Gao Wu insists on cultivating immortality.

Chapter 257 Temple of Consciousness
"Please." Helen gracefully stepped forward, bowing respectfully with a solemn expression.

The martial arts were founded by Emperor Qin Liuhe, and all martial arts-related rituals are Eastern in style.

Including related languages ​​and cultures, this has profoundly influenced everyone in the Federation over the past century.

Venus despises the Alliance and secretly worships the Demon God, yet she has already absorbed these Eastern cultural influences through decades of subtle cultivation.

She didn't think it was wrong; on the contrary, she thought it was the right thing to do.

Gao Wu had already activated the Crimson Flame Flying Dragon Armor. Although he was confident that he could defeat his opponent, he would not be careless in any way.

The Crimson Dragon Armor provides better protection for the body, effectively resists various external attacks, enhances source power, and can more effectively cut through the air at high speeds to reduce resistance.

Armored with the Crimson Dragon Armor, it looks even more imposing! This is equally important.

Gao Wu cupped his hands in greeting to Helen: "Please."

His voice was already hoarse, but through his scarlet eyes it became even more profound.

Although Helen was stunningly beautiful, Gao Wu harbored no romantic thoughts towards her. Since they had started fighting, they were enemies; there was no distinction between good and bad, beauty and ugliness, only strength and weakness, superiority and inferiority.

In the past six months, he has slain demons in the Southern Continent and swept away pirates in the archipelago, killing countless people, which has naturally condensed his fierce killing aura.

Once he gets serious, his killing intent is naturally released along with his martial arts divine will.

Helen sensed that chilling murderous aura, and her bright blue eyes, as clear as the sea and the sky, also turned icy.

She stretched out her hand and whispered, "Come on!"

Gao Wu couldn't understand the Federation language, but he could tell what Helen was going to do just by looking at her movements.

He sighed inwardly. "She's just showing off again!" he thought. "If it were a life-or-death duel, I would definitely go up and strike with my sword. I wouldn't give Helen a chance to pose and show off."

Now, he wants to win gracefully, not just simply defeat his opponent.

A deep blue streak of light rose from the huge luxury yacht, shooting towards the shore with a sharp whistle.

The yacht was two or three kilometers away from the shore, yet the deep blue streak of light arrived at the same speed as the sound.

The deep blue light landed in Helen Su's hand, transforming into a deep blue trident about 2.2 meters long, and the sharp whistling sound stopped abruptly.

Helen wore a traditional Greek robe, like a rectangular piece of cloth draped over her shoulders, with a few buttons casually fastened in the middle. It had many pleats yet was very smooth, and the overall style was loose, simple, elegant, and flowing.

Helen is about 1.83 meters tall. The sea-blue robe further accentuates her fair and radiant skin, as well as her long limbs and graceful figure.

Holding a deep blue trident, she resembled a goddess who controlled the seas, inspiring awe and reverence.

The Crimson Dragon Armor, with its metallic mechanical battle armor style, appeared like a guardian in the face of Helen's extraordinary divinity.

Gao Wu also sensed this difference between the two sides. This subtle change in aura was more due to the projection of their inner fundamental strength than to a simple difference in appearance and demeanor.

Clearly, Helen's trident, combined with divine power, enabled her to possess such extraordinary abilities.

This is very similar to the high priests of the demonic sect, who gain divine power through continuous blood sacrifices and obtain power beyond the scope of ordinary martial arts.

The difference between Helen and those priests and high priests lies in her purity and nobility; she possesses a divinity that transcends all things, yet remains untainted by the filth of bloodshed.

Gao Wu observed Helen with his Yin spirit and did not see any foul black aura on her. This young woman did not seem to be a believer in the demon god.

The seven dragon-slaying knights possessed a certain amount of dark energy, clearly indicating that they were all true followers of the demon god.

As for Venus, she did not have any black aura on her body, but her spiritual level was covered by a black cloak, which even had a metallic-like material.

This was the first time Gao Wu had witnessed such a powerful manifestation of divine power, demonstrating the immense protection Venus's spirit possessed. Even with the Vermilion Bird Divine Light Mantra, his spiritual strength was far inferior to Venus's.

Even if an eighth-level Saint is not as powerful as a Martial Saint, he is still someone he cannot afford to offend.

Gao Wu only glanced at it with his Yin Spirit before immediately withdrawing it. Although the two level-eight experts could not detect the existence of the Yin Spirit, their powerful mental fields exerted great pressure on it.

In some respects, the spirits of the two level-eight powerhouses were a hundred times more intense and terrifying than the sun.

Gao Wu used his Yin Spirit to complete the observation, and without further hesitation, he drew his sword and charged.

After killing Jun Dao Yero, Gao Wu practiced swordsmanship with Hai Wuji every day on Dongwei Island, and his swordsmanship improved greatly. This is an accurate statement.

When he wields the Dragon Sword, his body and sword become one, resembling a winding, flowing dragon. His 25 points of agility make him incredibly fast.

In Helen's azure eyes, only a winding, gleaming, cold light could be seen; the powerful and sharp sword light even obscured Gao Wu's figure.

Helen was startled. She had tried to overestimate Gao Wu's abilities beforehand, but when they started fighting, she found that Gao Wu's abilities far exceeded her expectations.

The two were only a dozen meters apart, and Gao Wu was moving too fast. Helen had to use her mental power to accurately sense Gao Wu's changes.

She knew she was far slower than Gao Wu, and would be at a greater disadvantage in close combat. Although she used her trident well, she couldn't compare to a swordsman like Gao Wu.

Helen raised her trident, pointed it at Gao Wu, and let out a low shout. Under the stimulation of her source power, the trident immediately surged with massive waves of source power.

The air in front of the trident churned and swirled, a manifestation of the invisible water elemental power.

At the same time, Helen's azure robe shrank and coalesced into a set of azure armor, in the style of Milanese armor. The armor appeared heavy and majestic, with intricate patterns, making it exceptionally beautiful and elegant.

This Neptune Armor is also a seventh-tier divine weapon, repeatedly enhanced by divine power, possessing a variety of magical powers.

Helen did not worship demons, mainly to maintain the purity of her soul. Only in this way could she unleash the power of the two artifacts blessed with different divine powers.

Helen's cultivation level was too low, and she rarely used the two divine weapons. At this moment, however, she was fully activating them, and her source power was amplified by the weapons, increasing its power several times over. This allowed her to clearly see Gao Wu's movements and the changes in his external source power.

However, this state would continuously drain her mental energy, and with her naturally strong mental strength, she could only maintain it for a maximum of three minutes.

Her previous reluctance to convert the Neptune Armor into combat mode was not out of feigned nonchalance, but simply to reduce the burden.

The surging water energy was ten or even a hundred times stronger than a real giant wave. Although Gao Wu was fast, he had nowhere to use his skills against such a powerful and vast energy and could only retreat with his sword drawn.

The snow-white sword light split and circled, hovering around the outer edge where the power of the primal energy wave was weakest. This fighting style primarily abandoned technique, relying entirely on the contest of primal energy.

Although Gao Wu's source power surpassed Helen's, he was unwilling to engage her in a direct confrontation. There was no need to reveal too much of his strength in front of Saint Venus.

Helen couldn't catch up with Gao Wu, so she could only keep activating the Trident of the Sea King. The surge of source energy she generated rolled and surged around her, and Gao Wu moved back and forth on his sword like a dragon swimming in the tide.

The stunningly beautiful Venus watched the battle with a calm expression, but she was somewhat disappointed with the fight.

Gao Wu was incredibly fast, and his swordsmanship was superb, with a high-grade sword in his hand.

Helen may seem like a majestic water goddess who commands the seas, but in reality, she has no good way to deal with Gao Wu.

The immense source power unleashed by the divine artifact cannot be sustained for long. Those with high-level martial arts experience, adept at handling situations, will undoubtedly be able to predict Helen's next move.

Helen is unlikely to win this battle!

Helen couldn't wait any longer, and she suddenly unleashed the Trident of Neptune to strike Gao Wu directly.

This strike caused the surrounding surging source energy to converge into a vortex, which also made Gao Wu's agile figure pause.

Gao Wu was prepared for this. He transformed the Youlong Sword into the Menglong Sword and struck directly. The swirling vortex of source energy around him was cleaved open, creating a crack. Gao Wu followed the sword and tried to escape the vortex of source energy.

Just then, Helen gave a low shout, and the vortex of source energy that was spinning like a tide suddenly solidified and froze.

The invisible source force directly transformed into translucent blue ice crystals, freezing an area of ​​tens of meters in radius and forming a huge block of ice.

Gao Wu was frozen inside the ice.

The change from water-based energy to ice-based energy made Chao Fengying's eyes widen, and she instinctively gripped Song Mingyue's hand tightly.

Song Mingyue remained calm. She vaguely sensed that Helen would transform into an ice-type being, and that Helen's ability was somewhat similar to her own Xuanming Heavenly Serpent.

She relied entirely on her martial arts cultivation to convert source power, which was far less powerful than Helen's direct power gained through supernatural abilities and divine artifacts.

Her mental power is the ability to manipulate objects, and theoretically she could turn water into ice, but her power level is still too low to do so.

Seeing Helen turn water into ice was somewhat touching. However, Helen's strength also stemmed from the power of her trident.

Otherwise, she absolutely couldn't have done this with her current level of source energy. Unfortunately, Gao Wu could control fire with his sword, which was a perfect counter to her ice transformations.

Song Mingyue thought about it again and felt something was wrong. Everyone knew that Gao Wu had used his fire control ability in front of everyone at the Azure Dragon Cup.

Even if Helen were a member of the Federation, she would have prepared beforehand for a fight with Gao Wu. So, this is a trap?
Gao Wu, who was frozen in the ice, also thought of this. His powerful mental strength could also sense a violent aura in the frozen ice.

It likely originated from the perception of the Qilin Divine Hero Mantra, but the level was not high enough to accurately determine the source of the violent aura.

Gao Wu did not use the Heavenly Fate Sword. With a flick of his left palm, he unleashed the Regretful Dragon Technique. The massive ice block shattered into countless ice shards upon contact with his palm, and Gao Wu split his swords to strike Helen directly.

Helen's beautiful blue eyes revealed a hint of horror. She was just waiting for Gao Wu to unleash the flames so that the ice could be transformed into a pure source energy implosion. However, Gao Wu abandoned his sword and used a powerful and domineering palm strike instead, which failed to trigger the ice implosion.

The battle suddenly went off-track, leaving Helen with no choice but to swing the Trident of Neptune and thrust it straight at Gao Wu.

The two split sword lights followed the trident straight ahead, instantly unleashing hundreds of sword strikes.

The continuous sword light erupted like a barrage of lightning, and Helen's trident spun rapidly, condensing layers of ice mirrors.

The shooting sword light pierced through layers of ice mirrors, leaving sword marks on the Neptune Armor.

If it weren't for the Neptune Armor's deep, ocean-like source energy protection, Helen would have been torn to shreds by the twin swords long ago.

"Stop." Venus flicked her long sleeves and brought Helen, who was still struggling to maintain her strength, back to her side. She smiled at Gao Wu and said, "Good swordsmanship. You have won this battle."

Gao Wu sheathed his sword and gracefully cupped his hands, saying, "Thank you for your kind offer."

Ars, the dragon-slaying knight who had been standing behind Venus, suddenly said, "As expected of the Sword Saint's disciple, your swordsmanship is indeed powerful. I also have some knowledge of swordsmanship and would like to ask you for guidance. Would I have the honor of doing so?"

Ars had short blue hair, a slender build, and wore a black combat suit; he looked quite young and handsome. His Alliance dialect was fairly standard, though his word choice was a bit awkward.

Venus, with her jewel-like emerald eyes, gazed intently at Gao Wudao: "Are you willing?"

Gao Wu glanced at it once and felt that there seemed to be countless stars hidden deep in those emerald eyes, each one shining brightly.

Looking further, it seemed that there was a grand Western-style temple deep within those stars, and countless patterns were carved deep within the temple, seemingly depicting scenes of ancient gods battling.

Among the many war gods, another god is watching him, and within that god's eyes lies a profound world... A goddess with an indistinct face is watching him from the depths of that world...

One world after another unfolds, seemingly without end...

Gao Wu was momentarily dazed, but his Yin spirit remained unaffected. He immediately realized that this was Venus's Temple of Consciousness, containing the opponent's eighth-level power.

With just a glance, his consciousness was already somewhat affected, and he couldn't help but secretly marvel at how impressive it was. However, this was exactly what he wanted.

Gao Wu said, "I'm willing."

(End of this chapter)