Chapter 581: Shi Tianyi: He Who Benefitted from Misfortune
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Could that the Grand Celestial Shadow Manifestation of the 'Exploration of the Great Void Thinking'?" The Vivant Joy Holy Man said hesitantly as he looked at Prince Anliang, Shi Zongyue.
With their Immortal Soul stage mastery, the group of elders could clearly see the hundreds and thousands of specter-like shadows in the Dragon Battle Arena.
While Shi Tianyi's right eye may be powerful, it could not fool the Immortal Soul stage elders.
Shi Zongyue looked at Shi Tianyi in the arena and nodded his head slowly. "That's right. It is the Grand Celestial Shadow Manifestation, the most powerful move of the 'Exploration of the Great Void Thinking'. However, normally speaking, no one can make so many shadow manifestations."
"This result is thanks to the overwhelming power of Shi Tianyi's soul and the powers of his polycoria."
As hundreds and thousands of shadows surrounded Shi Tianhao, Shi Tianhao's entire body burst with burning hot vital spirit. Hot blood coursed through his veins and his body felt like a furnace. The heat he emitted distorted the very surroundings around him.
The best counterattack against the soul spell was the First Thunder Push Spell. The next best counterattack was to use the powerful Yang spirit of a martial artist coupled with a hot-blooded vitality, preventing the Yin souls from approaching.
However, while water can extinguish fire, fire too can cause water to evaporate.
Shi Tianyi formed numerous copies of his soul, numbering in thousands. Every single one of them was extremely powerful as they enveloped the skies like dark clouds. Even Shi Tianhao's powerful physical prowess found them hard to control.
"Attack!" Shi Tianyi's bellow came from the sky. In that moment, many souls rushed straight towards Shi Tianhao.
As these souls rushed towards him, their shapes changed. They no longer resembled Shi Tianyi but instead, they turned into numerous sharp knives as they came down onto Shi Tianhao like rain.
Shi Tianyi wished to directly kill Shi Tianhao's soul.
Everyone on-scene, including the Immortal Soul stage cultivators, furrowed their brows tightly. Faced with such a powerful soul-based attack, the use of one's physical body was limited.
Shi Tianyi set alight his soul to maximize his offensive and penetrating capabilities.
If anyone else tried it, then they would have injured themselves before they injured their enemies. Such a technique was akin to a kamikaze attack.
However, Shi Tianyi's Grand Celestial Shadow Manifestation multiplied his soul by hundreds and thousand times. It was different from splitting his soul. Instead, they appeared to be exact copies.
While he could not maintain them for very long, as long as they were there it was the equivalent of him possessing thousands of souls. Sacrificing a portion of himself meant nothing.
Hundreds and thousands of souls rushed to kill Shi Tianhao. No matter how powerful Shi Tianhao was, he would be unable to resist such a concerted attack. Shi Tianyi was using numerical advantage over his foe.
Shi Tianhao, however, appeared fearless. He summoned his Four Appearances Heaven Cleaving Script and the space behind his back distorted as a furnace appeared him.
The furnace opened and inside, all one could see was black earth. It was silent like a black hole.
Suddenly, the roars of beasts came from the furnace. They sounded like crying infants and were extremely ear-piercing. The shadow of a powerful beast appeared. It had the body of a lamb and the head of a human. Its eyes grew on its armpits. It had the teeth of a tiger and the claws of man.
It was one of the Four Immemorial Evil Beasts, the Tao Tie!
The earth in the furnace began to open up like a beast that was waking up from hibernation after countless of years. It was famished all it wanted to do was to feed. It opened its canyon-wide mouth and devoured!
Shi Tianyi's many murderous souls were gobbled by the furnace. In the next moment, nothing could be seen or heard. It was like dropping mud into the ocean.
"It could devour the powers of soul along with moves and mana?" Shi Tianyi had seen this move of Shi Tianhao in the Shi Family Mansion. Then, it bit tightly on Shi Tianyi's father cosmic form without any intention of letting go. Then, it devoured the cosmic form.
Now, his own souls met the same fate. Shi Tianhao did not seek to evade but instead, devour every single of his attacker.
Shi Tianyi's gaze flashed as he stopped the spell immediately. One soul returned to his own body. He was evidently tired.
His Grand Celestial Shadow Manifestations were destroyed. While it did not hurt him physically, he had been pushed to his limits when he cast this spell.
He gained nothing out of casting this spell and he could clearly feel that after devouring his souls, Shi Tianhao's powers grew.
Shi Tianhao had always been the proactive one. When Shi Tianyi attacked, he was searching for Shi Tianyi's weaknesses.
This time, he believed that he had found the right target.
"Zhou (Verse)!" Shi Tianhao raised his right fist and the Xunhuang Four-Words Mantra activated. It completely suppressed Shi Tianyi as it caused time in his body to come to a halt.
No matter how powerful Shi Tianyi's soul was, it too had its limits. He could feel his entire body turning into a wooden puppet. He could no longer speak nor move. Even the thoughts in his mind slowed.
He tried to escape, but Shi Tianhao's attack came at him like waves in the ocean. After the "Zhou (Verse)" Mantra, Shi Tianhao immediately used to the "Yu (Uni)" Mantra, causing Shi Tianyi to be unable to move.
Shi Tianhao himself approached his opponent at lightning-speed. He began to pummel Shi Tianyi's body.
At the most perilous moment, Shi Tianyi once again activated his Unmovable Nagaraja Buddha Cloak. Only then was he able to resist Shi Tianhao's attack. However, the Unmovable Nagaraja Buddha Cloak was completely shattered. The Cloak became covered with spidery cracks.
Shi Tianyi then used his Heaven-Ascending Spell and he shot up into the sky. He sought to create distance between Shi Tianhao and himself.
Shi Tianhao's "Yu (Uni)" Mantra activated once again as the Green Bronze Crucible of Emptiness shone. Space vibrated and even the early Nascent Soul stage Shi Tianyi realized that he was unable to escape by flying through space.
At this point in time, Shi Tianyi shouted, "Open!"
In the void, a large amount white clouds appeared. Gradually, they enveloped the entire area as they turned the red skies in the Heavenly Dragon Ancient Land white.
The clouds rolled quickly and in the center of the sea of clouds, one could light flashing.
It was if the Pearly Gates were opening!
From the viewing platform, everyone became to exclaim in shock. The Celestial Sword Elder and the Blue Pavilion Holy Man looked at each other. Even they were shocked.
"Is that the... Zhong Heavens Gate? That's the Zhong Heavens Gate of the Great Void Nine Heavenly Spells! Kuang Heng taught this powerful move to Shi Tianyi?"
Even the Qin Emperor Shi Yu arched his eyebrows as he looked at the Great Void Sect.
The Great Void Nine Heavenly Spells was one of the most powerful moves of the Great Void Sect. It was its strongest offensive move and in the Great Void Sect, it occupied the same position as the Saintly Celestial Sword Qi in the Mount Shu Sword Sect or the Vairocana Zen Palm of the Great Thunderclap Temple.
It was universally-recognized as the most powerful move of the human cultivators in the Divine Lands.
With regards to the Nine Heavens, there were two sayings in the Divine Lands. One of them came from the most powerful sect and hegemon of the Antiquity Age, the Heaven's Gate. The Heaven's Gate defined the Nine Heavens. For them, the center was known as Jun Heaven, the east was known as Cang Heaven, the northeast was known as Min Heaven, the north was known as Xuan Heaven, the northwest was known as You Heaven, the west was known as Yuan Heaven, the southwest was known as Zhu Heaven, the south known as Yan Heaven and the southeast known as Yang Heaven.
The other saying concerned the Great Void Sect. The nine heavens were, according to them, the Zhong Heaven, the Xian Heaven, the Cong Heaven, the Geng Heaven, the Zui Heaven, the Kuo Heaven, the Xian Heaven, the Shen Heaven and the Cheng Heaven.
As nine was the biggest number, it had the same meaning as infinity. Above the Cheng Heaven, one could find the Great Dao. The Great Dao was in the heavens, limitless and infinite. Its mystery was in its invisibility.
Legend had it that the Great Void Sect possessed Nine Heavenly Palaces in Mount Baiyun, all of which were mystical beyond comprehension. Only the most powerful disciples of the Great Void Sect could be baptized in them and learn the Great Void Nine Heavenly Spells.
The attack Shi Tianyi used borrowed upon the powers of the first heaven by the Great Void Sect's definition.
After the Zhongtian Gate opened, Shi Tianyi's power increased exponentially. He looked at Shi Tianhao and said, "Gate, it is simple to say but it is amongst the mystical concept. The powers of the mortal realm could bring one to a gate if they are correct. Entering the gate is the beginning. It is an entrance and a start."
"In difficult times, if one can find a gate, then one can continue walking." As he said that, Shi Tianyi dived straight into the light.
Unbelievably, the moment he entered the light. He managed to escape Shi Tianhao's "Yu" and "Zhou" mantras.
Looking at the situation, the Flying Snow Swordmaster sighed, "The cultivator with the polycoria benefitted from misfortune. If not for the Void Battleground fight where he was blinded, he may be able to be this powerful and obtain the Nine Heavenly Palaces Baptism and learn the Zhong Heavens Gate ."
The Sun Radiance Swordmaster looked at the battleground and nodded his head, "Shi Tianhao may be in for trouble."
In the next moment, Shi Tianyi appeared once again. He was at another spot. He looked at Shi Tianhao calmly as he summoned a spell.
The hole appeared in the clouds above his head as a ray of bright, golden light shone through. It was able to slice a hole even in the red skies of the Heavenly Dragon Ancient World. In the hole, one could see the black void dotted with stars.
This shape was similar to the Nine Luminaries Heaven-Crushing Formation when it was first activated. While it was much weaker and could not be comparable to that murderous formation, Shi Tianyi's abilities to use the powers of the Nine Luminaries as a Nascent Soul stage cultivator was stunning.
The second heaven of the Great Void, the Xian Heaven Holy Stellar Light!
An unbelievably complicated rune that was about 650 meters square in size appeared in the sky. Numerous amount of fog, smoke, and light spread as stars crossed through the void and affixed themselves on the rune. This made the rune glow even brighter like a mini-sun.
Shi Zongyue's face lost color as he said in shock, "Other than the Zhong Heaven Gate, he managed to master the Xian Heaven Holy Stellar Light too!"
Shi Tianhao looked at the giant rune in the sky as he arched his eyebrows slightly. He could feel the power of this spell.
The power of the stars was something so powerful that cultivators under the Immortal Soul stage could not use easily. One needed a very high level of mastery to control it.
The spell of the Great Void Sect could be said to have been spectacular.
Since the start of the battle, this was the first time Shi Tianhao felt threatened.
At the same time, Shi Tianyi extended his right hand and as clouds swirled around it, limitless amount of light shone out. They turned into more and more runes as they floated in the air. Then, they forcibly trapped Shi Tianhao's body.
Shi Tianhao was stunned. He realized that he could no longer move. It was as if he was trapped by this own 'Yu' Word Mantra.
This was, however, another powerful function of the Great Void Sect's first heaven technique, the Zhong Heaven Gate.
"When the gate is opened, it's an escape, a beginning, and a starting point," Shi Tianyi said. "When the gate is closed, it signifies closure, sealing and the final point. There is no escape."
He used the Zhong Heaven Gate in conjunction with the Xian Heaven Holy Stellar Light to stop Shi Tianhao from escaping. Shi Tianhao could only accept the bombardment of the stars.
As he spoke, the giant rune above their heads shone to its brightest. It was so eye-piercing no one could look straight at it.
In the next moment, a giant golden light pillar came crashing down onto Shi Tianhao!
The burning hot light aura rendered everything around into oblivion. All that sought to stop it was pierced, destroyed and obliviated!