Chapter 285: Truly Unrivalled
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The Space-Destroying Spear Technique.
After Yue Hongyan understood her techniques better with the help of the Great Celestial Way of the Eight Trigrams, she came up with the Space-Destroying Spear Technique. Together with her Avici Infernal Gale, she became unstoppable.
Even if Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua fought together, they were unable to match her. The Aurous Core stage light gold sword radiance was immediately destroyed upon contact with the Space-Destroying Spear Technique.
Facing a devastating blow that tore space apart, the Hidden Dragon Gorge decided to react. It helped the pale and ashen-faced Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua to block Yue Hongyan's spear. In that moment, victory had already been decided.
Yue Hongyan fought with a numerical disadvantage and yet, she managed to overcome the Sun Moon Sword Sect couple.
The battle by the Sea of the Northern Wind made Yue Hongyan famous throughout the lands. Everyone knew her as a rare prodigy and a rising star in the new generation.
At that moment, the power of disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders too was demonstrated.
They were invincible against opponents in the same stage. They could not be beaten one-on-one, and now it appeared that they could not be beaten even if they were up against numerous opponents.
The people watched Yue Hongyan emerged from the Hidden Dragon Gorge with complex expressions. However, she herself did not appear very excited. Her expression was as per normal. The only thing she did was to rejoin her group, bowed to Lin Feng and said, "Master."
Lin Feng nodded his head. "Good job."
Yue Hongyan smiled. In that smile, her cold facial expression suddenly became a lot warmer.
Xiao Budian patted Zhuge Fengling's shoulder and said jokingly, "You did well too, even though we knew that it was not deliberate."
Zhuge Fengling was a bit taken aback. Previously, she concealed all of her Qi, fearing detection by her enemies. Naturally, she was unable to observe the actions of Li Bingqing and Zou Yuhua.
However, she reacted quickly and said, "It was all Sister Hongyan's efforts."
It was obvious she that she was sucking up to Yue Hongyan. If one were to actually take into account their respective ages, she was actually slightly older than Yue Hongyan.
"While your role was primarily as a cheerleader, you were a decent cheerleader by any standard," said Lin Feng, smiling and shaking his head. He thought to himself, "However, Hongyan was truly powerful. The final battle demonstrated quite clearly that even if Zhuge Fengling did not manage to make her opponents panic, Hongyan would still have been able to subdue them."
On the other hand, the Sun Radiance Swordmaster said in a dignified manner, "Master Lin's disciples are truly talented and exceptional."
With that, he was willing to pay up the collateral for the bet. He passed the Sun Essence Stone to Lin Feng. Lin Feng accepted the Sun Essence Stone, and smiled, "Honestly speaking, this was mainly due to luck. If my disciple did not know about the Avici Infernal Gale, then there was still a chance that she might lose."
The Sun Radiance Swordmaster shook his head and sighed, "Even so, it was a two-versus-one battle. This is rather disappointing for my Sun Moon Sword Sect."
Prince Anliang of the Great Qin Empire looked at Lin Feng and said slowly, "The Grand Sun Primordial Flame, the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire, the Grand Moon Primordial Water and the Avici Infernal Gale. The disciples of Master Lin are truly like hidden dragons and crouching tigers."
"Prince Anliang is too kind," Lin Feng smiled slightly. He did not explain any further.
Many times, it was better to not let one's enemies gauge the depth of one's powers.
Lin Feng swept through the elders with his gaze. Suddenly, his heart twitched. He realized that Cao Wei of the Heaven Lake Sect fixated his glance on Xiao Budian. His expression was solemn as he was about to say something.
Almost as if he felt Lin Feng's gaze, Cao Wei quietly turned his gaze away towards the Hidden Dragon Gorge. In the next battle between disciples, his Heaven Lake Sect would be going up.
Lin Feng thought, "What is this guy planning?"
In the next round, other than the disciples from the Heaven Lake Sect, a couple from the Sun Moon Sword Sect was taking part too.
Lin Feng then tapped Xiao Budian, who was still fooling around with Zhuge Fengling and said, half-scolding and half-laughing, "Little b*stard, watch carefully. When you go against other Aurous Core stage disciples, you would surely meet the Sun Moon Sword Sect."
"Don't blame me for not warning you that the disciples of the Sun Moon Sword become more powerful as their mastery increases. It's not due solely to an improvement in their personal power, but also because the longer they trained together, the closer they become and they better they can complement each other with their sword techniques."
Lin Feng pointed to Yue Hongyan. "Previously, Hongyan's battle served as a good example."
Xiao Budian shook his head and smiled, "Relax, master. I watched Fourth Senior's battle very carefully."
He looked at Yue Hongyan and said, "Actually, the best way to deal with disciples from the Sun Moon Sword Sect would be to break them apart. Then, they would be no concern."
"Fourth Senior surely understood this logic, but she chose not to do it."
Yue Hongyan smiled and said nothing. She knew that the best way to counter-attack was indeed to break them apart. However, due to personal reasons, she decided to confront them up-front.
As the disciples were discussing intently, the battle within the Hidden Dragon Gorge grew with intensity.
In comparison to the Celestial Sect's strategy of letting Zhuge Fengling shirk while Yue Hongyan went up against two enemies, the team from the Heaven Lake Sect treated the battle a lot more seriously. Other than the main member, his teammate was not bad too. Her teammate was someone who had lost in the earlier round.
At that moment, however, the main star of the show was not him. Neither was it the couple from the Sun Moon Sword Sect. It was the Heaven Lake Sect disciple who had drawn the stick.
She managed to receive more than half of the Sun Moon Sword Sect's couple's moves, demonstrating that her powers were considered the top few in her tier.
Coincidentally, she too was a female like Yue Hongyan.
With Lin Feng's current mastery, he realized straight away that this female was like Yue Hongyan. She was no older than 20, but already in the later phase of the Foundation Establishment stage. Her powers could have been said to be exceptional and prodigious.
"I remember, her name was Dao Yuting," thought Lin Feng suddenly. His heart jolted. "This surname is rare."
Thinking about that, Lin Feng gazed over to the Great Qin Empire's side. In the back of the team stood a group of middle-aged cultivators. They did not appear to be contestants, but rather cultivators from Great Qin who were in charge of reception.
Very easily, Lin Feng found Dao Zhiqiang.
At that moment, Dao Zhiqiang's expression was normal. He looked at the battle within the Hidden Dragon Gorge with a standard expression, occasionally impressed. It was as if he was looking solely at the fight.
However, what he was thinking in his heart was under Lin Feng's observation. At that moment, he realized that Dao Zhiqiang's fists were trembling. This showed that he was not at ease. He was evidently controlling his emotions.
Lin Feng thought, "This would be interesting."
As predicted, the Heaven Lake Sect had some draconian rules in place. One of them was to sever all ties with the outside world through murder.
The sect devoted a massive amount of effort in recruiting exceptional kids. If they found orphans, then it's not that bad. However, if they found kids with parents or relatives, the sect would secretly murder all of their living relations.
"Just as I predicted, the relationship between Dao Zhiqiang and Dao Yuting isn't so simple." Numerous thoughts floated in Lin Feng's mind. "Perhaps he managed to escape being killed by the Heaven Lake Sect. His will is strong and he is probably not satisfied with the current arrangement."
Lin Feng decided to observe more closely. He realized the resemblance between Dao Zhiqiang and Dao Yuting.
However, at that moment, Dao Yuting's expression was severe, cold and expressionless. While it was still elegant, it was cloaked with a dark, killing aura. Her lips were pale and bloodless.
Not only did her mastery exceed that of her partner, she was superior to even Fang Zhong, who was defeated by Yang Qing earlier on. The many spells of the Heaven Lake Sect all appeared even more intense on her hands.
Here, Lin Feng understood. Dao Yuting was the true ace card of the Heaven Lake Sect in this Spiritual Conference of Huanghai. Not only must she emerge as one of the top 8, she had the responsibility to clinch one of the top rankings.
While her power was exceptional, Lin Feng observed that only his disciples and Shi Shaoqian could confidently win Dao Yuting. As for the rest, he wasn't too optimistic about their chances.
Indeed, the Sun Moon Sword Sect met with a tragic fate again. Originally, they thought that by fighting in pairs they would finally be able to clinch a decisive advantage over their opponents. Who could have foreseen that the two pairs of Sun Moon Sword Sect disciples were completely eliminated in the semi-final rounds
When Dao Yuting exited the Hidden Dragon Gorge, the Heaven Lake Sect greeted her with thunderous applause. As everyone else looked at her with admiration, everyone knew that the victory of the Heaven Lake Sect was 70% owed to her efforts.
Such a good news naturally spawned rumors and stories. People already began to compare Dao Yuting with Yue Hongyan. Both of them were able to defeat the couples from the Sun Moon Sword Sect. Both of them were exceptional. Both of them reached the later stages of Foundation Establishment before 20. Both of them were beauties.
One of them had scarlet hair like fire, while the other wore snow-white robes.
Looking at this, Lin Feng shook his head and laughed, "This is truly a chaotic scene. Everyone is really trying to hype up the atmosphere."
Yue Hongyan did not care much for these. She was fixated on the next pairings.
Wang Lin, Yang Qing, Yue Hongyan, Shi Shaoqian of the Great Qin Empire, Dao Yuting of the Heaven Lake Sect, Huo Chen of the Huo Family, Zhamu Zeluo of the Northern Tribes and a young disciple of the Purple Clouds Sect emerged as top 8.
At this point, everyone's opinions of the Celestial Sect of Wonders had changed.
Three of them took part in the competition and all three were ranked top 8. Amongst the 8 spots, the Celestial Sect of Wonders occupied 3 of them. They were truly impressive.
While Wang Lin and Yang Qing managed to get past the first round without having to face any opponent, but they performed exceedingly well in battles. Everyone now saw how powerful the Celestial Sect was.
This also made them anticipate the pairings.
The disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders focused all their attention on the Vivant Joy Holy Man's bronze bottle.
The Vivant Joy Holy Man shook the bronze bottle and two name slips fell out. One of them belonged to the rising star Dao Yuting. Interestingly, her opponent was a cultivator from the Royal House of the Northern Tribes, Zhamu Zeluo.
The Heaven Lake Sect against the Royal House of the Northern Tribes. Two sworn enemies.
Cao Wei and Prince Xian looked at each other. Lin Feng could almost feel sparks coming out from their gaze.
The Vivant Joy Man smiled bitterly as he ignored them. He took out the next name slip, looked at it, and said slowly, "Yue Hongyan from the Celestial Sect of Wonders."