Chapter 258 - Fight
Liu Ming was not surprised to see Gao Chong here.
After all, Yang Qian had said this was a meeting of recently advanced Spirit Masters. Of course, Gao Chong had the right to be here.
The black-faced youth, after greeting Yang Qian, said to Liu Ming warmly:
“It surprises me that Junior Bai shows up here. I thought that in the Barbarian Ghost Sect, only Senior Yang and Junior Gao Chong would be able to take the next step. But your sect has actually really created three Spirit Masters. Although considering your performance in the secret realm, it’s not surprising. Oh-- I almost forgot. Junior Bai, you changed your name. I should call you Junior Liu.”
“I wouldn’t dare. It’s only by luck that I could become a Spirit Master. Also, how does Brother Yun know I changed my name?” Liu Ming replied with a small smile.
“Heh heh. Who else is so lucky as to stand out from among all these disciples, and advance to Spirit Master? Don’t say this to be polite. As for the matter of the name change, Brother Yang mentioned it to me before. You and Brother Yang should come over and sit down. We are just talking about how to handle the matter of the Sea Race.” Yun rolled his eyes and said.
Yang Qian, hearing this, walked over.
Liu Ming nodded, then followed with a serene expression.
Yang Qian sat two places down from Yun, and Liu Ming sat down right beside him.
On his other side, was the round-faced girl from the Heavenly Moon Sect.
On seeing Liu Ming sit near her, she blushed but nodded to him.
Liu Ming was slightly surprised to see the Heavenly Moon Sect girl’s shyness but also smiled at her.
Her expression turned completely bashful, and she did not even dare to raise her head to look at Liu Ming.
Zhang Xiuniang, beside the girl, only glanced at Liu Ming with an air of indifference and showed no expression.
On the other side, Yun saw Yang Qian sit down, and immediately smiled and got up and scooted over, as if he also wanted to sit close to his good friend. But Yang Qian only glanced at him with indifference.
Yun froze. He touched his nose and returned to his original seat with some embarrassment.
“All right. Junior Liu and I came a bit late. Could someone tell the two of us what was just discussed?” Yang Qian asked the others unhurriedly.
“We were just discussing the two times a new sea beast appeared among the Sea Race. It was very frustrating to handle. What plans does everyone have to counter this?” The youth from the Firestorm Way with scarlet brows and large eyes opened his mouth.
Hearing this, Yang Qian realized something. “Oh, Senior Tian is talking about that whale-like beast that can expel endless amounts of seawater from its body, and turn the empty land into a body of water?”
On hearing this, the scarlet-browed youth said, “Brother Yang is familiar with this. Did you also encounter a similar sea beast in the previous fight?”
“I didn’t only meet it. I almost died at the hands of that beast and another Sea Race Spirit Master.” Yang Qian’s voice turned cold.
“Yes. This sea beast is very troublesome. It will not attack, but its thick hide has incredible defensive properties. It is also skilled in controlling seawater. If the other Sea Race people are to join forces with it, its ability will be multiplied manifold. We had thought that only Senior Tian and Junior Zhang had encountered this beast, but it looks like Brother Yang is also among them.” Xue Ci said.
Yang Qian, hearing these words, asked Zhang Xiuniang with surprise, “Oh, Martial Sister Zhang has also met this beast? How did you counter it, and what was the outcome? At that time, when I saw the situation was disadvantageous, I immediately used a Secret Technique to escape.”
“I broke through the defenses of that sea-beast. I killed it with one blow of the sword, and then took off one arm of that Spirit Master who cooperated with the beast.”
On hearing this, most of the people present felt a stirring their heart and looked at Zhang Xiuniang in a somewhat different light.
“Junior Zhang clearly is the master of the Sword Communication Spirit Body. After advancing, your Flying Sword technique is incredibly strong. No doubt, even a liquid middle level is only about this level of power.” Xue Ci said with a grimace.
This great senior from the Hall of Blood had once endured a lot of suffering at Zhang Xiuniang’s hands. Initially, after making extraordinary progress in his Great Blood River Technique, he thought he had the strength to rival this legendary sword cultivator from the Heaven Moon Sect. But since seeing Zhang Xiuniang’s advances against the Sea Race, he had completely given up on this idea.
Yang Qian and the scarlet-browed youth, who had both seen the sea beast, looked at each other and grimaced.
“Among us, only Junior Zhang is this proficient in the Flying Sword Technique. So we can’t make use of this to counter the sea-beast. But since the beast is good at controlling water, then how about using fire to counter it?” Gao Chong asked.
The scarlet-browed youth furrowed his brow and said, “This won’t work. To tell the truth, I’m quite skilled in the Fire Cultivation Method and have totems of the same element for support. But the strength of fire can’t quickly break through the enormous amount of seawater around the beast. If it’s just the beast, this would just take time. But around the beast are also other Sea Race Spirit Masters coordinating with it. It’s not possible to kill the sea beast like this.”
Yang Qian, hearing this, also nodded.
He had used similar methods before but it had been similarly ineffective.
After thinking, Gao Chong said, “If fire isn’t its weak point, then perhaps we should try ice techniques. If we freeze the sea water, we should be able to restrict the beast’s movements.”
Yang Qian immediately disagreed. “This doesn’t work, either.
“I haven’t tried these methods and this sea-beast doesn’t take the initiative to attack, but it is tremendously strong. A little bit of ice can’t stop it. I have gotten close to the beast before, but then its tail flung me a hundred feet away.”
“This beast is so troublesome. Does it really have no weaknesses?” Yun said with some melancholy.
Hearing this, Liu Ming finally said with a smile, “Since both ice and fire can't be used, has anyone tried poison?”
“Poison? We haven’t tried it. Maybe it really might work. That sea-beast moves water by continually ingesting and expelling it. If we put the poison directly into the water, we could poison it easily.” Yang Qian’s eyes lit upon hearing this.
“With the size of that beast, ordinary poison likely won’t work at all.” Xue Ci said thoughtfully.
“Heh heh. A lot of fellow practitioners here aren’t skilled in using poison. But it’s not too difficult with the strength of our sect to find some miracle poisons. If one doesn’t work, we just have to bring more kinds, and surely one among them will work. Even if we can’t poison this beast to death, we can at least weaken it. Surely that’s advantageous,” Liu Ming said.
“Yes, Brother Liu makes sense. It’s worth trying.” The ugly man beside Xue Ci nodded and said.
“Please forgive my myopia. This fellow practitioner is…?” Liu Ming looked at the ugly man, and asked curiously.
Xue Ci, hearing this, said with a smile, “Oh, Brother Liu arrived late. No wonder you don’t recognize him. This is Junior Xue Ning; his abilities aren’t less than mine. He also participated in the journey to the secret realm that time, but most of the time he was stuck in one particular place. Otherwise, our sect’s performance would not have been this average.”
Liu Ming seemed to realize something. “So it’s like this. Brother Xue Ning actually does look somewhat familiar.”
In the following time, the thousand or so people discussed several more methods to counter the sea-beast. Although not all of the methods might be useful, they would no longer be helpless if they encountered the sea beast again.
In this time, Yang Qian also informed to Liu Ming about some of the more powerful people among the Sea Race Spirit Masters, so that if Liu Ming were to meet them, he could be careful.
After chatting a little longer, Yun smiled at Liu Ming, and said,
“Alright. Let’s end the discussion about the Sea Race here. After this, we can begin our customary challenges. This time, with Junior Liu joining us, surely there will be a lot of people interested in participating.”
The moment these words left his mouth, the gazes of most present landed on Liu Ming.
Liu Ming’s expression remained neutral. He did not show any sign that anything was out of the ordinary.
The scarlet-browed youth’s eyes flashed. “Fellow practitioner Liu is a new face. If he does not look unkindly on it, then I…” He prepared to challenge Liu Ming. At this time, someone else interrupted.
Gao Chong turned his head, and enunciated one word at a time while staring at Liu Ming, “Liu Ming, do you dare to fight me?”
The moment these words left his mouth, everyone aside from Liu Ming was completely stunned.
A fight between them did not explicitly mean anything, but under normal circumstances, challenges were made between people of different sects. Challenges had never been made between people from the same sect.
Yang Qian was not too surprised at hearing this, but in his heart, he grimaced. He immediately said quietly,
“Junior Gao, you…”
“Senior Yang. I know what you’re going to say. But I must spar with Junior Liu! If I lose, then I will let go of all the grudges I have with Junior Liu, and will not bother him anymore. In addition, if he is someplace, I will do everything possible to give way, and will definitely not fight with him over anything. But if I win, then he must kowtow to me three times in front of everybody, so as to assuage my anger.” Gao Chong said with a heavy expression.
On hearing Gao Chong’s steely tone and these words, Yang Qian’s gaze changed. He looked at Liu Ming, and sighed and did not say anything.
He had long before heard of the conflict between these two juniors but had not known that it had festered to this extent.
Seeing this, the other people from the sect looked at each other with great surprise.
“All right. Since Junior Gao has this much confidence, then let me have the chance to learn from junior’s new powers after his advancement.” Liu Ming narrowed his eyes and looked at Gao Chong, then agreed lightly.