CHAPTER 518: CHAPTER 518. ONE-SIDED ADVANTAGE

"You, good for nothing brother! How dare you use such a disgraceful method of ambushing us?" Huang Zi cursed.

"Disgraceful? I thought you should be familiar with such a method, so what’s wrong with using the same method against you?" Huang Zhan returned.

"Why, you... Do you think you can win against me? You are dreaming!" Huang Zi lifted his scepter. The weapon again discharged blue lightning.

Huang Zhan brandished his weapon, a spear. The spear was wrapped in twigs, vines, and leaves. It was his arcane art. The arcane art enhanced the weapon’s durability and increased its power. Enemies wounded by weapons enhanced by this art would also be poisoned.

Huang Zhan swung his spear onto the incoming blue lightning. The impact produced an explosion that forced Huang Zhan and his steed back. The Qing Lion’s paws skidded on the ground to resist the knockback.

"Ragghh...!" Huang Zhan snarled. His body was quivering from the electrocution resulting from the impact. Though he lost the exchange, he was grinning. "As expected of my big brother, you are indeed strong. Hehe."

The twigs, vines, and leaves that wrapped his spear slowly spread from his arm to all over his body. It formed an armor of nature. It even spread to the Qing Lion.

"Nature Assimilation...," Huang Zi uttered. "You have successfully learned that arcane art... To be able to extend the enhancement to your weapon and steed, your mastery has reached the master level."

"Hehe. It has been almost a century since we last spar," Huang Zhan said. "Let’s see if you can still treat me like a little kid."

"I promise you. You will still get trashed like all those years ago," Huang Zi said. While speaking, fire erupted from his body. This fire blanketed him like he was wearing a flaming cloak.

*

While the two princes fought, their underlings had a group fight not far away. The surviving man Huang Zi originally targeted ran away when Huang Zhan took Huang Zi’s attention. He joined the battle against Huang Zi’s subordinates.

In this battle, Jiang Bo led Huang Zi’s team. He took point and fought against the giant general, Da Niu. The two had the same cultivation levels. The others with the Mystic Stage cultivation levels fought among themselves. They planned to thin the other group’s number before assisting their Peak Spirit Stage superiors.

Thanks to the earlier ambushes, Huang Zhan’s team outnumbered Huang Zi’s. Huang Zi’s team had already lost three members before they noticed another team in the same trial stage as them. Another one was killed when they rushed to the rally point. During the battle at the rally point, they lost one more before Jiang Bo arrived.

As for Huang Zhan’s team, they only lost two men. One was killed by Huang Zi’s lightning scepter, and the other one was killed by Jiang Bo when he charged into the unsuspecting enemies as he arrived.

Huang Zhan’s team consisted of Da Niu and five Mystic Stage cultivators. As for Huang Zi’s team, Jiang Bo was backed by only two Mystic Stage cultivators. Huang Zi’s team still had one Spirit Stage cultivator, Xian Fei, but her location was the furthest. It would still be some time before she arrived.

The two Mystic Stage cultivators could only try their best to focus on defense as the five enemies ganged up on them. Their only hope was for Jiang Bo to win the fight against Da Niu, or for Xian Fei to arrive. Both didn’t seem to happen anytime soon. They could tell Xian Fei’s position from their mental connections. She was not nearby. As for Jiang Bo, the chance of him winning the fight was not encouraging.

Da Niu outranked Jiang Bo, but Jiang Bo always looked down on him. He believed the giant only relied on his special constitution. He believed in terms of fighting experience and capabilities, he was better. He currently learned in the harshest way that he was wrong.

While Jiang Bo was an outstanding combatant, Da Niu’s special constitution was indeed exceptional. His gigantic stature was not only for show. His physical strength greatly outclassed a cultivator with the same cultivation level. Furthermore, he was unusually fast and agile for a man of his size. Jiang Bo was forced to take a step back with each clash.

Jiang Bo was angry. He couldn’t accept losing to someone he looked down on. Being repeatedly knocked back like this was like a slap to the face. He couldn’t stomach the shame.

"You, damn bull! I will teach you your place!!" He exclaimed while channeling his aether into the hammer in his hands. Rocks materialized around his hammer before they merged and formed a massive rock hammer. He swung this giant rock hammer at Da Niu.

Da Niu wasn’t flustered by this intimidating hammer. He shoved his fist forward. A roar reverberated in the air as a massive image of a charging ox followed his punch. Fist and hammer collided. The rock hammer exploded to pieces. Both Jiang Bo and Da Niu were thrown back.

Jiang Bo was astonished. He couldn’t believe his opponent could trouble him so, even without using a weapon.

Before the turmoil in his mind subsided, another roar was heard. This time, a massive illusory ox-shaped club came his way. After so many clashes, he had learned that he would never win in a contest of strength. His body turned into a flashing light. The light zoomed at lightning speed. It dodged the incoming club and went on the offense at the same time. The light was headed for Da Niu’s head.

Before it struck, Da Niu caught the light with one hand. The light turned back into Jiang Bo. The head of his hammer was in Da Niu’s grip. The grip was like an iron clamp. Jiang Bo couldn’t pull his hammer away.

"Let go, you bastard!" Jiang Bo exclaimed. He slammed his fist into the ground. The impact caused a small earthquake accompanied by an earth wave that slammed into Da Niu.

Da Niu didn’t budge. He was grinning. "Weak," he uttered with contempt. He punched again.

Unwilling to let go of his hammer, Jiang Bo faced the incoming punch with his fist. He used the same arcane art that conjured rocks, except the materialized rocks encased his hand and formed a giant fist instead of a hammer.

The two giant fists collided. Like before, the rock fist exploded into pieces. Before, Jiang Bo received the blow using his hammer. This time, his fist endured the impact directly. He knew after the impact that it was a wrong move.

His arm was thrown back by a strong force. He had to let go of his hammer as a result. He stepped back multiple times. After he stopped, he held his left hand. His face was grimacing as he endured the pain. All the fingers in his left hand had been broken from the impact.

"Hehe," Da Niu played with Jiang Bo’s hammer to taunt him. When Jiang Bo used the hammer, it appeared gigantic. When Da Niu used it, it looked like a one-handed weapon. "Do you accept defeat yet, Major General?"

"Grrh...!" Jiang Bo growled. He didn’t dare to be reckless anymore. He checked Xian Fei’s position. ’Fucking woman, why are you so slow?’ He cursed in his mind.

*

"Hahaha! Your side doesn’t look so good!" Huang Zhan laughed.

He continued to mock and taunt Huang Zi as he fought. This put Huang Zi in an edgy state of mind and affected his art executions. Huang Zi knew what his brother did, but he couldn’t control his emotions. He was used to be someone who had almost everybody follow his every whim. While he had learned to be calm in critical situations, remaining so under constant insults was difficult.

"Bastard! You will rue the day you infuriate me!" Huang Zi yelled. Every movement of his arm unleashed a burst of fire that assailed his opponent. He combined this with the assault using his lightning scepter. His offense was over the roof. Fire and lightning obliterated his surroundings.

While Huang Zi’s offense might have incinerated most cultivators, Huang Zhan and his Qing Lion were still at the top of their games. This was all thanks to the vine armor wrapping their bodies.

They weren’t unscathed, though. Many of the vines and leaves filling their bodies were charred. They felt searing pain when the flame and lightning touched them, but it was not enough to stop them.

Huang Zhan no longer rode on his tamed beast. He and the Qing Lion fought separately and attacked Huang Zi from different directions. This kept Huang Zi’s attention split. Combined with Huang Zi’s anxious state of mind, the battle was more in Huang Zhan’s favor even when Huang Zi had a better cultivation level and weapon.

Huang Zhan continued his verbal harassment, "Big brother, how about you give up? Go ahead and use the escape stone. Otherwise, you will lose your loyal subjects."

"Shut your mouth! I would rather die than let you be the king!" Huang Zi exclaimed.

"Be careful what you wish for," Huang Zhan uttered with a wicked grin.