Chapter 252: Ignorant
A young man dressed in white stood in the air, standing face to face with the man who was dressed entirely in black. From a distance, the pair made quite a distinct contrast.
“You’re also a mid Dharma adept from the Lightning Sword Sect?”
Han Yuzheng, the young man who was dressed in black, looked at the young man in front of him who was dressed in white. He raised his brows and squinted slightly, the smirk on his lips looking slightly more strained than it did before.
“Zhou Donghuang, a disciple of the Autumn Valley,” Zhou Donghuang said unhurriedly as his eyelids raised sluggishly, and he glanced over at Han Yuzheng casually.
“An Autumn Valley disciple?”
Han Yuzheng was shocked at first. The smirk on his lips seemed less forced this time. “Did you not see that a core disciple from your sect had lost to me?
“You don’t think that you, an inner disciple of the Lighting Sword Sect, could possibly be my match, do you?” Han Yuzheng said with contempt in his eyes and a smirk on his face that seemed to become crueler.
At the same time, quite a number of Lightning Sect members grew dull after they heard Zhou Donghuang’s self-introduction, but then they reacted.
“It’s Zhou Donghuang, a disciple of the Autumn Valley! He’s the one who managed to defeat the Summer Valley disciple, Lian Can mere moments after being at the early Dharma stage!”
“This Zhou Donghuang, he’s only been at the early Dharma stage for a few months. He can’t mean to say that he’s already at the mid Dharma stage?”
“That’s impossible! How can he possibly make such a leap from the ultimate Primal Core stage to the mid Dharma stage within just a few months?”
“He can’t possibly be trying to go up against Han Yuzheng with his mid Dharma training, right? Now that I think about it, Zhou Donghuang’s actually younger than Han Yuzheng.”
…
Naturally, Han Yuzheng heard what the Lightning Sect Members were discussing. “He moved up to the mid Dharma stage a few months ago?”
“He defeated the Summer Valley disciple Lian Can? That Lightning Sword Sect disciple who lost to Xie Yun?”
Han Yuzheng remembered that the first inner disciple the Thunder Knife Sect sent down today had once sparred with and subsequently defeated a Lightning Sword Sect disciple by the name of “Lian Can.”
This time, the smirk on his lips was so contemptuous it could not possible become any more so.
“Valley Head He.”
From up above in the sky, Luo Yuanqiu stared deeply into He Jin’s eyes. “Is it possible that this disciple from your Autumn Valley is stronger than Hu Jian?
“He doesn’t seem to be any older than my disciple Han Yuzheng.”
He Jin smiled indifferently at Luo Yuanqiu’s words. “He’s only 24 years old this year as well… He’s more or less the same age as this disciple of yours.”
“The same age? Interesting, interesting.”
Luo Yuanqiu was shocked. But then he smiled, and his eyes gleamed with contempt.
A 24-year-old inner disciple of the Lightning Sword Sect has the guts to go up against his favored disciple, Han Yuzheng?
This was basically setting himself up for failure!
Luo Yuanqiu firmly believed that there was not a single person of Han Yuzheng’s age in the entire Hengliu galaxy, let alone the Tielao planet, who was a match for him.
“Junior Brother He.”
Lian Can stared suspiciously at Zhou Donghuang who made his way forward. Lian Kun leaned towards He Jin and asked surrept.i.tiously, “This Zhou Donghuang from the Autumn Valley, he hasn’t broken through to the mid Dharma stage yet, has he?”
Lian Kun knew full well the extent of Zhou Donghuang’s abilities.
He had barely broken through to the early Dharma stage before he defeated his foster son and disciple Lian Can… The fact of the matter was that, when Lian Can was at the early Dharma stage, there was basically no one in the whole Summer Valley at the same stage who was a match for him.
However, he still lost pathetically to Zhou Donghuang despite giving the first strike.
Since that moment, Lian Kun had thought Zhou Donghuang was not merely a simple person.
He Jin went ahead and had Zhou Donghuang step forward despite the fact that a mid Dharma core disciple of the Lightning Sword Sect had lost to Han Yuzheng, so what did that say about him?
He Jin was confident about Zhou Donghuang!
And it was precisely because of this that he asked He Jin if Zhou Donghuang had already moved on to the mid Dharma stage. Although he did not think it was possible, he could not help but ask anyway.
This was because he felt that Zhou Donghuang had already been strong when he was still at the early Dharma stage, but even then he would only be stronger than the average mid Dharma adept.
With a mid Dharma adept as outstanding as Han Yuzheng, it was more likely than not that Zhou Donghuang was not his peer.
Judging solely by the capabilities Han Yuzheng had displayed, not even a late Dharma adept could beat him in battle.
“Senior Brother Lian, you’ll have your answer if you keep watching, no?”
He Jin had no direct answer for Lian Kun’s query, save for a mysterious smile that made Lian Kun uneasy as he turned back to look towards the stage.
…
“Zhou Donghuang, was it?”
Han Yuzheng looked at Zhou Donghuang, smiling derisively. “You have to manifest your Dharma power if you want a match with me… Otherwise, I fear you might not even have the chance to manifest it at all.”
It was needless to say, but Han Yuzheng was arrogant.
Arrogant as he was, even the Lightning Sword Sect members present now could not deny that he had every right to be this arrogant.
After all, the only mid Dharma adept they had in the Lightning Sword Sect could not last more than three moves with him.
Zhou Donghuang was unfazed and undisturbed in the face of Han Yuzheng’s arrogance.
On the other hand, the same could not be said of Han Yuzheng when he heard what the man said.
“If it were not because my Valley Head had instructed otherwise, I, Zhou Donghuang, have no interest in coming out here to teach someone as ignorant as you a lesson.”
This was what Zhou Donghuang said.
“You… you’re saying I’m ignorant?”
The contempt in Han Yuzheng’s eyes was replaced by a cold gleam. When he looked at Zhou Donghuang again, it seemed like his entire face was covered with a layer of frost.
The mocking smirk he had on his face was replaced with a grim smile.
“Just that little bit of skill you have from being a mid Dharma disciple, and you think you’re peerless? What are you if not ignorant?” Zhou Donghuang asked with a shake of his head. Right from the beginning up until this moment, his tone had been calm. It was impossible to detect a trace of emotion or inflection from his tone.
Unlike how calm Zhou Donghuang was, Han Yuzheng was boiling with rage.
Whoos.h.!.+
Han Yuzheng’s giant umbrella made another appearance. The ten-meter-tall giant umbrella conjured out of Dharma power was spinning nonstop above his head. From every angle, the umbrella looked perfect and harmonious, as if it had no flaws.
Of course, this was from the perspective of the audience.
In the eyes of Zhou Donghuang, there were still two fatal areas in his umbrella, even though there were not many flaws overall. One of the areas was not too bad since it was hidden on the inside, but there was still one flaw that was visible from the outside. No matter how hard Han Yuzheng tried to conceal it, it could not be concealed.
“Alright! I’m convinced! This Autumn Valley disciple Zhou Donghuang is at least more arrogant if not more competent than Han Yuzheng!”
“I’d thought that Han Yuzheng was arrogant enough… to think that this guy is even more arrogant. He even kept a straight face through all of that!”
“In terms of ignorance, Han Yuzheng truly is more ignorant compared to Zhou Donghuang.”
…
Out of all the Lightning Sword Sect members gathered here today, there was not a single person who thought that Zhou Donghuang was a match for Han Yuzheng. However, now that they had seen Zhou Donghuang completely intimidating Han Yuzheng, they felt a sense of relief wash over them.
“Zhou Donghuang, you’re saying I’m ignorant…”
Han Yuzheng glared coldly at Zhou Donghuang, and his umbrella spun at a speed even faster than before. “You, an inner disciple from the Lightning Sword Sect calling me ignorant. I really do want to see for myself just what you’re made of.”
Han Yuzheng lunged forward as soon as he said that, his entire being propelled forward by the giant umbrella. Not only was his attacking stance a violent one, even his defensive stance left no gaps for attack.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
…
The umbrella was humming as it continued spinning in the air, much like a spiral blade.
Han Yuzheng moved to strike first, charging towards Zhou Donghuang under the watchful gaze of the crowd.
Han Yuzheng was las.h.i.+ng out aggressively this time, his actions fueled by rage. Obviously, there was no way he was holding back this time.
“I called you ignorant, and you can’t handle it?”
Zhou Donghuang’s face remained unchanging in the face of Han Yuzheng’s aggressive attack. As he refuted mildly, he conjured a giant tiger with his Dharma power. The king of all beasts took in its surroundings.
“I’ll consider it your win if you can accept just one of my blows,” Zhou Donghuang spoke again. It was not just his bold claim that shocked the crowd, but also the following transformation of his Dharma power.
The crowd watched as Zhou Donghuang’s Dharma power suddenly fell to cling onto his body, making it seem like his body was alight with a raging flame of inner Yuan.
The giant tiger was vaguely distinguishable in this inner Yuan fire: like a tiger’s head, a tiger’s body, and a tiger’s tail.
The Dharma power was, in this instant, perfectly in sync with Zhou Donghuang’s body.
“Dharmic possession?!”
The crowd took in the scene that had momentarily stunned them.
Dharmic possession was something a lot of ultimate Dharma adepts failed to do before they moved to the Primordial Soul stage.
It was something that required a complete mastery of Dharma power on top of the ability to temper Dharma power well enough that it was essentially perfect. The adept had to also be able to command the power of Dharma as if it were their own limb… Not a single requirement could go unfulfilled.
Whoos.h.!.+
Under the gaze of the crowd and in the face of Han Yuzheng charging forth with his giant umbrella, Zhou Donghuang s.h.i.+fted and pounced like a ferocious tiger bounding down a hill. He swung down and, in an instant, a Dharmic phantom in the shape of a tiger’s paw gleamed around his palm, visible but almost not.
Bang!!
With a loud boom, Zhou Donghuang’s blow landed on the surface of Han Yuzheng’s umbrella. He had precisely hit one of the fatal flaws in the umbrella.
This was a flaw that Han Yuzheng had been trying to conceal. To an extent, he had the umbrella spin nonstop in order to conceal this fatal flaw.
Zhou Donghuang had struck it precisely. The umbrella was not able to withstand the strength of his Dharma power and was smashed to pieces immediately.
At the same time, a jolt ran through Han Yuzheng’s body. He felt the inner Yuan blow back on him. His face turned red, and he fought against the instinct to spit out blood.
Cras.h.!.+
Try as he might, the pressure built up suddenly when Zhou Donghuang landed the blow and brushed up against his shoulder. The pressure was so immense that he could hold it in no longer, and he coughed up blood.
When Zhou Donghuang’s blow brushed Han Yuzheng’s shoulder, his robes tore and split to reveal his arms. There were burn marks visible on the exposed skin, and blood poured from the wound in streams, making for a nasty sight.