Chapter 629: The Final Clash Begins
As the genius from the Heavenly Dragon Gate and Hui Yue reached an agreement, no one said anything about it, they all just accepted that they would have to wait to see the intense fight between the two later in the day.
It was still early in the day, and not many experts had been on stage yet to prove their worth. Everyone had given up on first and second place, but they fought vigorously for third.
Usually, all the top ranks would fall to the Heavenly Dragon Gate yet this time the Celestial Sword Sect appeared out of nowhere and had for sure claimed one of the top three spots. This made everyone feel as if they too had a chance to rank highly. At the same time, it made the Heavenly Dragon Gate's members even more certain that they wished to prove themselves and at least take the first and third place.
Hui Yue was completely unfazed by what was happening around him. He knew that Pei Bai just wanted him to rank second and get rid of the shame of the last Formation Master's debate and this goal had already been achieved.
But second place was not enough to satisfy Hui Yue. He understood that his opponent this time was not simple. He was a genius at using formations and someone who had spent years controlling formations and compressing seals. It was highly likely that he could control even more seals than Hui Yue.
Sighing, he stopped thinking about the fight that would happen later on. Instead, he focused on the fight that was currently ongoing on the stage, and he could not help but chuckle.
Ever since Hui Yue had used his Spacelock formation to such great extent earlier in the fights, everyone else also started using the formation.
The Spacelock formation was brilliant, but unlike most formations, it was impossible to stack this formation. One could not make two Spacelock formations at the same time and stop the person for a longer period of time. He had to make the formation once and then remake it again if he wished for the formation to last longer.
It was possible to link them, but without the dao of space, the stun effect would last only a fraction of a second while the creation of the formation would take a few seconds. Therefore, it was rather useless to stack these formations unless one was proficient in the dao of space and could prolong the stun to a few seconds.
The youngsters at first thought that the Spacelock formation was formidable, that it was a diamond in the rough that they had missed. After using it for a while they found that it was actually quite marvelous as it stunned one’s opponent and interrupted their creation of formations, but it was nowhere as marvelous as what Hui Yue had displayed.
"He must be comprehending the dao of space!" someone mumbled to their friends, and it was not just one person watching that had reached this conclusion.
"To think that he is able to comprehend such a marvelous dao. Although we also comprehend the dao to increase our formation’s strength, we are unable to comprehend any of the more powerful daos because we need to focus on compressing seals. Just how can he be so skilled?! Seals, formations, daos... He has them all!"
"I heard that he is a young man from the younger generation. How can he already have such accomplishments in the dao at such an age? He is simply too young! I don't believe he can be of the younger generation with such skills."
Everyone was talking about Hui Yue and his performance; many
even forgot the genius of the Heavenly Dragon Gate who was supposed to be the main focus of the debate, and this caused the person people forgot to be very uncomfortable.
He had participated in more than one debate, and every time he had been the most talked about and peerless figure there. He was viewed as the most talented youth in the last few thousand years.
The Heavenly Dragon Gate spared no effort in spoiling him, and he had always thought that his skills were a gift from the heavens themselves. To see the fame which was rightfully his being taken away from him, the genius felt very unsatisfied and wronged.
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, it was impossible for him to be unfazed with the current situation. Fortunately, the only one watching him was the old weasel from the Heavenly Dragon Gate.
He sighed deeply and shook his head in disappointment. It was clear that Hui Yue was the center of attention and this was something he had never had experienced before experienced, and while the weasel was certain that a small setback like this was beneficial for him, he still felt slightly worried about what it would do for him.
On stage, one expert after another stepped up and soon hours had gone by. Maids arrived in the big hall with food and placed it on tables making it possible for the guests to eat while watching the matches.
The matches started to get longer and longer; they became more and more bloody and desperate as time went on. The better experts were found later on, and the weaker people had given up trying to rank higher than the place they were already at.
In the Formation Master's debate, ten youths would be ranked as the top ten, but there were a lot of youths that would not get a ranking.
Even now after hours had gone past the top twenty had been found, but even so, they still needed to cut it down further. Everyone who was up against each other were around the same strength, and only Hui Yue and the genius were above the others. Thus the battles were quite desperate.
Although everyone used all the energy they had and fought with all their strength, there was always one that was weaker than the others and the rankings were slowly coming together.
Hui Yue watched curiously as one expert after another went onto the stage. He watched them to see which formations they knew, how they were being boosted by different daos, and how the different sects prioritized things.
Hui Yue stood still, petting the small fox in his arms and observing everyone around him. He was completely oblivious to the many gazes and conversations that evolved around him.
After hours of devastating battles and magnificent displays of formations, the third to tenth place had been decided. The Heavenly Dragon Gate was doing well. They had managed to get the third, seventh and eighth place. The rest of the sects had scrambled to even rank, and many were not even ranked in the top ten.
The Nightcrawler Sect had also made an appearance, but their highest ranked member was only in tenth place, but even so, it seemed as if they were satisfied.
It was clear that the most outstanding sects did not have a record of doing well in these debates, yet they still participated to try their hand at it. But this time the Celestial Sword Sect was doing well.
"Esteemed experts, it is our honor to announce the last eight spots in the Formation Master's debate for the younger generation have been filled, and now it is time for us to watch the two most outstanding talents in our midst. This is our very own Gao Li, the genius from our Heavenly Dragon Gate, and Pei Yue, also known as the Second Judge of Hell, from the Celestial Sword Sect."
"This is a debate, not a sparring match. We prefer if you can display your formations to the best of your abilities, counter one another and complement one another, allowing for everyone else to gain enlightenment. Wounds might happen, but these wounds should be superficial. I will not tolerate anyone crippling or killing their opponent; if that happens, then don't blame me for being ruthless."
The old weasel continued to talk and made everyone fully excited about what was going to take place moments from now. Gao Li, the young genius from the Heavenly Dragon Gate, had already stepped onto the stage and was looking with disdain at Hui Yue.
Hui Yue had at present managed to compress a total of three hundred and nineteen seals. He understood that the only reason he could compress so many was because his soul was very strong, but if he had had more time, then he would easily have been able to reach a Formation Master’s level. That was how much the energy he had absorbed in Diyu had helped him.
Unfortunately, he did not have the time, and thus, he could only fight with the seals he had already compressed. He could only use the formations he had already learned to control. As of now, he was able to control thirty-one formations at once if he used ten seal formations.
Hui Yue once more handed Huli over to Pei Bai who gently accepted her, feeling slightly odd holding a beast that he knew was many times stronger than himself, but he also understood that right now, Huli was but a small harmless fox in the eyes of everyone else. She would only turn into a ferocious beast if anyone threatened her master and fiance.
Hui Yue slowly walked forward. He walked neither fast nor slow; he was completely calm and casual as if the fight he was about to go through did not matter in the least.
Everywhere Hui Yue went, the people in front of him would move out of his way and open a path for him to easily reach the stage. With a light jump, he reached the top of the stage and entered through the protective formation to stand face to face with the one person who currently hated Hui Yue more than anyone else at the Formation Master's debate.
"Just because you can form a lot of seals does not mean that you are someone special," Gao Li sneered at Hui Yue who just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at Gao Li carefreely. "I have only trained for a short while. Having been in Diyu for as long as I was, I absorbed quite a lot of soul energy."
"You see, I control more than one of the stronger daos," Hui Yue continued, "and the dao of devouring has made it possible for me to strengthen my soul rapidly, especially while being in Diyu. This has allowed for me to become as strong as I am, even though I am merely fifty years old!"
Hui Yue grinned as he spoke. This was a Formation Master's debate, and they were supposed to compare skills rather than directly fight and injure one another. When talking about strength, one would rarely show the depths of their own, personal strength as most wished to keep it hidden. This way when need they could explode with power and kill their unsuspecting opponent during life and death battles. However, although this was still the case for Hui Yue, he was not worried about people know of his dao of devouring. He had already used it while fighting the battles to become a Judge of Hell. Everyone who knew just a bit about Hui Yue was aware of him having comprehended this dao.
The main reason that Hui Yue mentioned the dao of devouring was because he had heard from Pei Bai that every Formation Master wished to be able to use this dao as it would allow them to raise the level of their soul very fast. This would thus allow them to become more formidable Formation Masters. Unfortunately, the dao of devouring was hard to gain initial knowledge into and even harder to comprehend so only a handful had managed to successfully step down its path.
"So you think that your devouring dao can save you?" Gao Li snickered as he waved his hand and suddenly three hundred and seventy-three seals appeared around him.
It was clear that he had the advantage when it came to seals, but seals were not everything. If he were incapable of controlling them all, it would be hard for him to defeat Hui Yue and his thirty-one formations.
Gao Li could at most control thirty-seven formations, but to be able to control that many was it really possible to still beat Hui Yue who had only trained in formations he could fortify with the various daos that he had comprehended?