Asura Sovereign 3

by Shian Jeen

  Ch.179

  Streaks of lightning targeted Yanggang, whipping him like a savage torrent. Howling winds akin to cries from hell bombarded his body as hard rain pelted down, accompanied by wails of an Asura and angry thunderbolts.

  Huwang Xiao had successfully combined the fourth move of Asura Sword Skill, State of Abundant Lightning with the first move and second move, Tempest of Hell and Tears of Asura. This triple attack combination had more than doubled the attack power compared to when Huwang Xiao previously only attacked with Tempest of Hell and Tears of Asura!

  The sudden burst of terrifying energy from the three combined moves made the expressions of the experts who were outside the battle arena tighten.

  On the stage, Yanggang watched in horror as the bright streaks of lightning grew denser.

  “Celestial Yin Body!”

  Terrified, Yanggang once again used Celestial Yin Body, softening his body to a state of seemingly being boneless, shifting quickly around the stage to avoid the attacking lightning. His boneless body continued to twist as he moved on the stage or twirled when jumping in midair. Using this method, Yanggang managed to avoid dozens of attacks, but in the end he was still struck in the chest.

  A tragic resounding scream came from Yanggang as his body plummeted down from midair.

  Numerous lightning streaks raged as if they excitedly found a place to vent their frustration and unleash their wrath upon. Every bolt of lightning hit Yanggang at the same time. Even though Yanggang tried to roll away, his back was exposed.

  The aroma of charred meat permeated the air.

  This move, State of Abundant Lightning, attacks by triggering the essence of the lightning element which was several times stronger than average lightning. Even with the Celestial Yin Body, Yanggang could not avoid being turned into roast meat when struck with such high intensity lightning.

  All of the flashing lightning disappeared from the stage.

  Huwang Xiao floated down from midair onto the stage, staring coldly at Yanggang’s figure lying on the battle stage. The ice blue film enveloping the surface of his skin slowly receded. Since he was so heavily injured and the battle qi in his body was exhausted, he could no longer maintain his altered physical transformation. Celestial Yin Body was deactivated.

  One could hear faint howling cries coming from Yanggang’s body while Huwang Xiao stepped towards him.

  Yanggang convulsed in pain, flopping and grunting on the stage floor. His face was distorted and his hands clawed and tore at his robe as if he wanted to rip apart his own chest. Red blood was instantly stained everywhere.

  A queer silence fell on the square as everyone watched this scene.

  No one uttered a sound. The result of this match was obvious to everyone.

  The crowd looked at the tortured Yanggang with a complicated expression, all the while the cries and whistling howls did not cease to echo from Yanggang’s body.

  Below the stage, Cui Li, Pang Yu, and the rest all stared at Huwang Xiao, unable to conceal the horror within their hearts.

  If the person who battled against Huwang Xiao just now was one of them and not Yanggang, what would’ve been their ending?

  Yanggang’s misery and anguish sent chills through Pang Yu down to his very core as cold sweat dampened his back.

  In that very moment, Huwang Xiao was more terrifying than Xie Puti in not only Pang Yu’s eyes, but the crowd’s as well. Although Xie Puti’s phoenix fire brought about unbearable pain, it was nothing compared to the torment Yanggang seemed to be experiencing as he drowned in so much excruciating pain that he’d be better off dead. This exceeded what Xie Puti’s phoenix fire induced.

  “I, I, I!” Yanggang tried his best to say something when he noticed Huwang Xiao’s approach.

  Huwang Xiao sneered while watching him for he already knew what Yanggang wanted to say, but he would not give Yanggang that chance. A tiny spark of murderous rage glinted in Huwang Xiao’s eyes, then he raised the Blades of Asura in his hands.

  However, just as Huwang Xiao was about to swing the Blades of Asura down at Yanggang, a voice shouted: “Stop!”. That voice seemed to contain an enthralling power that jarred Huwang Xiao’s consciousness, causing his action to halt midway.

  “Huwang Xiao, you’ve already won this match!” Cheng Jian stood up and said, “Stage battles only determine a win or loss, not life and death!”

  Only determine win or loss, not life and death—this was one of the Imperial City Battle rules!

  Huwang Xiao frowned, but he put the blades away.

  “For this battle, the winner is Huwang Xiao!” Seeing Huwang Xiao willingly drop the matter, Cheng Jian proceeded to announce the result.

  When Cheng Jian officially made the announcement, the entire Duanren Square began to boil.

  Before the battle started, it never crossed anyone’s mind that Yanggang would end up losing so miserably. Moreover, Huwang Xiao defeated Yanggang without relying on his martial spirit! If Huwang Xiao were to summon his martial spirit, to what extent would his strength reach?!

  Outside the battle arena, the over one thousand participants that were ousted on the first two days of competition had beads of cold sweat trickling down their foreheads after watching Huwang Xiao and Yanggang’s battle. At the same time, a feeling of solace washed over them.

  They were thankful for not meeting Huwang Xiao on the stage, and also thankful that they did not provoke him.

  Huwang Xiao turned around and walked down from the battle stage.

  When he was passing by Xie Puti, Xie Puti spoke, “You are much stronger than I had expected. When we meet on the stage, I will use everything I’ve got to fight you!”

  Huwang Xiao looked at Xie Puti’s face, then nodded at him but did not say anything. Just like that, he returned to his seat.

  Cui Li’s gaze that had been closely following Huwang Xiao slowly looked away. At this moment, her emotions were in a state of turmoil.

  The truth was, she had a good impression of Huwang Xiao. They might not have known each other for long, but good impressions were not measured by how much time one spends with somebody else.

  It was just that… ! Thinking of Heartless Young Noble and her family, Cui Li sighed hopelessly.

  After the third group’s battle between Huwang Xiao and Yanggang ended, the fourth group was up. Pang Yu versus Jiang Damin.

  The result was soon announced and was within everyone’s expectation, Pang Yu defeated Juang Damin, winning the fourth group’s battle. The match moved onto the fifth group which paired Dai Shanni against Hu Zhi and also ended in the assumed outcome without much suspense. Dai Shanni won.

  With that, the first five battles of the day ended.

  Six people with superb talent martial spirits. Other than the eliminated Yanggang, the remaining five secured the top five spots. The crowd lamented after witnessing this sad outcome. Yanggang was a popular candidate for winning second place in this year’s Imperial City Battle, yet it ended with him not even making it into the top five.

  Not to mention how heavily injured he was by Huwang Xiao, whether Yanggang could even cultivate smoothly in the future was a question that remained to be answered.

  With the top five spots determined, the remaining five people would next battle for the top three spots in the coming round.

  At this time on the main platform, Cheng Jian inquired from Duan Wuhen, “Your Highness Second Imperial Prince, how should we arrange the coming matches?” According to Cheng Jian’s original plan, once the competitors were whittled down to five candidates, Xie Puti would automatically be placed in the top three without contention. However, the strength Huwang Xiao had just shown made him hesitate.

  This question also made Duan Wuhen wrinkle his brows. Choose Xie Puti… or choose Huwang Xiao as one of the top three without contention? It was a hard choice for him too.

  “Follow what we set earlier.” Duan Wuhen said solemnly.

  Since it was hard to choose either one of them, proceeding acc
ording to the previous arrangement would work best.

  “Yes, Second Imperial Prince.” Cheng Jian understood Duan Wuhen’s implied meaning.

  Following that, Cheng Jian announced Xie Puti would directly enter the top three without contending against anyone else, thus leaving Huwang Xiao, Cui Li, Pang Yu, and Dai Shanni to draw lots and battle it out.

  The announcement did not faze Huwang Xiao. He stepped out to draw a lot, and he got… Cui Li.

  When Cui Li saw that her next opponent was Huwang Xiao, the complicated emotions in her eyes deepened, while Pang Yu and Dai Shanni breathed out in relief on the side.

  Against Huwang Xiao, neither of them had any chance of victory. At least there was now an opportunity for one of them to enter top three.

  Standing on the stage, Huwang Xiao and Cui Li faced each other.

  Cui Li looked grievously at Huwang Xiao, “Do you blame me for bringing Zhao Wuji to look for you the other day?”

  Ch.180

  “Blame you?” Huwang Xiao was stunned for a second. He gently shook his head. In fact, he did not put this matter to mind at all.

  Seeing Huwang Xiao shaking his head, she suddenly relaxed as if a great burden was lifted off her shoulders.

  In the next moment, Cui Li’s head turned around towards Cheng Jian, “This match, I give up.”

  Give up!

  This action instantly fazed the crowd, raising another commotion.

  But no one ridiculed Cui Li. What a joke, even Yanggang was not Huwang Xiao’s opponent not to mention Cui Li. Her throwing in the towel was expected.

  While the crowd was still in a hoo-hah, the match ended simply with Cui Li giving up on her own volition.

  Huwang Xiao entered the top three.

  What followed was the battle between Pang Yu and Dai Shanni.

  Both Pang Yu and Dai Shanni had an average grade eleven martial spirit, thus the talent and strength were similar. Furthermore, their cultivation was at the same level: peak late-Xiantian First Order.

  Both were evenly matched overall, hence it gave the crowd a thrilling match. In the end, Dai Shanni won over Pang Yu, taking the last spot for the top three.

  was the battle for the first, second, and third place between Huwang Xiao, Xie Puti, and Dai Shanni.

  In between the three, Dai Shanni could be said the weakest. She too gave up voluntarily, taking the last place of the three.

  With Dai Shanni out of the picture, it was down to Huwang Xiao and Xie Puti.

  “The final battle, Huwang Xiao and Xie Puti please enter the battle stage!” When Dai Shanni withdrew from the competition, Cheng Jian stood up and announced the next round. His voice became more sonorous than any other time he had spoken.

  Huwang Xiao vs. Xie Puti!

  In the blink of an eye, everyone turned to look at Huwang Xiao and Xie Puti. The noisy Duanren Square came to an abrupt silence.

  At long last, the final battle!

  The last fight for this year’s Imperial City Battle. The battle for the first place, and the most blood-tingling battle of all!

  Both Huwang Xiao and Xie Puti stood up from their seats at the same time.

  Xie Puti looked at Huwang Xiao, breaking into a small chuckle, “Frankly speaking, three days ago I did not expect you were capable of lasting until the end to fight with me. I had thought it would be Yanggang!”

  Three days ago, Xie Puti indeed thought this way. So did everyone else present.

  “As I just said, I will battle you with everything I have. I hope you will too!” Xie Puti said, and after he had finished, the fire-red glow around Xie Puti’s body ablaze vibrantly, and in the next second, the flames surged into black flames and a large phoenix hovered behind Xie Puti, spreading bursts of black flames out in the four directions.

  From afar, it looked as if a sea of black flames was swirling around Xie Puti, and above them was a blazing phoenix of black flames.

  The emergence of the Black Flames Phoenix brought an instant rise in temperature in Duanren Square. Powerful heat wave spread out—one thousand meters, two thousand meters!

  Outside the battle arena, Pang Yu and the rest that were eliminated immediately initiated their battle qi to counter the assaulting heat, barely withstanding it. Even so, they could feel immense heat prickling their skin.

  On the outside, other experts were also startled and quickly run their battle qi to counter the surging hot air as well.

  On the main platform, a trace of appreciative splendor flickered across Duan Wuhen’s eyes watching Xie Puti’s Black Flames Phoenix martial spirit, “It has been so long since a grade thirteen martial spirit appeared!”

  From the beginning until now, this was the first time Xie Puti summoned his martial spirit.

  Cheng Jian nodded in agreement, “Yes ah, Black Flame Phoenix, grade thirteen martial spirit. It was said this Black Flame Phoenix’s black flame could incinerate everything, even our Martial Spirit World’s most adamant Milky Yellow Steel Kernel melts instantly! An elite existence in the Phoenix family martial spirit.”

  Duan Wuhen nodded: “This battle is something to look forward to!” He looked in Huwang Xiao’s direction, “Cheng Jian, who do you think would win? How about we make a bet?”

  Cheng Jian paused in surprise and then laughed, “A great idea. How would Second Imperial Prince like arrange the bet?”

  “Who do you think would win?” Duan Wuhen asked a question instead.

  “This minister thinks it should be Xie Puti!” Cheng Jian pondered for a moment and then answered.

  Although Huwang Xiao defeated Yanggang without summoning his martial spirit, in Cheng Jian’s mind, he was more inclined towards Xie Puti.

  Huwang Xiao’s martial spirit was a top grade twelve Divine Black Dragon whereas Xie Puti’s Black Flame Phoenix was a top grade thirteen Black Flame Phoenix.

  The higher the martial spirit’s grade, the stronger the talent would be, and the bigger the power gap.

  At the moment, Xie Puti was already an early Xiantian Second Order expert. Unless Huwang Xiao’s battle qi reached late Xiantian Second Order, it would be hard for him to close the gap in martial spirit grade difference.

  Late Xiantian Second Order? In Cheng Jian’s view, this was simply impossible. After all, Huwang Xiao is but a seventeen-year-old.

  A seventeen-year-old Xiantian realm expert was daunting enough.

  On the battle stage, Huwang Xiao looked at Xie Puti and his Black Flame Phoenix in a nonchalant manner. A coruscating black light burst out from Huwang Xiao’s body and a heaven-shaking dragon roar emitted from within his body, undetectable by anyone else.

  “This is?!” On the main platform, a sharp glint flashed in Duan Wuhen’s pupils as a giant black dragon emerged above Huwang Xiao.

  The suffocating pressure of a being originating from the Primordial Dragon Clan swept out in all four directions.

  At this time, a clear phoenix cry pierced through the sky as if it were capable of covering the might of the black dragon.

  A dragon’s roar and a phoenix’s cry!

  Every person on the square stared at the Primordial Divine Black Dragon and Black Flame Phoenix that were lingering in the sky with manic expressions and astonishment.

  Top grade twelve martial spirit!

  First ranked grade thirteen martial spirit!

  Either one was a top grade rare superb talent martial spirit yet both appeared at the same time here today. The person who possessed the Primordial Divine Black Dragon and the owner of the Black Flame Phoenix were about to have the most brilliant battle on the stage!

  Summoning the black dragon, a powerful aura of slaughter exuded from Huwang Xiao’s body as he initiated the Asura Physique, extending the Wings of Demon behind him.

  Huwang Xiao knew very well that Xie Puti was not Yanggang. He easily defeated Yanggang, but as someone who had a first rank grade thirteen martial spirit and whose battle qi had reached the Xiantian Second Order level, Xie Puti was twice stronger than Yanggang.

&n
bsp; Thus, Huwang Xiao called out his Divine Black Dragon martial spirit from the beginning.

  However, even though Huwang Xiao summoned his martial spirit and initiated Asura Physique, judging from the surface momentum, Xie Puti seemed to have the upper advantage.

  Xie Puti nodded appreciatively when seeing Huwang Xiao summon his Divine Black Dragon. In the next moment, he suddenly shouted: “Black Flames, Soaring Phoenix!” The Black Flame Phoenix behind Xie Puti issued a lilting cry, flapped its wings and launched an attack on Huwang Xiao’s Black Dragon.

  Huwang Xiao connected with his Black Dragon, and with a resounding roar, the Divine Black Dragon lifted its sturdy claw to meet the Black Flame Phoenix’s attack.

  Xie Puti seized this opening. His body flashed, appearing before Huwang Xiao.

  “Void Mirage Finger!”

  One finger stabbed towards the center of Huwang Xiao’s eyebrows.

  No single finger was different under the rain of finger afterimages, blending truth and surreal to a point that one could hardly distinguish between the fake images and the real attack.

  Wings of Demon flapped and Huwang Xiao’s silhouette vanished from the spot.

  Xie Puti’s finger attack fell on empty space, landing in a corner of the stage causing the entire battle stage to shake. Sharp-eyed individuals in the crowd saw the terrifying finger-sized hole that very corner of the stage!

  One could not help but wonder how deep the finger-sized hole went.

  But, what made the crowd even more astonished was Huwang Xiao suddenly vanishing into thin air!

  Vanished into thin air!

  Even Xie Puti was dumbstruck when his finger attack missed. He spread his spiritual sense out covering the entire battle stage, yet he was unable to locate Huwang Xiao.

  Ch.181

  “This is a second martial spirit innate ability!” Cheng Jian’s eyes narrowed in a dignified manner as he spoke each word with emphasis.