Chapter 285 Bearing the Weight
Other than power, there was still one more characteristic the earth had: it endured the weight of everything in the world.
The world nurtured all lives and endured their weight. Regardless of if there were volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, or various other natural disasters, the earth quietly accept them all.
Even if a nuclear bomb were to explode or if it were the attack of a Divine level expert at full power… to the earth, they were all nothing.
Erudite, profound, vast… These were other characteristics the earth had. This was also the greatest level of profoundness behind the Mountain Shifting Sword. As the saying went, one had ‘to be calm, enduring, and unmoving like the earth’.
Under added levels of increasingly violent power, at the very end, what the Mountain Shifting Sword possessed was the most powerful defence.
After Ronan unleashed his full powers, his entire body had produced a mysterious connection with the valley, forming exchanges between their qualities and between the ether particles.
Upon mastering the greatest heights of the level 15 Mountain Shifting Sword, Ronan’s body was connected together with the valleys.
Ronan might not be able to truly be as vast and profound as the earth, but he could channel most of the attacks received by his body onto the mountain valleys, letting them withstand the impacts of Fang Xingjian’s Terra Ingurgitation.
‘If you were to use the power of all the valleys to crush me, I’ll use the power from all the valleys to defend against you!’
At this moment, their sword techniques, their mental spirits, and their auras clashed against each other, forming a mysterious cycle.
Finally, Ronan’s fingers touched the tip of Fang Xingjian’s sword, and the entire world seemed to quiet down at this moment. The clouds in the sky stopped drifting, and the suspended mountains and rivers, as well as the wind, all grew silent.
Rota and the two students opened their mouths wide, trying to stabilize themselves.
In the next moment, violent air currents shot out from Ronan’s fingertips and the tip of Fang Xingjian’s sword. Several ten thousand kilograms of sand and dust were thrown up into the air explosively, covering the two figures.
An unbelievable amount of force was thrown onto Ronan, which he then channelled into the valleys. The earth, which had been about to suspend earlier, now seemed to be slapped down brutally by a formless palm, creating massive cracks and explosions which reached far out into the land.
The mountains exploded and cliffs crumbled, turning into countless huge rocks, sand, and dust falling down; this was an avalanche.
The earth had been torn apart, the valleys pressed together, and the entire stretch of valleys began to crumble; this were earth fissures.
The collision of their attacks had caused the avalanches and fissures so bad that the entire stretch of valleys could no longer take the impact and began to crumble.
In this situation, Ronan could neither see nor hear anything. His entire body was trembling vigorously, each of his bones and muscles letting out a cry as if they had reached their limits. At this moment, Ronan only felt that the entire world was very far away from him.
When he regained his senses, his entire body was aching and numb. He felt terrible, like his bones and muscles had all been torn apart.
Huge boulders weighing a thousand jin pushed down on him. In order to push away all the rocks, he had to throw out a huge force, and after he climbed out, he coughed up a big mouthful of blood.
Now, Ronan no longer had the image of a Conferred Knight. His clothes had turned into rags, and his head and face were all covered in dust. He looked like a miner who had just left the coal mine.
Especially after unleashing an explosive force from his vital energy and blood which burned his fats, he was now no longer a fatty but an emaciated man. His cheeks had sunken in, and he appeared as thin as a bamboo pole, like he would fall with the slightest wind.
This fight with Fang Xingjian had caused him have his appearance changed from that of a Conferred Knight to that of a refugee.
Having just crawled out, Ronan’s limbs were all weak. His reception of the ether particles was messed up. Additionally, his Heaven’s Perception was like a television which had lost its connection. There was nothing but illegible characters flashing before him.
This was happening because a large amount of his physical strength and energy had been depleted, causing him to feel faint. Naturally, he was not able to keep his Heaven’s Perception activated either.
However, when he lifted his head, he saw Fang Xingjian standing there, not covered in a hint of of dust. Fang Xingjian was just standing there as if nothing had happened.
The Demoness’ Howl in Fang Xingjian’s hand was already starting to shatter, but he was not concerned about it in the least. Throwing out force to the side with his palm, the Mountain Shifting Sword was activated.
The earth continued to be pressed together, and just like squeezing out a pimple, it pushed out a rock spike and sent it into his hand.
Fang Xingjian casually picked up the longsword formed by the rock spike. With his Swordless Path specialty activated, Fang Xingjian now had another level 19 Inferior Divine Weapon in his hand.
He stroked the sword, looked at Ronan calmly and asked, “To be able to survive despite receiving an attack by my Terra Ingurgitation… Your Mountain Shifting Sword has truly reached a high level. In terms of both strength and resistance, it’s extremely powerful.
“However, I still have my Boundaries Negation and can battle at ten times that of supersonic speed. Now that we’ve competed in terms of power, do you want to have another go at competing with our speed?”
Ronan opened his mouth, as if he wanted to be unyielding and reply to Fang Xingjian. However, he looked at Fang Xingjian, who appeared extremely calm and was still spotlessly clean. He then looked at the entire stretch of valleys to see that there was nothing left.
Or rather than saying there was nothing left, it could be said that the fight between Ronan and Fang Xingjian had caused the entire stretch of valleys to collapse. This collapse then transformed the stretch of valleys into a large crater filled with shattered rocks and soil.
Seeing how Ronan seemed like he wanted to talk but no words were coming out of his mouth, Fang Xingjian shook his head and released his grip. The rock spike fell from his hand and shattered into countless small stones, scattering away in the wind.
“You’ve lost your guts, and your determination is gone. Even if you were to use the Mountain Shifting Sword now, you won’t be able to display even 30% of its profoundness. There’s no point in me attacking anymore.
“But you must remember the lesson you’ve learnt today. You can eat whatever you want, but you can’t say whatever’s on your mind. The next time I find you that you’ve slandered me, I’ll kill you with my sword.”
With that, Fang Xingjian turned and departed, leaving behind a cool back view for Ronan to see.
Which Conferred Knight would be able to accept being stomped upon and taught a lesson? Reality was not a novel. There was no such thing as having a scenario where friendship blossomed from a fight or where a person would be full of admiration and seek guidance humbly after being defeated.
After being defeated, the normal thing was for the person to put in even more effort in their training, hold their anger in, and desire to take the win back at a later time.
‘Fang Xingjian, you better not fall into my hands!’ Ronan glared at Fang Xingjian for a while before he also turned to leave, limping as he headed out of the hall.
Fang Xingjian walked to Rota and asked, “Are you alright?”
Rota and the other two students were covered in dust. Although the three of them were not the targets of the attacks, just the repercussions from the attacks had already been hard for them to deal with. If they had not reacted quickly… and if it had not been for the fact that the two students were Conferred Knights who had even tried to help Rota a little bit, Rota would have sustained heavy injuries.
As Fang Xingjian walked over, the two students retreated unconsciously, as if some ferocious beast had charged over.
Rota shook her head and looked at Fang Xingjian with a strange gaze. “This is the move you learned from the Pantheon Monument? It’s called Terra Ingurgitation? It’s really amazing.”
This was the third time she had seen Fang Xingjian performed the Terra Ingurgitation. However, no matter how many times she had seen it, she still felt extremely exhilarated.
“This kind of force exertion, this brutality… This move must be the extreme limits of great power.”
However, Fang Xingjian shook his head and said, “This is just the tip of the iceberg. Come, let’s go to check out the next stage.”