Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Han Jin cast a Charm of Spirit Refreshment on himself the moment his mind was clear, then disappeared underground again. He rose out from behind the magician who had casted the arc of lightning, and struck him with his palm. With a scream, the magician flew forward into the distance.
Han Jin’s facial expression had changed drastically; his pupils had retracted to the size of a needle, his eyes were narrowed, and his handsome face had scrunched together. No one would want to die in despair, but that wasn’t the important part. What the mercenaries should have never done was make Han Jin remember his past!
His master had only accepted one disciple, and according to him, he couldn’t afford to train another. Since both the master and disciple were of the same vein, both had to absorb energy, which in turn caused irreconcilable conflicts. If both could absorb the energy of a charm, who should have it? Yet, his master had always conceded the charm to him. Initially, he didn’t think much of it, and only understood his master’s sacrifice after a long time.
Even though the same energy would have drastically different effects on the master compared to the disciple, everyone knew that you had to accumulate your resources little by little. Besides, cultivators were usually callous men of little emotions, and focused only on the Great Dao instead of other’s emotions. Compared to the cynicism of everyone else, there were no words that could describe his master’s generosity. In other words, Han Jin’s master truly treated Han Jin like his own son!
Yet, before he could repay this kindness, Han Jin was transported to this world. That would forever be a regret in his heart – one that should never be touched! He knew perfectly well that his master no longer had the time nor the energy required to find a second disciple. It had taken his master decades to even find him, and ever since then, his master had focused all of his effort on him. Especially when he had first started cultivation, his master had never left his side, and had painstakingly explained the secret of Dao and passed all sorts of Daoist skills to him. Even the rare materials that were occasionally found were all left for him. His master had spent so much time on him that he had almost stopped his own cultivation.
His master would lecture endlessly everyday. Han Jin had always thought his master just wanted someone to talk to because he had been alone for too long; there was even a period of time when Han Jin became annoyed at the constant lectures. Only later on did he realize, how could someone so close to the Great Dao let his emotions control him?! His master was simply afraid that if he didn’t master everything, he would suffer in the future. His heart was focused on passing all of his knowledge to him!
Han Jin’s mysterious disappearance was disastrous for his master! His master had once told him that he would wait for him for a decade, which meant that he was running out of time; he had reached his limit. Han Jin thought about his master, who would, alone, face the trials of the Heaven, with the silent sky above and the mute earth below. Failure meant that he would turn to dust, without a single person by his side. How unimaginably lonely would that be!
At this moment, endless rage boiled within Han Jin! If he could, he would even destroy the whole world!
“A single rock splashes a thousand waves…” Han Jin exclaimed in a voice full of lament. But of course, no one understood the language, and only thought it was some kind of strange spell.
“Don’t let him finish his spell! Attack!!” the mercenaries roared, charging in from all directions. They couldn’t fathom how a magician could attack so freely, all while incanting a spell, but unfortunately, they didn’t have time to think about that.
With every syllable, Han Jin would move to a new position. After he finished his sentence, he had attacked seven times already, but only the first magician suffered injuries, while the rest only suffered light wounds under the protection of their magic barriers.
No one noticed that the streak of rainbow colors had quietly flown out of the forest and was now sitting in the air, unmoving. It’s brilliant light fluctuated as if it were waiting for something.
Han Jin had stopped his attack. His body would occasionally float to the left, or dodge to the right, and everytime he was about to be surrounded or locked on by a spell, he would use Earthmeld to appear somewhere else. This was all done while his hands were elegantly and speedily forming a series of signs.
But the mercenaries had high spirits and an advantage in numbers. In a short amount of time, he was forced to Earthmeld four times, but fortunately, his Daoist Art was almost complete!
Last time, he was able to slaughter the enemies within the city because Zaganide had sent the entire elite army elsewhere and had left only the less experienced ones to guard the city. Besides, soldiers were not known for their individual strength, which gave Han Jin a perfect opportunity. However, the mercenaries were far more powerful than your average soldier and excelled in chaotic battles such as this. Han Jin charged left and right for a while, but even after nearly losing his life in the process, he was only able to obtain a minimal result that did not affect the grand scheme of things. He had no choice but to use the ultimate skill he had learned from his master!
Han Jin’s abruptly shot into the sky like a signal, and waved his hand. A streak of golden light slammed into his rainbow, which let out a sorrowful scream as if it had just come alive.
Instantly, the rainbow turned into countless rays of colorful light and fell toward the ground, the rays so dense they almost covered the sky. No matter where you went, you could see one streak of light after another!
All the immense trees and the grass within a hundred meter radius collapsed. Branches, trunks, and leaves were shredded to dust, while the ground was covered by a storm of smoke and dirt. Colors were splashed everywhere; there were the green leaves, the brown barks, the black dirt, and the red flesh, as well as rolling helmets, broken wands, broken longbows, twisted claymores, and broken battle axes. Han Jin’s attack had turned the battlefield into a slaughterhouse!
Han Jin descended from the air and straightened his back. There was no need to hide, because the forest, within a radius of a hundred meters, had been turned into a prairie! Aside from Han Jin, only the tattered figures of a dozen mercenaries stood in awe. The dust had already fallen, yet they didn’t even have time to process what had just happened. Was this the end?
Under the barrage of unavoidable light, there was no hiding or fleeing. Times like these tested an individual’s raw defense, which meant that the dozens of thieves and the countless archers were killed on the spot. The ones left were almost all warriors and magicians who were more powerful than their allies; the former relied on their fighting strength, while the latter relied on their magic powers, to escape the disaster. However, at this point, they were all shell shocked by the attack, and only stood dumbfounded in their places. They didn’t even dare approach Han Jin, let alone attack him.
Yalina and Sunier, on the other side, also witnessed everything. They had an awestruck expression on their faces, not much different than the mercenaries. Was that a small scale forbidden spell? But why wasn’t there any signs of magic being used? And besides, when did Han Jin learn to cast forbidden spells?!
Han Jin slowly reached out his hand, and a swarm of dots of light gathered in his palm. Everyone heard the faint sound of crying, filled with the emotion of separation. Meanwhile, the streak of rainbow colors had already disappeared from the world.
Weapons were never the sole deciding factor in a battle between cultivators. It would be ridiculous if whoever had the tougher and more powerful weapon were to win while the other could only close their eyes and wait for death. As the saying goes, all things that have reached their end, must change to survive. A man in a hopeless situation, must try his best to adapt and survive. If he is not as strong as his enemy, he must focus on utilizing his technique. Similarly, Dao also requires techniques!
What Han Jin had just unleashed was his master’s signature move. Since his master had lived for a long time, he was quite old fashioned, which was why he named the sword technique, ‘A Single Rock Splashes a Thousand Waves’; the waves referred to the barrage of swords, truly the waves of death! Han Jin, at the time, felt the name wasn’t cool enough, and renamed it, ‘Divine Might of a Thousand Waves’, which earned him a stern scolding from his master, who considered it the utmost disrespect towards a senior.
This sword technique was different from when Han Jin had risked his life to self-destruct his flying sword. The latter had only achieved miraculous results because it had exploded from inside the Hydra. If Han Jin had exploded his flying sword here like last time, many would survive with the dense woods as a buffer. At least, it would be impossible to achieve what had just happened, where almost all of the mercenaries were wiped out!
“What… what was that…” The two surviving mercenary captains looked at the few companions they had left with desperation, but saw the same hopelessness in their companions’s eyes. Three mercenary corps, with several hundred mercenaries combined, was reduced to a straggling few in the mere blink of an eye. Their brains refused to accept that such a thing was possible!
“Death!” A sharp dagger silently stabbed a sword-wielding warrior. Among everyone present, Gibran had the toughest mental fortitude – that is, of course, if he wasn’t facing Julia. He was the first to recover from the shock, and went invisible immediately, as Yalina’s attention was drawn elsewhere, to sneak up on the warrior.
Gibran was, by no means, a kind man, and he would never warn his enemy of his presence. Hence, by the time the warrior heard Gibran’s voice, the dagger had already buried itself in his throat!
“Gibran, you will pay for this!” the warrior holding an axe roared in anger as he retreated. It was clear that they had lost. What was left of the corps wasn’t even enough to defeat a small squad of the Red Vanguard Mercenary Team, let alone the magus that accompanied them. As for the one mercenary that had slaughtered the majority of his brothers, he will forever live on in his nightmares!
“Want to leave?” Gibran coldly laughed, but right when he wanted to move forwards, he suddenly stopped.
In reality, Han Jin wasn’t a threat anymore. He had spent almost all of his vital energy, and if someone were to attack at the moment, his only option was to escape with Earthmeld. On the other hand, Gibran wasn’t a threat either. After all, he was only a thief, with a very limited offensive power.
However, Yalina was a definite threat! As the axe-wielding warrior scrambled to retreat while the rest of the mercenaries fled in all directions, Yalina raised her wand. At the same time, the magic barrier around her quietly disappeared. As powerful as a magus was, they too had to choose between the hardest shield or the sharpest sword. Those that could protect themselves with an impenetrable barrier while releasing barrages of magical attacks, were not humans, but gods! The so-called art of war was really a constant balancing of defense and offensive to reach a perfect result.
A series of crisp incantations echoed through the air. The fluctuation of magic became more and more violent, but unfortunately, there was no one to stop her. Even though everyone knew that allowing a magus to freely cast spells would be an absolute disaster, who would dare turn around at this point? Each mercenary’s only chance of survival was to hope that they would be the lucky one, since no one knew what Yalina was about to cast.
The sky suddenly flashed, and a violent surge of lightning fell from the sky. Nine Grid Thunder Call!
Nine Grid Thunder Call was a horrifying spell. It was also called the Grade Test Spell by some, since its power was always proportional to its caster’s grade. For instance, a third-grade magician would only be able to call down 1 grid of thunder, which, aside from low damage, would only be able to cover several meters. Nine Grid Thunder Call, on the other hand, was able to simultaneously attack and destroy everything within several hundred meters!
The frantic shapes escaping mercenaries were covered completely by lightning. No one could see what happened inside, and could only hear the constant scream of pain from within. But everyone knew one thing, which was the mercenaries were dead for sure!
