Chapter 537: [Axe of Nether River] VS [Iron Flowers Thrust]
Translator: TYZ Editor: Lucas, TYZ
Yang Xiaodong was flying with all his might.
The distant explosions coming from his back were torturing him. When he turned his head around, even though he was very far from the scene, he could see the red and white gleams streaking through the air.
Like a tsunami from the Nether World, the overflowing red glow was tyrannical and fearsome, dyeing the sky in the color of blood. Streaks of sparkling white spear mist were dancing and raging in the sea of blood like white-colored dragons.
As he looked at the distant scene, he was trembling with fear. At the same time, he was very worried.
Honestly speaking, he joined Central Pine Valley because he had no choice but to do so, and he was very unwilling then. However, after joining the Spear of Heavy Cloud, his impression of Shi Xueman changed completely. Unlike the sly and unpredictable Ai Hui, Shi Xueman was candid and upright. Even though she had a tendency to pull out her spear when things did not go her way, she would lay out the issues and talk about them candidly, winning over everyone.
Yang Xiaodong liked Lady Shi Xueman’s style very much.
Unlike the selfish Ai Hui, who only cared about himself, Lady Shi Xueman would take the initiative to help people around her and assume responsibilities bravely.
In Yang Xiaodong’s heart, Lady Shi Xueman’s image was far better than Ai Hui’s.
Even though the life in the Spear of Heavy Cloud was very tough, Yang Xiaodong felt that it was very enriching as well.
Lady’s order was for him to send back the two injured people. He resisted the urge to reinforce Lady and flew towards the Spear of Heavy Cloud’s camp at top speed.
When Yang Xiaodong was near the camp, he was quickly discovered by Jiang Wei and the rest. When he landed, Jiang Wei, Sang Zhijun, and the rest immediately gathered over. When they saw the unconscious Fatty and the heavily injured Zu Yan, their facial expressions changed drastically.
Very soon, Fatty and Zu Yan were sent to receive treatments.
"How’s the situation?" Jiang Wei asked with a deep voice.
"We have encountered an enemy combat division. Lady is engaged in an intense battle with the enemy. I have to go and help her." Yang Xiaodong was extremely anxious.
Jiang Wei remained calm and stopped him. "Did Lady instruct you to do anything?"
Yang Xiaodong went into a daze momentarily before blurting out, "She just wanted me to leave first and take the injured back."
Leave first? Yang Xiaodong seemed to have regained his composure.
Jiang Wei nodded his head and replied, "Lady will find a chance to escape. We have to believe in the Lady. It’s very likely that the enemy might be arriving soon, so we have to make preparations. The enemy is from which combat division? Did you recognize him? What characteristics did he have?"
"They ride on black-colored wolves and their leader wields an axe," Yang Xiaodong replied.
When Jiang Wei was in the Sky Edge Division, he was the key figure that the higher-ups wanted to nurture. They felt that he had great potential of becoming an excellent leader.
Jiang Wei was calm, meticulous, diligent, and very strict with himself. All along, he paid great attention of the combat divisions of Blood of God. Upon hearing Yang Xiadong’s words, he immediately said, "It’s the Ardent Flower Blood Division. Their division leader is Xing Shan. He is a fearsome and troublesome individual."
Usually, Jiang Wei would hide key information from everyone. Back when he was gathering the intelligence on the combat divisions of Blood of God, he had already thought of how to handle the information. At that time, while he was coming up with ideas and deductions, he probably never thought that he would use the information so soon.
In a critical moment, there was no time for deliberation. The experience that was accumulated over time played the most important role now.
Without any hesitation, Jiang Wei quickly said, "We need to add more fortifications. Xiaoshan, I want many pits. Each of them should be forty centimeters deep and wide. The more pits there are, the better it is. I want the camp to be surrounded with them."
Wang Xiaoshan was slightly anxious, but he was able to keep his cool. "This is a very easy task. Do the pits need to be hardened? Or should I add some stone spikes in them?"
For a Master that played with mud, digging holes was extremely easy. He could even make these holes as hard as iron and add spikes into them.
However, to Wang Xiaoshan’s surprise, Jiang Wei shook his head and replied, "No, don’t harden them. I want you to soften them. Can you fill them up with mud? Can the mud be slightly more slippery than the usual types of mud?"
Wang Xiaoshan quickly replied cheerfully, "This is a good idea! Yes, there is a type of mud called quicksand mud. It is very slippery, so much so that it is more slippery than oil."
Jiang Wei’s eyes lit up as he replied, "Alright, we will use quicksand mud then. You have to be fast, the enemy forces are arriving soon."
"Don’t worry, it will take at most twenty seconds," Wang Xiaoshan said candidly.
After finishing his sentence, Wang Xiaoshan turned and left.
Jiang Wei gave instructions to everyone in an orderly manner as he rearranged the defense line. Even though no one understood the uses of most arrangements, they knew that the vice division leader had a purpose for every arrangement.
When Sang Zhijun saw Jiang Wei calmly giving everyone instructions, a glint flashed across her eyes. Following which, a look of adoration appeared on her face without her knowing.
Wang Xiaoshan was half-squatting at the edge of the defense line. Both of his hands were pressing against the ground, making him looked like a huge toad. Suddenly, his eyes widened angrily and an air of might erupted from his body while a bright earth-yellow glow engulfed his body.
A concentrated aura of earth elemental energy diffused along the surface of the ground, then the ground began to tremble lightly.
Suddenly, everyone felt as if the entire place was going to sink into the ground. It was as if Wang Xiaoshan was standing on top of an abyss.
One by one, pits began to appear on the ground, spreading all over the place rapidly.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, a pillar of deep-brown mud shot out from the ground. Following which, the mud fell from the sky like rain and filled up the pits in the blink of an eye.
The surfaces of the mud-filled pits began to coagulate. Within a few seconds, the pits vanished and the ground looked just like before.
Wang Xiaoshan, whose body was glowing faintly, stood up from the ground. His face looked simple and honest, completely lacking the formidable air that he exuded just now. If everyone had not witnessed the scene with their own eyes, they would not think that this farmer-like fellow was actually an earth elemental master.
"I have added a very thin layer of camouflage to the ground’s surface," Wang Xiaoshan explained.
"It’s much better with a layer of camouflage," Jiang Wei praised him.
He estimated the time and took a deep breath. Then, with a deep voice, he said, "Everyone, get ready to battle."
…..
Below the sea of clouds, Shi Xueman suddenly stopped in her tracks. From the corner of her eyes, she could see the murderous-looking Xing Shan. However, she was able to maintain her composure. With a solemn facial expression, she gently brandished her Cirrus.
Buzz.
A heart-penetrating buzz resounded through the air.
The sea of clouds above her head caved in. Following which, the sea of clouds formed a white-colored tornado that surged into Shi Xueman’s spear gleam.
Shi Xueman’s arm trembled as a rarely-seen strenuous look appeared on her face.
The eyelids of Xing Shan, who had been pursuing Shi Xueman closely, were twitching furiously. An intense premonition suddenly arose in his heart.
Not good!
However, it was too late for him to turn around now. If he gave his back to his opponent now, the incoming killer move would destroy him.
Xing Shan was a ferocious and ruthless individual. He obtained the position of division leader of the Ardent Flower Blood Division by accumulating meritorious credits from countless battles.
He would give it his all in a life-and-death moment!
The blood spiritual force in his entire body was surging, and an ox-like roar erupted from his chest. The red glow surrounding him suddenly became dense and sticky, resembling fresh blood. The fringes of the fresh blood surrounding him were releasing faint, red energy waves, resembling blood ripples.
An ancient aura descended upon Xing Shan’s body.
The black heavy axe unknowingly became deathly white, resembling the color of a bone that was eroded by time.
The blood-like, sticky-looking, red glow surrounding his body surged towards the deathly white axe in his hand and transformed into a river of blood, dyeing half the sky red.
With the blood river trailing his deathly white axe, he slashed it in the direction of Shi Xueman.
[Axe of Nether River]!
At this moment, Xing Shan no longer cared about catching Shi Xueman alive. Facing such an immense pressure from Shi Xueman, he was actually using his killer move!
Unlike inheritances, once an Ability of God was summoned, the ancestral mark would be activated and the user would naturally understand the marvel within the Ability. However, if a blood elementalist wanted to improve his Ability of God, he or she would need pure ancestral characteristics. Even though Xing Shan only possessed a thin trace of the Netherworld Bestial Ox’s ancestral mark, his strength had ascended into an unknown realm.
The Nether River connected the realms of life and death. A drop of water from the Nether River would sever karma.
Xing Shan had yet to understand what karma was.
The ancestral mark of the Netherworld Bestial Ox in his body was not pure, and the bloody glow from his [Axe of Nether River] naturally would not be as powerful as the real Nether River. However, at the moment it came into contact with elemental energy, it would sever the connection between an elementalist and his elemental energy. Subsequently, it would devour that elementalist’s elemental energy and strengthen its user’s body.
This attack of Shi Xueman must have contained a tremendous amount of elemental energy. In Xing Shan’s eyes, this was just a sumptuous meal!
Shi Xueman did not know what Xing Shan was thinking. She did not even sense the aura of the [Axe of Nether River] as she had placed all her attention on her Cirrus.
The Cloud of Firmament Iron!
The gushing mist entered her spear gleam, making it as heavy as iron. Meanwhile, the Cirrus in her hand had become as heavy as a mountain. She needed to focus all her attention on the Cirrus to be able to control it.
Black-colored, flower-like sword gleams were released from the spear tip. Following which, they slowly spiralled around Cirrus. These flower-like sword gleams looked as if they were made up of iron, but in reality, they were made up of mist and clouds.
Every iron flower weighed more than a few hundred kilograms.
Shi Xueman’s self-formed technique, [Iron Flowers Thrust]!
People always used adjectives like elegant, light, gentle, and graceful to describe spearmanship. However, at this point in time, the style of Shi Xueman’s spearmanship was completely different. Hers was dense and heavy!
When six black-colored, iron flowers swirled around the sparkling white Cirrus, Shi Xueman’s aura of might suddenly disappeared.
Her gaze shifted from the Cirrus to Xing Shan.
The image of an enormous axe that had a torrential bloody glow trailing it entered her eyes. The bloody glow was like a red-colored flood that had broken through a dike, surging towards her with an earth-shattering might.
Phew.
Shi Xueman slowly heaved a breath of air. The breath of air she exhaled was like a sword, splitting the sea of cloud above her head into two.
Her gaze was resolute and tranquil; not the slightest bit of panic could be seen in his eyes.
It was as if she did not see the incoming blood river.
She took a long step and thrusted her spear forward.
The spear move was simple-looking and ordinary. There was nothing fancy about it. However, in the hands of Shi Xueman, a simple and basic move possessed an indescribable sense of beauty. It was as if all the lights were shining upon her now. Unknowingly, everyone’s attention was captured by her.
This ordinary-looking forward thrust transformed into a chilly gleam. Six iron-made flowers were slowly spiraling around it as it flew towards the blood river.
Compared to the terrifying might of the [Axe of Nether River], Shi Xueman’s [Iron Flowers Thrust] looked very ordinary.
However, for some unknown reason, this normal-looking thrust managed to catch everyone’s attention.
All of the onlookers were holding their breaths.
Guarded by the six spiralling iron flowers, the chilly spear gleam collided into the overwhelming, fearsome blood river.
Suddenly, Xing Shan’s facial expression changed drastically. The blood river in front of hm exploded. Before he could react, the hand that he was using to hold his gigantic axe went numb. His heavy axe, which was releasing an aura of fear and might previously, crumbled into fine powder like a crispy biscuit in an instant. Following which, his palm exploded into a rain of blood. It happened so fast that he could not even feel the pain coming.
Following which, he saw that his right forearm was gone.