Pay-to-Win Cultivation: I Get 10,000x Returns

Chapter 233: Failed to Break Through This Old Man’s Armor

Facing the twin beams of golden light, the pressure crushing down on Zhang Xian multiplied instantly. His movements flickered and blurred, but he was clearly being pushed to his limit.

Shing!

With a thought, a puppet materialized from thin air behind him, throwing its body into the path of a tricky sword beam aimed at his flank.

“Oh? You have puppets, too?”

Xuanzhao raised an eyebrow. He didn’t pause. A third sword light howled through the air.

Zhang Xian didn’t hesitate. He summoned a second puppet, sacrificing it to forcibly tank the blow.

“Interesting.” The arrogance on Xuanzhao’s face remained, but a glint of seriousness finally entered his eyes.

The golden light before him flared. The fourth, fifth, and sixth sword lights manifested in rapid succession, interlocking to form a profound sword formation that cascaded toward Zhang Xian like a river of golden mercury.

Zhang Xian was instantly thrown into absolute passivity. There was no room to dodge.

He slapped a talisman onto the air.

Earth Wall!

An immense, solid shield of rock erupted from the ground, putting a barrier between him and the onslaught.

BOOM!

The six sword lights slammed into the earthen shield, unleashing a deafening roar. The rock face trembled violently, spiderweb fractures spreading across its surface in a heartbeat.

Xuanzhao sneered. “Heh. Relying on external objects. Unorthodox methods.”

He twitched a finger.

The six sword lights suddenly blazed with blinding intensity. Their speed and Spiritual Energy output doubled instantly, hammering into the crumbling shield with renewed fury.

CRACK!

The shield shattered, exploding into dust and gravel.

The terrifying impact force launched Zhang Xian and his puppet backward like ragdolls, burying them in a cloud of debris.

Xuanzhao stood with his hands clasped behind his back, the six golden swords circling him like obedient pets. He looked down at the settling dust with the air of a critic reviewing a mediocre performance.

“Not bad. For a mere Golden Core cultivator to survive my [Six Profound Golden Light Swords], you have reason to be proud.”

However, from within the dust cloud, Zhang Xian’s voice rang out—full of vigor and dripping with mockery.

“What a pity. A majestic late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator, driving a sword formation with full force… and you failed to even scratch this Old Man’s protective armor? Frankly speaking, I find your damage output… lacking.”

The dust drifted away.

Zhang Xian stood there, casually dusting off his sleeves. His outer robe was tattered, shredded by the shockwave, but beneath it lay a close-fitting soft armor shimmering with glazed light.

It was completely intact. Not even a scratch.

The haughty expression on Xuanzhao’s face froze.

Then, as if he had heard the world’s most absurd joke, he threw his head back and laughed wildly.

“Hahaha! A mere Golden Core brat, relying on a few shiny toys, actually dares to be this insolent before this Venerable One! Truly, the ignorant are fearless!”

The laughter cut off abruptly.

It was replaced by a chilling, concentrated killing intent.

Xuanzhao’s hands blurred as he formed seals. The brilliant golden light behind him surged, the air screaming as the quantity of swords doubled.

Six became twelve.

Twelve golden sword lights, each pulsating with a Geng Metal killing aura far sharper than before, locked onto Zhang Xian. The atmosphere felt like it was being sliced into ribbons.

Zhang Xian dropped the joking facade.

Xuanzhao might be an arrogant narcissist, but his cultivation was the real deal. He wasn’t a paper tiger.

Any single one of those twelve lights carried the destructive power of an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator’s full-force strike. But here, they were faster, more agile, and controlled by a master.

This was the chasm between realms.

The mobilization of ambient Spiritual Energy, the microscopic control over force, the ocean-like reserves of energy—it was a gap that raw talent struggled to bridge.

Although the System allows me to use Top Grade Spirit Treasures, Zhang Xian analyzed grimly, the difference between Golden Core and Nascent Soul isn’t just quantity. It’s a qualitative leap.

A Golden Core cultivator is like a craftsman borrowing tools. A Nascent Soul cultivator briefly fuses with the laws of heaven and earth. To them, casting a spell is as instinctual as breathing.

I’m afraid that only by truly advancing to Nascent Soul—where the spirit intersects with the world—can I unlock the true potential of these Heaven-Grade techniques.

Thinking this, Zhang Xian stopped holding back.

BOOM!

Jet-black flames erupted from his pores, wreathed in heart-palpitating waves of destruction.

Heaven-Grade Art: [Shadow Flame].

Simultaneously, the phantom of a colossal ancient tree manifested behind him, its canopy obscuring the sky. A torrential downpour of azure light rained down, injecting endless vitality into his veins.

Heaven-Grade Art: [Azure Emperor’s Rejuvenation Art].

Destruction and Life, cycling in perfect harmony.

The clash erupted instantly.

The twelve golden lights formed a high-speed vortex, a meat grinder of light that swarmed Zhang Xian. They moved so fast they left permanent scars of light on the retina, stabbing and slashing from every conceivable angle.

Yet, Zhang Xian’s defense remained impenetrable!

His water-element sword technique had reached the realm of Transcendence. His movements were fluid, continuous, and dense—a sphere of water that allowed nothing to pass.

Xuanzhao’s hand seals changed rapidly, his eyes narrowing into slits. The contempt in his heart was rapidly being displaced by shock.

He was a veteran monster of the cultivation world. His eyes were sharp.

This kid… a Golden Core cultivator wielding the Five Elements to such a domineering degree?

That black flame has peerless destructive power; the consumption should be astronomical. Yet that ancient tree phantom is instantly refilling his reserves. And that sword defense… it’s flawless. Not a drop of water leaks through.

For a Golden Core ant to not be instantly shredded by his Twelve Profound Light Swords was an anomaly. For him to stalemate it?

That was a Great Humiliation.

“Break for me!” Xuanzhao roared.

The Nascent Soul within his Dantian spun madly, pumping vast amounts of Geng Metal Spiritual Energy into the formation. The golden lights swelled, their lethality increasing by another thirty percent.

Just then, Xuanzhao’s keen Divine Sense twitched.

Above them, the atmosphere had grown heavy. An invisible, oppressive force was gathering in the void, accompanied by the low, guttural rumble of thunder.

Hmm? A Thunder Technique?

The thought barely crossed Xuanzhao’s mind when Zhang Xian shouted a single word.

“Fall!”

CRACK-BOOM!

A bolt of purple lightning tore through the sky, striking directly at Xuanzhao’s skull.

Xuanzhao snorted cold disdain. With a thought, one of his golden swords shot upward, intercepting the bolt.

Bang! Both annihilated each other in a burst of sparks.

But in the next second, Zhang Xian formed a seal with one hand, his lips moving in a rapid chant.

[Purple Empyrean Dragon Roar Mantra]—Full Output.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The sky broke open.

Countless purple thunderbolts descended like a torrential rainstorm, a carpet bombing of lightning that engulfed Xuanzhao’s position. The sheer volume of the attack instantly disrupted the rhythm of his sword formation.

Xuanzhao’s eyes widened in genuine alarm.

He still has the strength to counterattack?! Under the suppression of my sword array, where is he finding the mental bandwidth to cast such a large-scale thunder spell?

Xuanzhao waved his hands, directing his golden lights to shred the falling lightning bolts.

But as he looked through the chaotic curtain of electricity, he realized Zhang Xian was gone.

The young cultivator had used the distraction to open a massive gap between them.

Zhang Xian turned back, his silhouette illuminated by the fading lightning, and spat out one final word.

“Illusion!”

Zzt!

His body dissolved into a streak of purple electricity.