CHAPTER 432: CHAPTER 378: INTENSE BATTLE IN THE SECOND HALF

"To think that a little sophomore could stir the situation up like this."

Looking at the situation already spiraling out of control, Ma Xuan knew they had reached the worst-case scenario.

The presence of Xiao Qingxuan and Zhang Yu was enough to turn the construction site upside down.

If he were to stop them, then on the other side, Shi Huaiyu would swiftly lead her team inside without his hindrance.

If a grand chaos erupts on the construction site so openly, this fortress might not even be built in the end.

"But there’s no other choice now..."

Ma Xuan retracted the Small Three Harmonies suppressing Shi Huaiyu from afar, then pushed his palm forward; the sand and dirt surged into the air like a mountain flood, fiercely rushing towards Zhang Yu and Xiao Qingxuan, instantly blasting them away.

Meanwhile, Shi Huaiyu seized the opportunity, leading her teammates with her feet on the soaring dirt waves.

At the same time, Cong Na and Yang Yan had already retreated to stand before the fortress.

The whole construction site was instantly divided into two factions.

The two groups stood face to face, their eyes full of battle intent clashing in the air.

Ma Xuan sighed and said faintly, "Bo Ziran, you should come out and help us defend with all your strength too."

"Ji Susu, focus all your energy on building; make as much as you can."

Ma Xuan clasped his hands together, transforming the waves of dirt into barriers that enveloped the entire fortress behind him.

In the next moment, a fierce battle erupted in front of the fortress.

Che Yufei and Shi Yunxiang charged at the forefront, clashing directly with Cong Na and Bo Ziran, unleashing surging blasts of air.

Shi Huaiyu commanded the sweeping sand and dirt towards the fortress, but was met with a giant clang that sounded like metal striking metal.

Shi Huaiyu explained, "This is the Earth-to-Steel technique from the Seven Extremes, one more than Ma Xuan learned."

"Using Earth-to-Steel allows temporary abandonment of the flexible control over the land, converting to rigid defense."

Ma Xuan lightly stomps his foot, and rock pillars in the earth shoot out like steel spears towards everyone.

Meanwhile, Ji Yuanshu from afar unleashed multiple blasts of thunderfire Gang Qi.

Zhang Yu, with a thought, summoned several Formless Warriors, blocking all the incoming thunderfire Gang Qi.

He then threw a punch, and the surging Gang Qi slammed into the barriers before the fortress.

Bo Ziran spat out lung-shaped Sword Qi to intercept, only to see Tian Yang sweeping in with a storm of sand and wind.

On the other side, Xiao Qingxuan was enveloped in roaring dragon-shaped Gang Qi, fiercely attacking the barriers set by Ma Xuan.

In the series of intense battles, the entire construction site shook back and forth as if it was experiencing one earthquake after another.

Though Ma Xuan and others did their best to resist, the battlefield was too close to the building, making them unable to unleash their abilities fully.

Conversely, Zhang Yu’s side attacked without restraint, putting Ma Xuan and others under intense pressure.

Ma Xuan’s barriers gradually cracked, exposed and rebuilt repeatedly, revealing the fortress behind them.

"Fighting on the construction site is the worst outcome."

While Ma Xuan thought so, he also knew that it was beyond change now; he could only strive to support, aiming to score as high as possible in this round.

As the round ended, Ma Xuan’s team’s fortress completion was rated at 42%.

Seeing this score, Bo Ziran glared at Ji Susu, saying, "What happened? We defended against so many attacks, and you only reached 42%?"

Ji Susu replied calmly, "The foundations were almost wrecked; 42% is already good."

Ji Yuanshu commented, "It’s because we let them breach us. I don’t understand, you had so many people, why did Zhang Yu put us in that situation?"

Bo Ziran frowned and glanced sideways at Ji Yuanshu, saying, "What’s your department’s ranking? Do you understand the competition?"

Ji Yuanshu opened his mouth, but found himself speechless.

Beside them, Ma Xuan sighed and said, "The attackers naturally have an advantage; there’s no helping it."

"The next round is our home ground."

"As attackers, our overall strength advantage will be continuously amplified."

Ma Xuan looked towards Zhang Yu and his group’s position and said coldly, "Next round, I want to suppress their completion to 0%."

"Don’t even leave them a single brick."

...

On the other side, Shi Huaiyu laughed heartily and said, "This round was played beautifully."

She looked at Zhang Yu, "Especially Zhang Yu, if it weren’t for you disrupting their formation, our attack wouldn’t have gone so smoothly."

Zhang Yu smiled lightly and said, "Relying solely on me would only be a disturbance, thanks for your support behind us."

Beside him, Che Yufei looked at Shi Yunxiang and asked, "How are you?"

Shi Yunxiang looked painfully at the previously pristine hand-shaped Magic Remains, now covered in numerous dents and scratches.

Shi Yunxiang said, "That Yang Yan, she targeted my new Remains intentionally, didn’t she?"

Che Yufei sighed, "Indeed intentional, meant to make you unable to withstand."

"That’s why when I was younger, I never joined competitions; it costs money and yields no ranking."

Xiao Qingxuan interrupted the conversation, asking, "The next match, we’ll have to withstand Ma Xuan’s offensive, won’t be easy."

Shi Huaiyu nodded and said, "We must keep them outside the construction site."

"If they manage to enter and unleash their abilities, we might not even reach a 10% completion rate."

...

After a moment, as the break time ends, the second half of the battle officially begins.

Ma Xuan looked towards the direction of the construction site and said indifferently, "Annihilate them."

Using the advantage in numbers and overall strength on the attacking side, annihilate each opponent one by one, and then grind all the building materials into powder—is the strategy Ma Xuan decided upon.

In his view, when one’s strength surpasses the opponent, this is the safest, most convenient, and hardest-to-counter strategy.

"Crush through with me."

A moment later, sand and dirt soared on both sides of the battlefield, like two tidal waves crashing violently against each other from opposite directions.

Amid the flying dirt, both sides’ team members were already locked in fierce combat.

Through the shared vision of each team member’s ocular remains, Ma Xuan clearly controlled the situation across the field.

He could see Zhang Yu, wrapped in cloud and Gang Qi, charging towards Cong Na.

He saw Xiao Qingxuan controlling nine dragon-shaped Gang Qi, tearing through the sand, sweeping towards him.

He also saw Shi Huaiyu engaging him with Small Three Harmonies while supporting teammates.

His final gaze locked onto Che Yufei.

"Leaving aside Shi Yunxiang who is still under construction, among these people, you are the weakest."

"Then let’s start with you."

Under Ma Xuan’s command, Cong Na and others began focusing their attack on Che Yufei, aiming to eliminate him first.

Shi Huaiyu and others immediately responded to this.

Watching the opponent’s moves, Ma Xuan murmured, "Trying to support Che Yufei?"

"It’s useless, given your disadvantage in strength and numbers, continuing like this will only lead to you being picked off one by one."

But soon Ma Xuan noticed the opponent’s movements changed, raising an eyebrow slightly, "Oh? Attacking Cong Na instead?"

"Trying to force a rescue, turning passive into active?"

"Do you think if we push back Che Yufei, you can push back Cong Na, forcing us to aid?"

Ma Xuan sneered coldly at Shi Huaiyu’s arrangement, unhurriedly stirring the dirt, continuing to command his teammates to stretch the battle line.

As the mutual entanglement and attacks continued, and as the battle line was stretched further, Ma Xuan’s gaze suddenly sharpened, "It’s right here."

He suddenly lifted a heavy mass of dirt, like a bowl overturned, and then continuously used Finger Steel to harden and reinforce it.

Within the overturned bowl beside Che Yufei were Ma Xuan, Yang Yan, Bo Ziran, and Ji Susu.

Throughout the process of stretching the battle line, Ma Xuan had been searching for an opportunity to temporarily divide the battlefield with Finger Steel, leaving the opponent isolated and unsupported.

Now, within the barrier, he, alongside Yang Yan, Bo Ziran, and Ji Susu, was attacking Che Yufei.

Outside the barrier, Ji Yuanshu led Cong Na in a speedy retreat, preventing the four outside Shi Huaiyu from attacking.

As for breaking the barrier...

"Even if Shi Huaiyu and the others attacked with full force, it would take at least more than 20 seconds to break my barrier."

"And in those 20 seconds..."

Looking at Che Yufei before him, Ma Xuan thought to himself, "We can defeat this pauper countless times."

However, Ma Xuan knew that in the competition one cannot kill the opponent.

So Ma Xuan just said, "Crush his arms and legs."

At the same time, he looked at Che Yufei and said, "If you don’t want your entire body to be broken, surrender immediately."

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

But faced with Ma Xuan’s threat, Che Yufei simply smiled faintly and dashed forward.

Watching this scene, Bo Ziran snorted coldly and charged ahead first, opening his mouth to spew forth lung-gold Sword Qi slicing out horizontally.

"A pauper with barely a life left dares to join the competition?"

At the same moment, the other three also attacked, targeting Che Yufei together.

Yet in the next instant, as Sword Qi and Gang Qi collided, Bo Ziran sensed an odd familiarity emanating from the opponent’s Gang Qi.

"It’s you!"

Within the onslaught, Che Yufei’s body twisted and deformed under the immense pressure, revealing Zhang Yu’s appearance.

Zhang Yu glanced at the four before him, saying calmly, "Such obvious maneuvering, did you think we couldn’t see through it?"

Ma Xuan frowned, pondering, "Did Shi Huaiyu, knowing my target, intentionally position ’Che Yufei’ and create this scenario?"

"Must have used sand to cloak Zhang Yu and Che Yufei’s forms, allowing Zhang Yu to transform into the opponent..."

Meanwhile, as the barrier ascended, isolating inside and outside, the ’Zhang Yu’ outside saw his Formless Cloud Gang dissipate, revealing Che Yufei’s appearance.

Regarding the rankings and Foundation Establishment Domain overhead, to hide in the battle, both sides had already disabled them before the fight began.

Having completed his thoughts, Ma Xuan eyed Zhang Yu before him, lightning-fast ideas flashing through his mind.

"Earlier in the first half, controlling Small Three Harmonies at a distance made it hard to fully attack Zhang Yu up close."

"Now, by controlling the earth with Small Three Harmonies underfoot, I can maintain the barrier while attacking Zhang Yu with full force."

"And Zhang Yu’s current state is far from peak form, given the limited rest, how much has his mana depleted and body damage recovered from the first half?"

"So... should we capitalize on this, with the four of us attacking at full power now, to see if we can smash Zhang Yu?"