by KSY
“Sister!!” a familiar voice gave a jolt to her heart. The next moment she saw a well-known teary-eyed little boy running towards her. Tears started flowing down Shana’s cheeks the moment she saw Cris, who was shaken up on seeing his sister’s condition: she looked no different from a walking corpse. Cris embraced Shana, and he started to cry like a little kid. Shana too was unable to calm her emotions after seeing Cris. On seeing this scene Oscar felt a stinging pain in his heart, as he was the reason Cris had committed his crime in the first place.
“There is no need to cry anymore. You guys can meet each other as much as you want now,” Oscar said as he patted them both. Shana and Cris nodded as they slowly calmed down. Shana was feeling giddy deep down after meeting Cris.
Blake slowly approached them. It was unknown what was going on in his mind, but anyone could tell he was concerned about Shana as he had a grim expression. Shana smiled at him, but Blake didn’t smile back at her. He just patted her head and he looked at her with a sad expression. However, she remembered Ryan explaining that Blake was an extremely emotional guy who spoke even less when he got emotional, so she didn’t mind his reaction. The people surrounding looked at the reunion of Shana and her brothers with warm gazes, but Sheldon, Danr, Cenric, Brian and Hague had grim expressions.
“It turns out that Ryan was correct,” Sheldon sent a Mental-message to his four companions, who didn’t say anything except for nodding their heads,
“Someone sure had guts to target someone from our Family Clan,” Cenric said.
“If not for Ryan, then no one would have suspected anything,” Hague said with a grim expression. They could clearly tell that Shana’s current condition was due to the handy work of a Celestial Realm Martial Artist .
“No wonder people say that the senses of Asura dragons are extremely sensitive and nothing can escape them,” Brian said with a humorless laugh. Asura dragons are known for their terrifying might plus their extremely sensitive senses, which in turn makes them terrifying predators in the Divine Universe. Brain didn’t know that Ryan didn’t actually possess the physique of Asura dragons but of Asuras themselves. The senses of an Asura are many times stronger than those of an Asura dragon. Sheldon, Danr, Cenric, Brian and Hague just nodded their heads in agreement. They were also somewhat envious of Ryan’s physique, because with such sensitive senses, he could easily find rare Plant Spirits and other Heavenly Treasures. The best part was that no one would be able to launch a successful sneak attack on him.
“Let’s help Shana before discussing other things,” Cenric said, as he was unable to see Shana suffer anymore, and the other four just nodded their heads.
“Let’s head to the place where the Spatial Distortion Formation has been set up,” Sheldon said loudly which attracted the attention of everyone in the Living room. Their facial expressions changed drastically, as these words by Sheldon verified Ryan’s earlier diagnoses regarding the source of Shana’s illness. Murderous intent erupted out of the bodies of everyone present in the Living room.
“Ancestor, can you help her out?” Oscar asked Sheldon in a pleading voice.
“Yes,” Sheldon said as a smile appeared on his face, and the atmosphere of the Living room immediately became better.
Ch.11
Danr had set up the Spatial Distortion Formation at a little distance from the Estate, having cleared a small part of the Forest of Darkness just for it. The Formation was trapezoid in shape and had a large number of runes drawn on it. Danr had used the blood of powerful Spatial Attribute beings to draw this formation, which was invisible and extremely difficult to detect. Danr and company had a special use of the Formation for dealing with the Poison Martial Artist who had dared to poison Shana.
Everyone hid, except for Danr who was standing in the middle of the Spatial Distortion Formation along with Shana. The Poison Martial Artist had sealed the poison in Shana’s heart. Danr and company were certain that the Poison Martial Artist would come running, if they removed the poison from her body. Danr placed his forefinger on Shana’s left breast, and a drop of violet-colored liquid flew out of her breast when Danr moved his finger away. Danr was able to deal with the poison so easily only because it had been planted by a Celestial Realm Martial Artist, and he was an existence beyond that of a Celestial. The violet-colored liquid gave a very sinister feeling to anyone that looked at it.
Shana, on the other hand, underwent a complete transformation right after the poison was removed from her. Her frail body transformed into a healthy body within a few minutes and her skin tone turned rosy. Everyone was stunned at seeing such a drastic change in her, and she herself was astonished when she checked her face in a mirror she had in her Spatial pouch. Soon tears started to trickle down her face, and she thanked Danr again and again. He just smiled and patted her head. She had never imagined that she would see this day since all the doctors that tried treating her had been unable to help. She knew this was all thanks to her elder brother who’d accurately diagnosed her problem.
The expressions of everyone present suddenly changed when they sensed a Teleportation portal opening high up in the sky above them. Evil smiles appeared on the faces of Sheldon, Danr and the other three from the Main branch as they looked at the Teleportation portal.
It was certain that someone was going to pay a very heavy price.
Ryan, on the other hand, was flying towards Heavenly City’s Combat Arena along with his family members for his duel with Gabriel’s elder brother, Anzo. Unlike Divine Martial City, Heavenly City didn’t prohibit Mortal Realm Martial Artists from flying around. Heavenly City’s Combat Arena was situated in the middle of the business district, and it served the same purpose as the ones anywhere else on Grandura.
Ryan was least bothered about his duel with Anzo after his breakthrough to Mid Mortal Lord Realm. He wished to finish off Anzo within a few moves as this would reduce the number of challengers drastically. Ryan’s family were a little worried, but after seeing him brimming with confidence, they felt more at ease. Everyone knew of Ryan’s cautious personality: he was the type who rarely took risks if success was not guaranteed.
The Combat Arena of Heavenly City was grander than the one in Divine Martial Sect. Its basic design was quite similar, but the materials used to make it were many times more expensive and it was twice as big. It had around thirty small rings in the open space in the middle of it, and they were at least three times bigger than the ones in Divine Martial Sect’s Combat Arena.
Ryan and his family descended in front of the Main entrance of the Combat Arena where a masssive crowd had lined up to enter, and immediately attracted the attention of everyone present there. Since the Hell Mantis egg was at stake a large audience was something he was expecting.
He could tell that many amongst the crowd had come to gauge his strength, so if he wiped the floor with Anzo today then his problems would be reduced, but otherwise he would have to fight a large number of duels before he could use the Hell Mantis egg. Ryan didn’t want to do something like that to a fellow clan member, as a humiliating defeat could affect his mindset and his future might get affected as a result, but he had no choice in this case.
Ryan bid farewell to his family and entered the Combat Arena from another entrance which was meant for the Martial Artists that were to participate in duels. Ryan’s family couldn’t use that entrance and had to go in by the Main entrance. Ryan had a hassle free entry and the Hell Mantis egg was taken away from him by the Law Enforcement Officials as it was the prize for the duel between him and Anzo. They gave Ryan a token that was numbered ten. This meant Ryan would have a duel with Anzo in Ring Number 10. Ryan was then asked to wait in the waiting room until his turn came up to go up to the ring.
The waiting room of the arena was completely packed with Martial Artists, as duels were considered the best way to settle differences on Grandura. Heavenly City had millions of inhabitants so differences were bound to occur between its inhabitants. As a result, Martial Artists came every
day to the Combat Arena for duels to settle a difference with another party. The waiting room didn’t have any chairs or anything for sitting on, so everyone was standing as they patiently waited for their turn to go up to the ring. The waiting room had people from all age groups: some were teenagers, while some were old fogies thousands of years old.
Anzo was also in the waiting room. His gaze was fixed on Ryan the moment he entered the waiting room. He’d heard a lot about Ryan from everyone especially about his potential to become an exceptional doctor in the future. His father had told him to go easy on Ryan because of that. As Anzo understood his father’s intention he had no choice but to comply with his order. Everyone got injured and poisoned irrespective of their Cultivation Level so it would be unwise to create a deep-rooted feud with someone who could become an exceptional doctor in the future.
Ryan had also noticed Anzo, but unlike Anzo, Ryan didn’t pay too much attention to him. He found himself a wall to lean against until his turn came to go up to the ring and fight Anzo. It took seven hours before their turn came. Ryan had never expected that he would have to wait that long. Ryan and Anzo left for the ring at the same time. Ryan was just a few steps ahead of Anzo but they didn’t talk to each other the entire time, and just walked in silence towards the ring.
They attracted everyone’s attention the moment they stepped into the open space in the middle of the Combat Arena even though numerous duels were still going on in other rings. They’d attracted that much attention for two reasons: the Hell Mantis egg and also because Ryan and Anzo were top geniuses of their generation.
Ring Number 10 was quickly prepared for their use. It had been damaged a little bit during the previous duel, so it was quickly being repaired by the Combat Arena’s officials. Ryan and Anzo entered the ring straight away, once it was ready and took up positions for the duel. A barrier was then erected around their ring by the officials.
“The duel will start the moment I finish the count to three. OK?” the referee said. Ryan and Anzo nodded their heads in agreement.
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three.”
A sword appeared in Anzo’s right hand soon after the duel started. It had beautiful runes etched on it and was glowing with a blue radiance which made it look like a Godly weapon. His sword was a Life Weapon which meant that Anzo possessed a Water Attribute Sword-shaped Martial Spirit, but Anzo didn’t stop at just taking out his Life Weapon to face Ryan. Large quantities of blue-colored aura erupted out of his body which soon transformed into an ape that was about ten meters in height. His second Martial Spirit Martial Spirit was Red-eyed Water Ape, an Ancient Elemental Beast, and a Water Attribute Elemental Beast. This is one of the strongest Ancient beasts, known for its exceptionally powerful defense. Its body is entirely made of water which makes it immune to slashes from weapons and blunt attacks, so it is considered extremely difficult to kill. Red-eyed Water Apes look similar to orangutans, but its fur is blue in color and it is gigantic. A full grown Red-eyed Water Ape can be hundreds of meters in height when standing straight.
Ryan’s facial expression didn’t change much as he’d known beforehand that Anzo was a Dual Martial Spirits holder and he’d also had prior information about his Martial Spirits. Anzo had decided to go all-out against Ryan right from the start to finish the duel in the shortest possible time: he’d activated his Life Weapon which was equivalent to conjuring a Martial Spirit, and had also conjured his Red-eyed Water Ape Martial Spirit. The aura around Anzo was comparable to that of an Early Mortal King Realm Martial Artist that had yet to conjure his or her Martial Spirit.
In the cases of Martial Artists possessing more than one Martial Spirit, the boost to the Combat prowess that they receive by conjuring all their Martial Spirits at the same time is equivalent to the boost that they would have received by conjuring just one of their Martial Spirits. The heavens were fair: they wouldn’t give too much advantage to anyone by birth, and this rule applied to all the Martial Artists with more than one Martial Spirit.
Anzo was held in such high esteem by everyone due to his possessing two Martial Spirits with similar attributes, which meant that his Cultivation speed would be exceptionally fast compared to that of his peers.
Ryan didn’t have any intention of bringing out Death Sword as he wanted to keep it a secret for some more time. He just took a basic attack stance to deal with Anzo, whose expression twisted upon seeing Ryan’s action, as he could tell that Ryan intended to fight him unarmed. Generally, everyone avoided dealing bare-handed with a Martial Artist that possessed a Weapon-shaped Martial Spirit. If they did decide to fight bare-handed then unlike Ryan, they would at least wear armor. Anzo felt that Ryan was underestimating him, which hurt his ego.
“You will regret underestimating me,” Anzo roared in anger as he slashed his sword at Ryan from a distance. A crescent-shaped blade that was entirely condensed out of water was shot out by Anzo’s sword. It possessed matchless sharpness, and people with lower cultivation felt a stinging sensation in their eyes when they looked at it. The Water blade was approaching Ryan at an extremely high speed, but Ryan smiled on seeing Anzo’s attack, as he had used the First slash of the Heaven Sundering Sword Martial Skill named Hundred-slashes-as-one to slash out that Water blade. That meant the Water blade had a very high destructive power, somewhat equivalent to the normal attack of an Mid Mortal King Realm Martial Artist. Ryan could tell that Anzo had no intention of going easy on him. The Water blade was clearly capable of taking the life of any normal Early Mortal Lord Realm Martial Artist.
Ryan executed Shadow Steps Martial Skill as he moved towards the incoming Water blade at high speed. Anzo’s expression changed as such an action was no different from committing suicide in his eyes, and it was not just him: all the spectators had similar thoughts. Ryan’s entire family was worried except for Emilia, as she had personally seen how Heaven defying Ryan’s physique was, unlike the other members of the family.
Ryan’s speed started to increase exponentially with each step; numerous after images were created by his high-speed movement. It reached its maximum when he was just a foot away from the Water blade, when his body twisted at an impossible angle as he dodged it by a hair’s breadth. Anzo was agape as he saw the scene unfolding in front of his eyes. He’d never expected an Early Mortal Lord to avoid his Water blade head-on, as dodging attacks head-on was many times more difficult than dodging an attack from a distance. Generally, head-on dodging was only possible if the enemy Martial Artist had a similar Cultivation Level or higher, and that was the reason Anzo was stunned - not only him but everyone that was watching their duel. The Water blade kept on moving without losing its momentum and slammed into the barrier around the ring.
Boom!!!
A big explosion resounded throughout the entire Combat Arena, and even Martial Artists fighting in other rings stopped in their tracks to look at their ring. Ryan’s family felt chills down their spines on seeing the destructive power of the Water blade. It was clear from this attack by Anzo that he had already comprehended the First realm of Sword intent, but it was not just them that had come to this conclusion: everyone else watching the duel had too. Ryan, on the other hand, was unfazed by this fact as Anzo’s Cultivation Level was not high enough to pose him a threat yet, even if he had already comprehended the First realm of Sword intent. He continued to charge at Anzo after dodging the Water blade without losing momentum.
Anzo’s eyes narrowed when he saw Ryan charging at him. This was the first time someone with lower Cultivation Level had charged at him with the intention of attacking him: it had never happened to him before! Generally, Martial Artists with lower Cultivation Levels tried to fight him from a distance as they were scared to come within the range of his sword. He raised his sword again and slashed it at Ryan. This time a blue-colored Sword beam was shot at Ryan, and then transformed into an Azure dragon which charged at Ryan in an indomitable manner as it roared. The Azure dragon’s roar shook the barrier
around Ring Number 10. This was the Sixth slash of the Heaven Sundering Sword Martial Skill, named Manifestation. The Azure dragon is a High-grade dragon species known for its superior control over water. It has blue-colored scales and looks exactly like a Dragon serpent, but unlike one of them, it has four legs. It looked like the fictional five-clawed dragons from Ryan’s past life. Azure dragons are considered one of the strongest members of the Dragon family, however, the Azure dragon created by Anzo from his Sword beam was just a fake. It didn’t possess the might of a real Azure dragon: he’d used his imagination to create it.
The Sixth slash when mastered allows a Martial Artist to transform his or her Sword beams into any living being of his choice, which was a move that Ryan had yet to master. It was also the strongest of the first six slashes of the Heaven Sundering Sword Martial Skill. The Azure dragon had the might of a Mid Mortal King Realm Martial Artist. When Anzo used the Sixth slash everyone in the Combat Arena sucked in cold air. They had heard that Anzo had an exceptional talent in the way of the sword, but they never expected him to have such a monstrous talent. The Sixth slash, Manifestation, was extremely tough and complex to master, most people being unable to do so even after thousands of years of practice, but Anzo was just nineteen years old and he’d already mastered it. Even Ryan’s family members couldn’t help but commend his talent. Yun and William were regretting their decision to gift the Hell Mantis egg to Ryan.
Ryan had to stop charging and quickly created distance between him and the incoming Azure dragon. Ryan was no different from the others: he too had a deep admiration for Anzo’s talent in the way of the sword. He knew that he could no longer fool around. He could tell that Anzo had yet to seriously attack him, and that all this time he had just been gauging his strength.
