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Translator: Jon
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
“Very good!” Huo Liaoyuan was so furious that he burst into laughter. Lu Ye’s reaction was within his expectations. If the other party had given up hope, then he would truly have held Lu Ye in great contempt.
After the words left his mouth, he raised his hand and smashed his palm down on the void in front of him. Spiritual Power surged around his body, and a fiery-red Spiritual Power Disc with a radius of several meters swiftly spread out into the surroundings with the center of his palm as the origin. Moreover, there were various complex patterns in the middle of the Spiritual Power Disc that interconnected with each other and flashed with light.
The Spiritual Power Disc seemed to be embedded in his palm. Following the activation of his Spiritual Power, countless fireballs of various sizes emerged from the Spiritual Power Disc and pelted down on Lu Ye like a meteor shower.
As a Spell Cultivator in the Ninth Order Cloud River Realm, he constantly spent his time researching and studying Spell Techniques. It was only natural for his attainments in the Spell Techniques to be extremely high. Furthermore, the might of the Meteor Shower was extraordinary. Under his control, numerous fireballs burning with a red light transformed into arcs of light that streaked toward Lu Ye at a high speed. Everywhere the fireballs passed, the space became distorted from the heat.
Lu Ye’s figure began moving, and he evaded the first few fireballs that came speeding toward him. After that, he took every opportunity to swiftly move forward amidst the rain of meteors.
The speed of his movements and his reaction time far exceeded the standards of a Fifth Order Master.
*Boom… Boom… Boom…* Fireball after fireball streaked through the void, exploding against the ground of the Deathmatch Platform and slamming into the enchantment barriers in the surroundings. Then, they exploded with bursts of dazzling firelight and astounding heat waves.
A look of astonishment soon replaced the calm expression on Huo Liaoyuan’s face.
As a Ninth Order Master, he had not bothered to put much effort into his attacks since he was only facing a Fifth Order Master. In his opinion, the gap in their cultivation was so large that any random Spell Techniques would be fatal to his opponent. Therefore, activating an energy-consuming Spell Technique like the Meteor Shower was considered an extremely safe and reliable tactic. However, Lu Ye’s performance shocked him.
[I can’t believe he is moving forward amidst the Meteor Shower… Does that reaction speed really belong to a Fifth Order Master!?]
His expression immediately became serious. It was not as though he had never encountered unexpected failures when success was practically guaranteed. Hence, he once warned himself to act with caution. His Mental Power began to surge violently. As a result, the number of fireballs emerging from the Spiritual Power Disc increased sharply. The trajectory of these fireballs also became increasingly unpredictable.
Meanwhile, Lu Ye slipped through the storm of fireballs and continued to progress forward like a fish swimming against the current. When Huo Liaoyuan’s mentality changed, he immediately felt pressured by the attacks. His progress forward abruptly slowed by a significant margin.
A Spell Cultivator generally had a certain degree of control over the Spell Techniques they unleashed, and any Spell Cultivators who reached the Seventh Order Realm could manifest this ability.
Take Lu Ye for example. When he first started cultivating the Fire Phoenix Technique, his cultivation had only been in the Third Order Realm at the time. The trajectory of the Spell Techniques was fixed as soon as he activated and released the Spell Techniques. He had no means of control over the trajectory, so his accuracy was extremely poor.
In contrast, a cultivator would be able to control the Spiritual Power that left their body once they reached the Seventh Order Realm. That was also the fundamental reason why cultivators could use telekinetic techniques when their cultivation reached the Seventh Order Realm.
Spell Cultivators who could control the Spiritual Power that they injected into a Spirit Artifact would naturally be able to control their own Spell Techniques. The attainments of Spell Cultivators did not depend solely on how many Spell Techniques they mastered or how powerful the Spell Techniques were but also on how skillfully they could control their Spell Techniques.
Huo Liaoyuan was undoubtedly a qualified Spell Cultivator. Although he could not control every one of the fireballs that came shooting out of the Spiritual Power Disc, he could control some of them. The trajectory of the fireballs that he could control was extremely difficult to predict. For example, some of the fireballs that Lu Ye had avoided would turn around and attack him from behind.
At this moment, the hand that had remained on the hilt of the blade for so long finally moved. A fiery-red blade light flashed, and the Inviolable Saber slid out of the sheath in a smooth movement. Then, the sharp blade light slashed downward and sliced through the incoming fireballs with resounding blasts.
On the other hand, the Spiritual Power Shield lingered around Lu Ye’s body as a defensive measure. The falling embers scattering around him accelerated the consumption of his Spiritual Power.
He did not activate the power of the Tree of Glyphs. That was his trump card in fighting Huo Liaoyuan, so he did not want to expose the existence of the Tree of Glyphs until absolutely necessary.
Besides, he could not defeat a Ninth Order Cloud River Realm Master by relying on the power of the Tree of Glyphs alone. He needed to make Huo Liaoyuan exhaust as much strength as possible. After all, his only chance at victory was to kill the weakened Huo Liaoyuan in one blow.
In terms of cultivation, there was no denying that Lu Ye was much weaker than Huo Liaoyuan. Be that as it may, Huo Liaoyuan had no other advantages aside from his superior cultivation.
“Die!” Huo Liaoyuan suddenly released a furious roar that was accompanied by a vicious expression.
Lu Ye abruptly froze mid-slash. Looking to the side, he saw an enormous fireball speeding toward him. This fireball was unmistakably different from the others. The Spiritual Power contained within the fireball was extremely violent.
When he noticed the fireball, he also felt the chaotic and savage force within the fireball fluctuating wildly. The fireball suddenly expanded and filled his entire field of vision. What immediately followed was a deafening explosion and a wave of blinding flames.
*Boom…* The fireball erupted, and the flames swallowed Lu Ye’s entire figure. However, Huo Liaoyuan did not stop there. He quickly took the opportunity to further increase his advantage. As more and more fireballs threw themselves into the flames under his delicate control, the aura of death permeated the air.
The flames suddenly surged violently, and then Lu Ye’s disheveled figure leapt out from the flames. His body was leaning forward slightly with one hand spread out in front of him. There was an enormous Protection Glyph in front of him. It looked like he was holding a shield at first glance. Meanwhile, his other hand was gripping the Inviolable Saber tightly even though the flesh of his arm had been burned badly by the flames.
His feet landed solidly on the Deathmatch Platform. Nevertheless, the impact pushed his figure backwards by nearly one hundred meters before he managed to stabilize himself once more.
*Crack…* All of a sudden, the shield of the Protection Glyph in front of him shattered to pieces and revealed his figure. His clothes were tattered, and his body was covered in burn wounds. Even his hair was slightly curly and burnt from the heat.
He had worked so hard earlier. In the end, he finally managed to narrow the distance between him and Huo Liaoyuan by a small margin. Be that as it may, his opponent had easily erased his efforts and returned everything back to the beginning.
[I knew it… I really hate Spell Cultivators.] Lu Ye turned his head to the side and spat out a mouthful of blood. At the same time, he calmed the tumultuous blood flowing in his chest. [They always act as they please just because they have a long reach. At this rate, everything that I’ve learned so far has been rendered useless.]
“Oh?” Huo Liaoyuan seemed slightly surprised to see that Lu Ye had managed to escape death. Then, his expression abruptly turned excited. “Amazing! How amazing!”
He looked like he had found something new and interesting. Thus, his eyes shone with excitement and delight. “You’re just a Fifth Order Master. I can’t believe you managed to defend against my Spell Techniques. Lu Yi Ye, you truly are a monster. No wonder you caused such a huge headache for the major powers of the Thousand Demon Ridge! I was thinking that it would be such a waste if I gave you such an easy death. I even activated an Exotic Treasure like the Deathmatch Platform after all! Since you’re so amazing…” His expression abruptly became dark and sinister. The next words that came out of his mouth were as cold as ice, “You should struggle as hard as you can. I’ve already paid such a huge price, it’s only right that you show me a good time!”
With another flash of Spiritual Light, countless fireballs appeared above the Spiritual Power Disc once more. The fireballs would pause for a moment following their emergence, then shoot toward Lu Ye without mercy.
After his previous experience, how could Lu Ye fail to realize his error? With his current strength, it was wishful thinking to forcefully approach his opponent under these circumstances.
The bodies of Spell Cultivators were generally weak. Hence, they would often suffer a tragic fate if a Combat Cultivator managed to approach them. It was just that they had a long reach, and having such a long-range gave them power. In the face of such an absolute difference in strength, it was impossible for a Combat Cultivator to approach them.
[Sure enough, I have to keep chipping away at his strength.]
Such a dense and continuous attack would surely consume great reserves of energy even if Huo Liaoyuan was a Ninth Order Master!
Having made up his mind, Lu Ye immediately sprinted to the side. He was followed closely by several fireballs, which brushed past his body at a dangerously close distance only to crash into the Deathmatch Platform and the enchantment barriers with deafening explosions. The eruption of these fireballs released airwaves that swept out violently in all directions, throwing him around like a canoe on the sea that was caught in a turbulent storm of wind and waves.
Huo Liaoyuan was indeed on the verge of insanity, and his expression was distorted with rage. His instability might be caused by the fact that his subordinates had suffered such extreme casualties yesterday. With more than sixty people dying all at once, the burden on his heart had been too much for him to bear. Therefore, he was venting out all his frustrations now that he finally had the chance.
Laughing wildly, he controlled the Spell Technique and unleashed a continuous barrage of attacks at Lu Ye. At the same time, he shouted from time to time. “Run! Run! Look at the way you’re scurrying around! You’re just like a little mouse! How pathetic you look now! Do you want to kill me? Come if you want to kill me! You will never be able to kill me if the only thing you can do is run!”
In the midst of his mockery, he did not forget to throw in some provocations too. It could be seen that he was very meticulous. Even when he had complete control over the situation, he instinctively used his words to influence Lu Ye’s emotions.
How could Lu Ye pay Huo Liaoyuan any mind? He had already decided to chip away at the other party’s strength. Naturally, he had to buy as much time as possible.
The sound of explosions rang out without stopping. Meanwhile, Lu Ye constantly ran around the Deathmatch Platform. Once in a while, he would make a feint as though he was trying to charge forward in order to confuse and mislead Huo Liaoyuan. As he expected, Huo Liaoyuan would increase the intensity of the attacks to stop him whenever he tried to make a move.
The Inviolable Saber in his hand was nothing more than a decoration at this point. There was no opportunity for him to swing his blade. On the other hand, he repeatedly activated the Protection Glyph to block the attacks that he could not avoid.
Not a single fireball caused him any direct injuries, but the impact of the explosions made his body ache and his blood boil. That was also the reason why he had not activated the power of the Tree of Glyphs at the first sign of danger. While he could certainly block off the damage from the fire by activating the Tree of Glyphs, he could not avoid the impact that accompanied the explosions.
Moreover, freely activating the Tree of Glyphs in such a manner would consume a lot of Mental Power. Even if his Mental Power surpassed his peers in the same cultivation Realm by a large margin, he could not maintain the Tree of Glyphs for a long time. His trump card had to be hidden until he found the right opportunity. Only then could he maximize the element of surprise and obtain unimaginable effects.
Time flowed… First, it was a cup of tea’s time… Then, it was a stick of incense’s time…
Lu Ye was becoming increasingly battered. Likewise, Huo Liaoyuan’s expression was no longer as relaxed as before.
The Meteor Shower was a Spell Technique that consumed copious amounts of energy, and Huo Liaoyuan had never cast the Spell Technique for such a long period before. In just a stick of incense’s time, nearly half of his Spiritual Power had been exhausted. What annoyed him the most was that Lu Ye remained alive and kicking in the distance!
