Chapter 356: Belligerent Force
Chapter 356: Belligerent Force
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Wu Gang's technique was called the "Double Dragon Sprout."
However, Lie Jian was unruffled by the deadly double attack, and he channeled soul energy into his upper and lower body to form a defense. Even as the double attack inched closer to its target, Wu Gang doubled down on his attack. The young Templar yanked his halberd, lending him enough force to launch himself forward to deliver three GN force infused kicks. This was the next level of the Templar's technique, the Three Essences of Heaven and Earth! The three kicks were aimed at face, chest, and belly.
So powerful were the attacks that Lie Jian realized that meeting the attack head-on certainly meant injury. Therefore, to cushion the triple blows with both hands, Lie Jian took a step back to alleviate some of the forces.
As soon as Wu Gang finished the three kicks, he immediately followed with an attack with the halberd, striking the Martian from the above. Wu Gang had learned to use his soul energy to control his halberd, and therefore, his hands were free, which allowed the genius young Templar to repeat his triple attack while his opponent was distracted by the blow from above.
Lie Jian swayed his body to avoid the halberd bearing down on him. However, he was hit by a heavy kick to his legs. This was the first time since the beginning of the tournament that Lie Jian had been hit. He was hit by the fourth level Templar strike called "Four Seals of the Templar."
Each one of Wu Gang's strike carried a tremendous amount of soul energy and GN force. As he was carried away by the sheer momentum of his attacks, the young Templar soon entered a battle trance. Without thinking, he unleashed the next level of attack, the Fifth Annihilation!
Wu Gang brandished the halberd in both hands; each strike was faster than the last, until the halberd had turned into a blurry shadow of sharp edges and pointy tips. This technique was very similar to that used by sword masters. However, the use of halberd had significantly increased the attack's potency. If Lie Jian were hit by the blow, he might as well have lost this match.
As the audiences started to worry for Lie Jian, They watched as a smug crept onto the Martian's lips while he steadied his body. Suddenly, a pair of flaming hands reached into the blurred shadow and gripped the halberd, stopping its dance.
Wu Gang's attack was supposed to be his finishing move, however, not only was his weapon snatched away, but the sudden halt of the attack had also hampered his energy flow and caused some energy to go rough, damaging the internal organs.
The kick that Wu Gang delivered to the Martian had also come at the costly price; the fire poison coated on Lie Jian's body had latched onto the young Templar's feet upon contact, and by then, it had already seeped into its victim's bloodstream.
As soon as Lie Jian gripped the handle of the halberd, he channeled another gush of poisonous flame at the unsuspecting Wu Gang. The two injections of poison had given Wu Gang so much pain that the agonizing burning sensation almost immobilized him.
However, Wu Gang gritted his teeth and forced another burst of GN force from his body, which gave him enough strength to hold onto the halberd and tug it hard towards himself. To Wu Gang's surprise, the Martian suddenly released his hold on the halberd, and the Templar's force made him lose his balance.
After Wu Gang had gathered himself, he heard Lie Jian clap his hands. "Good technique! But unfortunately, you have only learned the first five of the ten strikes in the Ten Heavenly Strike. You need more practice."
Wu Gang checked his condition and registered that the poison flame had reached deep into his system and bonded itself with the free-flowing energy. The bond was so deadly that any attempt to draw soul energy would result in an insurgency of damaging poison flame.
Even as the top fighter at the Templar's inner court, Wu Gang was helpless against the poison flame inside him, and the only thing he could do was to suppress the poisonous effect with more soul energy.
The Martians were elated by the turn of events. Their breath was caught in their throat while they watched as their champion was under the five waves of deadly attacks. After all, the Templar's power was no joke.
Sensing that the poison flame and seeped deep into his opponent, Lie Jian reckoned that the fight was over, so he turned around and started to get off the stage.
"Hold on! The fight is not over...yet." A few words tumbled out of Wu Gang's blood-smeared lips.
Lie Jian paused and turned around slowly. "You are courting death." His voice was eerily calm.
Wu Gang gave him an ugly grin and then said, "The Tactics of the Blaze, haha... It was powerful indeed, but don't forget that you are fighting a Templar! I will show you the true meaning of power, the Hexii-Hex!"
"Hexii-Hex? In the miserable condition you are in?"
"Doesn't matter. I can do it as long as I have one breath left in me."
Wu Gang started to channel soul energy again, and his hand gripped the halberd so tight that his knuckles turned white. Suddenly, a burst of GN force shot though Wu Gang's body. Wherever the GN force reached, the poison followed, burning the Templar from the inside. Wu Gang screamed from the unbearable pain, but he didn't reduce the intensity of his GN force. Then came another burst of energy inside the Templar, with even more intensity than the last burst.
"Brother Wu, stop! It's too dangerous!" Ye Kai shouted at the top of his lungs. However, the heart-wrenching screams of Wu Gang drowned out his voice.
Suddenly, Wu Gang's scream stopped, and he started to recite a chant to himself as the outline of his body started to become blurry. The audiences watched in astonishment as two more "Wu Gang" appeared side by side with the real one. The pain had contorted the Templar's face, as the poison started to wreak havoc inside his body.
"Ten Heavenly Strike—Hexii-Hex!"
Wu Gang and his doubles charged at Lie Jian simultaneously, each carrying a sharp halberd.
Lie Jian had remained calm and counterattacked methodically.
Right after the impact, the doubles disappeared instantly. As the audiences heard the clank of the halberd hitting the ground, they saw only Lie Jian's haughty figure standing still with pride.
Body red with the fiery poison, Wu Gang struggled a few seconds to get back to his feet before he eventually collapsed to the ground.
Lie Jian turned around and didn't even spare his opponent a glance as he walked off the stage. All around him, the arena was filled with cheers and chants of his name. "Lie Jian—Lie Jian..."
Even the Templar's Court was no match for the belligerent Tactics of the Blaze.
Meanwhile, in the second section, Li Shiming was fighting against a fighter from Planet Ceres, who cultivated unique tactics called the Tactics of Lightning. The tactics allowed him to fight with such speed that all his previous opponents had been defeated without having the time of making a move.
Montaly, the Ceres fighter circled Li Shiming with incredible speed while taunting him loudly, "See this? Can the wind god Vayu be as fast as me? Haha! Wind will never be faster than light!"
Li Shiming stood motionlessly, while Montaly started to accelerate. A few seconds later, the Ceres fighter seemed to have disappeared, as there was only a circle of shadows around Li Shiming. Many figures danced in and out of the darkness, but it was hard to tell illusion from Montaly himself.
Feeling confident that his display of strength had dazed his opponent, Montaly suddenly appeared behind his opponent and stabbed his back with a pointy dagger. Speed and the element of surprise was the perfect recipe for victory, and once he took Li Shiming down, Montaly reasoned that he would become one of the most popular fighters in the Confederation.
"What? Where—"
After losing his target, Montaly started running again, but his opponent was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, he felt someone was following him, so he paused and turned around. Despite the unmistakable feeling of being stalked, he had seen no one behind him.
The development had unnerved Montaly, and he started to pick up speed to lose his follower. However, no matter how fast he ran, he could always feel that Li Shiming was only one step behind him.
Tired of playing the game, Li Shiming caught up with his opponent, grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up from the ground. Montaly shook his limbs and wiggled his body helplessly, then finally conceded his defeat.
The winner was —Li Shiming!
Meanwhile, in section one, Cao Yi had met the toughest opponent he probably would ever face as a fighter—Patroclus.
In Bernabeu, even the air breathed like despair, as no one hoped of seeing their classmate winning this match.
Cao Yi studied the calm and placid Ivantian in front of him and found it hard to make the connection between him and a god-like warrior.
Despite the challenge ahead, Cao Yi knew that this was his once in a lifetime opportunity to make a name for himself. He reminded himself to remain calm and not be affected by his opponent's overbearing fame.
Cao Yi tensed up his muscles while he poised two curved blades in front of him. His slightly curved posture made him look like a Zerg ready to attack. Suddenly, Cao Yi bolted forward and raised his blades at Patroclus. The two curved blades had already gained a layer of shimmering blade aura.
As the blade aura gained intensity, the audiences gasped as they were astonished to see such powerful blade aura from a level five fighter. Some of the Ivantian audiences even turned to the fighter profiles, trying to find out more details about the earthling boy.
However, what happened next reminded everyone of the unbridgeable gap between the level five fighter and the heir of House Dower.
With a nonchalant and straightforward wave of a hand, Patroclus had snuffed the brilliant shimmer on the blade. The force also hit Cao Yi's body and stopped him cold in his track.
Cao Yi collapsed to the ground, and that was the end of the fight.
Even with the blade aura, a level five fighter stood no chance against the perfect human.