Chapter 163: Duel (2)
“AH!”
Astin cried out in pain.
Wounds and lacerations covered his torso, stretching from his shoulders to his midsection.
He had actually been wounded!
A Yang Opening Relam brat had actually managed to wound him, an Arcana Master!
Astin was incredibly angry.
“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” He howled fiercely as he stared intensely at Su Chen, a strange light flickering through his eyes.
Pupil’s Gaze!
This was an innate Arcana Technique that only the Arcana Race could use. When he gazed at an opponent with this technique active, he could see through their defenses and tailor all his attacks to hit those weak points.
As Astin stared at him, Su Chen instinctively felt a sense of extreme danger wash over him.
He knew that the situation wasn’t good. He drew the heaven-sundering blade back into a defensive stance, and all of the buzzing lightning withdrew and channeled back into the blade. The Primordial Blood Incarnation also shrunk along with Su Chen, and its might correspondingly decreased as Su Chen compressed himself as much as possible.
A blindingly brilliant light began to s.h.i.+ne.
At the same time, raging flames began to gather within the elemental vortex. The surrounding temperature rapidly rose, making it feel like the sun was about to crash into the earth. The immense pressure almost caused Su Chen to start yelling.
It was a Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique!
This was the highest-tier Arcana Technique that Astin could unleash and was technically him skipping a tier. The frightening amounts of power that Arcana Techniques could unleash was put on full display as the ambient energy surged wildly. Even the Swamp Constrictor, which was currently swallowing up the Resurrection Door’s subordinates as it pleased, suddenly felt a wave of fear wash over it as it turned in that direction.
Su Chen had no option but to try and meet the blow with all his strength.
He immediately pulled out an Origin Stone and began to absorb the Origin Energy inside. He had no room to hold back, and didn’t either, unleas.h.i.+ng all the energy in his body in that instant. Meg’s Guardian, Adamantine Battle Body, and all of his other defensive techniques were used unsparingly.
The two violent waves of energy collided with each other.
Boom!
Su Chen was immediately sent flying. He crashed into countless trees, knocking them down before finally landing on the ground nearly a hundred feet away.
Pu!
Su Chen rolled onto all fours and spat out a mouthful of blood.
“How fierce! How powerful!”
In that instant, even Su Chen couldn’t help but sigh in amazement at how powerful Arcana Techniques were.
The Fire Halo was typically meant to be used against a group of enemies. If it had been a skill that was meant for a single target, the outcome might have been even more scary. Given Su Chen’s current strength, he would have been seriously injured in a single strike.
Ancient Arcana Techniques really were incredible.
Now that he thought about it, he had neglected Ancient Arcana Techniques for awhile now in his research.
Since he had run into Astin now, then perhaps now was a good time to further his understanding of Ancient Arcana Techniques.
If he could combine the Ferocious Race’s body-tempering techniques with the Arcana Race’s Arcana Techniques and a.s.similate both of them into the human cultivation system......
Su Chen began to fantasize.
He actually had the heart to fantasize at this moment.
Astin’s gaze was filled with apprehension and a trace of fear.
“You blocked it? You actually blocked my Fire Halo?” He couldn’t believe it.
“Oh, it’s only because I was well-equipped,” Su Chen replied as he modestly pointed to himself. “I’m actually not that well-versed in defensive techniques, so it’s all thanks to my equipment that I survived. I thought it was more than enough, but you sure taught me a lesson. It seems like I need to spend some time increasing my defensive capabilities; I’ll probably start with taking a look at how the Ferocious Race cultivates their physical bodies. Also, the Primordial Blood Incarnation grants me great offensive power, but not much in the way of additional defense. If I continue to improve it in the future, I should focus on strengthening its defenses......”
Su Chen couldn’t help keep blabbering as soon as he started talking about his plans for the future.
Perhaps this was a disease that every scholarly overlord suffered from.
Astin’s expression was incredibly ugly. “I didn’t come here just to listen to you talk about things like this!”
“Me neither,” Su Chen laughed.
He slashed down with his blade again.
This blade strike seemed different from before, as this time it threatened to tear a hole in the very fabric of s.p.a.ce. Faint motes of starlight could even be seen upon the surface of the blade.
As these motes of starlight shone, the momentum of Su Chen’s blade surged to a shocking magnitude, and the pressure emanating from the blade was almost impossible to withstand.
The very air seemed to distort under the pressure.
Unlike the warpage of a magnetic field, this distortion was purely a result of the blade’s powerful momentum.
Different causes, but the same effects!
The shocking wave of energy propagated forward, generating distortions no weaker than what Astin’s lightning ball had been able to produce. However, Su Chen’s blade strikes came one after the other. In but an instant, twelve blade strikes had been unleashed!
How was a person to deal with twelve attacks as powerful as the lightning b.a.l.l.s that Astin had released earlier?
There was no place left for him to run!
This was the instinctive emotional reaction that Astin felt.
However, Astin was no ordinary foe. At the exact same time that Su Chen attacked with his blade, Astin placed his palm in front of him, and his crystal mirror appeared once again.
This time, however, the mirror didn’t appear in front of Astin but rather directly behind him. Not that, but its surface area was also pitifully small. It was about as large as Astin’s body.
The crystal mirror shone onto Astin’s body this time, causing his shadow to come to life.
Mirror Body Technique.
Not only that, but the two Astin’s then attacked simultaneously. The s.p.a.ce in front of them began to thicken and congeal, until a black light appeared again, flowing out like a wave of pitch-black ink. Under this light’s influence, all of the blade strikes seemed to slow down drastically and even began to collide with each other.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Seven of the blade strikes narrowly missed Astin, leaving behind seven deep scars in the ground where they hit. The other five managed to connect with Astin, blasting away the crystal mirror and sending him flying. He spat out a mouthful of blood.
Actually, only one of the blade strikes had managed to connect, but that single blow was enough to leave him even more gravely wounded than Su Chen!
The Arcana Race was far inferior to the human race when it came to physical strength and resilience.
Su Chen smiled slightly. “That’s more like it.”
In this exchange, both parties had been wounded.
However, Su Chen’s powerful recovery ability made it so that he could basically ignore this kind of wound......
Wait a minute — what was he seeing now?
Astin had placed his hand on his body, and a green glow emanated out, enveloping his body.
Then, the two wounds that Su Chen had managed to inflict on him disappeared just like that.
Su Chen helplessly shook his head. “Fine, a recovery-type Arcana Technique. It seems like it’s one of those exceptionally powerful ones.”
Recovery-type Origin Skills were quite obviously weaker with the exception of unique Origin Skills like the one w.a.n.g Doushan possessed, and there was no way the user could just recover whatever whenever they desired.
Su Chen was forced to admit that he was once again at a disadvantage.
“Alright, I admit that you are very strong. However, this is just the beginning.” Su Chen smiled before his expression suddenly tightened. “Receive my blade!”
Whoos.h.!.+
Another wave of blade energy surged forwards.
This time, Su Chen unleashed his full strength. The s.p.a.ce between the Heavens and earth was filled with his blade light — flames, lightning, and the glint of cold steel all mixed together to paint a beautiful, dazzling picture.
Astin suddenly discovered that his own Arcana Techniques were not as strong as he would have liked when facing such a powerful attack.
If Ancient Arcana Techniques were superior in terms of variability, then they were inferior in sustainability.
“NO!” Astin howled.
No matter what, he could not accept the possibility that he, a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master that was equivalent to a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, would lose to a Yang Opening Realm human.