Chapter 313: Rivals
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Lin Feng gazed at the Hidden Dragon Gorge. The light from the gorge's mouth reflected everything that was occurring within it.
Dou Kun was the strongest Aurous Core stage disciple in physical martial arts among all the younger Northern Tribes' disciples. Hence, when up against Song Qingyuan, the Heaven Lake Sect disciple with extensive mastery of spells, he naturally needed to implement a battle strategy that would be most beneficial to himself - to attempt closing the distance between them as much as possible before striking his foe at close-range.
So Dou Kun's first attack was like a tornado charging straight for Song Qingyuan.
Dou Kun moved so speedily that before more than half the audience even saw his attack, he was already right in front of Song Qingyuan. He gave off intense, fiery testosterone and fury like an Immemorial Celestial Dragon in human form, with overwhelming physical strength.
Seeing Dou Kun closing in on him, Song Qingyuan did not show any intentions to concede, and clasped his hands together to summon a spell.
And before him appeared two giant figures out of thin air. One of them was entirely black but emitted a crimson fiery glow continuously.
There were faint signs of flowing liquid between its four flailing limbs, yet it seemed incredibly viscous. As it stood on the ground, the vegetation beneath its feet instantly burned to a crisp.
It was a Flame Giant formed from molten volcanic lava.
And beside the Flame Giant was a frigid Ice Giant shrouded in white icy fog.
The two giants flanking Song Qingyuan both let out a silent roar and violently charged their fists towards the incoming Dou Kun.
Dou Kun seemed unfazed by the assault and similarly unleashed his fists, battling one-against-two and colliding each fist with both the Ice and Flame Giants'.
After that thunderous clash, Dou Kun was still standing upright at his original position, while the two giants both took three steps back.
But Dou Kun's face did not show any sign of glee, and frowned instead. "The Two Bodies of Ice and Fire?"
Song Qingyuan grinned, "Yes, these are indeed the Two Bodies of Ice and Fire." He clasped his hands to combine his spells, and his entire spirit and disposition instantly changed completely, from gentle and courteous to invigorated and itching for battle, becoming even more intimidating and ferocious than Dou Kun.
The Ice and Flame Giants pressed Song Qingyuan between them, and the three fused together in a blend of ice and fire within Song Qingyuan's body, instantly transforming him into a three-meter tall titan.
He exuded vast amounts of surging vitality and rage, and was in no way inferior to Dou Kun. His immense stature and overwhelming appearance was even more intimidating than Dou Kun.
Having morphed into an Ice and Fire Demon, Song Qingyuan opened his gaping mouth and bellowed, "Don't you Northern Tribe cultivators always proclaim that your physical bodies are sturdily strong? Now then, Dou Kun, let's battle!"
Before his sentence faded, Song Qingyuan's enormous ten-meter tall body suddenly vanished, and the next time he appeared within sight, he was already in front of Dou Kun, and he knocked him to the ground with a single punch!
Outside the Hidden Dragon Gorge, the crowd watched on with their hearts pounding and spirits trembling. No one expected Song Qingyuan to be this powerful, and that he would purposely challenge Dou Kun's strongest area.
A group of Heaven Lake Sect cultivators cheered loudly in unison. Their Big Senior's actions really boosted their morale.
On the other hand, the cultivators from the Celestial Sect of Wonders all showed puzzled expressions as their gazes all landed on Xiao Budian.
Lin Feng smiled, "Don't look at him. The Heaven Lake Sect's spell is different from your junior's Heaven-Shaking Thunderstorm."
"Its effects may look similar, but the principles it works on are completely different."
Xiao Budian shrugged his shoulders. "It's just as Master said. My Heaven-Shaking Thunderstorm is still a part of the Infinite Thunderstorm spell, where the forces of wind and thunder mutually complement and trigger the other to grow, so the spell's power steadily increases. Its upper limit is determined by how much stress my body can endure."
"As for the Heaven Lake Sect's Two Bodies of Ice and Fire, it also uses mana to strengthen the user's physical body, but although the forces of ice and fire fuse together, they merely coexist, nothing more than that."
Zhu Yi stared at Song Qingyuan inside the Hidden Dragon Gorge, who was battling Dou Kun on equal footing, and said, "That is indeed the case, but Song Qingyuan definitely still has other tricks up his sleeve."
Xiao Budian's face also turned a little more serious. "Of course. When I fuse with the forces of wind and thunder and transform into a spectral avatar, my physical strength becomes much greater, but since my body is already very strong in the first place, I can endure a considerable amount of the thunderstorm's energy."
"Based on Song Qingyuan's inherent physical strength, he would require immense amounts of the powers of ice and fire to be fused with his body in order to reach Dou Kun's physical prowess. Theoretically speaking, Song Qingyuan's physical foundation cannot withstand such vast amounts of ice and fire energy."
Xiao Budian said firmly, "He definitely still has other tricks up his sleeve to support this spell, or else he would have been either incinerated to soot or froze into an ice sculpture by such great amounts of ice and fire energy infused into his body."
Just as the members of the Celestial Sect of Wonders were discussing this, Dou Kun and Song Qingyuan were already unleashing their arsenals against each other.
Seeing how Song Qingyuan dared to challenge his most salient strength, Dou Kun was naturally not afraid. Even after casting the enhancement spell of the Two Bodies of Ice and Fire, if competing with physical martial arts alone, Song Qingyuan was still no match for Dou Kun.
But Dou Kun did not dare to be careless. Since the Royal House of the Northern Tribes and the Heaven Lake Sect were sworn enemies with a bitter feud lasting thousands of years, each party understood the other quite well, so Dou Kun had an adequate grasp of the Heaven Lake Sect's Two Bodies of Ice and Fire. Hence, he also shared the same doubts as Xiao Budian and Zhu Yi.
In view of these doubts, Dou Kun decided to conclude the match as quickly as possible to prevent Song Qingyuan from trying any new tricks.
"Since you want to use your weakness to attack my strengths, I'll oblige you. I'll defeat you swiftly and utterly so you won't have the chance to regret, or use any other spells!"
With that thought, Dou Kun charged towards Song Qingyuan with ferocity rivalling that of a thunderstorm.
Even though his assault was swift, it was not reckless, instead combining even more changes and techniques, not just relying his current strength that was merely half a notch better than his opponent's.
Although Song Qingyuan relied on the Two Bodies of Ice and Fire to elevate his physical strength to an adequate level to match Dou Kun, he still could not raise his martial arts skills and hand-to-hand combat experience to reach Dou Kun's level.
Consequently, Dou Kun quickly gained the upper hand, and pinned Song Qingyuan down to pummel him. If he didn't take extra precautions against Song Qingyuan's possible tricks, the outcome of the match would have been decided long ago.
Outside the Hidden Dragon Gorge, the spectators were on an emotional rollercoaster ride. The cultivators from the Royal House of the Northern Tribes ridiculed the Heaven Lake Sect mercilessly, lampooning Song Qingyuan for biting off more than he could chew.
And the Heaven Lake Sect's members sadly could not counter the mockery fired at them, some almost vomiting blood from suppressing all that rage. They could only watch on anxiously as Song Qingyuan was suffering a severe disadvantage inside the Hidden Dragon Gorge.
After continuously chipping away at Song Qingyuan's strength and improving his own advantage, Dou Kun delivered one final blow.
His body suddenly prostrated then rose again, leaping in front of Song Qingyuan like a lightning bolt. As Song Qingyuan was barely enduring the assault, Dou Kun did not slow his pace down, and agilely manoeuvred his large body behind Song Qingyuan instantly in one fluid turn.
Dou Kun exhaled and elbowed Song Qingyuan straight in the centre of his back. The force, or even just the winds it churned up, was like a razor-sharp blade, stabbing Song Qingyuan's titan of ice and fire and leaving countless scars.
This blow could split even a massive mountain into half.
Thunderous cracking sounds reverberated through the air incessantly with Dou Kun's elbow smash, which even produced a burning odour usually given off only from the violent grinding of metal. Dou Kun's elbow strike shook the surrounding space, nearly obliterating it.
When one's physical strength achieves such a standard, one would already have reached the peak of an Aurous Core stage cultivator's potential.
The key point was that, after Dou Kun carefully laid the foundations for his attack, Song Qingyuan has been backed into a corner with nowhere to run and no chance to defend himself. This was Dou Kun's true killing blow.
Faced with this attack, Song Qingyuan's face formed from ice and fire suddenly revealed a cunning grin.
The infinite amounts of ice and fire fused onto his body suddenly dissipated and gathered behind his back, morphing into a vortex of freezing ice and raging fire.
Dou Kun's elbow was pounded by the vortex and almost completely crushed by the swirling ice and fire.
But his expression changed drastically, as he felt an immense surge of power building up within the vortex which instantly exploded!
Outside the Hidden Dragon Gorge, Lin Feng let out a sigh. "The outcome has been sealed."
Yue Hongyan, who had been watching the fight with utmost concentration, directed her gaze over to him. "Master, did Song Qingyuan do everything from the beginning on purpose?"
Lin Feng nodded. "Indeed. Right from the start, Song Qingyuan had no intentions of competing with Dou Kun using physical martial arts. Every action he took was just laying the groundwork for this attack."
"Dou Kun was already wary and patient enough, but Song Qingyuan was still one step ahead of him."
Zhu Yi frowned, "In the end, we still don't know what methods he used to make his weak body endure the tremendous forces of ice and fire."
Lin Feng looked at Zhu Yi and Xiao Budian, and said, "This person hides his true capabilities and still has many aces he has yet to reveal. He's your rival."
Zhu Yi and Xiao Budian nodded together.
Inside the Hidden Dragon Gorge, although Dou Kun was merely severely wounded by Song Qingyuan's ambush and has not truly been defeated yet, everyone could tell that the match's outcome has been determined. Only if Song Qingyuan carelessly commits an unforgivable mistake, can Dou Kun hope to reverse the tides of the battle.
But this was evidently a possibility with miniscule hope.
Prince Xian of the Left's face turned livid, but his emotions were still stable. He turned towards Cao Wei, Leader of the Heaven Lake Sect. "I can understand everything else, but what's with that vortex of ice and fire?"
He has had dealings with the Heaven Lake Sect for thousands of years, and knew the Heaven Lake Sect's spells, from the most advanced ones to those practiced by novices, all by heart.
Cao Wei explained calmly, "This spell is called the Venus of Ice and Fire, and was designed by that good-for-nothing disciple of mine. I'll still need you, my fellow peers, to critique it."
"Self-created, self-created, hmph!" Prince Xian of the Left muffled a grunt. He knew that Dou Kun's defeat was not one of injustice, since Song Qingyuan just showcased this spell for the first time to the public, and Dou Kun was completely unprepared for it."
He observed the expressions on the faces of the Heaven Lake Sect's cultivators. Except for a few people, most of the Nascent Soul and Aurous Core stage elders were astonished, evidently unaware that Song Qingyuan possessed such an overpowering spell.
If he could hide it from his own sect, how would outsiders even know about it?
After barely holding on for a while, Dou Kun still could not avoid his inevitable defeat in the end. This victory of this match between rivals belonged to Song Qingyuan and the Heaven Lake Sect.
Outside the Hidden Dragon Gorge, Xiao Budian rotated his head and warmed up his little arms and legs. He grinned, "They've finally finished their match. Now it's my turn."