novelIntense Battle of Fifteen Minutes (Part One)
| ← Ch.457 | Ch.459 → |
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
In front of the hall on the Qilin Peak, As Steward Hou watched his Old Master, Qilin, walk down the peak, he didn't stand up immediately to welcome him. As a steward who had followed Qilin from the beginning, there was no need to show any false courtesy between the two. In Qilin's eyes, Steward Hou was already his old buddy and brother, the relationship between the two wasn't as simple as the relationship between a steward and his master.
Steward Hou's attention was completely on Qin Fen, who was lying not far away from his feet. The fact that Qin Fen was unconscious rather than dead even after having been hit by Qilin's Formless Finger of Disaster already drew Steward Hou's admiration. And much to Steward Hou's surprise, he was showing signs of waking up from the coma.
Qilin halted his advancing footsteps as the obsidian-like eys under his straight-as-sword eyebrows flickered with surprise.
Could the Formless Finger of Disaster cast by Qilin with the strength of the fifteen-star level compare with an ordinary martial dao master's Formless Finger of Disaster!? Few sixteen-star martial artists could achieve such a high-degree off true energy compression and release it.
It would not be an exaggeration to call it a miracle if one somehow made it out alive after having struck by one of those fingers. And if one began to regain his senses just a short while after having been knocked out, then... Song Wendong, looking at Qin Fen's twitching index finger, felt that it could no longer be called a miracle. Rather, it would be more appropriate to call it nonsensical.
Awake! Song Wendong's pupil constricted fiercely. But he wasn't surprised by the fact that Qin Fen could wake up. It was that he found it hard to believe that after he woke up, Qin Fen, who was slowly getting back up from the ground, was exuding a completely different aura.
A powerful aura! No! Song Wendong shook his head lightly. There was no change in his star-class but the air around Qin Fen gave him another feeling, ancient and profound!
Clearly, he is still at fifteen-star but why does he give me an unfathomable feeling? Song Wendong even had an illusion that the person before him wasn't Qin Fen but rather a divine beast-level martial artist who had suppressed his strength like him!
An absurd thought flashed in Song Wendong's mind as his pair of dark eyes carefully examined Qin Fen, who rose up with new vigor. At this moment, Qin Fen's eyes were flickering with nothing but fanatism as if a certain instinct had awoken in him after he had lost consciousness, turning him into someone governed by a simple consciousness. The more Song Wendong observed Qin Fen, the more he felt that this wasn't Qin Fen.
"This..."
Steward Hou and Song Zhenting were started at the same time as they looked at Qin Fen with great surprise. Qin Fen had the same strength and was the same person, but the aura exuding from his body was completely different!
Song Jia was unable to understand the huge change in the three elders' expression. In her opinion, Qin Fen was still the same Qin fen, only there was a bit of dullness and fanatism in his eyes; there wasn't any difference apart from that.
Due to the huge gap in their realm, Song Jia was unable to sense the change in Qin Fen's aura but how could Song Wendong, the divine beast - Qilin, be unable to detect the change?
"Is this the unwillingness after the defeat, causing the body to reawaken instinctively?" Song Wendong recalled Mercury's Black Tortoise, the divine beast with extraordinary powers, who would keep on fighting instinctively even if he lost consciousness in a battle. More importantly, he would become several times stronger than before."Qin Fen would not happen to have this ability, would he?"
"Fourteen minutes and forty-five seconds left..."
Controlling Qin Fen's body, Master slightly bent Qin Fen's body; his voice a bit stiff and dry. His hands cracked a few times as he spread his fingers, staring straight at Song Wendong."Come on, don't waste time now."
Just as his words fell, a puff of azure smoke appeared under Master's feet. Immediately after, he disappeared before Song Jia's eyes, once more. The ground underneath his feet didn't burst due to the powerful thunderblast as before, instead, it was like the ground was hit by millions of high-voltage electricity, which directly coked the ground.
"Electric Steps!?" In the sea of consciousness, Qin Fen was surprised by the martial arts cast by Master who was controlling his body at this moment. The Electric Steps, which he was still unable to employ due to the lack of training, was cast as easily as lifting his hand by Master!
Steward Hou's pupils constricted to the size of the needlepoint as he stared at Qin Fen's figure, who was standing before Qilin already without causing any tremor in the ground, through his narrowed eyes.
At the same time, Qin Fen's body turned into an independent luminous body. The true energy mixed in with his flesh, blood, and meridians made his body like jade. His skin was as smooth and bright as a perfect ball of ice-type jadeite, which had an indescribable beauty.
Qin Fen's palm was the same as the size of an ordinary man, there wasn't the slightest change in its size. But when he stretched his palm out, completely covering Song Wendong, the majestic body of Qilin before this average-sized palm gave everyone the illusion that Qin Fen's palm wasn't hitting the divine beast - Qilin but rather a chicken that had just hatched.
Master's first move was actually the Heaven and Earth in the Palm used by Qilin before.
Master was using Electric Steps, the higher counterpart of Thundersteps, using Qin Fen's martial theory very easily. As the blue tendons connected to his feet was infused with the true aura, the power exerted by his feet was far greater than before, like the stamp of an elephant.
As his toes exerted the strength of an elephant, Qin Fen's calves swelled and contracted as the true energy infused into them converted into the true aura. His lower limb joints burst forth with true aura as his back muscles bulged again and again. His spine seemed to rise and fall like that of a dragon, turning him into a divine dragon that was coming out of the water.
Just as Master cast the Heaven and Earth in the Palm, he used the second level of Converting Energy into Elements, Infusing True Aura into the Body in the blink of an eye, while Qin Fen could only employ Gathering Energy Coagulating Aura!
The reason Qilin's last Formless Finger of Disaster defeated Qin Fen was because of the difference in their true energy intensity. Although the Infusing True Aura into Body was just a level higher than Gathering Energy and Coagulating Aura, the gap between them could only be understood when one was standing at that level.
When Qin Fen killed a martial dao master opponent in Shengjing back then, it was because his Gathering Energy and Coagulating Aura realm was about to reach its peak already. He had far exceeded that martial dao master who could not even achieve Gathering Energy and Coagulating Aura.
The higher one walked in martial arts, the bigger the difference of one level. It could often turn the face of the entire battle.
In the sea of consciousness, Qin Fen was repeatedly surprised as Master cast the Heaven and Earth in the Palm. As expected, the theoretical master turned out to be a super theoretical master. He can cast the Heaven and Earth in the Palm just after seeing it once, and more importantly, it isn't much different than when cast by Qilin.
This palm didn't just cover Qilin in its range of attack, the palm energy had also absorbed the essence of Thundersteps and Electric Steps. There wasn't just Heaven and Earth in the Palm, there were lightning and electricity as well! There wasn't a real electric current, but more like the spirit was electric. As he brandished this palm, true aura infused into his body with the sound of billowing thunder, which was even more deafening than caused by Thundersteps. This time, as he attacked Qilin, he brought his palm down with the force of heaven, earth, and lightning!
BOOM!
The moment Master attacked, that aloof and unparalleled momentum around Qilin was swept away by the strength of heaven, earth, and lightning. The previous indifferent and unshakable momentum was no longer there.
Song Zhenting looked at Qin Fen with a grin but he was secretly surprised by this young man who gathered the true energy of Heaven and Earth in the Palm and congealed it into his true aura and infused into his body after waking up suddenly, as if he wanted to break all the limits of the fifteen-star level. This palm could no longer be called the unity of heaven and man. It would be more appropriate to say that heaven and earth were being used by him!
If the previous Qilin maintained the momentum of heaven and earth from the beginning to the end, then Master's palm was swallowing the heaven with his own strength! Extracting heaven and earth out of Qilin's body!
It doesn't matter if heaven and earth belong to you, I am the true master of heaven and earth!
Watching Qin Fen's attack, Song Wendong became very serious for the first time. For the first time, his body, which had always been in a relaxed state, tensed up! This was quite clear from the solemn look on his face.
Song Wendong, the Qilin, who had fought hundreds of battles, never expected that Qin Fen, who had passed the initial test already after having been knocked out with one finger, would be in such a state of mess after waking up, that he could use the Heaven and Earth in the Palm after just seeing it once, and with such an amazing might at that!
Heart, skill, and body! Heaven, earth, and man, were all in unity! Something that not even sixteen-star, seventeen-star martial artists could do, was actually done by a young, fifteen-star martial artist!
Qilin didn't just come to praise it, it could even be said that he came to realize that this was the true unity of heaven, earth, and the man!
Even in the face of the blow with the unity of three talents, Qilin didn't raise his star-class. As a divine beast, hasn't it been lonely sitting alone on the Qilin Peak? Wouldn't it be the biggest blasphemy if I raised my true energy to fight back against this perfect attack?
More importantly, Qilin had a ridiculous intuition that if he, a dignified divine beast martial artist, fought Qin Fen while maintaining the same strength as Qin Fen, he may very well be struck with new insights. His slowly progressing martial dao may very well have a new breakthrough!
A fight against a newly advanced martial dao master using the same strength of the fifteen-star level would be a great experience for a divine beast martial artist and it might even improve his martial dao!? Qilin himself found it extremely ridiculous but he couldn't resist this notion in his mind.
Song Wendong neither retreated nor tried to dodge! His neck turned slightly stiff as he pushed himself to the limit of the fifteen-star level by infusing the true aura into his body, into his every cell. Immediately, his black hair stood on their ends while his clothes flapped non-stop.
In the next moment, the true energy in Song Wendong's body roared like a Qilin as he sunk his legs and took the horse stance that was as stable as an iron bridge. He took a deep breath as if he wanted to draw all the air in the world into his lungs. The Swallowing the World used previously by Qin Fen was now used by Qilin. Qin Fen, who was watching everything carefully from the sea of consciousness, immediately realized the flaw in this move. In his heart, he could not help but admire the divine beast who stood at the peak of martial artists.
Having bent his legs and sunk his waist, Qilin brought his left palm from the front of his chest to his waist as he transferred his strength to the right shoulder. At the same time, he raised his right palm and pressed towards the oncoming Master's Heaven and Earth in the Palm, drawing a semi-circle in the air.
BOOM!
The clash of their palm was so loud that it surpassed the clap of thunder on a stormy night. Song Jia felt that the entire Qilin Peak was quaking fiercely. The rocks around the peak began to roll down the mountain, the sounds of fissures sounded as if the Qilin Peak was groaning.
Master's first attack, Heaven and Earth in the Palm after borrowing Qin Fen's body temporarily, which was strong enough to easily scrap the mobile armor into nothing, was received by the Song Wendong's Cloud Hands using a hard and soft variable force.
Their palms didn't separate after such a collision immediately. Their palms were like two magnets of opposite poles, sticking together with each other. A series of drumming sounds resounded from in-between their palms.
True energy oscillations! Song Jia reluctantly understood this famous attack. While their palms were glued to each other, both sides quickly employed true energy oscillations of the fastest frequency in order to push their opponent back.
Song Zhenting looked far more solemn than Song Jia. The high-level true energy oscillation battle between martial dao masters was known as the smokeless life and death battle. Just a slight difference could quite possibly become the dividing line between life and death! Of course, even if the divine beast, who had the strength far beyond the level of fifteen-star level, was somehow at a disadvantage, he would not be shocked to death. Obviously, Qin Fen would suffer a lot in this exchange.
Because Qilin with his absolute strength could afford to lose! Whereas Qin Fen couldn't! Losing meant forfeiting his life!
The war drums kept ringing for a hundred seconds, while the entire ground pulsated, again and again. Steward Hou was also no longer lying back on the recliner; he sat straight, gawking at the scene with gaze filled with incomparable shock. Even if he himself suppressed his strength to the fifteen-star level and fought the rare smokeless battle using true energy oscillation, he himself would not be able to compete with Qilin for so long without losing.
Qilin could no longer fight this high-intensity battle with the same attitude as before; he could no longer divide his attention to protect his clothes from harm's way. In the blink of an eye, his right sleeve was ripped into pieces as it was struck by true energy. His arm wasn't as glossy and smooth as Qin Fen's ice-type jadeite-like arm. His muscles and skins connected with each other to form small flakes on his arm, one after another. They weren't something that could be formed by training. They were superimposing each other and were compactly arranged, and were glittering as well.
This was the distinct martial art which brought about different changes in one's body when using true energy! The three people watching were more shocked than QIn Fen. This was the protective divine art of divine beast Qilin, Qilin's True Body! These tightly packed flakes were the scales of Qilin. This was one of the ultimate protective divine arts in martial dao that was admired by countless martial artists.
"He can force Grandpa to use his protective divine art?" Song Jia blinked her pretty little eyes, again and again. This act meant Qilin wasn't restraining his hand while fighting with Qin Fen at this moment unless he raised his star-class.
But... If Qilin wanted to raise his star-class he could have done so in the beginning. It would mean that Qilin disdained to fight with his opponent fairly, and would crush the other side with his star-class.
Now... Song Zhenting understood that his father, Song Wendong could not raise his star-class against Qin Fen, no matter what. As long as he raised his star-class, it would be tantamount to admitting that he wasn't Qin Fen's opponent in the fifteen-star level.
A dignified divine beast martial artist couldn't beat a recently advanced martial daomaster while maintaining the same star-class of the fifteen-star level as his opponent!? If Song Wendong raised his star-class to overpower the other side, his self-confidence in his martial arts would be shaken. Not to mention any progress in martial arts in the future, he would be really lucky if he could keep his unbalanced heart intact and stop his strength from declining.
Floating in the sea of consciousness, Qin Fen could not only see the fight between the two experts clearly but he could also see how the true energy was oscillating in his meridians. He immediately closed his eyes and sensed the spreading true energy oscillations.
With several deafening claps ringing at the peak, the martial artists residing on the mountain could not resist the curiosity in the hearts. Experts at the level of martial daomaster could judge the intensity of the battle from the sounds of their clashes.
Hashimoto, listening to the shockwaves coming from the peak, again and again, could no longer resist the temptation to watch this fierce fight. He threw his fat body as he rushed towards the gate of the Qilin Mountain; the Mysterious Daughter of Nine Skies could feel the ground shaking immediately.
Qilin's rules! I can care less about it! All Hashimoto was thinking of was watching this rare battle. As for violating Qilin Mountain's rules, he had already thrown them to the back of his mind.
The martial daomasters, hiding in the mountains, and even the martial artists, who had entered the grandmaster realm, could no longer stand still after hearing the sound of fighting. Several figures rushed through the mountains with an amazingly consistent goal! And that was the top of the mountain! The center of the fierce battle!
As Master's Heaven and Earth in the Palm clashed with Qilin, he immediately felt that the man known as Qilin before his eyes was better than he had guessed through the Rejuvenation Art. He was the strongest expert Qin Fen had every encountered since his debut! Even White Tiger, who had appeared on the beach and had crippled Qin Fen with one palm, was still worse than Qilin.
Forget about the rest, only by the virtue of his true energy oscillation and his strange protective divine art, Qilin would have been a very famous master even in the Atlantis Eara when martial arts prevailed.
There were two kinds of proud people, one was a self-righteous prick who was lacking in the brain's department. The other was someone who had the capital to be proud! Qiling clearly belonged to the latter.
"This is a true grandmaster who can found his own martial arts school."
Master sighed in his heart. Unfortunately, the time is too short! Unfortunately, I can only use fifteen-star strength to fight.
After a few seconds of shock, Qilin threw his left hand which had remained around his waist from the beginning to the end straight at Qin Fen's throat with lightning-fast speed, while his other hand remained glued to Master's Heaven and Earth in the Palm!
As soon as Qilin used the Snake Fist, a crisp sound immediately rang in the air as if when a white snake hissed, its tongue tore through the air and caused a shockwave. If someone closed their eyes, a picture of a giant snake hissing would appear in their mind.
Steward Hou straightened his back as he gazed at Qin Fen with rapt attention. Even a true martial daomaster need to focus their full attention during the true energy collision. Qilin with his stable foundation and terrifying strength wasn't afraid of losing and getting injured; he divided his mind and fired a second shot.
A smile was hung on Master's lips. He took the stance of Bow Step and raised his front bent leg before kicking out! Immediately, a vigorous kick whizzed through the air. Song Wendong, Steward Hou, and Song Zhenting's face turned black at the same time at the sight of this kick, the Groin Kick!
Song Wendong had taken the Great Horse Stance to take Heaven and Earth in the Palm, which was indeed quite inviting to Qin Fen's Bow and Arrow Step to use the Groin Kick. But who would have thought Master would divide his attention while competing in true energy oscillation and use the indecent Groin Kick toward Song Wendong's lower body even though he had a free left hand to make all kinds of counterattacks.
Master's kick was too sudden. Even Song Wendong's Qilin body could not block this blow using the same strength as Qin Fen. He might get kicked on the vital part and become an impotent Qilin.
If it was before, Song Wendong would have dared to take Qin Fen's kick. But after his opponent had completely changed after he woke up. Qilin wasn't completely sure that he could take this kick without any harm.
Qin Fen spewed a mouthful of saliva at the sight of this scene. As expected of theoretical martial daomaster. The usually elegant Master would always choose the best means of combat. This wretched Groin Kick might not be as wretched as Vile King, Zeng Yicheng, but it was quite wretched already.
| ← Ch. 457 | Ch. 459 → |