Ye Wei and Jian Chen, smirking and standing in silence, faced one another on opposite ends of the circular platform, antic.i.p.ating the formidable battle about to take place.
Their presence rose and expanded as the antic.i.p.ation grew in themselves and their audience.
Jian Chen stood still, allowing his Qi profile to increase. His razor sharp Qi rose towards the heavens, the only place which allowed such a bone-chilling breeze. As the Qi wrapped around the platform and filled the arena, the onlookers shivered, thinking winter had come.
In Ye Wei’s eyes there flickered a flash of fear. He discovered his opponents sword was made of runes. This meant Jian Chen’s Qi was powerful enough to keep the integrity of his runes for an extended period.
Ye Wei emboldened his Sentient, sending a rush of thick, immense will-force throughout his body. He lifted his right hand and wrote a long sequence of runes spraying a mercury-like texture in the air, mingling with Chen’s icy Qi.
“Brother Ye, I just want to let you know, I respect you greatly, but I will fight you with everything I have, my respect will not make me weak!” There was an air of determination on Jian Chen’s childish face. He slowly pointed his sword to the ground at a blunt angle; it sent waves of rippling runes in all directions.
“It’s Zhoutian Sword Notion!” The audience on the clouds quickly recognized Jian Chen’s technique.
Zhoutian Sword Notion was Jian Shi Yu’s signature move and defining attack. The technique imitated the positioning of three-hundred and sixty-five of the brightest stars in the sky all centered around the sun. It contained an infinite amount of possible routes. No one could be certain of the attack’s direction and without certainty it almost impossible to defend against and escape unthinkable.
“It’s amazing he learned this technique at such a young age. I can envision a bright future ahead of him already!” the City Lord exclaimed; he could not help but to admire young Jian Chen’s achievement.
“The newcomers this year are incredible!” The cloud’s higher ups cheered and conjectured like they were the school kids again.
Not every year did they see three young cultivators taking out G.o.d’s Seven as was done earlier. Moreover, it was even a rarer sight seeing all three aces of Galaxy Academy being taken out.
“Admirable young ones indeed! We will be replaced by them very soon from the looks of it…”
“We should rejoice that mankind is producing such talented new blood!”
“Well, that is a good way to perceive it!!”
Simultaneously, Tu Fu Sheng examined platform two from a distance, his lips slightly curled up. His eyes flashed green but immediately faded before anyone caught a glimpse.
“Huh, you guys think you’re so tough. Well! I will watch to see which one of you is more worthy to fight me!” Sheng thought but did not say, only his face revealed the jealousy in his heart.
Exposed to Jian Chen’s mysterious energy, Ye Wei felt gravity left him floating in the expansiveness of s.p.a.ce with the stars.
“The Zhoutian Sword Notion is a conceptional stance. Meaning, it allows Jian Chen to materialize the weapons he constructs in his mind. Anything you mentally visualize will appear in reality, so I’ll be fighting you in two arenas, one mentally and one physically…” Ye Wei’s eyes lit up Instead of fearing this unknown battle tactic, he welcomed the new imposing danger with an open mind, letting himself be inspired by Jian Chen.
‘Falling Star form!’
Ye Wei channeled his energy; the runes in his palms transformed and grew into three sharp runic swords: one red, one blue, and one purple blade.
This technique, Selenic Triple-Primal Sword, was what Ye Wei learned after breaking through to a condensed prime Warrior. Although appearance-wise the two methods differed, Ye Wei’s technique’s runic structure was similar to his opponent’s. Jian Chen’s mentor, Jian Shi Yu observed the similarity. He narrowed his eyes and asked curiously to Xu He who stood next to him, “ Who is this kid’s mentor… Could it be Gu Qing?”
“No,” vice-princ.i.p.al Xu replied, shook his head, “He is Master Yi’s legacy apprentice!”
“Oh?! Master Yi’s apprentice? I understand now…” Jian Shi Yu nodded, “How else can this kid be so strong yet still so young… Gu Qing is too stiff to mentor such a flexible young cultivator. Mimicking one’s opponent would be the last lesson princ.i.p.al Gu would teach his apprentices. I wonder, was he taught to use the sword or did he naturally chose the sword? Nonetheless, all of it is impressive.”
Xu He smiled but inwardly felt bitterness towards Jian Shi Yu and his ruthless critique, wondering if his boss should know.
Jian Chen’s loud grunt captured everyone’s attention, “Brother Ye, are you ready?” He stared straight t at Ye Wei; his direct gaze briefly cast his opponent in a trace while the rune array near Jian Chen twinkled and spun around like an astral storm. Zodiac signs were integrated together, becoming runic blades.
A silent pause and then a hail-like noise filled the air; the thousand runic blades like galactic ice n furiously stormed down upon Ye Wei.
The fearsome Qi blades crackled and broke on the platform, fracturing and marked it with a web of cracks resembling a giant spider web.
Ye Wei’s gaze focused on his opponent. His three selenic swords expanded, each becoming thirty meters long. Particularly, the red one became a long blazing fire spear which he shot towards Jian Chen.
The fire engulfed the air making the fire grow thicker and wider. The impact of Ye Wei’s attack weighed the platform down too much causing the amethyst block to break into two halves.
“Bang! Bang!”
The two stance collided in mid-air, breaking the amethyst platform into even smaller debris.
Of course, the matchup of two gifted cultivators was a.s.sumed to be intense, fearsome, and destructive. Nevertheless, the fracturing of the solid stone was incomprehensible to the audience. Everyone was stunned to see the devastation occurring just from the beginning of the match.
Apart from the City Lord, everyone sitting on the cloud platform was high-level condensed prime Warriors. However, the two teenagers’ amount of destruction frightened yet awed the elite fighters.
On the destroyed platform, the raging Qi swords rampaged and whizzed everywhere. After waves and waves of their Qi’s crushing force, the two teenagers were fighting on a bed of sharp stones instead of a smooth surface.
“This is way too powerful!” Ye Wei looked in Jian Chen’s direction; their eyes met.
The starlight in Jian Chen’s pupils iridescently brightened. The Zodiac Blades’ presence enhanced as they became one with his Qi. It looked as if Jian Chen was becoming a sharp-edged weapon himself! He mentally envisioned himself into reality.
The growing sharp presence applied significant pressure on Ye Wei.
‘Supernova first evolution!’
Ye Wei grunted as his Qi presence steeply exploded, empowered, and enlarged the Selenic Triple-Primal Sword stance, allowing the runes engraved on his bones to shine like the sun. He was absorbing Jian Chen’s Zhoutian Sword Notion.
The Glacial Emperor created the Selenic Triple Primal Sword stance. The stance infused three different kinds of energy and the Emperor’s Supreme Sword Notation. Thus, Ye Wei’s technique took advantage of Jian Chen’s rune array, absorbing the bursting energy and strengthening itself.
The selenic primal swords flashed before Ye Wei’s dark eyes. He was studying the movements and patterns of the sword and would soon mimic them.
Although it was not a high-grade stance, the stance contained infinite unknown sword strikes based on the Glacial Emperor’s swordsman experience.
The Supernova evolution’s effect boosted Ye Wei’s cultivation power three times higher.
“What is going on?!” Jian Chen discerningly frowned. He could feel his sword notion being slowly absorbed by Ye Wei’s selenic swords. Additionally, he noticed Ye Wei’s cultivation exploding into a four-star condensed prime level.
‘So, this is his real strength?’ Jian Chen felt threatened as Ye Wei’s Qi fell onto him like a rising tide, ‘Bloodmoon Tri-Eye stance!’ He grunted from the strain of the ma.s.sive energy levels require to create a new-moon-shaped third eye. This eye appeared on his forehead while three bolts of sharp, transparent Qi sped towards Ye Wei.
Ye Wei startlingly felt the density change in the Sword Notation.
“Fine then, Let’s go!” Ye Wei shouted.
A majestic force wave emerged from the fusion of Ye Wei’s three selenic swords. The wave came rushing towards Jian Chen at an incredible speed.
Jian Chen’s stance penetrated Ye Wei’s Qi swords at lightning speed; nonetheless, its initial momentum was slowed down by Ye Wei’s solid and powerful stance, the fight slowly developed to just a battle of swords.
‘Even if I lose, my sword mustn’t!” Jian Chen looked fiercely determined. He began to continuously inject Qi into his Bloodmoon Tri-Eye stance, stubbornly trying to dismantle Ye Wei’s threat.
“Break!” Ye Wei’s eyes glowed hysterical as he screamed.
“Boom! Boom!”
All three of Jian Chen’s newly formed runic swords imploded and swiftly disappeared; they were incinerated by Ye Wei’s blazing sword. The selenic swords then absorbed Jian Chen’s energy, gathering an unstoppable momentum.
“It’s been broken?” A flash of confusion and disappointment appeared in Jian Chen’s eyes. He did not expect Ye Wei to beat him at his own game. The average audience was unable to see the epic battle of their runic powers under all the dust stirred up from the epic clash of energy swords.
However, Jian Shi Yu, City Lord Chen Yuan, and a few other powerful cultivators could discern the great advantage Ye Wei had due to his strange stance, from what they could understand, he turned Jian Chen’s swords hostile to their user.
Technically, it was a Machiavellian maneuver to turn opponents’ stances against themselves almost akin to cheating; the technique remained acceptable because Ye Wei was essentially empowering his stance.
Since the tournament began, Ye Wei had displayed an astounding ability to grow and adapt quickly: from learning Qi Xiu’s Starshifter form, to using Jian Chen’s sword notion, the City Lord was shocked by Ye Wei’s speed and his ability to observe and copy.
Ye Wei was like a dry sponge, soaking all the energy, stances, and forms he fought against in his quest to become stronger.
Without Jian Chen’s stance infused with his own, Ye Wei’s Selenic Triple-Primal Sword was just an advanced mid-level Myst stance; but, with the sword notion, it became as dominant as forbidden-level.
Feeling the sharp edges of Ye Wei’s stance, Jian Chen stumbled and leaped backward as Ye Wei’s three selenic swords merged into one and dug a deep scar onto the mountain top.
Jian Chen dodged the incoming attack as fast as he could; however, Ye Wei eventually pushed him to the edge without him realizing it.
Ye Wei did not appear exhausted after this extraordinary energy display. Instead, he felt energetic and alive.His runes and stance were shining even brighter, burning even hotter than the beginning of the match.
Staring admirably at Ye Wei, Jian Chen showed his respect with a slight nod and a soft gaze.
“Like I told you earlier Ye Wei, I will use all my strength against you as a token of respect, please do the same so that we can learn from each other!” Jian Chen said solemnly. Then the moon-shaped third eye on his forehead shone brightly while a pale-red, circular ball of energy slowly formulated.
The whole mountain top was painted red.
The silenced audience felt like time had stopped flowing, haunted by the stillness and suffocation.
“What eerie stance is this?! It is an impressive moon-shaped globe of energy!”
“Scary!”
None of the youngsters around could ignore the presence that was now crushing them physically; they all pitied Ye Wei as they could imagine what kind of power he will soon have to confront.