Chapter 250: Zhang Yu Builds Foundation

"Oh no!"

Chi He suddenly leaped aside.

At the same time, a sword light emerged from the shadows, streaking like a bolt of lightning to strike Chi He, who was frantically dodging.

Seeing the figure wreathed in lightning, Chi He's eyes nearly burst from their sockets. "Bai Zhenzhen!"

"That madwoman! Instead of escaping... she ambushed me instead?!"

After deciding to make her move, Bai Zhenzhen had no intention of letting go of any advantage.

"They know we want to buy the Heavenly Spirit Root, so they'll be watching the delivery. That means wherever the delivery address is, that's where the battlefield will be."

"In other words, I choose the battlefield, and I can set up an ambush in advance."

Bai Zhenzhen, who had been lying in ambush outside the factory for a long time, decided to make Chi He her first target upon seeing him appear.

"Wang Yin's lackey; he must be leading the team to capture people this time."

"Cut him down first, and that will throw them into disarray."

Using the cultivation method of the 'Cold Soul Ice Heart Art,' she heightened her physical activity in this desperate situation, making her muscles and nerves react faster.

With the True Spirit Root, she gathered her full physical strength to unleash her most powerful strike.

Using the electric field previously set up by the 'Nine Heavens Thunder Step,' she accelerated her speed.

With 'Thunder God's Fury,' she unleashed all her thunder-attributed spiritual power in one breath, striking with this incredibly fast sword...

Although Bai Zhenzhen's raw strength hadn't significantly improved since the Foundation Establishment exam, her cultivation practice, theoretical deductions, and repeated contemplation of sword techniques had given her an increasingly profound understanding of her own martial arts and of the sword strike that surpassed sound during the exam.

Now, with a sudden burst, she unleashed an earth-shattering sword strike that instantly pierced Chi He's chest, leaving a gaping hole.

The sword strike, like a divine thunderbolt, instantly drew the attention of all the other masters.

Facing gazes of shock, astonishment, anger, or fear, Bai Zhenzhen roared, "The Patrol Team is on a mission. Who dares seek death? They will end up like this man."

She kicked the half-dead Chi He flying and continued, "Let me remind you, killing you now is not illegal for me. If you dare lay a hand on me, beware of losing everything you own."

As she finished speaking, Bai Zhenzhen activated all remaining electric fields from her 'Nine Heavens Thunder Step,' retreating rapidly backward.

At the same time, with her internal breathing, the True Spirit Root began frantically absorbing spiritual energy, continuously restoring her spiritual power.

After nine months of cultivation, Bai Zhenzhen could now retain a trace of spiritual power for continuous circulation even after unleashing the full burst of 'Thunder God's Fury.' Combined with the True Spirit Root's spiritual energy absorption, this prevented her from having a complete void of spiritual power.

Especially with the True Spirit Root's assistance, every moment she continued to breathe, she recovered more spiritual power for combat.

Bai Zhenzhen's killing sword strike and continuous roars seemed to momentarily stun the other Qi Cultivation experts present. They watched, wide-eyed, as she retreated rapidly.

Just then, a wave of divine power descended from the sky, collectively surging into Chi He's body.

Chi He's dying body began to recover at a visible rate.

Someone exclaimed in surprise, "It's a Surgery Talisman from the Ministry of Health!"

At the same time, everyone's phones rang simultaneously, then automatically answered, and Wang Yin's voice came through.

"I'm casting the spell remotely; you don't need to worry about dying."

"As for losing everything... no matter how much you lose in this upcoming battle, I'll pay double."

"And for the rewards afterward, I never disappoint my subordinates."

Hearing Wang Yin's words, everyone immediately became invigorated.

After all, they remembered CEO Wang's generosity and liberality. With just a few words from him, they instantly became full of fighting spirit.

Ye Mantian even took the lead in chasing in Bai Zhenzhen's direction.

"Catch her!"

Bai Zhenzhen's heart sank as she watched this scene unfold.

Especially seeing Chi He, whom she had barely managed to seize an opportunity to heavily injure by exhausting her spiritual power, about to recover in the blink of an eye, she couldn't help but curse, "Damn rich bastards."

"This will be tough to fight now."

However, she secretly felt fortunate that her identity as a Patrol Team member served as a cover, and Deng Bingding had also said that the righteous gods from both sides wouldn't directly interfere.

Otherwise, the opponent's talismans would likely have been used directly on her.

"Hmph."

Watching the crowd chase her like mad dogs let loose, Bai Zhenzhen turned and sped away, leaving a trail of electric light.

"Then come on."

"Let's see how many times I can kill you!"

While the numerous masters from Oasis Group were all drawn to Bai Zhenzhen,

Zhang Yu slowly walked out of a commercial building.

Looking at the box in his arms, he gently exhaled.

Inside this box... was the Heavenly Spirit Root he had just purchased in the building.

As for the express delivery used to attract opponents, it was merely a cash-on-delivery ruse, designed solely to lure them.

Arriving at the pre-prepared depths of the sewer, Zhang Yu opened the box, knowing that he couldn't move again until he completed his Foundation Establishment.

He secretly thought, "A'Zhen, hold on."

"I'll come find you once I've achieved Foundation Establishment."

Zhang Yu then swallowed the Heavenly Spirit Root whole, beginning the process of integrating the spirit root with his physical body and attempting Foundation Establishment.

Amidst whooshing sounds through the air,

over a dozen figures chased each other through the alleyways, with occasional sounds of collision erupting.

As the battlefield specifically chosen by Bai Zhenzhen, this abandoned factory area had complex terrain, with numerous small alleys, underground passages, and unfinished buildings.

During the pursuit of Bai Zhenzhen, some of the dozen or so pursuers were fast, others slow, and coupled with the complex terrain, they quickly became spread out.

At this moment, Ye Mantian, who was the fastest and chasing most closely, was only a dozen meters away from Bai Zhenzhen.

The furthest pursuer, meanwhile, had been left over a hundred meters behind.

So when Bai Zhenzhen suddenly stopped, turned, and drew her sword, the only opponent she had to face at that moment was Ye Mantian, who was closest to her.

Ye Mantian instantly understood... that at this moment, although Bai Zhenzhen was still being pursued by over a dozen masters, he was on his own against her.

With a fierce roar, Ye Mantian's muscles suddenly swelled, and his fists, like battering rams, shot out with full force.

"Stay here!"

He believed that if he could just hold Bai Zhenzhen for a few breaths, his teammates would quickly catch up.

And with his strength, even if he couldn't win against her, surely he could hold out for a few breaths?

However, to Ye Mantian's astonished gaze, Bai Zhenzhen neither blocked nor dodged; she simply lifted her head and charged directly at his iron palms.

Ye Mantian knew Bai Zhenzhen was by no means a master of hard qigong, nor had she trained any 'iron head' technique. A single blow could potentially smash her head open.

"Oh no!"

Ye Mantian clearly remembered that Wang Yin and Chi He had repeatedly instructed them never to kill Bai Zhenzhen.

Wang Yin: "Even if you are severely wounded yourselves, you absolutely must not kill Bai Zhenzhen!"

"Dead or alive, fresh or frozen—that's a world of difference in price!"

Ye Mantian roared and abruptly withdrew his palms and pulled back his strength.

Having just exerted his full power, he now had to suddenly retract it, feeling as if he was fighting himself. Not only did his muscles feel like they were twisting, but his spiritual power was also clashing within him.

But Bai Zhenzhen seemed to have anticipated this. With a flash of lightning sword light from her fingertips, she had already swept past Ye Mantian's rigid body.

With a loud bang, Ye Mantian's body flashed with blood as his hands, feet, eyes, and dantian... all were struck by the sword light.

Then Ye Mantian fell to the ground with a thud, only able to watch Bai Zhenzhen's retreating back.

Ye Mantian thought to himself, "This woman... she's truly insane. Didn't she worry that I might not have held back? She was practically gambling with her life."

Bai Zhenzhen glanced at the power of the Surgery Talisman settling on Ye Mantian, watching him begin to heal, and thought, "Indeed... Since they have such remote healing methods, not killing them is actually the best outcome."

"Although I was fairly confident I could kill this person just now,"

"but once I make a killing move, under the threat of death... even with Wang Yin's suppression, they might not continue to hold back against me at a critical moment."

Seeing Chi He, who had circled around to block her path, Bai Zhenzhen assessed her own spiritual power, and with a flash, shifted direction to the other side.

Relying on the complex terrain, she fought and retreated, occasionally leaving behind an electric field to suddenly accelerate, sometimes desperately forcing her way out of encirclements, and at other times accumulating sword moves to unleash the 15th sword of the 'Myriad Swords Endless Art,' breaking the sound barrier...

Bai Zhenzhen continued to dash left and right, dragging out the chase for over 40 minutes.

However, the encirclement tightened, leaving her less and less space to maneuver.

Just as they were about to capture Bai Zhenzhen, she slashed open a manhole cover with her sword and prepared to leap into the sewer.

"My stamina, spiritual power, and maneuvering space are all reaching their limits," Bai Zhenzhen thought to herself. "According to the escape route I prepared earlier... I'll retreat for a while."

Under the angry gazes of Chi He, Ye Mantian, and the others, a figure suddenly shot out of the sewer.

It was Zhou Yang of the Zhou family.

With his appearance disguised, he had even hidden his title of 'Purple Gold Merit Lord.' With a low roar, boundless cold energy instantly enveloped Bai Zhenzhen.

Feeling the astonishing chill that seemed to freeze her blood, Bai Zhenzhen looked at the opponent incredulously, "Who is this guy? When did he get here?"

Zhou Yang had already begun to act when he detected that Oasis Group was searching for Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

On one hand, he wanted to see if he could use this opportunity to capture the two.

On the other hand, with the Zhou family in continuous decline, he wanted to seize the chance to curry favor with Wang Yin and secure a fallback for himself.

So he had been gathering intelligence, tracking Chi He's movements, and silently searching for an opportunity after he discovered the conflict had erupted... until this very moment.

With the full burst of his 'Frost Sky Freezing Qi Field,' Zhou Yang slammed out a palm strike.

With a loud boom, Bai Zhenzhen hastily met the palm strike. Her body temperature rapidly plummeted, and her arms and face instantly covered with frost.

Bai Zhenzhen crashed against the wall with a thud, then vomited a mouthful of icy blood, emitting wisps of cold air.

As she was about to retreat, Zhou Yang's palm gently pressed onto her shoulder.

With streams of cold energy surging into her body, Bai Zhenzhen was completely suppressed on the spot by Zhou Yang.

Chi He and the others had already surrounded them. Looking at the disguised Zhou Yang and the suppressed Bai Zhenzhen, he frowned and said, "Who are you?"

Zhou Yang nodded slightly and said politely, "Just a nobody wishing to serve CEO Wang."

Chi He scoffed, "Hand Bai Zhenzhen over to us."

"I'll take you to see CEO Wang shortly."

Zhou Yang's heart swelled with joy. Just as he was about to hand Bai Zhenzhen over, a thick white mist suddenly rose all around them.

The original factory, alleys, and buildings were instantly swallowed by the white mist; the entire factory area seemed to have been pulled into another world by the fog.

At the same time, from within the dense fog, Zhang Yu's cold voice slowly emerged.

"Clown, release your dog's claws."