Chapter 401: Eastern Amethyst Qi, Dance of the Lightning and Thunder Snakes
Lei Gangyang was also rather surprised that Jiang Chen had so casually taken his blow. He was apoplectic with rage, but his fighting spirit only grew.
He let out a long whistle, “The first punch was the appetizer, try taking another ten of my blows!”
When his whistle sounded, the skies and earth changed color as the sun and moon faded into darkness.
Lei Gangyang’s hands crossed as his boxing aura surged. Countless boxing shadows suddenly erupted like geysers. An incandescent firestorm immolated the skies, and fiery clouds fell helplessly to the ground, akin to a blazing meteor shower.
Such a concentrated boxing aura seemed to seal off all avenues of retreat.
Jiang Chen’s face was calm even in the face of such a sight. No dust marred the pristine, mirror-like state of his heart.
He deployed G.o.d’s Eye to the maximum and completely activated Psychic’s Head. In but a second, Jiang Chen had seen through the true meaning of the boxing shadows that covered the sky.
Jiang Chen stepped out, his arm a blur as he rapidly punched several times.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Every boxing shadow met by Jiang Chen’s fists was obliterated as if they were extinguished candles. In an instant, all of the fiery boxing shadows were each countered with a single punch and were scattered into bits, dissolving listlessly in the wind.
“I did as I said, I let you have ten moves.”
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. His smile hadn’t wavered the entire time. It just as leisurely and calm as the beginning.
Lei Gangyang was truly a bit depressed this time.
That move had been the strongest of his Rus.h.i.+ng Solar Thunderpalm. It materialized boxing aura and sealed off s.p.a.ce. Once enclosed, the opponent would be locked at a certain range and first vibrated to death by the boxing aura, then cooked to a crisp by the power of thunder and lightning, and finally burnt to ashes by fire essence power.
However, the scene that he’d envisioned didn’t come to pa.s.s.
His opponent had met punch with punch and suppressed him with boxing techniques, breaking apart the Rus.h.i.+ng Solar Thunderpalm he was so proud of.
Even someone as confident as Lei Gangyang felt his self-a.s.surance crumble.
This was one of his vaunted ultimate moves! Although it wasn’t quite a trump card, even Long Juxue wouldn’t dare face this kind of immense physical attack head on.
He truly hadn’t thought that this d.a.m.ned secular genius would thoroughly break his boxing technique with his own punches.
In fact, it wasn’t that Lei Gangyang was too weak, or that Rus.h.i.+ng Solar Thunderpalm was too low a grade, but that Jiang Chen had just thoroughly surpa.s.sed Lei Gangyang no matter what mysteries he was using.
The Rus.h.i.+ng Solar Thunderpalm was part of Lei Gangyang’s soul of fire and thunder essence.
One was the power of the blazing sun, the other the power of thunder and lightning.
But Jiang Chen’s defenses completely ignored these additional effects. How could the power of the blazing sun break through the defense of the Redscaled Firelizard? Not only did it not harm Jiang Chen, but most of it had ended up being absorbed.
Jiang Chen might’ve been afraid of the power of thunder and lightning a few months ago, but ever since he’d refined a branch of the Thundercloud Tree, Jiang Chen’s body had become impervious to normal thunder and lightning attacks.
Therefore, all these additional effects were completely nonexistent to Jiang Chen, only the physical force behind the punch was left.
How much damage could this kind of physical attack inflict on Jiang Chen?
When she saw the rapidly deteriorating situation in the ring, even Long Juxue’s forehead creased slightly. All along, she’d resolutely felt that her innate const.i.tution would allow her to become a dragon returning to the sea or a tiger returning to the woods after she’d entered the sect. She was convinced that at that point, she would be able to fling everyone behind her, shooting to the skies with a speed that left them all dumbstruck.
As for Jiang Chen, she thought even less of him. He had no sect resources to rely on, and even if he’d made some progress, he would never be enough to threaten her at all. He didn’t even have the right to force her to take personal action against him.
But now, in this moment, she realized that she’d been wrong, horribly, awfully, wrong.
If it He Yan’s death and Hai Tian being crippled had caused no emotional ripple in Long Juxue, then Chu Xinghan’s loss was enough to raise an eyebrow in surprise.
But in today’s match, when Jiang Chen had been able to break through Lei Gangyang’s boxing technique with unprecedented momentum, even Long Juxue had to admit that she likely couldn’t recreate that feat. She was well aware of how invincible Lei Gangyang’s physical body was in close combat.
If it was fist on fist, she would lose quite horribly.
But Jiang Chen had thoroughly suppressed Lei Gangyang!
Didn’t this mean that Jiang Chen’s physical body’s capabilities were much stronger than Lei Gangyang’s?
Long Juxue shelved her previous haughtiness and finally began to truly consider this question. She’d finally recognized that Jiang Chen hadn’t just been bl.u.s.tering when he’d said he was going to challenge her.
He’d come prepared for the purpose of determining who was the better in the ring!
“Jiang Chen, you filthy swine, I’ve rather underestimated you. Good. It would’ve been boring for me to torture you to death if you hadn’t the slightest bit of strength. The stronger you are, the more excited I’ll be when I kill you. However, I’d like to see how you’ll make it past Lei Gangyang in this match!”
Long Juxue was well aware of Lei Gangyang’s strength. The Rus.h.i.+ng Solar Thunderpalm was only one of his techniques. As the first ranked genius within the sect, he naturally had many more trump cards.
Indeed, on the heels of his white-hot rage, a hint of an icy smile appeared on Lei Gangyang’s lips. He grasped with both hands as a black broadsword appeared in his hands.
The sword was three fingers wide, with an edge as long as a grown man’s arm.
When he grasped this sword, Lei Gangyang’s entire aura exploded two fold.
When he circulated his spirit power, purple ripples immediately appeared around the black sword. As if they were countless little purple snakes, they entwined and wove around the black broadsword.
The purple electric snakes were lifelike, seemingly capable of coming to life any second. As they weaved around the broadsword, their numbers steadily grew, making one’s scalp tingle with numbness.
“Jiang Chen, your boxing techniques are superb, but I’d like to see how you’ll break through the judgement of my Sword of Raging Thunder!”
Lei Gangyang was truly angry this time. He was using one of his trump weapons.
The aura of this sword seemed to be one of great perfection. No flaws could be seen, and just one look was enough to give one the feeling that the cultivator in front of them was swallowing the heavens.
“Sword of Raging Thunder? A fully nine times refined spirit weapon!”
“Tsk tsk, he’s the former first ranked of the Purple Sun Sect alright! A fully refined spirit weapon, that’s enough to annihilate all spirit level weapons in one second!”
“This Jiang Chen actually forced Lei Gangyang to use his trump card, his divine weapon! He’s not simple alright. Even if he loses, he has enough to be proud of.”
“Heh heh, why do I feel that even though Lei Gangyang has brought out his trump card, he still might not win? Haven’t you discovered that the further Jiang Chen goes in the selection, the more mysterious he becomes? There seems to be no limit to this secular genius!”
Indeed, those observing the match were all greatly moved.
Up until now, no one had seen Jiang Chen demonstrate his limit.
Where was his limit? What were his trump cards?
No one, not even a single person, knew.
That a cultivator was capable of fighting to this point, but had yet to reveal his trump cards was the scariest!
Sunchaser’s gaze was sinister. Lei Gangyang, ah Lei Gangyang. Now that you’ve used your trump card, the Sword of Raging Thunder, you may not be a worthy opponent for Long Juxue in the finals. However, to be able to stop Jiang Chen, even if you end up grievously injured, that will still count as an unparalleled accomplishment.
Lei Gangyang’s thoughts weren’t quite so complicated at the moment, all he wanted was to win!
Pfft!
Jagged rifts appeared in the air as he swung the black broadsword. It was as if he had fractured the very air, causing crack after crack to appear.
The lightning snake flashed and charged towards Jiang Chen.
“A contest of weapons?” Jiang Chen was fearless as one hand cut down with the nameless saber. Instead of retreating, he advanced, leaping forward like a tiger and slas.h.i.+ng down viciously.
It was said that one strong expert could win out against ten, whereas one swift move could break through ten thousand preparations.
Jiang Chen’s stroke was both powerful and fast. No matter how strong that Sword of Raging Thunder was, no matter how exquisite its moves, everything paled in front of Jiang Chen’s own rhythm.
Indeed, Jiang Chen’s martial dao knowledge was at a divine level.
The Sword of Raging Thunder was indeed impressive, and the accompanying technique quite strange and exotic. But with Jiang Chen’s Psychic’s Head, he’d seen through all of Lei Gangyang’s feints.
Therefore, though the momentum of his blade seemed ordinary and flat, it would always appear in the nick of time and dispel the broadsword’s movement with ease.
Each stroke was just so perfect, wasting not the slightest jot of strength. Any more would seem a waste, an iota less would be insufficient to defend.
To have such a precise grasp of strength, it was completely due to Jiang Chen’s enormous martial dao knowledge and heaven defying comprehension of martial techniques.
However, how would Lei Gangyang know what Jiang Chen’s advantages were?
When he saw that his sword techniques all seemed to be within the other’s grasp, a frigid chill gripped his heart. He almost suspected that someone had previously revealed the mysteries of his sword technique to Jiang Chen. How else could his opponent counter his every move with such calculated precision?
Indeed, no matter how Lei Gangyang switched his moves, he was always unable to break through the other’s defenses. Jiang Chen’s posture was always so carefree, so poetic, as if he was noncommittally sparring with Lei Gangyang.
This… was a ludicrous embarra.s.sment!
Lei Gangyang’s very lungs wanted to explode with his anger. He never would’ve thought that his trump cards would result in such an outcome!
“Jiang Chen, die!”
Lei Gangyang was thoroughly incensed. He pointed the Sword of Raging Thunder up at the sky as his golden armor emitted astonis.h.i.+ng purple light.
“Eastern Amethyst Qi, Dance of the Thunder and Lightning Snakes!”
The terrifying purple qi were as if dark storm clouds. They continued to gather and then suddenly exploded into countless electric snakes, shooting outwards and filling the air around the ring.
There were more than ten layers of purple lightning snakes encircling him in the span of a moment.
“Die, Jiang Chen!” Lei Gangyang grimaced in a horrible smile. The mad dance of his sword and the countless purple electric snakes formed an ocean of thunder and lightning. They howled and roared, becoming an enormous field of thunder and lightning and surrounding Jiang Chen within.
“No!” Thousandleaf suddenly stood up and was about lend a hand.
But how would old monster Sunchaser let him? He suddenly dashed forward and blocked Thousandleaf’s path. “Daoist Thousandleaf, you’ve always been a taciturn one. Why can you suddenly not sit still?”
“You!” Thousandleaf was frantic in his anger. His rage flared. Even with his aloof personality, he was enraged in this this moment.
How could he not tell that Lei Gangyang had hardened his heart to destroy Jiang Chen?
Only someone with power immensely stronger than Lei Gangyang could break through the siege of the lightning snakes!