Chapter 398: Power of the Flame (1/2)

Chapter 398: Power of the Flame

Translator: OneshotwonderEditor: Hitesh_

Wild and untethered, Lie Jian swore to show the world his unchallenged dominance. With his back facing the opponent, Lie Jian waved his fists in the air to stir up the audiences.

Zhang Buyu remained placid, but his eyes were as sharp as the blade strapped to his back.

”Let's start!” Lie Jian waved at Zhang Buyu, willing him to attack first. Lie Jian had been interested in seeing Zhang Buyu's blade strike. So far, Zhang Buyu had finished all matches in one blow. However, this time, he was about to face Lie Jian, member of the Great Houses. So, things could work out quite differently.

Zhang Buyu slowly unsheathed the blade called White Water as he gradually became more serious. He knew that Lie Jian was not an ordinary opponent, and an uphill battle was ahead of him.

”Kom!”

Zhang Buyu charged up his soul energy and easily reached level six. The other three Inner Court disciples watched their court brother's advancement in disbelief. Although Zhang Buyu was the most powerful among four of them, none of the three court brothers had realized that he had already been able to reach level six. Zhang Buyu was a very humble person and mostly kept things to himself. He was also very supportive of his younger court brothers, and therefore, everyone in the inner court regarded him as the amiable elder brother instead of a powerful warrior.

The sol reading indicated that Zhang Buyu's soul energy had reached six hundred.

Ye Kai finally remembered that the grandmaster used to tell him that he had great talent, but lacked perseverance and focus like Zhang Buyu. Zhang Buyu had been focusing on practicing the White Water blade ever since he joined the court; his focus and dedication had finally paid off.

Just like many other inborn abilities, focus and patience was also a talent that could not be learned.

Lie Jian was taken back by Zhang Buyu's sol reading, since it was the highest shown on the board ever since the beginning of the tournament.

Zhang Buyu focused his attention on his blade, trying to be one with the blade instead of its wielder. Over time, he had concluded that the biggest hurdle in mastering the blade technique was to overcome his own ego; he should let go of himself and let the blade take control.

While training, Zhang Buyu focused heavily on the techniques that allowed him to win the battle with one decisive blow. Because of that, the grand master used to comment that he was the most talented blade user. The decisive blow saved Zhang Buyu from making unnecessary moves, thus reducing the chance of making errors.

The rings on the back of White Water were filled with energy, and started to rattle against the metal. Lie Jian recognized his opponent's power right away, and thought that this fight was going to be very interesting.

Lie Jian pumped his fists, and a GN blade suddenly appeared in his hand. As the heir of the Great House, Lie Jian was well versed in many weapons, including blades. The advantage of using a blade was in its aggressiveness, and such character was in line with that of the Tactics of the Blaze.

As Lie Jian channeled more GN force into the blade, the GN blade started to catch fire as the flame's intensity increased by the second.

The weapon conjured from the GN force was much better at transmitting the wielder's energy than a regular weapon, thus giving Lie Jian more leverage during the battle.

The air on the stage burned with smoke and belligerence. Although Lie Jian's GN blade was a more advanced technique, Zhang Buyu held an advantage in his higher soul energy.

Such a high sol reading was rightfully earned by Zhang Buyu from years of hard work while being driven by his obsession with Martial Arts. This aspect of his struck a resemblance with Wang Ben.

The fiery GN blade and the White Water lashed out almost simultaneously; each causing a small explosion in the air. The two fighters' bodies turned into two streaks of light that were on the course of collision.

They did not collide. Instead, they seemed to have barely brushed each other's shoulder. They didn't stop until they were a few dozen feet apart in the opposite direction of each other; and then came the thunderous roar as the stage splitting in half.

A gush of blood splatted onto the ground from a large seared-wound on Zhang Buyu's chest. Despite the injury, Zhang Buyu turned his back towards his opponent as if nothing had happened to him.

Although there was no visible wound on Lie Jian's body, his face had turned pale like a piece of paper. Suddenly, a gush of blood spewed out from his mouth.

The rowdy Martians who were ready to cheer for their victory suddenly became quiet.

Cheers and applause erupted from the Templar's Disciples instead. Although Lie Jian's GN blade had greater damage output, the Martian's move was far from capturing the essence of the way of blades.