Chapter 387: Sweeping Through the Six Directions, Crushing the Eight Wastelands |
"After Li Qianyun was defeated by Li Tianqing, she developed a demonic heart."
Zhang You was shocked and said to Zhai Yuanyuan beside him, "I heard that when she entered the Upper Realm this time, her goal was to defeat Li Tianqing. Just now, when she saw Top Scholar Chen using Li Tianqing's methods to defeat Xia Tianjie, she truly mistook Top Scholar Chen for Li Tianqing."
Zhai Yuanyuan had also heard about this. Legend had it that a genius had emerged from the Li Family's outer sect, rebelled against the Li Family, and together with Chen Shi, plundered the Thirteen Great Clans' medicine fields in Qingzhou, forcing the various clans' ancestral masters to emerge from seclusion early, only to be brutally beaten by both Creation Little Five and Chen Tang in the Western Capital.
The Li Family had made the pursuit of Li Tianqing a competition to select the next Sect Leader. As a result, all the experts among the Li Family's younger generation were dispatched, but one by one they fell to Li Tianqing's hands, Li Qianyun among them.
Rumor had it that after that battle, the Dao Hearts of the Li Family's young experts were all severely damaged. Li Tianqing had even become the nightmare of this generation of Li Family youth - the kind that would wake them up in terror.
Clearly, Li Qianyun was among them.
Her obsession with defeating Li Tianqing was too heavy, leading to a demonic heart.
Xia Tianjie was covered in blood, falling from the sky and stumbling as he landed. His voice was deep as he said, "Li Tianqing, Xia admits defeat willingly. If there's a next time, I will definitely challenge you personally!"
He was also decisive, immediately sealing his wounds, taking out various medicines, sending them into his Primordial Spirit, and refining their medicinal power.
The fact that every spear could so precisely avoid vital points showed that "Li Tianqing's" strength was indeed extremely terrifying!
"Brother Zhang, is Li Tianqing really this strong?"
He asked quietly, "Is it Li Tianqing who is this strong, or is it the Child Prodigy who is this strong?"
Zhang You hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "The Child Prodigy definitely is this strong, but whether Li Tianqing has such strength, I wouldn't know. If Chen Shi wasn't exaggerating about him, then this person is likely indeed extremely formidable. What's most formidable is Li Tianqing's ability to anticipate the enemy and break them."
Zhai Yuanyuan's gaze fell on Chen Shi as he slowly descended. She said, "I think that to defeat Li Tianqing, you shouldn't give him any time to observe you. Attack with the fastest speed possible, directly using your most perfect techniques. Otherwise, this person will definitely find your weakness!"
Ma Zhe shook his head. "I think that as long as my cultivation techniques and spells are perfect enough, perfect enough to have no weaknesses, then he won't be able to do anything to me!"
His words carried a strong confidence, deeply believing that his hard cultivation made him incomparable to someone like Xia Tianjie, whose primal yang had been broken.
Zhang You thought for a moment and said, "What I worry about is that Top Scholar Chen is only imitating Li Tianqing's abilities, and at most can only replicate seventy to eighty percent of them. The real Li Tianqing might break his opponents even faster. If he has extensively studied the strengths of various schools, he might be able to find your and my weaknesses in the process of fighting."
Zhai Yuanyuan laughed. "Does such a person exist?"
Zhang You said, "Perhaps."
That Chen Shi possessed the True King's Treasury was no longer a secret among the Thirteen Great Clans. Li Tianqing was very close to him, and it was highly possible that he had already obtained the various cultivation techniques stored in the True King's Treasury. With that person's heaven-defying talent, if he were thoroughly familiar with the techniques of each clan, he would likely be not just the Li Family's nightmare, but also the nightmare of the other twelve clans!
The question now was whether the True King's Treasury contained the various techniques of their Thirteen Great Clans!
If it did, Li Tianqing breaking their techniques would probably not be too troublesome.
"Top Scholar Chen, I want to test Li Tianqing's abilities!" Zhai Yuanyuan looked at Chen Shi and suddenly said.
Ma Zhe said in a deep voice, "You're behind me. Top Scholar Chen, I also want to experience Li Tianqing's skills."
Zhang You didn't speak.
Chen Shi's gaze swept over the two of them, and he said calmly, "You'll have to wait half a day."
Zhai Yuanyuan was so angry she laughed. "We also have to wait half a day? Shouldn't everyone wait half a day?"
Chen Shi smiled slightly. "I, Li Tianqing, don't need such trouble. Half a day is enough to see through your techniques and moves. What's so difficult about that?"
Just then, another voice came, laughing. "Since Brother Li is so bold, why not add a few more of us to this half-day period!"
Chen Shi followed the sound and saw more young people stepping on auspicious clouds arriving at the White Pearl Palace. Some were male, some female. They should be the next Sect Leaders of other clans, also having heard the news and come to the White Pearl Palace.
Chen Shi's gaze swept over the crowd, his expression unchanged. "Even if you take turns fighting me, what does I, Li Tianqing, have to fear?"
Zhai Yuanyuan whispered, "Brother Zhang, has Top Scholar Chen also come to think of himself as Li Tianqing?"
Zhang You nodded slightly. "It's possible. Brother Gao!"
He greeted a man in brocade clothes, laughing. "What wind has blown you all over here?"
Gao Shaokun laughed. "I heard that Li Tianqing bragged that he could surpass our clans' ultimate techniques, so I came to give it a try."
He looked at Chen Shi, his gaze intense, and smiled. "Being unable to challenge the Child Prodigy, being able to challenge Li Tianqing is also not bad. After all, the Child Prodigy has been monopolized by Yang Bi. He's the favored one in front of the thirteen ancestral masters."
Another young man, shorter in stature, named Xu She, was a disciple of the Xu Family. He came to Xia Tianjie and said, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. I want to see the style of his techniques from Brother Xia's wounds. Please grant me this convenience."
Xia Tianjie was both shocked and angry, struggling to stabilize his injuries to keep his wounds from splitting. He ground his teeth and said, "Xu She, you'd better be careful! Don't get injured yourself!"
Another woman walked over, laughing. "Brother Xia, why be so petty? If we can defeat Li Tianqing, it'll also vent your anger for you, won't it?"
Her name was Cui Xingcai, a descendant of the Cui Family, and also an extremely formidable woman.
Cui Xingcai carefully observed Xia Tianjie's wounds and frowned slightly. "How come every spear avoided the vital points?"
Jiang Baoyi came to their side, looking with great interest at these wounds. "Li Tianqing must have been holding back a lot."
Several other clan descendants also gathered around Xia Tianjie, lifting his clothes to look at these wounds, chattering and discussing.
Xia Tianjie was mortified, thinking to himself, "Would it be better if I just passed out right now?"
He tried for a long time but still couldn't manage to lose consciousness.
Chen Shi's voice came from not far away. "I, Li Tianqing, have no ultimate techniques. Any technique in my hands is an ultimate technique. Whatever technique works well, I use it. Studying him will do you no good."
Yan Shaoxuan blinked her eyes and asked with a smile, "Li Tianqing has no ultimate techniques, but what about the Child Prodigy?"
"Are you talking about the current Top Scholar, Master Chen Shi, Master Chen?"
Chen Shi's expression turned solemn, and a feeling of admiration welled up within him. He said, "Master Chen possesses all skills. I, Li Tianqing, can't even catch up to his dust. Whether in civil or martial arts, I'm far inferior. Master Chen is a perfect man, flawless in every way. What qualifications do I, Li Tianqing, have to be mentioned alongside him?"
Everyone exchanged glances.
Finally, the half-day period was over. Chen Shi walked through the void, exiting the White Pearl Palace, and arrived among the mountains.
Ma Zhe and Zhai Yuanyuan almost simultaneously flew out of the White Pearl Palace. Zhai Yuanyuan yielded not a bit, suddenly activating the Three Ones Fusion Divine Transformation, transforming from a delicate beauty into a woman over ten zhang tall, with an indigo-blue face and four heads and eight arms!
Zhai Yuanyuan was full of violent energy, exchanging rapid blows with Ma Zhe. Ma Zhe wasn't good at close combat, and within a few moves, she heavily sent him flying. Before he could stabilize himself, he saw Zhai Yuanyuan heading straight for Chen Shi!
As she ran, Zhai Yuanyuan's body changed. Various strange patterns appeared on her skin's surface, flowing along her skin and converging on her hands, forming eight different weapons. Her body spun as she attacked Chen Shi, truly fierce and unmatched!
Her speed grew faster and faster, and her momentum grew stronger and stronger.
Just then, Chen Shi gathered qi into a flute, placed it at his lips, and played. The flute's sound was clear and resonant, loud but not harsh. Accompanied by a flourish, the melody suddenly stabbed into Zhai Yuanyuan's mind.
"Jade Flute Triple Melody?"
Zhai Yuanyuan was shocked. The Jade Flute Triple Melody was a spell of the Xu Family, primarily attacking the Dao Heart. She cultivated the Three Ones Fusion Divine Transformation, and the deity she transformed into was called the Buddha Mother, renowned for slaughter. When transformed into this form, her Dao Heart had to be filled with violent killing intent!
Chen Shi played the flute, not very proficiently, but he attacked precisely her weak point, immediately breaking through her Dao Heart!
Zhai Yuanyuan grunted, the qi and blood in her body circulating with the flute's melody. She hurriedly changed her divine transformation form, shifting from the Buddha Mother form to the Asura form!
Asuras were Celestial Beings with high states of mind, able to resist the Jade Flute Triple Melody. Just as she was changing, the flute's melody reached a critical turning point as it climbed upward, carrying the qi and blood in her body upward with it!
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
Zhai Yuanyuan's left second arm twisted and broke, the bones in her right lower leg twisted forward by her own strength, the upper arm muscles of her right first arm twisted, breaking her own upper arm. Then, all her fingers on her eight arms bent backward simultaneously, forty fingers snapping one after another!
Fear filled her heart as she sensed her four heads twisting in different directions, and she let out a piercing, sharp scream.
But the muscles in her neck only exerted a little force under the influence of the flute's melody, and didn't actually twist her neck off.
Zhai Yuanyuan breathed a sigh of relief, her entire body's qi and blood in chaos.
In the White Pearl Palace, everyone looked up and saw Zhai Yuanyuan falling from the sky, crashing with a loud boom into the valley in front of the White Pearl Palace.
On the other side, Ma Zhe roared, stomping his foot heavily. His physical body, Primordial Spirit, and Dao Field had already merged into one. He activated the Ma Family's ultimate technique, the Tortoise Mountain Mysterious Talismans, giving Chen Shi no time to catch his breath.
The Tortoise Mountain Mysterious Talismans was an integrated technique, one of the Ma Family's supreme arts, renowned for its Soaring Snake and Black Tortoise techniques.
The Black Tortoise was originally a Soaring Snake, later joined by the Black Tortoise. The Soaring Snake had wings for flight and could summon great floods, while the Black Tortoise was good at floating on water, famous for its defense.
The snake and tortoise combined attack was hailed as the strongest offense and strongest defense. No one could withstand the attack of this divine ability, and similarly, no one could break its defense!
Boundless floodwaters surged from beneath Ma Zhe's feet, forming a surging, torrential river in the sky that passed between the divine mountains on both sides, heading straight for Chen Shi, who was dozens of li away!
This river was a Soaring Snake, its head enormous, surging and rushing forward!
The water surface beneath Ma Zhe's feet suddenly rose, revealing a Black Tortoise as huge as a mountain, with a dragon head, turtle shell, and dragon tail. Its four legs flew as it charged recklessly through the water!
Ma Zhe stood on the Black Tortoise, his steps neither side-by-side nor at an angle, moving rapidly on the turtle shell. He made hand seals with his fingers, the seals constantly changing. With a shake of his seals, the long river soared, forming different seal techniques to block the sword qi flying toward him.
Those sword qi were a hundred zhang long, stabbing into the long river with a clanging sound. Just as they were about to break through the Soaring Snake's blockade, the dragon turtle beneath Ma Zhe's feet suddenly roared. Various divine lights appeared on the turtle shell, forming layers of light barriers that blocked the sword qi.
"Chen Shi is using the Tai Hua Qing Palace's Sword Room Collection!"
Ma Zhe breathed a sigh of relief. The Tai Hua Qing Palace's Sword Room Collection, though an extremely outstanding sword technique, hailed as one of the ten best sword techniques in the Western Ox New Continent, was still not enough to break his Tortoise Mountain Mysterious Talismans!
His confidence surged. The Soaring Snake swayed back and forth, its attack ferocious. Just then, the sword qi stabbing into the long river suddenly split, becoming as thin as silk threads, shooting out from the river and heading straight for him.
Ma Zhe activated the Black Tortoise, divine light shining from the turtle shell, forming layers of light barriers. He thought to himself, "My techniques and spells have no flaws. As long as I get close enough to use the snake and tortoise combined attack, I'll win!"
Just as he thought this, he suddenly felt the Soaring Snake's movement wasn't smooth, and he was momentarily stunned.
Chen Shi had thrust a sword qi into the Soaring Snake's neck, piercing through the great serpent. This shouldn't have been a big deal; the Soaring Snake was made of kan-water qi, and even if severed, it would reconnect.
However, in that brief moment of impeded flow, strands of hair-thin sword qi suddenly passed through the weak points of the turtle shell's light barriers, shooting toward him with a whoosh!
Ma Zhe was terrified. He hurriedly turned around. Whoosh whoosh whoosh - the back of his head, along with his back, was struck by countless strands of sword qi, stabbed full of them!
He fell stiffly, collapsing onto the turtle shell. Then, the Black Tortoise and the long river disintegrated, and he tumbled down from the sky, crashing heavily into the valley.
"Let me have a go!"
Gao Shaokun let out a long cry and charged toward Chen Shi. He cultivated the Limitless Jade Pearl Formula, renowned for its abundant dharma power, claiming to have a limitless qi sea and jade pearls for transport, able to pluck sun and moon, move mountains, and fill seas.
"Boom!"
He flew backward at an even faster speed, howling past the White Pearl Palace, smashing heavily into a divine mountain, penetrating through it, and then falling silent!
Jiang Baoyi charged out, shouting, "Li Tianqing, let me have a go!"
Lightning filled the air. The Small Jade Capital's Superior Grade Thunder Art erupted from within his body, making him seem like a deity wielding thunder!
"Boom!"
Jiang Baoyi fell from the sky, head first, planting himself into the earth.
Cui Xingcai and the others stepped forward one by one, but no matter what techniques they used, they were all broken by Chen Shi in an instant, each injured, with no strength left to fight.
In just a short half-hour, only Li Qianyun and Zhang You remained.
Li Qianyun hadn't found an opportunity until now. Finally, she flew out and called out from a distance to Chen Shi, "Li Tianqing, I didn't accept your defeat last time! This time, I don't have the weaknesses I had before! Today, I'll still duel with you from a hundred li away!"
The two flew through the sky, quickly a hundred li apart.
Li Qianyun rapidly cast spells and divine abilities, striking at her opponent from a distance. At this range, it was already hard to see the other's every move clearly, and she could only lock onto him with her Primordial Spirit. Because the Primordial Spirit needed to float in the air, it couldn't merge with the body.
The two moved while casting spells, their techniques extremely fast.
Li Qianyun saw from afar that Chen Shi had cast six spells in an instant, and she felt a slight disappointment in her heart. "He's not Li Tianqing after all..."
Just as she thought this, Chen Shi's first spell had already approached, impacting her Primordial Spirit Dao Field.
"My Primordial Spirit Dao Field has no flaws!"
Just as she thought this, the power of Chen Shi's first spell exploded, pouring down as countless thunderbolts!
"The Thunderous Great Vigor Mantra?"
Li Qianyun watched as bolts of lightning rapidly approached her along winding curves!
"Crack!"
The tip of the lightning reached her brow. Li Qianyun hurriedly dodged, stunned. "I dodged it?"
Chen Shi's second spell had already arrived. This time it was the Great Dao Fire True Art. Clusters of Dao fire exploded, rumbling as they blasted open her Dao Field, reaching right in front of her. Li Qianyun hurriedly dodged, avoiding the Dao fire, then her heart sank. "I didn't dodge it. He went easy on me because I took care of him when he was unconscious."
Chen Shi's third spell arrived, again breaking through her Dao Field. Then came the fourth spell, and Li Qianyun's Dao Field was broken again.
The fifth spell, broken again!
The sixth spell, broken again!
Li Qianyun was numb. She didn't even bother to see if her own six spells had broken Chen Shi's Dao Field. She turned woodenly and flew back to the White Pearl Palace.
Six spells, breaking her Dao Field six times. This hurt her even more than being severely beaten!
When she returned to the White Pearl Palace, she saw Zhang You bustling about with a smile, rescuing Ma Zhe, Zhai Yuanyuan, and the others who had been severely injured by Chen Shi.
Everyone returned to the White Pearl Palace. Except for Zhang You, their expressions weren't too good.
Zhang You laughed. "Gentlemen, now that you know where the flaws in your Dao techniques lie, this is a good thing for you. Having a direction to work on will make you stronger."
Jiang Baoyi snorted. "Brother Zhang, why don't you give it a try? Don't you want to know the flaws in your Dao techniques?"
"No."
Zhang You laughed. "I know where my flaws are. Besides, even if I had no flaws, in front of Li Tianqing, he would create a flaw for me."
Cui Xingcai saw Chen Shi approaching. Her eyes rolled, and she suddenly laughed. "The one who just defeated us was the Child Prodigy, wasn't it? You were just borrowing Li Tianqing's name, but in reality, you used your own methods, right?"
Chen Shi said in surprise, "Miss Xingcai, what makes you say that? I was using Li Tianqing's style and methods. My style and methods are different from Li Tianqing's."
Xu She asked curiously, "Then what if the Child Prodigy were to make a move?"
Chen Shi smiled slightly. "Do you want to give it a try? You can all come at once."
Everyone suddenly felt a bone-chilling killing intent envelop them, as if they would be killed in the next instant.