Chapter 684: The mantis catches the cicada, but the oriole is waiting behind
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The previous year, on the Sea of the Northern Wind, Shi Shaogan simultaneously mastered both the Imperial Scripts of the Crimson and Yellow Dragons from the Great Qin Empire's Secret Manual of the Five Imperial True Dragons just with his Advanced Foundation Establishment mastery, displaying exceptional talent.
Following that, Shi Xingyun summoned all five light dragons to life, her boundless mana astounding the world.
And now, Shi Jingyun has revealed her grasp of the Imperial Scripts of the Green, Black, and White Dragons just with her Advanced Foundation Establishment mastery, a feat even more impressive than what Shi Shaogan previously accomplished at the same mastery level. People could faintly see the shadow of a younger Shi Xingyun in her.
Inside the Grand Heavens Pavilion, all the Immortal Soul powerhouses were watching this scene unfold curiously. Those who were closely acquainted with the Qin Emperor Shi Yu congratulated him in flocks.
Xiao Yan tilted his head to one side and used his Mana Voice Projection to speak to his juniors. "The daughter Shi Yu bore is indeed of a decent level, but his son is slightly sub-par. What's worse, Shi Chongyun is a black sheep of the family."
His juniors giggled as Zhu Yi pointed at Xiao Yan, saying with a grin, "Big Senior, isn't your mouth a little too foul?"
Xiao Yan chuckled, "It's true. I'm not badmouthing anybody."
Inside the Celestial Small World, Shi Shaogan and Shi Jingyun combined their mana together as the five light dragons of white, green, black, yellow, and crimson linked up head-to-tail, transforming into a multi-coloured ring of light. The five rays of life continued to grow bigger, accumulating immense energy.
This combination spell made the spectating cultivators all gape in awe, even the Immortal Soul powerhouses were observing it keenly. This Abhijina had never been demonstrated before by the Great Qin Empire, and was surely a spell invented only in recent years. Having made its debut, it was now in the spotlight of attention.
The Vivant Joy Holy Man smiled and said, "It still has many unpolished areas. Feel free to point out the things we can improve upon."
Just like he said, Shi Shaogan and Shi Jingyun's combined Five Elements Light Dragon Transformation Spell was a far cry from what Shi Xingyun could accomplish alone, although their new spell was indeed extraordinary.
The Crown Prince of the Great Zhou Empire, Liang An, and the Marquis of Jinghuan were sitting in the Quiet Chamber of the Dharma Hall. Upon witnessing this sight, they straightened themselves us and nodded in unison, thinking, "The Great Qin Empire has indeed refined their Secret Manual of the Five Imperial True Dragons and achieved their intended effect."
The ring of light continued to expand to counter Fan Xuefeng's spell formation head-on.
The spell formation is subjected to numerous restrictions, but once completed and activated, its power far surpasses that of most Abhijina spells at the same mastery level.
Despite battling one-against-two, Fan Xuefeng showed no signs of buckling or backing down
Back in the Grand Heavens Pavilion, Yue Hongyan turned to Li Yuanfang and asked, "Sixth Junior, I heard that the Great Void Sect boasts an elite spell formation called the Seven Lights Defence Formation, is that true?"
"There indeed exists such a spell." Li Yuanfang nodded, "It's the second strongest spell formation from the Great Void Sect after the Supreme Yin-Yang Void Formation, and is still widely inculcated throughout the Divine Lands today. Apart from a few Grand Mountain-Guarding Formations, the Seven Lights Defence Formation is hailed as the most elite formation in existence, rivalling the 6 Mountains Celestial Sword Formation of the Mount Shu Sect." (Translator’s Note: A Grand Mountain-Guarding Formation is a general term referring to specific formations that the different sects use to protect the mountains of their sects.)
With that, Li Yuanfang changed his tone. "However, the formation established by this pair isn't the complete Seven Lights Defence Formation. Not only is the quality of these formation treasures not up to standard, the spell formation itself is just a simplified version of the original. It cannot hold a candle to the actual Seven Lights Defence Formation in terms of strength."
"The control of the formation is still choppy and clumsy. The mastery of certain aspects of the spell is not comprehensive enough. The worst part is, two of its formation patterns are completely wrong. When I first saw this spell formation, I wasn't exactly sure myself, but I have confirmed my suspicions after observing it again now - the two Formation Patterns in the southeast direction have been inverted."
Xiao Yan looked at Yue Hongyan and smiled, "You're lucky that you're using your mana's Voice Projection to communicate with him."
Since Yue Hongyan was already using her mana's Voice Projection to converse with Li Yuanfang from the beginning, he naturally relied on the same method to reply back, allowing the conversation to be heard only by a few Celestial Sect disciples.
Zhu Yi smiled, "He took the objective path and pointed out their flaws. Sixth Junior did nothing wrong."
His gaze landed on Chu Yang who was still within the light illusion. "I, on the other hand, am more intrigued by this person from the Ethereal Mountain Sect. After three years in the Greater World, I can tell that he had cultivated in the Alternate World Time Zone where time flowed quicker, but it didn't take long for him to form his Aurous Core."
"If he was showered with resources from the Mount Shu Sect, coupled with his innate talents, achieving such a feat would not be surprising. However, the Ethereal Mountain Sect has evidently turned their back against the Mount Shu Sect in favour of us, and our sect hasn't been offering this person any significant help, yet he could still accomplish so much. He is truly exceptional."
Zhu Yi gazed at Chu Yang who was hiding quietly at a corner observing the techniques employed by Fan Xueheng, Shi Shaogan and Shi Jingyun, and commented softly, "Although I don't know what sort of Abhijina and mantras he will use, this person's skills seem quite outstanding and unlike the traditional teachings of the Ethereal Mountain Sect."
Xiao Yan smiled, "He seems like someone with pretty good fortune too. After hearing what you said, I suddenly recalled meeting him once when he and the rest of the Ethereal Mountain Sect first arrived at the Cloud Mirror City. Back then, I could already sense that this person was a notch above the rest."
Zhu Yi nodded. "Let's see how he fares now."
The fight now was still none of Chu Yang's business, with Fan Xuefeng and the duo of Shi Shaogan and Shi Jingyun battling so ferociously.
Then, a figure appeared within the Seven Lights Defence Formation and with a razor-sharp sword in his hand, his Sword Aura charged up into the clouds as if ascending straight into the heavens. He was the Descendant Disciple of the Heavenly Master Sword Sect who was paired with Chen Xingyu in the first round - Kang Hai.
A golden '3' glowed above his head. Due to unforeseen circumstances, his group arrived at the top of the Starry Treasure Pagoda much later than expected.
Kang Hai suddenly teamed up with Fan Xuefeng and summoned the Heavenly Sword Teleportation Technique passed down by the Heavenly Sword Sect, which swirled incessantly around Shi Shaogan and Shi Jingyun, bombarding and trapping them as well as the Seven Lights Defence Formation.
His appearance made Shi Shaogan and Shi Jingyun's hearts sink. Kang Hai's mastery was indeed incredible, but the worst part was, his Heavenly Sword Teleportation Technique was just too fast.
Comparing against all the cultivators attending this Spiritual Conference, the speed of Kang Hai's Teleportation was among the highest. Only a select few could even match his speed, much less surpass him.
Kang Hai and Fan Xueheng's teamwork completely eliminated any possibility of Shi Shaogan and Shi Jingyun breaking through the Teleportation Technique. Even if they did burst free from Fan Xueheng's Seven Lights Defence Formation, Kang Hai could rely on his advantage in speed to prevent their escape without even exchanging any actual blows, buying just enough time for Fan Xuefeng to reconstruct his formation.
Even if they do not break out of the Teleportation Technique, it would also be extremely difficult to take on those two. Having arranged his formation to exploit a geographical advantage, Fan Xuefeng's strength was phenomenal and could already rival their combined powers. Now with Kang Hai joining in the fray, the evenness of power was instantly thrown out of balance. Shi Shaogan and Shi Jingyun could only ward off attacks without any ability to retaliate.
Fan Xuefeng then uttered his first words ever since he revealed himself. "Both of your mastery levels are indeed extraordinary. I can't even secure a speedy victory by joining forces with Kang Hai. If we drag this on, we'll still be wasting time. Only the top eight can advance to the third round. Time is precious and cannot be wasted."
Shi Jingyun grunted, "You say such things so lightly. You're indeed a worthy opponent, but you must be dreaming to even think that we would simply concede. Why don't we just go our separate ways?"
Fan Xuefeng closed his slit-like eyes and said calmly, "Both of you should know that Kang Hai and I are just after your Golden Rings. Leave your rings here and we'll let you off. You still have time to come up with a way to seize other rings and who knows, maybe even make it into the top eight. However, you'll lose without a doubt if this continues. You won't stand a chance."
Fan Xuefeng pointed at the formation patterns of the Seven Lights Defence Formation at his feet. "I don't wish to destroy your formation and break your formation treasure. It may allow me to defeat the both of you swiftly, but it would affect my strength for subsequent rounds. The main goal of this Spiritual Conference is interaction and exchanging knowledge. We don't have to go to sheer extremes and in turn harm ourselves while battling others. I urge you both to reconsider."
He spoke so honestly, employing both soft and hard tactics in an attempt to weaken their fighting spirit and then proceed to eradicate them swiftly. After all, Fan Xuefeng already seized seven Golden Rings himself, while Shi Jingyun and Shi Shaogan has a collective number of nine rings. He just needed three more to meet the requirements to pass the second round.
Shi Jingyun raised her eyebrows, wanting to rebut him, but Shi Shaogan projected his voice to her and said, "Give our Golden Rings to them."
"Huh?" Shi Jingyun was momentarily stunned but quickly recovered from the shock. They have a total of nine rings and Fan Xuefeng needs three to make the cut, but Kang Hai has seven rings too and also require three to fill the quota. Handing out three rings now may very well incite an internal conflict between them.
Obtaining ten Golden Rings would not send one out of the Celestial Small World immediately, instead requiring about fifteen minutes, and so many things can be accomplished in these fifteen minutes.
This might be their chance to make a resounding comeback.
After understanding the motive of such a move, Shi Jingyun scoffed, "Fan Xuefeng, you win." With that, she took out her five Golden Rings and tossed them out. Shi Shaogan took out four of his own and did the same. The nine Golden Rings flickered within the spell formation and immediately vanished, and a ray of sword radiance flashed past almost at the same time but just a tad bit slower. It was Kang Hai.
Fan Xuefeng cracked a grin. He obviously knew how fast Kang Hai was and would hence definitely consider Kang Hai's presence when formulating such a plan. Otherwise, if Kang Hai gathered all ten Golden Rings before him, Fan Xuefeng would be the one left in an awkward position instead.
Fan Xuefeng flipped out his palm and the space above him radiated with a shimmering glow as nine rays of golden light appeared. They were the Golden Rings he gathered using his formation. Kang Hai may be fast, but the Seven Lights Defence Formation was ultimately under Fan Xuefeng's manipulation.
Fan Xuefeng grinned, "Could it be that you don't trust me? I just need three Golden Rings, and I'll give the rest to you ..." Without even completing his sentence, Fan Xuefeng's face turned terribly pale as if he saw a ghost.
A strange ray of sword radiance blasted through the skies and picked up all nine Golden Rings. A young man in black appeared, retrieved the rings, and instantly flew off into the distance, leaving behind a flabbergasted Fan Xuefeng and everyone else.
It was Chu Yang. His weird concealment spells infiltrated the Seven Lights Defence Formation and even the formation's main orchestrator, Fan Xuefeng, could not detect his presence.
Fan Xuefeng, Kang Hai, Shi Shaogan, and Shi Jingyun regained their senses after a moment of sheer astonishment, and chased after Chu Yang in a hurry.
Even though Chu Yang could easily lose most of his pursuers, Kang Hai's speed was even higher than his own. In the blink of an eye, Kang Hai was already right behind him. Chu Yang did not panic and instead smilingly asked Kang Hai a dumbfounding question. "Do you have three Golden Rings with you now?"