Chapter 309: What A Waste
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Zhu Yi’s Great Strength Way of the Sword sent rumbling thunder across the sky. The stance was of immense strength and its force had no end – it was enough to face off Huo Ming’s Asura Doomsday Blade head on.
As for the Great Calamity Way of the Sword, it had the strength and quality of restoring the fertility of all beings and the fullness of life energy counteracted the murderous energy of the Asura Doomsday Blade.
The two ways of the sword were released at the same time, and worked together to resolve Huo Ming’s fierce assault. Besides that, they fought back against Huo Ming with unprecedented fierceness and speed.
Huo Ming took a deep breath as he faced Zhu Yi’s attack.
A streak of black light wrapped itself around Huo Ming’s weapon like a current of electricity. It came alive and meandered around and, under the cover of darkness, Huo Ming’s knife morphed into a huge shining knife at over two meters long. The scene was horrifying.
However, this giant knife minimized the moment Huo Ming waved his weapon and reverted back to its original size. Except this time there were no longer flashing streaks of flickering black light and the blade was now completely pitch black. The hidden strength and ferocity seemed to bend the ripple the air and space around it.
Huo Ming slashed out and the air ripped in the wake of the fact, leaving a dense black scar with a calamitous kind of energy.
Zhu Yi nodded his head slightly and said, "The Asura Doomsday Blade…. Indeed impressive."
Huo Ming was, after all, in the advanced aurous core stage and his mana pool was substantial and was actually bigger than Zhu Yi’s. Zhu Yi could not obtain any advantage by facing him head-on.
Zhu Yi had no intention to fight his adversary’s strength with his own weakness. Faced with Huo Ming’s fierce blade, he flicked his sword towards it with two quick stabs and released two streaks of sword Qi of light and darkness. The light streak was brilliant and blinding while the other was full of doom and gloom.
The two streaks of sword Qi intertwined in the air and immediately morphed into the Great Boundaries of the Celestial Light and Darkness Mandala. It opened up like a huge cloth bag in the sky and prepared to clash with the incoming Huo Ming.
Huo Ming’s previous action of rushing forward was equivalent of running head-on into the huge bag in front of him.
Those who had seen Zhu Yi’s Great Boundaries of Celestial Light and Darkness Mandala knew that even if Huo Ming stopped abruptly in his tracks, Zhu Yi’s Mandala would still barrel forward and swallow him up.
Once in the Great Boundaries of Celestial Light and Darkness Mandala, Huo Ming would no longer be in control of his life and death. Zhu Yi’s could cause the Mandala could collapse into itself, similar to a minute version of a global-scale disaster. The strength of the fact was not something an aurous core stage cultivator could resolve or negate.
Huo Ming’s cold eyes stared ahead at the mass of white and black in front of him. It seemed like a portal to another tiny universe of pure light and darkness.
All of a sudden, his body curled and twisted.
Such a movement took away Zhu Yi’s target even though he originally locked in on his adversary.
Visually, Huo Ming’s body was still there but his huge physical body minimized in the blink of an eye and the surface area was reduced.
To the public watching the battle outside of the Hidden Dragon Teapot, let alone Zhu Yi, could feel that in that moment Huo Ming seemed to vanish into thin air.
Disappeared into nothing in a moment’s passing.
Zhu Yi’s gaze froze. As the person directly involved, his experience was the strongest and could also be said to be the sharpest. He could faintly feel that whatever happened before this was within Huo Ming’s calculations.
Once released, his Great Boundaries of Celestial Light and Darkness Mandala was extremely difficult to dodge and avoid unless the other party had a premeditated plan.
It seemed like Huo Ming was already prepared for this. The fierce slashing of the knife was, in reality, just a foreshadow and a cover to suggest that he was heading straight for the net and bait out Zhu Yi’s Great Boundaries of Celestial Light and Darkness Mandala. He was already prepared and was waiting for Zhu Yi to release and then immediately retreat.
If Zhu Yi did not use the Great Boundaries of Celestial Light and Darkness Mandala, then his previous attack would become a real one. Under the current circumstances, however, it became a feint to bait his opponent.
"My trump card, which has never let me down before, missed its target today. My spirit is gone," Zhu Yi thought to himself. "When I realized that I have fallen into his calculation and his trap, I can’t help but feel at a loss, as if I was played by a mischievous clown and my confidence and dignity would take a hit."
"Under such circumstances, I could possibly develop feelings of exasperation and anger and press forward to take back what was lost. I could become increasingly frustrated and, in the process, commit more and unforgivable errors and betray even more weaknesses."
Zhu Yi laughed on the inside. "Could it be that my emotions would be within his calculations as well? This is interesting. Okay then, show me what you are going to now."
At this point, Zhu Yi remained expressionless but the longsword in his hand trembled and a streak of Dui Sword Technique and another streak of Li Sword Technique burst forth.
Dui above and Li below – fire blazes in the pond, Change!
This was the pinnacle of attack strength in the Way of the Facile Blade. It was the most dominant and intimidating of all, the Transformation Sword Technique. This technique was filled with an unstoppable and world-changing brilliance, and morphed into a white patch and shot out towards Huo Ming.
Outside the Hidden Dragon Teapot, Jiao Junchen witnessed the scene but shook his head faintly, and his eyes were filled with utter disappointment.
"You realized that you were tricked, so you became angry? Such temperament is a little bit too pathetic. How could you possibly hope to improve with a mentality like that?"
However, everybody else watching the fight did not think the same way. Some people in the crowd cried out as the strength of Zhu Yi’s technique was enough to petrify all the aurous core stage cultivators.
Faced with the onslaught, Huo Ming’s mouth contorted into a wry smile.
His originally miniscule body size immediately reverted back to its original size and the murderous quality and ferocious energy suddenly exploded forward again. The flora inside the Hidden Dragon Teapot seemed to wither in response and Huo Ming showed unprecedented ferocity and intimidation since the beginning of the fight.
From the start of the fight, even though he had his ups and downs against Zhu Yi and looked as if it was a heated battle, the truth was that Huo Ming had been suppressing himself and holding down his rippling mana as well as the true ferocity in his chest. He held back the tyrannical explosiveness of his body.
And all of this was released at this point in time and he no longer held back.
Huo Ming felt a wanton relief as if he had the biggest breakthrough of his life and his whole spirit, person and being, reached an unprecedented pinnacle.
All the preparation, patience and covering was all for this moment.
The knife in Huo Ming’s hand was raised but did not come down. The stance of the knife was sprung but not triggered and an immense strength spread around the vicinity and enveloped the entire area.
Zhu Yi, who was in the middle of it, could feel that the air and space around him was shut down and arrested by Huo Ming’s mana in an instant.
It became a solitary space, closed off to the outside world, and the darkness of it all was not unlike hell on Earth. When one looked inside, there were only skulls and bones and a sea of blood and corpses!
In that instance, he seemed to enter an inferno of carrion and death.
"The Asura Array!" Outside the Hidden Dragon Teapot, Jiao Junchen and Shi Xingyun shivered at the same time.
The Asura Array – the killer move of the Asura Doomsday Blade!
Non-stop killing and unstoppable death, the ultimate end of the human life, hell on Earth!
"It’s the Asura Array indeed! He really mastered it!" Shi Xingyun’s eyes sparkled with awe and wonder. "The Huo Family has really gained from this. Another aurous core stage cultivator has mastered the Asura Array."
The formidable energy from the Asura Array rippled and was charged with the fearsome stink of blood and death. Outside the Teapot, the onlookers were stirred and an uproar ensued.
Even though Song Qingyuan had a smile on his face and was typically indifferent towards the process of the competition, at this point the smile on his face hardened and faded a little bit. He watched the Hidden Dragon Teapot with a more serious look.
The straightforward and direct Tao Yaoyao, who was chatting away with Zhao Yan and the others, began to compliment Huo Ming. "The Asura Array. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this. Who would have thought another member of the Huo Family, who’s also an aurous core stage cultivator, could master this move?"
Du Kun, Sang Luohe of the the Royal House of the Northern Tribes, Li Kuiyin and Gu Lei of the Purple Clouds Sect were also extremely solemn. Huo Ming, who had mastered the Asura Array, now commanded the respect of all aurous core stage cultivators.
Inside the Asura Array, Zhu Yi’s Transformation Sword Technique was still thick with intense strength and a majestic aura but was ultimately wiped clean, piece by piece, by the deathly energy coming from the Asura Array.
Huo Ming raised his giant knife and the tip of knife seemed like it was supporting the entire world. He peered at Zhu Yi and chuckled, "I need to thank you. It is with your help that I could break through the bottleneck and master the Asura Array technique."
"Originally, I was going to punish you with death and give you the honor of becoming the first person to die under my knife during my first use of the Asura Array to show my gratitude."
"What a waste, though, that we are in the Hidden Dragon Teapot and I cannot actually kill you right here. But don’t worry, I will have the opportunity in the days to come."
"I can feel that even if I don’t kill you right here, by beating you at this place at this time, I have experienced the thunder tribulations and it won’t be long before I ascend to the nascent soul stage."
Huo Ming slowly stepped forward as he spoke. The giant knife slashed downwards, but with the speed of a snail and a slowness that exasperated everyone.
Except, with the swing of his blade the entire Asura Array was also trembling along. The entire murderous energy of the Asura Array was channeled towards the tip of Huo Ming’s blade. The amount of doom and dark energy amassed at that point of a quality and amount that froze people’s hearts.
Under the slash of the blade, the destructive force of the Asura Array and the ensuring disasters were concentrated onto the blade. This blade was all-conquering and eliminated every living soul that stood in its way.
Enemies that were stuck inside the Asura Array were locked in by the energy coming from within and had nowhere to run.
"Master, is this what you were talking about, Huo Ming’s opportunity?" At this point, Xiao Budian’s face tightened up and became very solemn. "It is indeed fierce!"
Yue Hongyan, Yang Qing and the others also wore a look of gloom and solemnity and stared at the movie picture coming from the top of the Hidden Dragon Teapot.
However, it was Lin Feng that had a plain and expressionless face. He smiled and said, "It’s true that this is his only chance. But from the looks of it, your Senior Zhu will not give him this chance anymore."
Inside the Hidden Dragon Teapot, Zhu Yi watched in silence as Huo Ming’s blade came closer and closer. All of a sudden, a grin flashed across his face and he let loose a quiet sigh. "I also think it is a waste that we are in the Hidden Dragon Teapot."
Zhu Yi kept his sword in his sheath as he spoke and turned around with both hands behind his back, as if he was completely giving up on defending himself.
But Huo Ming’s soul suddenly trembled and flickered as he had been watching Zhu Yi the whole time and suddenly discovered something was extremely wrong.
Zhu Yi’s eyes were a complete pitch black. His eyes were no longer separated by white and black as his eye whites completely disappeared. In his eye sockets was a complete mass of black, much alike the silent and gloomy tranquility of midnight.
Zhu Yi’s voice appeared in the Hidden Dragon Teapot. "I also think, there will be another chance in the future. The thing is, when we exit the Hidden Dragon Teapot don’t run when you see me."