CHAPTER 134: THE DECIDING BLOW

Chapter 134: The Deciding Blow

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The new turn of events brought the intensity of the battle between the two third year talents to new heights, and when they finally resumed fighting, the explosion of blows was so fast and hard to follow,

that even the barrier created to separate the arena from the outside, began to vibrate, showing visible cracks after just the first exchanges.

Seeing this, many instructors could only shake their heads as they stepped forward, soon layering another barrier of a higher level over the one already there, making it strong enough to withstand even a cultivator at the peak of the fourth stage.

In short, now it was perfect to endure the clash of these two students, who had long since stopped caring about the rest of the people and had immersed themselves completely in their battle.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of their weapons colliding was deafening, much more than before, even making the eardrums of many first year students ring, forcing them to cover their ears.

This effect wasn’t only due to the sheer strength of their clashes, but also because of the grade of the weapons themselves, both being third grade Spirit Rank.

Normally, such weapons wouldn’t have been allowed in the fight, since they would have made the competition unfair to other participants. But in this case, both of them were prodigies of the same year, and both had brought weapons of the same level, which made things even in the eyes of all.

After a quick inspection of the weapons’ rank and power, the judges allowed them to be used.

They understood as well that if they had given them ordinary weapons, they wouldn’t have lasted long at all, almost certainly breaking after just a few exchanges, so no one had any objections.

That said, this, combined with their pure power, one side relying on his Sword Aura, the other on his cultivation at the fourth stage, clashing and releasing waves of spiritual energy far more powerful than before, made everything much more intense and harder to endure for most of the spectators.

Because of this, aside from reinforcing the arena barrier, additional secondary formations were also added to reduce the sound and other effects.

The two continued, once again finding themselves in a kind of stalemate, neither able to overwhelm the other. This went on for almost a full thirty minutes, during which the crowd kept cheering at every strike, at every clash, never once growing bored.

Everything kept going without pause, and many were starting to think there might not be a final winner, since neither of the two was backing down.

This was the thought of most spectators, but only a few noticed that one side had finally begun to waver a little, and the more experienced among them immediately knew who was going to lose.

"For someone who isn’t even a descendant of the main branch, you’re definitely very strong, much stronger than any other main branch descendant from other families I’ve met," said Li Duoji as he exchanged another flurry of blows with his opponent.

At his words, Yao Jianbo didn’t seem particularly worried. He pulled back, ready to attack again.

In this time, he had used numerous techniques, yet every one of them had been neutralized by the other, who throughout the clash had defended more than attacked. The few times he did attack, Yao Jianbo had found himself at a disadvantage but still managed to push them back.

That said, he also realized he couldn’t keep this up, since his Sword Aura was beginning to falter more and more.

The Sword Aura by itself was extremely powerful, but its drawback was that it consumed large amounts of spiritual energy.

He was at the peak of the third stage, close to the fourth, but not there yet.

So his Qi capacity was very high and could last for a while, but it was nothing compared to his opponent, who not only had far larger reserves of Qi but also controlled his consumption very well, making him a troublesome opponent.

Yao Jianbo also had good control over his Qi, able to regulate his consumption quite well, but when it came to Sword Aura, that could only be done within limits.

He had developed it less than a month ago and in that short time hadn’t had much chance to train his mastery of it to high levels.

So now he was facing a situation where, if this stalemate continued, he wouldn’t be able to hold on anymore, and then he would either have to settle for a draw because of the match’s time limit, or suffer complete Qi exhaustion, in other words, lose.

For him, neither option was ideal. And the idea of ending in a draw with his opponent wasn’t appealing at all, so he decided to put everything he had into his final attack.

If it succeeded, then good. If not, he could only take a step back for now.

He was already, in a way, satisfied with today’s battle, because he had been able to give his all against his rival, even pushing him into some difficulty. Reaching this level meant he was making giant strides, and his training in recent months had not been in vain.

"Stronger than the descendants of the other families? Well, of course. And don’t worry, sooner or later, you’ll be surpassed by me as well," he said with a sigh, calming his heart for a moment.

His aura slowed, and with it the flow of his Qi seemed to settle down.

Seeing this, Li Duoji understood that the other was about to put everything into this attack. With a serious glint in his eyes, he too wasted no time on words and prepared himself.

Soon, silence fell over the scene.

The two, after gaining some distance from one another, didn’t immediately charge in again but instead seemed to prepare their strongest attacks.

And indeed, after just a few seconds, two waves of energy suddenly emerged from them, expanding more and more until they covered the entire arena.

They were invisible, yet could be felt by everyone.

Everyone could feel the pressure radiating from those two auras, while a powerful battle intent seemed to fill them.

Yao Jianbo’s was sharp and cutting like a sword, but at the same time as fierce as a flame.

Li Duoji’s, on the other hand, was fast and slicing like a gust of wind, but also violent and destructive like a lightning bolt striking without warning.

It was clear that this time he had decided to rely on his second element as well, the lightning element, which until now he had avoided using.

Seeing this, Yao Jianbo’s expression grew more serious. He understood the other wasn’t going to hold back on this attack.

The lightning element, by its nature, was more powerful and harder to cultivate. He had never once thought that his opponent had avoided using it because it was weak.

Even though it was difficult to cultivate, Li Duoji had no lack of resources.

He surely had managed to elevate his lightning element to a high level. In fact, his wind element was already at the peak of the third stage, and between the two it was the weaker.

It was known that in such cases one would normally cultivate the stronger element, and for Li Duoji, that was lightning. There was no way he hadn’t cultivated it to a high level.

He was certain that if the wind was already at the peak of the third stage, then lightning would not be weaker, quite possibly it was the element his opponent had raised alongside his cultivation.

This realization set off countless alarms in Yao Jianbo’s mind.

He wasted no time and poured all his spiritual energy into his sword. The blade trembled almost imperceptibly as it absorbed the power.

It was clear that the force contained in the attack he was about to unleash was difficult to endure even for a third grade Spirit Rank weapon.

He took his stance, focusing the attack into his sword, gathering strength into his legs, ready to deliver a deadly slash.

Li Duoji, on the other hand, also wasted no time, channeling his spiritual energy into his spear, which began to radiate intense energy fluctuations, with visible arcs of purple lightning flickering across it now and then before vanishing just as quickly.

Seeing this, silence fell over the crowd as everyone held their breath, watching the events unfold.

No one dared to say a word, not because they didn’t want to, but because the battle consumed all their attention.

All eyes were fixed on the two of them, ready to unleash their most powerful attacks.

Even Zhu Rong, who had been napping in a corner, couldn’t help but open one eye to see what was about to happen.

The wait seemed to last an eternity, but in reality only a few seconds had passed.

Then, without any signal, the two launched forward, disappearing from their spots at an even greater speed than before, leaving behind only faint afterimages before reappearing in the center of the arena.

And as soon as they did, their weapons were already thrusting forward, colliding at last.