CHAPTER 125: CHAPTER 124: TIANYI TOURNAMENT (PART 16)

An Qing was furious: "I don’t believe this lousy array can be maintained forever. After I defeat you, I’ll settle accounts with that little stutterer!"

An Qing’s eyes were bloodshot, and he swung his large sword to attack Cui Tianxiao. Cui Tianxiao was not intimidated. "Whiz, whiz, whiz," three Thunder Arrows were shot, precisely knocking down the metallic sword gang one by one. An Qing’s attack missed, and he swung his sword horizontally with one hand while summoning elemental power with the other:

"Eight Thousand Bees—!"

Countless spiral cone stings the size of thumbs whirled through the air, emitting a low humming sound as they sped towards Cui Tianxiao.

Cui Tianxiao sneered coldly: "Pah, after so many years, don’t you have any new tricks?"

With a flick of the wrist, the Thunderbolt Bow transformed from a bow into a staff. Cui Tianxiao swung the staff to deflect the large sword, using his toes to gain leverage for a high backflip, narrowly avoiding this wave of Eight Thousand Bees.

When he landed and steadied himself, the next wave of Eight Thousand Bees was already upon him. Cui Tianxiao narrowed his eyes, holding the middle of the long staff, and performed a series of staff techniques, forming an impenetrable defense. The dense cone stings couldn’t get close to him.

After a series of clangs, a layer of cone stings fell to the ground, slowly turning into elemental power and dissipating into the air.

Seeing the group attack fail, An Qing changed his hand gesture, and three crescent blades, as long as an adult’s arm span, appeared out of thin air, attacking Cui Tianxiao from above, the middle, and below simultaneously.

Cui Tianxiao immediately used elemental power to defend, quickly condensing a massive lightning ball, which smashed into the New Moon Blades, causing an explosion that shattered them into pieces.

In the blink of an eye, several rounds had already been exchanged, and it seemed that neither side was gaining the upper hand.

An Qing: "Cui, it seems you’ve improved quite a bit over the years."

Cui Tianxiao: "The real skills haven’t been shown yet! Don’t be a wimp; give it your all like when you bullied me as a kid. Today, I’m settling all old and new scores!"

An Qing gritted his teeth, raising his giant sword with both hands and swung a mighty blow at Cui Tianxiao: "Blazing Sword!"

A huge blade of golden sword gang, with an aura of destruction, descended upon Cui Tianxiao.

Cui Tianxiao was completely unfazed, drawing the Thunderbolt Bow string taut like a full moon, shooting a massive purple lightning bolt at the sword gang: "Thunder Shock Flash—!"

The collision of golden and purple elemental power produced a deafening roar, and the shockwave from the elemental explosion formed a whirlwind, uprooting the surrounding plants.

"Isn’t it my turn to make a move? Heavenly Thunder Sky Break—!" Hundreds of lightning bolts descended from the sky, striking towards An Qing. An Qing used his movement technique to dodge, leaping around and secretly flipping his wrist for a surprise attack at Cui Tianxiao.

"Soaring Snake—!" Several strands of metallic threads, as thick as a finger, suddenly appeared beside Cui Tianxiao, climbing onto his hands and feet as if they were alive.

This move, Soaring Snake, was An Qing’s secret technique, rarely shown to others. Having been suppressed by Cui Tianxiao for so long, An Qing, filled with anger, used this move to catch Cui Tianxiao off guard and restrain him.

The sudden appearance of the Soaring Snake left almost no time to react, and Cui Tianxiao’s expression finally became serious.

He leveraged his agility to continuously dodge and evade, yet he still couldn’t shake off the encirclement of the Soaring Snake.

Cui Tianxiao shook his weapon, retracting the bowstring into the bow, using the sharp edges of the Thunderbolt Bow to sever the metallic Soaring Snake, which twisted a few times on the ground like a living creature before finally dissipating completely.

"Tch, impressive. If I hadn’t been wary of your hidden moves, I really would have been caught! Fine, I’ll give you something big this time, let’s see if you can handle it!"

Having said that, Cui Tianxiao once again bent his bow, shooting a dark purple Thunder Arrow that slammed heavily into the ground where An Qing stood.

"Let you taste my signature move, Violent Falling Thunder—!"

The unprecedented wave of massive elemental power shocked An Qing. He quickly conjured an arched metallic shield bridge for protection.

But he forgot about the pervasive nature of lightning; he defended against the downward strike of lightning but overlooked the electricity spreading on the ground. Purple arcs, like little snakes, traveled through the moist soil, passing under the metallic shield bridge, and reached An Qing’s feet.

With a crisp "pop" sound, An Qing felt like his foot had been bitten by a snake, both numb and painful. Almost immediately, his upper and lower jaws clenched together tightly, and his entire body’s muscles stiffened uncontrollably, causing him to shake violently.

In just over ten seconds, he lost his ability to move, his hair stood on end, smoke wafted from his body, and he lay rigid on the ground.

Cui Tianxiao walked over, pointing at An Qing’s electrified hair, chuckling ominously.

"An Qing, I remember you being quite formidable when we were kids, always fighting this and that. How did you become so useless as you grew up, losing to me in just a few rounds? Don’t tell me you’ve suddenly grown a conscience and let me win!"

After the electricity dissipated, An Qing felt weak to the bones, unable to even lift an arm. At this moment, his entire body was only capable of speaking defiantly:

"B-bullshit! I was just careless, and you took advantage. What are you gloating about!"

"Careless, were you? Don’t flatter yourself too much!"

Cui Tianxiao taunted as he searched through An Qing’s belongings for the Competition Token in a space button, finding only An Qing’s personal items and nothing more.

Seeing An Qing glaring at him furiously, Cui Tianxiao tapped him lightly on the head, the action not forceful but very insulting, causing An Qing’s face to fill with shame and anger.

"Do you know why I chose this place for our duel? Because the soil here is rich in iron elements, and after the rain, the ground becomes an excellent conductor. I am a Thunder Elemental Spirit, and this place is practically a tailor-made arena for me. If I wasn’t probing your abilities, I could have KO’d you in one move. If you observed better, you’d have noticed the unusual soil color. But you seemed oblivious to such an obvious flaw, and with just a little provocation, you were willing to fight me here. Do you really think you are brainless?"

Upon hearing Cui Tianxiao’s words, An Qing’s face turned an iron shade. He hadn’t paid attention to the color of the soil, and now that he looked, it was indeed red soil, indicating abundant iron minerals. An Qing couldn’t help but doubt his own abilities; had he really become sluggish, as Cui Tianxiao suggested?

Cui Tianxiao extended his hand, about to activate An Qing’s Transmission Array, and said one final thought-provoking line:

"You guys, with Brother Chu’s Wind Array covering you during every mission, have become dependent. When was the last time you observed the combat environment on your own? An Qing, adversity breeds resilience, while comfort leads to downfall. Combat awareness, like a blade, rusts without honing. Reflect on this quickly; fighting weak opponents lacks any sense of accomplishment for me."

The white light of the Transmission Array flashed, and An Qing’s figure disappeared. All participating team members simultaneously received a voice notification on their light brains:

"Tianyi Academy’s An Qing, out! Tianyi Academy’s An Qing, out—!"

Having dealt with An Qing, Cui Tianxiao, although exhausted all over, was in an extremely good mood. He shouted into the void: "Xiao Ming, how’s it going with Qingtian? Need my help over there?"

Qi Ming’s voice seemed to echo from the sky: "N-no need, I’m coordinating with Brother Ye, don’t worry, it’ll be done soon!"