Martial Arts Master

Lü Yan locked eyes with Lou Cheng briefly before retracting his gaze.

“Then go out there and put your confidence into action!”

He studied his teammates around him.

“Right now, we don’t know if Shangqing Sect will send out Taoist Yun Yan. However, looking at their formation, they should be planning a blitz. First, they’ll send their strongest to breach our defense, then their second to infiltrate, and lastly the weaker to clean up. Under normal circumstances, reciprocating their order is our best bet.”

“However, as opposed to our usual proximity in strength, they are slightly stronger at the moment. Plus, they’ve made painstaking preparations to secure a homeground advantage. To be frank, if we do it the old way, the chances of us winning are slim. Once one of us starts to lose, the disadvantage will keep accumulate until the end of the match, making it hard for us to make a comeback.”

“So we need to switch it up a little. Dragon King, you’ll go first and take the wind out of Warrior Sage’s sails. Your goal, at the minimum, is to push him to his limits. Lou Cheng, you’re up next. Remember, you can’t afford to be careless, because the Warrior Sage can take you down even at his weakest. You have to try your best to take him, then stall in the next round to whittle down…” Lü Yan paused, checking a slip of paper. “To whittle down Taoist Wuguang. I believe you’ll do well in this area.”

As he was laying out the plan, the Dragon King’s eyes were stately, like a deep-buried volcano about to erupt. He remained seemingly ambivalent to the plans that required so much of him.

Before Lou Cheng and Ning Zitong could comment, Lü Yan continued.

“When the first round ends, as long as we’ve stalled long enough, the preparations by Shangqing Sect should be fully destroyed. That would weaken their homeground advantage and put us in a better position.”

Pausing, he turned to look at Empress Luo.

“If you can make quick work of Taoist…Wuguang, then the next fight will be in your favor, whether it’s against the injured Yun Yan, Ming He, or Peng Leyun. The extent of your advantage, and whether it can offset their home ground advantage, will depend on Lou Cheng’s performance, and how long you take to finish off Taoist…Wuguang.”

“We can only hope to win if we accumulate our advantages one step at the time. One mistake could cost us the entire match.”

“We are all Physical Invulnerability experts here. We have been through battles. I trust that there’s no need for me to micromanage.”

“Give it your all, and don’t give the opponent any chances.”

With that done, Lü Yan submitted the match roster to the referee and received the Shangqing Sect’s active roster.

It wasn’t the injured super-class Yun He, or the veteran Second-Pin Ming He they sent, but the newly advanced Peng Leyun.

He had a nice nickname now—Yunwai Immortal.

“Yunwai,” which means “beyond the clouds,” originated from his name, but also because he often spaced out and let his mind wander to faraway.

“Peng Leyun…something’s amiss,” said Lü Yan, returning to the cliffside.

“Maybe he has a surprise in store for us,” said Ning Zitong, smiling indifferently. She wasn’t her usual self.

Right now, she was basking in the feeling of gazing down at mighty heroes from above.

Back in the days, she used to be the highest ranked, who reigned above all Physical Invulnerability experts. In those years, she wasn’t known as Empress Luo, but Phantom Queen.

Phantom Queen, Ning Zitong!

Did Priest make another breakthrough? Looking back on the group chat, he couldn’t recall Peng Leyun mentioning anything about it.

This guy’s tight-lipped…

As he was lost in thought, the referee walked to the center, avoiding the spots where the overhead power lines could fall on him. He signaled that the match was about to start.

The Dragon King, who hadn’t said a word through all of this, promptly stood. The air around him rushed upward and turned scarlet, then sprinkled back down around him.

At that moment, it felt as though a volcano had erupted. The temperature around him rose sharply.

He didn’t need to punch, kick, or flick flames from his wrist. Just by standing, he exuded his immense power.

The Warrior Sage, standing steadily atop the power lines, smiled at the sight, but chose not to follow suit. Instead, he crossed his hands behind his back. His white Taoist robe was spotless, as though it had been washed countless times.

As the Dragon King advanced, the referee backed away. When the contestants had entered a standoff, the referee raised his right hand.

“Time starts now.”

Qiao Donglou regarded Chen Qitao from above.

“How long has it been since we last fought? More than six months?” asked Qian Donglou breezily, tinged with genuine happiness.

“Since last May,” answered the Dragon King curtly.

“In the past 6 months, I’ve created three new moves. Let me know what you think of them,” said Qian Donglou placidly.

Shocked by his words, Lou Cheng became pensive.

Lu Yongyuan, the God-Slaying Saber, had taken twenty years to think out of the box, creating nine saber moves that he could truly call his own. On the other hand, in less than six months, Qian Donglou had come up with three new moves—moves that could be used against the Dragon King. He made it seem easy.

And this wasn’t the first time he had achieved something like this.

That explained why Qian Donglou’s talents in martial arts were unparalleled, and why he was said to be a rare genius seen once in a thousand years.

Chen Qitao listened quietly, and at the end of his opponent’s speech, said slowly,

“Jack of all trades, master of none.”

“All moves can be linked back to one origin. And that one origin, is in my grasp,” chuckled Qian Donglou.

His body suddenly began swaying to the rhythm of the wind as the environment around him came to life. The dullness had vanished, and what took its place was the liveliness of nature.

At that moment, he seemed to have become one with his surroundings. He transformed from Qian Donglou to the Warrior Sage. The Dragon King’s piercing aura of heat waves repelled away.

Momentarily, they regarded each other without a word. Then, Qian Donglou raised his right hand. Under the radiance of the afternoon sun, it emitted a faint, jade glow.

“The first move, Sky Splitter, will rip this sky apart,” drawled Qian Doulou.

At that moment, as though rehearsed, the referee said,

“Begin!”

Bam!

The Warrior Sage chopped down, the dazzling electric sparks around his hand distorting, enlarging, and intensifying, cracking the sky.

The Heaven’s Crack swallowed everything around it, including Qian Donglou’s silhouette. With an ominous feeling, it struck downward.

At the same time, two overhead power lines broke and whipped towards Chen Qitao swiftly, as though dragged by an invisible force, large electric arcs spurting from their ends.

Zzzzzap! This caused eight electric snakes to leap up, dragging out their serpentine figures as they lunged at Chen Qitao from every direction. No one would have been able to dodge this lightning-fast move, if not for the brief time gap between its cast and activation.

In a split second, the Dragon King had stepped into an ambush. He was being attacked from every direction except below. He had to pick one and force his way out.

And he did. But he didn’t choose the weaker electric serpents, or the silver power line whips limited by their tension.

Bam! Below him, the ground cracked apart, revealing bubbling lava. Propelled by rising hot air, he avoided the electric serpents and silver whips with an uppercut.

He had chosen to take on Qian Donglou’s strongest attack.

His fist, enveloped in dense purple flames that distorted the air with its heat, crashed into the “Heaven’s Crack”.

Boom!

The silver and faint-purple sprinkled down like fireworks at the end of their glory, almost splattering onto Lou Cheng and the others.

The white, jade-like palm appeared, chopping onto the tightly-clenched fist.

Qian Donglou’s vanished figure reappeared, flying diagonally upwards.

He somersaulted in the air, then descended at a speed much faster than gravity, as though something was pulling him.

Electricity creates magnetism! Magnets have two opposite ends!

Bam! At that moment, Qian Donglou had transformed into a bolt of lightning, striking at Chen Qitao’s head. The latter couldn’t change directions easily while being airborne.

He wouldn’t be able to dodge if he detonated the fire force within his body.

However, the second Qian Donglou descended, a gale blew forth, aiding the Dragon King to veer and glide to the ground.

The hurricane that had spawned from the contrast in temperature was the hidden stage two of Chen Qitao’s punch.

Fire creates wind! Wind aids fire! He had twisted the Fire Sect’s secret arts!

Seeing that the Dragon King had dodged the attack and landed stably, Lou Cheng uttered his praise.

“Amazing!”

Then, noticing Chen Qitao was poised to take a step, he warned, regardless of whether or not they could hear him,

“Jump!”

With the power lines strewn around, he would be electrified if he took a step!

One misstep would turn him into a human vibration!

However, the Dragon King didn’t step. Instead, he leapt forward to reposition himself, avoiding the shocks.

He had fought Qian Donglou many times in the past, and his opponent often used the trick of conducting electricity into the ground. He had learned that the hard way.

Lou Cheng heaved a sigh of relief. Then he noticed the strange looks Ning Zitong, Lü Yan, and Guo Jie were giving him.

Clearing his throat, he shifted his gaze back to the battlefield.

What? Never seen a fan before?