Chapter 625: Epiphany
Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: – –
On the Sacred Battle Platform, the battles between the combatants continued without pausing. Unknowingly, night had already descended.
Today, Qin Wentian had experienced a total of three battles. Against Di Shi, Liu Lan, and the crown prince of Radiant Gold. In all these three battles, he was the one at a disadvantage, yet he couldn’t be completely defeated. After that, Di Shi tried several times to challenge him, but Qin Wentian rejected all his attempts. The reason he could reject was because this was a grand battle between nine participants, with the rules being in a round-robin fashion. If every member of the nine had fought before, he would have no choice but to accept the challenge. But as long as there was one combatant who hadn’t fought yet, he had the right to temporarily reject the challenges.
The reason why Qin Wentian didn’t accept was because he was still in contemplation. With the experience gained from the earlier three battles, he had sensed for himself the true intent of the Mandate of Lightning from Liu Lan, and the true intent from the Mandate of Gold from the crown prince of Radiant Gold.
Today, Li Tian fought against Dongyue Hanjiang. Li Tian possessed the advantage, but he had no way to force Dongyue Hanjiang to concede. The disparity between their strength wasn’t that great.
Fan Miaoyu fought against the Chosen of War Country, Wu Teng. Initially, all the spectators thought that Fan Miaoyu, who was at the ninth level of Heavenly Dipper, would definitely have a combat prowess above Wu Teng. Yet to their surprise, they discovered that Wu Teng wasn’t in any way inferior to her at all. Not only that, with his wide strides and wild attacking method of using the great axe, Fan Miaoyu even seemed to be the one suppressed. This made people sigh in amazement. This disciple of the Heaven Cleaving Manor as well as Chosen of the War Country was simply so strong that it was unfathomable, he had totally exceeded the imagination of the spectators.
Fan Miaoyu also exchanged blows against the crown prince of Radiant Gold and Liu Lan. This caused people to understand that Fan Miaoyu was infinitesimally close to comprehending the true intent of her Mandates. She was the same as Qin Wentian, borrowing this opportunity to breakthrough and grow stronger
After a day, all nine of the combatants were still on the Sacred Battle Platform. Although it was clear that there were differences in the tiers of their strength, nobody was overwhelming enough to force the others to concede yet.
“Rest for a night, the battle shall continue the moment the sun rises in the morning tomorrow,” a voice echoed out. However, the entire Sacred Battle Platform was still locked down, nobody could exit from there.
The spectators all relaxed slightly, yet they found it hard to regain their calm. The battles earlier were all simply too awesome, and they were so shocked and surprised that many of them were still feeling numb.
“Father, what’s your perspective on this battle?” Ye Lingshuang stood at the side of Human Emperor Ye Qingyun and asked. Based on Ye Qingyun’s judgement, he should be able to see more clearly compared to her.
“All nine of them have their own thoughts and intentions. Many of them obviously could force their opponents to concede, yet they chose not to do so. This is especially so for Wu Teng and Fan Miaoyu; they aren’t simple at all, they were never even close to unleashing their full power. After all, Fan Miaoyu is of the eight era-suppressing geniuses and has a cultivation base at the peak of Heavenly Dipper. I don’t believe she hasn’t even comprehended a single true intent of her Mandates yet. And as for Wu Teng, he’s far more formidable than what was rumored,” Ye Qingyun explained, causing the beautiful eyes of Ye Lingshuang to stiffen.
“Father are you saying that Fan Miaoyu intentionally held back? But why would she do such a thing?”
“Even for Fan Miaoyu, in normal times, how difficult must it be for someone at her level to find eight other opponents of this caliber? From what I see, Fan Miaoyu might have already comprehended a Mandate’s true intent, but there’s still room for her to improve. Hence, she wants to use this opportunity to perfect her control. If I were the one facing such rare opponents, I would definitely want to fight more than a few rounds,” Ye Qingyun spoke.
“In that case, for Wentian…” Ye Lingshuang was more than a little worried.
“Honestly, Wentian is one of the weaker combatants up there. After all, he has a big disadvantage considering the level of his cultivation base. What’s fortunate is that he has a multitude of techniques to depend on, and if we are talking about overall combat strength, he might even be above Chi Lian, Dongyue Hanjiang, and Li Tian. However, Di Shi also possesses many powerful techniques; and Liu Lan, who has comprehended the true intent of Lightning, is a very hard opponent to deal with. But we don’t need to worry about that too much. Those two are the ones who really want to kill Wentian, but it isn’t going to be so easy for them. And as for Fan Miaoyu and Wu Teng, they are the only ones truly with the capabilities to pose a threat to Wentian, yet they have no killing intent towards him,” Ye Qingyun analysed, as Ye Lingshuang nodded her head quietly.
The spectators were all quietly discussing and analyzing the grand battle. Who among the nine of these characters would truly be able to earn the name of Unrivaled in Heavenly Dipper?
—————–
The next morning, Dongyue Hanjiang was the first to step out. His gaze was riveted onto Wu Teng of War Country as he spoke, “Wu Teng, how about the two of us fight for this round?”
Wu Teng opened his eyes as he calmly replied, “You are not strong enough to be my opponent.”
His tone was calm, yet that calmness contained an absolute self-confidence that made Dongyue Hanjiang feel humiliated. His countenance turned unsightly as he stared at Wu Teng, “I really want to see, what qualifications do you have to be this brazen?”
“Since you want to be eliminated so badly, let me grant your wish then.” Wu Teng stood up. Instantly, the stone platforms the two of them were on started to spin and came to the center of the Sacred Battle Platform.
Dongyue Hanjiang stepped out, the instant he lifted his palms, a terrifying suppression energy could be felt pressing down from the heavens. Yet Wu Teng merely casually raised his hand as the outline of a great axe appeared in the sky, cleaving outwards. Instantly, Dongyue Hanjiang’s attack was severed into two. It couldn’t even withstand a single strike.
“True intent of Mandate of Axe. The great axe in Wu Teng’s hands, seems to even have a spirit within it.”
Dongyue Hanjiang unleashed yet another attack as his astral nova erupted into being. An immense energy of suppression madly lashed out. Yet Wu Teng merely stood there free and at ease, and waved the axe in his hands. His motion was simple, yet it gave people a feeling of returning from complexity to simplicity. Each and every axe strike he made seemed to contain a power that could turn the toughest of things into rotting wood, directly and easily severing them in twain.
Simple, direct. Not wasting an iota of energy. Although the true intent of Axe Wu Teng comprehended wasn’t as fanciful as the true intent of Lightning which Liu Feng comprehended, it was much more practical in comparison.
Dongyue Hanjiang went mad with fury. He frantically continued his attacks, yet Wu Teng seemed as at ease as ever. He continued to casually cleave down left and right, shooting out beams of axe light. His motions seemed simple and ordinary, they were even somewhat slow. But in reality, each of the axe lights he shot out instantly severed Dongyue Hanjiang’s attempts to attack with extreme precision.
The axe light grew stronger and stronger, and the spectators discovered that a terrifying gigantic silhouette wielding a great axe had suddenly appeared behind Wu Teng, mirroring each of his actions. The sounds of cleaving rang out and even before Dongyue Hanjiang had the chance to concede, one of his arms was already severed away. The act of doing so was as simple as chopping down a defenseless tree.
“I ADMIT DEFEAT!” Dongyue Hanjiang had cold sweat all over his body. As long as Wu Teng willed it, that axe could have already taken his life.
“How powerful.” The hearts of the crowd trembled. Wu Teng had finally shown his true strength. He could have obviously killed Dongyue Hanjiang in that battle, yet he held back from doing so.
What a reclusive, demon-level character. Although Wu Teng’s age was older than the others, he was a great talent that had matured slowly. Such combat prowess truly caused the hearts of people to shiver in fear.
“The true intent of martial mandates. The truth, maybe it’s really a kind of returning to simplicity from complexity,” Qin Wentian mused. Wu Teng’s axe light acted like a reminder to him. Before this, he experienced the true intent of Lightning and the true intent of Gold, their attacks were all incomparably fanciful. The true intent of Lightning contained the multitude of insights of the Mandate of Lightning within it, yet why did it feel that Liu Lan was inferior to Wu Teng?
This was similar to someone comprehending a Mandate. The level of their comprehension differed, hence their strength would differ as well.
Wu Teng’s comprehension towards his true intent was obviously deeper in comparison.
Qin Wentian thought back to the time when he was at the grass hut. From the 15th to 21st sword strike, the true intents within the essences of those seven sword strikes were all reverting from complexity back to simplicity. When the true intent of Wind was present, one couldn’t tell there was any trace of the wind in the swordplay. The true intents on the path of the grass hut were at a level even higher compared to Wu Teng.
As for Liu Lan and the crown prince of Radiant Gold, they should be among the weakest of those at the supreme-tier. When they attacked, traces of their Mandates were evident and easily recognizable.
At this instant, Qin Wentian suddenly had an epiphany.
Yesterday after the experiences he gained, he was deep in contemplation, but still couldn’t understand. But right now, as he saw the axe light of Wu Teng, as well as thinking back to the experiences he had on the path of the grass hut, he suddenly had a spark of insight.
However, this spark of insight didn’t mean that he had truly comprehended his own true intent. That would still have to depend upon his own perception.
Since he could gain an epiphany upon watching the battles of others, this indicated that Qin Wentian’s perception was off the charts. After all, it was unknown how many disciples there were in the major powers who had comprehended a true intent, but who could say that they would be able to gain an epiphany just from watching a battle? And who could guarantee that even though they had an epiphany, they would be able to build upon it and comprehend their own true intent out of it?
Everything depended on the individual. At this moment, it all depended on Qin Wentian himself to see if he was able to grab hold and make use of this spark of insight, this sudden epiphany, and take the next step onwards.
Qin Wentian closed his eyes once more, entering into a state of self-immersion.
“Everyone has already fought a round. You can no longer dodge me, it’s time for you to die,” Di Shi spoke.
“Hu…” Qin Wentian drew in a deep breath. Di Shi’s voice was akin to thunderclap sounding off in his mind, this caused him to be completely unable to quietly focus on his comprehension. That was how much Di Shi wanted his life.
When Qin Wentian opened his eyes, an extremely cold light flickered within. As he stood up, the power in his blood thrummed as his physique grew larger. His entire body was glowing with resplendent light, the Yuanfus in his body were all humming with power.
BOOM!
Several manifestations of ferocious birds of prey manifested around Di Shi as the faint image of an azure roc appeared behind him. That wasn’t an astral soul nor astral nova. Di Shi’s entire body was enveloped by azure light as terrifying runic glow illuminated the area around him.
A raging wind gusted as Di Shi completely vanished. The faint image of that azure roc howled in anger as a terrifying restrictive force bound Qin Wentian. The spectators only saw that there were numerous runes being cast on Qin Wentian, all of them birthing tiny azure rocs that were grabbing onto him.
“Do you even think you still can live?” Di Shi roared, stretching his arms out as the runes on Qin Wentian started to explode. Qin Wentian blasted out a terrifying attack, yet the force of his attacks were all negated. The runic lights on his body all exploded, breaking through his defense, leaving behind bloody wounds.
“Borrowing the strength of the azure roc?” Qin Wentian murmured. Di Shi must have used some secret art to link himself with a true azure roc or caused some transformation to occur in his body. This was how he could depend on the strength of the azure roc.
“Force, the omnipresent force,” Qin Wentian mumbled. Di Shi stood high up in the air, looking down on him with eyes filled with murder.
“I shall kill you slowly, letting you enjoy the process bit by bit.” A malevolent look flashed on Di Shi’s face. He actually needed to resort to his ultimate trump card before he could kill Qin Wentian.
Yet another attack blasted out as an incomparably terrifying manifestation of an azure roc slaughtering its way to him. The runic light illuminated the skies as that attack instantly landed.
There didn’t seem to be any aura emanating from Qin Wentian at all, the spectators only saw him lifting his palms and blasting it outwards.
BOOM!
A resounding thunderous explosive sound echoed out. Although this attack by Di Shi blasted Qin Wentian back, it didn’t achieve the desired effect. Not only that, it seemed as though Qin Wentian was no longer being binded. He soared into the air, staring at Di Shi as a marvellous expression actually appeared in his eyes.
“Mhm?” Di Shi frowned, his killing intent rose up again. “Useless struggle.”
As the sound of his voice faded, a formless energy surged up. He suddenly felt a terrifying force acting on his body and after that, Qin Wentian slammed out with a palm.
Di Shi hadn’t even attacked, yet he already felt a torrential force capable of toppling mountains and overturning seas gushing right at him. With a rumbling echo, his attempts at attacking were instantly broken through as that torrential might slammed into him.
BANG!
Di Shi was directly forced backwards as he groaned in misery. An expression of bewilderment appeared on his face as he stared at Qin Wentian before him. However right now, that expression of marvelousness was still flickering in Qin Wentian’s eyes. Not only that, when he stared at Di Shi, traces of a teasing expression could also be seen there.
