Chapter 9 – A Battle Between Experts
The snow-white blade of light that cut across the air came at Xue Ying in a split second. Xiang Pang Yun’s expression was ferocious.
“Just this?” Xue Ying’s long spear fiercely jabbed out, Hu, the spearhead was akin to a rising dragon, arousing a fury as it chopped right at the snow-white blade light.
Peng!
The two strong attacks clashed, creating a resounding boom that formed waves of after-effects in all directions discernible by the naked eye. The world’s energy worked against these waves and attenuated them, eventually causing them to disappear over the distance.
The force of this clash caused Xue Ying’s legs to be hammered into the ground until the surface was level with his knees. By simply forcing out strength in his legs, the mud and gravel covering his legs flew apart. As for Xiang Pang Yun, he borrowed this rebounding force and landed on the earth.
“You have some strength!” Xiang Pang Yun grinned. With amazing speed, he suddenly produced a blood-coloured dart in his left hand.
Xiu!
The dart shot out of his hand, leaving a contrail in its wake, directly aimed at the nervous-looking Qing Shi on top of the castle’s main building.
Chi chi chi chi~~~ The dart was originally as fast as lightning, yet under the world energy which Xue Ying shrouded his little brother, Uncle Zong and Uncle Tong, it slowed down. Not all Legend rankers had the same level of power. Some were stronger and some were weaker. Yet the world energy used by Xue Ying and Xiang Pang Yun were exactly on the same level and thus, neither could gain an advantage over the other.
If one armored his heart in an iron-clad protection, the opponent would never have a chance of overcoming it.
Chi chi chi~~~ the world energy hampered the dart that streamed toward Qing Shi, drastically reducing its speed. Coupled with the additional ‘push force’, the dart was sent off-target. Xue Ying clearly felt the entire arc the dart traveled.
Peng!
The dart shot onto the distant wall on the main building of the castle, missing Qing Shi and his uncles by more than three meters.
“It is already well-known that the top expert of Azure River County is you, Xiang Pang Yun, yet you still use my little brother to distract me.” Xue Ying laughed, “Totally despicable.”
“Tsk tsk tsk, even till now, you are so insolent. I’ll be sure to convince you now.” Xiang Pang Yun brandished his sword once again, with lightning speed.
The sword was fast.
Yet Xue Ying’s spear techniques were equally as fast!
Dang dang dang.
The two of them turned into shadows as they exchanged moves. The pace was constantly changing, and Xiang Pang Yun relentlessly attacked attacked, and attacked! He constantly moved forward, reducing the distance between himself and Xue Ying.
‘Retreat, retreat, retreat!’ Xue Ying’s one thought was to retreat!
As the saying goes, every inch longer would represent every inch stronger. Because the spear was, in fact, a long weapon… it precisely required a certain distance between opponents. Only then could Xue Ying display the superiority of a spear. If he were to stick closely with his opponent, then obviously, the one using the sword, Xiang Pang Yun, would have a huge advantage. Xiang Pang Yun relentlessly attacked, pressing forward, attempting to get closer to Xue Ying. Xue Ying constantly retreated to keep his distance.
Sou Sou Sou!!!
How fast exactly was their speed?
One was constantly advancing while the other was constantly retreating.
Just a few simple exchanges were completed at different locations – on the walls of the castle and even outside the castle.
“Fast, fast, fast! Let’s hurry over to see what will happen.” Qing Shi was anxious and nervous.
“No, we stay.” Tong San who was beside him hurriedly replied.
“Qing Shi, let’s just stay here and watch,” Zong Ling added, “The terrain here is quite high, allowing us to have some a good view of the battle. Also, if things were to go wrong, we could always escape using the underground tunnel beneath the main building! If we are too close to the battle, with the battle reaching such a level between your big brother and Xiang Pang Yun… I’m afraid just a small mistake and simply any Silver Moon rankers would die.”
“En.” Qing Shi’s fists were clenched so tight that even his knuckles turned white. At this moment, he hated himself for not cultivating rigorously in the past. Now, he could not even help at all!
In the past, his big brother had told him about how he should quietly cultivate so that in the future, they could save their parents! Even though he had tried his best to cultivate by gritting his teeth and attempting to persevere, his attempts only lasted for a short period of time. To tell the truth… parents symbolised something special, and not being able to remember his own parents, he did not know of their importance. Without having any impression of them, he could not persevere in cultivating, giving in to a lackadaisical lifestyle soon after.
Yet at this moment-
He felt the anxiety of the situation in front of him, precisely because the person in danger was his big brother!
“My big brother is very formidable, and I believe he will win. He must win.” Qing Shi stood by the railings, looking at the distant battle outside the walls of the castle between two extremely fast shadows. He could not fundamentally see their battle; he could only see a continuous string of blurs.
……
Peng! Peng! Peng!
Dang! Dang! Dang!
Sometimes, low-rumbling sounds of ponderous colliding strikes could be heard, Other times, the clean and crisp clanging sounds could be heard. Both sides were utilising different strengths, attacking and defending at various times, causing distinctive resounding clashing sounds. At the same time, both sides also manipulated the world energy, one of them coloress, the other a blood-red wave Qi. The energies collided over and over again.
Xue Ying furiously retreated a few steps, his expression solemn.
“Yi, we’re already outside your clan’s castle?” The corners of Xiang Pang Yun’s mouth twisted in mockery as he looked over this area approximately 1.6 kilometers outside the Snowrock castle, “Tut tut tut, you sure are formidable, retreating all the way while exchanging moves with me… and actually leading me out of the castle. Are you afraid of our battle harming those you love? Your dear friends?”
“Don’t you feel even sadness or anger when your men die?” Xue Ying suddenly asked.
He could not sense any agony or fury from Xiang Pang Yun after the deaths of Wind Devil and the other three assassins.
“Angry? What is there to be angry about? When one decides to become a killer, one must be prepared to die. Furthermore, is there any relation between their deaths and me? “ Xiang Pang Yun spoke casually, “Even if I had not come with them on this mission, those four would have still died, right? But since I’ve come with them, I could at least avenge them. Those four should be grateful to me as their big brother, Haha…”
“Take revenge? You are quite confident.” Xue Ying sneered. The short exchange before allowed Xue Ying to conclude that Xiang Pang Yun had a slight upper hand in his combat power! Even if this Xiang Pang Yun had some other hidden powerful methods which he did not use yet, Xue Ying himself still had his Primordial Bloodline.
Also, according to the Dragon Mountain Book’s description by some experts…
Xue Ying felt that he himself could enter the top two to three thousand rankers within the book even before achieving One with the World. Now, after having comprehended One with the World, his fleshy body had become even stronger, having received world energy. This absorption of world energy caused his overall combat power to significantly rise. Furthermore, after mastering the ‘Blood Rain’ technique… he should now be within the top thousand rankers! Compared to Si Liang Hong or Xiang Pang Yun, the differences between him and them would be quite small.
Winning the battle might be hard. Yet if the opponent wants to kill him? The chances of them actually winning would be low.
Of course, all of this were estimations based on an analysis of the information and statistics available. Whether a person lived or died would ultimately be determined by the actual results of a real fight.
“Your confidence in front of me is quite extraordinary,” Xiang Pang Yun scoffed, “But of course, you have comprehended One with the World at 22 years old and even became a Great Spear Master with Power Perfectly as One! Tut tut tut, achieving power perfectly as one so quickly. Which of the two came first?”
“What do you think?” Xue Ying asked back.
The realm of Great Master with Power Perfectly as One was not easily attained.
Like that Demonic God Emissary, he had long comprehend One with the World, yet his strength had not reach the realm of Power Perfectly as One yet.
One with the World… was all about tempering one’s spirit!
Power Perfectly as One… was more about reaching the peak of one’s skill!
Many Legend rankers usually comprehended One with the World first, before using that strengthened spirit strength to understand one’s fleshy body more clearly and eventually, attain power perfectly as one!
But it was different for Xue YIng. Xue Ying’s path was not a path of tempering through life and death situations, instead, his path was about having a firm foundation, endlessly perfecting oneself with a frighteningly stable foundation, and a shocking comprehensive ability… all these allowed him to reach power perfectly as one forcefully. Even his spear techniques had reached some form of extremity.
Having superb skills did not determine that one would have enough experiences in actual battles! That was why during Xue Ying’s first attempt at entering the Mountain Range of Desolation, he was quite stiff in his movement during battle. But eventually, he became less panicky, allowing his true skills to be displayed.
……
The Dao of Techniques!
Reaching even higher than one’s personal peak, that was how one achieves greater strength and a higher skill level. Reaching that stage, one’s spear technique, sword technique, or any other technique would be even more extraordinary. Usually, only Transcendents were able to reach such a stage.
“If you were able to have your power perfectly as one before comprehending One with the World… then you will be more of an evil-doer.” Xiang Pang Yun’s blood-red eyes flashed coldly, “But even if you become more of an evil-doer, all your efforts will be useless since tonight, you must die!”
Hu.
Having said that, Xiang Pang Yun charged forward with his blood-red wave Qi.
Xue Ying reacted with his long spear springing out like a poisonous snake coming out of its hole, rapidly manifesting three attacks precisely at Xiang Pang Yun’s face, heart and throat.
And at this juncture —
A large crowd of people came out from the Great Mage’s Building on the peak of Snowrock Mountain – including the Great Mage Bai Yuan Zhi and Kong You Yue. Actually, the vibrations caused within the Snowrock Castle had already alarmed those within the Great Mage’s Building. However, as Xue Ying and Xiang Pang Yun battled outside the castle, the tremors felt in the surrounding area became greater, causing everyone from the Great Mage’s Building to come out and take a look.
