Chapter 208 - In the Spotlight
Zhong Yue slipped past the mountains while the Ying family Atman Body cultivator was still crying in pain. Xi Qiao bolted forwards and shouted loudly, "Brother from the Ying family, quickly kill this brat, we can't let him reach Xian Kong Saint City!"
The Ying family Atman Body cultivator endured the pain and slashed his wings down. Zhong Yue hastily reacted and within the next second, two rows of countless blades had extruded out from the ground right in front of him!
Shua shua shua——
The rows of blades were planted vertically upright, as his twin dragons strode past them. Their stomachs and legs were lacerated open, and the Jiao Dragons perished into thin air!
Zhong Yue fell onto the ground. Suddenly, the two rows of blades hovered in the air, forming into a torrent made of blades while more were extruding out from the ground to join the sea of blades!
Thousand Feathers Blade Array!
Zhong Yue's body swayed and morphed into the eight-armed three-eyed Ming King. His hands clenched in the air as the Eight Extreme Weapons—saber, sword, shields, hammer, whip and hook swords, materialized into existence. His arms swung the weapons like a furious tornado as he crushed the blades one after another while he continued marching forward; but the blades were still hurling at him endlessly.
On his back, the Ying family cultivator was flying close to the ground. All of a sudden, dozens of Jiao Dragons emerged from the underground as they sunk their teeth into his wings and nailed them back into the ground.
It was unexpected, he was caught off guard and now slammed to the ground, sliding across it for over a thousand feet.
Meanwhile, Xi Qiao leaped into the air and plunged down like a mountain falling from the sky. In the air, a saber ray flashed in the sky as the Fang Blade made an oblique angle slashing towards the falling boar's trajectory.
"Wu Xing Wheel,【Finger Mountain Mark】!"
Xi Qiao flipped his hand and pressed down, his fingers flickered as he visualized five gigantic mountains slamming down from his palm. The mountains were colored in five different colors, clearly, they were infused with the power of the five elemental Qi.
The【Finger Mountain Mark】clashed with the Fang Blade. The mountains were, after all, visualizations. It was natural that it wouldn't be able to contend with the godly bone as it was sliced into halves by the Fang Blade.
Xi Qiao then seized the chance to readjust his body before slamming into the earth - Dong! - the impact force overturned the dust and stones while Zhong Yue strode away from him. The cultivator from the Ying family had also blasted away the Jiao Dragons that entangled him. He spread his wings and flew up into the sky. With their heads and faces filthy with grime, the two Atman Body Qi Practitioners doggedly continued their pursuit of Zhong Yue.
"Don't worry, Tu Shishan of the Tu family is right in front waiting for him!"
Xi Qiao said loudly, "Tu Shishan can definitely pin him down!"
Just as he said it out, the earth quaked violently. One after another, giant wall-like rocks began to rise up from the ground as they formed into a stone maze with stone-made totem pillars scattered all around — it was a slaughtering array!
Right at the moment Zhong Yue stepped foot into the slaughtering array, Tu Shishan of the Tu family activated the array formation, deluging the air with an immense killing intent!
Bringing such a huge slaughtering array into play in the blink of an eye, Tu Shishan was indeed a master in the arts of earth, possessing incredible skill that could shock others.
Xi Qiao was overjoyed and said laughingly, "Nice, we wouldn't need to worry about him running away again as long as this Long brat enters the slaughtering array. He would not be able to outrun Tu Shishan's pursuit under the ground, nor would he be able to fly faster than Brother Ying. Finally, he would be no match against me on land!"
"Get out of my way!!"
Zhong Yue reached his arm out for the Fang Blade, and started chopping down wall after wall. Not a single stone wall or stone totem pillars could slow him down by the slightest bit. With sheer strength, he broke through from one side of the slaughtering array to the other and strode away.
A loud roar came from the center of the array formation followed by a violent quaking of the earth. A lizard stood up with his eyes filled with shock and anger as he watched Zhong Yue striding away. Abruptly, he burrowed into the ground and continued to leave a trail of overturned soil on the surface as he chased after Zhong Yue.
Xi Qiao rushed over, he saw a straight line of holes that blasted across the slaughtering array, Zhong Yue had slashed his way right through the array formation from one side to the other before the slaughtering array even had the chance to unleash its power.
"That saber again, this brat's psyche has reached the stage of lightning pool. He's forged the godly fang into his weapon; it is not easy for our soul weapons and array formations to pin him down! There are more experts down the road, I hope they can stop him before he reaches the Xian Kong Saint City!"
While in the lofty sky, Qing He powered the skiff and entered the Xian Kong Saint City, she alighted the skiff down on the port beside the city and instructed the four ladies to disembark. They walked into the saint city as a group while joy filled her heart, Finally, I've shaken off this Long Yue from my tail, I'll get in touch with the Xuan Keep through the totem pillars right after we've entered Xian Kong Saint City. I'll request my teacher to send experts over to rendezvous with me, we will then set a trap outside of the city and kill him once and for all….
At this point in time, the Xian Kong Saint City was incredibly lively, crowds of monsters packed the streets; Qing He quickly brought the four young ladies to Xuan Keep's meeting place in the saint city. All of a sudden, a round of commotion spread across the streets. The monsters became very agitated as those that could fly quickly took to the sky while those who couldn't hastily climbed to the top of the city walls and buildings.
"There is a duel outside of the city - a battle between elite cultivators!"
"The two strongest Awakening Qi Practitioner of East Barren, Yuan Ji, and Hua Feiyu! Today, they will duel on the metal chains for the name of the strongest Awakening Qi Practitioner!"
"Both of them are experts who have cultivated their Yuan Shen to the third form, they are said to be the strongest in the level of Awakening, this is the most exciting event ever among the Awakening Qi Practitioners!"
"I hear that these two expert cultivators are arch-enemies, they've fought over twenty battles and never once could one defeat the other!"
Sparks of curiosity flared within her heart, Qing He brought along the other four ladies with her to the city wall. They cast their gaze down to the metal chains that shackled the saint city, and praised the magnificent view in their hearts. There were two Awakening Qi Practitioners standing on the metal chains. One of them was an expert cultivator from the ape monster race, a 170 feet tall with his body covered in golden hair. He had a heavily-built stature and his muscles bulged out like bumpy rocks - strong and brawny. He held a 200 foot-long wooden pillar that was engraved with lustrous golden totem patterns of the ape monster race weapon — he was Yuan Ji.
While on the other end was a scholarly-looking young man, donned in a white robe with patterns of various colored flowers embellishing the sleeves. Even the decorations on the folding fan he was holding in his hand were flower-patterned. He struck a suave and charming figure. This individual was the most outstanding disciple of the flower monster race, Hua Feiyu.
These two monster Qi Practitioners were very well-renowned, even Qing He had heard of their illustrious names before. Hua Feiyu of the flower monster race, although he was also a monster cultivated from a plant, he was not a disciple of Shu Qianqiu. Instead, he was a young expert cultivator from the flower race of Qing Ming City.
The flower race of Qing Ming City was a strong and ancient clan, they worshipped the spirit of the flower god who was also a monster god from the old days. Even though Shu Qianqiu was the leader of the Xuan Keep, he was a new monster magnate cultivator, he had yet to build up his own clan and influence - his forces weren't strong enough. Even the spirit they worshipped in the Xuan Keep was the one that had been there since before Shu Qianqiu had established the Xuan Keep, rather than one that he brought himself.
Yuan Ji was from the ape race of White Tiger Keep, the ape monster race was also a big clan with a storied history and great prowess. The two of them were both from strong and ancient clans, and they themselves were the brightest stars of those respective clans.
On the top of the city wall, a white-haired elder stroked his mustache and said smilingly, "The humans have the eighty-feet tall and wide Zhong Shan Clan member, the celestials have three Awakening expert while we monsters have Yuan Ji and Hua Feiyu! The battle between them will be an event no less intense than the Zhong Shan Clan member battling the celestial race!"
Long Xia'er was very curious, she stepped closer and asked, "This old master, is the human Zhong Shan Clan member really eighty-feet tall and eighty-feet wide?"
"Is he not?"
That old monster could immediately tell that they were humans, but as Qing He who was a monster was standing beside them, he naturally would think that they were her maidservants. He took out a scroll and opened it up to show them, he said, "This is the picture image of the Zhong Shan Clan member drawn by the famous artist of East Barren, Dan Qingzi. Come and take a look."
Qing He and the other four ladies stepped forward. In the scroll was depicted a barbaric-looking creature - it was stocky with eight legs, eight arms and eight necks and eight heads.
Each of its faces was contorted in grotesque expressions; some of the faces were laughing nefariously, some were gnawing over at the celestials while some were already devouring the celestial Qi Practitioners in his mouth. Even the ugliest monster would be hundred times more charming than him.
Long Chun'er and the other ladies shuddered as the cold touch of terror gripped their hearts, the old monster sneered coldly and said, "If he isn't this monstrous, how could he have eaten so many celestials? You have to know that the celestials are incredibly strong, they've enslaved us monsters for countless of years! If he could eat the celestials like eating snack beans, surely he would look monstrous! However, our monster gods are overlooking the monster race, Yuan Ji and Hua Feiyu aren't any weaker than that one from the Zhong Shan Clan!"
Outside of the city, the metal chains that shackled onto the saint city were immensely huge, every link was at least a million kilograms heavy, so huge that its width could accommodate a few horse carriages running on it side-by-side. Yuan Ji and Hua Feiyi looked simply puny when standing atop it.
Hua Feiyu was gently swaying his folding fan while flowers waltzed around him, the figure he struck was marvelously stunning. He said smilingly, "Brother Yuan, you and I are dueling again; however, it'll be a little bit different this time, as today will be the day of your defeat. You will become a stepping stone for my victory and reputation."
Yuan Ji laughed out loud, he was a strong and sturdy man who harbored a heroic aura, "Little Brat Hua, you can't say for sure until we've fought!"
Hua Feiyu erupted his aura, a huge flower emerged and bloomed on his back, in the middle stood a goddess who held a flower basket and a hoe in her hands. "I've specifically learned the secret technique of the flower race, 【Thirty-Six Styles Flower Burial】, and mastered all thirty-six styles. Today, I'll slay you under my Yuan Shen's hoe and bury you under a grave of a hundred flowers. At the very least, your death will be accompanied by their fragrance!"
Yuan Ji swayed his body, the Combat Ape Spirit which was also his Yuan Shen emerged behind him, suffusing the air with a wild and barbaric aura, he said, "You've cultivated the【Thirty-Six Styles Flower Burial】of your race; but I have also cultivated the secret technique of my ape race. Today, we shall decide who the strongest one truly is between us, the battle will end only when one of us falls!"
On the top of the city wall, the monsters were frantically praised, "Can you feel their aura? This is incredibly amazing! This is something that can only belong to true experts, how awe-inspiring!"
"Such momentum ... are they really just Awakening Qi Practitioners?"
"Such an indomitable aura, probably not even the ordinary Atman Body cultivators would have such awe-inspiring auras!"
….
On the metal chain, their auras were getting stronger and stronger in a crescendo before peaking at a suffocating level as the outbreak of their battle was fast approaching. Meanwhile, countless monsters were gazing at the two expert cultivators. But right at this moment, a miniature sandstorm concomitant with thunder and lightning was billowing over towards their direction from outside the city outskirts. Soon, a phalanx of Atman Body Qi Practitioners could be seen coming over the horizon as they chased after it from behind towards the Xian Kong Saint City!
At the tip of the sandstorm was a silhouette that flitted like a fully-nocked arrow that was released, deftly evading the attacks and skills coming at him from the back with great dexterity. Suddenly, he leaped onto one of the metal chains and strode up it like a furious dragon, rushing towards the top of the mountain!
"Get away!"
The furious dragon-like silhouette was a human-bodied dragon, rushing over with great speed - Bang - a loud boom reverberated throughout the sky as he clashed into Yuan Ji. The two Qi Practitioners crossed paths for a split second and Yuan Ji spat out a mouthful of blood, countless attacks struck at him and he was sent flying away!
In the next second, Hua Feiyu felt like he was rammed at by a wild beast's full-blown charge as he was launched away like a meteor before slamming heavily into the city wall. Blood trickled out of his mouth in thick rivulets before pooling around him like a sanguine field of blooming red flowers. The monsters on the city wall were all shocked and stunned by this sudden development and they were lost for words.
"Long Yue!"
Finally, some monsters recognized the newcomer who stormed in with considerable flair and they shouted collectively, "It's Long Yue that brat!"