Chapter 398: Power of the Flame
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Wild and untethered, Lie Jian swore to show the world his unchallenged dominance. With his back facing the opponent, Lie Jian waved his fists in the air to stir up the audiences.
Zhang Buyu remained placid, but his eyes were as sharp as the blade strapped to his back.
"Let's start!" Lie Jian waved at Zhang Buyu, willing him to attack first. Lie Jian had been interested in seeing Zhang Buyu's blade strike. So far, Zhang Buyu had finished all matches in one blow. However, this time, he was about to face Lie Jian, member of the Great Houses. So, things could work out quite differently.
Zhang Buyu slowly unsheathed the blade called White Water as he gradually became more serious. He knew that Lie Jian was not an ordinary opponent, and an uphill battle was ahead of him.
"Kom!"
Zhang Buyu charged up his soul energy and easily reached level six. The other three Inner Court disciples watched their court brother's advancement in disbelief. Although Zhang Buyu was the most powerful among four of them, none of the three court brothers had realized that he had already been able to reach level six. Zhang Buyu was a very humble person and mostly kept things to himself. He was also very supportive of his younger court brothers, and therefore, everyone in the inner court regarded him as the amiable elder brother instead of a powerful warrior.
The sol reading indicated that Zhang Buyu's soul energy had reached six hundred.
Ye Kai finally remembered that the grandmaster used to tell him that he had great talent, but lacked perseverance and focus like Zhang Buyu. Zhang Buyu had been focusing on practicing the White Water blade ever since he joined the court; his focus and dedication had finally paid off.
Just like many other inborn abilities, focus and patience was also a talent that could not be learned.
Lie Jian was taken back by Zhang Buyu's sol reading, since it was the highest shown on the board ever since the beginning of the tournament.
Zhang Buyu focused his attention on his blade, trying to be one with the blade instead of its wielder. Over time, he had concluded that the biggest hurdle in mastering the blade technique was to overcome his own ego; he should let go of himself and let the blade take control.
While training, Zhang Buyu focused heavily on the techniques that allowed him to win the battle with one decisive blow. Because of that, the grand master used to comment that he was the most talented blade user. The decisive blow saved Zhang Buyu from making unnecessary moves, thus reducing the chance of making errors.
The rings on the back of White Water were filled with energy, and started to rattle against the metal. Lie Jian recognized his opponent's power right away, and thought that this fight was going to be very interesting.
Lie Jian pumped his fists, and a GN blade suddenly appeared in his hand. As the heir of the Great House, Lie Jian was well versed in many weapons, including blades. The advantage of using a blade was in its aggressiveness, and such character was in line with that of the Tactics of the Blaze.
As Lie Jian channeled more GN force into the blade, the GN blade started to catch fire as the flame's intensity increased by the second.
The weapon conjured from the GN force was much better at transmitting the wielder's energy than a regular weapon, thus giving Lie Jian more leverage during the battle.
The air on the stage burned with smoke and belligerence. Although Lie Jian's GN blade was a more advanced technique, Zhang Buyu held an advantage in his higher soul energy.
Such a high sol reading was rightfully earned by Zhang Buyu from years of hard work while being driven by his obsession with Martial Arts. This aspect of his struck a resemblance with Wang Ben.
The fiery GN blade and the White Water lashed out almost simultaneously; each causing a small explosion in the air. The two fighters' bodies turned into two streaks of light that were on the course of collision.
They did not collide. Instead, they seemed to have barely brushed each other's shoulder. They didn't stop until they were a few dozen feet apart in the opposite direction of each other; and then came the thunderous roar as the stage splitting in half.
A gush of blood splatted onto the ground from a large seared-wound on Zhang Buyu's chest. Despite the injury, Zhang Buyu turned his back towards his opponent as if nothing had happened to him.
Although there was no visible wound on Lie Jian's body, his face had turned pale like a piece of paper. Suddenly, a gush of blood spewed out from his mouth.
The rowdy Martians who were ready to cheer for their victory suddenly became quiet.
Cheers and applause erupted from the Templar's Disciples instead. Although Lie Jian's GN blade had greater damage output, the Martian's move was far from capturing the essence of the way of blades.
The seemingly simple strike from Zhang Buyu was a result of years of perfection, like a speck of diamond extract from a mountain of coal.
He was the blade, and the blade was him; that was the essence of a perfect blade strike.
Lie Jian finally lost his balance and dropped to one of his knees. The GN blade also faded away.
The audiences gasped at the development.
"Honey, did you see what happened when they exchanged blows?" Ma Xiaoru asked.
Wang Tong shook his head. "It's incredible! I think only Lie Jian knows what happened."
The development had hit home for Wang Ben. His training method was very similar to that of Zhang Buyu; the only difference was that instead of using a blade, Wang Ben choose to rely on his fist. However, Wang Ben conceded that Zhang Buyu was able to use the technique much more freely than him. In other words, Wang Ben could only use the technique when the condition was right, but that was not the case for Zhang Buyu. It was hard for Wang Ben to wrap his mind around the number of hours Zhang Buyu had poured into his training to summon such unyielding force at will.
Zhang Buyu regarded Lie Jian with a slight sympathy, then said, "You better call for a medic right away. I must have cut through your GN nodes; it isn't a joke."
"Ahh-Hahahaha! Awesome! Excellent!" Lie Jian laughed as he slowly picked himself up. This deadly blow he had received was a wake-up call for him. Superior damage and good technique were the two sides of the same coin. He never thought that someone of his age would have achieved such a great understanding in the way of blades. Lie Jian conceded that he had underestimated his opponent.
If there had been any sympathy on Zhang Buyu's face, it was gone after Lie Jian's outburst. Lie Jian rubbed the corner of his mouth, smearing the blood over his cheek as his body started to catch fire anew. Zhang Buyu furrowed his brows: charging up soul energy was the most unwise action when GN nodes were damaged.
Another stream of blood spewed out from Lie Jian's mouth, but he didn't drop to his knee this time. Instead, he pounded his chest and shouted as flame engulfed his body.
A defeat was… UNACCEPTABLE!
The ultimate form of the blaze— Phoenix Reborn!
Zhang Buyu was caught off guard by Lie Jian's outburst of actions. He noticed that not only was the Martian fully recovered, but the energy emitting from him was much greater than before. The GN flame spread from the Martian's body across the entire stage.
Lie Jian gave the young Templar an ugly grin and said, "Let's do this again!"
Zhang Buyu raised the White Water and was about to strike.
"Seriously! He is still fighting?"
"Damn, Brother Zhang knew only that one move. If he repeats too many times, that a*shole might gain an advantage over him."
The young Templars were overwrought by the development. They had never seen Zhang Buyu use any other moves other than the straightforward attack that he had already demonstrated. His lack of variety in his moves might set him in a disadvantageous position.
Despite the incoming attack, Lie Jian didn't raise his defense, as if he wanted to taunt Zhang Buyu.
Holding the blade above his head, Zhang Buyu took a deep breath as he twisted the handle of the blade about his wrist while he gathered strength.
A blade was not just an extension of the wielder's body, nor was it deadly simply because of its sharp edge; the power of any blade was in its soul.
Suddenly, Zhang Buyu struck again; his move was simple and elegant as ever. As a sense of respect rose inside Lie Jian, as the Martian hurled his fist at the attacker.
The ground exploded and blood splatted over the rubble. Zhang Buyu had cut through Lie Jian's defense, into his flesh.
However, that was not the end. Lie Jian suddenly grabbed the back of the White Water as flame engulfed it. In a blink, the blade was reduced into a pool of molten steel.