Chapter 112: Entering the Final Stage (III)
“Because the stadium is unsuitable to assassins’ performances, four pillars that can conceal them will be erected, to guarantee the competition will be fair.”
What wasn’t known was that a particular mechanism was used to form one thick pillar after another’ they came out from the ground instantly, sending out crunching noises. They finally stopped expanding after growing 15 meters high. The presence of these four pillars that needed two people to fully encircle them was very advantageous to assassins. If not for them, in this wide and flat stadium, they had no way to display the most of their speed, dodging abilities, and concealment.
The small Xing Xuan moved his eyes, looking at Long Hao Chen with a cautious look. He was inwardly complaining, Why am I his first opponent? Please let someone else switch with me, at least to let me see the reaction of big sister #1. Let’s forget about it, and have a probing match.
“Match begins!”
Along with the referee’s loud voice, Xing Xuan didn’t move back; his silhouette instantly twinkled before disappearing behind a pillar. To an outstanding assassin, the most important thing was to never let the opponent find out his definite location.
Long Hao Chen stood there, without following him. A golden fog raised around him, revolving around his body, and twinkling, while emitting a gentle luster. It was precisely [Storing Power].
Within the third group, he was the only knight. As a result, his opponent didn’t know at all what his fighting style was. This [Storing Power] was not a commonly used skill, so even within the Knight Temple, a lot of people didn’t know it, let alone people coming from other Temples. Except for the mage bearing #2 and the female warrior bearing an enormous shield, the other people were at a loss, not understanding what Long Hao Chen was doing.
At the moment Long Hao Chen used [Storing Power], he moved to some extent. The Radiant Shield in his left hand was covering his chest while the Light Sword in his right hand was inclined parallelly to the ground. With one foot forward and the second one backwards, he took the stance that would give him the best reaction time.
Xing Xuan was concealed behind a pillar. After having rapidly moved away, he watched Long Hao Chen’s movements.
He didn’t recognize the skill [Storing Power], but the assassins’ perception was very high. He could clearly feel that Long Hao Chen was becoming more and more dangerous at an astonishing speed. Certainly, the ability he was using was one that was the more powerful the longer it lasted.
It was very unlikely for weaklings to be able to enter the final stage. Xing Xuan immediately shifted his thoughts away from big sister #1, and immediately responded using his battle instinct.
As his figure twinkled, he had already leaped to the sky, arriving next to a pillar located on the left side of Long Hao Chen’s back. As he jumped, a membrane made of leather appeared on both of his arms. This was special equipment belonging to assassins, called Defensive Wing that enabled him to glide at a short distance. It could also be used to parry the opponent’s attacks, and was one of the favorite pieces of equipment used by assassins below the sixth step.
[Holding Back Breath]. This skill was a required course for assassins. Xing Xuan was currently just like a tree leaf, and didn’t let out any sound as he fell on the ground. He approached Long Hao Chen from the back, not only rapidly, but also without causing the slightest vibration in the air.
Long Hao Chen had kept his original defensive posture all along, as he used [Storing Power]. The gold-yellow-colored fog surrounding him seemed to become more and more intimidating.
Xing Xuan was extremely fast; in the blink of an eye, he was already at Long Hao Chen’s back, about to attack. Two pitch-black daggers appeared: one in each of his hands. His left hand aimed straight for Long Hao Chen’s back, while his right hand aimed for his neck.
Naturally, if Long Hao Chen didn’t react, he wouldn’t really slay him. It was after all a match, not a death-or-life combat.
In a split second, as Xing Xuan was about to attack, Long Hao Chen moved.
He rapidly stepped half a step forward with his right foot, only half a step, and immediately, his shoulder flashed as he turned towards his left side. Meanwhile, his right foot served as a fulcrum for his body to swiftly turn around, facing Xing Xuan who was previously at his back.
Xing Xuan’s swipe naturally had no effect, and his dagger which was stabbing toward Long Hao Chen’s back happened to graze his armor, producing a spark on it, without hitting his body.
[Shield Charge], Long Hao Chen’s center of gravity wasn’t the slightest unsteady as he issued out this skill. The Radiant Shield simply sparkled intensely, as a halo of rich light instantly expanded forward, turning into an immense shield with a height of two meters, directly bumping into Xing Xuan.
Fifth step!
In a split second, Xing Xuan figured out Long Hao Chen’s cultivation level through the formidable power of his [Shield Charge]. There could only be a single explanation, that Long Hao Chen was at the fifth step. He could not think of anything else, as his body instantly curled up, emitting spiritual energy as his two daggers darted forward at light speed, instantly stabbing against the Radiant Shield.
With a Peng sound, Xing Xuan was sent out flying. Because Long Hao Chen’s cultivation had already officially broken through the boundary of the fifth step, this [Shield Charge] made of liquid spiritual energy wasn’t something Xing Xuan could possibly manage to block, even without the addition of the effects of [Storing Power]. His body was sent flying just like it was victim of an explosion.
But an assassin also had some strong points; in a short span, after falling victim to this intense charge, Xing Xuan seized the opportunity to leap away, making use of the astonishing impulse. At least, he didn’t sustain any heavy injury.
[Assault], a skill of knight of the fifth step.
Long Hao Chen didn’t stop to there. As nimble as wind and as scorching as fire, his whole body launched [Assault], appearing like a bolt of lightning, and directly aiming for his opponent. A blade made of light filled the atmosphere, it was a golden edge of light that was launched, [Light Thrust].
At this moment, Xing Xuan didn’t have any support in the middle of the air, further adding the fact that his whole body had become numb because of the charge, how could this attack be easy to avoid? If he was hit by this [Light Thorn] of the knight of the fifth step Long Hao Chen, the match would surely end up as his defeat.
Xing Xuan’s training level was outstanding, even when compared to all these other young talents, and the fact he managed to go through the preliminaries testified of the fact he was in no way weak. In such an unfavorable situation, he stretched his left hand, extending his Defensive Wing. Relying on the ability of his Defense Wing ‘rapid deflection’, he avoided the danger by a little, dodging Long Hao Chen’s [Light Thorn]. Right after his two foot landed on the ground, he instantly disappear behind a stone pillar.
Long Hao Chen’s face appeared to become suddenly astonished, but he didn’t immediately pursue and attack. His feet halting, with the same motion as previously, he used once again [Storing Power]. Looking at his quiet and indifferent appearance, it was clear that he hadn’t the slightest worry.
Hidden behind a pillar, Xing Xuan took big mouthful after big mouthful of air. No wonder… No wonder that he could become big sister #1’s friend. He’s a powerhouse of the fifth step!
At the same step, assassins that met knights as their opponent were already disadvantaged, to say nothing about the case where there was a gap between their cultivation level. He was extremely lucky during this face-to-face clash. And even though his opponent looked focused on storing, he absolutely wasn’t taken by surprise by his attack.
I cannot fight him head-on, but in a turnaround fight, I may have a thin chance. Thinking this, Xing Xuan didn’t come out. I won’t take the initiative to attack you, even if the spiritual energy you are gathering together is growing more and more formidable, what use will it have if you are unable to find my location?
Thinking up to this point, Xing Xuan turned back towards the opposite direction, standing, without shame at the same place, without moving the slightest bit.
Long Hao Chen seemed that he wasn’t the slightest bit worried about being unable to find his opponent’s location. Not only did he maintain his [Storing Power], he was in addition shutting both eyes, little by little.
The whole stadium immediately sunk into silence.
However, the referee didn’t stop this kind of fight from proceeding; as a War King of the seventh step, he naturally understood the skill [Storing Power]. Once Long Hao Chen would have wasted his whole internal spiritual energy, if he didn’t immediately launch the attack, his spiritual energy would naturally scatter, and may result in him losing this match.
This referee was sunk in his thoughts, wondering what Long Hao Chen was planning to do. What he didn’t understand was the reason why Long Hao Chen was standing motionless and kept storing power. What use was there to act this way?
The concealed Xing Xuan was all along observing Long Hao Chen’s actions. The more he watched him, the more he felt helpless. Long Hao Chen’s whole body was already glittering in a gold color because of [Storing Power]. This rich light essence gathering around him was truly frightening, the attack that would follow along was truly going to be extremely tyrannical. Xing Xuan didn’t pick any other choice, he could only keep himself concealed, continuously using the assassin skill [Holding Back Breath], as he didn’t dare move the slightest bit.
In addition, looking at Long Hao Chen’s closed eyes, and thinking back about Cai’er’s previous tyrannical attacks, he didn’t even dare imagine the power of the incoming attack.
Just like that, time kept passing, minute after minute, seconds after seconds, Long Hao Chen’s [Storing Power] was continuing and had already lasted two minutes.
At this very moment, Long Hao Chen finally started his next move. His body surrounded by a dense fog dispersing around, he lifted up the Light Sword in his hand.
A blazing white gush erupted from the blade, and within the time of a single breath, his Light Sword had already turned into an incandescent color.
[Holy Sword].
Because of the huge concentration of spiritual energy gathered by [Storing Power], by the time he made use of [Holy Sword], the energy stored seemed to be already reducing drastically.
Long Hao Chen’s gaze shot toward a pillar. It seemed as if he was looking at his target through it.
Still concealed, Xing Xuan greatly loosened his breath. The pillar Long Hao Chen was looking at was at the complete opposite direction compared to his. Although the strength Long Hao Chen previously displayed was extremely great, if this [Storing Power] of his was wasted like that, even he would lose his chance to prevail over his opponent. At best, the match would end up as a tie, and this way, there would be no need to fear the incoming resentment of big sister #1.
As Xing Xuan was scheming in his mind, the Light Sword in Long Hao Chen’s hand was finally chopped down. A blazing white light was turning into a huge edge of light filling the atmosphere, but what shocked Xing Xuan was that even though Long Hao Chen was looking in the other direction, his edge of light aimed was precisely pointed at his direction.
Impossible, how could he find me? This was the sole thought in Xing Xuan’s mind. However, at this moment, how could he still avoid that? Only heaven knew how solid this pillar was, and this [Holy Light Strike] produced by Long Hao Chen’s [Holy Sword] made even this War King feel a threatening pressure. Let alone Xing Xuan, this sort of pressure even affected the subconscious mind of a War King, leaving inside a thread of fear.
Both feet exerted strength to move forward, at the direction of the stone pillar, as Xing Xuan splashed across, trying to dodge Long Hao Chen’s attack.
However, at this very moment, Long Hao Chen’s eyes suddenly flashed with a red ray, flying out toward Xing Xuan, as his body was instantly covered by a layer of red all around.