How Do We Play If This Boss Isn't Nerfed?

Chapter 378: Chapter 188: Ascending the Peak, Rivaling the Martial Saint

Yanjing, inside a high-end apartment.

For the past day or so, Dong Dongchen had been living in a state of both excitement and torment.

The excitement came from the fact that the viewer traffic he craved had exploded in a way that far exceeded his wildest imagination.

That "One-Punch Man" montage video had gone viral across the entire internet, and he, its creator, had skyrocketed to fame along with it.

In just a day and a half, his channel’s follower count had surged by over 600,000, turning him into a streamer with over a million followers.

The torment came from his fear that the man himself, Lin Ye, would vanish again. The impact on him would be too great if there was no follow-up.

So, for that day and a half, he hadn’t gone anywhere. He’d just been holed up at home, waiting with desperate anticipation.

Finally!

The moment that grayed-out ID in his friends list lit up, Dong Dongchen was so excited he almost jumped out of his bed.

Forgetting all about his appearance, Dong Dongchen immediately started his stream.

He even changed his stream title to: IT! IS! TO! DAY!

"Brothers! He’s here! He’s online!"

The moment the stream went live, the viewership shot up like a rocket. Over 100,000 people flooded in instantly!

The massive turnout made Dong Dongchen’s heart pound.

He didn’t even bother with pleasantries or thanking for gifts, immediately sharing the "Martial Arts Peak" matchmaking screen.

The ID of [Goblin Soldier] was clearly online!

And its status had already changed to [Matching...].

The atmosphere in the stream instantly ignited, and all the viewers started spamming the chat frantically.

However, one minute passed.

Two minutes passed.

Three minutes...

The matchmaking interface was still spinning.

Dong Dongchen didn’t need to explain. Everyone understood what this meant.

"Holy crap! This matchmaking is taking forever!"

"The system must be panicking! It’s probably tearing through the entire server database in the background, just trying to find someone who can put this guy in his place!"

"It’s the calm before the storm! I feel like something big is about to happen!"

Finally, after a grueling five-and-a-half-minute wait that had everyone on edge...

DING!

A crisp notification sound jolted both Lin Ye himself and the nearly one million viewers in the stream who were waiting on the edge of their seats.

It was the sound indicating an opponent had been found and the battle was about to begin!

The next moment, the IDs of the two opponents appeared in the center of the screen!

[Goblin Soldier (Rank 1007) vs. One Sword Frost Cold (Rank 457)]

"HISS—!"

Seeing that ID and rank, Dong Dongchen couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

"One Sword Frost Cold! It’s actually him!"

Dong Dongchen’s voice suddenly grew grave.

"Brothers, this guy is no nobody!"

"In Central South Province, there’s an ancient martial arts heritage organization called the Sword Pavilion. It’s now a top-tier Martial Hall, second only to Xinhuo and Kunlun."

"The organization has only one requirement for its members: they must learn the sword. And they don’t accept anyone without talent!"

"If I remember correctly, this One Sword Frost Cold’s real name is Fang Tianci. He’s one of the most outstanding disciples of the Sword Pavilion’s younger generation!"

"His fast sword technique is incredibly fierce, but the most terrifying thing about him is his Martial Arts Spirituality, Sword Shadow!"

"Every time he strikes, he leaves behind a residual image of Sword Qi that is almost tangible. After a short delay, this afterimage will launch another attack along a completely different trajectory!"

"In other words, when you face him, you have to defend against two attacks every single time! And he completely controls the timing and trajectory of the second attack, making it extremely difficult to predict!"

"The slightest mistake, and you’ll be severely wounded by these impossible-to-defend-against sword shadows!"

Dong Dongchen’s explanation instantly made the countless viewers realize just how troublesome this Martial Arts Spirituality was.

Given enough time, he could even lay down a deadly Sword Array like a Celestial Net of Heaven and Earth!

Unleashing all the Sword Qi at once to annihilate his enemy!

The map loaded.

A field of crumbling ruins and lingering smoke.

Lin Ye’s opponent was a grim-faced young man in a long cyan robe, holding an ancient-looking longsword.

The countdown ended.

[Battle Start!]

Almost at the exact moment the notification sounded, the young man named One Sword Frost Cold vanished!

’Such a fast Body Technique!’

Lin Ye was inwardly startled, but his reaction was even faster.

CLANG!

The Star-Piercing Spear appeared in his hand in an instant. He held it horizontally, forming a steady guard in front of him.

TING!

A crisp clash of metal on metal rang out!

A flash of sword light, so fast it was a blur, struck the shaft of the spear with pinpoint accuracy!

However, before Lin Ye could even change his move to counterattack, his pupils contracted slightly.

Just as the sword light was blocked, an almost identical, illusory sword shadow appeared from the exact same spot.

Immediately after, the sword shadow bypassed his guard and stabbed at his chest again from an extremely strange and tricky angle!

TING!

Lin Ye’s wrist snapped down, pressing the spear’s shaft downward to firmly block the incoming sword shadow once more.

’What a bizarre Martial Arts Spirituality!’

His attack having failed, One Sword Frost Cold’s figure reappeared in the distance, his grim face completely devoid of expression.

The next moment, his figure blurred again, splitting into dozens of afterimages that attacked Lin Ye simultaneously from all directions!

The sky filled with sword light, blotting out everything!

And behind every flash of sword light followed a deadly, phantom-like sword shadow!

"Here it comes! The Sword Pavilion’s ultimate technique, Starfall from the Nine Heavens!"

"Combined with his Martial Arts Spirituality, this move is just insane!"

"A normal person would be completely unable to defend against it! It’s like one person creating the effect of an entire Sword Array!"

The viewers in the stream went absolutely wild.

Everyone was stunned by this gorgeous yet lethal sword technique.

For the first time, they were seeing someone completely suppress Lin Ye right from the start, forcing him onto the defensive without leaving a single opening to counterattack!

TING! TING! TING!

A dense cacophony of metal clashing, like a torrential downpour, rang out wildly across the battlefield!

Lin Ye’s figure was almost completely swallowed by the sky-filling sword light and sword shadows.

The Star-Piercing Spear in his hand became an impenetrable blur of black, blocking every single attack.

But his brow gradually furrowed.

’This can’t go on.’

’My opponent’s attacks are relentless, and he has that unpredictable sword shadow ability that can strike at any moment.’

’In the short term, if I continue to rely on just my physical strength, I won’t find any opportunity to counterattack.’

When it came to swordsmanship, Lin Ye felt this opponent was even stronger than Zhang Daoxuan.

Although Zhang Daoxuan’s specialty was Sword Control.

Lin Ye’s gaze hardened. He hesitated no longer.

For the first time in a battle since returning to the Martial Arts Peak’s New Star Sequence, the Gang Sha within his body erupted without reservation!

An aura far more terrifying than in any of his previous fights exploded outward!

VMM—!

A visible layer of golden Gang Sha, so condensed it looked solid, instantly covered Lin Ye’s entire body!

The moment the Gang Sha appeared, Lin Ye abandoned all blocking and parrying.

’Because... it wasn’t necessary anymore.’

He ignored the sword light and shadows stabbing at his vital points, his entire being like an awakened ancient beast as he poured all his strength into his right arm.

Then, the Star-Piercing Spear in his hand, in the simplest, most brutal, and even most unreasonable manner, smashed down ferociously toward the core of the sword shadows filling the sky!

Brute force overcomes all skill!

Sword techniques, sword shadows—in the face of absolute power, they were all just fancy, useless moves!

Seeing Lin Ye finally use the signature Gang Sha of a Gang Condensation Realm Martial Artist for the first time...

In that moment, Dong Dongchen’s mind went completely blank!

Long Bohan, who was secretly watching the battle, was also trembling with excitement.

Gang Condensation Realm!

Their suspicions were confirmed at this very moment!

At the same time, the fact that Lin Ye had only just now revealed his Gang Sha was an indirect testament to just how absurd his pure physical strength truly was!

This was an opponent in the top 500 of the New Star Sequence!

"He... he’s actually in the Gang Condensation Realm?!"

"Holy crap! All this time, he was fighting with just his physical body? He didn’t use Gang Sha at all?!"

"Oh my god! Is this his true power?!"

In Dong Dongchen’s stream, the million-plus viewers were collectively stunned the instant they saw that layer of golden Gang Sha on Lin Ye’s body!

Everyone had thought that his previous "one-punching the newbies" style was him going all out.

Who could have guessed that wasn’t even his limit!

On the battlefield, One Sword Frost Cold, who had been immersed in the rhythm of his own attacks, had his expression change drastically!

The terrifying pressure rushing toward him was almost suffocating!

He wanted to retreat, but it was too late!

The long spear, wrapped in golden Gang Sha, magnified rapidly in his pupils, like a heaven-propping pillar falling from the sky!

BOOM—!!!

A deafening roar!

The sky full of sword light shattered, inch by inch!

The dozens, even hundreds, of sword shadows melted away instantly like ice and snow under the sun!

One Sword Frost Cold’s figure tumbled wretchedly out of midair, the longsword flying from his grasp.

His entire body, as if hit head-on by a speeding hundred-ton truck, turned into a streak of light and flew back dozens of meters.

Finally, he crashed heavily into the distant, ruined walls.

Everyone could clearly see that his arms were a bloody, mangled mess.

An equally terrifying, bloody hole had also appeared in his chest!

Then, One Sword Frost Cold dissolved into a stream of data and slowly faded away.

[Battle Over!]

[Goblin Soldier Wins!]

Another one-hit kill!

A one-shot!

After using his Gang Sha, even a Rank 457 Sword Dao genius with a bizarre Martial Arts Spirituality could not escape the fate of being killed in a single blow!

The entire world seemed to fall silent.

In the stream, a dead silence was followed by a volcanic eruption of comments!

"Who the fuck am I even watching... For a second there, I had the illusion that I was seeing a hint of a Divine Realm master in him..."

"This guy’s a fucking monster! An absolute monster!"

"So... what we were seeing before was just the tip of the iceberg?"

Dong Dongchen stood with his mouth agape, speechless for a long time. He felt like his entire worldview was being repeatedly shattered and rebuilt.

With a trembling hand, he opened Lin Ye’s personal stats page.

[Max Win Streak: 166]

"He tied it...! He really tied the record!" Dong Dongchen’s voice was trembling.

He had fantasized about this battle countless times before.

He had imagined it would be an epic battle where both sides fought to the very end.

He never expected it to end so quickly!

Everything about Fang Tianci was completely overshadowed the moment he unleashed his Gang Sha.

The win was too...

Dong Dongchen could no longer find the words to describe what he was feeling.

In his mind’s eye, only one scene remained—one of his own imagining.

It was of a young man holding a black spear.

Ascending to the summit of a mountain.

In that moment, his figure overlapped with that of the Martial Saint from decades ago, who had likewise stunned the world and dominated an entire era!