Chapter 441: I'll Make a Breakthrough Then!
Chapter 441: I'll Make a Breakthrough Then!
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
Complete silence.
The spectators and soldiers on and below the Heaven's Altar, numbering up to several tens of thousands, were all dumbfounded.
With just his words, Old Ancestor Ding Hong was able to force everyone here to submit to him. The valiant sight of him entering the field on the Steelback Winged Dragon was engraved deep into everyone's mind.
Everyone thought that Zhang Xuan would be crushed helplessly, but before Ding Hong could even wound the other party, he ended up falling from the sky...
The heck!
Could things get any more ridiculous?
For an expert like you, walking out from the royal palace wasn't a big deal. Yet, you just had to put on a show and enter the field riding on the Steelback Winged Dragon. On top of that, you chose to fly at such a high altitude in an attempt to play god and bring heaven retribution onto others... Yet, retribution did appear, but the target seemed to be you.
All gazes immediately turned toward the silhouette who was stabbed more than half a meter deep into the ground. Everyone's mouths were twitching, and they couldn't help but wince at the tragic sight.
Even Transcendent Mortal experts were incapable of flight. Falling from an altitude of fifty to sixty meters unprepared might be insufficient to kill him, but it was more than enough to incapacitate him for a short moment.
It was fortunate that Ding Hong had a strong cultivation. At that height, even a Zhizun realm expert would find himself crippled.
"The Steelback Winged Dragon is a Half-Transcension savage beast, why would it suddenly lose its stability and fall from the skies?"
Recovering from the astonishment, bewildered exclaims echoed amidst the crowd.
It wasn't like this was an untamed savage beast intentionally trying to cause damage. The Steelback Winged Dragon had already served as Xuanyuan Kingdom's guardian beast for several centuries, and it was a respected guardian deity in the hearts of all the citizens.
For such a noble savage beast to plummet from the skies all of a sudden and crash so heavily that it couldn't even push itself up anymore...
Even though they had witnessed this sight with their own eyes, they had no idea what to make out of this matter.
"It seemed like... that fellow dropped right after Zhang shi released a bizarre sound!"
"Indeed! I heard it as well. It sounded crisp and clear, reminiscent of the sound a cow makes, as well as a deafening thunder on the ground. To cause the Winged Dragon to panic like that... I wonder what it was?"
Some of the keener people who noticed the entire proceedings of the matter commented.
The savage beast was perfectly fine a moment ago, but after that crisp call from Zhang Xuan, it suddenly plummeted to the ground. Could there be a relationship between the two?
While the crowd was struck by astonishment, Old Ancestor Ding Hong finally recovered and pulled himself out from the ground. He was so furious that he could explode from rage at any moment.
He thought that as long as he killed Zhang Xuan on the Winged Beast, he would be able to win the hearts of the people and restore ultimate power to the Ding Clan. Yet, never in his dreams did he expect to nearly die from a fall.
If he were to become the first Transcendent Mortal to die from falling from too high up, he wouldn't have the face to meet anyone even as a ghost.
Wiping away the dust from his face, he glared at the young man with reddened eyes. If looks could kill, holes would have appeared on Zhang Xuan.
"Kill him!"
Glancing at the Steelback Winged Dragon which was still recovering from the impact, Ding Hong roared.
However, right after he issued the command, he realized a hint of fear in the gaze of the Winged Dragon directed toward the young man in front of it. Putting aside killing him, it seemed as though it didn't even dare approach him.
"You trash!"
Ding Hong was infuriated.
What the heck was this!
As the bearer of the Dragon Bloodline, you always act so arrogantly in the royal court, disregarding everyone else. Yet, you act so cowardly before an enemy?
Can you be any more useless?
Back then, you even slaughtered a spirit beast before! The other party is just a Zhizun realm pinnacle expert...
Ding Hong bellowed at the Winged Dragon several more times, but this fellow seemed to be adamant not to make a move even if it spelled his death. Suppressing his anger, Ding Hong turned his gaze over to Zhang Xuan.
"To be able to persuade it not to make a move on you, I admit that you're a capable man. But since that's the case... I'll do it myself then. It's your honor to die by my hand!"
Ding Hong didn't know the reason behind the attitude of the Steelback Winged Beast, but it had to be a doing of the brat before him.
But so what?
The other party was just a Zhizun realm pinnacle cultivator. Even if he could defeat a Half-Transcension expert, he was still a huge way from matching up to a Transcendent Mortal like him. With the huge disparity in strength, no matter what aces the other party had up his sleeves, it was all useless.
Boom!
Harrumphing coldly, Old Ancestor Ding Hong charged forward to make a move.
With a thrust of his hand, rampaging zhenqi infused with the Origin Energy from the world formed a gigantic handprint, and it charged straight toward Zhang Xuan.
Spirit low-tier battle technique, Origin Energy Palm!
Back then, on the back of the savage beast, the other party had used long-range sonic offensive means on him. Even though it was powerful, the distance had whittled down the might of the attack significantly so Zhang Xuan wasn't able to get a clear gauge on the other party's strength. However, at such close proximity, he finally understood how fearsome Transcendent Mortals were.
In an instant, Zhang Xuan felt overwhelming energy rushing toward him, causing his entire body to stiffen from the pressure. Under such a pressure, even driving his own zhenqi felt arduous.
"I'll have to go all out!"
Transcendent Mortal experts possessed great control over the environment they were in, and knowing this, Zhang Xuan knew that it was impossible for him to escape. Thus, he drove his Heaven's Path zhenqi to its maximum capacity and faced the other party's palm with his fist.
Heaven's Path Fist Art!
Propelling the strength of his muscles, zhenqi began gushed forth from his fist. An immense strength exceeding 60,000 ding burst out as though a massive primordial beast tearing open the heavens, colliding with the other party's Origin Energy Palm.
Peng!
Under the intense collision, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but retreat ten steps back. His face flushed and he nearly spurted a mouthful of blood.
Even though he had massively improved in the past few days, and his strength exceeded that of ordinary Zhizun realm pinnacle experts as well, he was still far from matching up to a true Transcendent Mortal.
There was no way he could remain unharmed from that blow.
"You withstood the attack? Not bad. Let's see how much more can you take then!"
Ding Hong was astonished to see Zhang Xuan survive his Origin Energy Palm.
It was no wonder that this fellow could defeat even Pavilion Master Luo Qianhong. His strength was indeed formidable.
Even Half-Transcension experts would definitely end up severely injured under his Origin Energy Palm. Yet, the other party was only forced to retreat several steps.
On top of that, he realized that the other party's physical body was on par with him.
A mere Zhizun realm cultivator actually possessed a physical body on par with a Transcendent Mortal?
How can that be?
Boom!
Even though Ding Hong was surprised, there was no hesitation in his movements at all. His next palm came striking down as soon as he saw Zhang Xuan successfully warding off his first attack.
Upon noticing the absurd resilience of Zhang Xuan's body, he chose to exert more force this time around. Before the palm print even reached the other party, a huge fissure had already been torn on the ground.
"Origin Energy Palm is formed via the ability of a Transcendent Mortal to manipulate the Origin Energy in the world. Flaws: No. 1, if one only cultivates it to the level of an initiate, one won't be able to control if perfectly..."
The various flaws of the other party's battle technique surfaced in his mind.
The Origin Energy Palm possessed immense might, but as a Spirit low-tier battle technique, it was impossible for Ding Hong to fully comprehend it with his cultivation as a Prolonged Longevity realm cultivator. Even if he had studied it for a significant period of time, he would only be able to comprehend the basics.
And in truth, he was a far way off from reaching Consummation.
The Master Teacher Pavilion had allocated various tiers of mastery for battle techniques, and they were namely: Novice, Initiate, Minor Accomplishment, Major Accomplishment, and Consummation.
At Novice, one had a surface understanding of the battle technique and could forcefully execute it.
At Initiate, one would be able to bring out the essence of the battle technique but was still lacking in control.
At Minor Accomplishment, one's understanding of the battle technique had already reached a deep level, and it could be relied on as a life-preserving means.
One must know that most of the cultivators had only reached Minor Accomplishment in the mastery of their battle techniques.
As for Major Accomplishment and Consummation, without decades of practice, it would be impossible to reach that level.
Ding Hong might have studied the Origin Energy Palm for a very long time, immersing him into it for more than several decades, but due to the lack of a teacher and his insufficient cultivation, his comprehension of the skill was severely limited.
Thus, he was only able to reach the level of Initiate.
"Initiate Origin Energy Palm has a total of seventeen flaws..."
Knowing that it would just be a matter of time before he died if he were to face Ding Hong face on, Zhang Xuan hurriedly looked for a flaw in Ding Hong's technique.
The current him wasn't a match for a Transcendent Mortal at all. Only through exploiting the enemy's flaw was there a possibility of him retaliating.
"Found it!"
Suddenly, Zhang Xuan caught sight of something and his eyes gleamed in delight.
Hu!
He finally found a flaw that he could exploit. Without any hesitation, he immediately stepped aside, dodging the other party's assault, and with a flick of his wrist, he whipped out a spear from his storage ring and stabbed it straight toward the opening.
Heaven's Path Spear Art!
He had obtained quite a few weapons from the Lin Clan, and most of them were stored in his storage ring in case of emergency.
It was their time to shine now.
That flaw was actually an opening in between the interval of the execution of the previous attack and the charging of the next Origin Energy Palm.
His spear whizzed and stabbed forward like a valiant dragon.
"Formidable! That Zhang shi's eye of discernment is indeed fearsome!"
On top of the back of a savage beast, Jin Conghai witnessed Zhang Xuan making this pierce and his eyes narrowed.
Despite being a Transcendent Mortal expert, even he was unable to find a flaw in Ding Hong's battle technique yet. For Zhang Xuan to be able to find it in an instant, his battle sense was truly terrifying.
"However... it's a pity that his offensive power is too weak. Even if he augmented his strength with a spear art, it's futile!"
Recovering from his shock, Jin Conghai shook his head.
"Futile?" a bewildered 'Gongzi' asked.
Since Zhang Xuan had found the other party's flaw, why would it be useless?
"That's right!"
Placing his hands behind him, Jin Conghai spoke with a deep gaze, "The Transcendent Mortal Realm... isn't as simple as it seems!"
...
Weng!
Unaware of the conversation of the duo above, Zhang Xuan's spear dived swiftly toward Ding Hong's opening as though a roaring dragon charging toward its prey.
"Hmph!"
Ding Hong narrowed his eyes and he hurriedly retreated.
Huala!
For a moment, the air seemed to have solidified. It was as though the spear was trapped in a bog all of a sudden, and its movement abruptly slowed.
Hu!
The next moment, Ding Hong grabbed the end of the spear.
Kacha!
Exerting his zhenqi, the Phantom spear broke into countless splinters instantaneously. At the same moment, Zhang Xuan felt an ache in his chest, and he was knocked back more than a dozen steps.
"Damn it!"
Zhang Xuan clenched his fists tightly.
He had found the flaw, and the spear was aimed and timed perfectly. Yet, he was still unable to hurt the other party at all.
Transcendent Mortals were indeed fearsome existences. No Fighter, even at Zhizun realm, was a match for them.
"You're indeed incredible to make use of the temporary lapse in between my attacks against me. I truly didn't expect it!" Ding Hong turned his gaze over to Zhang Xuan.
It was impressive for a Zhizun realm cultivator to find the flaw of a Transcendent Mortal cultivator so quickly. If not for Ding Hong having reached Transcendent Mortal realm, he would have surely been injured by the previous attack.
"However, you're too weak! If your cultivation was at Half-Transcension, I might have been injured just now. However, it's a pity that... at Zhizun realm pinnacle, you're still a long way off! Even if you can find my flaws... what can you do to me?"
Ding Hong sneered coldly, "As a show of respect for you, I'll face you with my full strength!"
"You're right!"
Zhang Xuan faced the other party's threat nonchalantly. He simply shook his hands and said, "My offensive capability is indeed far too lacking. With the cultivation of a Zhizun realm pinnacle, it's impossible for me to wound you!
"Since you said that I'd require the strength of a Half-Transcension..."
"I'll make the breakthrough now then!"
Upon saying so, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist and threw something resembling a seed into his mouth.
Boom!
In that instant, it was as though he was set ablaze.