Tang Ling had once seen the Devil Fungus emerge from the Zombie King. Under the night sky, the giant fungus that resembled a broken flower had burst out from the decaying body as a strange sense of beauty had accompanied its appearance.
After that, the Devil Fungus had been consumed by the space void formed by Castellan Worf’s space ability. That scenario left an impression on Tang Ling which he could never forget because it was the first time he had witnessed a true high-tier battle.
Now, the Black Spore Silk Mushroom was about to leave its host. Among the thickening mist, a waving mushroom took form as the black mushroom on the Black Shroom Zombie Ape’s head withered away quickly.
Compared to the Devil Fungus, the process lacked that sense of beauty, yet it was still bizarre with strange colors.
As opposed to Castellan Worf, Tang Ling possessed no space ability that could control the space void to consume the Black Spore Silk Mushroom.
Therefore, a notification entered Tang Ling’s ears. “Should you withdraw from the scenario now, you will get an SS+ rating for Gray Mist Street. Do you want to withdraw? Choose yes or no.”
Unlike in the dream world, the notification in Hell Ledge scenarios rang out directly. Tang Ling could hear it and so could the audience.
Just when everyone expected Tang Ling to withdraw, he answered without a second thought, “No!”
The crowd exploded.
The Simpering Pierrot shouted his lungs out, “Is this really happening? Did Tang Ling choose to face the Infinite Hell?! Is he creating a miracle here?! Is he making the impossible possible?!
“I liked Contestant Tang Ling a lot, but I daren’t place my bet on the miracle. It’s really…There are seven seconds left on the clock before the Infinite Hell starts. How will he…?” he was already mumbling gibberish.
Jaw-dropped, Boss Huang muttered to himself, “How much does the kid love me? Is he going this far just so I don’t lose any money?”
Madam Qing rolled her eyes at his comment, then she quietly took a sip of wine.
The 10 big screens on the monolith were broadcasting battle scenarios of 10 different young geniuses.
Everyone clearly saw that Tang Long’s second scenario was a hellish one, but he was almost done with it and his clearing time was also record-breaking. However, such an astonishing achievement was outshone by Tang Ling’s decision.
Everyone’s attention was trained on Tang Ling as they wondered why he chose to face the Infinite Hell. Only the copper-faced man remained calm while he was paid close attention to what Tang Ling might do.
Is he going to reveal his trump card and release the war seed now? If he really does, it’s a disappointing move. It’s just the first level, so it isn’t necessary…
Before the copper-faced man finished his thought, Tang Ling made a move.
There was, at most, six seconds before the Black Spore Silk Mushroom left the host body, but six seconds were enough.
Tang Ling did not perform any attack, not even a stance. He sheathed his longsword behind his back and put his dagger at his waist.
His hands then clasped together and performed a series of complicated and strange gestures, quickly and mystifyingly.
“I really want to know what Contestant Tang Ling is doing?” The Simpering Pierrot tried his best to maintain his excited tone, but anyone could tell that his voice was trembling. Accompanying his trembling was a type of uncertainty, an unknown one that made the voice of the Simpering Pierrot, who was used to witnessing major events, shudder unprofessionally.
When Boss Huang saw the hand gestures, he was utterly shocked and his mind went blank.
“Th-this…this…is impossible! This!” Boss Huang could no longer maintain his composure. Even his hands started to shake. As his hands quivered, his expression went through a series of changes from being chilly, depressed, ferocious, and dark to excitement and confusion. He had a hard time calming down.
“Holy sh*t! Is this happening?!” Gu Dao caught Boss Huang’s reaction at the very first second, but as an elite healer, he had not prepared himself for the situation either.
Tang Ling’s hand gestures were overwhelming! The hand gestures were related to a secret hidden in great depth! Gu Dao’s mind went blank after a certain thought exploded in his head. All he could do in response to Boss Huang’s condition was cry out in surprise.
The other two mantled higher-ups in the room were so overwhelmed that they ran to the screen. Their heavy breathing gave them up. Despite being powerful men, they failed to notice the expression change on Boss Huang’s face.
Only Madam Qing reacted differently. She put the glass down swiftly and called out in an unusual tone, “Huang Dao.”
No one knew that the first voice of Darkness Port, Madam Qing, could speak in such a clear and solemn voice. She might not be loud but when her voice entered the ears, it sounded like a giant bell was buzzing.
After her voice entered Boss Huang’s ears, his expression changed a few times more before he finally calmed down. His forehead was covered in sweat as he was petrified on the spot. A bitter smile appeared on his face and he looked at everyone in the room. “Am I lucky or what? My reckless move made me accidentally bet on the so-called correct stand!”
“Once you take your stand, the world will fall into turmoil! Hoho, hoho…” Gu Dao’s pork trotter fell to the ground.
The atmosphere in the room became unusually heavy because of the hand gestures that Tang Ling performed.
Swish!
The copper-faced man finally reacted strongly. He bolted up and glued his gaze toTang Ling’s ever-changing mystifying hand gestures.
As Tang Ling completed his hand gestures, a ball of fire was blasted out of his hand. The ball of fire flew towards the Black Spore Silk Mushroom, which had almost left its host body, and burned it to cinders.
“The First!” the copper-faced man said something easily understandable, but his meaning was vague. He then fell back into the seat.
The noise of a machine grinding kept coming out from his throat as if a common man was frightened and had a million words to say but did not know where to start. It sounded like something was stuck in his throat.
…
Further away from the island area of Darkness Port, the dilapidated fishing boat was still floating at sea with that old man still fishing aboard it.
The only difference was that on top of the shabby fishing boat, there was a giant translucent screen that did not match the image of the small vessel. The screen was divided into 70 more smaller windows, showing all the young geniuses and their challenges.
The old man did not respond to the performance of the young geniuses at all, including Tang Long breaking the record of the Hell difficulty in the Bloody Tower and Tang Ling triggering an SSS event in Gray Mist Street. Not even the six consecutive SSS ratings made him blink.
It was until Tang Ling performed the complicated and strange hand gestures and blasted out a fireball of average firepower that the old man’s hand started to shake. As his hand shook, wave after wave started to spread from his dilapidated fishing boat, disturbing the calmness of the sea.
The waves got stronger in an instant as if a typhoon had come.
The old man took a deep breath and placed his fishing rod down heavily. The violent waves crashed into each other, forming several giant whirlpools at sea, but they only lasted for a second before they faded. Several dead giant fishes slowly came afloat after that.
His hands were still shaking when he lifted the glass of alcohol beside him. A bit of alcohol spilled as he muttered to himself, “The First!”
…
Tang Ling had no idea that several hand gestures would stir up such tidal waves in everyone’s hearts.
He had learned the hand gestures back at the temple, but the power of the fireball was insignificant. Therefore, other than using it once when he had escaped from Tang Long’s pursuit, he had never used it again. Even the Purple Moon Warrior who had witnessed the fireball before was dead, so the matter was buried.
Why should he be concerned about the hand gestures?
The firepower of the fireball was insignificant, and it had to be charged up with the special hand gestures. Who would give him the time to perform all the hand gestures perfectly during an actual battle?
However, the situation he currently faced was a little special and he ought to complete Gray Mist Street with an SSS rating because of his pride, hence he thought of the hand gestures. It was the only way to disintegrate the Black Spore Silk Mushroom.
As the fire engulfed the mushroom, the voice in Gray Mist Street entered his ears again, “The Black Spore Silk Mushroom is eliminated. The challenger has completed Gray Mist Street and achieved a clearing rating of SSS! Gray Mist Street will disappear in 5 seconds and the challenger will be sent to the resting lounge with the SSS rating reward.”
“Phew!” Tang Ling heaved a long breath of relief, feeling slightly tired.
If he had cleared the scenario using the normal way, he could have done it better and faster. Gray Mist Street would never exhaust him.
However, Tang Ling would never let go of any chance to train himself! Be it applying spirit visualization in his battle or challenging the state of microsensing, or even using the new dismemberment technique during battle, every single move drained his spirit and energy.
Thankfully, he was rewarded. Tang Ling was neither greedy nor did he want to be the center of attraction. He just wanted to gain more benefits and improvement.
Five seconds later, Tang Ling disappeared from Gray Mist Street and appeared in the resting lounge.
Watching Tang Ling being transferred to the resting lounge, the Simpering Pierrot forgot how he should host the grand occasion of the young geniuses for the first time. It was not because he had slapped his own face with his comment, but because he was not just a random host. After witnessing Tang Ling’s performance, a blurry and vague thought that he had limited knowledge about came afloat.
The crowd cheered joyfully for Tang Ling. Even though he was not the first who cleared the challenge with an SSS rating, his performance was worthy of his reputation.
Soon enough, the audience was attracted by the newer battles.
As for the shockwave that Tang Ling caused, commoners had no idea how fast it traveled to the center of power in different factions all over the world and the ears of important figures.
