Chapter 348: Becoming a Deity
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
Still on the vast space Soaring Cloud Pagoda’s first level, Xue Ying clearly determined that the old man in front of him had a deeper comprehension of the realms than him.
“A battle doesn’t depend solely on one’s comprehension, so I would still advise senior to be careful. Don’t blame this junior for bullying you just because your body is too weak,” Xue Ying said. Clearly, he had decided on a new direction of battle after the first clash.
“Come then,” the white-bearded old man said with curled lips as he held a sword in each hand.
Hong!
Xue Ying charged the man. Within moments, his speed had increased to a terrifying thousand kilometers per second. He could only achieve such a speed now after successfully cultivating the Time Immemorial Body. Simultaneous to his charge, the spear in his hand thrust out with lightning-fast speed.
Pu pu pu!
Countless afterimages of spears enveloped a huge region.
In response, the old man simply used his two swords to deflect the spear techniques. He was about to retaliate when he was suddenly faced with a new assault by Xue Ying.
“So fast.” The white-bearded old man’s expression changed. The spear technique he now faced was truly too fast, with every single attack so powerful that it could split the heaven from the earth. A single attack might just match that of a middle stage Deity, which meant the white-bearded old man could break apart them apart. But now faced with countless attacks launched at the same time, he simply could not take it. They came so fast; there seemed be no end to them!
The old man was momentarily forced to retreat, and he did so through a distortion in the surrounding space.
As soon as Xue Ying detected that the space in front of his very eyes was turning illusory, the distance between him and that white-bearded old man had already shifted.
“You actually thought you could defeat me just by relying on your strength and speed?” The white-bearded old man’s figure was strange and unpredictable. He would be moving to the left for a moment, and the very next would see him moving to the right. Each of those sword lights he unleashed were imbued with terrifying destructive force.
In a panic, Xue Ying tried to block them, but a single one of those rays still made it to his body.
Right now! His expression suddenly turned frigid.
Hong!
Without warning, his black spear swept out horizontally. As it moved, the spear was becoming longer and longer, an ability which, just like shortening in size, any Deity weapon could naturally employ.
It was during the exact moment that the white-bearded old man closed in for an attack that the spear swept out over the surrounding region. Before the old man even tried to escape, he moved one of his swords to intercept the attack. Peng! The black spear whipped down on the sword—causing the sword to bend—with the spear body slapping down on the figure of that white-bearded old man. This caused him to arch his back and spit out a mouth of fresh blood.
Xue Ying used the opportunity to move even closer. His spear, now more than a hundred meters long, emitted a whistling sound due to its motion. He ignored the notion that the white-bearded old man might strike back, since his Time Immemorial Body could completely nullify any of his attacks. Instead, he launched a frantic offense! At times, he displayed the Extreme Piercing, which raised his speed to the maximum! Other times, he would use the True Meaning of Star, which allowed all of his strength to be completely unleashed and allowed him to suppress all in his path. During the most crucial moments, however, he would abruptly unleash the Star Meteor Annihilation.
“Stop, stop. You can stop now,” the white-bearded old man hurriedly shouted. “You win, you win.
“You have that Time Immemorial Body, so I can’t hurt you no matter how I attack. I’ll be injured as soon as you land a single hit, though,” the old man muttered. “Whatever, it’s your win. You can proceed to the next level.”
“This junior could only depend on his fleshy body to barely win this match,” Xue Ying hurriedly replied. After all, combat basically boiled down to making use of one’s strengths to exploit the enemy’s weaknesses. He was weaker in terms of his comprehension anyway, so he had no way but to use his other strengths! The Time Immemorial Body raised his defenses to such a tyrannical level that he could completely disregard even blocking attacks and go all out with his offense. On top of that, he could still make use of his strength and speed to overwhelm his opponent.
A flight of wooden stairs appeared beside him.
Xue Ying took the stairs up to the second floor, which was very similar to the first floor. It had the same circular space, as well as a white-bearded old man sitting cross-legged. The only difference was that this old man rested an azure pole atop his knees.
“Brat, the fleshy body I had on that first floor was pitifully weak. Here, on second floor, the strength I can unleash has increased considerably.” The white-bearded old man grinned before continuing with a sneer, “Come now, you can make a move whenever you want.”
“This junior will not delay any longer.”
Xue Ying no longer hesitated. His figure disappeared from his initial position in a flash and reappeared in mid-air, his spear fiercely hacking downward! As it moved in an arc toward the old man, the spear stretched to become a hundred meters long.
“Hmph.” The white-bearded old man grabbed the pole by its two ends and casually jumped up.
Peng!
The spear came smashing downward, while the pole rushed upward to meet it! When the two weapons clashed, the resulting impact created a shockwave that covered the entire second level of the Soaring Cloud Pagoda.
Xue Ying felt the force of the clash be transmitted through his spear, which sent him stumbling backward in mid-air. His expression changed. Such incredible strength! He actually is no weaker than I am. No, I was actually smashing down on him after storing my energy, while he casually struck back from his original position. Despite this, the result was still just a draw. He should actually be stronger!
“This body of mine,” the white-bearded old man began, “is comparable to those who succeeded in cultivating a Mysterious Gold Heaven Body. While its survivability might be below yours, it holds the advantage in terms of strength. All of the honorary disciples of my Crimson Rock Mountain usually practice World Deity rank secret techniques!”
Xue Ying nodded.
It made sense. His three True Meanings were all just at the stage three realm, and it was his secret skill that let him actually reach the minimum level of honorary disciples. After all, honorary disciples would usually have at least condensed a grade two Deity Heart. That made it comparably easier for them to cultivate World Deity rank secret techniques.
“The combat power I’m currently displaying can be reached by any honorary disciple who cultivates for a period of time,” the white-bearded old man finished saying and immediately acted.
A pole approached Xue YIng like a Flood Dragon moving in water. It moved toward him with the force of a maelstrom.
Xue Ying hurriedly moved his spear to block the attack.
Hua! The pole pushed Xue Ying’s spear to the side the instant they made contact, allowing it to smack his chest directly.
Peng!
While his Time Immemorial body allowed him to easily withstand such force, Xue Ying was still sent flying back from the attack. He did his best to regain his balance.
“Brat, your comprehension is still too weak.” The pole swept over the surrounding area. No Mirage avatar within a hundred meters had any way to escape, and they all ended up being smacked backward.
“Your physical strength is also poor.” In a head-on clash against the spear, the pole triumphed overwhelmingly and smacked Xue Ying in the head.
“Your spear technique is made up of only that single secret skill, which is focused solely on offense. It is too easily broken apart.” The pole easily smashed against Xue Ying’s wrist with a rotation. Fortunately, the Time Immemorial Body was formidable enough that it allowed him to keep tight hold of the spear.
Peng peng peng!
Xue Ying was completely suppressed.
He was physically weaker and slower, and his combat techniques were not up to par! Even his ability to switch positions with his Mirage avatars was useless before his opponent’s pole technique, as it enveloped the surrounding 100 meters with a single sweep!
Xue Ying was smashed back into the boundary of the circular space and fell down from mid-air. He finally regained his consciousness after hitting his head on the ground.
“Still want to continue fighting?” The white-bearded old man held onto his pole as he looked toward Xue Ying.
“Not anymore. This is quite enough.” Xue Ying shook his head. His head had suffered ten strikes of that pole, which caused him to feel dizzy. However, despite the torture which only now ended, there were no injuries visible on his skin, and not a single hair had dropped from his head. He now had a better sense of how tyrannically tough the Time Immemorial Body was.
“Go back and cultivate. You’ve just reached the requirements of being an honorary disciple, and only have a single World Deity rank secret technique at your disposal. You won’t even triumph over the first level like this,” The white-bearded old man said.
“Mn.” Xue Ying nodded.
…
In spite of all that happened, after leaving the Soaring Cloud Pagoda, Xue Ying could not help but feel ecstatic. A fight with such a formidable opponent allowed him to discover even more flaws in his spear technique and shed light on many ways he could continue perfecting it.
This Crimson Dust Island had the ability to speed time up, and he could watch the record of the Creation of Heaven and Earth whenever he wished. He could walk down the Path of Reflection or exchange pointers in the Soaring Cloud Pagoda; the whole place was nothing short of a holy ground for cultivation.
I have to make good use of my time as much as possible. I’ve no time to relax. If I succeed and become an inner disciple before the war erupts, my combat power should reach a level much higher than where I’m currently at. I believe that, by that point, I will have obtained the qualifications necessary to fight the Sorcerer God and the Great Demonic God head-on. Xue Ying looked forward to reaching that day.
******
While Xue Ying was bitterly cultivating on the Crimson Dust Island, back in the Xia Clan world…
In a location deep underground, a towering Blood Creeping Flower grew. Its enormous green vine, countless thin sub-vines, and numerous flowers permeated through the entire earth. The flowers on the thin sub-vines in the ground were currently absorbing energy from the many corpses of Deity realm organisms.
Hong!
A terrifying wave suddenly emitted from the center of the Blood Creeping Flower. At that very moment, the flower was undergoing a qualitative change.
Above the underground area…a vast, mighty power gathered until it formed a huge ocean high up in the air. The mortals living in the surrounding cities all looked upward to watch the enormous oceanic illusion form in mid-air. They could hear the gurgling sounds of water moving.
Opening up a Deity sea released waves that simply could not be hidden!
Every last Transcendent throughout Xia Clan world could clearly feel these waves. Be they from the Xia Clan, the Beast Clan, or the Transcendents, everyone could feel the emergence of a Deity!
