Chapter 48 – Chu Huan (II)

Ye City and QingLu Sword Sect were both located in the Southern Continent. Naturally, Zhong Shan’s reputation was more well-known here. As a disciple of the Central Continent, Lian Jian Zong’s sage, Chu Huan’s own brilliance seemed to be overshadowed by the brilliance of the stellaris in the Flower Picking Festival. Although he showed great strength in the first few rounds, it was still within expectations and didn’t display any astonishing breakthrough performance.

There were also people who believed he hadn’t yet been met with any strong opponent, which was why he hadn’t used his strongest ace in his sleeve . Similar to before Chen Yi faced Yin Biyue, he also hadn’t exerted his strongest move and thus, was underestimated.

Most of Lian Jian Zong’s female disciples were like their sect leader, Yang Liu, unconstrained and brazen.

And many male disciples were all like their elder, Qu Jiang. Among the six sages, Qu Jiang had the most gentle temperament and was the lowest profile. Only when he drew his sword did he truly resemble a sage.

Ultimately, Duan Chongxuan incorporated various information from multiple sources and concluded, “I speculate that the amount of strength Chu Huan utilized in the previous round was at most forty percent.”

Yin Biyue mildly knitted his brows. He only watched one of Chu Huan’s matches. During the match, he hadn’t yet used Spring Returning to a Withered Tree so he simply couldn’t make out any clues to Chu Huan’s limits.

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Luo Mingchuan smiled a bit and consoled him, “Don’t worry. I also cultivated some wood-type cultivation method.”

Shixiong! What have you not cultivated!

Rationally, Yin Biyue believed he honestly thought too much. Shixiong definitely would win. However, he couldn’t help but worry, and it wasn’t even an ordinary kind of worry.

This sort of emotion was too unfamiliar, so much so that he wondered if there was something wrong with him recently.

The fight was set in the early morning1. As the first round of the ranking competition, where Cang Ya’s head disciple would face the disciple of Lian Jian Zong’s sage, even if the time was set earlier, it would still have countless people waking early and coming to watch. This was especially true for the Lian Jian and Cang Ya’s disciples that were in Ye City, who almost all arrived.

The two greeted each other on the stage.

In terms of appearance alone, Chu Huan was more recognizable than Chen Yi. However, the pair’s temperament were identical. The Lian Jian’s purple qipao with wide sleeves and a narrow waist he wore, gave off a warm and peaceful feeling.

Everyone felt that it was a pleasure to look at the two upright gentlemen standing on the stage.

Chu Huan spoke, “It’s an honor to meet you at last.”

Luo Mingchan replied, “You’re too polite.”

Without much more exchange, this match had officially started.

Chu Huan rushed to release his first move, and a flash of green light flew out from his sleeves. The wind whistled, and in a blink of an eye, it grew to the width of a bowl!

Only when it flew in front of Luo Mingchuan did everyone clearly see that it was a vine. Sparkling and verdant, it was still constantly developing new seedling shoots.

Chu Huan’s hands held the vine inside his sleeves, like a long whip, lashing it directly forward!

Luo Mingchuan’s expression didn’t change; practically at the same time as when the vine appeared, a fierce wall of flames suddenly ignited in front of his body!

Momentarily, Duan Chongxuan felt a bit ashamed, because he realized the speed at which he threw the talismans was slower than Luo Mingchuan forming hand seals.

However, it only hindered the vine for a breath. The scorched surface was quickly replaced by the vitality of emerald-green. It unexpectedly broke through the fiery wall and attacked onward without a change of momentum!

This time the people below the stage finally saw the motions of Luo Mingchuan forming hand seals clearly. Before they could even cry out in surprise, the wall of flame transformed into an ocean of fire.

In the morning wind, the fire became more and more intense. It engulfed the entire martial arena, as if swallowing the sky and devouring the earth. The disciples who were somewhat close could even feel the rolling heat waves that was hurling toward them.

Luo Mingchuan’s figure in the flames couldn’t be seen clearly.

Chu Huan, whose body was protected by his core energy, still felt the sharp pain caused by the raging inferno roasting his skin. His purple garment exhibited specks of greenness, spreading out at rapid speed. Though thin and feeble, the vines covering his body were like an indestructible armor.

The vine in his hands swept past the fiery ocean. It swirled like stormy gales and raging waves beating against the shore, heading straight for Luo Mingchuan.

The combat tempo for a spiritual cultivator tended to be on the slow side. Yet, these two were playing their cards too unconventionally, unexpectedly looking like one could immediately differentiate victory and defeat.

Even Duan Chongxuan couldn’t understand, “The amount of core energy that Luo shixiong is outputting…”

The martial arena was more than thirty meters2 long from north to south. How much core energy was instantly outputted in order to create this massive, powerful fire?

Yin Biyue understood his meaning, but he was unsure about his own speculation. He said in a low voice, “I once saw a cultivation method at the academy. It was similar to ‘Moon Haze Over the Port’; half of the fire on the stage is probably an illusion.”

Duan Chongxuan suddenly understood.

It wasn’t only Yin Biyue; there were others who also thought the same. However, what they didn’t expect was that not only half, but at least eighty percent was an illusion. Yet it had the might from the fake mixing with the genuine.

Smoke began to rise in the midst of the flaming light. It was born from the plants that were constantly burning up.

Some people witnessed Chu Huan withdrawing his vines, guessing in succession if he was going to admit defeat.

But Chu Huan walked to the center of the stage, in the middle of the fires burning on all sides, and began to perform hand seals. The seals were formed using both hands. The shapes were very strange. Nobody could recognize them.

The green vines around his body were unceasingly scorched black and withered, losing their nascent energy. The purple qipao was roasted after directly exposed to the flaming blaze.

Yet his movements were neither too fast nor too slow, his expression solemn.

Along with his hands moving faster, some people felt the earth underneath their feet swaying minutely. They said in shock, “The ground moved?”

“I also felt it. What’s going on?”

The earth’s movements were not strong, but with the five sharp senses of cultivators, they knew it wasn’t a hallucination. They were momentarily bewildered as they concentrated their senses.

In the next moment, the earth collapsed, and mountains were destroyed. The rumble was deafening!

The stage split open into countless cracks!

New buds sprouted from the crevices and flew up to face the wind and fire. In a blink of an eye, they had unexpectedly shot up to fifteen or eighteen meters!

The crowd watched incredulously at the elm forest that rose steeply up from the stage, covering in a flash the fire that had filled the whole sky.

Duan Chongxuan exclaimed in admiration, “This… is also an illusion?”

Yin Biyue heard his own voice tremble slightly, “No.”

Chu Huan had truly created a vast forest on the stage.

He also took note that when the martial arena ruptured, there were no crushed rocks or dust, as if the stage was willing to be broken. This meant that this type of attack had been approved.

Chu Huan’s Spring Returning to a Withered Tree had already started to connect with the true intent of nature.

The elders at the eastern spectator platform looked toward the person who controlled the array.

The QingLu Sword Sect elder frowned, “Nothing unusual.”

The array had not shifted. This meant that the power of this type of attack was within the limit.

However, the audience still discussed amongst themselves,

“This is just too ridiculous; he’s only at the late stage of the Breakthrough Stage. If he reaches Greater Vessel Stage, how powerful will he be?”

“He can grow an entire forest in a blink of an eye?”

It was indeed ridiculous.

The elm trees on the stage had already hid the sky and covered the earth. The leaves and branches intertwined, as if isolating the entire stage from the outside world. Not only was the view disconnected, but the whole stage had became Chu Huan’s personal domain.

His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were bright. He stood perfectly in the center of the stage.

Layer upon layers of leaves and branches perceived the opponent’s position and movement on his behalf. It constantly sent him messages and launched its attacks. The decay and rebirth of this forest happened simultaneously. The cycle of withering and thriving existed in an instant. However, it grew and multiplied without end, continuously.

The crowd below the stage couldn’t see either the figures of the two people or the light of flames.

Even if they concentrated, they could only hear the wind rustling the leaves, like the billowing tides, wave after wave, coiling in the sky and earth.

Yin Biyue finally confirmed his guess, “Jade Sea Rising Tide.”

The might of the Spring Returning to a Withered Tree could be placed in the top three seals. In the past, no one below Lesser Vessel Stage had cultivated it before. Because the innate spiritual meridians weren’t pure enough, the amount of core energy also couldn’t support it.

Yet Chu Huan’s current cultivation realm not only allowed him to connect with nature, but also borrow power from the heavens and earth.

It was a frightful matter. The saint from the ‘All Saints Era’ who established this seal used it to exhausted a sage to death when he was still in the Greater Vessel Stage. Even with Chu Huan’s current abilities, the true intent, although unable to reach its greatest heights, was enough to cause a change in people’s face.

The elder of Lian Jian Zong had a slightly astounded expression. She previously thought she understood Chu Huan, but who knew she had still underestimated this young man.

Many people were thinking about Luo Mingchuan, who was still in the forest. What kind of method was he using to evade the endless dangers? Was he hurt? Was his core essence not enough to sustain the ocean of fire just now?

From Chu Huan’s point of view, the opponent was currently maintaining constant, high speed movements. Although he could not find his precise location, the entire forest was his eyes and ears; no matter how fast Luo Mingchuan was, there would still be an instant where he would slack under the unending stream of attacks. Moreover, maintaining this kind of speed would consume a massive amount of core energy.

He could even feel his opponent was injured— the sensation of sticky blood that dripped onto the leaves.

In fact, Luo Mingchuan stood on a tree branch on the south side of the ring, his expression composed.

The branches and leaves underneath his feet were quiet, gently brushing at his clothes as if to curry his favor.

At some point, his pupils had changed into the color of ink, as dark as the long night.

He looked fully at the forest, and he could even see the expressions of everyone below the platform.

The worry in shidi’s eyes

He closed his eyes.

Wind rose up in the forest that hid the sky and covered the earth.

The screaming gales blustered at his robe and blew the fallen leaves into a reckless dance.

Chu Huan’s heart and meridians were suddenly in pain, and he couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of blood!

It was because in the previous instant, the connection between him and the forest he created had been forcefully severed. As if a sword was directly sliced onto his mental sea, leaving a scar that penetrated deep into his marrow.

In the next moment, all the tree branches and vines started to attack him crazily. Everything within his field of vision had completely became his enemy!

Everybody saw the entire forest shuddering in the wind and then rapidly withering. The decaying ashes that fell to the ground were lifted up and dispersed in all directions.

Out came Chu Huan, whose face was white, and the corner of his mouth trickled a snaking line of blood. His purple qipao revealed some cuts, as if he had been cut by the branches and leaves.

His voice was somewhat rough, “I admit defeat.”

The cracks began to close until finally, there were no traces of them. If one didn’t look closely, they wouldn’t be able to discover the veined patterns of these cracks.

The crowd below the stage had not yet recovered.

No one knew what had happened. This battle was settled within a breath. Only leaving behind the martial stage with a beautiful pattern.

Yin Biyue looked at it and found it quite familiar, like marks left by some kind of array.

The QingLu Sword Sect’s attendant yelled out, “This match is over. Cang Ya, Luo Mingchuan wins—”

Luo Mingchuan cupped his hands toward Chu Huan, “Acknowledged.”

At this time, some people discovered that he still stood on the same spot on the martial stage where he had greeted Chu Huan, without even moving a single step.

Yin Biyue watched Luo shixiong pass through the crowd of people congratulating him, nodding his head in acknowledgement, all the while walking towards him.

Yin Biyue endured for awhile, but he nevertheless couldn’t suppress the rising corners of his mouth.

Thereupon, Luo Mingchuan also started to smile.

…