Chapter 898: Continuous Success And Improvement
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Lin Feng watched the far end of the horizon as the sky became an azure green color.
It was not just flickering green light or the clouds and mist that turned green – everything in the world was no exception, and the green color actually came from within every single object.
The sky was green; the earth was green; the trees and their branches and leaves were all green; the mud was green; the air was green; the rolling clouds were green, and even the light rays beaming down from the sky were green.
The sparrows that flew across in the skies above were no exception. Their claws, feathers, beaks, eyes and everything else were completely green. A fearsome tiger bounding across the ground suddenly had green fur, and even his patterns were green, except it was a little darker than the rest of its body.
There seemed to be an invisible line separating the world into two. One was normal and all the colors were right, while the other was completely doused in green.
And now, this green-colored world was bearing forward towards Lin Feng.
A cluster of clouds hovered within the azure green world, and a formidable draconic aura permeated from inside. It possessed an unassailable dignity, as if this being was destined to be the ruler of the world and was looking down at his subjects.
The Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage watched the same scene as the corners of his mouth curled upwards to reveal rows of white teeth and started to laugh soundlessly.
In terms of real battle prowess, he was on roughly the same level as the arriving party. However, in terms of display and dramatic effect, the first impression given by the oncoming entity seemed sacred as if he was born from the sky while he just appeared like the leader of a group of thugs.
The arriving party was a powerful individual from the Immemorial Celestial Dragon Tribe – the Azure Sky Dragon King, tribe leader of the Azure Dragons. He was also a great demon in the Cardinal Tribulations Beginning Stage.
The Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage turned towards Lin Feng and said, “I lost the duel, and I am a man of my word. I kindly request that you sit back for a moment while I chase this azure dragon away.”
A divine-like voice came out from the rolling clouds. “Step aside, the Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage, as this has nothing to do with you. Do not interfere with the affairs of the dragons.”
The Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage chuckled and replied, “Azure Sky Dragon King, do remember that you are in the ancestral ground of the Crimson Gorilla Ape Demons – Xiaocizhi Mountain, and this isn’t somewhere you can just order people around.”
His previous competition with Lin Feng was friendly and not a real battle, therefore he refused to draw upon the powers of his ancestral ground and finished the duel using his own personal mantras and abhijna.
The Xiaocizhi Mountain was the ancestral ground of the Crimson Gorillas, and they had inhabited and nurtured it for a very long time to the point where they even had defense mechanisms resembling the mountain defense magic formations of the humans.
Outside of the Xiaocizhi Mountain, there was nothing he could do to the Azure Sky Dragon King and vice versa. However, a battle within the boundaries of the Xiaocizhi Mountain gave him a geographical advantage and the confidence that he could repel this irritating dragon.
The rolling clouds in the green-colored world trembled and emanated emotions of anger and fury while the Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage watched his adversary with a cold smile.
During the Antiquity Age when the Emperor Jue perished in the battle, many powerful dragons died along with him and the dragon race fell into a state of unprecedented decline. The Ancient Ape Demons took the opportunity to gain power and influence and eventually replaced the dragons as the ruling demon tribe of the Barren Expanses.
The winds of karma came full circle as the Emperor of Extremity met his demise in the Middle Age. Voluminous numbers of ape demons perished in the great battle between the worlds while the dragons had been recuperating in seclusion. Gradually, the dragons overtook the ape demons and pressed them back down.
Due to the rise to power of the Hades Tribe, the dragons were never able to regain their supremacy. However, they were never on good terms with the Ancient Ape Demons ever since the beginning of the Antiquity Age.
The relationship between these two powerful tribes had always been tense. The Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage and the Azure Sky Dragon King had encountered each other multiple times before and both parties had their victories and defeats and developed a personal feud.
The Azure Sky Dragon King and the Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage were about to erupt into another war of words, but Lin Feng furrowed his brows and said, “I appreciate your thought, the Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage, but I don’t have time to stick around – I still have to search for the Golden Cicada Master.”
He turned towards the Azure Sky Dragon King and said, “The Red Dragon King wanted to trigger the Illusory Sea Tides in an attempt to hinder me from claiming the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain. I had no intention to take his life, but he was too stubborn and continued messing with me so I ended him.”
“There are many powerful individuals amongst the dragons, and they are free to find me to seek vengeance for the Red Dragon King. However, you are definitely unable to do that.”
The Azure Sky Dragon King roared from the clouds. “Leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders – such outrageous words.”
The green world started to expand outwards with explosive speed and bore down towards Lin Feng. However, the Azure Dragons’ unique spell, the Azure Green Draconic Flame was nowhere to be seen.
The flames of the Azure Dragons were similar to the dragon flames of the Fire Dragon Tribe. They were different from the other fires of the world, and were not Yin nor Yang. The dragon flames were specially designed to dispel the abhijna and mana of other cultivators, and behaved like parasites as they were incredibly difficult to extinguish.
The ancient Heaven’s Gate’s supreme treasure, the Yuan Heaven Emerald Needle of the West, was forged with an array of concepts and principles – one of them was inspired by the draconic fire of the Azure Dragons. Even though it was different, they were still related in some sense due to this very fact.
In terms of similarity of function, the dragon flame was more closely related to the Blood River Primordial Water and the River Styx Primordial Water.
The Azure Sky Dragon King’s Azure Green Draconic Flame was completely refined into the realm of light, and wherever the green world enveloped, no other action was required as the mana and abhijna of his adversaries would be naturally dispelled.
In this world, if his adversaries wanted to unleash their abhijna and mantras, they would be erased from the face of the earth even before the thought was complete. It felt as if his entire pool of mana was arrested and he couldn’t cast a single spell or abhijna.
This was a world that was completely filled with Azure Green Draconic Flame.
Lin Fenng shook his head lightly but said nothing more. He made a sword-like gesture with his right index and middle finger as specks of sword radiance flickered on his fingertips – the Heaven-Destroying Sword Qi.
However, the Heaven-Destroying Sword Qi was a little different from what it used to be – it was no longer a dark and gloomy gray color. Rather, it was similar to when the Heaven-Destroying Sword was completely unsheathed, and everything was a mishmash of chaotic brilliance, as if the entire destiny world was approaching its end.
It was a stream of sword aura that embodied the true meaning of apocalypse and the destruction of the world. Wherever the sword radiance touched, everything in the world was annihilated and returned to nothingness, all beings in the world would draw their last breaths and descend into hell.
Lin Feng’s sword strike, which possessed that single dot of chaotic sword radiance, slashed through the special world of the Azure Sky Dragon King like a knife on butter!
The Azure Sky Dragon King exclaimed in shock as he realized that his special world that could arrest all mana was unable to inhibit and dispel Lin Feng’s Heaven-Destroying Sword Qi. Instead, it was Lin Feng’s Heaven-Destroying Sword Qi that dispelled his azure green world!
Even the azure green world, which was specially designed to dispel all forms of mana and spells, would be sent on the path to destruction when touched by the sword radiance.
Lin Feng and the Heaven-Destroying Sword Qi faced no obstruction whatsoever in their progress forward as the Azure Sky Dragon King’s special world could not put up any form of meaningful resistance. In the blink of an eye, the sword radiance was before the patch of rolling clouds.
The Azure Sky Dragon King roared into the sky again. The dragon roar was so loud that it shook the heavens, and the shadow of a giant being suddenly flashed inside the clouds. Vast auras of demonic power and lifeblood expanded outwards and it felt as if heaven and earth was transformed into a furnace.
The Azure Sky Dragon King did not dare to underestimate Lin Feng’s sword strike and immediately revealed his true form. Even though his physical being could not be seen through the patch of clouds, the vast energy released was enough to prove everything.
The green world solidified suddenly and attempted to trap the Heaven-Destroying Sword Qi like an amber.
The Heaven-Destroying Sword Qi paused from the new obstruction but continued forward, and the energy from the sword sliced open the green clouds.
The green clouds dissipated and the Azure Sky Dragon King finally revealed himself. He was an enormous Azure Dragon that spanned the heavens, with a bull’s head; a deer’s horns; a prawn’s eyes; an elephant’s ears; a serpent’s neck; a fish’s scales; a phoenix’s talons and a tiger’s paws.
The scales shimmered as an aura of draconic supremacy permeated the skies as they turned an azure green color.
A streak of azure light floated towards the ground from the sky like a leaf drifting in the wind – it was a single dragon scale.
The Azure Sky Dragon King glared at Lin Feng with his dragon eyes. He had revealed his true form, but still ended up at a disadvantage.
He let loose a long roar into the sky and said, “Leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders – I have lost a move to you today, but more powerful beings from the dragon race will find you soon enough.”
Lin Feng’s expression was calm but white and black divine light flickered in both of his eyes. “I will be waiting. However, I have something urgent to tend to now and I can’t stick around to chat idly with you. If you don’t leave now, you never will.”
He had a strange feeling in his heart, as if he saw through fate and perceived that single moment of truth. It felt as if the Golden Cicada Master’s plan was nearing success, and he really had to hurry up.
The Azure Sky Dragon King stared into Lin Feng’s eyes that still flickered with divine light. He deliberated momentarily before he turned around into the void and the azure green world gradually receded.
Heaven and earth returned to its original tranquility and harmony. The sky, the earth and the soil and all things in between regained their original color and splendor.
The Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage did not say anything after Lin Feng finished his sentence as he watched Lin Feng withdraw his sword quietly. He could feel that something was amiss, and his plan to find the Golden Cicada Master by making use of Lin Feng and eventually ingesting the Golden Cicada Master’s flesh and blood seemed to be falling apart.
Lin Feng made no comment about the retreat of the Azure Sky Dragon King. He flicked his finger and the light shadow he just obtained from the Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage descended into the golden bowl. The cicada wings enveloped golden bowl as innumerable runes and glyphs undulated within.
Lin Feng raised his eyes towards the sky as he stepped forward and instantly vanished on the spot.
The Crimson Gorilla’s light illusion that was enveloping the Xiaocizhi Mountain disappeared as well and the invisible staircase revealed itself once again. The Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage was positioned at the very top and dived into pursuit behind Lin Feng.
……….
Back in the Divine Lands, there was a pavilion inside Mount Baiyun. There was nothing inside it and no tables or chairs could be seen, except for a few simple prayer matss.
There was a person sitting on top of each prayer mats, and they formed a circle around each other. Some were real people while some were mana projections.
One projection seemed like a cold young lady that was not even fourteen years old, while another appeared like a handsome youth around the age of twenty – they were the Qing Yi Holy Woman and the Xuan Yi Holy Man, who belonged to the ranks of the Four Great Elders of the Great Void.
There were other light illusions and real people before them, and they were the other members of the Supreme Elder Council of the Great Void Sect: Cai Fengzhou, Yun Yuanzhen, the Yu Yuan Holy Woman and the Qing Ning Holy Man.
Everybody sat around each other in a circle but all was quiet as everyone closed their eyes. Another youth that seemed extremely normal and typical, who was clad in a green cloak, entered the pavilion and the Qing Yi Holy Woman and the others finally opened their eyes and turned together towards this youth.
“Please sit down, Daohan.” The Qing Yi Holy Woman was the first to open her mouth – the youth was Lin Daohan. He greeted everyone on scene before he sat down on a prayer mats and crossed his legs as well.
Everybody else remained silent while Lin Daohan started softly, “There’s been news from the Barren Expanses. The Leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders defeated the Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage in a friendly competition at Xiaocizhi Mountain and forced back the Azure Sky Dragon King with just one swing of the sword. If the rumors are true, his power and his mana are stronger than he was back at Mount Shu.”
“Even his mastery of the sword has improved as well. During the Saintly Celestial Cataclysm, besides the fact that he had finally finished refining the Heaven-Destroying Sword, his own swordplay has also continued success and improvement. After the destruction of the Saintly Celestial Sword, if he ventured up Mount Shu again for a fight, I don’t think a single person can take him on even if he is unequipped.”
