Chapter 587: Xiao Chen versus Bai Zhan
Nangong Ziyue frowned heavily. She tried to salvage the situation, no longer clashing head-on. Instead, she tried to use techniques to gain victory.
However, it was too late. Nangong Ziyue had lost the momentum and initiative. The rhythm of the battle was in Li Tianhua’s grasp and nothing she did could not change that.
In the end, Nangong Ziyue can only stake everything on a last-ditch effort. She used her deficient state and punched with both fists, executing the Immortal Mountains and Rivers Fist, trying to decide victory or defeat in one move.
“Twin Dragons Playing with Pearls!”
Li Tianhua smiled faintly. Victory was now at hand, so he executed the strongest move of the Coiling Dragon Spear Technique. The tip of the spear shook and sent out two spear lights. They turned into two ferocious coiling dragons and clashed with Nangong Ziyue’s two punches.
As the coiling dragons roared ferociously, the deficient state of mountains and waters shattered. Nangong Ziyue took ten steps back and helplessly admitted defeat.
With a flash of golden light, some of Nangong Ziyue’s Luck was taken. Li Tianhua’s golden dragon also broke out of his jade pendant. It was nineteen meters long; his Luck was among those at the peak.
“Match number fifty: Xiao Chen versus Bai Zhan!”
This was the last match of the thirteenth round, and also the last match of the day. Finally, it was Xiao Chen’s turn to fight. Furthermore, his opponent was someone familiar.
Seeing Bai Zhan walk up to the Wind Cloud Platform, Xiao Chen could not help a flash of murderous intent appearing in his eyes. Then, he slowly walked to the Wind Cloud Platform with heavy footsteps.
Bai Zhan felt very conflicted in his heart. Originally, he thought that after he perfectly merged his ice and fire together, he would be able to completely defeat Xiao Chen. Who knew, Xiao Chen’s improvement was even greater than his; even Gong Yangyu lost to Xiao Chen.
Gong Yangyu was much stronger than Bai Zhan—a fact that Bai Zhan admitted grudgingly. Now, Xiao Chen was much stronger than Bai Zhan, and not just by one or two levels.
However, after seeing Xiao Chen mount the Wind Cloud Platform, the unresigned look in Bai Zhan’s eyes immediately vanished. He smiled and said, “Xiao Chen, congratulations on your winning streak. You have yet to lose a match. It looks like you will definitely make it into the top ten.”
Xiao Chen maintained his silence, a strong murderous intent brewing in his heart. The dense crystal Essence circulated in his body; he could instantly execute all sorts of killing moves on demand.
Bai Zhan’s smile widened as he continued, “Unfortunately, no matter how strong you are, you cannot protect your friends. In the one hundred matches, your friends—Jin Dabao, Xiao Bai, Murong Chong, Ding Fengchou, and Chu Mu—will eventually run into me.
“Their end will be as miserable as Zuo Mo’s. All this will be because of you. Because of you, Xiao Chen, they will end up in such a state. Because you, Xiao Chen, have offended me, none of them will have a good ending.”
Since Bai Zhan could not hurt Xiao Chen, he took out his anger on Xiao Chen’s friends. He did not care about his image or status at all. Such an attitude was no different from those of the dregs of society.
The murderous intent in Xiao Chen’s heart surged. He said coldly, “Have you finished?”
Seeing Xiao Chen angry, Bai Zhan smiled even more sinisterly. “Ha ha ha ha! What’s wrong, getting angry? Want to hit me? Unfortunately, you can’t do it. You can only watch as your friends get tortured by me, one by one. I admit…ah!”
Bai Zhan wanted to concede the match. Unfortunately, he could not finish his sentence. He cried out miserably, failing to admit defeat.
Xiao Chen had made a move. While Bai Zhan was speaking, Xiao Chen executed Lightning Evasion. With a flash of lightning, he arrived before Bai Zhan.
The Vital Qi in Xiao Chen’s body surged and he sent out a Berserk Dragon Fist at Bai Zhan’s chest. This interrupted Bai Zhan’s final words, leaving them stuck in his throat, unsaid.
In the Wind Cloud Platform, once one party admitted defeat, the other party had to stop attacking. This was the ironclad rule here. No one could disobey it, not even Sima Lingxuan.
Bai Zhan intended to exploit this rule. He wanted to use his words to frustrate Xiao Chen, then admit defeat. If I cannot defeat you, I will make you feel frustration.
Unfortunately, Bai Zhan had not expected Xiao Chen to have such a strange technique. Xiao Chen managed to arrive in front of him almost instantly.
Without much time to think, Bai Zhan started moving his hands. He wanted to temporarily push Xiao Chen back before admitting defeat.
A cold wind gathered at Bai Zhan’s left hand and a surging flame on his right. This was his best move, the Raging Frost Flame Palm.
Ice in one hand and fire in the other. When cold and heat intertwined, the combination would make the opponent feel some discomfort. Even a cultivator stronger than Bai Zhan would have to be cautious when dealing with this.
“Breaking Armor! Seizing the Heart!”
Xiao Chen clenched his right hand and executed Breaking Armor. Like the autumn wind sweeping up the dead leaves, the sharp azure energy scattered the palm wind of Bai Zhan’s Raging Frost Flame Palm.
Then, he used his left hand as a claw to execute Seizing the Heart. An azure dragon claw appeared, superposed on his hand. It raked Bai Zhan’s Raging Frost Flame Palm, shattering it into ice shards.
Carrying a boundless killing intent, Xiao Chen ruthlessly continued towards Bai Zhan’s chest. If this claw landed on him, Bai Zhan would die without a doubt; he would not even have the chance to say anything.
Greatly horrified, Bai Zhan paled. At the crucial moment, he moved very quickly. He placed his two palms together and quickly merged the ice- and fire-attributed Essence in his body.
A cold wind blew on the huge Wind Cloud Platform but the cold wind felt hot. This was a perfect merger of ice and fire.
“Raging Frost Flame Wave!”
Bai Zhan roared ferociously and moved his hands, one up and one down, forming a right angle. The ice- and fire-attributed energy intertwined with each other and fired out at Xiao Chen.
[TL note: Forming a right angle, kind of like a Kamehameha.]
Bai Zhan did not hope that his move would hurt Xiao Chen; he only hoped to delay him for few seconds, enough time for him to admit defeat.
However, things did not go the way Bai Zhan hoped. Xiao Chen did not give him any chance. Placing his right hand on the Lunar Shadow Saber’s hilt, Xiao Chen unleashed the peak Small Perfection saber intent. The surging crystal Essence in his body poured out of the saber’s blade at its maximum rate.
“Xiu!”
The incredibly sharp crystalline saber Qi became even sharper with the support of saber intent. With a ‘ka ca’ sound, it easily sliced the Raging Frost Flame Wave in half. Furthermore, it was very precise, targeting the point where the fire and ice merged.
Crystalline electricity leaped around nonstop on the saber Qi as it tore through Bai Zhan’s protective Essence shield. Then, it opened a horrifying wound on his chest, a wound so deep that bones could be seen.
Strong lightning-attributed Essence poured into Bai Zhan’s body and flowed into his meridians, bursting them.
With Xiao Chen’s unrestrained attack, all of Bai Zhan’s meridians ruptured. The pain was so agonizing that Bai Zhan wanted to die. He rolled on the floor, screaming in pain, unable to form a coherent sentence.
Xiao Chen had already considered Bai Zhan someone he had to kill. However, now was not a good time to do it. Otherwise, he would end up bringing some trouble to the Heavenly Saber Pavilion.
Since Bai Zhan’s meridians were broken, even with miraculous medicine, he would not be able to regain his strength within a short period of time. Now, he was no longer a threat to Xiao Chen’s friends. If he was unfortunate, he might not even be able to find medicine to treat his meridians, becoming a cripple for the rest of his life.
Normally, Xiao Chen looked very amicable. He did not say much or get angry much, much less kill people.
However, even dragons had reverse scales. Those who touched them would definitely die. Xiao Chen had his reverse scales as well. Anyone who dared to threaten his friends or family would receive an attack that was a hundredfold or even a thousandfold worse. No matter who it was, regardless of their being a super genius or having a strong sect behind them, he would not show mercy.
[TL note: A dragon’s reverse scale is not a point of weakness. Rather, it is a place that when touched, will enrage the dragon. The English equivalent of this idiom is stepping on one’s toes.]
“Xiu!”
A golden beam of light immediately shot out of Bai Zhan’s jade pendant and entered Xiao Chen’s. The golden dragon in there, which was already very impatient, immediately broke out of the jade pendant and circled above his head.
This golden dragon was fifteen meters long. Aside from Bai Qi’s and Sima Lingxuan’s golden dragons, it was not much weaker than those of the other scions of the eight Noble Clans.
Xiao Chen tried sensing it and discovered that the soaring golden dragon seemed to have an impact on his spirit. It eased some of his fatigue and exhaustion, quickly replenishing his spirit.
He was not surprised at the size of his golden dragon. However, its extra function gave him a pleasant surprise.
“How unexpected! Xiao Chen’s golden dragon actually is fifteen meters long. This is his first time participating in the Five Nation Youth Competition and he had not previously obtained Luck.”
“Could it be that Xiao Chen truly has the power to fight with the scions of the eight Noble Clans? He is just a disciple of a sect from the Great Qin Nation; his status is too different from the scions of the eight Noble Clans.”
“That might not necessarily be impossible. Think about it. From the start, regardless of the elimination rounds or the ranking matches, he has not been defeated yet; he won all his matches. Even those who were thought to be capable of ending his winning streak met defeat at his hands.”
“He seems to keep bringing out an unending stream of trump cards. He is unfathomable. The other newcomers, like Chu Chaoyun and Xuanyuan Zhantian, all had draws ending their winning streak. The only newcomer with a true winning streak is Xiao Chen.”
“That is true. I did not consider the matter carefully earlier. Thinking about it now, it seems like he is the only one with a winning streak. He has been winning from the very start. The seeded participants came in midway, so they do not even have as long a winning streak as Xiao Chen does.”
Thus, the first day of the ranking matches came to an end with Xiao Chen’s golden dragon breaking out of its jade pendant. This last match of the day gave the crowd a new understanding of Xiao Chen—the participant with the longest winning streak.
---
Filled with excitement and anticipation, the crowd went through a long and slow night. When the morning sun finally broke through the darkness, the fourteenth round began.
As the rounds finished, many golden dragons broke out of their jade pendants. Dozens of golden dragons were moving about in the sky, occasionally releasing a ferocious roar and clashing with each other.
Soon, Xiao Chen discovered something. If the opponent’s golden dragon was stronger, the amount of Luck obtained would be more. If the opponent was weak, the amount obtained might be insignificant.
For example, because Sima Lingxuan was simply too strong, all his opponents’ golden dragons were much weaker. Furthermore, he did not meet with any strong opponents. This resulted in his golden dragon remaining about twenty-seven meters in length. It did not even grow an extra meter. However, the other Noble Clans’ scions’ golden dragons had grown significantly.
Li Tianhua, Wang Quan, and Yue Chenxi’s golden dragons reached twenty meters. Xuanyuan Zhantian’s and Chu Chaoyun’s golden dragons were slightly longer than seventeen meters—only slightly inferior to the Noble Clans’ scions’ and catching up quickly.
The one whose golden dragon grew the fastest was Bai Qi. His golden dragon already reached twenty-four meters long, only shorter than Sima Lingxuan’s by three meters.
Sima Lingxuan smiled faintly and did not care. His target was a thirty-meter-long golden dragon. Once he achieved that, he would obtain overwhelming Luck, becoming the only true dragon in the Sky Dome Realm.
No matter how fast these people caught up to Sima Lingxuan, their golden dragons would only end up as a tribute to him. After he defeated them, that Luck would belong to him.
“Match thirty-five: Xiao Chen versus Fang Yunfei.”
This was the twenty-fifth round. In the earlier matches, Xiao Chen did not meet with any strong opponents. Although he defeated them all, his golden dragon only grew to seventeen meters. It was still a little shy of catching up with the golden dragons of the other geniuses.
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