to Lu Ye's current mastery of spatial Dao, they were completely incomparable.

Therefore, even though Lu Ye had to expend more energy, he still performed better than most dragon descendants.

At a height of five thousand zhang, Lu Ye gradually began to feel some pressure.

The dragon descendants were faring even worse, each appearing to be nearing their limits. Their upstream speed was now agonizingly slow, like turtles crawling, and every single zhang of ascent required immense effort.

They also had to divert some of their focus to guard against interference and attacks from opponents.

In this atmosphere, Lu Ye, steering his dugout canoe, finally caught up with the first tier of dragon descendants. Although his speed wasn't particularly fast, it was undoubtedly much better than his rivals'.

If the dragon descendants were crawling, he was jogging.

The waterfall was wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, so it became increasingly constricted as one ascended. At the five-thousand-zhang mark, the more than ten dragon descendants in the first tier were closely clustered. As Lu Ye's figure swept past them, each dragon descendant's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Impossible!" a roar suddenly echoed.

It was the dragon-headed descendant who had previously spoken to Lu Ye. This individual had never imagined seeing Lu Ye again; he had assumed the human had long been eliminated.

Re-encountering him at such a high position was one thing, but the critical point was that Lu Ye clearly had more staying power than him.

How could he tolerate this? With an angry shout, he unleashed his Dao weapon, sending a remote strike towards Lu Ye.

Lu Ye had been anticipating this. His Pan Mountain Blade instantly unsheathed, blocking the opponent's attack. Following through, he unleashed a blade light that shot directly towards the dragon-headed descendant.

Spatial energy surged. The attack, almost as soon as Lu Ye unleashed it, reached the dragon-headed descendant. In his haste, he couldn't react, and his chest was directly split open. Unable to maintain his stability, he screamed and fell downwards.

"Why aren't you attacking together? If a mere human takes first place, what face will we dragon descendants have?"

The dragon-headed descendant fell, but his mournful voice echoed from afar.

The first-tier dragon descendants near Lu Ye, who had initially hesitated upon witnessing his fierce attack, immediately showed a look of shared animosity after hearing the dragon-headed descendant's words.

Indeed, in a competition exclusively for dragon descendants, if a human were to claim the top spot, wouldn't they become a laughingstock?

Without needing any discussion or communication, as the dragon-headed descendant's words faded, numerous attacks from both sides simultaneously slammed towards Lu Ye.

These dragon descendants were quite cunning; their targets were not Lu Ye himself, but his dugout canoe.

In the Race of a Hundred Boats, being unable to withstand the waterfall's impact and falling counted as elimination, as did having one's dugout canoe destroyed. Therefore, in this competition, everyone had to divert some strength to protect their canoe.

In any other environment, Lu Ye would naturally dismiss these fusion Dao attacks and could easily neutralize them.

However, being in this place made things genuinely troublesome, especially since the dragon descendants' attacks were laced with temporal power, making them incredibly fast.

Lu Ye's expression shifted. He held his long blade diagonally, swirling it in a circle around himself.

Instantly, space within that circle was stretched.

Spatial Stretch!

The dragon descendants' attacks, upon entering this area, appeared to slow down visually, but in reality, they were delayed by the stretching of space as they traveled through it.

Only then did Lu Ye strike with his blade, neutralizing each of the numerous attacks one by one.

Immediately, he slashed his blade towards a nearby dragon descendant, furiously activating his Dao Seed power.

This dragon descendant was about fifty zhang away, but as the blade descended, he couldn't help but let out a cry of alarm. Blood spurted from his shoulder, and he tumbled away.

Proximity Slash!

Lu Ye's movements were continuous, blade lights flickering as slashes of energy shot out to both sides.

With spatial power augmenting his nearly thousand Dao-level strength, these fusion Dao dragon descendants were simply unable to resist. If killing were not forbidden in the competition, these dragon descendants would have had no chance of survival.

In an instant, the number of first-tier dragon descendants was halved, and the remaining ones were all terrified.

This was also because Lu Ye had held back a great deal of his power. Not knowing the true strength of these dragon descendants, he was cautious not to exert too much force, to avoid any actual casualties, which would be difficult to explain to Dragon City.

The dragon descendants who had fortunately not been eliminated quickly retreated to the sides, looking at Lu Ye as if he were a monstrous flood, filled with apprehension and terror.

Each of them wondered, "Could this be a Harmonization Realm expert concealing his cultivation to participate in the competition? Otherwise, how could a powerful dragon descendant like us be dispatched so easily, like cutting melons and dicing vegetables?"

Lu Ye did not pursue them to annihilate them. His goal was the radiant pearl above the waterfall, not to claim first place, so eliminating these dragon descendants would be meaningless.

He rapidly ascended, gradually increasing the distance between himself and those few dragon descendants.

At six thousand zhang, Lu Ye felt pressure. By this point, the temporal power rushing down from the waterfall had become very strong, and counteracting it with spatial power was indeed a disadvantage.

Yet, his ascent did not stop.

The surrounding cultivators were filled with awe, for the recorded highest achievement in the Race of a Hundred Boats so far had been reached by the strongest dragon descendant, marking this very level.

Yet, this achievement was now matched by a human, who had not even reached his limit.

Even the Harmonization Realm expert overseeing the event watched with continuous amazement.

At seven thousand zhang, Lu Ye felt he was nearing his limit.

His speed was no longer as swift as it had been at first, much like the dragon descendants earlier, slowing from a jog to a crawl.

He finally understood why obtaining that radiant pearl was so difficult. If it was this challenging for him, what about the other dragon descendants?