The more bizarre was to come.
While everyone’s attention was drawn to the vortex, it weakened and dissipated even faster, the dust surrounding it sucked in and dispersing completely.
In only a few breaths of time, all of the sand and dirt around it had disappeared. The air had quieted down. There was no vortex. No nothing.
Jiang Chen stood out like a sore thumb. His clothes were in pristine condition. Even his hair was as neat as it’d ever been. It was as if he’d merely stood there, waiting for a moment, unfazed by whatever had happened around him.
What the...
Brown cloak couldn’t believe his eyes. Neither could his three companions.
What was going on? Even if the young man had narrowly survived the earth vortex, it should’ve at least left some marks on him. Nothing could be more humiliating to the brown-cloaked man.
Yan Wanjun and the others brightened up. Huang’er was especially delighted. Gloom lifted from her face and her caring heart returned to its place.
Elder Shun couldn’t contain his excitement. “I knew he’d be fine! There hasn’t been a battle Jiang Chen went into that he didn’t win!”
Yan Qingsang shook his fist and exclaimed vehemently, “That’s right. No one in Myriad Abyss can defeat him!”
Jiang Chen looked at the brown-cloaked man with a faint smile. “Those who don’t know the truth might suspect you of going easy on me.”
That was the most insulting thing he could’ve delivered. Brown cloak’s breath hitched, his face flus.h.i.+ng. If not for the cloak hiding his face, everyone would’ve seen how twisted his expression was at the moment.
Fury boiled in his heart. Now he was truly angry!
However, he had to admit he’d underestimated the young man and the fight. Jiang Chen was much more difficult to deal with than expected.
“Nine more moves. You better have a good think about what you’re going to do.” The more composed Jiang Chen’s smile was, the heavier the blow to brown cloak’s ego. The young lord was acting like this wasn’t a fight, but a friendly sparring session!
“I have to admit you aren’t completely incompetent and that there’s a little something to you, kid, but that was just a warm up.”
Of course he wasn’t going to admit that his first move was one of his most powerful techniques. He had to play it down to save face.
Jiang Chen snorted. “You better have finished warming up in ten moves.”
“I’ll show you what purgatory is with my second, boy!” Brown cloak was fed up with Jiang Chen’s att.i.tude.
He had already planned out the order of the ten techniques he was going to use, but that plan was now out the window. He was going to teach the young man a painful lesson with an ultimate move, preferably making the young man regret his life in three attacks.
Despite Jiang Chen’s taunts, the young lord was concentrating fully on the battle. He was in no place to take his enemy lightly. He wasn’t any better than the cloaked man.
It had been only by chance that he’d been able to use the powerful Earth Bodhisattva Orb to easily dispel the first attack, and it was also the reason why he was so calm. He could tell that the cloaked man specialized in the earth element.
If the subsequent attacks were all with the same element as well, Jiang Chen was confident he’d be able to take them on with ease. He’d wait and see when the man realized the crux of the problem.
An earth specialist wouldn’t be able to reach the same level of power with attacks of other elements, which would make things easier for Jiang Chen.
From the way brown cloak spoke through gritted teeth, Jiang Chen speculated that the next move would be one of the man’s best.
That was precisely what he wanted. He wanted to see how powerful the man’s most vaunted techniques were.
Brown cloak made a series of hand seals as he chanted. From his palm emerged a series of strange glyphs. They multiplied and leapt into the air like sentient beings. The symbols populated the air and morphed into a black hand. Every finger seemed as heavy as a mountain, its presence threatening enough to topple the sky.
“Five fingers form mountains, the road to h.e.l.l opens. Take him!”
Five fingers forming mountains!
Wisps of black restrictions radiated from the hand, looking like black lightning encircling Jiang Chen. The restrictions sparked and popped with ear-piercing intensity. The fingers loomed over the young man and slammed down.
Jiang Chen tilted his head up at the sky. All he could see was the enormous hand as the mountainous fingers slowly descended on him.
He remained composed. Not a change flickered over his expression. The mountainous fingers were still of the earth element, which meant they wouldn’t pose any challenge to him as long as he had the orb.
The earth vortex was meant to churn the enemy to pieces, while the mountainous fingers were meant to crush the foe. Naturally, the latter was more dramatic, fierce, and intimidating.
The black restrictions were a cage, preventing foe from escaping. Before the hand even landed, its powerful presence alone was enough to break tendons and bones, or even destroy one’s will.
Its power exceeded the limits of one’s imagination.
The technique made use of kinetic energy, gravity, and terrifying restrictions. It appeared to be simple, but was in truth complicated.
Nonetheless, it made no difference to Jiang Chen. At the heart of things, it was an earth element attack.
The Earth Bodhisattva Orb was the source of all things earth. It radiated a powerful dissolving and absorbing power, resonating with the mountainous fingers and drawing away their energy. In no time, the terrifying might of the attack dissipated, exposing the black hand for what it was.
The five fingers slowly fell apart with everyone bearing witness.
Slam!
It shattered the way it attacked, powerfully and mightily, but the sight made its cultivator despair.
This can’t be! The brown-cloaked man stared at it in disbelief.
Yet reality was thus cruel.
In only a few breaths of time, the mountainous fingers had collapsed completely. Brown cloak could scarcely believe his eyes, and his three companions were just as shocked.
They knew how powerful brown cloak and his techniques were. Even if they were the one fighting their leader, they’d have a hard time dealing with his attacks. However, the young man seemed to be the natural bane of those techniques!