264 Chapter 263: Reversal (1/2)
KABOOM!
The flaming qi rippled out of Sha Chen and consumed the entire area, incinerating the space and blowing the surrounding rock to smithereens.
In contrast to his blazing figure, mine was a picture of black chaos, everything blacking out as the flames and debris swirled into what seemed like a whirlwind around me. Then the black mist dispersed as my golden wave of destructive qi lashed out, my Heaven and Earth Strike barreling ferociously toward the torrent of crimson fire.
Baaaam!
The two immense forces of qi collided between us, erupting into a colossal conflagration that blew the earth apart and left a new canyon in its wake. I swear, if I'm going to use the fucking word crater again, I was going to hurl my keyboard at Sha Chen. Not that it would do anything to the bastard, but the readers were getting pissed off by the repetitive use of the word by now.
With just one hand stretched out, Sha Chen glared at me determinedly, unleashing whatever qi he could into the torrent of hellfire. However, fury changed to shock and his eyes bulged when he noticed something.
”!”
Even though perspiration dripped down his face, Sha Chen didn't seem to care. He was more concerned with what was greeting him.
”This is…”
What? Was he so surprised that I could counter his attack with my own? Not that I cared. If he wanted to get distracted, then I was going to use the chance to exploit the opening and prevail over him. I didn't buy into the whole realms or power level bullshit, after all. Sure, it was useful to be aware that he was stronger than me, had more qi than me, and had more experience than me, but that didn't mean I should give up and assume that I would automatically lose.
A real fight was never purely a contest of strength. No doubt superior strength gave you an overwhelming advantage, but a human was a human, not a god or immortal. Okay, I get that cultivation was supposed to turn you into a god or immortal or something, but even that was iffy because what was the point of being a god when you have gods being more godly than you, and it turned into a never-ending cycle? It was like the problem of geniuses all over again. Everyone's a genius, but there are better geniuses than others. Then what was the point of using that word to describe anything at all? It became meaningless.
However, it seemed I was mistaken, despite my protagonist's privilege. Sha Chen didn't care about power levels either (he was old and experienced enough to recognize they were absolutely meaningless, which was why he never harped on whatever realm he was and why it was impossible for me to defeat him, blah blah). He was more concerned about the technique I was using.
”Heaven and Earth Strike again!” with a wave of his left arm, he blew apart the flames and qi with sheer force. ”If that's the best technique you possess, then this will be your last fight ever!”
”Dude, you know I'm just a young guy who had just barely started learning Heaven and Earth Formula like…a few years ago? Why the hell are you assuming I've mastered every technique in Heaven and Earth Formula?”
Obviously the old man ignored me and continued to rage unfairly at what he thought was an insult. Dude, it wasn't as if I was using Heaven and Earth Strike because I thought it would defeat you. I literally had no other technique in my arsenal that was more powerful.
But just like all those forum users who always thought they were right and wanted to bash people for no reason other than because they were jerks (complaining about Games Workshop, Catalyst Game, Qidian, every company under the sun) and then insulting people who pointed out the flaw in their criticisms, Sha Chen ignored all logic and common sense and insisted on flaming me. Typical.
Unfortunately, unlike all those hot-headed keyboard warriors, Sha Chen was on a completely different level. His attacks were actually capable of killing me.
”Ugh…!”
I grimaced when Sha Chen's attacks suddenly intensified and his flaming wave grew stronger. Slowly, my golden wave of Heaven and Earth Strike was being pushed back and diminishing in the face of the torrent of destructive fire.
Even though I was doing my best with my swords, I saw that I was inevitably losing.
KROOOOOOOM!
”!”
Grimacing, even as blood ran down my face, I clenched my teeth and slashed at the incoming stream of flames when the last of my Heaven and Earth Strike flickered out. It was useless. The hellfire washed over me, engulfing my body completely despite my desperate attempts to cleave it apart. Scorching heat overwhelmed my senses.
I dug my heels in and I tried to stand defiantly in the onslaught of demonic flames, but they were too much.
And then I was blasted off my feet. Blood spewed from my body as the ravenous flames consumed me, destroying my body from all over.
Trees around me simply ceased to exist, reduced to ashes and cinders as the flames carved a devastating path through them. The torrent of flames continued on, not sated with its meal, and hurtled onward until it finally slammed into the base of an imposing mountain.
Boom!
Even the ancient mountain was not impervious against the assault of man. An avalanche of rock rained down, turning into drips of red-hot, molten stone.
The effects could be detected by the people in Duchun Town, despite them being miles away. Several civilians actually saw the majestic mountain shudder, and huge fumes of smoke billowing into the sky.
”W…what's going on?”
”Is this the end of the world?”
”Someone, call the Imperial Guard!”
Even the regulars of the Imperial Guard garrisoned at Duchun were stunned to see such a scale of destruction.
”Two high-level experts must be fighting there!” one soldier exclaimed, his face turning pale. His comrade shook his head.
”We received reports that the Heavenly Venom King, Sha Chen, was heading the Black Venom Cult. You know, the one where the Lady from the Song Clan was injured? She claimed that she met him. Could it be…he's currenly fighting an expert from the Martial Arts Alliance?”
”But…we haven't seen anyone from the Martial Arts Alliance?”
”Idiot…you think they would drop by and say hi to common soldiers like us? Besides, the Martial Arts Alliance isn't under the jurisdiction of the royal family. They're not going to work with us.”
They were mostly mistaken, but they did guess right that it was the Heavenly Venom King at work here, unleashing his demonic powers of destruction. Okay, that sounded cheesy, but whatever.
Woo…
A maelstrom of crackling qi continued to rage at the base of the mountain, ravaging what was left of the forest. A huge canyon had been carved through the once verdant Sen Lin Forest, but the magical beasts residing within it were used to such wanton displays of power. After all, what was a human to a beast?
At the foot of the mountain, a huge impression several meters wide in radius had been carved into the rock. The blackened stone glowed red-hot and flowed almost like lava, almost like crimson veins running against dark skin. Smoke continued to fume out of the massive dent and obscured visibility of the obliterated space.
Debris continued to rain downward uncontrollably, the tremendous forces still reverberating across the mountain and causing broken rock to shake loose and plummet downward.
Opposite me, Sha Chen stood in an intimidating manner, wisps of qi continuing to shroud him. Several stony shards levitated around him, held aloft by his immense qi. Or perhaps it was just an illusion – the debris was probably disintegrating against his qi aura, thus giving the impression that they were floating before disappearing. That was why it looked as if they never touched the ground.
Sha Chen raised his head, his countenance grim. Ahead of him, the fumes continued to billow, but they were gradually fading away, revealing the extent of damage he had caused to the poor forest and mountain.
Swoosh…
It was very faint, but Sha Chen could just barely make out my figure. Right in the center of the deep, cracked impression, I was literally buried meters into the foot of the mountain, surrounded by cracks and broken rock.
Sha Chen's eyes narrowed, and with his martial artists' senses he could see me clearly. My flesh was slightly charred, my clothes scorched and ripped, and my head hung low. My eyes were shut, my face singed with soot and burns.
For a moment, it seemed I was unconscious. Stony fragments were still pelting me, but I didn't stir.
”…”
The Dark Sage studied me silently. For a moment he recalled the distant past, but his position had been reversed.
He was the one who had been buried into the foot of the mountain, and it was my master, Tian Mo, who had been standing in front of him, a terrifying figure billowing with immense amounts of forceful qi. Just looking at him alone was enough to make him shudder.
Okay…this was the limit of my protagonist privilege. Did you honestly think I was going to launch into a flashback about Sha Chen's past here? I couldn't read his mind. And this wasn't Gosu. I wasn't going to rip off a Korean murim manhwa. Especially since I had to worry about copyright and stuff. Plus people were complaining about my fourth-wall breaking because it ”destroys” the immersion (I wonder how Deadpool does it), so I should keep that to the minimum.
”You…seem immune to my poisons.”
Sha Chen seemed to have realized something while he was reminiscing about the past. He craned his neck and studied me, then shook his head.
”Your qi didn't weaken, and I don't sense you expending it to suppress my poison at all. Yet your movements remain the same, your speed is still impressive and you haven't slowed down or relent in your attacks. Could it be that my venom has no effect on you at all?”
Congratulations. You've only just figured that out now? Should I offer you a prize for guessing correctly?
”Come to think of it…”
Sha Chen paused and considered something gravely, his brows furrowing as he rubbed his chin. He sighed and shook his head.
”I can't believe I didn't notice it before, but when I poisoned your master, he still possessed enough power to counterattack and wound me seriously. At that time I thought he was prepared to die, and wanted to kill me instead of dragging his own death out…I mean, normally people would first spend their qi to suppress the poison, to keep it from circulating around their body. But…your master was different.”
The Dark Sage glowered at me.
”Instead of suppressing the poison, he immediately lashed out to attack me. I thought that would be the end of him, but now that I add up the numbers, they don't match. If he really suffered from my poison and withered away, how was he able to teach you? From what I know, the earliest you could have learned martial arts from him was about five to six years ago, while he disappeared when being on the run from the Martial Arts Alliance.”
A bit too late to be thinking about all that now, wasn't it?
”But…”
The Heavenly Venom King held out his left hand and stared at it. Flames continued to crackle atop his palm, hissing and dancing ferociously. He sighed and shook his head.
”In the end…you're partially right. As it turns out, all types of poisons are useless to those from the Heaven and Earth Sect. I am forced to use the fire techniques I learned from the Incendiary Ifrit Sect to destroy you.”
…I knew it. So this guy was formerly from the Incendiary Ifrit Sect. No wonder his techniques were so familiar. I had seen Ling Qing Zhu use them before, as well as the old guy (her father, if I remembered correctly) when he fought against Sect Lady Zi Da Ji.
Not that the knowledge was going to help me currently. The old guy was currently too strong for me to deal with. I was slowly being overpowered by him. Whatever counters I could think of, he would just crush them with brute force.
Truly, he was the strongest from the old Martial Arts Alliance. I didn't think there would exist anybody capable of withstanding a blow from my Heaven and Earth Strike. Yet the Heavenly Venom King not only survived, but overpowered it.
”Hmph. Did you really think Heaven and Earth Strike would be enough to defeat me?” Sha Chen sneered, gnashing his teeth in fury from what he considered an insult.
Not really, but I was in no position to reply, so I said nothing.
”That arrogance is the reason why you'll die today!”
Still, it was a hard-fought battle. The Dark Sage admitted that. His face was pale and beads of perspiration continued to run down his face. His right arm was gone – allt hat remained of it was a bleeding stump.
Rumble…
The stones on the ground began to shake as a dense layer of qi rippled across them.
”?”
”Hmm?”
Glancing downward, Sha Chen noticed the movement, as well as the change in atmosphere. He tensed when he saw a whirlwind of qi revolve violently around him. Not powerful enough to hurt him, but not weak to the point where it would simply dissipate upon colliding with his aura.
”This is…?”
The Dark Sage raised his head and traced the movements of the qi, seeing that they all originated from me. I was still embedded deeply in the rock, but somehow I was exuding a good amount of qi.
”Ugh…”
Coughing out blood, I yanked myself out of the hole, and staggered. An avalanche of rocks, shaken loose by my sudden movement, crashed down on either side of me. But I ignored them, knowing that they wouldn't be able to hurt me.