Chapter 368: Vayu Unsheathed
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
The House of Li had been feeding on the leftovers of Li Feng's achievement for too long, and it was time for a new order.
Ten seconds had passed, and the battled had ended.
"Brother Gong-son, why are you in such a hurry? Let me enjoy your power for a bit longer."
With a wave of loud cracking noise, the ice shattered and revealed Li Shiming, who was unharmed. A few strands of loose hair were hanging over his forehead.
"It was a powerful attack! I can tell that the mastery has improved significantly over the years. I should congratulate you on that!"
Seeing that Li Shiming was unharmed by his coup de grace, Gong-son Wuce's face suddenly paled. He had never fought anyone who used the tactics of Vayu before, and his experience so far had confirmed that all the rumors about its power were true.
"Brother Gong-son, is there anything else up your sleeve? I am eager to learn more about the power of mastery."
"Hehe, I am impressed by the Tactics of Vayu as well. You can count that previous attack as a warm-up. Now comes the real deal."
"Enlighten me, please." Li Shiming gestured the Ivantian to proceed. However this time, his tone was much more humble than it was earlier. He wagered that without the protection of the tactics of Vayu, that ice dragon strike would have gravely wounded him.
Gong-son Wuce threw the blade into the air and the steel blade somehow magically floated above his head. Although many other fighters had done it, a floating sword was rather useless in a real battle. However, as everyone had suspected, the Ivantian didn't do this just for show.
Standing below the blade, Gong-son Wuce shifted through a dozen hand signs, and the flying sword started to tremble violently. The air around the sword also moved about wildly, whizzing against the sharp edges. In a blink, the blade was covered by frost, and then the frost turned into crystal clear ice.
Li Shiming knew that this sword was more than just an ordinary sword coated with a layer of ice. It was infused with GN force with the cold elemental attribute. Li Shiming was not unfamiliar with GN force attributes, since the Tactics of Vayu had a unique attribute as well.
Gong-son didn't give Li Shiming much time to admire his techniques, as he commanded the blade to whiz through the air at Li Shiming. The lightning speed of the sword suggested that the bond between Gong-son and his blade was no ordinary soul energy connection.
"Zing!"
The icy blade traveled though Li Shiming's body as if it went through thin air—An illusion?
It was not an illusion. Li Shiming simply evaded the attack with an incredible speed that was faster than what naked eyes could see. People had forgotten that the Tactics of Vayu was once crowned the fastest tactics.
Gong-son Wuce didn't give up as he commanded the blade to follow its target. With all the concentration he could muster, the Ivantian could barely keep up with Li Shiming.
Suddenly, Li Shiming turned around and charged at Gong-son Wuce like a phantom. Gong-son Wuce had anticipated this surprise attack, and with a wave of a hand, a row of solid ice materialized in front of him. Carried by his momentum, Li Shiming was not able to stop. But, instead of ramming into the wall, he ran up along the ice.
It took Li Shiming only a fraction of a second to adjust his movement, and a deadly ice blade was only inches away from him already. Even as Li Shiming hurried to outrun the ice blade, Gong-son Wuce fed another wave of GN force into the weapon, increasing its speed.
So far, no one other than Gong-son Wuce had been able to force Li Shiming into such a tight corner.
"Zing...Bamm!"
The ice blade racked open and was shattered into thousands of fragment. The blade that took Gong-son Wuce three years to perfect had been reduced into a pile of frosty dust on the ground.
Despite feeling pity for the loss of a powerful weapon, Gong-son Wuce was not surprised at all.
Finally, Li Shiming had unsheathed the legendary weapon, the sword of Vayu.
Holding the slender sword, Li Shiming landed gracefully back to the ground "Brother Gong-son, as you wished, I have drawn my sword. Don't disappoint me."
Standing confidently on the stage, Li Shiming seemed to have transformed into an entirely different person. He was no longer the heir of House of Li, but rather seemed like the heir of the entire world.
Sensing the sudden surge of power in his opponent, Gong-son Wuce was as excited as he was afraid. He figured that it would worth it even if he were defeated by the legendary blade of Vayu.
The Ivantian crossed his hands and started to chant. Two ice blades appeared from behind his shoulders out of nowhere. In a blink, the two blades whizzed at Li Shiming with incredible speed.
Li Shiming raised "Vayu" to block the attack. However, as soon as the sword came into contact with the ice blades, another two spherical energy balls erupted.
"Ice Seal!"
The ice GN force suddenly gushed towards Li Shiming, but the latter was prepared. Li Shiming twisted Yayu over with an intense force. The legendary weapon sent out a sharp energy wave that cut open the air like gutting a fish belly.
"Zing!"
The energy wave traveled too fast for Gong-son Wuce to react, and carved a large wound on the Ivantian's body, sending him stumbling back for a dozen meters.
"Try harder, Brother Gong-son, or you won't be able to try at all."
Although the ice attribute was unique in its own ways, it was not enough to overcome Li Shiming and "Vayu."
Gong-son Wuce rubbed his chest where he was hit, and the wound was frozen over immediately. He licked the frozen blood off his finger; the taste of iron in his mouth, combined with the excitement of fighting someone so powerful, pushed him closer towards a trance.
So far, Gong-son Wuce had only released a fraction of his mastery power. Since he saw Li Shiming had used his legendary sword, he figured that he should no longer hold back his power either.
Gong-son Wuce ripped open his shirt, pumped his fists together, and shouted like an animal; his soul energy surged exponentially. An icy flower with its petals forming the pattern of a snowflake bloomed underneath the Ivantian's feet. The flower quickly transformed from a two-dimensional drawing into a three-dimensional ice statue. All the while, Gong-son Wuce's soul energy had reached four hundred and eighty-three; he was infinitesimally close to level six.
The icy GN force quickly surrounded the entire arena, and the Ivantian had already turned into a white soldier with a pair of glinting silvery eyes.
"Ice Tsunami!" Gong-son Wuce shouted and waved his hand. Suddenly, Li Shiming felt an immensely powerful force coming down on him from above.
Li Shiming didn't try to evade the attack—he knew it was useless. Instead, he blocked the attack with his blade.
"Komm!"
A deafening blare erupted from the impact; for a while, no one could hear anything. With an upward cut, "Vayu" had sliced open the energy that was boring down on Li Shiming, and he immediately plunged the blade towards his opponent without any hesitation.
"Clank!"
Gong-son Wuce's ice shield was shattered, and the impact sent the Ivantian backward until he hit the energy barrier.
The white frost on the ground contrasted the darkest shade of the crimson blood. Li Shiming walked slowly toward his opponent. "You have done well—mastery has done well. But, it's still not enough."
Li Shiming extended an arm to the Ivantian, who had already collapsed on the ground, struggling to get up.
Gong-son Wuce had met many opponents, but no one was as polite as Li Shiming.
"The winner is —LI SHIMING!"
Although Gong-son Wuce was defeated, he had proven the effectiveness of mastery to the world by forcing Li Shiming to use his legendary sword. This fight had no doubt increased the mastery's popularity among young people, especially those who dared to experiment new methods.
Meanwhile, in the first section, Patroclus was fighting his opponent—the Kaedeian Samuel.
They had been exchanging a few rounds of attacks, and Samuel had already felt pressure to stand her ground.
The beautiful Kaedeian gritted her teeth—it was time to test her limit.
Samuel charged again at Patroclus with abandon, but she failed to protect her vulnerable spots. Sensing his opponent's mistake, Patroclus smiled and punched at the Kaedeian girl's belly. The punch hit square and finished the fight then and there.
In the fifth section, an attractive looking young girl called Qin Yue, who was the heir of the "Soul Devour" sect—named after their weapon/instrument, the soul-devouring harp— was about to fight against Michaux Odin.
"Young master, please allow me to play a song for us." The girl asked slowly.
"Please, indulge me." The young master answered politely.
The peaceful and amicable scene made the audience think that the two were flirting with each other instead of fighting.