Chapter 391 - A Big, Big Trap
On the Martial God Stage, a thousand dragons were soaring as the eight-armed, dragon-headed Long Yue clenched the Eight Extreme Weapons tight in his hands and a third eye appeared on his forehead. He was brawny, heavily built, and strong, breaking through the limit of Inner Core Qi Practitioners and pushing his Yuan Shen to over three hundred feet tall. Clearly, he was also a close-combat battler.
The dragon art,【Soaring Dragon Hundred Forms】, was unleashed at its peak form in the hands of Long Yue, every single skill was cast at will, and these strong skills always struck at the most unpredictable times.
His exceptional prowess was now distinctly shown, fought in a fast-pace battle like an orthodox Martial Master. Legs, arms, knees, shoulders, elbows, his chest and even his head were the deadly weapons he used, in addition to the Eight Extreme Weapons. He stayed close to Zhong Yue as numerous strikes lashed out.
At the same time, his hair was making all sorts of seals, casting skills down at great speed onto Zhong Yue, dazzling the eyes of the weak.
His attacks were against common practice. The battles of Qi Practitioners were done either in close-quarters combat or a long-range battle. In the event of close combat, Qi Practitioners would rely on their mortal body, fighting with sheer strength. Even skills could not match the speed of their agile bodies, and so only those proficient in the art of the mortal body would engage in close combat.
If it was long-range battle, the main form of attack would be skills. The Qi Practitioners would distance themselves from one another and cast various kinds of skills; such a battle could cause greater damage, but the attack rate would be slightly slower.
And if one ever intended to mix the two together, casting skills while engaging in close combat, that would distract them, and more flaws would emerge when one visualizes the skills to be cast, giving the opponent a great opportunity to strike.
However, Long Yue was now breaking down the common consensus of the world. He had perfectly matched the two styles of battles into one, reaching the state of unconscious visualization, and could cast skills out at will without needing to intentionally visualize them.
Combining the close-up mortal body battle with long-range skills... this alone could defeat many Qi Practitioners.
On the other hand, Long Yue’s opponent, Zhong Yue, was also a talented young man who was not any weaker. He had achieved the same state and could also cast out various skills at will, ranging from the human Swords Gate’s【Great Boundless Sword Qi】to the demon race’s【Great Sun Heavenly Demon Art】and even the Demon Saint’s【Worshippings of the Nine Gods】was cast. He was a world-shocking talent who had achieved the state of [Celestial Demon as One].
Long Yue had even used his soul weapons, the Eight Extreme Weapons, but Zhong Yue was still fighting with his bare hands.
The Martial God Stage was not huge at all, only a hundred feet in radius at the topmost platform. To the other Qi Practitioners, this was way too small a battlefield for Inner Core experts.
However, to Zhong Yue and Long Yue, even a hundred-foot radius battlefield was enough for a battle.
The battle was eye-dazzling, even the Spirit Nurture Qi Practitioners could tell that Long Yue was just a thin line weaker than Zhong Yue. After all, Zhong Yue was not using a soul weapon....
Bai Canghai mumbled in a low voice, “Long Yue is losing….”
Just as he spoke, Long Yue changed. Six bright moons rose behind him, each over a hundred feet long in the sky. Moonlight shone down on the stage, disrupting its dimensional stability.
Above the Martial God Stage, the sky was distorted in six directions, nailing Zhong Yue in mid-air unmoving, as if a huge and strong hand had grabbed him in the sky, pulling his limbs out in different directions.
At the same time, his divine third eye opened and a ray of golden light blasted out at Zhong Yue.
“Long Yue’s moon spirit killing blow!” Bai Canghai regretted his words instantly and exclaimed in shock, “Am I really a Comet Innate Spirit Body, an inborn mouth of crow?”
Just as the golden ray was blasting at Zhong Yue, a giant golden toad emerged behind the six moons, those six moons forming its eyes while it gave off a listless and lethargic air.
This six-eyed Star Toad was composed of pure totem patterns, an inexplicable skill that brought the spirit into form.
“Manggu———”
An ear-deafening roar was let out by the giant toad, its voice rumbled across the whole Fiery Capital and shook the ground. Countless Qi Practitioners were blasted into the sky by the incoming soundwave, while some weaker ones were even thrown into the deep abyss of unconsciousness.
One could infer what sort of damage it could do to Zhong Yue, who stood in the center of the bellowing soundwave.
But this wasn’t all that was terrifying. Long Yue suddenly morphed into the three-legged celestial being, six moon-like eyes appeared on his face. With the addition of the one slit divine eye, a total of seven eyes were on his face. Those six moon-like eyes suddenly brightened and even more light rays were shot out at Zhong Yue.
A louder roar was let out from Long Yue’s mouth, it was stronger and even the floor of the Stage started to crack. The two waves of sound were blasted right onto Zhong Yue while the Eight Extreme Weapons came together into the Eight Extreme Slaughtering Array, flooding the stunned-in-mid-air Zhong Yue with attacks.
An ultimate killing blow!
In the city, the countless Qi Practitioners were shocked, no one had foreseen such immense power from an Inner Core Qi Practitioner. Long Yue’s ultimate killing blow was incredible, able to infuse fear right into the hearts of those weaker cultivators. Some feebler ones could be killed right on the spot.
Such an attack, not a single Inner Core Qi Practitioners out there in the world could take it.
“Not bad.” The ‘stunned’ Zhong Yue suddenly spoke, laughing loudly as he said, “Not bad, you are really good! Long Yue, I deem you a worthy opponent to witness my true strength!”
Boom Boom Boom Boom….
Long Yue’s attacks arrived and struck right on Zhong Yue, the blunt sounds of them hitting their target ravaged the ears of the crowd. Yet, right at this moment, light and darkness shone from the center of the attacks, a sun and moon emerged in their vicinity, encircling Zhong Yue. The celestial and demon were separated, the light and dark, the Yin and Yang... the Tai Chi Art had emerged!
The【Celestial Demon Tai Chi Art】formed around Zhong Yue, spinning slowly with the rise and fall of the sun and moon, taking every attack Long Yue had blasted onto him harmlessly.
“[Celestial Demon as One], it’s the [Celestial Demon as One]!”
Bai Canghai shouted, “Word is that the Zhong Shan Clan member cast out the state of [Celestial Demon as One] when battling with the Demon Saint in the Eighth Barren’s desert!”
As the【Celestial Demon Tai Chi Art】appeared, the cultivators were all shocked, the world turned dead quiet, and even the magnates stared vacantly at the revolving【Celestial Demon Tai Chi Art】around Zhong Yue.
It was incredibly abstruse, so profound, containing mysterious powers that allowed one to achieve the state of [Celestial Demon as One], embracing the strengths of both the celestial and the demonic.
This was only achievable in one’s dream, a goal that countless had yearned for and it was now present on Zhong Yue.
Countless eyes fell on him, staring at him in greed and enthusiasm, even the magnates.
“【Celestial Demon Yi】!”
Zhong Yue put out a hand seal and bright dazzling lights burst out in all directions, blinding the crowd. In this one strike, his aura had risen to a whole new level, blood essence spread out like an ocean of crimson and covered the whole sky above the Fiery Capital.
On the Martial God Stage, the dazzling lights shone like a suns, casting off every single shadow in the city. These were the lights bursting out from the strikes between Long Yue and Zhong Yue, inflicting damage and pain into those who stared directly at them.
The【Celestial Demon Yi】had drawn Long Yue close to Zhong Yue’s palm, pulling his body toward the Tai Chi Art, and he was at the brink of lacerated into tiny bits.
Right at that moment, Long Yue cast out the Fang Blade from his back, slashing down and cutting the【Celestial Demon Tai Chi Art】in half, breaking the source of the dazzling rays.
“I’ve lost.”
In mid-air, the Fang Blade turned around and sheathed itself behind Long Yue again, the young dragon said placidly, “I’ve used the Fang Blade and your Golden Feathery Peng Sword remained untouched. This battle, I’ve lost.”
A smile climbed up on Zhong Yue’s face, the corners of his mouth curved slightly up, he couldn’t really contain his pride as he placed his hands behind his back, saying to Long Yue, “Senior Martial Brother Long, you are also strong.”
Long Yue sneered coldly, turning and walking down the Martial God Stage, he said, “Zhong Shan Clan member, you’ve won, but I’m not beaten to the ground yet. I’ve seen through your flaws, the unstable state of [Celestial Demon as One] that caused you to separate them into two halves. If any Qi Practitioner disrupted the balance between your celestial cultivation base and demon cultivation base, the repulsion of the two hostile cultivation bases would clash together and you would inevitably self-destruct.”
In the Fiery Capital, all the other Qi Practitioners heard him and exerted themselves, listening carefully to what Long Yue had to say.
Some cultivators even looked over at Zhong Yue and were met with a gloomy, dark face. They thought, It’s true, Long Yue has seen through his flaws and as it is now exposed to the world, this brat’s happy days are coming to an end.
Long Yue walked toward the stairs and he continued, “Furthermore, your biggest problem is the incompatibility of your inner core with your cultivation technique, limiting your prowess.”
Zhong Yue’s face then turned completely dark, he took out the Golden Feathery Peng Sword and clenched it in his hands, radiating an immense killing intent.
Gaffer Di then laughed and flew over, landing in between the two as he said, “Zhong Shan Clan member, Long Yue has already conceded his loss, there is no need to continue the fight anymore.”
Zhong Yue was in a killing mood, looking brutally after Long Yue. But Gaffer Di was, after all, a monster magnate, a monster among the monsters, and even Zhong Yue didn’t dare to clash squarely with him.
Long Yue leapt down from the Martial God Stage and left, sayingleisurely, “The incompatibility of your inner core and cultivation technique is caused by your state of [Celestial Demon as One]. This round, I have just found your flaws and it is no big deal to be defeated. However, mark my word, human Zhong Shan Clan member Zhong Yue, the next time, I will defeat you and claim your life as a prize.”
“Long Yue, he is indeed worthy to be called the most talented young expert of the whole East Barren.”
One of the older experts praised, “Shi Buyi is really incredible to be able to nurture such a talented disciple, even I can’t see through Zhong Yue’s flaws, and yet he did.”
Another giant cultivator on the side nodded and concurred, “Although the Zhong Shan Clan member seemed to be the winner today, but he actually lost; Long Yue has seen through his flaws and with such deadly weaknesses exposed to the world, Zhong Yue has lost his future.”
Gaffer Di was overjoyed, smiling ear to ear as he escorted Long Yue away.
Zhong Yue’s face was ashen, moments later, he heaved a long breath of air and said with a smile, “A loser that speaks only of nonsense to excuse his defeat, do you think the others will ever believe you?”
Despite his words, the crowd could clearly tell that he was angry and anxious, Long Yue must have been right about his flaws. He was just saying this in an attempt to cover up the truth.
But the more he tried to cover it up, the more true Long Yue’s words would be. There was a flaw in his state of [Celestial Demon as One], one that was deadly enough to kill him.
All of a sudden, Xia Shengchu mumbled lowly, “This Long Yue, he doesn’t look that strong,
at all, don’t you all realize?”
Xia Shengyan nodded and replied, “His attacks seemed to be quite the same as mine, not much stronger.”
The others were also having the same doubts. Although Long Yue and Zhong Yue’s battle seemed to be extraordinarily marvelous, their arcane energies and skills were not very conspicuous.
Rays then flashed across Xia Shengchu’s eyes and he mumbled softly, “Could this be a show they put up just to fool with us?”
He then walked up toward the Martial God Stage, Xia Shengyan, Zhu Jiangyue and the other young talents all rushed up the Martial God Stage, they said sonorously, “Zhong Shan Clan member, I want to challenge you!”
Zhong Yue, however, stood steadfast and watched them coldly, like looking at the dead, as they climbed the stairs.
The young experts were drawing nearer to Zhong Yue, but their speed was obviously slowing down. All of a sudden, Zhu Jiangyue muffled a deep groan in pain and abruptly collapsed to the ground, the pressure acting on her stopping her from lifting even a fingeran inch high. Blood started trickling from her mouth as she struggled against the pressure of the Martial God Stage.
Even Xia Shengchu and the others moved like snails, carrying a huge mountain on their backs. Xia Shengyan spewed out a mouthful of blood and had to stop, while Xia Shengchu barely made it to the stage. Shocked and terrified, he found himself sitting on the ground, not able to stand up at all.
No wonder their arcane energies and skills looked so diminished, this pressure is too great to bear!
Zhong Yue swung his sleeve, and Xia Shengchu was struck from the stage down the stairs, blood spurting out like a fountain.
“Ants,” Zhong Yue sneered frigidly and walked down the stairs, stepping right next to their faces as he walked by in contempt.
“Long Yue is way too strong to fight, if he can fight with Zhong Yue on the Martial God Stage for such a long time.” The Qi Practitioners directed their eyes at Long Yue, sending him their respects.