Douluo Dalu - Volume 01-48

by Tang Jia San Shao

  This was the effect born of combining Ghost Shadow Perplexing Step with Controlling Crane Catching Dragon.

  In the days since, Tang San had thought of a great many things. He suddenly found that ever since gaining spirit abilities, he seemed to have forgotten a lot of extremely powerful capabilities. Indeed, spirit abilities were really useful, and moreover straightforward and simple. But in fact, how could his Tang Sect secret lore come out short in a comparison?

  As this world understood things, the Tang Sect lore he had cultivated from Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record were also each a kind of ability! Purple Demon Eye was one. Ghost Shadow Perplexing Step, Controlling Crane Catching Dragon, Mysterious Jade Hand, weren’t they all? Even if the hidden weapons Tang Sect knew best couldn’t be used, couldn’t he still use these?

  If the entire previous process could be slowed down, the whole course of Tang San’s actions could be seen clearly. Using Controlling Crane Catching Dragon to divert the opponent’s attack, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Step to dodge behind Huo Wushuang, Mysterious Jade Hand pushing with Controlling Crane Catching Dragon.

  Even though he had been hit by the explosive force, with the durability of Mysterious Jade Hand, this basically wouldn’t cause any injury, and Huo Wushuang’s body had already been swiftly pushed away.

  Seven strands of Blue Silver Grass, glittering with mauve light in the sunshine, fell from the sky like seven long rainbows.

  Right now Huo Wushuang had his back completely exposed to Tang San. He only felt a pressure in the sky, but couldn’t see just what attack it was. And the moment Tang San’s Blue Silver Grass chose to attack was just when the energy in his scales had just burst out, and his spirit power was still condensing, the awkward moment when he couldn’t use his next spirit ability.

  Control, this was still control, only that what was controlled were the details and precision. The details decided the outcome, and at this moment, Tang San used this instant to maximize his advantage.

  Blue Silver Grass struck Huo Wushuang’s open back without the least suspense, seven strands of Blue Silver Grass all whipped the same place. The first one already knocked Huo Wushuang from the air to the ground. From the second and onward, they caused intolerable pain to instantly spread through Huo Wushuang’s whole body. Bringing a paralysing and twitching sensation, all he could do was to swiftly roll over and leap up. But his back was already badly mangled.

  Don’t forget that Blue Silver Grass was seriously toxic, with the poison of the Man Faced Demon Spider as well as the thorns of the Ghost Vine. Having lost his protective scales, right now Huo Wushuang wasn’t only infected by the poison, but the violent pain moreover affected his spirit power aggregation and mental focus.

  Tang San’s expression was still serene, but he wouldn’t give his opponent any chance to recover his strength. Just as Huo Wushuang shot up and prepared to confront Tang San, something tightened about his feet. Without any warning, a strand of the most common Blue Silver Grass twisted around his ankles, tripping him over once again.

  In order to defend and counterattack, Huo Wushuang had just now condensed practically all his spirit power in his upper body. Once again on the ground, he needed time in order to use explosive force to free his bound feet.

  But, his body was already sent tumbling by the impetus of that Blue Silver Grass.

  This time, Huo Wushuang was thrown into the distance, and Tang San on the ground followed like an illusion. Twelve strands of Blue Silver Grass shot out with a swing of his right arm, still attacking the same spot.

  Blasting sounds rang out practically uninterrupted, blast after blast bursting out in the air. This time, Huo Wushuang already had a defense, but within explosion after explosion, the twelve strands of Blue Silver Grass successively smashed it. The pain of those bone piercing lashes as well as the shock of his own fire element explosions, left Huo Wushuang in such pain he wished he was dead, directly resisting a mouthful of blood reflux from spraying out in the air.

  Finally blocking the last strand of Blue Silver Grass, Huo Wushuang staked all his strength on controlling his feet to land, preventing being humiliated once again. At the same time he also impatiently erupted a series of attacks in midair, for fear that he would once again be bound by that ghost serpent like Blue Silver Grass.

  “You’ve lost.”

  Tang San’s attack didn’t reappear, what reached him was only that calm voice.

  Huo Wushuang now returned to his senses, staring, he couldn’t keep his face from going deathly pale. He now discovered that he was already outside of the ring, having fallen just one meter out of bounds.

  Now he understood the reason why Tang San lashed out with twelve strands of Blue Silver Grass after he had been thrown. It wasn’t to attack him, but rather to exploit the attacks of the Blue Silver Grass as well as the impulses of his own explosions to increase the distance he flew.

  Out of bounds, no matter the circumstances, meant defeat.

  Huo Wushuang looked at Tang San in a daze. He couldn’t accept it, and on the contrary he discovered that the feeling of defeat in his heart was so powerful.

  Confronting Tang San he hadn’t faced control, but rather his rigid offense. A control system Spirit Master’s precision, combined with the speed and strength of the agility attack system and power attack system.

  From the first moment of contact until the end, he hadn’t even been been able to stall for enough energy to launch his more powerful spirit abilities. But what Tang San used was at most only his first spirit ability, to the extent that it wasn’t even the whole first spirit ability.

  How much spirit power could he have consumed just by waving a few strands of Blue Silver Grass?

  Hidden weapons didn’t only include throwing types, but also mechanical types and the rare rope types. Tang San had just fully used the rope type methods on his own Blue Silver Grass.

  He had used it as early as the human meteor hammer before, but he had only truly recognized the importance of fusing his Tang Sect lore with his spirit abilities in his days of painful cultivation and while truly combining the two together.

  A forty second ranker versus a forty second ranker, and the winner’s spirit power consumption could practically be neglected. This was the result Tang San had obtained after bitter cultivation. He had proved his strength in real combat, making the Huo Wushuang who had originally thought he could make a fight of it lose before he could even use his full strength. So much that he couldn’t even use up some of Tang San’s spirit power.

  “You didn’t have any confidence when you faced me. If a Spirit Master doesn’t have confidence, how can he win?”

  Tang San’s words reached Huo Wushuang’s ears. When he looked at Tang San’s serene eyes, Huo Wushuang suddenly found that this clearly younger than him youth seemed to have become his teacher.

  By now Huo Wu had run over, grabbing Huo Wushuang’s arm, asking with a deeply concerned face:

  “Ge, are you alright?”

  Huo Wushuang shook his head,

  “I’m alright. I lost, lost by heart and word.”

  Huo Wu sharply raised her head, both her eyes seeming to shoot flames, fiercely burning at Tang San.

  Tang San’s gaze was still undisturbed. He looked at Huo Wu without any particular mood.

  The first fight ended like this. Even though the scene wasn’t as chaotic as the qualifiers, and wasn’t any applause or cheers, what Tang San revealed captured everyone present. Even Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School master Ning Fengzhi discovered that this child became more and more impenetrable. At such a young age, he already had some of the demeanor of a great family.

  Glancing at platinum bishop Salas next to him out of the corner if his eye, Ning Fengzhi was somewhat astonished to discover that Salas’ face was still calm, without any fluctuation to his mood because of Tang San’s display, as if he was only looking at the most common competition.

  The next matches seemed even easier for Tang San. He continuously calm an
d unhurried successively fought five Blazing Academy team members. Among them the twin brothers Huo Wun and Huo Yu had broken through from thirty ninth rank to fortieth rank.

  But nobody could make Tang San release his third spirit ability.

  Blazing Academy already possessed four spirit masters over fortieth rank, but six of them still couldn’t stop Tang San’s advance. His spirit power was still plentiful, and there wasn’t even a trace of exhaustion on his face.

  It was under such circumstances that Blazing Academy’s final team member, vice captain Huo Wu, walked gravely into the ring.

  One defeating six. Since the start of the ranking competition, this was the most outstanding score to appear. Moreover the six defeated people were still from the traditionally powerful and well known Blazing Academy, these were circumstances nobody could have imagined before the start of the match, but this was what really had happened.

  * * *

  [1] 3寸 = 10 cm

  [2] 1尺 = ⅓ m

  [3] 5寸 = 17 cm

  [4] 3寸 = 10 cm

  Chapter 112: Tang San VS Huo Wu

  Part 1 (TL by Bagelson)

  Watching the cold faced Huo Wu walk into the ring, Tang San drew a deep breath. Even though he didn’t seem any different from the start of the first fight, in fact, right now he was already extremely tired.

  His spirit power had been conserved as far as possible, but in the previous six matches, he had after all still faced three fortieth ranked opponents. Besides Huo Wushuang, Huo Yun and Huo Yu’s Fire Crane Spirits gave him no small trouble, especially their strongest spirit abilities made Tang San spend considerable spirit power in order to dodge and escape their attacks.

  Even more, to save on his spirit power he had to use the most precise degree of control possible with each ability, the requirements for this were enormous.

  Consequently, even though Tang San had only consumed forty percent or so of his spirit power, his mental strength had already been exhausted by seventy percent. He was an arrow at the end of its flight.

  Right now the spectators, whether the imperial household knights or the other academy Spirit Masters, all only wanted to see one thing: whether Tang San could defeat the whole Blazing Academy with his own strength, completing a heroic feat of one beating seven.

  Attentively watching Tang San, Huo Wu now instead became calm. She knew that this match was not only a matter between her and Tang San, but also related to the reputation of Blazing Academy.

  If she lost, letting the opponent complete one against seven, then Blazing Academy would never be able to raise their heads among the five elemental academies. Therefore, she couldn’t lose no matter what. She couldn’t lose.

  It was precisely this conviction in victory that made Huo Wu calm down. This year she still wasn’t twenty. In Blazing Academy she was the youngest genius in history. This period of painstaking training let her spirit power advance a level, reaching the forty fourth rank. She believed that she should be above this youth in front of her, whether in spirit or spirit power.

  But how, how was the entire Blazing Academy unable to defeat him alone? Was it because he was a control system Spirit Master? Because of his fire immunity? No, it definitely wasn’t just this.

  Tang San calmly watched Huo Wu standing thirty meters away from him. He was astonished to discover that Huo Wu’s aura seemed to have undergone a bizarre change. He and Huo Wu didn’t have any interaction, but every time he had seen her it seemed as if she distributed an incendiary aura. In some respects, it was extremely similar to Liu Erlong.

  But now that she had calmed down, Huo Wu was like a different person. Her originally extremely slender figure seemed even more alluring as her skin reflected a red light, as if it could ignite the hearts of all men.

  With a shake of her body, a faint orange shadow gradually appeared behind Huo Wu. It was identical to her, a vague flame shadow with an illusory feeling. But this was her spirit, Fire Shadow.

  The fire element shadow was an extremely peculiar spirit, but able to display the fire element to its greatest degree.

  It was clearly already impossible for Blazing Academy to win in the ranking competition today, after all, Shrek Academy still had another six people. However, Huo Wu was already rigidly set on winning this fight, no matter what.

  The match began.

  Tang San had always wondered what method Huo Wu would use to attack, and the moment the referee declared the start, she gave him the answer: Running.

  Huo Wu’s slender and powerful legs moved swiftly, dashing directly at Tang San.

  Even though her speed couldn’t compare to that of an agility attack system Spirit Master, by the forty fourth rank, the added attributes from spirit rings and the effect of their own spirit power made a Spirit Master far superior to ordinary people. This all out charge had astonishing speed, and the distance between the two quickly shrank.

  A strand of Blue Silver Grass surged out, sweeping horizontally. Its target was Huo Wu’s slender and powerful waist.

  It was a probing attack. Tang San’s energy was greatly consumed by now, but sending out a few tests was better than idly waiting for opportunities.

  He had chosen a strategy to guard and counterattack. With the advantage of fire immunity, if Huo Wu wanted her abilities to have any effect on him she could only use explosions like Huo Wushuang did.

  Therefore, Tang San wasn’t very anxious.

  If Huo Wu wanted to use her fourth spirit ability, the period for accumulating strength was enough for him to react.

  Confronted with the sweeping Blue Silver Grass, Huo Wu not only didn’t dodge, but on the contrary sped up somewhat. The thirty meter distance between the two shortened to ten meters in the blink of an eye.

  Huo Wu’s eyes brightened, both eyes flashing brightly, at the same time her third spirit ring also shone. A purple light halo filled the air, and she increased her speed a bit more.

  Suddenly, light flashed in Tang San’s mind, and he immediately understood Huo Wu’s plan of attack. Blue Silver Grass swept unchangingly, and he swiftly started to move. He neither advanced nor retreated, but rather moved sideways, swiftly dashing out horizontally.

  Huo Wu had apparently already anticipated Tang San’s reaction, and her original straight dash angled sideways, but still pressing in on Tang San.

  The instant Blue Silver Grass was about to land on her, Huo Wu’s third spirit ability, Defying Flame Ring, launched.

  A dazzling orange ring of light released in a flash. This spirit ability without any offensive power washed away the nearby Blue Silver Grass in an instant. The the spirit ability range reached and astonishing sixty meters, and right now Tang San was less than ten meters away.

  The moment the thirty meter radius Defying Flame Ring removed the Blue Silver Grass, it also sent Tang San far away.

  The whole ring had a diameter of a hundred meters, and Huo Wu’s Defying Flame Ring had a sixty meter diameter. It could be said to cover a substantial part of the ring. Pushed by the Defying Flame Ring, Tang San practically instantly reached the edge of the ring.

  Leaving the ring meant defeat. Tang San had exploited this rule in the first fight against Huo Wushuang.

  But the most frightening aspect of Huo Wu’s Defying Flame Ring was that it ignored any abilities and defense, anything within its range could be temporarily banished.

  Of course, the opponent’s attack power couldn’t surpass her spirit power by more than ten ranks.

  Huo Wu didn’t pause, just when Tang San was forced to the edge of the ring, another Defying Flame Ring flashed.

  Tang San sighed inwardly. This girl might seem to have a fiery temper, but she was actually extremely shrewd. Control system Spirit Masters really weren’t ordinary. By exploiting the Defying Flame Ring, she had put him in trouble in an instant.

  Right now, even if it was his fourth spirit ability, at most it could only temporarily block Huo Wu’s advance, but couldn’t stop the Defying Flame Ring from launching. H
uo Wu’s use of this originally defensive ability had doubtless passed long consideration.

  The Defying Flame Ring of course wasn’t absolute, otherwise, there would be no need to hold this ranking competition, Huo Wu could just rely on this ability to sweep away all opponents. The restriction of the Defying Flame Ring lay in altitude. The range of its effect was sixty meters in diameter, and three meters in height.

  In other words, three meters in the air was out of the Defying Flame Ring’s effect. Unless Huo Wu directly aimed the Defying Flame Ring into the air.

  Under these circumstances, no matter how wonderful Tang San’s Ghost Shadow Perplexing Step was, he was still unable to dodge the Defying Flame Ring’s attack. Therefore, he could only fly into the air. Watching Huo Wu’s second Defying Flame Ring about to take effect, Tang San leapt up, swiftly rising above the Defying Flame Ring.

  Seeing this, Huo Wu’s face revealed a sneer. Even though she had wasted a lot of spirit power on these two Defying Flame Rings, her goal of forcing Tang San into the air was still reached.

  A strange scene appeared. Huo Wu’s fourth spirit ring flashed the same moment Tang San leapt up, and the Fire Shadow behind her also instantly turned incandescent white.

  “Ring Merging[1]?”

  Outside the ring, spectating the match Grandmaster abruptly cried out.

  Ring Merging wasn’t any kind of technique, but rather an innate ability. Only some extremely peculiar Spirit Masters could possess this kind of ability.

  It used the simultaneous release of the spirit power of several spirit ring abilities at once, and could also be called an instant substantial spirit power release, making use of one spirit ability.

  The greatest benefit of Ring Merging was burst power. Simply put, if a pool only had one exit, then the water could also only flow out of this one exit. Even though it would drain out eventually, it still couldn’t be compared to the speed of simultaneously flowing out of four exits.