by Fang Xiang
My dear Buddha!
Yi Zheng swallowed with difficulty. His gaze seemed to be glued and unable to be moved away. It was not due to the great strength of the scorpion, but how strange the scene was.
The scorpion’s opponent was a sword xiu. Even though the black sword looked more like a horse chopping sabre, but Yi Zheng recognized that the other was a sword xiu at first glance, and a very traditional sword xiu.
Such a strong sword xiu!
Yi Zheng was greatly alarmed. He recognized the origins of this scorpion. Fiend soul beast, this was a fiend soul beast, a vicious being born from the fiendish mist! He had previously been worried that the corrupt grounds would produce something extraordinary, but upon seeing this fiend soul scorpion, he finally realized just how powerful these vicious beings created were!
If Yi Zheng’s mind was clear now, his face would be pale and alarmed, but at this moment, his gaze was completely attracted by this odd looking battle.
The expression of the sword xiu was dull, as though he was ill, his movements were slow and his gaze wooden … …
Every time the enormous pincers of the fiend soul scorpion were about to tear the sword xiu in half, his slow movements would suddenly become nimble, and stop the giant pincer by a hair. The confused expression on the sword xiu’s face, the dull and slow responses, and the sudden nimbleness formed a strong contrast and was very weird.
After watching for a few moments, Yi Zheng felt his ling power roil and showed signs of losing control. He paled greatly. In terms of the peacefulness of ling power, dhyana xiu were blessed by the heavens. His ling power was going wild just because he was watching someone else fight?
Yi Zheng started his core scripture before he dared to look back at the battle.
The signs of his ling power escaping his control instantly disappeared.
Yi Zheng exhaled. His eyes returned to the person and scorpion that were fighting. The amazement on his face increased. He looked at the sword xiu as though he was looking at a ghost. Before, he had thought that the sword xiu was in danger, and would be killed at anytime. Now that he saw it clearly, he found to his shock that there seemed to be an invisible stickiness to the sword xiu’s black sword. The vicious fiend soul scorpion was like a puppet manipulated by many strings and was struggling in this invisible force.
A terrifying sword essence!
Yi Zheng could not detect the sword xiu’s sword essence at all. At this moment, he admired this sword xiu’s strength greatly. It wasn’t that he had not encountered sword xiu before, but it was the first time he had seen one so powerful. Also, the other seemed close in age to him. So young and possessing such power, it definitely was an accomplished disciple of a large sword cultivating sect.
Was he a disciple of Kun Lun?
Once he saw the state of the situation clearly, Yi Zheng was not in a hurry anymore, and thought about how he would exchange greetings with the person later. He was slightly stuck. This was his first time off the mountain, and he had no experience to speak of.
However, being able to encounter a xiuzhe in such a dangerous place, Yi Zheng felt his luck was already pretty good.
After a while, the battle still had not finished. Now Yi Zheng saw that something was wrong.
The sword xiu’s expression was confused and showed no signs of waking up.
Was he … …
Yi Zheng was daring but paid attention to details. His mind moved. After waiting another moment and seeing the situation did not turn for the better, he thought for an instant and then started to chant in a low voice.
———
Countless scenes flashed across Wei Sheng’s eyes. They were mirages and shadows, but they were also so clear.
The resolution he made as a child, the pursuit of it without fear through dangers, through hardships, sustaining wounds, comprehending the sword at the waterfall, becoming the Eldest Disciple, drinking alcohol with Zuo Shidi under the stars, the order from the sect … …
Countless scenes merged together and suddenly formed an enormous net that swept over him.
There was no place to escape or dodge.
The net grew tighter and restrained him. He felt he could not breathe. The feeling of suffocation filled his entire body. He was like a fish in the net. The more he struggled, the tighter the net was.
Why?
Why was it like this?
I only wanted to cultivate the sword … …
A burst of anger suddenly came from deep in his heart. He was like a beast trapped in a net that struggled fruitlessly.
Why … … why … …
It was like a silent shout, a furious bellow.
Why … … why … ..
He shouted at the top of his lungs, he wailed sorrowfully.
In a daze, he dreamed of a patch of stars. In the dark night, the stars in the sky were numerous. A light wind brushed across an empty wilderness. The faint Blue Sparrow-Tailed grasses swayed in the wind.
A child about seven or eight years old was sleeping amongst the grass. Raising his head to look at the lights streaking across the sky, the tender child voice carried deep amazement. “So beautiful!”
The child jumped up from the grass. The wind brushed across his face and revealed his glittering eyes.
A seed was silently planted in the heart of the child.
The dream was so real, as though he could touch it, but distant like how the moon reflected in the water’s surface. At this moment, Wei Sheng was like a statue. He looked dazedly at the child.
Suddenly, something seemed to burst in his heart, and something came forth.
The distance and unfamiliar childhood memory suddenly floated into his mind. Some reasons he had forgotten, those simple thoughts, they were like the Blue Sparrow Tailed grass seeds bursting from their shells, germination, and then growing.
Yes, my dream is to cultivate the sword.
A pure dream, a pure pursuit, a wish that a child made under the stars.
A strange relaxation came into his mind. The feeling of suffocation disappeared without a trace. Wei Sheng looked entranced at the child underneath the stars. A slightly smile came onto his face, and warmth was shoved into his chest.
Yes, it all came from this affection.
The complex and common mortal matters that made him feel helpless seemed so small, so insignificant.
He opened his eyes, his gaze was clear without any impurity.
Ling power suddenly flooded from his dry channels like water sprouting from a spring. When this new ling power passed, the parts of his channels that had been wounded instantly became filled with life like a tree welcoming spring.
The ling power that followed out was endless. In a short period of time, his ling power had reached his best state. However, the ling power showed no signs of stopping. They continued to rush into Wei Sheng’s channels, and filled every bit of the channels.
When all of Wei Sheng’s channels were filled with ling power, the new ling power started to progress towards his dantian.
Wei Sheng did not stop it. He did not do a thing. But that pair of eyes became even bright in the fiendish mist. It was filled with joy, joy from the heart.
A faint light covered the black sword in his hand.
The fiendish mist around him seemed to suddenly be pushed by an enormous force, pushed far from Wei Sheng and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Yi Zheng gaped as he looked at what was happening and even forgot to continue chanting.
Crack.
The fiend soul beast shattered into dozens of pieces without warning and dropped to the ground. The cuts were peerlessly smooth. Even that pair of unbreakable pincers were dismembered into several sections.
A sword shadow appeared behind Wei Sheng.
The shadow of the sword went from blurry to clear, and continued to grow. In a few dozen breaths, the sword figure was dozens of zhang tall.
The tip of the sword pointed at the sky. It showed no signs of stopping. It broke through
the fiendish mist as though it was going to pierce the sky.
Under the colossal sword shadow, Wei Sheng stood majestically.
Thunder rolled through the fiendish mist, tens of thousands of fiend soul beasts howled simultaneously. The blood red sky seemed to boil.
A worldly apparition!
Chapter 362: A Wen Fighting All Out
Huai Boy’s head was covered in sweat.
He had solved five of the dozen problems in front of him, but he was stuck on the sixth question. The hourglass beside him did not show any signs of stopping. Seeing the layer of sand at the top half decrease at a visible rate, another layer of sweat appeared on Huai Boy’s forehead.
He had never thought that the prison-breaking battle of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard would require him to solve problems. In this era of yao art houses, intermediate yao arts made up the majority of yao arts, working cooperatively in groups was the mainstream. In the history of yao, there had never been such a time when teamwork had been so emphasized. To gather the power of a team to explore yao arts was the dominant method.
The yao art houses that understood this, and could teach their student very well . Analysis and deconstruction were techniques which every student was required to learn. In order to exercise the students’ skills, a rich library of problems could not be lacking. In addition to those public question banks, each yao art house had their own question banks.
As one of the top students of a yao art house, solving problems was a task that he was very familiar with and skilled in.
However, his confidence had been quickly crushed in front of the twelve questions of the prison battlefield. Truthfully, when he encountered the third question, he had started to sweat.
These problems were not esoteric. Quite the opposite, these questions were in an area every yao was very familiar with.
Little yao arts!
Even though he was at the sixth question now, it was still a problem about little yao arts.
To Huai Boy, the little yao arts that were the rudimentary and quite distant in his memory. He had finished learning little yao arts before he had entered the yao art house. How old had he been then?
Six? Seven?
Huai Boy himself couldn’t remember it.
However, these problems concerning the simple little yao arts made him feel helpless from the bottom of his heart. The problems that were formulated were not obscure, the ways of thinking were not weird, they were actually open and honest.
This made him feel the failure even more.
He encountered difficulty on simple and straightforward little yao art problems … …
Huai Boy’s face was slightly ashen.
———
Compared to Huai Boy’s nervousness and depression, the spectators outside felt this scene was very boring.
There were no dazzling lights, no murderous presences, no complex and profound changes … …
The honored prison-breaking battle was a student solving problems yet only Huai Boy could see the problems. They could only be bored and count how many beads of sweat were on Huai Boy’s forehead.
The fire-faced person was totally bored and complained, “What are they doing! I thought I could see something major. This long, and it’s so boring! If I knew it would be so boring, I wouldn’t have gone to the trouble.”
“Don’t be impatient,” Qian Liu could only comfort. “The result will be out soon.”
He hadn’t expected the prison-breaking battle of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard would be solving problems. He had never heard of such a peaceful and non-violent prison-breaking battle.
“That boy can’t do it.” The fire-faced person glanced over and snorted coldly, “Strong on the outside and dry on the inside!”
The fire-faced person suddenly changed his way of thinking and had a smile filled with schadenfreude. “Haha, there’s going to be drama to see now!”
“Drama?” Qian Liu did not react in time. Truthfully, he was slightly disappointed too.
“Think about it. The little guy that those old farts taught can’t even outcompete others on solving problems. Won’t their faces be even more ugly than they already are?” The fire-faced person was very smug. “In their style, solving problems is a fundamental skill. If their fundamentals are less than others, haha, is there anything that is more ironic than this?”
Thinking about it, the fire-faced person seemed to visualize the ugly faces of those old people and laughed freely.
Qian Liu finally reacted. The fire-faced person was not wrong. The old farts and the young brats shared a characteristic. They were conceited. Conceited yao always thought highly of their face. If they lost through yao spells, that was not anything major. But if they lost on solving problems, no matter if it was the old guys or the young brats, they definitely would not accept that.
Thinking about it, Qian Liu couldn’t help but feel anticipation.
“Ha, that guy came out!” The fire-faced person was very excited.
Qian Liu took back his thoughts as his eyes landed on the battlefield.
The prison-battlefield resumed its original appearance
Huai Boy dejectedly and woodenly stood in place.
He had failed.
———
In the fiendish mist, two figures flickered in and out of view.
A Wen’s speed was just slightly less than Zuo Mo’s Light Void Wings. Wearing black armour, it was as if he was a black bolt of lightning. A Wen was able to rival the fiend soul panther’s speed. It had explosive speed and power was. Each impact echoed like thunder.
Everyone’s expressions became serious. Shu Long tightly gripped the long ji in his hand, and prepared to give aid at any moment.
Both sides were amazingly fast. Even the members of Vermillion Bird Camp that always aspired towards rapid attacks had slightly changed expressions. Many people were judging inside. Could they retreat unharmed under such an explosive and sharp attack? Other than the small minority that could maintain their calm, the great majority had ugly expressions.
They did not have a grasp of the battle.
The rhythm was so fast it surpassed their imagination!
They gaped with wide eyes at A Wen’s light and rapid figure. Was this still the clumsy and slow Guard Camp? One person and one panther were like two bolts of black lightning that chased each other and struggled. The hard spear thrust randomly and could freely pass through the void, far and near without any dead spots. It was unable to be defended against.
The strength of the fiend soul panther also surpassed everyone’s expectations. Its speed was not any less, and its strength was greater than A Wen’s. The sharp spear that howled as it thrust looked like it would be shattered with a blow. People’s hearts felt cold when they saw this. If that blow really landed, they would instantly be crushed into powder.
A Wen hadn’t expected this fiend soul panther would be this hard to deal with.
He was much stronger than before, but he still could not do anything to the panther in front of him.
No, he had to battle quickly and not hinder the advance of the troop!
They had just entered the fiendish mist. The monsters that roamed the deeps of the fiendish mist would be even more powerful. If he could not defeat this panther, what would he do in the future? Thinking about it, A Wen’s presence suddenly became vicious and murderous.
“Hm!” Xie Shan’s expression was shocked. Ma Fan also had an astonished expression. They were very sensitive to presence and could clearly detect A Wen’s change.
To kill the other!
Boom!
The red tassel turned to a ball of red fire that enveloped the head of the spear. The black fiendish energy coiled around the pole of the spear and burrowed into the burning spearpoint.
The fiend soul panther showed desire to retreat. It was intelligent. The troop in front of it was enormous and not one he could tear something off. If it was wounded here, it wouldn’t just have lost its prey, even it would be
come the prey of the other fiend soul beasts.
It slowly retreated.
A Wen’s eyes were deep black, the black energy shrouding the black armor as the spearpoint burned.
A familiar feeling came. Every time he decided to go all out in the dueling stadium, he would enter this strange state. The killing essence in his body boiled, but the his heart was ice cold. This strange state was the talisman that saved his life and allowed him to fortunately survive so many cruel battles.
This was the first time A Wen decided to go all out after entering Guard Camp.
The contents of [Hardship Guard] flowed like water across his mind. His eyes became even deeper.
The black armour on his body was exquisite and light like it was made from layers of feathers. It was unique in Guard Camp. At this time, the black armour on his body slowly swayed as though it was alive. It caused the people watching to have goosebumps. The layers of metal feathers spread up A Wen’s face, and became a mask of small feathers.
Clang clang clang!
There was a string of sounds of iron brushing together like many blades being suddenly pulled out of their sheathes at the same time. Many long feathers suddenly bounced out of A Wen’s black armor. The long feathers were extremely thin, the edges as sharp as knives. In an instant, a vicious and murderous energy sudden spread out.
Arching his body and holding the spear, A Wen’s legs were slightly spaced apart as he bent down slightly.
A Wen raised his face. His slender black feathers of his mask had a fine shine that was savage and cold.
The fiend soul panther smelt the scent of danger and retreated even more quickly. In a blink, it disappeared in the fiendish mist.
Just at this time, the steel long feathers that rose up off A Wen’s black armour shook simultaneously .A power that could destroy mountains and upend seas instantly passed into his right arm. He yelled under his mask, “Kill!”
The black spear suddenly disappeared from his hand.