Chapter 1539 - 635: Tan Zhu vs. Yue Qingshan
Chapter 1539: Chapter 635: Tan Zhu vs. Yue Qingshan
The third martial arts contest soon began.
Miasma Poison Martial Arts Arena.
The sky was pressed down very low.
No clouds, no wind, just a dark deep valley, the bottom filled with black-brown muck, with patches of gray-green puddles scattered across the mud surface.
Occasionally, bubbles rose from the puddles, and when they burst, acrid smoke wafted up, flowing slowly along the ground.
The surrounding mountain walls displayed a sickly bluish-black color, with wet moss clinging to the stones.
Occasionally, a few withered trees grew at an angle on the cliffs, twisting branches with peeling bark, roots clawing out of stone cracks like bony fingers clutching the cliff.
Whenever an eerie gust blew through the valley, the dead branches rubbed against each other, making piercing sounds that grated on one’s nerves.
This was the arena specifically set by Myriad Images Sect for Poison Cultivators, Miasma Cultivators, Corpse Cultivators, and Yinze Cultivators.
According to the arrangement by Ning Zhuo and Chun Yangzi, Nanming Village sent Tan Zhu out for the third match, with White Cloud Village and the Territorial Expansion Alliance choosing a response from their side. Since Nanming Village went first, Tan Zhu had the privilege of choosing the location.
He didn’t hesitate and directly chose this place.
The toxic smoke here would not be easily dispersed by mountain winds, the miasma would not be quickly purified by formations. The mud at the valley bottom could hide poison, the gray-green puddles could cultivate it, and the bluish-black mountain walls could reflect and gather the toxic gas.
If an ordinary Righteous Cultivator entered, even without fighting, just standing there for a moment would make them feel mana circulate gloomily, their chest heavy with stagnant blood.
The cultivators from all three sides were now seated.
In Nanming Village’s seating area, Chun Yangzi sat at the main position, his expression serene, the injury on his right hand’s tiger mouth covered by his sleeve.
Ning Zhuo sat slightly behind, the white-robed youth with clear bright eyes.
The Red Robe Guest leaned against the back of his chair, eyes cold.
Tu Yuanzi gazed at the mud at the valley’s bottom, a look of inquiry on his face.
The Nine Fire Dragon Lord hadn’t arrived.
Poison Annihilation Wanderer Tan Zhu appeared in the martial arts arena, standing atop a black boulder at the valley’s bottom.
He wore a deep gray-black robe, draped with a half-coat of the same color, the robe heavy as if soaked in years of rain. Its collar stood half an inch, covering his neck. His skin was unnaturally pale, his eyebrows thin and long, nose high and straight, breathing extremely light and slow.
The miasma approached him from all directions, slowly circulating around him.
His expression was dark, gloomy, not at all like a Nascent Soul Cultivator about to duel, but more like a chronically ill old man at the damp valley bottom, idly bored.
The person representing Territorial Expansion Alliance had also entered the arena.
Yue Qingshan!
He was hunched, with a slightly arched back and very long arms. His face deeply furrowed, a scar by the corner of his left eye, skin earthy yellow, sparse eyebrows.
He wore a dark yellow long robe, devoid of elaborate patterns, only a circle of dull mud designs sewn at the hem.
Below Yue Qingshan’s feet was a towering Earth Cloud.
The cloud was earthy yellow, thick, and murky, yet the edges constantly flowed. Inside the cloud seemed to churn with mud, tendrils of yellow-brown dust hung beneath, converging into fine sand in mid-air before dispersing once more.
For this battle, he had acquired this support.
Ning Zhuo’s eyes narrowed slightly, instantly understanding upon a single glance: "This cloud contains considerable earth cloud attributes!"
Such an earth cloud could hover in the air, carry people, gather dust into sand, form earth into stone, transform into mud rain, and descend Rolling Stones. Clearly a cloud, yet possessing attributes of Thick Earth. Suspended high, yet threatening a mountain-crumbling descent.
You Yunshou’s wide sleeves faintly moved, a white_cloud subtly meandering within them. Watching this scene, he sighed inwardly: For this battle, White Cloud Village had unleashed its reserves, directly lending them to Yue Qingshan. No choice, Tan Zhu brought immense pressure on White Cloud Village and Territorial Expansion Alliance. Ever since the Five Victories Martial Arts Competition began, the two forces, even the many major forces throughout Flowing Cloud Peak, have been strategizing on possible ways to defeat Tan Zhu.
Yue Qingshan stood atop earth cloud, hovering thirty zhang above Tan Zhu. The earth cloud rotated slowly, yellow mud churned within, the sound of sand and stone friction dense as rain.
In the depths of the valley, Tan Zhu seemed to meld with the stone beneath his feet, surrounded by thick mist.
The Jade Chime sounded.
The third battle began!
No pleasantries.
No probing.
Yue Qingshan pressed his hands downward.
The earth cloud suddenly expanded, countless cracks opening at the bottom. In the next moment, torrents of sand and mud cascaded down from the cloud, like a yellow-brown Heavenly River suspended in the valley!
Countless fragments of stone mixed within the mud and sand, colliding with each other as they fell, their sound intense as a drum. Moreover, massive boulders formed within the cloud, carrying heavy earthy light, crashing down from above.
Boom!
The first massive boulder smashed into the valley floor, black mud erupting over ten zhang high. Mud splattered against the protective light shield around the martial arts arena, instantly causing a sizzling sound of corrosion.
Then the second, third, and fourth boulders followed.
Rolling stones fell like stars from the sky.
Mud rain poured like waterfalls across the heavens!
In an instant, the entire Miasma Poison Martial Arts Arena was enveloped in an earth-yellow storm. The valley floor’s muck churned everywhere, gray-green puddles exploding into plumes of toxic mist.
The mountain walls trembled, withered trees snapped, stone shards shot like arrows.
The protective light shield around the spectators rippled with waves, some cultivators merely watching turned slightly pale, instinctively leaning back.
In Nanming Village’s seating area, no one spoke, many cultivators were intimidated, unable to help feeling tense.
Ning Zhuo stared intently at the scene.
Tan Zhu didn’t dodge at all.
He was still standing in place!
Earth cloud above, mud and stone descending. He stood on the valley bottom’s black stone, his slender figure almost obscured by the overwhelming mud and sand. As the stones fell, his robe lightly swayed, like a shadow trembling faintly amidst the earth-yellow tempest.
As the first wave of mud and stone pressed close, three zhang above his head, only then did he slowly raise his right hand.