Chapter 1033 – Intense
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From Huo Violentstone and Crimson Strifecloud’s dialog, Lin Ming could guess that there was some major dispute between the two as well as some of the details. Huo Violentstone was clearly far worse than Crimson Strifecloud, moreover, Crimson Strifecloud wasn’t someone from the Ancient Phoenix Clan. This also made it so that Huo Violentstone sincerely hoped that a disciple of the Ancient Phoenix Clan could defeat Crimson Strifecloud.
If Lin Ming could win this battle, then the advantages he could obtain from Huo Violentstone wouldn’t be minor.
Of course, because of Huo Violentstone and Crimson Strifecloud’s conflict, wanting to win would be even more difficult. Lin Ming’s opponent was not an energy puppet that lacked a consciousness, but an energy form with a spiritual consciousness of his own.
“Haha, that old fool Huo has blown up so much. Then, let me have a good look at just what qualifications you have. A seventh stage Life Destruction to fight my eighth stage Life Destruction, you’ve got guts! To think that I, Crimson Strifecloud, would ever have a day where someone would jump ranks to right me! Hahaha! How interesting! Let’s see if you can block 10 of my swords first!”
As Crimson Strifecloud laughed, the aura of his body began to rapidly climb, and the heaven and earth origin energy around him began to hum.
Only he had jumped ranks to defeat others, since when had others jumped ranks to challenge him? That was simply a humiliation to his immense talent! In this battle, Crimson Strifecloud also had a great advantage. If he couldn’t smoothly defeat Lin Ming then that would prove that his talent was inferior to Lin Ming’s. Crimson Strifecloud certainly wouldn’t believe this, he wanted to roll over Lin Ming right from the get go.
Crimson Strifecloud lifted the great sword in his hand. This was also a top quality saint artifact that approached a transcendent saint artifact. When a martial artist was at the Life Destruction and Divine Sea realms, they would at most use top grade saint artifacts. Even if they managed to obtain a transcendent saint artifact or spirit artifact, it would be extremely difficult to bring out its true potential and might. Thus, they wouldn’t be able to use it to its full effect.
At this moment, Crimson Strifecloud seemed like an impassable mountain. He gave off a heavy feeling that made one wish to avert their eyes from him. Even when the disciples of the three branch palaces looked at him through the fire spirit mirror, all of them felt breathless, like some energy was pressing down on them.
“Take my sword, World Razing Edge!”
Crimson Strifecloud moved. He grasped his five foot long great sword with both hands and smashed down. The desolate earth underneath him cracked, sending out ‘ka ka ka’ sounds as fissures spread out from around him like a spider web. The cracks in the earth were 10 feet wide, deep enough that one couldn’t see where they ended!
As this sword came slashing out, everyone who looked at the sword light felt as if the sword blade was pressing against their necks, sending them into cold sweats!
Lin Ming focused his thoughts. The Phoenix Blood Spear in his hands thrust outwards!
In that moment, the heaven and earth origin energy around Lin Ming erupted like a blazing volcano. It formed a heated storm around him, and in the center of this storm, a blue lotus began blooming in radiance.
This was Lin Ming’s spear move created by fusing the first three levels of the Concept of Fire, the Blue Lotus Flame Dance!
Bang!
Crimson Strifecloud’s sword smashed into the blooming blue lotus in front of the Phoenix Blood Spear. Energy erupted. The powerful impact formed heart-stopping shockwaves. In the violent collision of their attacks, the barren ground beneath them began to collapse!
In that moment, the disciples of the three branch palaces could see the Illusionary God Combat Array’s portal trembling. The battle of the two within actually caused the array formation to tremble!
There was already such momentum in just the first exchange of moves. It was unbelievable that this was a battle between Life Destruction powerhouses.
“Mm? Concept fusion?”
Crimson Strifecloud’s face flashed with surprise. His original contempt and derision also lessened. He had great understandings of the Fire Laws as well as the guidance of his father. And yet, he could faintly feel that when he was at Lin Ming’s realm, his comprehension of Laws was actually inferior to his!
How could this be?
“To think you have such attainments and skill in the Laws; you truly have the qualifications for me to take you seriously. But, that is only to treat you seriously. When I fight with my complete strength, that will be your death knell!”
“Is that so? You haven’t given this your all, but neither have I. I still have moves to use, but it was only that using those techniques before would have rapidly exhausted my energy. I thought that I would have to continue on with a protracted battle in the Illusionary God Combat Array, thus I deliberately refrained from using those techniques. But now that I face you, an extreme character from 40,000 years ago, I naturally won’t hold back.”
Once Lin Ming opened the grandmist space, he would need a massive amount of true essence to support it. He would have to consume true essence at a ridiculous rate. Even with the Gate of Healing helping him, he still wouldn’t be able to maintain it for a long time. He had thought of slaying 1100 people or even 1200 people to see where his limits lay, but now it seemed as if the Illusionary God Combat Array ended after completing the Thousand Slaughter. If so, then he naturally didn’t need to reserve any strength for later.
“What? From their words, that exchange of moves just now was only a casual probing strike?”
“Lin Ming has just used his triple Concept fusion attack, that should be his strongest strike. Was he still holding back even after all that?”
After hearing the exchange between the two in the fire spirit mirror, the heroic young elites outside felt powerless and frustrated.
They had all known that Lin Ming was strong, very strong, but as to what degree of strong he was, none of them had ever seen it with their own eyes. But now, as they saw him fight with the Battle King, they finally understood that he had surpassed the level of their understanding.
Hu – !
Crimson Strifecloud moved forwards. In the barren lands, his figure vanished, leaving nothing but a series of afterimages. Wherever he went, ripples of energy would appear in space. His speed rapidly reached the peak, causing the numerous disciples looking in from the fire spirit mirror to be unable to lock onto his position.
Hu – hu – !
A strong wind was suddenly whipped up. Crimson Strifecloud’s movements actually spun up several violent tornados that swept through the earth.
“Concept of Wind!”
Lin Ming’s eyebrows shot up. Crimson Strifecloud was able to utilize the powers of more than one Law. Crimson Strifecloud’s current speed was a result of the Concept of Wind. In terms of speed, the Concept of Wind and the Concept of Thunder were the fastest Concepts of the elements.
But, the Concept of Wind focused on flexibility and change, whereas the Concept of Thunder focused on absolute velocity; they were slightly different.
“The reason I was able to sweep away all geniuses of the Ancient Phoenix Clan 40,000 years ago was that every single one of my combat aspects was strong! If I selected any one of them, no one else was able to compare! Let me have a look at whether you can follow my steps. If you cannot, then just stand there and be pummeled by me!”
The speed of the Concept of Wind was renowned for its rapidly change movements. If Lin Ming couldn’t follow Crimson Strifecloud’s movements then he wouldn’t even be able to touch the hem of his robe. At that time, there was no point even thinking of fighting.
“You want to compare speed? In terms of speed, I also believe in myself.” Lin Ming’s lips curved up in a charming smile. In terms of speed, he had never met his match amongst martial artists of his level.
The Gate of Wonder opened. Golden Roc Shattering the Void and Mystic Lighting Shade began revolving together. Suddenly, between the heavens and earth, Lin Ming’s form disappeared. It was like he had dissolved into a puff of blue smoke; it was impossible to find his location.
This blue smoke joined together with Crimson Strifecloud’s tornados.
“Concept of Thunder? Concept of Space? How interesting! You have indeed surprised me. Now meet my sword!” Crimson Strifecloud shouted out loud and slashed out with his sword.
Chi!
Crimson Strifecloud’s heavy sword cut down on Lin Ming’s neck. However, this sword continued all the way through without leaving a single mark; it had only been an afterimage.
At the same time, Lin Ming appeared behind Crimson Strifecloud. He thrust his spear straight into Crimson Strifecloud’s back. However, Crimson Strifecloud seemed to have eyes on his back. His body shifted and immediately appeared hundreds of feet away.
The two great powerhouses were each confident in their speed. Both of them launched into a barrage of high-speed attacks!
“This speed… I can’t see it clearly!”
“Not just being unable to see them clearly, I can’t even make out their figures. All I see are colored blurs!”
Of the disciples from the three branch palaces, most of them were rookies. This was their first time here and their cultivations were only at the Life Destruction realm. With their talent, they were barely able to see the blurs of Lin Ming and Crimson Strifecloud. These blurry images linked up into an endless stretch of phantoms; it was impossible to distinguish which one was real and which ones were fake!
There were even some Divine Sea martial artists that had to completely focus their concentration to make out just where Lin Ming and Crimson Strifecloud’s positions were. However, this was only seeing them. To follow their movements was simply impossible!
“So fast! If I were there then I wouldn’t even be able to see anything, so how could I fight?” An Eightfall Divine Sea powerhouse said, somewhat morosely. People like him were destined to become nothing but foils and spectators in this Ancient Phoenix smelting trial. Moreover, this was their only chance to come here as rookies; it would be extremely difficult to return in the future.
“Slaughter God’s Disc!”
During the high speed battle, Crimson Strifecloud chopped out with his sword, using the inherent attack of the top grade saint artifact in his hands. The Slaughter God’s Disc was an array formation built within the great sword. Once it was activated, a blazing crimson red wheel flew out towards Lin Ming’s neck. Several dozens of Lin Ming’s afterimages were torn apart by this fiery wheel!
Lin Ming calmly twirled the Phoenix Blood Spear in his hands. 999 small blood spears formed a raging storm of death that collided with the burning wheel!
Ka ka ka!
The small blood spears were like a hail of sabers that poured onto the blazing wheel, emitting thunderclaps upon every impact.
In just a fraction of an instant, most of the 999 small blood spears shattered, turning into an endless bloody fog. As for that Slaughter God’s Disc, it had been torn apart by Lin Ming’s attack. A massive crack appeared on the surface and its speed had greatly reduced.
Top grade saint artifact against top grade saint artifact, it had produced an unprecedented fierce collision!
“Break!”
Lin Ming smashed his spear against the Slaughter God’s Disc, pounding it into pieces. But in that moment, Crimson Strifecloud took advantage of the period when Lin Ming had used another attack on the Slaughter God’s Disc and flash stepped in front of him like ghosts and demons. Crimson Strifecloud waved the heavy sword in his hands, and following that, an astonishing scene occurred. The heavy sword in Crimson Strifecloud’s hands instantly divided into seven blades that attacked Lin Ming from all directions, sealing away all possible avenues of escape.
This great sword was actually formed from seven other swords!
“This weapon! It can actually be controlled by thoughts!?”
This thought cut through Lin Ming’s mind like a bolt of lightning. As he watched these seven flying swords shooting at him from all sides, about to pierce through his protective true essence, his thoughts suddenly focused together.
Gold battle spirit!
Woosh!
In that moment, the gold battle spirit slumbering within Lin Ming’s spiritual sea shot out from between his eyebrows. The world of will projected into reality. Within this space, everything came under the governance of Lin Ming’s mind.
“Freeze!”
Lin Ming gave a loud shout and his gold battle spirit divided into seven and poured into the seven swords, forcing those rapidly shooting swords to abruptly freeze in midair!
“What? Projection of will? Gold battle spirit!?”
As Crimson Strifecloud saw the will world projection around Lin Ming that froze his swords, he was completely shocked.
This was actually a gold battle spirit!?