Chapter 162: The Absolute Advantage
Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn
Now that Jiang Long had unleashed the real power of the Firmament Palm Strike, and Wang Tong knew he would lose if his "fingerstyle attack" was not able to land a direct hit on his opponent’s palms. The immense power of the Firmament Palm Strike was gradually weakening Wang Tong’s defense; each strike was getting tougher and tougher, while Jiang Long’s momentum was getting stronger and stronger!
"Die!" Jiang Long seized the opportunity and boosted his Soul Energy, then he aimed his palms toward Einherjar Wannabe’s head and unleashed a series of attacks infused with a huge amount of GN Force.
Wang Tong sensed that there was no way to dodge the attacks, and he knew that punches were ineffective because they would be easily countered by his opponent’s GN Force, his only option was to counter with his "fingerstyle attack"; however, his fate would be sealed if that failed.
Wang Tong stretched out his arm and pointed toward Jiang Long again, yet Jiang Long disdained and sneered; he was not going to be fooled by the same trick twice! All he needed to do was to slightly alter the pattern of his palm, and he would be able to nullify his opponent’s attack. Jiang Long then tilted his palm strikes in a flash, knowing that this wouldn’t affect the power of his own attacks; however, it would cause his opponent to miss his target.
"So long, sucker!"
Suddenly, Wang Tong grinned and unleashed an energy force from his middle finger…
BAM!
The recoil of the impact shifted Wang Tong’s body backward as a sharp pain hit his fingers. Apparently, the continuous force of the Firmament Palm Strike almost caused his fingers to snap.
Jiang Long was startled, he hadn’t expected that the attack from his index finger was a decoy. It was already difficult for most people to concentrate their energy force on the tip of one finger, and it would take years of hardcore practices for one to do it with two fingers simultaneously; however, Einherjar Wannabe had pulled it out! Jiang Long wondered who on earth was that guy.
Now that Jiang Long had realized that his opponent was a lunatic who would really spend time doing this kind of things with two fingers. He began to worry since it would be harder for him to identify the decoy and the real strike, and if he hesitated, he wouldn’t be able to unleash the maximum power of his Firmament Palm Strike.
Einherjar Wannabe’s technique was practically useless most of the time; however, it happened to be exceptionally good against the Firmament Palm Strike.
Jiang Long ground his teeth and suppressed the extensive pain on his palms by force. The initialization of the GN Force on his right arm was almost disabled by Einherjar Wannabe’s finger, and Jiang Long’s right palm would have been punctured if Einherjar Wannabe’s GN Force was a bit stronger!
It seemed like Jiang Long had no reason to hide his actual strength anymore, he decided to go full force and crush Einherjar Wannabe with his own hands!
Jiang Long’s Soul Energy kept increasing, showing no sign of stopping even though the counting had reached one hundred and eighty Sols. Both Einherjar Wannabe and Jiang Long started to train since a young age, they were earlier than their peers in terms of receiving Soul Energy training, yet Einherjar Wannabe’s Soul Energy count had never exceeded one hundred and eighty. Jiang Long’s high amount of Soul Energy was due to an unexpected event when, during his training, he had almost gone berserk. Luckily, he had been saved by the members of his family in the end, and ever since then, his Soul Energy improved drastically. He was only nineteen years old when he became a Rank 5 fighter, and his Soul Energy was more than two hundred Sols!
Ulysses was over thirty years old when he became a Rank 5 fighter, although it was indeed an honorable event, it wasn’t outrageous since he was gifted and he had been working hard to earn the title. However, it was absolutely mind blowing when Jiang Long was given the title of a Rank 5 fighter!
"Damn, is he trying to go further than Rank 5?" Miao Xiu was startled, he used to think he was not a bad fighter himself, but with his Soul Energy, he was still far from becoming a Rank 5 fighter.
The difference in numbers might not be as huge as it looked like; however, it took a lot of hard work and effort for one to increase their Soul Energy count and advance to Rank 5. The earlier the advancement, the greater the hope of becoming a top-class fighter, and most of the Rank 6 METAL Fighters had done whatever it took to advance to Rank 5 before reaching twenty-five year old. After all, the best condition of mankind’s bodies was during their earliest twenty years, and every second counted.
Somehow, Miao Xiu was kind of jealous when he saw Jiang Long’s performance. In fact, the other students from various academies were watching the match — whether they were from Earth, Moon or Mars — everyone was jealous and envious of Jiang Long; nevertheless, they admired his success.
Would Jiang Long be able to go further than his current rank?
Roar!
Jiang Long wasn’t even paying attention to the crowd because he knew he would be able to do it, and no one would be able to exceed him! In the beginning, he wasn’t planning to put in all of his efforts; however, many people were watching, so of course, he had to go full force to protect the honor of his family’s Firmament Palm Strike and also the reputation of Lustre Academy!
For some reason, he felt like this was the perfect chance to show those idiots from Estrella Academy that the arrogant Patroclus was not the only genius in this world, and he wasn’t some nobody to be messed with!
His Soul Energy had reached two hundred and eight Sols!
If he were still a Rank 4 fighter, eight Sols wouldn’t make any big difference. However, these eight Sols were definitely more than enough to prove the gap between him and the other Rank 5 fighters!
Basically, a fighter’s ranking was decided according to a person’s Soul Energy and GN Force. When a person’s Soul Energy exceeded two hundred Sols, not only their Soul Energy would become stronger, but changes would also occur in the intensity, quality, and speed of the channeling of the GN Force. Furthermore, a person would have the right amount of GN Force to unleash other special attacks once becoming a Rank 5 fighter!
Everyone was eager to know what would happen next.
People often wondered why no one was able to create a new legend in the PA system, and the best answer to this question was because of the Soul Energy! The practice of the Soul Energy required time, and ordinary people also required time to turn into a genius. Even though both Einherjar Wannabe and Jiang Long were equally gifted — perhaps Einherjar Wannabe might be stronger in terms of talent — yet Jiang Long had a three years head start in terms of training, and three years were all he needed to outrace Einherjar Wannabe!
After all, he was already a Rank 5 METAL fighter!
Jiang Long was able to feel the immense amount of GN Force in his body; it felt amazing to be in control. He remembered seeing his father’s joyful tears during the day he was promoted as a Rank 5 fighter. Although the Firmament Palm Strike was a great tactic, yet none of its previous successors was ever able to compete for the legendary Einherjar position, and unfortunately, his father too was unable to advance further after reaching Rank 6. In order to compete for this legendary title, one’s Soul Energy had to exceed two hundred Sols before reaching twenty years old, and every Einherjar throughout history had already become Rank 5 fighter before twenty years old, without any exception!
Even though that didn’t mean that Jiang Long would be guaranteed to become an Einherjar since he became a Rank 5 fighter before reaching twenty years old; nevertheless, it was still a hope that kept him going, at least he had surpassed his forefathers.
No one was surprised when Ulysses was promoted to Rank 5; however, Jiang Long’s promotion was definitely a big surprise to the Ivantian community, and they were sure that he would become a great character in the future.
This explained why he had the rights to be arrogant!
Being able to be promoted as a Rank 5 fighter at the age of nineteen, Jiang Long was no doubt a living legend, and his success marked the beginning of his tale.
Meanwhile, Einherjar Wannabe remained calm on the other corner, everyone was curious if he would be able to create miracles once again?
Apparently, Einherjar Wannabe couldn’t find a plan to counter the Firmament Palm Strike, and with the huge gap between their GN Force, he knew that his previous gimmick wasn’t going to work anymore. His "finger power" would no longer be able to withstand Jiang Long’s massive palm force, he was practically inhibited by Jiang Long’s tremendous Soul Energy!
"I wasn’t planning to use this on you in the beginning, so you should be proud of yourself for coming this far." Jiang Long felt that his GN Force had eased up the stiffness on his wrists, the powerful feeling had boosted his confidence to the max.
Wang Tong wasn’t offended and replied with a smile.
"My advice to you is that you don’t expect that I’m same as that old-timer Ulysses. Since this is going to be your final stage, why don’t you take the opportunity to show us what you got?" Jiang Long seemed to be in a good mood, perhaps it was because this was his first official debut-match and he didn’t want to end it hastily. After all, his strong performance would require the support of a strong opponent!
Jiang Long then tried to taunt Einherjar Wannabe to attack. The action was somehow arrogant and sort of disrespectful; however, none of the spectators booed because the gap between their capabilities had proven that Jiang Long was rightful to be arrogant. After all, he was the wonder boy who managed to be promoted as a Rank 5 METAL fighter before twenty years old.
Wang Tong stayed put, he too was trying to provoke him to attack.
This time, however, Jiang Long was insulted, and he launched an attack!
The power of the Firmament Palm Strike was definitely stronger than before, and even though Wang Tong had seen the attacks of Ulysses, he was able to tell that Jiang Long’s attacks were more flexible and more powerful.
The only word that would be able to describe the incoming strike would be "vigorous". Wang Tong had already felt its pressure before reaching strike zone; it was an overwhelming sensation indeed.
The Fist of the Racing Tiger was ferocious, and it definitely had the aura of a fierce tiger. The Firmament Palm Strike, however, felt more like a roaring lion; the intense pressure didn’t require ferocious impacts at all, yet it was still very intimidating, and the secret lied within one’s Soul Energy.
The GN Force played a crucial part in the utilization of the tactics, the same technique would have different outcomes as one’s GN Force changed, not to mention that the Firmament Palm Strike was already an amazing tactic.
Now that the strike was infused with the GN Force of a Rank 5 fighter, Wang Tong finally felt the true power of the Firmament Palm Strike. It wasn’t a huge dispersal of GN Force; however, it did felt like it contained countless waves of force, and overall it looked like a single strike, but it was actually made up of a series of continuous strikes, lingering and fatal at the same time.
Wang Tong wasn’t planning to confront the attack and chose to dodge in a flash instead. Jiang Long sneered as he noticed that his opponent was about to play tricks again, and there was no way he would let Einherjar Wannabe push the match into a draw, not on his watch!
Instead of confronting Jiang Long on the battlefield, Einherjar Wannabe decided to dodge and negate his attacks; somehow the nimble movements felt like Skyscraper. The moves were suitable for extending the distance between each other; however, Einherjar Wannabe’s supporters were unable to accept this decision.
They knew that someday Einherjar Wannabe would be defeated, but they didn’t wish to see him like that, they were expecting that he would lose after pulling a good fight. Nevertheless, that was unacceptable!
"Well, he’s doing it again!" Miao Xiu commented. Obviously, Einherjar Wannabe was observing the utilization of his opponent’s Firmament Palm Strike. The stronger the GN Force, the greater the layer of the forces; however, Jiang Long wouldn’t be able to hide all of the movements in his tactics since he was "only" a Rank 5 fighter.
Nevertheless, only Einherjar Wannabe was insane enough to pull off this crazy stunt because if he didn’t pay enough attention, he would definitely be KOed once he got hit.
Zhang Jin wasn’t surprised that Jiang Long was promoted as a Rank 5 fighter. She had been keeping an eye on the boy through the House of Zhang’s widespread intelligence network and was well aware that Jiang Long was definitely a rising talent. Nevertheless, she was surprised by Einherjar Wannabe’s bold act of observing his opponent’s movements even though he only possessed the Soul Energy of a Rank 4 fighter; either the boy had underestimated Jiang Long, or he was being overconfident.
Einherjar Wannabe was clearly on the disadvantage side since the rank of his Soul Energy was lower than Jiang Long, yet he was still maintaining a carefree attitude as if he was not afraid of losing at all; how could he be bold enough to do that?
Nevertheless, Zhang Jin believed that a motive was hidden behind every action!
Finally, Einherjar Wannabe stopped dodging and unleashed a palm strike!
Jiang Long was amused by his half-*ss "palm strike". He couldn’t help but think what a fool his opponent was to counter his real palm strike with his phony palm strike and started to wonder how that huge idiot could survive for such a long period of time.
Wham…
Jiang Long launched a forceful palm strike and sent Einherjar Wannabe flying across the arena for more than ten meters. Without a doubt, with his powerful GN Force and tactics, Jiang Long had the upper hand!