Chapter 284: Attracting Everyone’s Attention
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The disciples of the Sun Moon Sword Sect fell into confusion.
For their pairing, Li Bingqing's Sun Radiance Sword Manual focused on offence while Zou Yuhua's Lunar Glow Sword Manual focused on hiding in one corner and complementing Li Bingqing. While Li Bingqing distracted the opponents, she would strike.
Normally, when they fought, Li Bingqing would always be focused on offence while she would search for an opportune moment.
However, the actions of Yue Hongyan and Zhuge Fengling were too similar to theirs. Hence, this caused Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua to believe that they were adopting the same strategy as theirs.
Hence, while the two of them received Yue Hongyan's attacks, they devoted a bit of their attention to their surroundings too to prevent against any attack by Zhuge Fengling.
While they knew that Zhuge Fengling's mastery was only in the early stages of Foundation Establishment, both Wang Lin and Yang Qing had demonstrated that the battling abilities of disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders could not be determined solely based on their mastery.
Hence, what exactly was Zhuge Fengling doing right now?
In forests in the valleys, Zhuge Fengling sat cross-legged under a big tree. She tried to rescind all of her Qi as she knew that her two opponents were in the late Foundation Establishment stage. She was scared that if she released just a tiny bit of Qi, she would be discovered.
With Zhuge Fengling's understanding, in a two-versus-two fight, their opponents would eliminate the weak link before moving on to the stronger one.
Hence, with full awareness of her inadequacy, Zhuge Fengling carefully concealed herself. Her biggest fear was being discovered and eliminated by her opponents.
"Gold, I have now stopped my Qi and my entire being has entered hibernation and stopped emitting even the smallest of mana. They would not sense any hostility from me, not even my body temperature! In such a state, I would not be discovered, right?" Zhuge Fengling said gleefully to her Gold-Digging Mouse.
The Gold-Digging Mouse lay on her shoulder, as its two normally-perky ears too became floppy. It too was trying to rescind its Qi.
After it received Zhuge Fengling's telepathic message, it said harshly, "Shh, Fengling, the opponents' mastery is way higher than ours. It's best that we don't even communicate at all."
Zhuge Fengling too became serious as she said, "You're right, I am too careless."
With that, she stopped communication with the Gold-Digging Rat as she concentrated on pretending that she was like a lifeless rock or a dead log.
Doing so ensured at Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua could not find her. Zou Yuhua became panicky. "I cannot detect anything from her. Where exactly did she hide? We too still must deal with Yue Hongyan's attack. If I could concentrate on finding her, I am sure I could find her."
Out of the Hidden Dragon Gorge, Xiao Budian and Tun Tun guffawed as they looked at Zhuge Fengling, who was trying to conceal herself, and the Sun Moon Sword Sect couple who were on high alert.
Wang Lin's mouth twitched, "This could be counted as a survival strategy too?"
Yang Qing said demurely, "This could be a form of restraint."
"Yes, yes," said Zhu Yi as he turned around and his shoulders trembled slightly.
More and more people realized what was actually happening as many suppressed laughter could be heard. The elders from the Sun Moon Sword Sect looked at the projected image from within the Gorge with dark faces.
"These two idiots!" The cultivators from the Sun Moon Sword Sect were almost desperate to enter the Gorge.
A few Nascent Soul stage elders actually wanted to rush into Gorge and shake Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua by their sleeves and tell them, "You ret*rds! The person you were guarding against is a just a weak rookie!"
"With this logic, you two are rookie beyond rookie!"
The Sun Radiance Swordmaster's expression did not do much, but a grimace appeared on his face. "We deserve to be taken as jokes."
The older Immortal Soul stage cultivators comforted him, "There, there, it's just an error in judgement."
Within the Hidden Dragon Gorge, Zou Yuhua was still trying to Zhuge Fengling. Li Bingqing was almost succumbing to Yue Hongyan's attacks.
As Yue Hongyan's pole-ax flew in the air, her attacks became more and more ferocious. Her entire body appeared to have morphed into a ball of fire, as it tried to incinerate Li Bingqing's sun-shaped sword radiance.
Zou Yuhua became increasingly frustrated. "Scr*w it! If you are not coming up, then we shall take advantage of our superior numbers and settle this fierce b*tch first."
"To save your ally, you must fight us. If you ally were defeated, then there's not much that you could do. Let's see if you are still going to hide."
A pale-white sword radiance suddenly shone. It was like seeing the moon after the clouds cleared at night.
Zou Yuhua finally took the initiative and attacked. Using her Lunar Glow Sword Manual and working in conjunction with Li Bingqing's Sun Radiance Sword Manual, they went straight for Yue Hongyan together.
Li Bingqing's Sun Radiance Sword Manual had been pushed to its extremes. Numerous golden sword radiances rained down upon Yue Hongyan as they trapped her within it.
Yue Hongyan's eyebrows arched, as she discovered that within the rain of golden radiance there were some faint white radiances within them too.
The white sword radiances flickered. While there were no more than 10 of them, their power made her worried, particularly those that were embedded in the golden sword radiances. They changed constantly and were highly unpredictable, magnifying their prowess by a factor of 10.
Everyone out of the Gorge watching the battle ceased laughing. Everyone stared intently at the scene as they thought, "The team battling capabilities of the Sun Moon Sword Sect is truly formidable."
Every single Foundation Establishment stage cultivator asked himself, "If I go up against them, could I win?"
After thinking about that carefully, many of them shook their heads.
At that moment, they felt ashamed for having mocked Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua earlier on.
The disciples of the Sun Moon Sword Sect, on the other hand, were looking on gleefully.
Within the Hidden Dragon Gorge, such an all-encompassing move would be a sure-kill. The enormous amount of pressure crushed onto Yue Hongyan's lungs. She could not inhale, nor could she exhale. Death slowly crept up on her.
Under such a huge pressure, however, Yue Hongyan maintained her smile.
With that smile, an indomitable spirit cloaked Yue Hongyan's body. She roared into the sky as her entire body flew up into the air. Instead of retreating, she rushed towards to Sun Moon Sword Sect couple, preparing to kill.
No matter how many of you were there, I'd kill you! I'd kill you all!
The Black Ember Pole-Ax danced in the air so quickly till it became just a whirl as it shook apart the tempest-like golden sword radiances.
The immensely powerful pole-ax, when spinning, would change occasionally as it became unpredictable. As it made numerous cuts through the air, it formed the shape of a huge net. Accurately, it managed to capture every single one of Zou Yuhua's unpredictable white sword radiance, as if they were birds stuck in a net.
Yue Hongyan demonstrated both types of pole-ax wielding techniques: the extremely aggressive one and the extremely cunning one. Using both techniques, combined with her innate prowess, Yue Hongyan moved to receive the next few moves from the Sun Moon Sword Sect couple.
The Dual Swords of the Sun and Moon. While the Sun Radiance Sword Manual focused on aggression, the Lunar Glow Sword Manual focused on cunning. Together, they were a blend of both.
At that moment, however, Yue Hongyan was alone. With her pole-ax, she was able to display both aggression and cunning. She was in no way inferior to them.
Prince Xian of the Left of the Northern Tribes stared at the scene till his eyes bulged as he exclaimed, "With her current mastery, truly incredible!"
He turned his head to look at Lin Feng. "Master Lin, your female disciple is truly exceptional in terms of martial prowess."
If an Immortal Soul stage elder like him was impressed, what else was there to be said for the rest? Every other cultivator viewing the fight fixated their gaze on Yue Hongyan.
At that moment, the red-haired young girl was like the sun and moon in the sky. She was at the center of the spotlight.
The scion of the Great Qin Empire, Shi Shaoqian, looked at her with an intense gaze as he nodded constantly throughout.
While she was at the center of everyone's admiration, how could Yue Hongyan be always forced into a defensive position? She coughed and started spinning. She gave off a gust of wind that was not entirely like wind, a red ball of fog that was not entirely like fog, as a red light flashed around her.
The Immortal Soul stage elders viewing the battle were all shocked. "The Avici Infernal Gale?"
Once the Avici Infernal Gale appeared, Yue Hongyan began to brim with energy and force. The Avici Infernal Gale combined with the black flames around her body to form a red shining gale of an inferno. Its killing powers were astounding as it counter-attacked Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua.
While their original attack had been blocked, Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua were not worried. Regardless, they were a team of two. If they were in a stalemate and had to fight a battle of attrition, they would surely win.
Furthermore, maintaining a defensive stance for long would surely lead to slip-ups. They did not believe that Yue Hongyan was perfect.
However, in that moment, when Yue Hongyan's Avici Infernal Gale appeared, Li Bingqing's and Zou Yuhua's faces changed color. Combining the powers of the Avici Infernal Gale, Yue Hongyan became powerful beyond measure. With her counter-attack, she became a force that the two of them could not deal with.
The two of them said in unison, "Combine the powers of the sun and moon, both Yin and Yang shall be maximized!"
The brilliant golden sword radiance and the pure white sword radiance combined in one entity, as it turned into a bright, light gold-colored sword radiance.
This sword radiance brimmed with power, just like how a flame grew after being fanned by the wind. The powers of both Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua burst forth and complemented each other. There appeared to be no cap to their powers.
The principle within it was similar to Xiao Budian's Infinite Thunderstorm.
Lin Feng, who was watching the battle, nodded his head. In this moment, the Sun Moon Sword Sect couple finally revealed their true powers. The combined powers of these two Foundation Establishment stage cultivators exceeded even the powers of an Aurous Core stage cultivator.
An Aurous Core stage cultivator from the Sun Moon Sword Sect, naturally, could not be beaten by any random independent cultivator.
The powers of Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua already exceeded the powers of the early Aurous Core stage cultivator Wang Jiannan, whom Yue Hongyan had defeated on top of the Xingyun Peak.
However, Yue Hongyan now was more powerful than before.
The wild Avici Infernal Gale combined with the mana from Yue Hongyan's late Foundation Establishment stage, causing her Black Ember Pole-Ax to reach the pinnacle of its powers. It turned into a giant, churning storm, with a black hole at its center.
From within the black hole, a powerful force of attraction could be felt. It was almost as if the entire world was going to collapse into the black hole.