Kesha did not respond to Zhang Zheng's question.
Without giving Zhang Zheng any time to prepare, Kesha launched another storm of attacks on him.
Zhang Zheng had no good way to counter Kesha's continuous assault and could only passively defend. Each time he tried to strike back, he would find himself distracted by Kesha's irresistibly charming face, losing focus and getting lost in thoughts.
Zhang Zheng couldn't continue like this; being passively beaten was not his style.
He linked his consciousness with the Mind Gem, and the moment he succeeded, his entire demeanor changed.
Kesha, who was pursuing Zhang Zheng and attacking him, suddenly felt a shiver of danger and instinctively halted her white wings in mid-air.
Seeing Zhang Zheng's changed aura, Kesha had a surreal thought: the person before her no longer seemed human, but rather a highly precise machine, devoid of emotions or compassion.
Seeing the emptiness and coldness in Zhang Zheng's eyes, Kesha felt a primal fear, not of Zhang Zheng's power, but of a biological instinct.
"Kesha Queen, do we really need to keep fighting?" Zhang Zheng asked, his tone devoid of emotion, cold and mechanical.
"Hmph, of course we need to continue. Your test isn't over yet," Kesha said, despite her fear. As the Queen of the Gods, surrender was never an option for her.
"Then be careful, Kesha Queen." As Zhang Zheng finished his sentence, blue lightning emanated from him, and he turned into a streak of blue light rushing toward the Divine Kesha.
The silver sword light collided again with the blue lightning-enhanced Storm Axe.
Once more, Kesha's charm could no longer distract Zhang Zheng. He became like a machine, either dodging or defending, and Kesha's unparalleled swordsmanship could no longer pose a threat.
Kesha was also linked to the Heaven's Blade system, with astonishing computational abilities. Now, their battle was less about skill and energy and more about computational speed.
In the high-intensity fight, both had pushed their computational abilities to the limit. As they continued to clash, Zhang Zheng began to gain the upper hand.
Although it wasn't an energy competition, any battle still consumed a lot of energy. Zhang Zheng, being a massive energy body himself, had an advantage over Kesha, who had to draw energy from external sources.
Over time, Kesha began to fall behind.
There was no legendary battle lasting days and nights; at their level, even a tiny flaw could be fatal.
With a crack, Zhang Zheng's Storm Axe cut Kesha's dark silver sword into two pieces.
This momentary lapse caused Kesha to be momentarily disoriented, but that was enough to determine the outcome.
Devoid of emotions, Zhang Zheng showed no mercy. The Storm Axe followed the path of the broken sword and struck Kesha's shoulder.
The sharp axe blade slashed Kesha's divine body diagonally in half. Then, the blue light on the Storm Axe surged, and boundless thunderpower surged into Kesha's divided body.
"Ah…"
Lightning exploded inside her, and even the mighty Kesha couldn't help but let out a scream of agony.
"Enough, Zhang Zheng. Stop."
Hesitation in his actions was only momentary as He Xi's voice suddenly sounded in Zhang Zheng's ear, causing him to instinctively halt.
"Teacher."
Zhang Zheng greeted He Xi, though his voice still carried no emotion.
After greeting, Zhang Zheng did not continue his attack, instead, he stood in space with He Xi, watching as Kesha's divine body recovered.
"Kesha, let's end the test!" He Xi said directly to Kesha after she had recovered.
"Alright, as you say." Kesha responded and then turned her gaze back to Zhang Zheng, pondering the reason for his transformation.
Unlike the berserk state of a Sentinel, which showed an innocent gaze similar to a baby's, Zhang Zheng's eyes now were filled with emptiness and coldness, a gaze that shouldn't belong to a living being, too mechanical.
Seeing Kesha's decision to stop, Zhang Zheng disconnected from the Mind Gem.
Kesha watched Zhang Zheng's gaze change from emotionless to emotional, from empty to complex.
"Hehe, kid, your celestial calculator is quite impressive. It even surpasses my Heaven's Blade system in computational ability."
Kesha, like the former Angel Yan, mistakenly believed that Zhang Zheng had been using a celestial calculator similar to hers.
"It's okay, I guess!" Zhang Zheng said.
However, Zhang Zheng felt uneasy. He had just severed the beautiful Divine Kesha into segments.
Moreover, if He Xi hadn't stopped him, he might have turned her into divine atoms.
Thinking about it, Zhang Zheng began to sweat.
Could it be that his relationship with Yan was in jeopardy, with their romance barely starting but possibly ending already?
Kesha found Zhang Zheng amusing and frustrating as she watched him fidget and change expressions.
She couldn't believe she had lost to him, feeling it was somewhat unjust.
Zhang Zheng glanced at Kesha and saw a smile on her face, which eased his anxiety a bit.
"Kesha Queen, can we say that my relationship with Yan is settled now?" Zhang Zheng asked with a firm tone.
However, upon hearing Zhang Zheng's words, Kesha's smile immediately vanished. With eyes filled with coldness, she stared at Zhang Zheng and said with a serious tone, "I have no comments on your strength. As the defeated, I'm not in a position to give any evaluations. But about the injury you caused me, I think we need to discuss it further."
"Kesha Queen, I'm sorry for hurting you. It's inevitable in battle, but you wouldn't make things difficult for me because of this, would you?" Zhang Zheng tried to persuade Kesha.
However, Zhang Zheng was still too young and didn't understand the harsh realities of society, especially in this vast universe.
"Tsk tsk, kid, are you mistaken about something? When did I ever fight you?" Kesha said. "I was just testing your strength; you weren't testing me. You should only be on the defensive. Who said you could attack me?"
Kesha ignored Zhang Zheng's gaze and argued forcefully, her tone filled with undeniable authority as she maximized the might of the Queen of the Gods.
"But didn't you tell me to attack first? How could it be wrong to attack you?" Zhang Zheng tried to reason with Kesha.
"Cut it. Who do you think you are to listen to me? Moreover, will you continue to follow my orders in the future? If you do, I won't blame you this time." Kesha said disdainfully.
She then glanced at He Xi and said, "You agree with me, right, He Xi?"
"Hmm, that's the way it is. If I had thought of this earlier, I wouldn't have been injured during the test." He Xi agreed with Kesha and cast a dismissive glance at Zhang Zheng.
"Kesha Queen, even if you're the Queen of the Gods, shouldn't you be reasonable?" Zhang Zheng was shocked by Kesha's shamelessness. Was this really the haughty and lofty Kesha from the original story? She seemed like a thug.
"Ah, little one, you're so naive! Are you trying to reason with two 'old women' who are thirty thousand years old?" Kesha said, emphasizing the words "old women."
"Uh⊙?⊙!"
Zhang Zheng finally understood.