Chapter 363 – Special Body
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Zhou Xiaoling smashed into the array formation barrier, then bounced to the ground, her entire appearance ruined and her face bloodied.
The audience was stunned, their mouths hanging wide. They didn’t know what to say; how could such a fight happen? Grabbing an opponent’s arm, confining their motions, and then viciously punching them?
“Did I see something wrong? Can you tell me what happened? I saw Lin Ming struck by Zhou Xiaoling’s lightning, so how come nothing happened?” A disciple asked what everyone else was thinking.
Nobody could answer him, because this was already beyond their comprehension.
“He only used ten breaths of time to defeat Zhou Xiaoling, the difference between them is too great!”
“Not surprising. I don’t know why, but Zhou Xiaoling’s power of thunder is useless against Lin Ming. Zhou Xiaoling is a thunder-attribute martial artist, and using the power of thunder is her only means of attack. Once her power of thunder is sealed, there isn’t anything she can do.”
The martial artists of the Thundercrest Sect had very ugly expressions. Immune to thunder? Then how could they defeat such a person? Wouldn’t they also be suppressed and lose? They could already tell how their battles with Lin Ming would go by looking at how Zhou Xiaoling ended up.
Because there weren’t many thunder-attribute martial artists to begin with, and their own combat strength also had its superior facets, they had always had a deep sense of superiority. Now, someone had appeared that could completely ignore anything they did; they were simply unable to accept this.
Even the Thunderclap Zhou Lie asked Lei Jingtian with a sullen expression, “Senior Uncle Sect Master, how is this possible? Why is the boy immune to the power of thunder?”
Lei Jingtian frowned. He hesitated for a moment then slowly said, “He isn’t immune to thunder, it’s only that he’s immune to Xiaoling’s thunder. In other words, her cultivation is too low. If this boy faces someone much stronger than him, he would have no way to resist. I was carefully tracking Xiaoling’s thunder a moment ago, and after it entered Lin Ming’s body, it seemed to have been absorbed by him.”
“Is that even possible?”
“The truth is already set before you. He should have some sort of special body. The world is large, there are far more wonders out there than we can ever imagine. For instance, Mu Qianyu and Mu Bingyun both have spiritual fire and spiritual ice bodies. A hundred years, ago, there was even someone who appeared at our Thundercrest Sect that had an astral thunder body…” Lei Jingtian shook his head, looking regretful. This young genius had such a special thunder type body but he wasn’t obtained by his Thundercrest Sect – it was just too great a pity.
“Special body?” After Lei Jingtian spoke, a young man standing behind him raised his eyebrows, his eyes flashing with lightning as he locked onto Lin Ming. “Things are getting more and more interesting!”
“Limitless, don’t look down on the opponent.” Lei Jingtian said with a true essence sound transmission.
“I’m not underestimating him.” The youth called Limitless was very pale. There was a faint mark between his eyes like it were a piece of ivory. “He truly has the qualifications to be my opponent. But, I’ll have to wait until he reaches the Houtian realm…”
Onstage, Zhou Xiaoling bit her lips, her fingers touching the blood that leaked from her mouth. She stared at the bright crimson that stained her fingers, unable to believe what had happened. She was struck so hard that she had actually spit blood?
Ever since she was small, because she was such a talent, she had never been beaten by those old fogies of her sect before. Yet now she had received such a beating. That punch had been so solid and without even a single ounce of pity, even her internal organs seemed to have been severely injured.
For a time, resentment and grievance swelled up within her heart. Tears began to shine at the edges of her eyes.
Her talent was good, but her cultivation method was completely suppressed by Lin Ming. The power of thunder didn’t work against him, and in a close quarters fight, she was like the little girl she was, unable to resist his attacks at all.
“You’re a meanie, a bad meanie!” Zhou Xiaoling grit her teeth, a grinding sound coming out.
Lin Ming watched her with cold eyes. He noticed that the old man from the Thundercrest Sect had an ugly expression but didn’t come out to defend her. It seemed that whatever doting master she had that had spoiler her to this point hadn’t attended today’s festivities.
“When you treat others so viciously, you should also expect that someone will treat you the same way another day. Do you want to have another go?” Lin Ming’s tone was frosty.
Zhou Xiaoling’s was enraged, her face flushing red. She knew that if she continued to fight with Lin Ming, there was no way she could win. But she still couldn’t humiliate herself to admit defeat.
“Xiaoling! A loss is a loss, now get down from there!” From the Thundercrest Sect area, the Thunderclap Zhou Lie shouted. He was Zhou Xiaoling’s big brother.
Zhou Xiaoling stamped her feet for a moment and then angrily stormed offstage.
Lin Ming sent a true essence sound transmission, “Don’t forget the agreement. You have to tell me who it is that is aiming at me.”
“I will ask!” Zhou Xiao clenched her jaws, hating everything that had happened.
The Five Element Region’s disciples suddenly began talking.
“Zhou Xiaoling was also defeated. Is this Lin Ming really 16 years old?”
“Zhou Xiaoling was suppressed too greatly. It’s impossible to see how deep Lin Ming’s strength is from this match. We must ask a non thunder-attribute martial artist to go up and test Lin Ming’s true strength. Jin Yue, how about you go up and give it a try?”
The youth called Jin Yue came from Golden Bell Mountain. When a martial artist became famous, they would often establish a family clan or a sect that was named after the weapon or cultivation method they used. For instance, the Seven Profound Valleys’ Zither Faction Founder had the surname Qin, meaning zither. As for the seven great sects of the Five Element Region, there were many martial artists that took their own attribute as their last name. For instance, the Sunfire Princess Huo Ruyan. Jin Yue was the same. He was a famous talent within Golden Bell Mountain, and in terms of reputation of strength, he was the strongest disciple under the Houtian realm.
“Why would I want to go up?” Jin Yue asked.
“Hehe, our Five Element Region’s seven sects are inexorably linked together. We’ll back you up, there’s no need to be afraid.”
“Are you trying to stir me up? How about you go up yourself? You’re not a thunder-attribute martial artist. Naturally, you’ll be able to test his true strength. How about it?” Jin Yue said, faintly smiling.
In the battle between Lin Ming and Zhou Xiaoling, it was truly impossible to see his true strength. But, Jin Yue could approximately guess that Lin Ming’s true strength was already comparably to an early Houtian realm core disciple!
Although Jin Yue was known as the strongest disciple underneath the Houtian realm, and was also a direct disciple, there was still a very large gap between him and a core disciple that had stepped into the Houtian realm. Going up and challenging Lin Ming was just looking for trouble. Jin Yue was not accustomed to being a stepping stone for other talents. Also, Lin Ming was only 16 years old – losing to such a young boy would be an unforgettable shame.
The martial artist that had been trying to stir up Jin Yue immediately shut up, unable to speak from embarrassment. His strength was inferior to Jin Yue’s. If he walked onstage knowing he would lose, then he would truly be a fool.
After Lin Ming’s and Zhou Xiaoling’s match, all of the disciples from the Five Element Region whose cultivations were below the Houtian realm had lost all interest in competing. Originally, they had been zealously trying to wipe out all the Pulse Condensation disciples of Divine Phoenix Island, but now Lin Ming stood in front of them. He was like a towering mountain that loomed over them, it was impossible for them to cross this chasm.
Against Lin Ming, they didn’t even have the courage to try and wear down his strength by repeatedly challenging him. Those whose cultivation was below the Houtian realm had already given up any hope of winning against him.
If they couldn’t defeat Lin Ming, then there was no meaning to defeating any of the other Pulse Condensation period martial artists of Divine Phoenix Island.
The youth Ma Junhui who was defeated earlier by Lin Ming had a very pained expression. When he had fought with Lin Ming, he was already lucky that he wasn’t disabled. Fortunately, Lin Ming’s first spear had been a probing shot, and he had managed to escape with his body intact.
After Mu Junhui had lost, he had thought that he would seek out Lin Ming in the future and ruin him. But now that he looked back on his thoughts, he was terrified. If he tried to harm Lin Ming without understanding his true strength, the consequences of his actions would have been disastrous. This Lin Ming was simply not normal.
The Pulse Condensation period disciples no longer dared to step onstage, so now only Houtian realm disciples could step up. Suddenly, an eight foot tall youth jumped onstage. He growled, “Deep Earth Sect’s Shi Hanshan, 19 years old. I wish to challenge the heroic elites of Divine Phoenix Island, please enlighten me!”
As Shi Hanshan spoke, the truth was that his eyes had been on Lin Ming, and he was also hoping to fight him. However, to challenge him would be a complete loss of face. For a Houtian realm martial artist to challenge a Pulse Condensation period martial artist was bad enough, but Lin Ming was also 3 years younger. This challenge simply couldn’t be justified.
“Shi Hanshan is the second ranked core disciple of the Deep Earth Sect. These damn kids are really trying to bully us!” A Divine Phoenix Island disciple called out the injustice of the act.
“Since they cannot defeat the Pulse Condensation Lin Ming, now they want to compare Houtian talents. Our Divine Phoenix Island doesn’t have too many Houtian elites, how should we deal with them?”
Within the sub-20 year old younger generation of Divine Phoenix Island, there were 10 direct disciples and around 30 core disciples.
Of the 10 direct disciples, seven were at the Houtian realm.
As for the 30-something core disciples, there were a total of eight that had reached the Houtian realm.
Altogether, this was 15 individuals.
A direct disciple wouldn’t necessarily be stronger than a core disciple. This division of ranks only applied to talent, and didn’t consider strength.
Although there were some direct disciples with high talent, because of their age, their strength wasn’t too amazing. For instance, Golden Bell Mountain’s Jin Yue and the Thundercrest Sect’s Zhou Xiaoling were like so.
The Five Element Region sects’ situation was even worse than Divine Phoenix Island’s. Every sect had around 10 Houtian elites, but with six sects added together, that was 60 individuals in total. They could simply pile up on the Divine Phoenix island disciples until they died.
To use many to bully the less, the Divine Phoenix Island disciples could only mutter their complaints.
Mu Zhaoxuan, the second ranked core disciple of Divine Phoenix Island, gave a cold snort and stood up, wanting to meet this fool head on. But, she was actually pulled down by the fourth ranked core disciple, Song Xiaoyue. “Senior-apprentice Sister Zhaoxuan, let me deal with this man. The more powerful individuals haven’t moved yet, you must maintain your best condition to deal with them. Your battles will be much more important.
The battles of those heroic elite core disciples that were ranked first or second would naturally have a much greater significance than the battles of those behind them.
Mu Zhaoxuan nodded, “Junior-apprentice Sister Song, you need to be careful. The disciples of the Deep Earth Sect have an amazing defensive power, they are very difficult to handle.”
“Mm, I know.” Song Xiaoyue said as she stepped onstage. She clearly said, “Divine Phoenix Island’s Song Xiaoyue, 19 years old. Please advise!”
Shi Hanshan stared at Song Xiaoyue with a salacious expression. He thought to himself that Divine Phoenix Island really had many beautiful women. Out of every 10 disciples, eight of them were women. Not only that, but all of them had exquisite looks. It was very different to the Deep Earth Sect, which was like a temple of monks. After staying within the boring Deep Earth Sect for four or five years, even if he saw someone grisly looking he would still finding it pleasing to the eye. Thus, as Shi Hanshan’s vision fell upon Song Xiaoyue, his gaze inevitably lingered upon her face and chest for several breaths of time. One couldn’t blame Shi Hanshan for his blatant lust. After all, this was a completely normal bodily response for a man that had stayed in a temple of monks for so many years.
Song Xiaoyue’s complexion immediately went sour.