The daylight crystal columns inside the garden had been lit up, brightening the whole area up like daytime.
Inside the pavilions, everyone was chatting loudly.
"It seems hard for the Thunder princess and Edict Prince to have a winner between them. I wonder if there will be actual winners in the coming battles."
"I think it will be unlikely. Chu Zhongtian's defensive arts are extremely horrifying while the Thunder princess' attacks are extra aggressive. The Edict Prince is light like the wind while Ye Chen's sword art was like a phantom. If I have to bid my money on somebody, then it would be on Ye Chen, since he has been so unpredictable and mysterious. There seems to be no way of figuring him out completely."
"That's fair. However, I think it would be the Edict Prince who will be the final winner, since he has more profound martial arts up his sleeve."
The drawing part was rather easy. There were four wooden sticks, two red and two blue. The one who drew red would battle with the other one with the same color, which was also the case with the blue ones. Mental power would not be allowed to be used in the drawing for obvious reasons. Even one if someone decided to use it secretly, the others would definitely find out. As for Ye Chen, he did not even think about using his soul power to cheat, since it did not matter to him whom he ended up battling.
Ultimately, Ye Chen drew red, and so did Li Xiaoyun.
"Hehe… I am quite lucky." Compared to Chu Zhongtian, Li Xiaoyun would rather compete with Ye Chen. It was not because Chu Zhongtian was too weak for him; on the contrary, it was because Chu Zhongtian had too powerful defensive arts. No matter how many profound martial arts, it would not make a difference. So, he felt that it would be easier for him to battle with Ye Chen, since both of them preferred battling with skills.
Following the draws, the battle between Jing Aoxuan and Chu Zhongtian started first.
The two had already compared their Zhen yuan and martial intent along with their attacking power, which had proven Jing Aoxuan to be slightly weaker. But once it got real, she somehow rose to exactly the same level as her opponent. Her understanding of her profound sense martial arts seemed to be even deeper than Chu Zhongtian's.
"Dark Flame Killing Wave!"
The battle got more and more intense as Chu Zhongtian performed his most wide-ranged attack, which was a profound martial art with slightly weaker focused power. Subsequently, the dark red energy wave drowned Jing Aoxuan instantly.
Boom!
In the next moment, the energy wave exploded as Jing Aoxuan rushed out from the chaos, bringing her right fist along with that endless thunder toward Chu Zhongtian.
The latter had just finished his attack, so he threw back a reflex attack to counter her incoming attack.
That earth-shaking collision shook the sky as their bodies were both blown backward. Between them was that black colored but bright energy which was continuously spreading at a rapid speed, soon devouring the darkness in the area.
"Evil Blade Cut!"
Chu Zhongtian's evil yuan was indeed powerful, and its ability to get rid of the energy impact was even more powerful than Jing Aoxuan's. Therefore, even though he had also been blown up into the sky, he was still able to draw in a small amount of evil yuan and throw out a wide-ranged attack toward the latter.
Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!
The dark red colored, blade-shaped qi flow sliced through the sky, devouring Jing Aoxuan within again.
The latter took in a deep breath, and as she did, the thunder pouring out of her body seemed to get richer and richer, forming a dark blue tornado right outside her body. With her right hand tightened into a fist and middle knuckle sticking out, she slammed it out toward her opponent.
"Royal Extreme World Fist!"
The powerful wind raised due to the fist attack destroyed the blade-like qi flow and also tore apart the growing black colored energy, making Chu Zhongtian back out for another hundreds of steps. However, he had already raised up his evil protective yuan layer. That fist wind clashed with his protective layer and brought out an unbearable friction sound again. However, it did not make an impact on either of them.
'This Ye Chen is indeed scarily powerful!'
After seeing what had happened, Jing Aoxuan had to admit that in some ways, she was not as powerful as Ye Chen indeed.
Ye Chen was able to beat Chu Zhongtian, so she assumed that she would still be able to get the upper hand even if she could not beat him. However, the reality was different from her expectations. Chu Zhongtian was definitely not someone who was easy to take on — he had a powerful defense system, powerful attacking power, and fast speed. If she did not have the thunder spirit body which allowed her to stimulate her body and maintain it in a great condition, she might have already lost by reacting too slow.
She now knew that Ye Chen was not just powerful at battling, but he was a dynamic warrior with high comprehensive ability, someone who could well adapt to the environment and his opponent. Some warriors would lose to warriors who were weaker because of the difference in styles. However, it was never a problem for Ye Chen, since he always knew what he was doing and what was the best for him.
To sum it up, although she would not be afraid of Ye Chen in a one on one fight, if judging based on their comprehensive and strategic abilities, she would not be his rightful opponent at all.
Ye Chen did not have a flaw; he was a sword artist who just could not be defeated.
Li Xiaoyun had also realized that Jing Aoxuan was unable to cause any damage to Chu Zhongtian. But, Ye Chen had beaten him before, and he knew very clearly what it signified.
"There is no scope for even a single moment's distraction."
It was his first time for him to doubt his own power and chances in a battle. Even if his opponent were Jing Aoxuan, he had always thought that he would be the one winning as long as he had the time. It was not that he was extremely confident in his power, but in his personality. He somehow always made things work.
However, after watching the battle between Ye Chen and Chu Zhongtian, he knew that the former was not simple, and did not have a single flaw. It was all so clear from the battle between him and Chu Zhongtian, who was all messed up during that battle, and confirmed by the stark difference in the battle that was in play right now.
Thinking all this, he could not help but glance at Ye Chen.
Ye Chen's eyes seemed very deep, solely focused on the battle happening on the stage. Precisely speaking, he was watching Jing Aoxuan, whose achievement in Thunder mentality was something that he knew he could not compete with. He had noticed and comprehended some small details, but the higher level of the mentality was still unclear to him.
"She is indeed the Thunder princess. She is already at the edge of comprehending the thunder profound, only a tiny step away."
Ye Chen was slightly scared secretly; if Jing Aoxuan learned even the slightest bit of the thunder profound, no one here would be her rightful opponent, not even he himself.
Of course, there would be a lot of other things for him to improve on as well, such as his sword spirit, green lotus sword spell, and wood mentality, which should all be up for challenging soon.
Boom!
In the sky, the dark qi flow and the dark blue thunder had both taken over one half each. The two's battle also seemed unlikely to reach a verdict as neither of them could do anything to the other.
After a while, Jing Aoxuan took back her hands and lifted them up to halt the fight, "I cannot win against you."
The latter was very frustrated as well. It was already enough to have a Ye Chen, and now with Jing Aoxuan being at the same level and Li Xiaoyun on the sidelines also being equally powerful, he couldn't manage to beat any of them, and had even lost to Ye Chen actually.
"Ye Chen, it is our turn now." Li Xiaoyun led the way with his right hand. Coming back to reality from his learning mode, Ye Chen nodded and got to his feet.
Shoo!
Shoo!
The two did not say another word and flew up into the sky immediately.
"Long Dragon Dance!"
In the next moment, Li Xiaoyun went on to throw out the first attack; a huge amount of wind yuan qi was accumulated, turning into a crystal-clear tornado that rushed toward Ye Chen.
Shoo!
But, the tornado was sliced open at a tilted angle in the next instant. It turned out that Ye Chen had already thrown out a sword attack before the tornado attack had even reached its peak.
"Impressive!"
Li Xiaoyun couldn't help but look extra serious. He did not have the time to attack more, so he backed out. And while he did so, he waved his iron fan in the air, performing his Pear Flower Dance and Blade Dance.
That flower-shaped tornado and that blade-like wind attack jumped at Ye Chen from both his sides.
Ye Chen also had a serious look on his face as he backed out for seven more steps. Those steps were extremely well-thought, making the wind and blade qi clash three steps in front of him. Furthermore, it was indeed in the range of his Reverse Sky Thunder Cut. So, a beam of sword light appeared out of nowhere, launching that messy energy toward Li Xiaoyun.
No matter how fast the target tried to back out, he was still not as fast as that energy wave. He waved his iron fan in the air again, wrapping himself with the wind qi without leaving even an inch of his skin exposed.
Boom! Pop! Boom! Pop!
Explosions were heard continuously while Li Xiaoyun felt his qi and blood slightly boiling inside his body.
All of a sudden, he turned into a gust of wind. He had not only removed that shockwave's effect from himself, but had also moved another dozens of steps. A horrifying crossed sword light landed heavily back where he stood just a fraction of a second ago; it was indeed the double sword style sword attack.
"So close!" A cold light flashed through his eyes as Li Xiaoyun waved his iron fan in the air to draw a circle. With that, his profound sense martial art, the Seven Star Kill, was thrown out.
Without turning around, Ye Chen held his Thunder sword backward and simply flicked it up. With that, a twisted sword light sliced right through the incoming attack, shattering it completely. His feet floated through that qi flow as he jumped higher before continuously performing the ninth movement of his Green Lotus Sword Art.
Li Xiaoyun's pupils shrunk into two needle points; he could not be clearer about the power of that attack. Even Chu Zhongtian had been wounded by it, leaving him with zero protection from Ye Chen's following attacks. He knew that if he got hit by that sword attack, it would be almost unlikely for him to win.
'I have to avoid it!'
Glowing dots and sparks appeared on his right arm as his veins started to become transparent. Looking at him with bare eyes, one could see a strange pattern appearing over his body. It was an extremely ancient pattern that looked both like the stars themselves, but also their routes of travel. Meanwhile, a different kind of light pattern appeared on his left arm which gave the feeling of wind, without the same kind of ancientness but with a greater sharpness.
"Wind's Impediment!"
Without deploying his profound sense martial arts, Li Xiaoyun extended his left hand, causing a wind wall to appear in front of him out of nowhere. It was very mysterious, full of different wind spirals that seemed to all be connected one way or another but lacking a pushing force. It seemed like they could run on forever until they were forcibly destroyed.
Pooh!
But, the wind wall was punctured through instantly and then completely torn apart.
The ninth movement of his green lotus sword art was called Amaranthine Nature, and it definitely lived up to its reputation. The wind wall would have definitely continued to persist on its own like nature based on its origin. Therefore, to destroy it in such an overwhelming fashion proved how horrifying the sword attack was.
"Seven Star Horizontal Travel!"
Li Xiaoyun knew that his wind barrier would not block out Ye Chen. Its destruction was expected and taken account for, since his real goal was to hit the latter with the attack from his right hand. He brought his thumb together with his index finger as he closed up his iron fan. As a result, it turned into a silver-colored bright iron ruler which was filled with a huge amount of Zhen yuan and starlight power.
One Star Pellet!
Two Star Pellets!
Three Star Pellets!
According to the astral seven stars' arrangement in the sky, star pellets made from Zhen yuan and starlight were formed one after another, twinkling constantly.
Ye Chen frowned slightly on seeing the things unfolding. The astral order here was slightly different from the one he knew in his previous world, the one here comprising of the leading star of the whole Milky Way. Hence, it contained an extreme power. Somehow, he could sense that when all those seven stars were aligned together, he would be in a great danger. Although he was not afraid of the prospect, but eliminating the danger before it got more serious would be even better, which was always something he believed in.
At this moment, his Greenwood sword vibrated while Sword qi continued to pour out.
Pop!
The sixth star pellet was just formed before it got shattered immediately by the sword qi, followed by the fifth one, the fourth, the third...
"This fast!" Li Xiaoyun was frowning even harder than Ye Chen. He had finally learned first-hand that Ye Chen was the trickiest to take on, never leaving any possible chances for his opponent. All of his seven star pellets were already forming at such a fast speed, but they still got destroyed somehow before aligning in the right formation.
Finally, the last star pellet was also destroyed. Even after that, the Amaranthine Nature had got one last string of power left which landed heavily on Li Xiaoyun's protective Zhen yuan layer.
Although it was not broken, Li Xiaoyun had been blown away from the impact that transmitted through.
Ye Chen did not chase up after him, just standing there with his sword in his hand. The tip of his sword continued to leak out the sword intent, looking like a poisonous snake preparing to attack its prey.