by <unknown>
Feng Shouzhu was an adventurous man and so had a propensity for long absences away from the Swords Gate, only returning once every eight or ten years. Therefore, the eight hall masters were a little out of sorts at the sudden sight of him.
“Elder, what made you come back to the Swords Gate?”
The shield wall hall master laughed and said, “The last time I saw elder was about five years ago I presume?”
Feng Shouzhu replied laughingly, “Fallen leaves will always return to their roots. I am old now so it’s only normal for me to return to Swords Gate. Hmmm … The young generation nowadays is really energetic, it truly does light a fire of envy within me. If I were only a few years younger, I may have fought with someone for the hand of a beautiful lady!”
“Elder Feng, they are starting to make a ruckus, should we stop them?”
Feng Shouzhu shook and replied, “The Swords Gate has been very peaceful under the protection of the headmaster and this has made the Qi Practitioners here negligent to danger. Each of them is of the mind that they stand at the top of the world. But they have no idea about the dangers that lurk outside of the Swords Gate. Let them fight, there will only be improvements if they have a real battle instead of only pure training. I set up the Dragon and Tiger Challenger List for a reason back then, which was to stimulate their battle will, challenging each other and fighting each other, learning from their battles and improving themselves! Little brat, give the orders, let them fight and prohibit any Awakening level and Spirit Nurturing level disciples from interfering!
The ‘brat’ that Feng Shouzhu was referring to was the Sword Energy Hall Master. The hall master smiled bitterly and replied, “Elder, I understand prohibiting the Awakening level disciples from interfering, but why the Spirit Nurturing level disciples?”
The Awakening level was one of the crucial levels for the Qi Practitioners, the level where their strength would see a crazy improvement. The Awakening level was a watershed that elevated them to a league far above that of Rebirth Qi Practitioners. The reason why Feng Shouzhu prohibited the Awakening level Qi Practitioners from interfering was to protect Zhong Yue.
However, it was odd for him to bar Spirit Nurturing level disciples from participating.
“I’m trying to protect the little guys at the Spirit Nurturing level from getting accidentally killed by Zhong Yue.”
Feng Shouzhu looked at Zhong Yue and said while shaking his head, “The Spirit level little kids’ bodies are too fragile for this dragon in a human’s body.”
The hall master’s heart pumped slightly faster and he immediately descended onto the Ganoderma Stage from the sky and announced the order.
It was out of the expectations of the challengers that the inner hall hall masters also supported the battle. The support of the elders also relieved some of those who were about to inform the elders to stop the fight as they were worried about the situation. At the same time, a few Awakening level Qi Practitioners immediately backed off and a few Spirit level Qi Practitioners also retreated after a few moments of hesitation, leaving only twenty-six people behind on the stage.
Zhong Yue looked at the twenty plus Qi Practitioners surrounding him and he said fearlessly, “Dear senior martial brothers, since there are no more objections, shall we begin? Who will be my first opponent?”
“I shall be your first opponent!”
A young Qi Practitioner walked out and his spirit transformed into a cyclops that was incredibly huge and heavy as he said with righteous awe, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, I hold no grudges against you, but I can’t overlook the matter that you bullied your friends, not to mention you bullying a girl. You almost beheaded Junior Martial Sister Shui….”
Booom——
Zhong Yue stomped on the ground and his figure left afterimages as he crossed over twenty feet in a single step. He delivered a punch and his fist was already a few inches away of the young Qi Practitioner before he could even finish talking.
However, he also reached the level of subconsciously visualizing so he did not need to intentionally visualize his arts during any crisis. Before Zhong Yue’s fist could hit him, huge mountain rocks stacked up in front of him to block the attack of Zhong Yue.
At the next moment, however, the rocks in front of him exploded and Zhong Yue’s fist landed on his lower abdomen with unstoppable strength, sending the young Qi Practitioner flying away with a crooked body, crashing into the palace like a meteor! He then flew right through the walls, shattering a few pillars standing in the palace.
Boom Boom Boom——
Then, as the crashing noises continuously echoed throughout the palace, the young Qi Practitioner was knocked and sent flying through a few more walls.
“Too much bluster and such hubris … it is time for you to sleep and reflect on your own mistakes.”
Zhong Yue then changed his stance and he said calmly, “Next?”
Chapter 100: 【Iron Vine Barrier Formation】 |
In mid-air, the eight hall masters were stunned as the scene of Zhong Yue defeating the young Qi Practitioner in a flash reflected in their eyes. They thought, Such a strong physique!
Feng Shouzhu laughed and said, “See? I was trying to protect the Spirit Nurturing level little ones by restricting them. If that kid were to use his full strength just now, the Rebirth level boy would have already been a corpse, let alone those little ones of the Spirit Nurturing level. Fortunately, he did not use his full strength or he would have burst the young Qi Practitioner’s body easily just with his physical strength.”
“What!?”
The eight hall masters’ face changed and the Hall of Sword Qi hall master quickly asked, “Elder Feng, do you mean to say that he is a Martial Master?”
The other hall masters nodded together as they too had the same question. Martial Masters had an overwhelming superiority to Qi Practitioners in terms of body physique and their strengths were incredibly ruthless which made them as fierce as ferocious beasts in close quarter combats.
Therefore, only Martial Masters could do something so raw barbaric like what Zhong Yue did to the young Qi Practitioner just now; defeating and inflicting such injuries to the young Qi Practitioner with just one punch!
Feng Shouzhu shook his head and said, “This kid over there is not a Martial Master. Martial Masters have every single inch of their bodies being clogged due to their strong body physique, essentially being robbed of the ability to perform soul manipulation on the soul weapons or alter their Yuan Shen. You eight little brats have been staying in the Swords Gate for so long that you lack experience and failed to recognize all of these! If you encountered anyone strong outside, you would definitely be defeated!”
The eight hall masters immediately showed an obedient attitude but they did not take in any of Feng Shouzhu’s words at all. They then thought, Martial Masters are after all an unorthodox path, their future is limited by their incapability to liberate their soul from the body and fighting with their Yuan Shen. There are no merits to being a Martial Master at all, how are they worth all the fuss? All we have to do is just be careful of their sudden attacks and avoid the close quarter battle with them and we will be able to kill them easily. Why is Elder Feng exaggerating their abilities?
Feng Shouzhu looked at them and he lamented in his heart, Things have been going too smooth for these guys, causing them to be very supercilious. They are blinded in their own hubris and unable to see the fortes of the Martial Masters. This would really be the cause of their downfall sooner or later.
On the Lingzhi Stage, Huang Luoshi walked out and coldly said sarcastically, “ Winning by launching a sneak attack? Don’t you think that is a dirty trick, Junior Martial Brother Zhong. Let me consult you for some moves!”
Zhong Yue on the other hand, moved again with ghostly speed, like a dragon ascending out from the abyss or a hungry tiger heading down to the mountain. He charged straight towards Huang Luoshi while saying, “Who is going to give you time to prepare in a real battl
e?”
However, Zhong Yue’s surprise attack did not work well this time as Huang Luoshi was already fully aware of his attacks when she saw the tragic fate that befell the young Qi Practitioner. Therefore, as soon as she walked forward just now, she had already formed layers of shields around her to eliminate every chance for Zhong Yue to launch his sneak attack.
To her surprise, Zhong Yue still got dangerously close to her before her shields were formed completely. In her vision, she saw twenty to thirty-meter long Jiao Dragons dancing around the young man’s body as he moved, roaring and charging at her together fiercely!
She quickly backed off and left behind huge vines on the path she retreated to. These vines grew bigger and thicker in seconds, attempting to increase the distance between herself and Zhong Yue.
At the same time, even more layers of shields formed around her, preparing to form into a defensive array formation at any time.
“So fast!”
Huang Luoshi shouted out in shock and as a loud boom noise was heard, Zhong Yue’s speed suddenly broke through the sound barrier. He moved in the air and he got close to her in an instant before pushing his palms towards her. As he pushed his palms forwards, he formed a wall of compressed air in front of him, resulting in a vacuum being created behind it.
With barely any time for her to respond with any array carvings, Huang Luoshi strived to visualize a shield wall in front of her. At the same time, she hopped onto the vines she summoned and backed off quickly while countless shields flew up and knocked straight towards Zhong Yue’s palms.
Boom boom boom——
Much to Huang Luoshi’s dismay, the shields exploded before even coming into contact with Zhong Yue’s palms. The blastwave created from the resultant explosion blew her hair up high. The raging gales birthed from the shockwave was like a whirlwind of tiny knives that incessantly sliced towards her face; she even found her neck to be littered with tiny cuts.!
“Soul Liberty!”
Left with no other options, Huang Luoshi forcefully used the Soul Liberty and a huge treant Yuan Shen descended from the sky, creating an earth shaking vibration as it landed on the ground. This treant Yuan Shen had a tree crown on top of its head, huge branches and full of leaves, emitting an intimidating aura even though it was just a treant Yuan Shen!
Huo Luoshi then had all her psyche surged towards the treant Yuan Shen, controlling the treant Yuan Shen to raise up its arms and pushed towards Zhong Yue’s palms!
From the perspectives of the upwards of one thousand eight hundred Qi Practitioners who were spectating the duo in the midst of their battle, Zhong Yue appeared to be like just a tiny baby in front of the huge treant Yuan Shen. However, the aura he was emitting instilled a profound terror far exceeding that of the treant Yuan Shen – as if he himself were a demonic god!
A roaring clap resounded as their palms met with each other and the shockwaves created and emitted omnidirectionally was akin to a clash of giants!
Huang Luoshi’s body shook as both her psyche and Yuan Shen was experiencing an unprecedented pressure beyond imagination while her clothes were lacerated into pieces by the blast wave created. In the meantime, heavy footsteps could be heard as the huge treant Yuan Shen was forcefully pushed behind by Zhong Yue. The speed of it getting pushed backward accelerated and the stage shook violently with every reluctant stomp of its foot!
Dong——
Along with Huang Luoshi, her treant Yuan Shen knocked onto the walls of the hall strongly. With their backs sticking onto the walls as a support, they finally managed to regain their balance and as she inhaled a breath seeking to retaliate, Zhong Yue stomped in midair and raised his palms again. At that moment, following a huge noise, the walls of the hall toppled and the treant Yuan Shen fell into the hall along with Huang Luoshi and even more noises after that.
Huang Luoshi’s exclamation could be heard from the hall. Her injuries were not heavy but her already shredded clothes completely turned into dust, extinguishing every bit of her intention to fight against Zhong Yue anymore.
On the other hand, as Zhong Yue descended onto the ground, he suddenly felt something and he quickly dodged to the side. As soon as he started moving quickly to the side, countless huge stakes breached through the ground, knocking towards him along with huge noises!
“Since you said that a real battle will not give you time for preparation, then I will not give you time for preparation, Junior Martial Brother Zhong!”
The stakes flew onto the air and each of them was seven feet long and weighed a ton, creating shrill whistling sounds as they flew towards Zhong Yue!
Zhong Yue stepped on the air, bursting the air open as he ascended into the mid-air. He then looked forward and found Tan Zhen standing on the stage already. Behind Tan Zhen stood a dragon-headed and fish-bodied fish draconic deity created through the amalgamation of his fish dragon spirit and his own soul!
And in between Tan Zhen’s fingers were countless sword qi that continuously formed and penetrated into the ground, creating even more stakes, erupting out from the ground and shooting towards Zhong Yue!
Wooden stakes? Wooden Sword Qis?
Zhong Yue on the other hand, summoned his wood elemental sword qi and swung below him. Innumerable rays of wood elemental sword qi flew towards the huge stakes as he swung his sword, cutting the stakes into half.
“Great Jungle Sword Formation!”
Tan Zhen stomped onto the ground and following after his stomp were huge trees that breached the ground, forming a dense jungle around him. The trees then formed into an array and moved in the air, clashing together with the Zhong Yue’s attacks, neutralizing its power.
His Wooden Sword Qis then continuously dispersed and reformed again into huge stakes before striking at Zhong Yue who was in the midair, attempting to crush Zhong Yue into pieces!
Zhong Yue staggered and dropped back to the stage as he clashed with the tree array and the trees followed right after him. When the trees dropped onto the stage, they maintained their array formation and surrounded Zhong Yue again. Moreover, when the trees moved, they also created a heavy wind blowing sound!
The Great Jungle Sword Formation was a type of sword array in the inner hall. It utilized psyche power to form incredibly huge and heavy trees that then formed a huge jungle. The trees in the jungle could then move at high speed and mow down their foes with unstoppable power. Not only that, these trees could also revert into its pluripotent Wooden Sword Qi when needed.
When the sword array is initiated, the stakes would start clashing together and the Wooden Sword Qi hidden in the array would launch a surprise attack from the most unexpected angle.
“Tan Zhen has begun, this brat actually launched a surprise attack!”
The Sword Qi hall master showed a surprise expression while he said, “I thought it would be Ta Wuyou, but I have never expected it to be him! This is something to look forward to … the clash between the former and current champion of the Lawless Battles!”
The Hall of Sword Hearts Hall Master then said, “They said that Tan Zhen has already entered the Rebirth level a year ago. After one year of training, his strength has increased drastically. Now, ranking number thirty-two on the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board, only those with a higher ranking could defeat him and they are mostly from the top ten clans. Unlike Tan Zhen, Zhong Yue only reached the Rebirth level recently. I guess Tan Zhen could not stand Zhong Ye’s arrogant behavior anymore and wanted to put him down, or he wouldn't even need to launch a sneak attack with his current capabilities.”
Before he could even finish his sentence, Tan Zhen already stomped onto the ground and shouted, “ 【Iron Vine Barrier Formation】!”
Following after his shout, countless iron vines crawled out from the ground, and they encroached to every corner of the stage within seconds, forming an iron vine fortress around the stage!
In the middle of the iron vine fortress were iron vines as sharp as sword sticking their thorns out, surrounding Zhon
g Yue in the middle!
Although it was called an iron vine, it would have been better it was called an iron jungle. Moreover, on the thorns of these iron vines were totem carvings carved everywhere in order to increase their toughness to elevate their hardness beyond normal iron. From that, one could understand that being able to rank at number thirty-two on the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board, Tan Zhen was not someone who could be messed with easily!
A Qi Practitioner praised, “Senior martial brother Tan is so amazing! This 【Iron Vine Barrier Formation】 can easily limit his opponent's mobility and counter this Zhongshan Clan’s strong body physique, forcing him into a dire situation!”
The eight hall masters also secretly praised Tan Zhen in their heart and the Hall of Totem Carving hall master laughed and said, “Tan Zhen is the ace of our Totem Carving Hall, and he is also a hardworking one, being able to achieve more than I expected in the art of totem carving. The technique he used to handle the one from the Zhong Shan Clan is the best method of dealing with a martial arts grandmaster. Distancing himself from the martial art grandmaster and then limiting his movement and closing off his avenues of attack, a Martial Master would be placed at a significant disadvantage in no time!”
“Tan Zhen is also the ace of my Hall of Sword Qi, his strength is indeed spectacular!”
“This brat is also a high ranking disciple in my Sword Heart Hall. I heard he is also a disciple of the Hall of Shield Wall and Hall of Swimming Dragon?
The eight hall masters then erupted into a heated discussion about Tan Zhen to find out to their collective shock that Tan Zhen was a disciple under all eight halls. What came as more of a shock to them was the fact that he even managed to achieve a considerably good ranking in all eight halls!
It would have been incredibly good if an average Qi Practitioner could train under three halls at the same time, but time is limited to everyone. If one opts to learn too much at the same time, one would distract themselves from every path and end up as a jack of all trades but master of none. Therefore, it would have been better if they had focused solely on one to three facets of their strength.