Chapter 369: To Catch Off Guard
Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
With the spectators’ attention fully focused on them, the two started to battle.
There was a reason why You XiaoMo agreed to the match so easily. He wanted to take the opportunity to test out the second seal of the Sumeru Seals, the Black Seal.
The Black Seal was the second Seal he learned after he returned from the Boundless Sea. However, he hadn’t used it on anyone when in combat up till now. You XiaoMo was totally clueless about the power of the Black Seal.
Since there was something fishy about Chen QingEr, he decided to take the chance to try out the Black Seal on her.
The earth-shattering Soul Power was like huge waves that rolled towards You XiaoMo, gathering before him menacingly. A golden Yellow Seal spun in front of him and everyone could feel a powerful force resonating from within it.
It was only the first move and he already used the first Seal of the Sumeru Seals, stunning everybody watching.
Either You XiaoMo thought very highly of Chen QingEr or he just wanted to intimidate her and give her a rude awakening. Or else why would anyone use such a powerful move that was usually saved for last?
Regardless the reason, many were taking pleasure in her misfortune. Evidently, Chen QingEr needed to work on her public relations.
Chen QingEr frowned slightly as if she didn’t comprehend his actions.
The corner of You XiaoMo’s lips curled up slightly. A few seconds later, the Yellow Seal in front of him was complete. The immense power from around him gathered within the Yellow Seal.
You XiaoMo looked towards Chen QingEr and smiled. “I’m starting my attacks, you better watch out.”
Hearing what he said, not only did Chen QingEr not take up a defensive stance, she even replied You XiaoMo softly, “Thanks for the advice, senior.”
A gust of wind circled his legs and You XiaoMo vanished on the spot.
The crowd oohed and ahhed. They thought You XiaoMo was preparing to throw out the Yellow Seal on his palm. Never did they expect him to disappear.
In the next second, You XiaoMo reappeared right before Chen QingEr. What followed after wasn’t the Yellow Seal but a swift leg that had enough strength put into it to slice through the air, a kick directed towards Chen QingEr.
The series of unpredictable attacks saw a crack in Chen QingEr’s expression. Even after blocking his kick, she still had to be constantly aware of the Yellow Seal in his palm. What she found shocking was that despite the delay, the Yellow Seal didn’t seem to weaken even the slightest bit. Not only that, You XiaoMo’s speed and strength was not what she expected. In fact, she underestimated him.
After blocking his leg sweep, Chen QingEr’s expression suddenly changed as she quickly retreated.
As if You XiaoMo would let her escape. Using the leg that had landed on the ground to push himself off the stone floor, a blue figure followed behind her closely as a shadow would.
Undeniably, Chen QingEr was fast. You XiaoMo had to use all his strength to barely keep up with her. If he couldn’t catch up to her speed, then his plan would come to naught.
Unwilling to let his plan fail, You XiaoMo raised his left hand and moved his fingers. Slowly, his soul power concentrated at his fingertips to form a dark glow and he flicked it towards Chen QingEr’s back. As she felt the threat coming from behind, Chen QingEr had no choice but to slow down. You XiaoMo immediately caught up.
After Chen QingEr defended against one blow of Resonance Finger, You XiaoMo followed up with another, taking the chance to get closer to her. At the same time, the Yellow Seal that had everybody’s attention had yet to be thrown out as an attack.
“My god, he hasn’t performed the hand seal?”
At that moment, some people had already noticed. A normal attack would require one to perform a hand seal, but You XiaoMo hadn’t. He even managed to pull it off twice without doing so.
Chen QingEr had fallen prey to his plan. As You XiaoMo had a Yellow Seal in one hand, everyone thought there was no way he could use both hands to do the hand seal. And without that, he couldn’t use any other tactics to battle.
And that was where everyone else was wrong. Having miscalculated, Chen QingEr was now busy dealing with his blows. You XiaoMo’s Resonance Finger was a far cry from the Sumeru Seals, so it’d definitely wouldn’t be too difficult for her to handle. But his Resonance Finger shouldn’t be disregarded either. Or else why would there be a need for Chen QingEr to block it.
Generally speaking, everyone would take appropriate defensive measures or devise counterattack strategies when responding to an opponent’s attacks. That was You XiaoMo’s agenda. Chen QingEr must have noticed something was off and thus put distance between You XiaoMo and herself.
She might have tricks up her sleeve, but You XiaoMo also had his own set of trump cards.
Once the smoke had dispersed, Chen QingEr’s figure could once again be seen, appearing in the center of a large black pit. She didn’t look the least bit battered. Her white clothing fluttered gently in the wind, with her gentle smile wiped off her face and her expression unfathomable as she stared at You XiaoMo who was five to six meters away.
A hint of surprise flashed across You XiaoMo’s eyes. Chen QingEr got hit by his Yellow Seal in close range and still managed to remain unscathed! No doubt she had her true powers hidden.
“You are strong indeed.” You XiaoMo praised.
“Nonsense. It’s Senior who is the most powerful person. You can actually think of such a strategy. You have QingEr’s admiration.” Chen QingEr’s smile once again returned to her face.
“Now it’s my turn to attack. Watch out, Senior.”
You XiaoMo was on his guard immediately.
Chen QingEr raised her right hand and slightly moved her fingers as a strand of strange, silken thing appeared between her fingers. It was pink and transparent and it looked really like a silk ribbon. You XiaoMo estimated it to be five meters long.
You XiaoMo was shocked to discover that this silk ribbon was most probably formed with condensed soul power. Yet there was something different. It couldn’t be… She was planning to use the silk ribbon as a weapon?
Chen QingEr’s thin lips curled up at the corners. Grabbing the head of the silk ribbon, she lightly swung it towards the floor a few times.
“Pa!Pa!”
It might have looked light, yet deep white marks ran along the floor where the silk ribbon touched. And Chen QingEr barely used any strength this time. If she were to swing it hard, he reckoned the floor would crack.
Still deep in shock, the silk ribbon flew towards him without warning, aiming to deliver a swift strike to his face.
The silk ribbon hit the ground and a pit immediately formed from the collision, at about one metre in diameter.
After You XiaoMo dodged, the silk ribbon took a turn and assailed him once more as if it had eyes of its own. If he were to let this continue, there would be no end.
This time round, You XiaoMo chose not to dodge or hide. A strong burst of soul power exploded from within him and split into two. One part of his soul power battled with the silk ribbon whereas the other bit took the chance to trap it. Having met with obstacles, the silk ribbon’s movements finally slowed down but it could be still seen inching its way towards You XiaoMo.
You XiaoMo wanted to try severing the silk ribbon like how he did when he was dealing with ChaiJun. But obviously, ChaiJun could not compare to Chen QingEr. Not only did her silk possess an astonishing ability to attack, it was also relatively good at defence too. He couldn’t do anything about her anytime soon.
In theory, this was impossible. No matter how strong the soul’s ability to attack or defend was, a level six upper Mage’s soul power should be no match for an opponent who was a level eight Mage. At this rate, all level six mages could become gods. Unless her power was on par with his, if not, above him. Reaching that conclusion, You XiaoMo recalled his soul power.
Without the soul power to hold it back, the silk ribbon once again charged towards him, with You XiaoMo dodging it again. It had now become a game of cat and mouse.
The spectators all knew of You XiaoMo’s power. But seeing him being chased across the arena by Chen QingEr’s silk ribbon, all of them expressed their shock.
About five minutes had passed before You XiaoMo suddenly stopped in his tracks. Just when everyone was puzzled by his actions, he took a sharp turn and dashed towards Chen QingEr with a speed that seemed faster than before. It was as if he would reach her in the blink of an eye.
Chen QingEr’s eyelids twitched. It wasn’t You XiaoMo that got faster, it was because they were only less than three meters apart! He actually used dodging to narrow the distance between them! Upon seeing the golden Seal in his palm, she finally realized his plan.
Chen QingEr hurriedly withdrew the Silk Ribbon and transformed it into a pink shield in an instant. You XiaoMo raised his right hand and slammed the Black Seal onto the shield without hesitation. One on the attack and one on the defence. The impact was so powerful that it even resulted in the rippling of spiritual energy of heaven and earth. You XiaoMo took advantage of the winds that rose to retreat quickly.
The Black Seal easily tore the shield apart and went straight for Chen QingEr. A split second later, a loud explosion could be heard from where Chen QingEr was standing. Rocks were blown to smithereens and some people almost fell to the floor from the impact.
You XiaoMo was dumbfounded at the sight.
This was the first time he used the Black Seal and according to records on Sumeru Seals, as one continued to cultivate, the power of every Seal would increase many times over. Judging from the damage he did, he dare say it was more than just a few times more powerful.
This time, he didn’t use the spiritual energy from heaven and earth as he didn’t want Chen QingEr to discover the Black Seal in his palm. Every technique used needed to be aided by the spiritual energy from heaven and earth before even beginning. This made the process of developing different moves much easier. However, by relying solely on soul power, it made it more difficult to compress and thus, much more demanding on the person’s control.
Wanting to catch his opponent off guard, You XiaoMo chose the latter option. And because of that, Chen QingEr only managed to call her Silk Ribbon back. Under the immense force of the Black Seal, there was no way she could escape unharmed this time.
As expected, when everything had settled, the dust cleared to reveal an exhausted and battered Chen QingEr. Her white dress was dirtied and torn in a few places. Where the crowd couldn’t see, a hint of cruelty and ruthlessness flashed through her lowered eyes.
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Reminder note: Resonance Finger, more widely known as LingXi Finger, which is where you gather spiritual energy into your fingers and use it to do stuff like shoot it out as a bullet or catch a sword between your fingers.
