Boom!
The Zhen Yuan Black Dragon, as if made of flesh and blood, exploded in pieces. "Flesh" chunks of varying size rained down magnificently, shaking the soul of the surrounding spectators.
The Zhen Yuan flesh chunks rapidly dissipated away before they could touch the ground, setting off a Yuan Qi tornado there, which soared into the sky.
"Impossible! Black Dragon Tyrant Fist was destroyed?"
As sparks flew about his fist, the prince, who had suffered the backlash due to being unable to control the power, hurriedly flew back with his whole face covered in disbelief.
As a low rank profound sense fist technique, Black Dragon Tyrant Fist was an absolute killer fist technique. In terms of might, it was even above other ordinary low rank profound sense skills. Although he had only comprehended a few bits of the skill and couldn"t even bring out ten percent of its might, even this much was amazing for an expert of Astral Reaching realm"s level.
Previously, the prince was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence. He believed that at the level of Astral Reaching realm, be it Shen Tujue or Pei Youdao, all would be suppressed by his Black Dragon Tyrant Fist. In other words, with one move, he would gain the upper-hand. But, after that, he had nothing else left to try. That was the reason he had made the one-move agreement with Ye Chen. By suppressing Ye Chen with one move, he intended to establish his might and a.s.sert his dominance.
But, how could he have imagined that Black Dragon Tyrant Fist, the skill which had always emerged victorious, would merely be able to endure three sword strikes from Ye Chen? These three sword strikes seemed to have penetrated into the hole of Black Dragon Tyrant Fist, directly dismembering the Zhen Yuan black dragon in a soul-stirring scene.
Sheathing the sword, Ye Chen said indifferently, "You let me win."
"Brother Ye"s sword techniques are sharp and peerless indeed. It seems like I can"t really gain the upper hand in one move." The prince barely forced out a smile, although he was extremely sullen inwardly. With so many spectators present, perhaps the news of him being inferior to Ye Chen would travel throughout the Black Dragon Empire within less than ten days. At this moment, he could only play the game of word manipulation and let everyone know that he couldn"t get better of Ye Chen in one move, which might not be the case after one move.
Ye Chen"s said with a smile that didn"t seem like one, "You"re no lesser yourself, great prince. The sharpness of your words isn"t one bit below my sword"s."
"You…"
The prince"s chest heaved up and down, "Ye Chen, this guy… He is actually not giving me a way out. I gave you face, but you let me lose face. Let"s see how long you can keep being so rampant. Floating Mountain won"t sit idle as you grow, and the scattered a.s.sa.s.sins of Nine Evil Cult will come after you like flies. The road to your growth has already been cut off."
"You flatter me, brother Ye. It is your courage that amazes others. To treat Floating Mountain as air… This prince is nothing in comparison." The prince"s eyes narrowed into thin cracks as he said while beaming with smiles.
Ye Chen replied, "Great prince, you entice the disciples of every single big sect in broad daylight. Such guts are far above Ye Chen. How dare Ye Chen show off before you…"
Ye Chen"s words were just like his sword; every single word struck home. Since the prince wished to drag him down, he naturally wouldn"t be polite.
After the two great geniuses finished their battle, they began a war of words. The spectators were dumbstruck. However, as they continued to listen their words, it seemed like Ye Chen had gained the upper hand and was slowly suppressing the prince.
"Very well! This prince has some matters to attend. Do as you see fit, brother Ye. If we meet again in future, I hope brother Ye will still be full of life and vigor."
With his ident.i.ty as a prince, to continue speaking here would be making a fool of himself indeed. He could not lose face in this manner, since the Black Dragon Imperial Family couldn"t.
"Leave!"
The six men left as hurriedly as they came.
Ye Chen smiled coldly. This prince was nothing to worry about. Even Sikong Sheng, Yan Chihou would be stronger than him. At least, they wouldn"t resolve to petty word manipulation if they lost. As the great prince of Black Dragon Empire, his conduct wasn"t impressive in the least.
Once the prince left, everybody"s gaze converged on Ye Chen.
"There are countless regions to the south of True Spirit Continent, with South Rudra region being one of the weakest, and the most lacking in geniuses. However, today is the beginning of a new chapter. Ye Chen is fully capable of competing against the absolute geniuses of other regions."
"The leader of geniuses…His t.i.tle is every bit deserving."
"But, Ye Chen"s situation is quite worrying. He has offended not only the Floating Mountain, Nine Evil Cult, but even the Black Dragon Empire."
"At this moment, it"s hard to say whether his actions are right or wrong. Without such courage and boldness, perhaps Ye Chen wouldn"t be Ye Chen, and he wouldn"t have his current accomplishments either."
This battle had made Ye Chen"s position as leader of geniuses unshakable.
Returning to the Nine Star White Jade Tower, Ye Chen went into seclusion and accepted no guests.
Feng Yanrou"s Ice Snow Sword Domain and the prince"s Black Dragon Tyrant Fist, which were both low rank profound sense skills, caused Ye Chen to feel somewhat threatened.
It was not they themselves that threatened Ye Chen. It wouldn"t be an exaggeration to say that the current Ye Chen could kill them with thirty-forty percent of his strength, and by using fifty percent strength, he could suppress an Astral Reaching Paragon. In other words, fifty percent of his strength was enough for Ye Chen to proclaim himself as the tyrant of Astral Reaching realm.
The reason he felt threatened was because he found himself to be lacking.
Bound by the problem of the profound, Astral Reaching experts couldn"t grasp profound martial skills. However, if Feng Yanrou and the prince could grasp less than one-tenth of the skill, then someone else might be able to grasp more than ten percent, and even one fifth. Perhaps, there were other freaks like Ye Chen who had comprehended peak earth grade techniques to the thirteenth layer and condensed sword soul embryos or martial soul embryos, condensing martial souls or sword souls in the Astral Reaching realm itself. Perhaps they existed, perhaps they didn"t. Ye Chen couldn"t count on the belief that there was n.o.body with such talent and opportunities. True Spirit Continent was so vast, that it could surely produce such freaks.
Therefore, all Ye Chen could do was to unceasingly raise his own strength and never be satisfied.
Profound sense martial skill…Ye Chen also had one, but it was of no use.
The one-style Void Shattering Finger he had obtained was a finger technique, and it was not an ordinary profound sense skill. It involved the concept of s.p.a.ce. Up to this moment, Ye Chen had no idea what s.p.a.ce attribute was. How could he comprehend such a skill? Rather than wasting time on the Void Shattering Finger, it would be better to comprehend the strongest style of Green Lotus Sword Arts, the ninth style.
Right, the ninth style of Green Lotus Sword Arts…
By relying on Battle King"s rich knowledge, Ye Chen was quite clear that peak earth grade martial skills" last style would be extraordinary. It wouldn"t be able to be compared with a low rank profound martial skill, but compared to a tenth of it, it would be a lot more powerful. The almighty Sea of Soul realm experts who created low rank profound sense martial skills had to have cultivated a few peak earth grade skills to perfection. Without perfection, it was impossible to create a profound sense martial skill.
Normally speaking, Astral Reaching experts were incapable of cultivating a peak earth grade martial skill to perfection. However, Ye Chen was an exception. His soul was several times more powerful than the martial artists of the same rank, and his perception was rarely ever seen in the world. Moreover, peak earth grade martial skills were still within the bounds of mentalities.
As long as he could cultivate the ninth style of Green Lotus Sword Arts, within the Astral Reaching realm, the chances of him coming out at a lower position during an exchange of moves could almost be completely disregarded, unless his opponent had already comprehended the profound and could push a profound skill to much higher realms.
Of course, he needed to cultivate the fourteenth layer of Green Lotus Sword Technique as well. However, under same ranks, the difficulty of improving a cultivation technique was more than twice as that of a martial skill. Even many Sea of Soul realm experts would never be able to succeed in cultivating a peak earth grade cultivation technique to perfection.
"With the acc.u.mulation of previous eight styles, attacking the ninth is not impossible. Once I succeed in the ninth style, transformation of mentality into profound will be waiting right around the corner."
After sorting out his thoughts, Ye Chen pondered over the most optimal cultivation location for comprehending sword arts.
On the Floating Mountain Peak, there was only one palace hall.
Inside the palace hall, Floating Mountain"s sect leader, a majestic middle-aged man, was sitting on the head seat. Below him were three people. One was the core elder, Shen Tujue, and the other were two old men who were unseen from the world. Their appearances were extremely aged. According to normal age scale, they were at least in their nineties. Converting this into Astral Reaching realm age scale, they were more than one hundred and eighty years old, approaching the end of their lifespan.
The majestic middle-aged man was naturally Sikong Sheng"s father, Sikong Ba, a descendant of the Cang King.
"Shen Tujue, by relying on your power, even though Ye Chen can be suppressed, he won"t be killed easily. This time, I"ll send Elder Li and Elder Fu to help you. Their strength is more or less the same as you. With you three together, killing Ye Chen would be as easy as blowing off dust."
Sikong Ba said indifferently.
Shen Tujue glanced at Elder Li and Elder Fu, then cupped his hands, "Ye Chen will naturally be killed if the two elders, who cultivate in seclusion throughout the year, help. But before that, I will still like to act alone. If I can"t kill Ye Chen by myself, we can join hands later.
He had his own calculations. If the three of them directly killed Ye Chen by combining their strength, wouldn"t it represent that he was inferior to Ye Chen? This was not his original intention.
Elder Li said with a smile, "Elder Shen is as domineering as ever. Sect Leader, I also feel that Elder Shen himself can deal with this matter. We can just watch from the sidelines."
He and Elder Fu had been cultivating in hiding without any contact with the outside world. With several years of acc.u.mulation and the support of the sect, their strength had become extremely frightening, not below that of Shen Tujue. If the latter couldn"t deal with Ye Chen, it would be the same as saying they themselves couldn"t. Therefore, they didn"t think Ye Chen could be powerful to such a degree.
Sikong Ba nodded, "This time, you can only succeed. Failure is not an option."
"Yes"
Shen Tujue nodded.
With a flick of his robe, Sikong Ba threw out four light streams.
Two of the streams flew towards Shen Tujue, while the other two went towards Elder Li and Elder Fu respectively.
As the three reached out and grabbed the light streams, they were immensely shocked when they felt the ripples coming from within the light. They were actually four upper grade artifacts… A total of four upper grade artifacts!
Elder Li"s artifact was a battle blade; the flowing blade light on it body could be seen cutting the s.p.a.ce. Elder Fu"s artifact was a long spear with a huge serpent coiling on its body. On the other side, Shen Tujue had received two upper grade artifacts. One was a black-colored glove, while the other was a dark-green armor; one for offense and one for defense.
"Sect Leader!" Shen Tujue raised his head.
Sikong Ba said calmly, "I told you failure is not an option. These four upper grade artifacts are from other supreme elders. You"ll have to return them after finis.h.i.+ng the job."
"Shen Tujue understands!"
Feeling the ripples from the artifacts, Shen Tujue was delighted. With two upper-grade artifacts, he was an absolute paragon within the Astral Reaching realm. His offense would be frightening, and so would the defense, allowing him to be in a position of invincibility. It seemed like the sect leader"s desire to kill Ye Chen was quite strong. But, that was no surprise, Ye Chen"s act of directly killing Daoist Jin Huang was already a great disrespect towards Floating Mountain. How could the sect leader let him be?
"We"ll be on our way!"
Sikong Ba waved lightly.