Chapter 49 – Fighting With Spells (Three)
After all of the black thorns had been destroyed, with a ‘sou’ sound, a Green Mantis puppet appeared in front of Xiao Feng like a demon. Its forearms moved to attack, changing into two light beams, slicing toward Xiao Yan like a dragon.
Xiao Feng was shocked by the attack and did not have time to form any defenses. With determination, his arms started shining with a green light as they moved toward the forearms of the mantis.
“Stop it! Your Withering Wood Method is only trained to level two. You cannot use your body to block this kind of attack!”
“Dang, dang.” Two sounds rang out!
With a gloomy expression, Zhu Chi appeared before Xiao Feng. He flicked his finger left and right, dispersing the attacks.
On top of that, the puppet was even forced to retreat several steps back after being struck.
Seeing this, Jin Yu’s eyes flashed. At the same time, the Green Light Mantis rubbed its two forearms together and was about to sprint forward.
However, Da Zhi appeared besides Jin Yu and patted his shoulder to stop him from controlling his puppet. Afterward, he smiled and heard Zhu Chi say, “We have lost this round. The talent of doing multiple things at once is indeed extremely useful for your sect’s puppet techniques. With his performance, it can be said that even if you were to personally control this Green Light Mantis, you wouldn’t be doing much better. You two have truly found a suitable disciple.” Zhu Chi looked deeply at Jin Yu and sighed after admitting the defeat.
Martial Aunt Zhong, who was outside of the circle, also sighed when she heard Zhu Chi’s word.
It couldn’t be said that Xiao Feng had done poorly, rather it was Jin Yu’s control of his puppets that was truly impressive. With the speed of the Green Light Mantis’, it was possible that if he attacked first, the other party would not even get a chance to cast a single spell or technique.
Complete and utter defeat was now a fear come true for the Nine Infant Mountain.
Thinking about their futile trip, Martial Aunt Zhong bitterly smiled in her heart. At the same time, she turned her head toward Liu Ming; what entered her eyes gave her quite a surprise.
Liu Ming didn’t show any expressions of fear or insecurity. Instead, he quietly stood there as if the result of the two previous matches did not even phase him.
“Good. To be able to keep a clear mind at this point is extremely difficult. For the last match, you need not worry too much. Just do your best.” When Zhu Chi brought back Xiao Feng — who had his unwillingness to accept defeat written all over his face — and saw how calm Liu Ming was, Zhu Chi also showed an expression of surprise and praised Liu Ming.
“Yes, Martial Uncle Zhu, I will do my best.” Liu Ming slightly bowed and respectfully replied.
At this time, a fifteen to sixteen year old youth that was well built walked out from the Nine Enchantment Mountain disciples. There was a long, blood red scar on his forehead and two swords on his back. While he stood still in the center, he emitted a powerful and fierce aura.
“This aura… No way. This is a Body Cultivator! Da Zhi, Da Shang, is he really a disciple under the two of you?” After sensing the aura of the well built youth, Martial Aunt Zhong changed her expression and questioned the two Spirit Masters with some panic in her voice.
“Fellow Zhong, Wu Fei is indeed a disciple that we took in during our Opening Spirit Ceremony. He could withstand the pain of the ceremony using nothing but his own body and was one of the few disciples that wasn’t forced to the ground. Even though our sect is known for our Puppet Techniques, it is not strange for some disciples to follow the path of a Body Cultivator.” Da Shang stroked his beard and said with a smile. The gloating manner in his eye was visible to anyone who bothered to look.
The path of a Body Cultivator was not a path any Spirit Apostle could take. Not only did all of them have a body much stronger than normal cultivators, they could also withstand inhuman levels of pain without flinching. After all, every single one of them toughened their bodies through extremely painful and severe methods.
For most Spirit Apostles, a Body Cultivator of the same level was a counter that they could not win against. Even in the Spirit Master realm, Body Cultivators could, under certain circumstances, show powers that were not within the normal range of Spirit Masters. Thus, even though Body Cultivators were extremely hard to come by and develop, each of the large sects would choose a couple of disciples from every Opening Spirit Ceremony to become one of these special cultivators.
The disciples that Da Shang and Da Zhi brought this time were indeed new disciples, but every single one of them had extraordinary skills or backgrounds that would leave them with an unimaginable advantage. Why would they have requested such a competition if they didn’t have such an advantage?
Seeing this, Zhu Chi could only bitterly smile and stay quiet.
When he and Martial Aunt Zhong saw how calm Liu Ming was, they thought that there was some hope for the last round. However, after seeing Liu Ming’s opponent, they no longer had any thoughts about winning the Spirit Fruits.
When Liu Ming first experienced the fierce aura emitted by well built youth, he furrowed his brow. However, he quickly relaxed and slowly walked up.
The moment Liu Ming set foot within the circle, the well built youth’s expression become one of slight anger. His arms moved, pulling out the two swords on his back. At the same time, he started chanting and a golden luster started shining from all over his body. After a slight blur, his height grew a few inches, even his arms and legs seemed to have become thicker. With just a casual glance, he seemed like Liu Ming after he activated his mortal secret techniques.
Seeing this, Liu Ming’s eyes shone. He also started chanting and wisps of black smoke started to appear from within his body.
The well built youth lowly roared and the two swords were twirled like wheels in his hands. Afterward, he stomped onto the ground and charged forward in a flash.
“Pu!”
A fireball that was visibly larger than a normal fireball was shot out from Liu Ming and easily landed on the charging youth, who did not even attempt to avoid the attack.
The Fa Li in Liu Ming had all been refined and thus, with the same Fireball Technique, the fireballs that he cast would be stronger than the fireballs a normal Spirit Apostle made.
With a “hong” the fire exploded into waves of flames, making the charging youth slightly pause.
However, the well built youth roared once more and the wind around his two blades strengthened and blew away all the flames. After dispelling the flames, the youth started charging again. In seconds he was already within a hundred feet of Liu Ming.
Seeing the fierce charge of the youth, Zhu Chi and Martial Aunt Zhong shared a bitter smile after seeing the hopelessness in each other’s eyes.
At this moment, the two of them held no hope for Liu Ming’s victory.
“Pu, pu.” Another two crimson fireballs flew from Liu Ming’s hands and landed on the charging youth.
Even if the well built youth’s body was much stronger than the average person with such strong fireball attacks, he felt his arms becoming incredibly tired and he barely cleared the waves of flames around him, .
With panic, the youth realized that if he didn’t defeat Liu Ming in this charge, he would most definitely lose. With a final roar, he squeezed out the final strength of his arms and cut open a path among the loose waves of flames around him. Then, he began to transform into a shadow, pouncing toward Liu Ming.
The youth assumed that a person who had already released so many fireballs would not have time to cast any more spells. And, as a Body Cultivator, all he had to do was get into close combat with the other party to end the match.
The well built youth would reach Liu Ming in a matter of seconds, but he was still unable to find any trace of fear on Liu Ming’s face. Instead, Liu Ming’s lips curved into a mocking smile.
“Wait…”
The well built youth suddenly felt that something was wrong the split second he saw Liu Ming’s face. However, it was already too late for him to do anything.
Liu Ming’s lips parted as he raised his two hands. Another two crimson fireballs appeared and shot out.
“Hong, hong.” After two sounds, the well built youth’s two swords flew out from his hands while his own body was pushed back and engulfed by the corresponding wave of flames.
“Initial Mastery of the Fireball Technique. No, with such a fast cast time, it seems he’s already entered the Initial Mastery of the Fireball Technique for quite some time already.”
The sudden turnaround of events left Da Zhi unable to control his voice. Da Shang, on the other hand, had already rushed into the circle and waved away all the flames on the well built youth.
However, the power of the two fireballs was not something as simple as couple of flames. Even with Da Shang’s aiding hand, the well built youth had burn wounds all over and was unconscious.
“Good, very good. I never would have thought that a new disciple would have such a mastery over the Fireball Technique. We lost without regrets. The Fa Li in his body has also been refined right? A normal Spirit Apostle’s Fireball Technique doesn’t have such strong power. Fellow Zhu and Fellow Zhong, you both have really left the best for last.” Da Shang eyed the unconscious youth on the ground with some pain in his eyes while his gaze was cold as ice when he looked at Liu Ming.
“Haha, we’re innocent. I didn’t even know that this disciple of mine had practiced the Fireball Technique to such a high level.” A shadow solidified beside Liu Ming and Zhu Chi’s voice came booming across the circle. With a pat on Liu Ming’s shoulder and an expression of surprise on his face, anyone could tell that Zhu Chi was more than satisfied with this turn of events.
Martial Aunt Zhong also showed a face of pleasant surprise.
The unexpected victory from Liu Ming was outside of their expectation, but more importantly, it made it so that their trip was not in vain. If they left empty handed, the entire Nine Infant Faction would be in shame.
As for how Liu Ming got his Fireball Technique to Initial Spell Mastery and how pure Liu Ming’s Fa Li was, those were small matters compared to the Spirit Fruits.
The gazes they showered Liu Ming with were also full of praise, and not full of questions.
“Alright, two wins in three matches. You two can take one-third of the Spirit Fruits. However, I have a suggestion. Would you two fellows be interested in having one more round?” Da Zhi waited until someone from the Nine Enchantment Mountain tended to the well built youth before sweeping his gaze over Liu Ming and asked.
“What do you mean by this?” The happiness on Zhu Chi’s face dimmed.
Martial Aunt Zhong also walked up with a stormy face and stood next to Zhu Chi.
“It’s very simple. From what I saw, your disciple is quite strong. Why not have him go at another round with Jin Yu! If Jin Yu wins, then the Spirit Fruits that you have will go to us. However, if your disciple wins, we will give you our two-thirds of the Spirit Fruits. What do you two Fellows think? No matter how you look at it, you Fellows are in the advantage!” Da Zhi and Da Shang exchanged a glance and as if he read Da Zhi’s mind, Da Shang spoke up.
“What? Gambling your two-thirds of the Spirit Fruits for our one-third!?” Hearing this, Zhu Chi’s heart started beating rapidly.