Chapter 34: Heaven Ranked Martial Technique—Return of the Azure Dragon
Looking at Xiao Chen struggling to stand up, he seemed very weak. Tang He acted as though he had planned everything out, “If you didn’t kill the three people from my Tang Clan, on the account of the Xiao Clan, I could have let you off after you handed over the Red Nascent Fruit.”
Xiao Chen’s pale face revealed a cold smile, “Stop being so hypocritical. If you hadn’t attempted to kill me first, would I have made a move against your group?”
Grasping Lunar Shadow tightly in his hands, Xiao Chen coughed lightly as he continued, “Do you actually think that I have no way of resisting you?"
Tang He stared blankly for a while before laughing loudly, “Although I had exhausted a large portion of my Essence, there should still be more than enough to deal with a severely injured Inferior Grade Martial Disciple. All I would need is just one finger.”
Despicable, this was a Martial Grand Master going against an Inferior Grade Martial Disciple. In terms of strength, the difference between them was like heaven and earth. Xiao Chen held an undisguised look of contempt.
Return of the Azure Dragon was the first move of the Heaven Ranked Martial Technique, Dragon Subduing Slash. This was the exclusive Martial Technique of the Azure Dragon Martial Technique. When using it, one would be able to leap over the seas like a dragon in a majestic and powerful manner.
According to the legends, the Hidden Dragon Of The Abyss was the king of the four seas and Dragon Soaring Through the Universe was the tyrant of the sky. As long as there was water, it would be able to display boundless might. Return Of The Azure Dragon referred to the dragon leaping out of the sea, bearing the might of the sea, and causing even the rivers to flow backwards.
[TL Notes: Honestly, I’m not too sure of this paragraph and might change the translation of this in the future]
Xiao Chen thought silently in his heart, the Return of The Azure Dragon was just the introductory move with regards to the Dragon Subduing Slash. Looking at Tang He, who had an incredibly complex expression, he smiled, “One finger… Don’t cry from shock later…”
Tang He watched as Xiao Chen made his final struggles, as though he was a cat playing around with a mouse. At such a close distance, he was not afraid of Xiao Chen using his strange escaping techniques to flee. Not bothered by Xiao Chen’s tone, he smiled, “I said that I would only use one finger, thus, I will only use one finger.”
“Chi!”
A flame wisp gathered above Tang He’s finger. Moving his Essence and shouting out, the flames flew away from his finger, creating a long trail of Qi as it streaked across the air heading for Xiao Chen’s brain.
Although this flame had not looked impressive, in truth, there was a huge amount of fire-attributed energy in it. Due to the fact that many of Tang He’s opponents underestimated it and became careless, they had died to this flame.
He did not believe that at such a distance, an injured Inferior Grade Martial Disciple would be able to withstand the destructiveness of this flame.
Naturally, Xiao Chen would not be able to withstand the destructiveness of this flame but in the first place, he had never intended to face it head on. He tightly grasped Lunar Shadow in his hands and changed his posture.
Raising his arm, he pointed the sharp end of his saber at Tang He!
Xiao Chen had just casually changed positions and did not seem to have made any move. There was still no difference with the earlier Xiao Chen who looked heavily injured and weak.
However, Tang He’s right eyelid started twitching spontaneously. His mind seemed to become empty and he felt an unrelenting sense of danger.
How could it be? This fellow is currently severely injured, how would he be able to injure me? Tang He shook his head vigorously and suppressed the fear in his heart.
The wisp of flames was already less than one meter away from Xiao Chen. In one second, it would penetrate through Xiao Chen’s brain. All it would take was a second and this fellow would be dead.
Thinking of this, the fear in Tang He’s heart completely disappeared. He revealed a faint smile on his face. It was time for this to end.
However, at that point, Xiao Chen suddenly shouted. A boundless aura that could almost topple the mountains and seas seemed to emanate from his body. The tranquil forest reacted as though there were great waves bellowing while the continuous sound of sea waves was heard.
A formless force seemed to explode out from Xiao Chen’s body and all the big trees within a hundred meters behind Xiao Chen were uprooted by a strong gale, completely turning into fragments.
The whole sky was filled with broken fragments, layers of them were piled up behind Xiao Chen. They looked like a great sea wave, rippling unceasingly, swaying gently.
Xiao Chen felt like his body was filled with an apocalyptic power that was about to burst out of him. At that moment, he felt that even if Gods and Buddhas appeared in front of him, he had the confidence to destroy them.
“Break!”
With a furious shout, Xiao Chen swung lightly from his casual posture, but that small movement was filled with a huge amount of energy.
This gentle strike was almost able to break through space and time, and the entire space around them fluctuated for a while. The huge sea wave made out of tree fragments gave off an explosive sound and a dragon roar came from Xiao Chen’s Dantian.
The huge energy traveled through Xiao Chen’s arm and Lunar Shadow, then turned into a dragon shaped saber Qi and flew out. The moment the saber Qi left the blade, Lunar Shadow could no longer withstand the violent energy and shattered apart.
While it took quite a while to describe this, all of these happened within a breath’s worth of time. The wisp of flame that Tang He had fired was like a little worm in front of Xiao Chen’s dragon shaped saber Qi and dispersed upon contact.
The huge dragon shaped saber Qi had boundless might as it headed towards Tang He. Someday, I will make the rivers flow in reverse.
Tang He stared blankly at all these, he seemed to have seen a great wave in a boundless sea and that Inferior Grade Martial Disciple riding on a huge Azure Dragon, breaking out from the sea.
Under the might of this ancient Holy Beast, even the Flaming Bird Martial Spirit in Tang He’s body could not help but tremble. Tang His entire body trembled and his Essence inside was chaotic, refusing to obey his will.
Within an instant, Tang He’s body turned into dust. There was no screams of pain and had just disappeared completely. Only a red jade pendant could be seen falling.
The saber of Qi did not stop at that and continued to rush forward. A huge gorge, that seemed to extend into the distance forever, appeared in the ground.
This was the might of a Heaven Ranked Martial Technique, the power of the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit. It had the power to topple mountains and seas, to decimate the heavens and earth. Even when it was executed by an Inferior Grade Martial Disciple, it had such a terrifying might.
In the instant Xiao Chen saw Tang He’s body disintegrate into dust, Xiao Chen’s state of mind relaxed. Once he relaxed, the side effects of using too many medicinal pills and executing a Heaven Ranked Martial Technique came one after another.
The Essence in his body became chaotic and he had turned pale all over until his blood vessels could be seen clearly. After a moment, his skin began to tear and fresh blood continuously trickled out.
This kind of pain was like having millions of ants bite at the same time; it was a pain that made one rather die instead. Within the mental space in his sea of consciousness, his Spiritual Sense was also incredibly disordered. Intense pain originated from his body and his psyche continuously tortured Xiao Chen.
Struggling to maintain a clear mind, Xiao Chen dragged his dilapidated body step by step towards the gorge. The red jade pendant that dropped from Tang He’s body was very suspicious.
It was actually undamaged from the attack of a Heaven Ranked Martial Technique. There must have been something strange with it. With great difficulty, he managed to drag his body over and held the blood-red jade pendant in his hands. Before he had the time to take a look at it, Xiao Chen fainted from the pain.
Xiao Chen was not aware of the destructive powers of a Heaven Ranked Martial Technique, and the requirements that were needed to be met in order to execute one. There were many examples in the Tianwu Continent of people overestimating themselves and executing a highly ranked Martial Technique, resulting in their body exploding.
If it was not for the special characteristic of the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit, it would not be as simple as Xiao Chen fainting on the ground.
In the outskirts of Seven Horn Mountain, in the area that was filled with dense Spiritual Qi, Tang Yuan and the others were anxiously waiting for their Second Elder. Looking at the sky darkening, the originally composed group of people had also started to get anxious. When they heard the loud explosion from the distance, they had gotten very scared and became on edge.
After a long time, the Second Elder had still not returned. Finally, one of them could no longer hold back and asked Tang Yuan, “Young Master, should we still keep waiting for the Second Elder? The First Elder and the others are still waiting for us to bring back the Spirit Blood Jade.
Tang Yuan had already cleaned his clothes and brushed the dirt on his body off but his facial expression was still pained and haggard. When he heard this question, he was not able to hold back and scolded that person, “I wish to do so as well but the Spirit Blood Jade is still with Second Uncle. Even if we went, it would be useless.”
When the group of people heard this, their already anxious emotions turned even more apprehensive. This was a mission of great importance given to them by the First Elder.
For the sake of this mission, not only had they sent three Superior Grade Martial Disciples and seven Martial Masters, they even sent a Martial Grand Master to lead them. With such a force, they would even be able to strut around Mohe City. Who knew that this originally simple mission would turn out like this.
Once the First Elder found out about this, this group of people would be in for a terrible time.
Amongst this group of people, Tang Yuan was the one that was the most at a loss. The others might not know of the uses of the Spirit Blood Jade but he was very clear about it. With such a devastating results, when he thought of the consequences, Tang Yuan shuddered.
If they had not come looking for this Red Nascent Fruit, they would not have provoked that strange person. Then things would not have escalated to this point. Tang Yuan felt an incomparable regret. He blamed himself for trying to suck up to the Second Elder, for trying to be clever only to end up with making a blunder.
“First Young Master, don’t be anxious. Things might not have reached an unrecoverable stage. The Second Elder might just be slightly delayed, maybe he is severely injured. We should go and check the situation out,” the person who spoke earlier calmly analyzed.
If the Second Elder is severely injured, wouldn’t we just be seeking death?!
Tang Yuan was about to start screaming in anger but after thinking things through, he slowly calmed down. The words of this person were reasonable; the Second Elder had already reached the peak of Medial Grade Martial Grand Master long ago, even if he lost to that mysterious person, that mysterious person would not be in good shape either.
The most important thing was that even if the Second Elder was killed by him, that mysterious person might not necessarily take away the Spirit Blood Jade, as it would be useless to him.
Thinking this, Tang Yuan’s expression started to soften as he spoke to the others, “We need to retrieve that Spirit Blood Jade. Thus, regardless of the circumstances, we need to check out the place where that explosion happened.”
The expressions of the others contained fear. Despite the explosion sounds coming from a far distance, they had still felt the terrifying power that was contained in it.
However, when they thought of the consequence of failing this mission and weighing the pros and cons, the crowd chose to follow Tang Yuan and headed to the location of the explosion.
Before long, the crowd saw a ridiculous gorge on the ground. It was three meters wide and seven meters deep and had definitely extended out for at least thousands of meters.
The expression of the crowd turned extremely unsightly but under the leadership of Tang Yuan, they still headed anxiously forward until they finally saw Xiao Chen, who had fallen into the gorge.
Seeing the red jade pendant in Xiao Chen’s hands, Tang Yuan felt joy in his heart. He was about to step forward when suddenly, a green shadow quickly picked up Xiao Chen, rapidly leaped towards the front and quickly left.
Tang Yuan stopped his subordinates that were about to give chase. His icy cold gaze watched the disappearing green shadow as he said with a cold voice, “There is no need to give chase…”