by <unknown>
While everything progressed smoothly for Ting Lanyue, the same could not be said for the others. Unlike Ting Lanyue and He Chengchuan, the other upper house disciples were only as strong as the ordinary grown-up mantis demons and some of them even suffered some injuries. However, none of them activated their items such as totem pillars and soul weapons as they were still able to manage without it.
“These mantis demons are also a good source of obtaining darksteel as well. Darksteel can be used to refine your soul weapon – the best of which usually comes from the two scythes as they contain extremely refined darksteel.”
Ting Lanyue continued to explain, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, their weakness is their heart, but the grown-up mantis demons have a layer of bones that protect their heart. Only by using Sword Qi skills like the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】will you be able to penetrate the layer of bones and strike their hearts. In Swords Gate, the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】is the best skill in dealing with mantis demons!”
Through observing the techniques and the upper house disciples’ way of fighting, Zhong Yue quickly absorbed a large amount of experience as the upper house disciples are currently superior to him in combat prowess due to previously long hours of training.
Suddenly, Xing Huo said hurriedly, “Zhong Yue, there’s a mutated mantis demon among them, be careful!”
“Mutated mantis demon!?”
Just as Zhong Yue was about to warn the others about the mutated mantis demon, an extremely ear-piercing laugh could be heard. A mantis demon fighting with one of the upper house disciples swung its body and it quickly grew taller and larger. It swung its scythe-like arms and a white light flashed across the air!
As the white light flashed, the head of the disciple fighting with him detached from his body with the disciple’s face contorted in disbelief.
“Seems like there are no Qi Practitioners here among you all, then I have no need to hide anymore!”
The demon laughed and jumped quickly, landing in front of another disciple! The disciple’s reaction was very fast and they launched a thunderous Sword Qi towards the chest of the mutated mantis demon!
But the mutated demon did not bother about his attack. It indifferently allowed the thunderous sword to explode on its chest, where it failed to leave even a single impression!
The next moment, before anyone could react, the disciple was decapitated by the mutated demon. The demon then grabbed the disciple’s headless corpse and indulged in the blood that spewed out from its neck.
“Mutated mantis demon!”
As Ting Lanyue, He Chengchuan and the others recollected their thoughts; in their blind rage, they activated their【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】simultaneously. In a flash, the entire battlefield was enveloped in thunderous Sword Qi which engulfed the mutated demon!
Thunderous swords, one after another, formed a huge ball of thunderbolts, surrounding the mutated demon inside of it. Ting Lanyue’s beautiful eyes looked towards the direction of the thunderbolts ball, finding the mutated demon still standing at the same spot while drinking the blood of the headless body.
Shockingly, this mutated demon remained unharmed in the face of the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】cast by the superimposition of hundreds of upper house disciples’ individual skills!
“Brothers and sisters, totem pillar formation! Immobilize and lock that demon down!”
Ting Lanyue shouted in a low tone. He Chengchuan and the others quickly threw out their totem pillars, forming a circle that surrounded the demon at the center.
Although not everyone had totem pillars, there were still almost fifty of `m them planted around the demon.
As someone who had been pressured to the extent of almost being incapable of moving, Zhong Yue knew how strong these totem pillars were and now, around fifty of them were thrown out!
The pressure now should be over twenty times stronger than what he experienced!
As one after another totem pillars were activated, a wave of pressure surged throughout the battlefield, forcing one after another mantis demons on the ground.
After the lightning ball dispersed, the mutated demon remained standing in the middle of the pillars as if he was oblivious to the pressure!
The mutated demon turned its head sternly with its eyes showing an intense desire for blood as it stared at Ting Lanyue, he licked his lips and said, “Little heifer ... I like to conquer pretty heifers like you….”
Ting Lanyue’s forehead started to drip cold sweat and when she saw some disciples trying to kill the mutated demon with their soul weapons, she shouted, “Stop! Mutated demons are very resistant to ordinary soul weapons and we have yet to completely master the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】. It would be useless against it right now! Now, split up into groups of ten and escape in different paths, save yourselves!”
Before she could even finish, strange marks emerged from the skin of the trapped mutated demon – they were the natural markings of mutated alienated demons! Ting Lanyue’s face changed when she saw the markings and shouted again, “Hurry up! We will die here if we do not act now!”
She knew deeply of the horrifying strength of these mutated mantis demons. They were not only strong, fast and resilient, they also had these natural markings of totems that could imbue them with immense power. The emergence of these markings on the trapped mutated demon now could only mean that it was trying to unleash his full power to extricate itself from the disciples’ totem pillars!
With the power of this mutated demon, it would be as easy as pie to slaughter all the upper house disciples. Its speed exceeded what anyone of them could ever fathom, therefore, if the upper house disciples do not act fast, perhaps none of them would be able to survive!
He Chengchuan and the others also realized the situation was beginning to develop towards a dreadful outcome as they quickly escaped in all directions in groups of ten.
Zhong Yue followed behind Ting Lanyue and he inadvertently looked behind, realizing that the totem markings on the mutated demon’s body became more lustrous. The pillars then started to vibrate non-stop and became eventually loosened. The mutated demon would shatter the shackles of the pillars anytime soon!
While everyone was running as fast as they could and the moment that Zhong Yue looked behind, a totem pillar was launched into the air and pulverized to pieces.
Pak Pak Pak!!
Within a few seconds, the totem pillars were launched and shattered one by one in the air.
Swoosh——
With his ghostly movement speed, the mutated demon dashed towards Ting Lanyue and Zhong Yue’s group!
Suddenly, Zhong Yue asked in his psyche ocean, “Xin Huo, with my power now, will I be able to defeat this mutated demon?”
In his psyche ocean, Xin Huo was stunned for awhile and then said insouciantly, “Defeating it? He has the protection of the natural totem marks and they are unlike that of an ordinary totem pillar, chances are that you will die before you could kill him! But….”
Xin Huo stopped talking and Zhong Yue immediately asked, “But what?”
“But if you transformed into the Sui Sovereigns’ Form, you might have the chance to win. With the Sui Sovereigns’ Form to amplify the power of the low-class【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】, you might be able to win.”
Xing Huo continued, “However, I can not guarantee your odds of winning. After all, you are not a pure-blood Fuxi – a pure-blood Fuxi will be able to slay this mutated demon easily.
Zhong Yue stopped as Ting Lanyue and the others continued running forward without realizing that Zhong Yue did not follow behind them.
“If a pure-blood god’s race could do it, I believe I can as well!”
Zhong Yue turned and rushed towards the mutated demon.
The mutated demon roared and the markings on his body started to glow one by one. As the markings glowed, his speed increased and his scythe arms grew sharper.
Whereas for Zhong Yue, as he strode fo
rward, his psyche in his psyche ocean gushed out and formed into the Sui Sovereign as the head of a dragon, body of a human and tail of a snake came into being. The Sui Sovereign’s height reached a hundred feet and stood staunchly behind Zhong Yue!
As the Sui Sovereign coalesced, Zhong Yue felt endless strength surging into his body!
“【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】, the spring thunderbolt that struck away winter, the radiance of the lightning that shined upon the nine provinces!”
Zhong Yue shouted and a thunderbolt exploded from under his legs, lifting him up to fly in the air and the next moment, the roar of thunderbolt reverberated throughout!
At the same moment, Ting Lanyue turned and realized Zhong Yue's absence. Shocked, she said, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong has not practiced any advanced techniques, making him to slower than the others….”
She immediately returned back to from whence they fled when she looked up suddenly. She saw a young man dancing in the skies on a stage of thunderlight, his hands grasping onto something invisible as if wielding a huge sword, slashing towards the mutated demon!
The strike then erupted into a huge lake of lightning that spread across the skies!
At the same time as the strike exploded, Ting Lanyue exclaimed in astonishment, “The true quintessence of the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】”
Chapter 12: The Roaring Thunderous Sword Qi |
He’s the one Elder Pu was referring to!, thought the stunned Ting Lanyue. She looked blankly at the figure that rode the lightning in the skies and wielded it in his hands as if he was the legendary god of thunder.
In the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion, Elder Pu said that only one pupil perceived his true teachings and everyone thought Elder Pu was talking about themselves until Ting Lanyue defeated everyone. After her victory, everyone was then led to believe that Elder Pu was talking about her.
However, she did not fight with Zhong Yue at all.
While practicing【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】, Zhong Yue appeared to be very slow and stubborn. At that time, Ting Lanyue failed to realize the ingenuity of Zhong Yue’s swordsmanship and so she naturally thought she was the one Elder Pu was referring to.
But now, as Ting Lanyue witnessed Zhong Yue soaring in the skies and controlling the elements of thunder and lightning, she became cognizant of that fact that this could only have been achieved by truly understanding the quintessence of the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】!
The spring thunderbolt that struck away winter, the radiance of the lightning that shined upon the nine provinces!
Zhong Yue’s【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】was very different to Elder Pu’s. The branches that extended from the lightning tree and spread across the skies were, in fact, the precipitation of thunderous lightning Sword Qi. Although there were no such moves in the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】, Ting Lanyue saw the same spirit as Elder Pu’s.
What was the true form of【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】?
This is the true form!
Even if one managed to learn all the moves in the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】, they would never be considered as having mastered the skill entirely. The criterion for mastering a skill was through the distillation of the knowledge and understanding of the teacher into one’s very own unique insights!
What stunned Ting Lanyue the most was not Zhong Yue’s【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】, but the huge Sui Sovereign behind him, the Sui Sovereign formed by his very own psyche.
Even though she looked at the Sui Sovereign from far away, she could still feel the immense majestic aura that felt like it could crush the heavens and conquer everything.
But, isn’t he a bit too daring?
Ting Lanyue’s heart pumped quickly, He can’t possibly think that he could kill that mutated demon with natural totem markings so easily?
She was still quite a distance away from Zhong Yue, she could see the mutated demon brandish its arm-scythes; the totem markings on its skin glimmered brighter and with a ferocious countenance, the mutated demon leaped into the air withstanding the thunder lightning and dashed towards Zhong Yue who was in mid-air, having no intentions of evading the thunderous lightning at all, its attacks were dreadful and dominating!
Ka-cha!
The lightning tree landed on the mutated mantis demon. It split its flesh into halves and burnt them to ashes!
Ting Lanyue felt worried in her heart as she thought that the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】was only effective against ordinary ones among the mantis demons.
Things would be completely different when it came to the mutated mantis demons. Their bone structures were replaced by pure darksteel when they reached adulthood, which would channel the thunderbolt released by the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】to the metallic bones of these mutated demons instead of their hearts!
Not only would【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】be incapable of reaching the hearts of these mutated mantis demons, it would also not be able to harm their brains at all. Similarly, with their hearts, the brains of these demons were also insulated from the destructive effects of the Sword Skill due to a layer of darksteel bones, rendering the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】ineffectual.
Although the power of Zhong Yue’s【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】was a few times stronger than Ting Lanyue’s, it would still be unable to threaten the life of this mutated demon.
Besides, through the abnormal heteromorphic existence behind Zhong Yue and the thunderbolt tree Sword Qi created by Zhong Yue, Ting Lanyue was very sure that it would cost him a great deal of psyche!
At this rate, Zhong Yue’s psyche would be depleted in a very short period of time!
Once he depleted his psyche, the mutated mantis demon would be able to kill Zhong Yue easily!
It is very dangerous for Junior Martial Brother Zhong to use the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】on this mutated demon!
Ting Lanyue’s prediction came to fruition not long after. After being struck numerous times by Zhong Yue, the mutated demon’s charging momentum did not slow down at all. It soon closed the distance with Zhong Yue in a blink of an eye and launched an attack at him with his metallic scythe-hands!
At the same time, thunderbolt exploded under Zhong Yue’s feet and with the explosion, he managed to side-step away from the scythes of the mutated demon.
Ka-cha!
Another lightning tree was launched by Zhong Yue, striking onto the body of the falling mutated demon. As he was struck heavily by the lightning tree, the mutated demon could only helplessly plummet to the ground from the skies.
However, Zhong Yue was also unable to fly in the skies, using the power of lightning or otherwise, and he too slowly fell to the ground. While falling, he continued launching one lightning tree after another, each landing fearsomely on the body of that mutated demon.
Ting Lanyue dashed forward and said in her heart, Junior Martial Brother Zhong just entered the upper house recently and he is lacking real-life combat experience so his fighting skill is still too weak., At the rate that he is using his strongest attack like that, he should not have much psyche left, please let me save him in time….
Dong, dong.
The human and the demon fell to the ground together. They both let out a demonic roaring and thunderous sound when they got up and charged at each other. A loud noise could then be heard as they collided and the earth trembled heavily!
The place they landed was a col. Due to that, Ting Lanyue could not see the actual situation but only the large Sui Sovereign moving at lightning speed. It must be Zhong Yue moving very fast while fighting with the mutated demon.
If Junior Martial Brother Zhong landed on the ground, he would be put at a disadvantage. Mantis demons are not able to fly so he would be able to suppress it in the air. But when they touch the ground, mutated demons would then seize the iniative – with Junior Martial Brother Zhong’s speed, he will not be able to dodge its attacks….
When she t
hought of this, the Sui Sovereign formed by Zhong Yue’s psyche was launched into the skies and Zhong Yue could be seen following after, both landing on the mountains violently.
Seeing how things turned out, her heart sank deeply. Zhong Yue flew out of the col, it was clear that he was hurled out of the col by the strong impact from the mutated demon!
A mutated demon possesses the strength of tens of thousands pounds, he could easily smash Zhong Yue into minced meat!
She rushed towards the scene only to find a staggered Zhong Yue moving backward rapidly trying to counter the force he received from the mutated demon, quite unlike the situation where Zhong Yue suffered extreme injuries as she initially thought.
Instead, thunderous totem markings emerged around Zhong Yue and the markings merged with his own psyche and transformed into a Jiao Dragon with roaring thunderbolts around his body.
【Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art】?
Ting Lanyue approached quickly and received another shock of her life.
He combined the physique-refining technique and Elder Pu’s【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】together, leveraging the power of thunderbolts to amplify his bodily strength! No wonder he survived that mutated demon’s fierce blow….
Only up until now had she realized the weight and value contained within Elder Pu’s words. Zhong Yue had not only mastered the essence of the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】, he also ingeniously merged the sword skill with another physique-refining technique!
At the same time, the mutated demon jumped out from the stone piles and pounced towards Zhong Yue while roaring angrily.
In Ting Lanyue’s point of view, the mutated demon was covered in blood, his speed and strength severely weakened; it had lost half of its power due to the injuries, no longer giving the impression that he was unstoppable.
Its skin was completely peeled off by Zhong Yue’s lightning tree, exposing its flesh and the destroyed mantis demon totem markings!