Hearing what Ye Chen had just said and seeing Gao Changtian"s att.i.tude, a lot of people started to accept what had just happened. Indeed, the t.i.tle of Sword Master would need someone to bear it. If no one dared to, then there would always be a Sword Master missing. Ye Chen taking this t.i.tle would not be as simple as they had imagined. Of course, not many people thought this way; most of them did not think of him as worthy. They all thought that it would only take months for him to end up being the joke of the world, and a lesson for all young warriors."Ye Chen, the battle between you and I is not over yet. I will battle with you another day." Du Gujue did not set a time. It would be meaningless, since the compet.i.tion between them would not be just of one or two days, neither one or two years. If he managed to catch up with Ye Chen, then naturally there would be another battle. If he could not, then it would mean nothing. On the other hand, if they got caught up by the others, then it would be the same.
What he had not expected was that when they met again would already be years later.
As Du Gujue had left, more and more people decided to leave as well. But before they did, they suddenly remembered that the reason that the whole place was packed with people was because Bai Wuxue and Xia Houzun had a battle here one year ago, and this year, there was also Du Gujue and Ye Chen. What about the next year?
"Let"s go!" Bai Wuxue and Lu Shaoyou left one after another.
"Ye Chen, let"s catch up when you have time." Hai Wuya and Yan Fengfeng greeted him before they left as well.
Moments later, the Nine Dragon Lake had gone quiet.
Li Daoxuan and the other two came to the mountain that Ye Chen was on and the former said with a laugh, "Ye Chen, long time no see!"
Ye Chen smiled and said, "Indeed long time no see! Time really flew by!"
"Time goes so fast. Luckily, we have all made it into the Sea of Souls Realm, so our appearance will not change for at least another couple of decades."
Ye Chen smiled again.
Time was cruel and invincible. Only with cultivation might one be able to seize the beautiful moments of life for a bit longer. But even then, they could only have a couple of decades more. When Ye Chen first ran into Li Daoxuan and the other in the Hidden Dragon Match, it was already eight years ago. Within a blink of an eye, time had flown by.
"After eight years, although our appearance did not change, our minds have. Regardless, I am glad that I have met you, Ye Chen. With you appearing, our lives changed drastically." It was Yan Chihuo who was talking. Eight years ago, he would have never said such a thing because he was young and reckless, and feared failures. But after eight years, he had changed a lot. His perception of things had changed as well. Ye Chen"s appearance had not only not silenced them, but somehow also inspired them to be more powerful.
"Brother Yan is right. But, besides the appearance, the only thing that did not really change was you, Ye Chen. You are still so bright and s.h.i.+ning. Ah right, we should start to address you as Sword Master."
Bing Ling smiled, which was extremely rare for her. She looked beautiful under the suns.h.i.+ne like an ice flower under the sun.
Ye Chen smiled politely, "Are you guys planning to stay in the Sky Martial Region for a while?"
"Indeed! We have just arrived in the region, so it is rather new to us. We plan to travel around here for a while." Li Daoxuan nodded.
Ye Chen said, "Hai Wuya and Yan Fengfeng are quite nice. If you guys run into them, just tell them that you are my friends. As for me, I will head back to the South Rudra Region now."
"Alright!"
The three did not try to stop Ye Chen. The more friends they had out there in a foreign region, the better of course.
"Then I will take off now. You guys be careful!"
As he waved his hands in the air, the flying puppet was thrown out. Ye Chen jumped up and turned into a beam of flowy light, disappearing in the horizon.
"We are here and he is gone." Li Daoxuan sighed.
For the three of them, the Sky Martial Region was still rather new, a new start for them basically. But for Ye Chen, it was already so old that there was nothing left for him to learn. He had everything he needed.
…
On the way back to the South Rudra Region, Ye Chen would have to pa.s.s through the Turtle Mountain.
Shoo!
A beam of light shot through, traveling extremely quickly.
"Ye Chen, I have been waiting for you for a long time now." It was right then that a figure jumped up into the sky, blocking in front of the flying puppet. It was a man in gold robes and tied up hair. It was indeed Xia Houzun!
The flying puppet flapped its wings, slowing down its body. On the back of the puppet, Ye Chen stood up while staring at Xia Houzun and said, "If I have guessed it right, you have trained your Void Shattering Finger to completion, right? Otherwise you would not have come to challenge me."
The Void Shattering Finger Art was a low rank profound martial art because it contained the s.p.a.ce profound, which was more powerful than normal mid rank profound martial arts. So far, Ye Chen had also trained his to ninety-nine percent as well. Of course, that last bit was the hardest part. Without full understanding the s.p.a.ce profound, it would be almost impossible to make progress.
"You have guessed it right! Therefore, you have to lose!" Xia Houzun had a golden light s.h.i.+ning around his body, and his aura was aggressively powerful.
Ye Chen shook his head, "Earlier on, you might have had some hope of winning against me. But right now, you have zero chance, because you would not even dare to challenge me in front of others. I think this is why you have been waiting for me this whole time, right?"
Xia Houzun"s face dimmed down.
"Alright, since you are this confident, then bring it on!" Ye Chen put away his flying puppet, his palm holding the sword.
"Falling Star Finger!"
Xia Houzun did not want to talk to Ye Chen anymore as he performed one of his most powerful attacks right in the beginning. After half a year in closed-up training, Xia Houzun had made drastic progress, and not just in his s.p.a.ce profound. Right then, his Falling Star Finger Attack was nothing different from a real star shower. It brought out swaths of explosion while sparks splashed everywhere.
"Break!"
Taking out his Thunder Disaster Sword, Ye Chen held it with both of his hands and then waved down casually, but without any hesitation. That powerful sword aura seemed invincible.
Boom!
A huge area of falling star rain was shattered as that powerful sword qi created a black tunnel within his opponent"s attack, reaching all the way to Xia Houzun even.
"This sword movement?" Xia Houzun looked confused as he pointed out his finger to shatter that sword qi.
"Gold Pattern!"
Ye Chen flew over as his clothes danced in the air, looking like someone out of the world. He waved out another sword attack, and that powerful gold pattern spread out at an extreme speed.
"Impossible! How could his sword aura be this powerful?"
Xia Houzun threw out three attacks of Comet Finger before managing to tear apart the gold pattern attack. That aggressive exploding power pushed him back for dozens of steps.
"Nothing is impossible. I have gotten the t.i.tle of Sword Master, and my mind and spirit have started to evolve as well. At the same time, you are hiding from everyone, hiding the fact that you have lost to me before. Right now, all you are relying on is the fact that you managed to complete you Void Shattering Finger Art. Besides that, you have nothing."
After accepting the Sword Master t.i.tle, Ye Chen could vaguely feel that he had gotten stronger. It was not the kind of external power; instead, it was the kind that one could feel inside. Perhaps it could not be manifested out, but it could give him the confidence to feel more powerful like the sun in the sky. On the contrary, Xia Houzun had been affected by Ye Chen"s sword aura, so he had lost the upper hand already. Perhaps he could still use one hundred percent of his power, but he would not be able to reach his full limit.
The smallest flaws would be expanded in the battles between top warriors. Xia Houzun was not strong enough mentally; therefore, Ye Chen"s power was able to obtain the upper hand.
"Sword Master t.i.tle? Stop joking around! Who do you think you are? Do you think the t.i.tle Sword Master is for everyone? In front of me, you are nothing." Xie Houzun roared as that golden light of his shone even brighter, like a golden sun that rose up slowly. He stood from above, pointing out his finger at Ye Chen. Behind him, that emperor figure shadow appeared out of nowhere. It was so powerful that the sky seemed to have been frozen as well.
"You are already not my rightful opponent, and neither will you ever be in the future…Thunder Devour!"
Ye Chen shot out into the sky, flying even higher than Xia Houzun. Those long black hair of his danced in the air and a sharp sword qi surrounded him, shattering all of the qi field around him. He yelled quietly as if he was the owner of all the swords.
With that, thunder and lightning gathered at the tip of the sword before he waved it down eventually.
Crack!
That silver thunder ball fell from the sky, drawing a silver route in the air as it pointed right at Xia Houzun.
Boom!
The Emperor finger power was shattered and the shadow behind Xia Houzun exploded. As the mirror like shadow had been shattered, the figure twisted before being torn completely. Xia Houzun had been affected by it as well, and he could no longer help but puke out a small chunk of blood.
"d.a.m.n…the Void Shattering Finger!"
XIe Houzun was extremely frustrated. He planed to get close to Ye Chen before performing his powerful Void Shattering Finger. But right now, he did not even have the power to get close to him at all. That sword qi of the latter was so powerful that the air started to shake after the sword attack had been thrown, which boiled up his blood and qi.
Shoo!
The Gold Void Shattering Finger Power could ignore the distance as it arrived right in front of Ye Chen. Even with the sword aura created by Ye Chen from before, he had no choice but to admit that the Void Shattering Finger was extraordinarily powerful. If it were some other martial art or attack containing the same profound, Xie Houzun would never be that powerful.
The gold pattern had spread out in the whole area. As the Void Shattering Finger Power entered the pattern, it was not shattered or disappeared on its own. It was so dense that the gold pattern itself was being affected and vaguely pushed to the side.
"Spiritual Sword!"
At that moment, Ye Chen turned around like a gentle bird in the air. Flying in the air, he twisted his wrist a little and a silver mark landed on Xia Houzun"s chest.
Chin!
Sparks flew everywhere as Xia Houzun was blown backward.
"You managed to avoid my Void Shattering Finger. But it is okay. I already have a semi extreme s.h.i.+eld. It will be impossible for you to wound me."
Xia Houzun was shocked first before cracking out in laughter. That semi extreme rank s.h.i.+eld on him came from a Great Master. With it, his defense was more than doubled. Added with that powerful defensive profound art he had trained, he was able to block out seventy percent of Ye Chen"s sword qi. Only about five percent of that remaining thirty percent would make it through eventually, if lucky.
"Gold Fury!"
Ye Chen"s expression stayed the same as he slashed out his longsword. That twisted gold pattern in the air was stretched out before landing on Xia Houzun"s semi extreme rank defense s.h.i.+eld.
Crack!
A metal exploding sound was heard, while Xia Houzun looked like he had just swallowed a goose egg. His eyes popped out a bit and blood spilled down from his face. That heavy wind blew him all the way away onto a nine thousand meters tall mountain peak, chipping the tip off a bit.
"Isn"t that Ye Chen and Xia Houzun?" A Sea of Souls Realm warrior who was traveling past had a shocked expression on his face, "Haha! I am so lucky! I cannot believe that I got to see this. I bet a lot of people would not know that Xia Hozun lost to Ye Chen."