Chapter 248 The Nine Heaven-scorching Flames (2/2)

He had barely walked for a few miles, looking for a stable to hire a carriage, when a young man clad in purple garb barred his way.

”How can I help you?” Xiao Chen asked the young man. The stranger was doing a great job in masking his presence and this hindered Xiao Chen from fully measuring his powers and strength. But only under two conditions could a person do such a thing; the stranger was either very much stronger than he was, or that the stranger possessed more than nine Spiritual Meridians. The possession of so many Spiritual Meridians accorded its wielder the ability to conceal his or her strength.

But Xiao Chen would hazard that this man most likely owned more than nine Spiritual Meridians; he must be the challenger from the Fallen Immortals Sect.

A vicious smile curled upon the stranger's lips. ”You must be the famous Xiao Chen recently, are you not?”

”Indeed, I am,” Xiao Chen replied brusquely.

”Fine. There has been a word that you are the strongest among the young elites of all Five Continents. We wish to see if that's true for ourselves.”

”I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. I am not the strongest among young people in all Five Continents. None-flower Dust is. You should seek him out. I'm sure you'll find yourselves in awe at his power,” Xiao Chen remarked bluntly and immediately walked past the man without waiting for an answer.

”HOLD!” The young man in purple garb hissed venomously; his apparent displeasure at being snubbed by Xiao Chen showing entirely.

”Yes? Is there anything else?”

Xiao Chen stopped in his tracks and looked back at the young man, who, in his fury, had displayed a measure of his powers: a symphony of nine white, flashing orbs hovered around him, exuding raw energy channeled from all nine of his Spiritual Meridians, fully exposed in their most naked form.

The brilliant spectacle of the young man's imposing aspect would have frightened and cowered any foes, but Xiao Chen merely chuckled. ”Not bad. Nine Spiritual Meridians, no wonder.” He called forth his own powers, and twelve fiery orbs, all blazing brilliantly, sprang out from within him, dwarfing the radiance from the nine orbs of light that many onlookers or passersby either watched with bewildered expressions or jumped back in fright.

The stranger gasped with shock. ”Th-this! This is impossible! Twelve Spiritual Meridians?! No! It couldn't be! Unless...” But his voice stopped short in his throat.

Xiao Chen ceased channeling his powers. Xiao Chen regarded his adversary with a stiff smile. ”You might be suffering under the delusion that the world is under your feet, just because you defeated a few students from some-heretofore-unheard-of schools. Challenge the strongest to see how good you are. I shall be waiting in the tournament and I will be one of the ten strongest contestants. We'll have a proper duel then. But until then, do not disturb me anymore.” He walked away, leaving the young man and curious onlookers still gawking at him. He had never had much patience and respect for bullies and scoundrels.

But Tianyuan City was just too huge for his liking; it took him more than two hours for him to reach the gates of the city. Once outside, he drew his sword and rode upon it into the sky. He flew for another 25 kilometers until he saw a small ridge. He flew to it and landed upon its crest.

He surveyed the surroundings to make sure that he was alone. When he was satisfied, he cast the magic he learned the night before. Nine balls of flames popped to life in his opened hand. Eager to test his new skill, he thrust a finger at a nearby patch of forest and a fireball lunged towards the spot he pointed.

First, there was a deafening bang, followed by a huge flood of light that burst from the depth of the woods before a powerful explosion so great that dirt, debris and splinters of wood were tossed into the air. What had been a forest was now a great tract of scorched earth and charred wood and smoldering, fallen trees, still crackling at the blistering heat that still savaged the ground.

A contented smile appeared on his face. The Nine Heaven-scorching Flames was more powerful than he had anticipated. Its destructive force far exceeded all of his offensive-based magical formations, that a fireball—one of the nine points that would complete the formation—was more powerful than the total force of the Nine Yang Extreme Heat Formation.

To cast a magic spell that would yield such a force, Xiao Chen would have consumed one-tenth of his True Energy. But the use of magical formations such as the Nine Heaven-scorching Flames he had used earlier, consumed only one-tenth of the cost of a magic spell. This was a boon especially to Xiao Chen, who was able to cast magical formations at the blink of an eye, a feat that almost no one was capable of in this age.

Then again, his advantage might instead turn into his bane if he were to encounter an enemy with similar or superior prowess in using magical formations. His magic could be easily undone, or worse, used against him.

He raised two fingers and cast the spell again on his left hand. Two balls of flames sprang to life at the tip of his fingers and he flicked them at another patch of trees.

The two balls of flames, one green and the other red, streaked towards their designated target like twin comets, spiraling around each other in weaving patterns before they grew in size and turned into two fiery dragons! With another thunderous explosion, the entire top of a wooded hill was destroyed. A huge wave of blistering heat poured from the explosion, crashing into an unwary Xiao Chen, who was tens of yards away, that he almost felt the hair on his skin burning to crisp.

His guess had turned out to be true: the combination of the fireballs not only multiplied the force of his attack, it even changed his attack completely. The use of only one fireball was merely a huge fire, but two produced a devastating explosion.

He loved it. The Nine Heaven-scorching Flames was not only powerful, but also flexible. He could easily direct his attacks towards any target at will, and he could combine the fireballs to create more power and better effect.

”But what would happen if I were to use three, four, or even five fireballs?” He thought as his eye gleamed with anticipation.