by Tinalynge
"This is a debate, not a sparring match. We prefer if you can display your formations to the best of your abilities, counter one another and complement one another, allowing for everyone else to gain enlightenment. Wounds might happen, but these wounds should be superficial. I will not tolerate anyone crippling or killing their opponent; if that happens, then don't blame me for being ruthless."
The old weasel continued to talk and made everyone fully excited about what was going to take place moments from now. Gao Li, the young genius from the Heavenly Dragon Gate, had already stepped onto the stage and was looking with disdain at Hui Yue.
Hui Yue had at present managed to compress a total of three hundred and nineteen seals. He understood that the only reason he could compress so many was because his soul was very strong, but if he had had more time, then he would easily have been able to reach a Formation Master’s level. That was how much the energy he had absorbed in Diyu had helped him.
Unfortunately, he did not have the time, and thus, he could only fight with the seals he had already compressed. He could only use the formations he had already learned to control. As of now, he was able to control thirty-one formations at once if he used ten seal formations.
Hui Yue once more handed Huli over to Pei Bai who gently accepted her, feeling slightly odd holding a beast that he knew was many times stronger than himself, but he also understood that right now, Huli was but a small harmless fox in the eyes of everyone else. She would only turn into a ferocious beast if anyone threatened her master and fiance.
Hui Yue slowly walked forward. He walked neither fast nor slow; he was completely calm and casual as if the fight he was about to go through did not matter in the least.
Everywhere Hui Yue went, the people in front of him would move out of his way and open a path for him to easily reach the stage. With a light jump, he reached the top of the stage and entered through the protective formation to stand face to face with the one person who currently hated Hui Yue more than anyone else at the Formation Master's debate.
"Just because you can form a lot of seals does not mean that you are someone special," Gao Li sneered at Hui Yue who just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at Gao Li carefreely. "I have only trained for a short while. Having been in Diyu for as long as I was, I absorbed quite a lot of soul energy."
"You see, I control more than one of the stronger daos," Hui Yue continued, "and the dao of devouring has made it possible for me to strengthen my soul rapidly, especially while being in Diyu. This has allowed for me to become as strong as I am, even though I am merely fifty years old!"
Hui Yue grinned as he spoke. This was a Formation Master's debate, and they were supposed to compare skills rather than directly fight and injure one another. When talking about strength, one would rarely show the depths of their own, personal strength as most wished to keep it hidden. This way when need they could explode with power and kill their unsuspecting opponent during life and death battles. However, although this was still the case for Hui Yue, he was not worried about people know of his dao of devouring. He had already used it while fighting the battles to become a Judge of Hell. Everyone who knew just a bit about Hui Yue was aware of him having comprehended this dao.
The main reason that Hui Yue mentioned the dao of devouring was because he had heard from Pei Bai that every Formation Master wished to be able to use this dao as it would allow them to raise the level of their soul very fast. This would thus allow them to become more formidable Formation Masters. Unfortunately, the dao of devouring was hard to gain initial knowledge into and even harder to comprehend so only a handful had managed to successfully step down its path.
"So you think that your devouring dao can save you?" Gao Li snickered as he waved his hand and suddenly three hundred and seventy-three seals appeared around him.
It was clear that he had the advantage when it came to seals, but seals were not everything. If he were incapable of controlling them all, it would be hard for him to defeat Hui Yue and his thirty-one formations.
Gao Li could at most control thirty-seven formations, but to be able to control that many was it really possible to still beat Hui Yue who had only trained in formations he could fortify with the various daos that he had comprehended?
Chapter 630 - Flight of the Valkyrie
* * *
Chapter 630: Flight of the Valkyrie
Hui Yue's eyes constricted as he saw the many seals appearing around Gao Li's body, and he felt an immense pressure.
"My control is at least as good as yours," he sneered as thirty-five formations appeared in front of him.
Seeing this, Hui Yue sneered with disdain. He had been able to create thirty-one formations from his seals, yet this man could not create the thirty-seven formations his seals allowed him to. If that were the case how could their control be similar?
It was not only Hui Yue who thought such a thing; everyone watched the genius with a bit of doubt and confusion. He claimed to be equal to Hui Yue, but he was beneath him. It was true he could form more seals than Hui Yue and had more formations he could create, but that was not the same as having better control over the number of seals he commanded.
"Let us see if your formations are stronger than mine, or if mine are stronger than yours," Hui Yue said casually as he shrugged his shoulders.
The three hundred and nineteen seals around him started buzzing with light as they split up into different groups and started arranging themselves in formations.
This was all Hui Yue's doing. He was controlling all the seals at once and made them create thirty-one formations simultaneously. It was the first clash between him and the young man from the Heavenly Dragon Gate, so it was clear that he would not use any of the formations needing more than ten seals.
It was but a first clash, and thus they only needed to test the waters. While Hui Yue made his formations, the genius Gao Li made his own thirty-five formations.
Hui Yue was not rushed, he took the time needed to create a Spacelock, his Ironbark Defenses, the Blazing Tiger, and also other smaller formations that required little preparation time.
The majority of the formations that Hui Yue made were fire oriented formations, but he also made a Spacelock formation.
Spacelocks could not stack with one another as its time limit could only be increased by relying on the dao of space. Now that Hui Yue controlled the dao of space he could fully use the formation to its limits.
Loud roars filled the stage as twenty Blazing Tigers appeared out of twenty of the formations. The flames exploded forth as Hui Yue drew upon Lan Feng's fire daos and infused them into the tigers.
Not only this, at the same time as the formations of the blazing tigers came to life, the genius from the Heavenly Dragon Gate also finished twenty-three formations that formed big white owls.
The temperature of the stage was so contradicting. At one end of the stage, the temperature was constantly rising; the flames made the air crackle caused by the fire formations supported by the fire daos, while the other side of the stage the temperature kept dropping.
"That must be the Snow Owl formation," Hui Yue mumbled to himself. Pei Bai had told him about it before. The Snow Owl formation was a formation that the Heavenly Dragon Gate considered as one of their fundamental formations.
It was a formation that drew upon all the daos related to snow. Previously Hui Yue had not known why this formation was considered basic for all members of the Heavenly Dragon Gate, yet after visiting their world, he understood why it was so significant.
If the formation was unleashed outside in the world of the Heavenly Dragon Gate, then it could borrow strength from nature itself to increase its strength because of the snow everywhere.
Fortunately, this debate was not undertaken outside, if it were, it would be impossible to beat Gao Li, but now that it was inside, it was clear that Hui Yue had the upper hand.
Out of Hui Yue's thirty-one formations, twenty were the Blazing Tigers, used for attacking. Ten were Iro
nbark Defenses, meant for defending, and one was the Spacelock.
The first ones to finish were the Blazing Tigers and the Snow Owls which were equally fast.
Just as Hui Yue released Lan Feng's fire daos, Gao Li released two snow daos.
Although Gao Li only controlled two daos, Hui Yue controlled a full four daos of fire which he merged into the Blazing Tigers making them twice as strong as the formations that Gao Li controlled. Although Gao Li had more offensive formations than Hui Yue, it was hard to make up the difference in strength.
"Attack!" Both experts called out at the same time as booms sounded in the sky about the platform. Snow fell in raging storms, flames burnt the snow which turned to rain and fell on the flames trying their best to extinguish them.
As the two extreme temperatures landed on top of each other time and time again, it caused thunder to boom through the air. Although Hui Yue had stronger formations, he had fewer formations than Gao Li, and thus the fight continued in a stalemate.
Gao Li continued to use his seals, and as soon as one of his owls had been extinguished, he would set up a new formation in an endless stream. He would constantly replenish his owls making it impossible to truly get the upper hand.
The owls were able to gang up on some of the tigers making them succumb, and Hui Yue was in the same position as Gao Li. He was forced to used his soul energy to constantly control his seals into more formations.
Formation Masters could not continue to make formations for all eternity, they would eventually run out of soulforce and would need to rest and replenish themselves.
Hui Yue could use the dao of devouring to replenish himself with Ancestral Worldpower and other energies, but such a method required the energies be present in his surroundings which was currently not the case for soul energy here in the Heavenly Dragon’s World. Therefore, even if he used the dao of devouring, he would not be able to replenish his soulforce.
As the owls and the tigers constantly faced each other, Hui Yue's Spacelock finally erupted and suddenly the genius Gao Li felt as if something had frozen his body.
He could not move, he could not even blink his eyes, he was completely suppressed, and it was not just for a moment. His movement was frozen for a full three breaths!
Hui Yue did not waste any time during these three breaths. He instantly dissolved ten of the twenty Blazing Tigers and started weaving the seals together in an exquisite formation that was many times more complicated than anything that had been shown before.
If Gao Li could widen his eyes, he would have done so. If he could say anything, he would have yelled.
Hui Yue was about to use a formation that Gao Li knew all too well and it was a formation that made his head hurt and his heart ache.
It was a formation that everyone knew; a formation that had long since been created by the Heavenly Dragon Gate and it was known as the Dragon Gate Opens.
It was a hundred seal formation that controlled and formed a dragon. It was a heavenly devouring dragon that would devour the world around it. By having comprehended the dao of devouring, especially someone who had comprehended it to the level Hui Yue had, he was able to fully display the power of this formation.
The dao of devouring exploded forth, and a tornado erupted on stage. A majority of the owls which had grouped together to get rid of the tigers trembled slightly when they felt a soundless roar run through the entire stage as the dragon opened its mouth.
The ground shook as the dragon took a step forward. It roared to the sky yet no sound could be heard, the only disturbance seen was the trembling air from the pressure released.
Gao Li quickly understood that he no longer held the upper hand. Now, Hui Yue had it.
As the dragon consumed one Snow Owl after another, Gao Li understood just how disadvantaged he really was.
Gritting his teeth, he finally regained control over his body, and he instantly observed his formations and their situation. Of the twenty-three owls he had created, seven still existed and the rest had been devoured.
It was impossible for the dragon to truly devour the seals of the opposing force because these seals could only be controlled by the formation user that had compressed them. Thus they could in no way support or increase the strength of the dragon.
Seeing this, the face of Gao Li turned increasingly sour as he was unsure of how to deal with the Dragon Gate Opens formation.
It was possible for him to make another formation, a hundred seal formation, but the Dragon Gate Opens was one of the stronger formation of this type. Even so, he was determined to win.
Moving his hands, the genius of the Heavenly Dragon Gate gave up on the majority of his defensive formations and used two hundred seals to create one more formation.
Seeing this, Hui Yue narrowed his eyes and did not waste a moment. He aned some of the formations that he had for defense and created a new Spacelock.
This was a race against time. Was Gao Li and his two hundred seals formation quicker or would Hui Yue’s Spacelock activate sooner?
Generally speaking, a formation that required more seals would be slower than a formation requiring fewer seals, but there were always formations which were the exception to the rule, and this formation happened to be one of them. Looking at Gao Li, Hui Yue noticed that the formation was forming at a rapid pace, much faster than the seals he was forming and it was clear that he would finish very soon.
"This is not ideal," Hui Yue mumbled to himself as he wondered what to do. But, after a bit of thinking, he nodded his head. “This should work." He continued to tell himself, but for now, he used the dragon to devour the remaining Snow Owls, ensuring that there was no other possibility for Gao Li to attack than this strong formation he was still creating.
As the formation finished, it shone with a clear white light, and from this light, a figure appeared.
This figure was a young woman who looked just like a celestial fairy. Her body was clad in snow, her long white hair hung down her waist, and on her back were big white wings.
Her skin was white like porcelain, and her entire being was so beautiful that everyone present stood still unable to comprehend her beauty. Only Hui Yue was not stunned by her appearance, but his face was still ugly to behold.
This formation was not just any formation. It was one of the formations that the Heavenly Dragon Gate had held exclusively for a long time, and it was known as the Flight of the Valkyrie.
It was one of their killing formations, and although it only required two hundred seals, it was without a doubt the strongest amongst all two hundred seals formations. It was even stronger than some three hundred seals formations!
Chapter 631 - Ten Suns
* * *
Chapter 631: Ten Suns
Hui Yue's expression turned grave as he saw the valkyrie in front of him.
Valkyries were a race of female warriors that were neither beasts nor humans. They were like demons, a race created to serve powerful Gods.
The God who created the valkyries was named Odin, and he had used them as his sword maids but as time passed the valkyrie race flourished on its own.
Valkyries were a strange race. They could mate with both beasts and humans, but their children would all be female and would always be full-blooded valkyries. As for how Odin managed to create them, no one knew, and since Odin had vanished eons ago, no one could ask him.
Valkyries were very shy of other races. They lived in worlds such as the Heavenly Dragon Gate’s World that were filled with desolate snow-covered fields. Where others would be unable to live an easy life, these valkyries found peace.
Whereas the descendants of the Celestial Sword Sect had a strong affinity with the wind, the valkyries had a strong affinity with the snow. So of course they preferred to be in snow covered areas.
Valkyries were not an easy target for anyone; most people preferred to stay away from them because of their skillful use of swords and that they always took advantage of the snow surrounding them to boost the
ir power. This formation, although not containing a real valkyrie, had the same traits as one. It truly was a deadly formation.
"Be proud that you have forced me to use this formation! I will prove to you what it means to be a true genius!" Gao Li sneered at Hui Yue his face already smiling because he was assured of his victory, but Hui Yue was not ready to give up just yet.
"So you have an ultimate formation," he mumbled to himself more than anyone else. "But who says that I don't have one too?"
The ultimate formations of the Celestial Sword Sect all had wind as their fundamental element, but Hui Yue had picked another formation to be his strongest.
He instantly stopped all the formations that he had created previously except for his Spacelock that was about to be unleashed.
Right after stopping his other formations, the Spacelock exploded forth supported with as much power as it could borrow from the dao of space and firmly locked Gao Li in place.