Chapter 378: The Fierce Fight in the Second Half

“Who would have thought a mere sophomore could have caused such a chaotic situation.”

Looking at the situation, which had already spiraled out of control, Ma Xuan knew they had reached the worst possible scenario.

Xiao Qingxuan and Zhang Yu alone were enough to turn the construction site upside down.

If he tried to stop them, Shi Huaiyu, unhindered on the other side, would quickly lead her team in.

Once a full-scale battle erupted openly on the site, the bunker would likely never be completed.

“But there's no other choice…”

Ma Xuan then recalled the Minor Triad, which had been suppressing Shi Huaiyu from a distance. With a flat palm push, sand and mud surged skyward from beneath his feet, like a flash flood, rushing towards Zhang Yu and Xiao Qingxuan and instantly sending them flying.

At the same moment, Shi Huaiyu seized the opportunity, leading her teammates forward, treading on the surging waves of mud.

Cong Na and Yang Yan had also retreated, blocking the path to the bunker.

The entire construction site was instantly split in two by the two sides.

Both groups stood facing each other, their battle-ready gazes clashing in the air.

Ma Xuan sighed and said calmly, “Bu Ziran, you come out and help us defend with all your might.”

“Ji Susu, you focus on building as much as you can alone.”

He pressed his palms together, and waves of mud transformed into barriers, enveloping the entire bunker behind him.

The next moment, a fierce battle suddenly erupted in front of the bunker.

Che Yufei and Shi Yunxiang charged to the front, directly clashing with Cong Na and Bu Ziran, unleashing powerful waves of energy.

Shi Huaiyu manipulated a sky full of sand and mud, sending it crashing towards the bunker, but instead heard a massive clang, like metal striking metal.

Shi Huaiyu explained, “That's 'Steel from Earth,' one of the Seven Absolutes. Ma Xuan mastered this one, which I didn't.”

“Using Steel from Earth allows him to temporarily forgo flexible control over the ground, converting it into rigid protection.”

Ma Xuan lightly tapped his foot, and pillars of rock erupted from the ground like steel spears, shooting towards everyone.

Meanwhile, Ji Yuanxu, from a distance, unleashed spheres of lightning-fire True Qi.

With a thought from Zhang Yu, several formless strongmen suddenly appeared, blocking all the incoming lightning-fire True Qi.

He then threw a punch, and a surge of True Qi slammed into the barrier in front of the bunker.

Bu Ziran spat out Lung-Gold Sword Qi to intercept, only to see Tian Yang approaching, enveloped in a swirling sandstorm.

On the other side, Xiao Qingxuan, surrounded by roaring dragon-shaped True Qi, furiously crashed into the barrier erected by Ma Xuan.

During the series of intense clashes, the entire construction site vibrated back and forth, as if undergoing a continuous earthquake.

Although Ma Xuan and his team tried their best to defend, the battle was too close to the building, preventing them from unleashing their full power without restraint.

In contrast, Zhang Yu's side attacked without reservation, momentarily suppressing Ma Xuan and his team.

The barrier erected by Ma Xuan gradually cracked, and despite repeated repairs and reconstructions, it continuously exposed the bunker behind it.

“A battle erupting on the construction site – this is the worst possible outcome,” Ma Xuan thought.

Although Ma Xuan thought this, he knew that at this point, he was powerless to change the situation and could only try his best to hold on and maximize their score for this round.

When the round ended, Ma Xuan's team's bunker completion rate was rated at 42%.

Seeing this score, Bu Ziran angrily glared at Ji Susu and said, “What happened? We fended off so many attacks, and you only got 42% done?”

Ji Susu calmly replied, “The foundation was practically being shaken to pieces. 42% is already good.”

Ji Yuanxu said, “It's because you let them break in. I don't understand, with so many of you, how did Zhang Yu manage to create that situation?”

Bu Ziran frowned, glancing sideways at Ji Yuanxu. “What's your department ranking? Do you even understand how these competitions work?”

Ji Yuanxu opened his mouth, feeling he had nothing to say.

Ma Xuan, standing nearby, sighed and said, “The attacking side naturally has an advantage; there's nothing that can be done about that.”

“The next round, that's our home game.”

“As the attacking side, our overall strength advantage will be continuously magnified.”

Ma Xuan looked towards Zhang Yu and the others' position and said coldly, “Next round, I want to suppress their completion rate to zero.”

“Don't even leave them a single brick.”

On the other side, Shi Huaiyu chuckled, “That was a good round.”

She looked at Zhang Yu: “Especially you, Zhang Yu. If you hadn't single-handedly disrupted their formation, our attack wouldn't have been so smooth.”

Zhang Yu smiled slightly: “Alone, I could only cause some disturbance. I still have to thank you all for your support from behind.”

Beside them, Che Yufei looked at Shi Yunxiang and asked, “How are you doing?”

Shi Yunxiang looked somewhat distressed at his originally brand-new hand-shaped Dharma skeleton, which was now covered in dents and scratches.

Shi Yunxiang: “That guy Yang Yan, he kept targeting my new Dharma skeleton, didn't he? He must have done it on purpose.”

Che Yufei sighed: “Of course, it was on purpose. He wanted to wear you down.”

“That's why I never participated in competitions when I was in a lower grade. They're expensive and don't guarantee a good ranking.”

Xiao Qingxuan interrupted their conversation and asked, “It won't be easy to fend off Ma Xuan's offensive in the next round.”

Shi Huaiyu nodded: “We must keep them outside the construction site.”

“Once they enter the site and are able to unleash their full power, we probably won't even reach 10% completion.”

A moment later, as the break time ended, the second half of the battle officially began.

Ma Xuan looked towards the construction site and said calmly, “Annihilate them all.”

Ma Xuan's chosen tactic was to leverage the attacking side's numerical and overall strength advantage to eliminate opponents one by one and then pulverize all the building materials.

In his view, this was the safest, most convenient, and most unassailable tactic when one's strength surpassed the opponent's.

“Come with me; we'll crush them.”

Moments later, a vast amount of sand and mud rose from both sides of the battlefield, crashing violently together like two opposing tsunamis.

Amidst the swirling sand and mud, the two teams' members were already locked in fierce combat.

Ma Xuan, using the shared vision from each team member's eye-bone, clearly monitored the entire field of play.

He could see Zhang Yu, enveloped in True Qi mist, charging towards Cong Na.

He could see Xiao Qingxuan manipulating nine dragon-shaped True Qi streams, continuously tearing through the mud and sand, rushing towards him.

He could also see Shi Huaiyu activating her Minor Triad, constantly contending with him and supporting her teammates.

His final gaze locked onto Che Yufei.

“Excluding Shi Yunxiang, who's still working on his construction, you're the weakest among them.”

“So, let's start with you.”

Under Ma Xuan's command, Cong Na and others began to focus their attacks on Che Yufei, aiming to eliminate him first.

Shi Huaiyu and her team immediately reacted to this.

Ma Xuan observed the opponents' movements and murmured, “Trying to support Che Yufei?”

“It's useless. With your disadvantage in strength and numbers, if you continue to support like this, you'll only be defeated one by one.”

But soon, Ma Xuan saw their movements shift, and he raised an eyebrow slightly. “Oh? Are they ganging up on Cong Na?”

“Do they want to attack where we must defend, turning a passive situation into an active one?”

“Do they think that if we repel Che Yufei, they'll also repel Cong Na? Forcing us to send reinforcements back?”

Observing Shi Huaiyu's strategy, Ma Xuan sneered, calmly swirling the sky-full of mud and sand, and directed his team to continue stretching the battle lines.

As the two sides engaged in tangled combat, and as the battle lines were continuously stretched, Ma Xuan's gaze suddenly sharpened: “This is it.”

He suddenly churned up heavy mud and sand, inverting it like a bowl, then activated Steel from Earth, continuously hardening and reinforcing it.

Inside this inverted “bowl” created by Ma Xuan, besides Che Yufei, were Ma Xuan, Yang Yan, Bu Ziran, and Ji Susu – four people in total.

During the continuous stretching of the battle lines, Ma Xuan had been searching for an opportunity to temporarily divide the battlefield with Steel from Earth, leaving an opponent isolated and unsupported.

Inside the barrier, he, Yang Yan, Bu Ziran, and Ji Susu would collectively attack Che Yufei.

Outside the barrier, Ji Yuanxu would swiftly retreat with Cong Na, preventing Shi Huaiyu's four outside members from having a chance to surround them.

As for breaking through the barrier…

“Even if Shi Huaiyu and her four teammates attacked with full force, it would take at least 20 seconds to break through this barrier I'm maintaining.”

“And 20 seconds…”

Looking at Che Yufei in front of him, Ma Xuan thought to himself, “That's enough time for us to defeat this pauper countless times.”

However, Ma Xuan knew that in the competition, they couldn't kill their opponents.

So Ma Xuan simply said, “Crush his hands and feet.”

At the same time, he looked at Che Yufei and said, “If you don't want to be utterly beaten, just surrender now.”

If the opponent surrendered directly, they could save some time and mana.

But in the face of Ma Xuan's threat, Che Yufei merely smiled faintly and charged forward proactively.

Seeing this, Bu Ziran snorted coldly, rushed forward first, and with an open mouth, unleashed streams of Lung-Gold Sword Qi horizontally.

“A pauper whose life is almost gone, dares to participate in this competition?”

At the same time, the other three also made their moves, attacking Che Yufei together.

But the next moment, as the sword qi and True Qi clashed, Bu Ziran felt an unusual sense of familiarity emanating from the opponent's True Qi.

“It's you!”

Under the collective assault, Che Yufei's body twisted and deformed under immense pressure, revealing Zhang Yu's true face.

Zhang Yu looked at the four individuals before him and said calmly, “Such an obvious feint, did you think we wouldn't notice?”

Ma Xuan frowned, thinking, “Did Shi Huaiyu intentionally draw out 'Che Yufei's' position, deliberately creating this situation after knowing my target?”

“She must have used mud and sand to conceal Zhang Yu and Che Yufei's forms, allowing Zhang Yu to transform into the other person…”

Meanwhile, outside, as the barrier rose and separated the inside from the outside, the "Zhang Yu" standing outside saw the formless cloud-True Qi that enveloped him suddenly dissipate, revealing Che Yufei's appearance.

As for the rankings and Foundation Establishment domains above their heads, both sides had disabled them before the battle began to conceal their identities during combat.

Having finished his thoughts, Ma Xuan looked at Zhang Yu before him, a series of ideas flashing through his mind like lightning.

“In the first half, I had to maintain the Minor Triad from a distance, making it difficult to fully attack Zhang Yu up close.”

“But now, with Minor Triad controlling the ground beneath me, I can maintain the barrier while attacking Zhang Yu in front of me without reservation.”

“And Zhang Yu is certainly not at his peak condition right now. With limited rest time, how much mana did he recover from the first half, and how much has his damaged body healed?”

“So… should we just go with this mistake, seize this opportunity, and the four of us attack with full force to see if we can obliterate Zhang Yu?”