Chapter 96: Fate’s Hands (1)
Once the poison failed, the Wind-Gathering Clan finally gave up on trying to do anything to Su Chen.
Actually, they were never planning on trying to kill Su Chen anyways. This was obvious based on the medicines they had used on him - their goal was to use him to deal with the impending threat of Fate’s Hands.
But since they had failed, they could only accept the consequences of defeat.
News that a mysterious Arcana Master had suddenly appeared in Dragon Mountain City began to spread - Su Chen had no intentions of stopping it anyways. He didn’t care if Fate’s Hands was aware of his presence and were prepared to take him on.
As per usual, today Su Chen was immersed in studying his Arcana Techniques.
The large amount of studying he was doing allowed him to better understand and control the principles of this world. From time to time, he would converse with Patelocke across long-distances. Even though the Zhu Clan had departed, Patelocke was now in the body of a transmission puppet, enabling him to contact Su Chen and preserve a link to the Zhu Clan.
He was still in the library, but this time he was not reading books - he was writing one.
He was organizing everything that he had learned up until now.
“Sir Azure Mark,” someone called from outside.
That someone was Wind-Gathering Ascension, a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master.
“Come in,” Su Chen said without even raising his head.
Wind-Gathering Ascension walked in and handed a bowl of porridge to Su Chen as he said, “Sir, we’ve prepared the materials you requested.”
“Mm, bring them over,” Su Chen said.
Wind-Gathering Ascension pulled out some materials from his Origin Ring and placed them in front of Su Chen.
Su Chen had requested for them to bring him these materials, but no one except Su Chen himself knew what they were going to be used for.
Su Chen put away the materials and tossed the book in his hand to Wind-Gathering Ascension. “This is something I wrote up that includes the Arcana Techniques the Wind-Gathering Clan pa.s.ses down from generation to generation. Since you guys have been pretty well-behaved for the past few days, I will give them to you.”
Wind-Gathering Ascension wasn’t too interested when he realized that these were merely his clan’s own techniques.
But when he flipped through the pages, his eyes widened. “This…… this is……”
“Oh, I improved some of the Arcana Techniques. They should be about twenty to forty percent stronger. It’s not really a big deal,” Su Chen replied calmly.
Not really a big deal?
Then what was a big deal?
Any “matured” Arcana Technique had been carefully crafted and honed over hundreds or even thousands of years. The reason they had lasted all this time was because they had pa.s.sed the test of time. Under these circ.u.mstances, any improvements could ruin their construction and decrease their effectiveness.
For this reason, improving Arcana Techniques was incredibly difficult to do because of how much they had been honed throughout the years.
Any Arcana Master who could improve an Arcana Technique was worthy of praise and could be considered a true scholar. The Harpies would view such a person very highly.
And now, this Azure Mark guy had managed to improve a few Arcana Techniques in but a few days, increasing their strength by twenty to forty percent. This was not a small increase; how could Wind-Gathering Ascension not be stunned?
And he could basically confirm after reading these records that Su Chen wasn’t lying. The contents of this book were quite miraculous, and the compositions of the techniques were very intricate. Anyone would be able to tell that these techniques were extraordinary just by a quick glance. How could he not be excited and shocked?
Su Chen, however, didn’t care at all. After all, this really wasn’t a big deal to him.
“Fine, this is just to make up for the losses you might sustain when entering Jade Clearmist’s secret treasure realm. This is only fair, right?” Su Chen could sense the shock in Wind-Gathering Ascension’s head.
“This…… Oh…… Perhaps……” Wind-Gathering Ascension wanted to say yes, but felt like it might not be appropriate, but at the same time he didn’t dare say no. He didn’t know what to say.
When Su Chen saw this, he chuckled and didn’t take it to heart.
At that moment, a commotion could suddenly be heard coming from outside.
Youthful Abundance’s footsteps could be heard, along with her shocked voice, “Sir, Fate’s Hands is here!”
“Oh? So they’ve finally arrived.”
Su Chen had been waiting these past few days for Fate’s Hands. Now, he could finally resolve the issue.
He stood up and left the library.
There were three Harpies standing in the middle of the Wind-Gathering Clan’s main courtyard.
Standing at the front was a female Harpy with fiery-red wings and long red hair, wearing a red robe. She looked just like a fiercely burning fire. The other two Harpies were a pair of brothers who looked identical. However, one had black skin, while the other had white skin. Their wings happened to be flipped - the black-skinned Harpy had a pair of silver wings, while the white-skinned Harpy had a pair of black wings.
Wind-Gathering Ascension’s expression s.h.i.+fted drastically when he saw these three Harpies. “Flaming Femme and Chaotic Wind?”
“Oh? So you know our name?” the red-hot Harpy in the middle chuckled.
Su Chen couldn’t help but shoot Flaming Femme another glance when he heard what her name was.
The woman noticed that simple glance and turned to look at Su Chen. “I heard that the Wind-Gathering Clan found an impressive backer. It seems like that person is you. So are you planning on supporting the Wind-Gathering Clan?”
“Yes, I am,” Su Chen chuckled in response.
Wind-Gathering Ascension said, “Sir, be careful. One of them is a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master, while the other two are Sixth-Ring.”
Seventh-Ring Arcana Masters were considered high-tier Arcana Masters amongst Sky Country, and Flaming Femme was quite well known amongst her tier. Her talent was extraordinary, and challenging her was quite difficult. As for the Chaotic Wind Brothers, their cooperative abilities allowed them to match up against a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master even though they were both only at the Sixth-Ring.
These three important individuals had most likely come because of this “Azure Mark” guy.
Amongst the Seven Kingdoms, these kinds of people would have very high status, and the same went for the Harpies.
For this reason, even Wind-Gathering Ascension didn’t have much faith in Su Chen.
However, it was too late for him to regret. He could only hope that Fate’s Hands wouldn’t slaughter them all after taking their map.
However, Su Chen said carelessly, “Seventh Ring? That’s pretty good. You should make a good opponent.”
“What? Do you think you have a chance of winning?” Flaming Femme said scornfully.
Su Chen chuckled. “We’ll know once we fight.”
“Courting death!” Flaming Femme’s expression sank as a violent wave of flames surged towards Su Chen from her body.
As her name implied, her control over fire-type techniques was outstanding. The intensity of these flames was clearly on a completely different level. All of the nearby Fire Origin Susbtance in the air came under her control and began to burn brightly, unleas.h.i.+ng a sweltering wave of heat.
However, this was only the beginning. Under her control, the streaks of flame seemed to turn into needles in her hand, allowing her to st.i.tch together a beautiful painting of flames.
The flames first formed a ma.s.sive lotus, which revolved in the air as it ascended.
“Raging Flaming Lotus!”
This Flaming Lotus threatened to consume the entire clan. Obviously, Flaming Femme had no shortage of killing intent.
When faced with Flaming Femme’s powerful attack, Su Chen shook his head. “Strength alone will not get you very far, and you are not the only person who can control Origin Energy.”
As he spoke, Flaming Femme suddenly discovered that her supply of Origin Energy had suddenly been snuffed out.
A powerful will was beginning to forcefully seize control of Origin Energy from her.
Competing for control over Origin Energy was not a rare occurrence. After all, chaotic flows of Origin Energy originated as a result of these struggles. Everyone wanted to control the Origin Energy contained in the environment, but there was a limited supply. As a result, there was no option but to compete for this limited supply of Origin Energy.
This was one of the limitations of people who utilized energy in the environment to fight. People who cultivated by increasing the strength of their own body were able to somewhat alleviate these limitations.
This was one of the reasons why humans eventually began to give up on Arcana Techniques.
But this was Flaming Femme’s first time seeing someone physically cut off another person’s supply of Origin Energy.
Fighting for Origin Energy was like trying to eat food out of the same bowl. You might be able to eat more than your opponent, but it was very difficult for you to prevent your opponent from eating at all.
Even Tenth-Ring Arcana Masters had a hard time accomplis.h.i.+ng this feat, so how had this Azure Mark guy managed to do it?
Was he a legendary Arcana Master?
As soon as this idea surfaced in her head, Flaming Femme began to tremble uncontrollably.
Of course, Su Chen was not a legendary Arcana Master. There were four main reasons he was able to do something like this. First of all, his control over Origin Energy was impeccable; his experience on the chaotic battlefield when in Ravager territory allowed him to perceive and manipulate the turbulent flow of Origin Energy. As his cultivation base advanced, his understanding of these principles had also deepened. Second of all, because s.p.a.ce was everywhere, his mastery of spatial principles had enhanced his control in general, which allowed him to cut off Flaming Femme’s supply of Origin Energy. Third of all, he was already quite proficient in using flames because his most powerful technique was the Flaming Phoenix Theurgy Art. Finally, his own physical strength was actually suppressing Flaming Femme somewhat.
When combining these four aspects, it was no surprise that Su Chen could cut off her supply of Origin Energy. If it were any other opponent, or if Flaming Femme used some other kind of Arcana Technique, Su Chen would have found it quite difficult to achieve a similar effect.
Flaming Femme didn’t know this, however, and was quite badly startled.
“You…… You…… How is this possible?” she yelled shrilly.
Su Chen chuckled coldly, “You were the one who got yourself into this mess.”
As he spoke, the flaming lotus collapsed into a ferocious wave of flames that swept towards Flaming Femme.
To keep his ident.i.ty a secret, Su Chen didn’t turn the Flaming Lotus into a Flaming Phoenix. Instead, he relied on a primitive form to attack his opponent, causing the attack to become slightly weakened. Even so, the bystanders were stunned.
What kind of tactic was this? How was he able to use it on an opponent’s Arcana Technique?
This totally went against conventional Arcana Technique theory!
Flaming Femme was panicking, but at the very least she was still able to move. She immediately retreated.
At the same time, the Chaotic Wind brothers attacked.
They didn’t know why Flaming Femme had suddenly retreated, which was why they were bold enough to still attack.
They immediately unleashed two powerful Sixth-Ring Arcana Techniques.
Ghost Weeping!
Starlight l.u.s.ter!
A black streak of light mixed with a white streak of light, the resulting attack s.h.i.+ning radiantly even as it exuded a strong, dark aura of death.
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