"PUFF!!!"
In an instant, Emperor Zoro felt as if he had been struck by dozens of overwhelmingly powerful blows. His body shook violently, and he spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.
"Young man, give up already! Get stronger first—then come challenge it again!"
The middle-aged man couldn't help but shout once more.
"NO-SWORD STYLE!!!"
"SEVER THE HEAVENLY RIVER!!!"
With a thunderous roar—
"BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!"
Majestic sword qi erupted explosively, surging against the current and forcibly cutting off over a hundred meters of the Heavenly Waterfall!
"!!!"
The sight left the six or seven onlookers utterly stunned, their minds going blank.
But very quickly—
"AHHH!!!"
With a miserable scream, the temporarily severed waterfall came crashing down again, even more violently than before, smashing Emperor Zoro away with overwhelming force!
"What a pity…"
"Yeah… this kid's probably dead—there won't even be bones left."
"Why be so obsessed?"
...
The six or seven men shook their heads, all convinced that Emperor Zoro was finished.
But at that very moment—
Slap!
A large hand, drenched in blood and riddled with wounds, stubbornly emerged from the water and grabbed onto the edge of the platform.
Accompanied by a glow of green light—and the aura of the pseudo-divine ability Life Unending—
Emperor Zoro's figure appeared once more!
"He actually… didn't die?"
The six or seven men were completely dumbfounded.
"Again!"
Without another word, Emperor Zoro wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and charged back in!
"BOOM!"
Less than a moment later, he was blasted away again.
Yet before long, the onlookers once again saw that familiar green-haired head crawling out of the water.
"This guy…"
They watched, eyes wide open, as Emperor Zoro was crushed again and again—
only to climb back up every single time.
Half a day passed in the blink of an eye.
Finally, Emperor Zoro exhausted all his strength and collapsed at the edge of the platform, gasping heavily.
He still couldn't understand.
Why…
What exactly was he lacking?
Back when he had been in that state of enlightenment, his No-sword Style had flowed with perfect ease—smooth and flawless!
But now, he couldn't even grasp its edge.
"!"
At that moment, Emperor Zoro suddenly noticed a fish.
A fish so weak it was almost insignificant—
yet it was effortlessly swimming upstream within the violent torrent unleashed by the massive waterfall!
"—!"
Emperor Zoro's eyes widened as he stared at that tiny fish, which was actually moving against the current, even advancing along the overwhelming impact of the waterfall itself!
Suddenly, something surfaced in his mind.
"Splash!!!"
The next instant, Emperor Zoro gently dipped one hand into the water—
and casually gave it a slight shake!
"BOOM!!!"
In an instant, all the water around his fingers shattered apart, soaring upward and briefly transforming into countless sharply angular, crystalline fragments of water!
But in less than half a breath, the shattered water returned to normal.
"So that's it…"
Emperor Zoro finally realized the truth!
He stood up once more, and the power of Breath of All Things burst forth explosively!
Now, Emperor Zoro could clearly perceive every detail of the Heavenly Waterfall—
the terrifying momentum of the massive torrent crashing down!
But—
"Not enough! I need to see even more clearly!!!"
Emperor Zoro closed his eyes, pouring all of his will into the Breath of All Things!
One day!
Two days!
Three days!
He continuously circulated the Breath of All Things, seeing more clearly with each passing cycle!
At first—
what Emperor Zoro saw was no longer a waterfall at all.
Instead—
it was a Milky Way stretching across countless meters!
The source of the Milky Way poured down from the boundless heavens, cascading onto the Primordial Earth, winding and flowing across innumerable realms—
and one of its branches finally arrived here,
transforming into the Heavenly Waterfall.
Within the dreamlike world formed after Emperor Zoro closed his eyes—
the entire Milky Way appeared like a vast, colossal blood vessel, with the vast waters of the Milky Way surging and flowing!
Then—
Emperor Zoro looked again.
The boundless Milky Way was magnified, showing only the portion that lay within the Imperial River Domain.
It continued to zoom in further, until only the area within a hundred-li radius before and after the Heavenly Waterfall, within Emperor Zoro's field of vision, remained.
After three full days, magnified again and again—
Emperor Zoro finally saw it clearly!
Within the unimaginably vast Milky Way, tens of thousands of meters wide—
there existed hundreds of millions of tiny tributaries!
Each tributary was only thumb-thick, resembling schools of fish, or intricate vascular networks converging together!
The reason that frail little fish had been able to swim upstream under the overwhelming impact of the Heavenly Waterfall—
was actually very simple!
That fish had merely chosen one of those thumb-sized tributaries!
No matter how massive the Heavenly Waterfall was, no matter how terrifying its power—
it had nothing to do with the fish!
That weak little fish only needed to overcome the force of that single thumb-wide tributary to move upstream!
The moment he comprehended this—
Emperor Zoro opened his eyes.
This ten-thousand-meter-wide Heavenly Waterfall was indeed enormous!
To directly oppose such a heaven-defying torrent was far too difficult!
That would be equivalent to using the strength of one person to resist the force of the entire Heavenly River!
However—
as Emperor Zoro's Breath of All Things shifted with his thoughts—for the very first time, he could clearly see every single tributary within the Heavenly Waterfall!
To sever the entire waterfall in one strike was almost impossible.
But to first cut off one tributary—that was effortless!
Then what about ten?
A hundred?
A thousand?
Ten thousand?
Emperor Zoro once again stood beneath the Heavenly Waterfall, allowing the massive, terrifying torrent to crash down upon him!
"Cough—cough—cough!"
The horrifying impact smashed Emperor Zoro until his entire body was drenched in blood. His flesh couldn't withstand the terror of the force and was brutally torn apart!
"He… still hasn't given up?"
The six or seven people nearby were all shaken by the sight.
But what happened next was even more shocking!
"NO-SWORD STYLE!!! SEVER THE HEAVENLY WATERFALL!!!"
This time, when Emperor Zoro struck—
his hands rotated, Intent coiling around them—
what he unleashed was no longer a single overwhelming, domineering slash!
Instead—
it was over ten thousand twisting, branching, and spreading slashes!
Each slash precisely locked onto one tiny tributary within the waterfall!
"BOOM!"
In the next instant, a shocking scene unfolded!
"BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!"
Over ten thousand slashes shot skyward in unison!
The immense sword qi transformed into ten thousand spiraling sword, each locking onto a tributary and surging upstream!
In a single moment—
the Heavenly Waterfall's waters within a several-meter radius—
vanished!
"What?!"
The six or seven people looked up, witnessing an utterly inconceivable sight!
Emperor Zoro's slashes surged upstream, tearing skyward, forcibly shredding all the waterfall water within that several-meter area—
cutting through three thousand meters, and charging straight into the summit of the Heavenly Waterfall!
Within a single breath!
Emperor Zoro's figure stood clearly visible—
not a single drop of water landed on him!
Yet just a few meters beyond his body, the vast Heavenly Waterfall continued to thunderously crash down without pause!
"He… he actually… severed the Heavenly Waterfall with his bare hands?"
The six or seven men were completely dumbfounded.
"Still far from enough."
Emperor Zoro raised his head. As one breath passed, the waterfall's waters came crashing down once more.
"Right now, I can only sever a few meters, and advance upstream three thousand meters."
"But one day…"
"I will sever ten thousand meters with a single strike—and surge thirty thousand meters upstream!"
Emperor Zoro clenched his fists, his eyes blazing with intense excitement and fighting spirit.