Chapter 977 – Third Level of the Concept of Fire
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Bang!
The black flames and scarlet storm riotously exploded. The black flames disappeared into nothingness, but only 70% of the scarlet storm melted away. The remaining 30% shot toward Huo Yanguang!
This was only a single spear strike from Lin Ming but Huo Yanguang slashed out three times. The difference in quality between the two top grade saint artifacts could be seen with just a glance. In terms of the saint artifact’s strength alone, the Blackfire Blade was completely suppressed by the Phoenix Blood Spear.
“Great spear. The Phoenix Blood Spear itself has such might, if it were to fall into my hands, just how powerful would it be!” Huo Yanguang moved, his feet shifting like a fast rabbit in the high grass. His speed was surprisingly fast and highly flexible. It was unknown what movement technique he used but it was no worse than Lin Ming’s Mystic Lightning Shade!
Huo Yanguang’s figure erratically danced through the scarlet storm, flitting back and forth. His body became a series of afterimages that dodged all of the Phoenix Blood Spear’s attack.
“Ghostly Firefade Steps! I didn’t think that Huo Yanguang practiced the Ghostly Firefade Steps to this level! He really is a genius!”
“You’re wrong. Huo Yanguang’s Ghostly Firefade Steps hadn’t reached this level of exquisiteness before. This is what happened after he crossed the ninth stage of Life Destruction and received a baptism of the world Laws. His comprehension of the Fire Laws has deepened, so his Ghostly Firefade Steps have become more amazing. The ninth stage of Life Destruction was truly not wasted.”
The Ghostly Firefade Steps were traceless and shadowless. It was one of the Ancient Phoenix Clan’s high level movement martial skills. Because fire cultivation methods were inferior to thunder cultivation methods in speed, the Ancient Phoenix Clan’s Ghostly Firefade Steps were in truth inferior to the Electric Violet Kirin Clan’s Mystic Lightning Shade.
However, in terms of the comprehension of Laws, Huo Yanguang came from a distinguished noble family clan of the Divine Realm and he had 8000 drops of Ancient Phoenix blood in his body. He meditated on the Fire Laws since childhood and had undergone the Heavenly Dao’s baptism through the ninth stage of Life Destruction. His understanding of the Concept of Fire surpassed Lin Ming’s understanding of the Concept of Thunder.
Lin Ming’s Mystic Lightning Shade surpassed Huo Yanguang in speed, but in terms of flexibility, Huo Yanguang occupied a great advantage.
In only 1% of an instant, Huo Yanguang switched direction countless times. In the sky, afterimages were formed through his movements, hundreds and even thousands of them!
These afterimages suddenly drew together, fusing back into Huo Yanguang’s true body. But at this time, Huo Yanguang was only three feet away from Lin Ming!
“Too fast!”
“He managed to break through the barrier of that endless scarlet storm!”
Lin Ming’s pupils shrank. A ninth stage Life Destruction genius of the Divine Realm truly could not be underestimated. As Lin Ming saw Huo Yanguang about to thrust out his sword, he subconsciously released the Prime Emperor Lotus Flower!
As long as the Prime Emperor Lotus Flower bloomed, all Laws would be hindered. This would cause Huo Yanguang’s Ghostly Firefade Steps to lose its flexibility. No matter how fast he was, in the grandmist space he would lose all that nimbleness!
This was the suppression of absolute strength, a single force to break all methods!
However, in the instant that Lin Ming was about to use the Prime Emperor Lotus Flower, he suddenly hesitated and decided not to.
“Die!”
In a battle between masters, a split-second could decide victory and defeat. At the moment that Lin Ming hesitated, Huo Yanguang’s Blackfire Blade already pierced toward his front.
“Law of Annihilation, Chain of Stars!”
In a haste, Li Ming forcefully cancelled the Prime Emperor Lotus Flower and raised the Phoenix Blood Spear. Countless lights formed in front of him, slowly rotating around like a whirlpool of stars. Huo Yanguang’s sword thrust into this vortex of stars.
Kacha!
A hastily formed defense could not compare with Huo Yanguang’s all-out attack he gathered potential for. The vortex of stars exploded and energy flushed outward. Lin Ming’s bodily protective true essence violently trembled as half of it was torn apart by sword energy and he was sent flying backward.
As Lin Ming’s protective true essence broke, sword energy fell onto Lin Ming and shredded his lightning silk clothes. Luckily, he opened four of the Inner Hidden Gates, otherwise it would have been impossible for him to withstand the frontal attack of a top grade saint artifact.
The energy of the black flames swept through Lin Ming’s body, wrecking their way past his meridians.
Lin Ming’s complexion changed and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. He immediately transferred all of his true essence into the Heretical God Sprout.
The Heretical God Sprout’s two fire leafs emitted a blazing light. A powerful energy covered the black flames, absorbing most of them.
However, these black flames were extremely tenacious. Even the Heretical God Sprout could only slowly absorb and refine them. Even when the flames were suppressed they were still extremely wild, rushing about as though they hoped to break through their shackles.
“This is indeed the flames of a top grade saint artifact. Even the Heretical God Sprout absorbs them so slowly.” Lin Ming was startled. A top grade saint artifact was truly fierce!
“Lin Ming is injured! In just the second exchange of moves he actually appears to be the injured one! The difference between them is too great. In the first exchange of moves, he only made us of the advantage of the Phoenix Blood Spear. If he relied on just his own strength, he wouldn’t’ be Huo Yanguang’s match at all. That was only Huo Yanguang’s probing attack just now. His true killing moves will follow right behind. Lin Ming couldn’t even withstand that probing attack.”
“With the Blackfire Blade’s black flames invading his body, his meridians are surely damaged. I think he must have swallowed down a mouthful of blood just now!”
A top grade saint artifact needed to be wielded by a Divine Transformation realm powerhouse to display its full might and glory. In Huo Yanguang’s hands, the Blackfire Blade could only display a fraction of its true power, but the flames he emitted were still at the level of Divine Transformation. If those flames entered someone’s body, they would create tremendous damage. Lin Ming was originally weaker than Huo Yanguang and if his meridians were burnt by those black flames, then how could he continue fighting?”
“Well, this is over, but Lin Ming was good enough. For a fifth stage Life Destruction to challenge a ninth stage Life Destruction, that already requires a great amount of courage!”
The surrounding disciples discussed. They already assumed the outcome of this match. However, of the four Hall Protectors that were watching this battle from the corners, the strongest slightly frowned with a thoughtful expression on his face. In that second exchange of moves, Lin Ming’s movements seemed out of place for the briefest moment. It was as if he wanted to use another move at the start, but just as he was about to do so he suddenly changed his mind and switched. That moment was only 1% of an instant. If it weren’t for the fact that the Hall Protector was over a thousand years old and had borne witness to countless battles, he wouldn’t have realized it.
Normally, once a martial artist had fought through many battles, every move they used would become a nearly conditioned reflex. It was extremely rare to change moves in a split-second—that was tantamount to suicide. Was Lin Ming simply lacking in combat experience, or was there some other plan?
As the Hall Protector was thinking, his companion’s true essence sound transmission echoed in his ears. “It looks like this fight is going to finish soon. Lin Ming is good but he’s only within the scope of a normal genius. In this state he can only last for five more moves, and Huo Yanguang hasn’t even shown his true strength yet.”
“Maybe. There might also be another variable…” The Hall Protector thought out loud. He would’ve never dreamt that the move Lin Ming terminated mid-way just now was actually a transcendent divine might!
A transcendent divine might. That was something that only an Empyrean level existence could create by combining every aspect of their power and knowledge into a single ultimate ability. Most Empyreans did not even have this ability. It might take a generation or two of Empyreans, hundreds of millions of years, before a single transcendent divine might was born. The transcendent divine mights of the Divine Realm were accumulated for countless billions of years. All those that were able to create their own would be crowned with the title of ‘Divine’. This was not a god of mortals like a Divine Lord, but a god of martial artists!
The Primordius martial intent had significant concerns around it. Lin Ming didn’t know whether or not Empyrean Primordius’ enemies were still alive. Although only the most extreme powerhouses of the Divine Realm would be able to recognize the Primordius martial intent, such as those old beings that had lived for millions of years, he still had to be careful.
He couldn’t willfully display the transcendent divine might whenever he wished; it was better to be safe than sorry. While he could still use the Primordius martial intent, he had to at least hide the most glaring and conspicuous Prime Emperor Lotus Flower. He would need to cover the Primordius martial intent a bit and fuse it into his own attack, making it so others wouldn’t be able to see through it. Using it at critical moments was the best method.
Of course, Lin Ming also had no choice but to resort to the Primordius martial intent sooner or later because Huo Yanguang was indeed too troublesome. The four layered heavens Ninefall Huo Yanguang with a top grade saint artifact added on top was weaker than the early Divine Sea Huang Yuegong, but he actually surpassed eighth stage Life Destruction late Divine Sea martial artists like Song Baifeng.
To Lin Ming, the Primordius martial intent was one of his greatest dependences he used to jump ranks in battle. If he didn’t use it, it’d be difficult to defeat Huo Yanguang.
“Hahaha! Lin Ming, you disappoint me! Is this your limit!? That was just the second sword strike! I haven’t even warmed up yet, but you’ve reached the end?” Huo Yanguang contemptuously smirked. He felt that all the worries he had were for nothing. This was all Lin Ming was. Without having crossed the ninth stage of Life Destruction, Lin Ming still thought he could defeat him. “Besides relying on the Phoenix Blood Spear to gain the advantage during the first move, your own strength is nothing special. I will let you know today what it means to enter Ninefall to enter the Nine Divine Shifts. To enter Ninefall is to withstand the baptism of world Laws. That means that the body, the dantian, and the soul will finally began transitioning to become a true spiritual god. Do you know what a spiritual god is? That is not something that a mortal like you could possibly compare with!”
Huo Yanguang maliciously laughed and stretched out three fingers. “Three moves! In just three moves I will beat you so bad that your teeth litter the ground!”
To a top genius, the words they said were water that couldn’t be taken back. If they said they could defeat the enemy in three moves then they had to do so in three moves. Otherwise, they would become the butt of all jokes. Huo Yanguang had always said that a lion must use its full force to capture a rabbit. And now Lin Ming was injured by the Blackfire Blade and black flames flooded through his meridians. Even if he didn’t attack, it was only a matter of time before Lin Ming succumbed. Huo Yanguang had the confidence he could settle this in the next strike!
“Lin Ming, your end is nigh. Let me show you my comprehension of the Fire Laws!”
Huo Yanguang gave a loud shout and burnt one-tenth of the Ancient Phoenix blood in his body. Ancient Phoenix blood could be burnt without end, but Huo Yanguang could only burn 10% of it or his body wouldn’t be able to withstand the burden.
As the Ancient Phoenix blood was burnt, blue flames arose from all over Huo Yanguang’s body. As these blue flames appeared, a domain formed around him!
This domain seemed as if it contained infinite vitality! These blue flames could burn the heavens, and there was an incomparably burning heat contained within them. But as people looked at this domain, they could actually see flowers, birds, insects, beasts, countless spirit plants, and spirit trees, all sorts of life rapidly being born within, as if it were a paradise on earth.
“That is Blue Lotus Truefire. He already formed a domain of Blue Lotus Truefire!”
Blue Lotus Truefire was not a Flame Essence nor was it a Flame Elemental. It was a type of fire that the clansmen of the Ancient Phoenix Clan were able to manipulate once their boundary reached a certain level. In order to use this Blue Lotus Truefire, one needed to understand the third level of the Concept of Fire – Creation!