Chapter 276: Asura
Chapter 276: Asura
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
How was he going to fight someone with abilities equivalent to Xing Yuanguo?
Even though Fang Zhengzhi did not know how powerful Xing Yuanguo was, he remembered that Bai Xing’s demon eye was red. The Supernatural State Ying Shan had a green demon eye.
It was not difficult to realize that Xing Yuanguo was at least a state more powerful than Ying Shan. That meant that he was beyond the Supernatural State.
Fang Zhengzhi really wanted to ask Yan Xiu what kind of place the "Ancestral Hell" was. However, Yan Xiu did not give him that chance.
After defending against the secret weapons, Yan Xiu did not slow down.
He stepped on the two whirlpools and charged towards Fang Zhengzhi. The distance between the two of them closed.
Coupled with Yan Xiu’s phantom like speed, Fang Zhengzhi had no time to react. He felt an icy gust of wind against his face.
Dodge!
That was his only option.
However, he did not have many ideas as to how he was going to dodge. Yan Xiu was clearly more powerful. Under such a circumstance, Fang Zhengzhi had no way of winning, not unless a miracle happened.
Was he going to wait for a miracle?
Fang Zhengzhi was not stupid. There were no such things as miracles or luck.
Fang Zhengzhi still remembered something that his teacher taught him when he was younger. "If you can’t get a miracle, make one."
He got the first top spot in his entire life because of that.
However...
He was first from the back.
Of course, it was a painful process, but it had a happy ending. Because of that last place, he was beaten senseless when he got home.
Ever since then, he had worked hard for what he wanted, eventually creating a miracle of his own.
He had made it into the university of his dreams. It was a pity that he made a small mistake when choosing his major. However, that was a memory from his "previous life".
He had to start from scratch here. He needed to create another miracle.
In a duel, only two things were important - ability and wit.
In times of trouble, one needed to remain calm and composed.
Yan Xiu was able to suppress him with his abilities. Furthermore, he was in pain now. Yan Xiu would aim to finish off Fang Zhengzhi as quickly as possible.
Fang Zhengzhi decided to give Yan Xiu a ‘chance’.
It was akin to baiting his opponent in. When they think that you have slipped, they would be less alert.
Fang Zhengzhi dodged.
However, he did not dodge well. When the wind brushed past him, he leaned backwards just a little too much, falling to the ground.
"Woosh!"
The gust of wind brushed past his head.
Fang Zhengzhi’s expression changed, visibly more anxious than before. He ‘accidentally’ fell on his butt. Then, as he climbed back to his feet...
He showed Yan Xiu his back in his ‘panic’.
That way, Yan Xiu would be standing behind Fang Zhengzhi. Everything was perfect.
All of the officials were excited when they saw this.
"It’s a good chance!"
"He is still too young. He flusters when meeting a stronger opponent!"
"If he was more stable, he may have been able to hold on for another 15 minutes. But now, it looks like the duel is over!"
"It’s not his fault either. Yan Xiu is much more powerful."
All of the officials looked on condescendingly at the flustered Fang Zhengzhi.
Yan Xiu strode over to Fang Zhengzhi.
He was not going to hold back during the duel.
This was his respect towards Fang Zhengzhi, and his respect towards their friendship. Yan Xiu aimed for Fang Zhengzhi’s back.
Even though humans had many acupoints in the back, many of them would not result in lethal or internal injuries. However, it could send a person flying off the stage.
As such, Yan Xiu put everything he had into this attack.
However...
In the moment he raised his hand, his pained expression worsened and the two whirlpools underneath his feet trembled.
The 15 minutes of exertion were taking his toll.
He was already dehydrated from all the sweating.
Just as Fang Zhengzhi had guessed, Yan Xiu wanted to end this as quickly as possible. He did not want this to drag out.
In the River of Trust Province examinations, Yan Xiu had duelled with Fang Zhengzhi once. Back then, he learnt that Fang Zhengzhi had more endurance than him.
He was not going to let Fang Zhengzhi take advantage of his endurance again.
Fang Zhengzhi felt a gust of wind at his back. Without turning back, he knew that Yan Xiu was behind him.
To have one’s opponent behind you...
This was the most dangerous kind of situation. In this kind of situation, one ordinarily had only two choices. One, he could just lunge forward in an attempt to dodge. Two, he could kick backwards and aim to hit Yan Xiu’s privates.
Both were out of the question.
The first one was way too embarrassing.
The second one was too domineering. If he didn’t find the mark, he would lose this round. If he managed to hit his mark, Yan Xiu would not be able to start a family ever again.
However, all of these were considered in his plan. He had a much better way of dealing with the incoming attack.
For example...
He fell forward, almost as if he was desperately trying to dodge.
It was extremely embarrassing!
Yan Xiu was not going to let a golden opportunity like that slip by. When Fang Zhengzhi lunged forward, he followed closely behind.
Then, he thrust his palm towards the prone Fang Zhengzhi.
At this moment...
A lightsword appeared in front of his eyes.
Then a second one, a third one, a fourth one...
In an instant, six lightswords shot towards him from all directions at great speed.
Yan Xiu’s expression changed.
He could tell that these lightswords were prepared in advance.
In that flurry, Fang Zhengzhi would never be able to release that many lightswords.
"I have been fooled!" Yan Xiu was stunned. He retreated subconsciously. Then, he felt a huge force at his back.
He stopped retreating. At that very moment, all six lightswords converged on him, almost as if they knew where he was going to stop.
"Boom!"
All six lightswords exploded at the same time. Countless lightswords intertwined with each other, instantly forming a huge net of lightswords. The lightswords enveloped Yan Xiu.
All of the officials who thought the battle was over were stunned. All of them looked on in disbelief.
What was going on?
How did Fang Zhengzhi manage to fire off six lightswords simultaneously whilst trying to dodge?!
That was impossible.
Unless...
A thought flashed by in the minds of all the officials. Then, they all looked at each other in embarrassment, almost as if they had just been slapped.
They had just said that Fang Zhengzhi was too young and inexperienced. They accused him of losing his cool in the face of a better opponent.
But now...
It was clear that Fang Zhengzhi was faking it.
"Shameless! Trickery!"
"How can someone be this shameless?! This is the court examinations! The Emperor is present!"
"By doing this in front of all the officials and the Emperor, he has ruined the image of all the rank four officials!"
All of the officials fumed from their embarrassment. They kept cursing in their hearts, but none of them dared to voice their displeasure.
When Ping Yang saw this, she got excited. "Hahaha... this fella is really... hahaha... he should be even more shameless!"
When King Duan heard Ping Yang’s laughter, he clenched his fists even tighter.
Until now, Fang Zhengzhi had yet to draw his sword. Was he really not going to draw his sword? His Sun Shooting Bow was on the line!
At this point, Emperor Lin Mubai’s expression changed slightly. However, he did not speak, simply knocking lightly on his throne.
No one knew what he was thinking.
On stage.
Fang Zhengzhi looked at Yan Xiu being trapped in his sword net. He smiled slightly, Yan Xiu really fell for it.
"Open!" Just at this point, Yan Xiu bellowed. Then, a pale red ray of light shot towards the lightsword net.
In that moment, a huge hole was opened inside the sword net.
Yan Xiu leapt out easily.
Fang Zhengzhi’s smile froze, "Must this be so ridiculous? What the hell is this?"
"This is the Dao I learnt in the Ancestral Hell!" Yan Xiu seemed to feel Fang Zhengzhi’s doubts. He did not attack, choosing to elaborate a little.
However, when Yan Xiu said this, his body was trembling slightly.
Most importantly...
The two pale red whirlpools beneath his feet began rising. They rose to his ankles, almost as if they were swallowing him up.
"This is... Dao?" Fang Zhengzhi glanced at the whirlpools beneath Yan Xiu’s feet. He had no idea what they were.
However, he was unsettled by them.
When they rose, he knew that trouble was coming.
All of the officials were quite far from the stage. As such, they did not notice the changes in the red whirlpools.
However, when they saw Yan Xiu escape from the sword net, they all smiled.
"In the face of true ability, even the most shameless tactics are useless!"
"Resistance is futile."
"Yan Xiu already fell for his trick once, I doubt he will repeat the same mistake. This duel should be over shortly."
All of the officials seemed to be confident in their predictions. After all, Yan Xiu was outclassing Fang Zhengzhi.
Yan Xiu did not explain it to Fang Zhengzhi immediately. He looked into the sky, almost as if he was trying to recall something.
After a brief moment, he looked back towards Fang Zhengzhi.
"Do you remember the sword technique I used back at the River of Trust Province Examination?" Yan Xiu asked.
"Sword technique?" Fang Zhengzhi asked doubtfully. Then, almost as if he suddenly thought of something, his expression changed, "Asura Sword Technique!"
"Exactly! I explained the meaning of Asura to you then!" Yan Xiu nodded.
"Meaning of Asura!" Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes brightened. He finally knew why he felt a sense of familiarity when looking at the whirlpools beneath Yan Xiu’s feet.
Yan Xiu’s Asura Sword Technique was created using part of the spirit of Asura.
However, these two whirlpools were created fully using Asura. There was an even more apt term for this.
Dao of Asura!
In that instant, Fang Zhengzhi understood what was going on.
Chi Guyan had once told him that the fruits on the tree in his pocket dimension were all in their nascent state. True Dao was not in the shape of fruits.
Even though Fang Zhengzhi did not know what Dao looked like in its final stage...
However, he knew that most people only trained in one type, or a selected number of common ones.
Yan Xiu was no exception.
"Because he went to the Ancestral Hell, he managed to fully develop his Dao of Asura?" Fang Zhengzhi thought of this possibility.
However, he felt that there was still something missing from that explanation.
If it was just an improvement on that Dao...
Yan Xiu’s abilities may show improvement. However, he should not be this ridiculously powerful!
This wasn’t improvement!
This was flying!
Despite months of developing the fruits in his pocket dimension, Fang Zhengzhi had made some improvements. However, he was still not as ridiculously powerful as Yan Xiu. When he thought of Xing Yuanguo and Bai Xing’s defences, he realized that it could not be as simple as what he thought.
After all, Yan Xiu had improved at an unimaginable rate.
What did he miss out?
Dao of Asura.