Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Looking at the painting, it was clear that the two cultivators battling inside the Ward Scroll were clashing against one another using flying weapons. It was because they were standing a fair distance away from each other, and ink black strokes appeared between them from time to time.
Inside the Ward Scroll, Lu Ye and Yuan Guang were standing about a hundred and fifteen meters away from each other. Between them, a pair of shining lights were zooming back and forth and clashing against one another, causing metallic sparks from time to time.
Yuan Guang was beyond shocked right now. It was because he had correctly identified the situation he was in. In an unbelievable twist of events, he had been dragged into an Internal Ward Scroll. It had most likely happened when he was temporarily blinded by that powerful flash. Although he had responded correctly by activating his flying weapon and protecting himself with attacks, his opponent obviously knew how he was going to react, not to mention that he was just a Ninth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Master with an Earth Grade cultivation technique. There was no way he could’ve resisted the Ward Scroll’s pull.
His situation was beyond terrible right now. This was a Ward Scroll, meaning that there was at least one other enemy besides the one standing before him right now; the one who was keeping the Ward Scroll active. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was the person whom the youngster had called Yi YI.
Speaking of the youngster, it was clear he was trouble even though he was just a Seventh-Order cultivator. Forget the explosive speed and power he had displayed at the start of the battle, his skill with the flying weapon alone was beyond the capabilities of the average Seventh-Order cultivator.
For starters, the flying weapon was almost as fast, strong and far-reaching as his own even though he was two minor realms above the youngster. He was still confident he could defeat the youngster, but the big problem was the user of the Ward Scroll, Yi Yi. He had no doubt that they would try and trip him up somehow and tip the balance in favor of the youngster.
He was wrong though. The entire reason Lu Ye had decided to use the Ward Scroll was because he wanted to fight Yuan Guang alone. He had killed some “fake” Ninth-Order cultivators when battling in the Rift of Illusions, and he wanted to know if there was a difference between the fake and the real thing. It was also the best way to confirm how strong he was right now.
Also, this was a good opportunity to familiarize both him and Yi Yi with the workings of the Nine Realms Scroll. This wasn’t the first time they had used the Ward Scroll, but they had never tried it in real combat. 𝐞𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.
Finally, Yi Yi was strong enough to maintain the Ward Scroll for a short time, but if she were to try and trip up Yuan Guang… it was possible, but she would run out of Spiritual Power much faster than otherwise.
In other words, Yuan Guang was overthinking this.
While the two flying weapons clashed continuously in the air, Lu Ye kept one hand on his saber and stared at the clashing blades intently. On the surface, it looked like he was fully focused in operating his weapon, but he was really observing the gap between his telekinesis and the enemy’s.
Despite his best efforts, it would seem that his telekinesis was ultimately weaker than a Ninth-Order cultivator’s. He was probably on par with an ordinary Eighth-Order cultivator, but that was it. He could tell this by observing the frequency of the clashes. At the beginning, he was still able to trade attacks evenly with Yuan Guang. However, the clash gradually tipped in the favor of Yuan Guang until finally, his flying weapon could only attack once every ten blocks or so.
He was still in the middle of observing when Yuan Guang had made up his mind. He decided to put that Yi Yi to the back of his mind and focus on killing the youngster in front of him first.
There was a sudden ringing of metal when Spiritual Power circulated rapidly around Yuan Guang. He then swung his sword repeatedly while yelling, “Three Thousand Swords!”
Shing shing shing!
Yuan Guang was about a hundred meters away from Lu Ye when he fired a number of fast-moving Sword Lights at him. Not only that, the Ninth-Order cultivator was running toward Lu Ye while still firing the Sword Lights!
He believed that there was no way the youngster could defend against the pincer attack because he was fully focused on controlling his flying weapon. If he tried to split his attention to defend both attacks, then even better. The youngster’s telekinesis was no match for his to begin with, so splitting his focus would only weaken it further. He should easily be able to overpower him then.
All Ninth-Order Spirit Creek Realm Masters were expected to be able to control their flying weapon and unleash another skill at the same time.
Yuan Guang followed closely behind the growing number of Sword Lights. The distance between the two combatants were decreasing rapidly.
Lu Ye finally looked away from the flying weapons in the air and stared at the incoming Sword Lights. His gaze looked like it could pierce through the attacks and land on the charging Yuan Guang.
He slapped his Storage Bag once, and a beam of light shot forward. It thrust into the layers of Sword Lights and sliced them all in half.
“!” Shock bloomed across Yuan Guang’s face even as he swung his weapon and blocked the incoming light.
‘Two flying weapons?’
If he hadn’t felt the attack with his body, he would’ve believed that his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Normally, the average Seventh-Order cultivator had to use all their concentration to control just one Spirit Artifact, and that was assuming they could even use telekinesis to begin with.
To control two flying weapons, one had to possess both a tremendous amount of control over one’s Spiritual Power and incredible mental strength. Only then could they multitask successfully.
It was commonly believed that a Heaven Grade cultivation technique was the minimum a cultivator must possess to remotely control two flying weapons at the same time. Even then, not every Heaven Grade cultivator could manage such a thing.
Telekinesis was undeniably a cool-looking technique, but the cultivator had to be naturally talented to be able to use it properly. Moreover, it wasn’t always the more the better. After all, the more Spirit Artifacts you controlled, the more taxing it was on your mind.
As far as he knew, Li Baxian was the only man at Spirit Creek Realm to have pushed the Way of Telekinesis to its limits. It was rumored that he could control a hundred flying swords at the same time, though Yuan Guang had no way to know if it was true.
No other Ninth-Order Heaven Grade Master even came close to controlling as many flying weapons as him. After all, the more you split your focus, the weaker a single flying weapon became. In most cases, several powerful flying weapons were way better than dozens of impotent ones.
With all that said, how was it possible for a Seventh-Order cultivator to control two flying weapons at the same time? Not only that, their strength was almost the same as when he was controlling just one flying weapon, meaning that it was no last ditch effort to keep him at bay. He really was capable of piloting two flying weapons at the same time.
The surprise attack had failed, and there was no time to be awed by Lu Ye’s talent in telekinesis. Yuan Guang immediately launched into a sword dance and sent away the flying weapon seeking to skewer him. From time to time, a Sword Qi would erupt and knock the flying weapon away.
He was a Ninth-Order cultivator after all. If the youngster thought he could kill him with flying weapons alone, he was in for a rude awakening.
Suddenly, his thoughts came to a standstill. It was because he saw Lu Ye walking towards him.
‘It couldn’t be…’ A shocking thought entered Yuan Guang’s mind before he shook it off immediately. It just wasn’t possible. It already took an insane amount of mental strength to control two flying weapons at the same time. There was just no way a Seventh-Order brat could do this and fight a melee as well. This was just an attempt to intimidate him into slipping up!
Unfortunately, his foolish thoughts were mercilessly crushed when Lu Ye swung his saber at his face.
It was only now Yuan Guang realized there was a reason Lu Ye had dared to challenge him to a solo fight. It was because he was capable of controlling two flying weapons and fighting a melee at the same time!
And so, shining lights danced in the air while a pair of cultivators huffed and puffed amidst a forest of stones. The moment they clashed, Yuan Guang found himself being pushed back by Lu Ye..
It wasn’t because his strength was inferior to Lu Ye, but because Lu Ye’s bag of tricks were too difficult to deal with. It was hard enough to defend against a saber and two flying weapons at the same time, but the strength and speed of his cuts were unpredictable as well. Sometimes the saber would feel as heavy as a mountain, and sometimes it would move as quick as lightning. There did not seem to be any rhyme or reason behind the sudden increase in weight and speed either.
Most importantly, the saber was ridiculously sharp. He accidentally took a hit earlier, and the light surrounding his armor abruptly dimmed by a great amount. It was scary because he had spent a lot of Spirit Stones to purchase it from the Vault of Providence, and it was tough enough that no Ninth-Order cultivator could ever hope to break through its defenses. However, he could clearly feel his armor straining from the earlier hit.
On a related note, there was light in the Nine Realms Scroll even though there was no sun. The stone forest was only a kilometer or two wide in radius. It was the smallest landscape of the nine that was captured within the Ward Scroll.
Everything else beyond the stone forest looked like a hodgepodge of ink black stains on a piece of blank paper. The stains were also warping and changing constantly as if it was hiding some terrifying danger within. There was no telling what would happen if someone were to fall into it.
Lu Ye and Yuan Guang were doing battle on the only real piece of land in the strange world of the Nine Realms Scroll, the stone forest. Less than thirty breaths had passed since the battle began, but Yuan Guang was already at a severe disadvantage. He never thought that he, a Ninth-Order cultivator, would be suppressed by a Seventh-Order cultivator to this extent.
To say he felt bitter and regretful would be an understatement. Why had he allowed himself to be attracted to the noise? Why had he allowed curiosity to kill the cultivator? Right now he was both stuck and at a disadvantage. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he perished.
The only way out of this… was to defeat the youngster, take him hostage, and force that Yi Yi to release him.
Yuan Guang was a man of action. The moment the idea flashed across his mind, he gritted his teeth and stopped dodging Lu Ye’s attack. At the same time, he flicked his sword at the young man’s wrist.
His plan was to cut Lu Ye’s wrist tendon and disarm him at the cost of a single blow. Even if Lu Ye’s attack was more powerful than expected, his armor should be able to withstand one hit. Only then would he be able to capture the enemy and find a way out of this!
However…
Clang! The blade was blocked by the Glyph of Protection. Not only that, Yuan Guang abruptly stiffened when a terrible pain exploded in his chest. His eyes widened as he felt his lung being pierced by Lu Ye’s saber.
How on earth had the young man pierce through his armor? His blade was sharp, but it wasn’t that sharp. Moreover, what the hell was that thing that appeared on his wrist just now? How did it block his attack!
Their eyes met. One pair was shocked, and the other pair calm. This wasn’t the first time Lu Ye had traded an injury for an effective strike, and it wouldn’t be the last. That was why he knew what Yuan Guang was planning the second he thrust his weapon.
Yuan Guang was a Ninth-Order cultivator, and a powerful one to boot. That was why Lu Ye hadn’t been able to land a single hit besides that lucky strike from before. Not only that, the blow wasn’t strong enough to pierce through his armor.
Lu Ye had been looking to create an opening this whole time, and he fully expected to continue searching for at least a while longer. He did not expect Yuan Guang to be the one to give him the opportunity.
During the decisive attack, he had imbued not one, but two Sharp Edge to the Inviolable.
Some of the Glyphs on the Tree of Glyphs had no particular effect. Their only function was to act as a connector between Glyphs. In fact, it would be inaccurate to call them Glyphs. They were a type of technique meant to facilitate the usage of Glyphs.
This was how Lu Ye was able to activate two Sharp Edges at the same time. He had used the technique to connect and combine two Sharp Edges into one.
So what if the enemy had powerful armor? If one Sharp Edge wasn’t enough, then two would do it! With enough sharpness, he could cut through any defense like it was wet tissue!