by <unknown>
Through this, these upper house disciples would have to fight each other again and again and the ones who managed to hold the high stage from his foes for longer than four hours would be able to acquire the qualification to enter the Ethereal palace.
After this first round, the top hundred disciples would have the opportunity to compete among themselves in a battle royale for the title of supremacy among all the upper house disciples. The battle among these top hundred disciples was very crucial, as only the strongest among them would be able to acquire the most resources after entering the Ethereal palace.
Is that all?
After hearing the rules, Zhong Yue felt a little bit stunned. He thought, With only such battles, I guess it would be very difficult to determine the true strength and potential of the disciples? After all, some of the disciples have techniques that could allow them to fly and the final battle will not be able to adequately showcase the strengths of these flying techniques. Besides, with so many disciples taking part in that battle, the stages will definitely be very crowded….
After he finished talking, the Qi Practitioner notified the elder and the elder said, “Bring in Shen Dragon.”
The Qi Practitioner nodded and shouted, “Bring in the Shen Dragon!”
“Understood.”
Then, the other Qi Practitioners replied and shouted, “Bring in the Shen Dragon!”
Huuuuu——
Then, one after another, the Qi Practitioners held large chains in their hands and there were a total of one hundred and ten of these chains. The other end of the chains extended all the way into the clouds and as they moved, the clouds near the golden peak of the Swords Gate rumbled vigorously.
As these Qi Practitioners used their full strength to pull the chains, the clouds kept on rumbling and after a moment, a gigantic creature was pulled out of the clouds!
This creature had the head of a chicken, back of a turtle and tail of a dragon. Its claws were extremely sharp and it rested in the clouds. However, it was now being chained and pulled out from the clouds. When the Shen Dragon was pulled out from the clouds, it let out furious roars that sounded like the crowings of a rooster which reverberated throughout the mountains.
Zhong Yue looked up and saw that the Shen Dragon was incredibly long and it floated in the air like a huge mountain, refusing and struggling to stay in the clouds.
Such a rare exotic beast! Swords Gate is indeed very resourceful to have such creature. But why did they bring in Shen Dragon?
Ting Lanyue murmured, “So the crowings of the chicken I heard every morning was let out by this Shen Dragon. I have been wondering for a long time about who actually bred chickens in Swords Gate….”
The struggling Shenlong that was brought in by the hundred and ten Qi Practitioners immediately turned its head and angrily bellowed at Ting Lanyue, “You dare to call me a chicken?”
Ting Lanyue stuck out her tongue and quickly hid behind Zhong Yue.
A Swords Gate elder stood up and shouted, “Shenlong, stop causing a ruckus. We Swords Gate supported and took you in for a very long time and it is now time for you to do your job again.”
The Shen Dragon replied, “Kid, I am from the same generation as your grandfather, when you need my help, at least say please.”
The speechless elder then weakly added, “Please.”
With that, the Shen Dragon stopped struggling and unleashed its psyche. As soon as it released its psyche, Zhong Yue was shocked as hundreds of mountains started appearing around the Five Pine Summit.
In a few moments, hundreds of mountains were formed around Five Pine Summit with the psyche of Shen Dragon. Jungles were everywhere and animals could be seen walking around in the jungles!
These mountains that appeared all of a sudden were just like real mountains with abundant resources, flora, and fauna!
An upper house disciple walked forward, touched the mountain and shouted with surprise, “It is just like a real mountain!”
The psyche of this Shen Dragon was so great that everything it materialized with its psyche was so true to life! Without knowing the situation before this, one would not even be able to realize that all of these were formed from psyche!
The Shen Dragon had an intrinsically incredible psyche, this Shen Dragon that was taken in by the Swords Gate was one of its kind. Its psyche was so strong that it could envelop the entire mountain where Swords Gate was located and transform it into a land of mirage.
On top of that, it’s incredibly strong psyche also allowed it to transform everything its psyche manifested into something so authentic that it was nigh impossible to distinguish the psyche-actualizations from their genuine counterparts.
In past history, whenever Swords Gate was invaded, this Shen Dragon would definitely step in and lend its assistance. With its strong side and its ability to form illusions that were so real, it managed to help repel invaders. However, this Shenlong was very rebellious and so it was chained up as it always wanted to run away.
Its seniority in the Swords Gate was also incredibly high as even every single elder would have to give way to its seniority.
In the air, a few elders nodded and the Qi Practitioners from the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion moved the stages into the hundreds of mountains with their psyche.
Not long after, the stages were all moved into the mountains.
“The battle begins now!”
As the signal was given, innumerable upper house disciples dashed towards the stages located in the mountains. While some ran on the ground, they were those disciples that formed wings with their psyche and took to the air to fly into the mountains in order to occupy the stages before the others.
As long as they managed to occupy the stages and have their totem pillars set up, they would be able to gain the initiative over their opponents!
Zhong Yue did not rush towards the stages and he stood at the same spot quietly. Other than that, Ting Lanyue did not move as well. There were another ten plus people who stood at the same place without any intention of rushing towards the stages as well.
“Such impatience, recklessly charging forward and even after occupying the stages, one will constantly face challenges from the other disciples. With the continuous battles, one’s strength will be drained quickly ... this strategy is not sustainable.
An elder stroked his beard and laughed, “These disciples may not be the strongest but they are the smartest. They might be waiting for the right time to strike, waiting and observing the strength of those who occupied the stages. Once they located the weakest disciples occupying the stages, they will strike at them mercilessly and forcefully take over the stages to advance into the top hundred easily.”
The other Qi Practitioners and elders nodded and said, “However, if you are incredibly strong, you don’t have to wait at all, all you need to do is just occupy one stage and roll over all the challengers.”
Zhong Yue looked around and he did not show any sign of surprise as he did not see Li Xiuniang and the core disciples from the top ten clans. Shui Qingyan was also nowhere to be found around them and he wondered which mountain she went off to.
“Xin Huo, did you notice which mountain Tian Myriad Mother headed to?”
Xin Huo was stunned a little bit and he replied, “Whatever I see is through your eyes, I can’t see what you can’t see. You want to duel with Tian Myriad Mother? Brat Yue, that is the soul of a demon god in Shui Qingyan’s body, not just an ordinary upper house disciple! Shui Qingyan’s strength was nothing when compared to the strength of Tian Myriad Mother! Zhong Yue looked towards the mountains and saw that some disciples have already occupied the stages with their totem pillars set up in formation around the stages and started fighting together with the other disciples.
After another few moments, the stages have all been occupied one by one and the battles erupted en masse as the disciples contended among each other for supremacy.
Those disciples around Zhong Yue also picked their targets and heade
d towards their own destination. Ting Lanyue also started walking and she suddenly turned back and said fiercely, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, don’t go on the same path as me or I’ll bite you!”
Zhong Yue felt speechless and he walked towards another path and thought, “Tian Myriad Mother is very strong, I would eventually face her in the battle royale even if I don’t run into her this time. I should not push too hard!”
He continued walking forward and he did not run into many disciples on his way to his target. This was all because the majority of the disciples were already somewhere near the stages.
On top of them, the elders and Qi Practitioners saw the way Zhong Yue walked towards and they felt speechless. They conversed with each other quietly, “Is this young man really that unwise? He waited for so long only to choose this path?”
“This path will eventually lead to the Shui Qinghe, the core disciple of Shui Tu Clan of the top ten clans, one of the disciples qualified to become the top hundred disciples! Why did he choose this path? Is he asking for trouble? Such foolhardiness.”
“Perhaps he really is that unwise.”
The elders and Qi Practitioners shook their head and felt speechless at the decision of Zhong Yue.
On the other end, Zhong Yue calmly walked towards his destination and it did not take long until he reached his destination. In front of him were huge water waves that blotted out the skies and the stages. Waterspouts that looked like a water dragon filled the landscape and one after another, totem pillars stood like trees in a forest. Waterspouts and ice crystal swords were flying everywhere, forming a huge net of formidable defense, fending off the onslaught of attacks from the surrounding disciples.
As one upper house disciple leaped into the sky in order to launch an attack from the sky, a water sword energy ray shot out and knocked him down from the sky.
The stage occupied by Shui Qinghe appeared to be untouchable!
Chapter 49: With the Raise of a Hand |
With the body of Hebo, Shui Qinghe possessed strong power and fast speed. He stood on the stage while the other disciples attacked from all directions. However, even with the help of their totem pillars and soul weapons, they couldn’t even step foot on the stage and even if they did, they would be plunged out immediately!
The core disciple of the top ten clans and a disciple that was personally taught by a Qi Practitioner could be considered as a fierce tiger compared to the upper house disciples. Therefore, although there were some strong disciples among the challengers, they still stood no chance in front of Shui Qinghe.
Up until now, Shui Qinghe still held back part of his strength as he easily suppressed the upper house disciples even without using his soul weapon!
“Zhong Shan Clan, Zhong Yue!”
As Shui Qinghe stepped on the rushing water that flooded the stage, his sight passed through the other disciples and landed on Zhong Yue. Shui Qinghe immediately shouted, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, come, fight me along with them!”
His combat intent was so strong at this time. His capability of suppressing the other disciples had propelled his momentum and confidence to the extent that he now felt that he was unstoppable. He felt confident that he would be able to defeat every single foe that stood in his way!
With such confidence, he managed to unbind himself from the shackles and his psyche was in a state of hyperactivity, granting his attacks an instinctive quality and imbuing him with more strength!
This was the unrelenting force.
Previously, the reason Li Xiuniang approached Zhong Yue was also that of this mentality. She wanted to build maintain this unrelenting force all the way into the final battle. However, contrary to her expectations, she was defeated by Zhong Yue’s overwhelming strength.
Looking at Shui Qinghe, Zhong Yue thought, Xin Huo said you were very puny and nothing compared to Tian Myriad Mother….
Zhong Yue squinted and he stopped twenty feet away from the stage. He slowly lifted up his right hand with his palm facing towards the stage before he thought, “If you are nothing compared to Tian Myriad Mother, you shall remain as such when compared to me!”
Zhong Yue had no fighting intent his psyche output was unchanged. He also did not let out his aura and the sword scabbard behind him remained silent behind his back as his palm faced towards the stage and Shui Qinghe.
Lightning sparked around his palm and thunderous energy swam around his fingers like tiny little Jiao Dragons.
Chi Chi Chi —
When examining closely, one would realize that these little thunderous energies were formed with thunder totems and Jiao Dragon totems.
But this was just the surface of it. The actual totems that formed from thunderous energy were actually that sword carving of the【Boundless Great Sword Qi】!
The thunderous energy in his palms was the result of the combination of the twelve thunder totems, eight Jiao Dragon totems and the sword carvings – it had now transcended beyond the ordinary【Spring Thunder Swords Skill】!
“Brat Yue, show me if you could really make it swift, unstoppable and strong!”
There was little movement in Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean but Xin Huo was very excited. He stood at Zhong Yue’s shoulder and he said while jumping around, “Crush him! Crush him with one blow!”
“Xin Huo, tell me if this strike is unstoppable or not.”
Zhong Yue remained expressionless and as he shook his palm, he murmured, Thunder….
Ka-cha!
A loud thunder sound was produced and it shocked the heads of the disciples surrounding the stage. Their mind went blank as if their soul was shaken out of their body by the raucous thunder sound!
Mang——
A long dragon roar could be heard and the thunderous energy in Zhong Yue’s palm flew out with a speed so fast that could barely be seen!
When the thunderous energies traveled a certain distance, they became Jiao Dragons one after another, and when they reached the stage, they grew into almost twelve feet long!
There were twelve Jiao Dragons in this attack launched by Zhong Yue. Each of these Jiao Dragons was a manifestation of the twelve forms of the【Spring Thunder Swords Skill】. They looked like a fusion of the【Spring Thunder Swords Skill】and the【Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art】but the actual technique used was solely the Boundless Great Sword Qi!
Those realistic lightning Jiao Dragons were actually twelve rays of thunderous sword energy!
When the Jiao Dragons slithered and changed their stances, the Sword Qi changed as well!
At that moment, the waterspouts, water sword, and ice crystal swords around the stages shattered. As the thunderous Jiao Dragons charged forward, the totem pillars were pulverized and in a split second, all of the totem pillars were shattered into pieces!
Shui Qinghe’s expression changed rapidly as everything happened too fast! There was barely any window for him to react from the time when Zhong Yue lifted his palm and launched his attack to the time when the Jiao Dragons breached through his defense into the stage. All of these happened so quickly that it could only allow him to blink his eyes once!
And all Zhong Yue took was a blink of an eye to shatter the defense he set up around the stage!
In front of him, twelve Jiao Dragons pounced at him with fierce expressions and different stances from all directions!
“Zhong Shan Clan’s member, do not underestimate me! Initially, I thought I would only use my trump card when I fight with the other core disciples from the top ten clans. Who knew that I had to use it now on you!”
Shui Qinghe shouted and it felt like his voice exploded in his throat. At the same time, his psyche also erupted and the body of Hebo became extremely solid and buffed. Shui Qinghe then transformed into the God of the River, Hebo, that stood about ten feet from the ground. Around his body were fish scales that protruded out from his body just like an armor made with fish scales!
If observed closely, these fish scales overlapped with each other, which al
so meant that there were two layers of fish scales.
On top of that, these fish scales were also shields with defensive totems carvings. When combined together, they formed a small-scale defensive array!
Moreover, with a body of Hebo that stood almost ten feet from the ground, just how many fish scales were there? Just how many defensive totem carvings it contains? Just how strong was the defense of these fish scales?
The only reason Shui Qinghe dared to compete with the other upper house disciples that included Li Xiuniang, Yu Zhenlong, and the other core disciples from the top ten clans was that of this set of fish scale armor.
Other than that, under the fish scale armor was another layer of defensive totem carvings. With these defensive carvings and the fish scale armor, who could actually penetrate his defense?
If his foes failed to penetrate his defense, Shui Qinghe would be undefeatable. If he managed to be undefeatable, then by elimination, the only ones to be defeated would be his foes!
The twelve Jiao Dragon pounced at him but strangely, there was no sound of collision at all. The sound created by these Jiao Dragons was instead, the sound of piercing evocative of a sword penetrating its enemy.
This was because these Jiao Dragons were not just Jiao Dragons, they were actually sword energies in the form of Jiao Dragons that even contained the ruinous charm of thunder.
When the twelve Jiao Dragons came in contact with Shui Qinghe, the entire stage vibrated vigorously and a figure could be seen flying out from the stage. The Jiao Dragons billowed and followed tightly behind that figure before ramming into that person, knocking the figure a few miles away from the stage before it fell to the ground.
This figure that was sent flying out was Shui Qinghe. His fish scale armor appeared to be severely ravaged and as the last Jiao Dragon winded around his body, the armor shattered and the body of Hebo dispersed completely.
Boom!
When Shui Qinghe was knocked to the ground, he continued rolling forward and the trees in his path were plowed away. The scene was incredibly shocking!
