Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
“Well met,” said Lou Cheng, smiling and taking his stance.
I’m looking forward to this fight because it isn’t an every day, internal sparring session.
Amidst the gales and fluttering sand, the referee raised right hand and drew a breath.
“Conversation time begins!”
Ironically, Long Zhen stopped talking. He lowered his waist into a horse stance. Light gathered in his eyes, glimmering like gold as he gazed at Lou Cheng. The temperature of the surrounding air rose.
Unintimidated, Lou Cheng exerted his own aura, a shifting purple dancing in his eyes, and stood tall like an ancient Emperor statue.
Bam, bam, bam!
At the point where their gazes met, dry air combusted into flames. The flames flickered and burned in the strong winds without any sign of waning, as though they were fuelled by petroleum.
Bam, bam, bam!
The scarlet flames consumed the ground of pure sand. The referee slowed down his breathing to prevent his airpipes from being seared and made a run for the edge of the arena.
Watching this mythical scene unfold before their eyes on screen, the hearts of Yan Zheke and the others tightened.
Engaged in a clash of auras, Lou Cheng formed the Five Flames slowly and carefully. The five-colored fireballs orbited around him as though swarming around a deity.
Long Zhen, despite being a Fire Sect secret art practitioner, didn’t follow suit.
In terms of raw power, his Nine Rotations of Five Flames, Descent of the Sun might have even been a cut above Lou Cheng, but he couldn’t control it as freely and nor as long as him.
To him, Five Flames was extremely taxing on the mind and its uses were limited. He only used it in fist fights, forming fireballs while he pummelled the enemy, storing up Qi with every punch and using his ultimate move at the end. If he were to imitate what Lou Cheng did now, he would be asking for humiliation.
Among the current Physical Invulnerability experts, Lou Cheng was the one and only user of Cosmic Universe.
The fire spread outward, and soon the desert was ready to bloom into a scarlet lotus. The referee swung his arm down.
“Begin!” he boomed.
Whoosh!
In a split second, Long Zhen had created a golden fireball from afar and tossed it at Lou Cheng.
Among the Five Flames orbiting around Lou Cheng, the faint purple one was the first to shoot out like a meteorite crossing the skies.
Just as the two fireballs were about to collide, Long Zhen’s golden fireball suddenly split in two. One half went down, sliding past the purple fireball, while the other went up, avoiding the obstacle and charging at the target.
The second style of Fire Sect, Golden Godly Flames!
When fuelled by Fire Force, this move could demonstrate its full power by easily changing directions and spreading at the user’s will. And Long Zhen specialized in Fire Force.
However, the faint purple fireball was oddly heavy, slowing down everything around it. As though drawn by it, the golden fireball that had leapt upward began experiencing a lack of power midair, like a high jumper with diarrhea.
Emperor Yan Force, the king of flames, could command any flame.
Boom!
The golden fireball scraped at the faint purple fireball. Both stabilized before detonating. Flames tumbled, expanded, and swallowed the golden fireball, trapping it.
Boom!
The gales howled in the din. Long Zhen, who was done testing the waters, limbered up and took a step forward.
Whoosh! The raging hurricane grew stronger, filling Lou Cheng’s ears with its noise. The fire raged and whistled forth with golden flames in it as though it was a wildfire.
Long Zhen blended into the fire, hidden so well in the wind that Lou Cheng could only vaguely sense his presence with his Ice Heart and All-Seeing God mode. It was hard for him to tell where the next attack might come from.
He pretended to fight head-on, as befits his image, but in truth, he was trying to bait Lou Cheng into blindly combining his flames.
The Sixth Style of Fire Sect, movement technique, Wheels of Wind and Flames.
Whoosh!
Long Zhen got close quickly, looming out of the fire and wind.
He slanted his large, scary body, bent his waist, and charged at his opponent’s left side. The friction ignited a scarlet, golden flame on his skin, which he could control freely. Even before he got near, his sheer power was suffocating.
As though he had long predicted and sensed the danger, Lou Cheng half-turned at his waist, raised his left arm, and swung a hammerfist downward.
With that punch, the five revolving flames congregated.
Some of the experienced audience members who watched the battle live had already shut their eyes to avoid the dazzling radiance from when the great sun would descend.
Long Zhen’s temples suddenly bulged. The speed of his ram increased abruptly, dragging out a faint afterimage as he neared Lou Cheng’s body before his hammerfist slammed down.
Simplified Version of Attainment Formula!
As a Physical Invulnerability expert working for the military, he had been accumulating merits in exchange for the Nine Words Formula ever since its collection had been completed. And since the Haiyuan mastermind had wanted to get back at Longhu Club, he had kept the matter hushed.
In his recent arena battles, Long Zhen had held back the temptation to use the move so that he could surprise Dragon King during the Battle of Warrior Sage.
Who knew he would run into Lou Cheng first.
Though he didn’t say it, and though he felt like he shouldn’t mind it, he was conscious of the fact that Lou Cheng had taken his previous position. When they fought, there were bound to be troublemakers who compared them. He already knew what people would say if he lost or scored a Pyrrhic victory.
His pride couldn’t allow that. Not only did he have to win, he had to make it look easy and suave.
With that mindset, he planned to use one of the aces he had reserved for the Dragon King—baiting him into congregating the Five Flames, then rushing in before it completed with the second wind from a Simplified Attainment Formula.
The instant when his opponent’s fist had yet to touch him and the Great Sun had yet to descend gave him the opportunity to breach his defense and land a decisive blow. Plus, since the Five Flames were on the verge of congregating, Lou Cheng couldn’t split his attention elsewhere to detonate his Fire Force, change directions irregularly, use his Ice Spirit Force, defend and counter-freeze, or even to dodge or evade.
When the charge was complete, the Five Flames would lose stability and explode. At that point he would grab hold of his opponent, bend down, and use him as a shield to block off most the damage while inflicting additional damage.
From there, he would stretch out his limbs with a burst of Dan Qi and finish off his opponent while he was hurt, securing a speedy victory.
Only someone who was powerful enough and had a solid grasp on Nine Rotations of Five Flames could have come up with a plan like that, a plan that required seizing such a fleeting opportunity. Unfortunately, Long Zhen was one of them.
One’s greatest strength is often their greatest weakness.
Lou Cheng felt everything slow down around him. The Five Flames were about to congregate into the Great Sun, and Long Zhen, in slow motion, was about to reach him, undodgeable and unblockable. The inevitable ending was edging closer.
In that split second, he decisively relinquished his control over the Five Flames, swinging his barred right arm in the reverse direction like a giant lance. His fingers spread apart and pressed onto Long Zhen’s shoulders.
The overwhelming force came crashing in. Like a robot with the finest precision, Lou Cheng saw every nook and cranny of his body with his mind, immaculately wriggling his muscles, fascia, and organs. With a push of his palm, he flew backward, mitigating most of Long Zhen’s godly, terrible innate strength.
Bam! Like a struck baseball, he flew at the speed of both of them combined, fast enough to make his enemy miss his grab.
Bwah! Midair, he spat out a mouthful of blood. The bone in his right arm had cracked.
Even if he mitigated the impact, he couldn’t nullify all of the damage.
Rumble!
The Five Flames lost control earlier than expected, shooting out in a palette of colors and rising mushroom clouds. Long Zhen, missing his charge, was unable to grab hold of Lou Cheng in time and kept hastening forward to avoid the core of the explosion. Even so, the shockwaves left him unsightly and slowed.
After landing, Lou Cheng turned and adjusted his breathing right . He already knew his opponent had most likely mastered the Attainment Formula, so he had to watch out for the other Nine Word Formulas as well.
To that, he felt pleasantly surprised, rather than shocked or angry.
If they competed in something else, however confident he was, he had to admit that his chance of winning against Long Zhen was around thirty percent. But if they were talking about the Nine Word Formula, he was certain that Long Zhen couldn’t use Force Concentration and Nine Words Formula at the same time with the same speed and ferocity that he could.
The Cosmic Universe Sect was only privy to the Lou couples. Even if others knew a thing or two about it, they didn’t have the whole picture.
Blessings and disasters go hand in hand.
Hm, if that’s so, I’ll create a chance for him to compete in Nine Words Formula with me!
Whoosh! Lou Cheng whirled towards Long Zhen, sweeping up a blizzard.