Chapter 336: Clash of the Titans
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
After Xiao Budian used the "Yu" mantra, he managed to stop the Great Boundaries of the Celestial Light and Darkness Mandala from collapsing unto itself and hence, halted its destructive potential.
Despite the fact that Zhu Yi was the creator of this tiny universe, he was unable to destroy it.
Zhu Yi furrowed his eyebrows, but before he could make his next step, Xiao Budian made his next move.
Within the Great Boundaries, Xiao Budian punched his chest with both of his hands. From within his fists, tiny waves began to spread. Soon, the entire space within the Great Boundaries was trembling, and one could see tiny wave-like patterns forming in the space, like water ripples.
After the Hammer of the Yellow Heaven Bell smashed against Xiao Budian's Green Bronze Crucible of Emptiness, he obtained revelations and was able to synthesize his revelations with his "Yu" mantra. In doing so, he created this deviation.
The ripples in the space continued to spread unabatedly, and was different from the induced collapse that Zhu Yi was trying to achieve. While Zhu Yi's forced destruction of the Great Boundaries spread inwards, Xiao Budian managed to force its destruction from inside-out.
Xiao Budian's "Yu" mantra was able to destroy Zhu Yi's Great Boundaries!
Zhu Yi's eyes shone. This was the first time since he created the Great Boundaries of the Celestial Light and Darkness Mandala that the entire formation managed to be destroyed by someone. While he knew that his Little Junior was exceptional, but he only fully understood his powers through this spar.
Zhu Yi nodded his head gently. His expression was calm as he clapped his hands together. In the Hidden Dragon Gorge, Zhu Yi began to absorb different forms of spiritual energy. Before him, another tiny world was formed. Immediately, he trapped Xiao Budian, who had just escaped from the Great Boundaries of the Celestial Light and Darkness Mandala into it.
Xiao Budian's eyebrows jumped as he looked skywards. The stars in this universe were hurtling towards the ground as they morphed into comets that sought to smash against his head.
He then looked down as he realized the very earth was breaking apart. Giant crevices began to appear as a yawning canyon grew bigger and bigger, as if it wanted to swallow Xiao Budian whole.
A flood roared towards him, its waves were as high as the heaven itself. It galloped and roared towards Xiao Budian. At the same time, an endless inferno burned around him as they enveloped Xiao Budian.
A screaming wind, completely black, descended from the sky like a dancing, black dragon. At the same time, lightning and thunder crackled in the sky as they bolted towards Xiao Budian.
Gigantic mountains trembled and crumbled in a magnificent landslide, as they apparently sought to crush Xiao Budian underneath themselves.
Scars and crevices appeared on the ground underneath Xiao Budian, as they turned into swamps and muddy fields that seemed to go on forever. They sought to drag Xiao Budian down below.
In this tiny world, the heavens and earth churned. Fire and water clashed. The wind and thunder came together and the mountains and rivers up-ended each other.
In this world, it seemed like the apocalypse itself had came. Endless amount of disaster and dangers appeared and they all surged towards Xiao Budian.
"You ranked first amongst all disciples in terms of understanding about the our sect's secrets about creation itself," laughed Xiao Budian fearlessly, "However, to say that you could defeat me with these stuff, aren't you underestimating my abilities?"
Saying that, Xiao Budian's entire body trembled with wind and thunder. Then, he transformed into the Form of the Thunderstorm Demon and God about two meters high. It punched the strong gale and thunder, stomped the inferno and flood. It strode past the crevices and canyons on the ground as if they were flat ground and it did not even seem to care about the comets in the sky.
The mountains that were collapsing towards it were destroyed by him in one punch.
All forms of disasters were unable to overcome Xiao Budian. With every step he took, the tiny world trembled.
At the end, blood coursed ceaselessly through Xiao Budian's body, blazingly hot like the sun itself. It illuminated an entire corner of the world.
From the space, Zhu Yi's voice could be heard, calm and collected, "I have never underestimated you."
With that, two rays of black and white appeared in the small world, merging with the latter's elements.
XIao Budian did not realize something abnormal about it, but soon he realized that something additional had entered this small world that Zhu Yi had created.
Day and night.
The power of the light transformed into day, while the power of night transformed into night. Day and light exchanged non-stop. A sense of time appeared to have entered this world.
Time within this world was different from time outside, however. In the span of only a breath, it appeared that one day had passed. It was too fast for someone to even catch it, and if one were to be careless one would appear to have missed a few days within this tiny world.
To Xiao Budian, this was nothing. However, what was terrifying for Xiao Budian was the fact that the elemental attacks against Xiao Budian within the world sped up, till he could almost not react against them.
However, as soon as he regained his senses, he realized that half of his body had been stuck within the ground as floodwater gurgled over his head. Comets and asteroids struck against his head like rain.
As soon as he managed to escape, he was once again struck by a ferocious gale and he fell back into the swamp. Then, he was enveloped by fire as they burned around him, frying his forehead.
"Second Senior's spells could control time itself?" Xiao Budian forced himself to calm down as he tried to protect himself and warded off the attacks that came at him from all directions.
As he tried to protect himself, a thought appeared in his mind, "No, it's not only that. Second Senior did not only alter the flow of time in this tiny space."
Xiao Budian was battered by Zhu Yi's attacks like a sandbag. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and asked, "Second Senior, do you dare to say something to me now?"
There was a silence, and one could only hear the howling of the wind, the rumbling of thunder, the swirl of the flood and the sizzling of the inferno, but not Zhu Yi's voice.
Xiao Budian smiled, "Indeed, you don't dare."
Zhu Yi's voice suddenly came, and in it there was a certain degree of mirth, "Not bad, you finally realized."
He spoke quickly, like firecrackers. His words appeared to have been combined and one could barely understand his enunciation. It did not seem like Zhu Yi's normal pattern-of-speech.
Zhu Yi's spell did not appear to speed time up. Instead, it slowed time down.
It slowed down Xiao Budian's reaction time, or rather, his reaction speed.
The wind, thunder, water and fire did not speed up, and Zhu Yi's voice did not speed up too. Instead, Xiao Budian's reaction slowed. Hence, he found everything to be faster.
Indeed, a second could make a world of difference. In the battle, a slower reaction time would make a world of difference. Xiao Budian's reaction time had slowed, and hence he was assaulted by Zhu Yi's various attacks.
However, upon understanding the rationale within this, Xiao Budian ceased to worry. A hard-to-decipher smile crept over his face.
However, Xiao Budian did not take this chance to counter-attack. Instead, he continued to allow himself to be battered by Zhu Yi. Sitting calmly on the ground, he expended all his energy defending himself as his eyes darted about, as if he was thinking about something.
Looking at this, Zhu Yi frowned. He could feel that something was amiss.
"Xuanhuang Four-Word Mantra, Xuanhuang Four-Word Mantra..." Zhu Yi muttered under his breath and then his face changed. "Since there is the 'Yu' Mantra, could it mean that..."
At this point, Xiao Budian laughed. "Second Senior, I must thank you. Earlier on, there was something I did not fully understand about the 'Yu' Mantra, now, thanks to you, I finally managed to understand it!"
Laughing, Xiao Budian raised his hands and bellowed, "Zhou!"
A huge amount of power came from within Xiao Budian as it completely covered the world that Zhu Yi had created.
Time, in that instant, appeared to stop. The floodwater stopped in mid-air as the blazing inferno froze. The collapsing mountain stopped in mid-air, and one could see the falling meteors and comets stopping in mid-air.
The black gust of wind and lightning appeared froze too, as if they were in a painting.
In the next instant, the tiny world that Zhu Yi created with his mana collapsed. Dust and smoke covered the sky and Xiao Budian stepped out from within, his expression neutral.
Zhu Yi looked at Xiao Budian and nodded his head. "Little Junior, your 'Zhou' is indeed powerful."
"Not only did you manage to stop time in my world, but you also placed a limit on my mana and psychic awareness, forcing me to surrender my control over it." Zhu Yi said slowly. "With more cultivation, your mastery will improve and your understanding of time and space too will improve. One day, you may be able to freeze time too."
Xiao Budian smiled and said, "Thank you Second Senior for the inspiration."
From within the Hidden Dragon Gorge, Xiao Budian looked at Zhu Yi and said smiling, "Second Senior, receive my next blow!"
He slammed his fists together and said in a low voice, "Zhou!"
The "Zhou" mantra activated once again, but now it was targeted at Zhu Yi.
Frozen by Xiao Budian's "Zhou" mantra, Zhu Yi felt as if he had been turned into a clay model, incapable of moving.
He could not move, he could not speak. Even the thoughts in his head slowed.
"The four cardinal directions are 'Yu'. Since time immemorial, time itself had been called 'Zhou'. Little Junior's 'Zhou' word is, however, a time-based spell." Zhu Yi could feel even his soul freezing. He was completely incapable of moving, even his thoughts appeared to be stopping.
However, he was not an ordinary person. The more dangerous his predicament, the calmer he became. " Since time immemorial, time itself had been called 'Zhou'. Little Junior's 'Zhou' sought to manipulate time, but he could only manipulate the present and past, not the future. He is unable to control the ever-changing future."
Zhu Yi's eyes suddenly opened. One of his pupils was black and the other white. From the pitch-black darkness an infinite amount of light spewed forth, and from the infinite brightness a darkness, darker than night itself, emerged. The two powers turned and spun, and they appeared to be writing countless amount of words which formed into an essay.
Once the essay emerged, it managed to break the seal Xiao Budian's "Zhou" imposed on Zhu Yi.
Zhu Yi then said quietly, "I will continue to walk down this path. It will bring about infinite possibilities, brimming with unexplored potential and possibilities. This is not something that time alone could decide. Little Junior, you can't stop me."
Saying that, the bright essay became unstoppable as it weighed heavily down on Xiao Budian.
"Is that so? Let's find out," Xiao Budian was fearless as he raised his two hands and a shocking amount of power began to vibrate in the Hidden Dragon Gorge.