HSSB46: Mid outer aura stage, is enough
Seeing Yan Zhaoge having reached the point of being able to sustain his qi from a distance of a hundred paces, also having successfully used it to manifest qi-based weaponry, the light before Chao Yuanlong’s eyes was instantly replaced by darkness.
The he who had originally already been seriously injured was now no longer able to sustain his mental faculties, as he just directly fainted.
Having just lost tragically at the hands of Yan Zhaoge a second time, he had already been frustrated to the point of near madness.
Now, as Yan Zhaoge actually improved further right before his very eyes, treating rising to the mid outer aura Martial Scholar realm like as ordinary a matter as eating or drinking, Chao Yuanlong’s already fragile mind collapsed completely.
This having happened, his having suffered greatly from the negative side effects of having drawn the Divine Sun Needles into his body in order to forcefully achieve a breakthrough into the outer aura Martial Scholar realm; hadn’t it all been for naught?
In the Sealing Dragon Abyss, the both of them had evidently still been in the same late inner aura Martial Scholar realm. Within such a short period of time, how had Yan Zhaoge managed to consecutively break through so many bottlenecks, thus rising to the mid outer aura Martial Scholar realm?
All that had transpired during their earlier clash in the Sealing Dragon Abyss; really, had it all been an illusion?
All the other Sacred Sun Clan disciples who had also seen Yan Zhaoge’s performance in the Sealing Dragon Abyss that day were also stunned like wooden chickens.
Even in the case of Xiao Shen, his body shook, as he almost fell directly from his current position in mid-air.
Your mother!
How long had it previously taken for this old man to get to the mid outer aura stage from the late inner aura stage?
Xiao Shen’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he didn’t even want to continue down that path of thought.
Yan Zhaoge’s aura-qi had taken the form of a long whip. As he lashed out with it in mid-air, a ‘crack’ sound resounded.
“Exposed too early? Kept my abilities hidden? Why would I have to do that?”
Yan Zhaoge said indifferently, “What can you do, even if you have already found out about it? Saying it as though you would be able to do something to me?”
“In this world, there are still many people who can defeat me, but you, Xiao Shen, are not one of them.”
With a wave of Yan Zhaoge’s other arm, streams of aura-qi began agglomerating together, forming an enormous ice-blue sword in mid-air.
On the blade of the sword where a cold light was pulsing, the figure of a dragon could faintly be seen flickering.
Layers of white ice surfaced as they surrounded the sword, as it resembled an ice dragon concealed within a layer of clouds.
Xiao Shen inhaled deeply “Yan Zhaoge, you seem to have forgotten something.”
“Currently, you are still only at the mid outer aura stage.”
“Unless you can immediately pull off a breakthrough into the late outer aura stage, you will surely die today!”
After yelling thus, Xiao Shen let out an enraged howl as he descended from the sky.
Countless streaks of golden light, resembling a rain of swords, descended upon Yan Zhaoge from above.
With a wave of his hand, the ice-blue sword hovering in mid-air began striking out continuously, resembling a divine dragon flying through the horizon as it destroyed the golden streaks of light one after another.
While the golden streaks of light were heavy, at the end of the day, Xiao Shen was still a Martial Scholar of the late outer aura stage. Each of them was incomparably dense and refined, in no way inferior to Yan Zhaoge’s sword-aura.
However, every single time, Yan Zhaoge’s manifested sword-aura was able to successfully target the points at which they were weakest.
The result was that even though Yan Zhaoge’s manifested sword-aura was completely outnumbered, fighting one against many, it was still able to withstand the tempest of attacks from the streaks of golden light that were raining down upon it.
It was only that those golden streaks of light were but a glamoured move of Xiao Shen’s.
The streaks of golden light having been shattered by Yan Zhaoge’s manifested sword-aura, rather than completely dissipating upon impact, they remained in mid-air in a suffused, mistlike form.
The large amount of remnant golden light instead enveloped the entire area, within which day suddenly turned to dusk, depicting the scene of the setting sun illuminating the darkening sky.
A hint of a smile leaked from the corner of Xiao Shen’s mouth. His palms now turned illusory, as he pushed out towards Yan Zhaoge.
The entire domain of golden light which had been created by his aura-qi now collapsed towards its centre all at once, slamming straight at Yan Zhaoge!
The profoundness of the Sunset Thousand Illusionary Palms was, at this moment, being displayed by Xiao Shen in a manner that far, far exceeded that time with the Sacred Sun Saint puppet!
The world before Yan Zhaoge’s eyes resembled the sunset in its final moments at that split instant before the setting sun passed beneath the distant mountains, all around a scene of abject desolation.
“Ha!” With an exclamation, Yan Zhaoge retracted both his fists, drawing them back to his abdomen.
His left hand rested there stably, exerting pressure on his abdomen, not moving an inch.
His right hand, meanwhile, shook slightly, beating at his own body non-stop.
Two hands; one active, one passive; one Yin, one Yang; one deeply silent; one lightly agile. They achieved a state of perfect harmony.
The left hand displayed the Ocean Stabilising Fist of the Six Spirits Demonic Fist, transforming into the image of a Turtle Divinity.
The right hand displayed the Heavenly Snake King Fist of the Six Spirits Demonic Fist, transforming into the image of a Heavenly Snake.
The turtle and the snake overlapped. Active and passive combined; Yin and Yang united.
Within the interior of the muscles of the human abdomen, there existed the Shangqu acupoint, also known as the Door of Blood. It was the most important point within a martial practitioner’s blood circulatory system.
Acting in concert with his heart and stimulating the Door of Blood, all the blood within his entire body instantly surged, seething with energy as it erupted with a previously non-existent potential.
Before the Great Calamity, it was recorded within the annals of the True Martial Fist Tome stored within the Divine Palace: ‘Inside Shangqu, the Door of Blood, lives Xuanwu, the Emperor of the North!”
Two streams of qi and blood, one fast, one slow, converged upon Yan Zhaoge’s Shangqu acupoint, combining into a single new entity, which resembled the chaotic elements that had been present before the Heavens and the Earth had split apart.
The next instant, it suddenly shuddered, as a powerful force far exceeding the norm exploded from within Yan Zhaoge’s body!
Two hands pushed out simultaneously.
The aura-qi within his left hand took the form of an enormous shield, resembling the Ocean Stabilising Turtle Divinity.
The aura-qi within his right hand took the form of a thick, long whip, resembling the King of the Heavenly Serpents.
The turtle and the snake overlapped, then shot forward simultaneously.
A faint, gigantic humanoid figure appeared.
The Emperor of the North, Xuanwu[1]!
A combined attack from the turtle and the snake; the Divine Xuanwu descended!
A massive force that seemed like it could topple mountains and suppress seas pushed towards Xiao Shen, forcefully breaking through his Sunset Thousand Illusionary Palms!
Shocked, Xiao Shen’s palms changed, as, drawing on the meagre rays of sunlight that still remained, he hurriedly changed from offence to defence.
The illusions formed as a result were blurry and bewildering, causing people to be unable to tell real from false, losing their sense of direction completely.
Xiao Shen’s airborne figure rose up considerably higher, making good use of his levitating ability from having reached the late outer aura Martial Scholar realm before he finally managed to avoid Yan Zhaoge’s blow.
He instantly broke into a cold sweat, “This is a power that mid outer aura Martial Scholars can possess?!”
Yan Zhaoge laughed, “Mid outer aura realm, is enough.”
“Receive another of my blows!”
Exerting power with his foot, half of the land in the entire valley instantly broke apart as it concaved inward with a single stomp!
Making use of the backlash, Yan Zhaoge shot straight up into the sky, heading straight for Xiao Shen like a shell shot out of a cannon!
Xiao Shen snorted coldly, as, in mid-air, he leaped once more.
As quick as lightning, his entire person instantly travelled a great distance to the side, drawing apart the distance between him and Yan Zhaoge.
The Sacred Sun Clan’s direct lineage martial art, as well as one of its Seven Great Sun Arts-Leap of the Rising Sun.
It was the only pure body-related art amongst the Seven Great Sun Arts. When performed, it was swift and unyielding, resembling the unstoppable momentum of the Sun rising over from the east.
Having used this art to avoid Yan Zhaoge’s blow, Xiao Shen leapt once more, lunging towards Yan Zhaoge.
He wanted to grasp a chance from Yan Zhaoge’s disadvantage of only being able to move vertically in the sky based on his momentum, as compared to himself who was able to continuously hover and move about horizontally and to the sides.
Lunging forward now, he had been waiting for this moment when Yan Zhaoge’s initial upward momentum had just decreased to zero, when he had still yet to gain a downward momentum from the force of gravity!
A golden wheel rose, illuminating the surroundings as it smashed directly down at Yan Zhaoge!
Sprit artifact, Radiant Sun Wheel.
Xiao Shen’s features were cold as ice as he unleashed his full power in one go!
However, Yan Zhaoge had long since been ready for him. The power which he had been building up within his Door of Blood now exploded out once again.
His body, which had originally already begun plummeting downwards, actually forcefully stopped in mid-air for a moment.
Yan Zhaoge unfurled his right sleeve. Instantly, a stream of green light which resembled a dragon roared as it soared into the skies!
This time, the weapon within Yan Zhaoge’s hands was no longer a bamboo branch, but a dark green sword the colour of jade!
As a bright light flickered on the blade of the sword, what resounded was the majestic roar of a dragon, a roar which was not illusory, but clear and real!
Spirit artifact, Jade Dragon Sword!
Yan Zhaoge became one with his sword, soaring into the skies, piercing through the very air to instantly appear right before Xiao Shen’s eyes!
Where the tip of the sword pointed, the seven stars of the northern Big Dipper converged to illuminate an expansive area as vast as the very heavens themselves!
Broad Creed Mountain’s direct lineage martial art, one of its Eight Extreme Arts, the Big Dipper Sword!
Xiao Shen could only use his Radiant Sun Wheel to defend against Yan Zhaoge’s Jade Dragon Sword.
However, just as he was about to relax, he saw Yan Zhaoge, wielding the Jade Dragon Sword within his right hand, suddenly extend his left hand from within its sleeve, hacking straight down at his head!
[1] Xuanwu =Turtle+Snake (if you read DD2, whose raws I’ve finished reading, you might know this)