Chapter 127: A Battle Between Champions!
The atmosphere in Changan was so vibrant and lively that it almost chased away the wintery snow.
The city was still filled with endless chattering.
There was an uproar in the gambling house in Changan as if someone had splashed it with boiling water. Most of the gamblers were wailing loudly, some of them shed tears of joy.
It had only been less than fifteen minutes since the battle between the Sword Guild and the Main Path Guild had begun, but the Main Path Guild’s team led by Li Yuanzhen had been defeated.
“A bunch of useless s.h.i.ts! Where did their previous confidence go? Was it all a pretense?”
“Where was the team who destroyed the new disciples from other sects? Li Yuanzhen is just a big bully!”
“What kind of stupid strategy this is? Just defending without attacking. A defense so fragile that it was crippled within seconds! Idiots! Idiots!”
“Such a weak defense. I could do that too! Garbage!”
…
All of the gamblers were berating them. Some of them were low-level cultivators, some were Changan’s gambling addicts.
Ximen Xianxian, Wei Sheng and the others looked solemn.
Their levels were far above those ordinary folks and cultivators.
Was the Main Path Guild’s defense strong?
Undoubtedly!
If it was up to the disciples from Karma Society, Immortal Martial a.s.sociation and any other sects, they could not have broken through their defense in such a short amount of time.
However, the Sword Guild’s new disciples seemed to have found the sharpest blade and pierced through their defense so easily!
Li Yuanzhen and the other new disciples of the Main Path Guild could not defend themselves from it!
“So strong!” Ximen Xianxian broke out in cold sweat.
We Sheng clenched his fist as he stared in awe.
He was staring at the thunder blade that Fang Lang had used to pin Li Yuanzhen onto the ring. He took in a deep breath to calm the turmoil inside his heart.
‘Fang Lang has improved significantly! Is this guy a… monster? How long has it been since the Imperial Examination? He has gotten so much stronger since then!’
Wei Sheng always regretted the fact that he did not have the opportunity to fight Fang Lang in the Imperial Examination. However, now he was not confident that he could match Fang Lang’s standards!
He knew that even without the occurrence of unfortunate events in the resource battle, with the skill that Fang Lang and Jiang Linglong possessed, they could easily lead the Sword Guild to the final battle!
The Thunder of Doom exploded the instant Li Yuanzhen went down.
The remaining Main Path Guild disciples were trapped by Geshu Yuehua and Jiang Linglong’s attack. Even though they attempted to fight back with runes, they were quickly defeated.
The three of them refused to give up and vowed to fight until their very last breath.
It was only a matter of time before they would be crushed by Jiang Linglong and Geshu Yuehua, but they were not what Fang Lang was after.
After dealing with Li Yuanzhen, Fang Lang tapped his fingers to transform the Champion’s Blade into a blade thunder and directed it towards the direction of An Fan who was attacking Huang Ying with continuous runes.
An Fan was the key to the final victory of this battle.
Fang Lang scanned An Fan as he charged towards him.
…
Age: 26
Cultivation: Ninth-Grade Phantasm (Fourth-Cla.s.s Spell Mastery); Third-Grade Sword Wave (Third-Cla.s.s Sword Mastery)
Core: 79 (Gold)
Introduction: This is a petty person who holds grudges
…
Fang Lang glanced through the introduction given by the System and proceeded to lose interest in An Fan.
An Fan was quite talented, with a 79-point gold core. He was slightly better than Huang Ying, but Fang Lang was disappointed.
Fang Lang still had an empty slot for a binding partner. However, An Fan was not the person he was looking for.
On the other side of the ring, the battle between Huang Ying and An Fan was still ongoing!
Huang Ying attacked from the beginning of the battle, spreading her sword intent, instantly casting a sword mirage. The Ten Blade Sword Mirage was the pinnacle of the sword intent realm.
Half of the ring was covered by the sword mirage. Huang Ying wanted to breakfree from An Fan’s shackles by using the most powerful technique of a sword master.
Huang Ying was bearing a heavy weight on her shoulders. An Fan was incredibly strong. They were in the same cohort and he was the champion that year.
Huang Ying was underperforming due to mental stress.
She was not confident in this fight with An Fan.
An Fan was surrounded by floating runes, his hair and light blue robe fluttered in the air.
He raised his hand and started chanting. The surge of his spiritual sense was like rough currents that could move mountains, stirring up violent windstorms.
An Fan slightly panicked when he saw that Li Yuanzhen and the team were defeated.
He wanted to finish the battle with Huang Ying as quickly as possible.
Even though Huang Ying was in the same batch as him and joined the Sword Guild, he never paid attention to her.
An Fan thought that defeating Huang Ying would be an easy task.
In his eyes, Fang Lang was more of a threat than her.
However, An Fan soon realized that he was wrong. The female sword master in front of him exhibited incredible tenacity even if her blade energy and blade wave were destroyed by his runes.
Her body was full of wounds inflicted by his killing rune, blood kept flowing out from the wounds.
Nevertheless, she continued attacking relentlessly.
Without any defense, she kept attacking with different sword forms!
She used her sword to slice through runes, using attacks as her shield. Just like that, she managed to hold off An Fan!
“Stacking rune!” An Fan placed his palms together with a serious expression. Spiritual sense exuded between his eyes unreservedly. The air in the ring was thick and suffocating.
This was the first time he took this woman seriously.
With all five elements stacked in the rune, its attack power was significantly amplified.
This was the signature spell of the Main Path Guild, Five Phase Rune!
Huang Ying’s expression grew more determined. Wen Ting’s advice kept ringing in her mind.
Wen Ting told her to give her very best. She did not need to worry about anything else but to attack and bring out her sword mastery.
Other than that, she just needed to believe the little ones.
Huang Ying trusted Wen Ting like how she did years ago.
Therefore, she did what he mentioned.
And she succeeded!
It was enough as long as she kept stalling An Fan from interfering with the new disciples’ battle.
“You’re crazy!” An Fan swore under his breath as he watched the wounded and bleeding Huang Ying get beaten down again and again by his rune.
The Five Phase Rune originated from the Main Path Guild. It was extremely powerful. If Huang Ying continued fighting against it in such a state, she would be digging her own grave!
However, An Fan maneuvered the rune calmly towards Huang Ying.
When the five runes were about to engulf Huang Ying, An Fan’s expression changed abruptly.
From afar, Fang Lang waved his finger blade and cast a blade thunder towards their direction.
“Young fellow master, I’ll cover you!” Huang Ying’s eyes lit up when she saw that Fang Lang had rushed over. She raised her sword in the air and shouted.
With a determined gaze and residual blood on the corner of her mouth, she raised her sword and charged towards the approaching Five Phase Rune!
An Fan that was hovering in the air scoffed, “This will be your demise. The new champion, Fang Lang just entered the third-cla.s.s realm and you’re depending on him to attack?”
An Fan raised his hand and pushed the rune forward.
However, he was stunned when he saw Fang Lang’s blade thunder smashed its way through five to six layers of protection runes he a.s.sembled.
The Champion’s Blade stopped right in front of the rune. The thunderbolts on it dazzled like a thunder dragon from the sky.
This was Fang Lang’s sword!
How did he manage to cast such a ma.s.sive sword spell as a third-cla.s.s sword master?
“Fusion of spell mastery and sword mastery… the Sword Guild’s swordcraft?” An Fan took a deep breath.
However, wall-like runes formed instantly as he completed his gestures. He pushed them forward and formed a ma.s.sive air wave.
The Champion’s Blade was sent flying back. It was the first time that someone was able to withstand his blade thunder.
This was a minor forbidden spell, which would grow in power depending on his cultivation in spell mastery. Since Fang Lang was now a fifth-grade spell advisor, the power of the blade thunder should be rather formidable.
Nonetheless, An Fan was still able to block it. No wonder he was a genius cultivator that reached the peak of the lower fourth-cla.s.s realm.
Among all of Fang Lang’s attacks, the Minor Forbidden Spell: Sword Thunder was the third most powerful spell, with Xuanyuan Taihua’s Instant Lotus Blade placed second and the Meta Sword Nurturing Spell first.
The latter two had the power to kill fourth-cla.s.s cultivators and they were Fang Lang’s best shots, especially the Meta Sword Nurturing Spell where he would channel all his strength into the attack.
Wen Ting spent ten years nurturing his sword and managed to kill the first prince, Li Liancheng who was a ninth-cla.s.s cultivator. Therefore, the Meta Sword Nurturing Spell was his best skill, which also came with the highest cost.
Even though his spell was not as strong as Wen Ting, he would be temporarily weakened after casting it.
Therefore, he needed to use it wisely.
Fang Lang landed on the ground after he kept the Champion’s Blade in the scabbard. He followed behind Huang Ying.
Huang Ying’s white robe was covered in blood patches, but she held onto her sword and stood in front of Fang Lang, protecting him from the attacks.
She slashed her sword and sent out a vicious blade energy that ripped through An Fan’s rune.
Explosions erupted instantly, Huang Ying hung onto her sword as she vomited blood. However, her eyes remained sharp!
Fang Lang stood behind Huang Ying as he cast the Spirit Awl Spell at An Fan.
With the help of his wooden staff, he could cast a spell almost instantly. The Spirit Awl Spell was casted before others could react.
Even An Fan was slightly affected, the Five Phase Rune paused in its tracks. Huang Ying took the opportunity to strike the rune with her blade energy. Fang Lang and her closed in 6 meters to An Fan.
An Fan returned to his senses and quickly pushed his hand down. It was as if he moved an enormous mountain and hurled it towards Huang Ying and Fang Lang.
Huang Ying clenched her jaws and swung her sword!
Boom!
The wave of impact was so strong that Huang Ying shuddered violently. Her palm slit open but she managed to split the mountain into half!
Fang Lang focused his spiritual sense and the Frost Bow appeared in his hand. He drew the bow until the strings were taut.
Suddenly, Fang Lang’s expression changed. His consciousness had entered the Code and his senses were with the arrow.
With the feeling inside his heart, he was able to channel a wisp of the Code’s will into his arrow.
An Fan felt a chill run down his spine as he floated within the revolving runes.
Fang Lang aimed the arrow at him from afar. An Fan felt that he was subdued by an intimidating force.
Swish!
Fang Lang released his fingers and shot the arrow that consisted a wisp of the Code’s pressure right at An Fan.
An Fan shuddered. He gnashed his teeth to regain his senses. He was shocked, but his expression remained unchanged, slightly indifferent even.
This was the battle between two champions.
Huang Ying disappeared in An Fan’s vision, all he could see was Fang Lang!
Champion versus champion!
He, An Fan… would not lose the battle!
Not to mention that he was a realm beyond Fang Lang! Losing was not an option!
An Fan put his hands together.
Suddenly, his sleeves started fluttering, a talisman rose into the air and transformed into a strong fighter. The fighter roared forward and grabbed the ice arrow from Fang Lang.
Even though the ice arrow had a strong pressure, the fighter still went for it because he was not aware of what it contained.
However, Fang Lang’s goal was just to interrupt An Fan from casting the rune!
This was the first time Fang Lang experienced the wrath of a powerful spell master. No wonder the spell masters would always be targeted first in a group battle!
Once the rune was complete, the fate of the battle would be pretty much fixed.
Huang Ying and Fang Lang inched another 6 meters closer to An Fan, making them only 10 meters apart from him.
…
The surrounding crowd was fixated on the three of them.
An Fan channeled all his strength as if he was a deity that had descended from heaven. He controlled the Five Phase Rune to suppress Huang Ying. Even after Fang Lang had joined in, they still failed to get the upper hand.
However, one small difference was that Fang Lang’s continuous attacks allowed Huang Ying to narrow their distance.
Wen Ting sipped on his warm wolfberry tea, his eyes seemed slightly lost in a daze.
He had told Fang Lang to stop hiding. He never thought that Fang Lang would provide such an outstanding performance in the ring of the resource battle, just like he did when he won the championship of the Imperial Examination.
The young kid who had once stood in the practice grounds under the sunset, listening to his advice had fully grown into a ferocious tiger.
The surroundings quietened as everyone was focused on the battle happening on the other side of the ring. Even the rowdy gamblers held their breaths in silence.
Champion versus champion, a duel between kings!
Who would be the winner? No one knows!
…
Huang Ying slashed through another rune. With the sword supporting her body, she gasped for air as blood dripped from her nose and mouth.
She had reached her limits.
She could no longer withstand An Fan’s rune and clear the path for Fang Lang.
Fang Lang gently tapped her shoulders and leaped past her.
“Leave it to us,” Fang Lang said earnestly.
Huang Ying struggled to lift her head. She was smiling.
An Fan smirked when he saw that Huang Ying had reached her limits. Without Huang Ying’s sword intent realm to make way for Fang Lang, he would not be able to endure his Five Phase Rune!
However, An Fan’s expression darkened shortly after.
On the other side of the ring, Ni Wen had completed her rune.
Her blood was boiling inside her body, a faint golden glow rippled in her eyes.
The rune formed above her head and was approaching An Fan according to Fang Lang’s strategy.
All of a sudden, vines started growing from the ground and imprisoned An Fan!
An Fan frowned.
He raised his hand and the vines were instantly shredded. However, the golden ray in Ni Wen’s eyes glowed and the vines continued to grow.
“Bloodline ability?” An Fan faltered. He knew about it as he was very knowledgeable.
On the other side of the ring, Jiang Linglong and Geshu Yuehua rushed over after dealing with the remaining disciples of the Main Path Guild.
Both of them dashed to Fang Lang’s side and replaced Huang Ying’s role to clear the path for Fang Lang!
Fang Lang used this window to charge forward, closing the distance between An Fan and him to only 3 meters!
He raised his hand and flicked his fingers.
Finger Flick Energy Wave?
No!
The moment he snapped his fingers, hundreds of eternal cycles were formed!
Instant Lotus Blade!
A surge of blade energy in the form of a lotus spread from Fang Lang’s body.
With one push, every inch of the air exploded. The fighter formed by the talisman was also ripped apart by the lotus blade.
An Fan’s expression darkened, his eyes were blinded by madness.
He attacked with the Five Phase Rune.
Dust and debris exploded around them the moment the Instant Lotus Blade and Five Phase Rune collided.
An Fan was gasping for air.
It was over!
He stopped it!
An Fan still had some lingering fear as Fang Lang had too many tricks up his sleeve. Besides that, his teammates had also provided him with the optimal conditions for his attacks.
Nevertheless, it was finally over!
A smile grew on An Fan’s face. A sword emerged in his hand, blade wave energy started emitting from his orifices!
He looked at Fang Lang, who was masked by the dust. ‘You didn’t see this coming, did you?’
An Fan was not just a spell master, but he was also a sword master in the sword wave realm!
After the dust settled, An Fan noticed that Fang Lang was not surprised when he saw him with a knife, as if he had long expected it.
An Fan shivered. He felt as though Fang Lang’s deep, dark eyes could see through him.
He was astounded!
He watched as Fang Lang’s cultivation started falling cla.s.s after cla.s.s, and the Obsidian Sword he was holding started billowing blade energy.
What kind of sword was this?
An Fan squinted, the blood in his entire body ran cold.
It dawned on him.
Huang Ying, Jiang Linglong and Geshu Yuehua making way for Fang Lang, Ni Wen’s rune to trap him with the vines!
It was all a plot to provide Fang Lang a chance to make this attack!
This was Fang Lang’s killer move!
An Fan had no choice but to face it head on!
However, An Fan did not have the courage to meet it with his sword!
What a… Monster!
Without any hesitation, An Fan recalled the cracked Five Phase Rune and shielded himself!
The next moment, the Obsidian Sword left Fang Lang’s hand and buried its tip into the rune.
Crackling sound could be heard.
The sword pierced through the five layers of runes!
After breaking through the last rune, it went right into An Fan’s body. The blade energy rampaged his body, including his shoulders, abdomen…
Suddenly, it exploded and created a b.l.o.o.d.y mist!
He channeled his entire reserve of cultivation using the Nurturing Sword Spell in exchange of this killer move!
Even though it was not as impressive as Wen Ting’s, Fang Lang’s sword was sufficient to win the battle between the champions!
An Fan was sent flying into the air before he crashed onto the ground.
He, An Fan, had… lost.
He was completely controlled by Fang Lang’s strategy.
Not only had he lost to Fang Lang, his defeat was also partly contributed by his useless teammates.
If only Li Yuanzhen and the others could hold off Fang Lang for a while longer, he could finish off Huang Ying and lead the Main Path Guild to win this resource battle.
Too bad…
An Fan collapsed.
The Main Path Guild had lost!
The crowd around the ring was in absolute silence as they stared in disbelief.