Because the Wenyu fruit was used for refining Nascent Soul Pills, which would only be useful for those wanting to form a Nascent Soul, all the people gathered here today were Golden Core cultivators. When they heard that they had to fight against Ding Ziyu, they suddenly became uneasy.
“We’re still at the Golden Core level. How can we compete with Peak Master Ding?” Someone from the Qingyun Sect complained.
“You’re not just using this as an excuse to kill us, are you?”
“Calm down everyone. You only need to make a couple of moves, no one will go overboard.” Liu Mang Zhenren smiled and said, “This excellency still has a previous engagement, so Elder Ding will take care of this in my place. Rest assured that this excellency will go and give your Masters a personal explanation.”
Today’s events, after all, were somewhat irregular, as a Sect Leader, his staying would inevitably be criticized. After saying that, Liu Mang Zhenren left with a flick of his sleeves, handing everything over to the pair of father and son.
Despite everyone’s displeasure, Ding Hu was a Half-Immortal Elder so they did not dare to act rashly, they could only brace themselves and go fight Ding Ziyu.
“Step forward when I call your name,” the Liuyun Sect disciple said, holding a bamboo slip. “Qingyun Sect’s Chao Leng.”
The first person to be called had turned out to be Chao Leng, the one who had fought against Mo Tianliao a few days ago. Chao Leng’s complexion did not look very good, he stepped forward slowly and saluted Ding Ziyu.
“Just use your typical moves to attack me,” said Ding Ziyu, looking like a Senior with his hand behind his back.
Chao Leng raised a hand, and a water dragon rushed towards Ding Ziyu.
Ding Ziyu immediately summoned a fire dragon, both attacks clashing. The fire dragon was twice as big as the water dragon, it swallowed the water dragon instantly, and continued to rush directly towards Chao Leng.
A Nascent Soul cultivator’s spiritual power circulated much faster than that of a Golden Core cultivator, there was no pause between moves. The fire dragon charged in a straight line, about to devour Chao Leng.
Chao Leng immediately put up an ice wall and rolled in place.
Unexpectedly, the fire dragon dissipated on its own when it touched the ice wall. Ding Ziyu smiled and said, “I’ve offended you.” Then, he made a “please” gesture, indicating that Chao Leng could go.
When the crowd saw that Ding Ziyu did not go overboard, they felt quite relieved and stepped forward to fight one by one.
Mo Tianliao was the fourth on the line, all the people in front of him had been from Qingyun Sect.
“Mo shidi, it’s your turn,” whispered a disciple of Woyun Sect who had also been called from behind him. He was an ordinary inner-disciple under Xuanji who had gotten started much earlier than Mo Tianliao, so he called him shidi. “Let me hold the cat for you.”
Mo Tianliao turned his head and glanced at the bearded man, then he shook his head, graciously declining, and placed the cat in his arms on a tree. The snow-coloured kitten scrambled up the tree and disappeared into the lush canopy.
“Fellow cultivator Mo stood me up last night, were you perhaps with a beauty?” Ding Ziyu looked at Mo Tianliao, a forced smile on his face.
“What is Peak Master Ding talking about?” asked Mo Tianliao, sticking a finger in his ear. “Master has already settled the engagement of this humble Mo, Peak Master should not say such misleading words.”
“You…” Ding Ziyu momentarily choked. Yesterday, in order to hide from people’s notice, he had used sound transmission when settling the meeting, so no one else knew about it. Obviously, he now had no way of publicly accusing Mo Tianliao of making a fool of him.
When the people heard the way they were talking, they one by one started to look at them weirdly. Mo Tianliao was handsome, and he had already made a name for himself these past few days at the conference, when Ding Ziyu’s words were twisted by Mo Tianliao, it immediately gave everyone the wrong idea. No wonder Ding Ziyu was always picking on Mo Tianliao lately, turns out he had a crush on him.
The dignified Liuyun Sect Peak Master, unexpectedly liked a man, one who was taller and looked manlier than him, thinking about the rumour that Ding Ziyu was originally sent to be Lord Duantian’s catamite, they could not help believing that there was some truth to it.
“Ahem…” Ding Hu, who stood to the side watching, coughed, urging Ding Ziyu to stop speaking nonsense.
Ding Hu was well aware of his son’s capabilities, if Ding Ziyu had really been Duantian successor, he would have long figured out the method for crafting a divine weapon. The reason they had claimed this was, first to cover up the fact that he had sent his son to be a catamite and second to obtain more power in the sect.
At this conference, Ding Ziyu should have reached his peak, but he was unexpectedly beat by this boy surnamed Mo. This morning, Ding Ziyu had said that he was planning to expose Mo Tianliao’s identity, he had immediately agreed with his son. This Mo Tianliao had to be eliminated!
“We came to attend the Three Sects Conference for the sake of improving the relationship between the sects, but now we have been dragged to fight against a cultivator who is stronger than us just to verify whether we are thieves. Liuyun sect’s way of treating its guests is really something.” Mo Tianliao stood there with his hands behind his back, and did not make a move, this was because he could feel that there was a powerful divine sense probing him, among all the people present, only Ding Hu was a Half-Immortal cultivator.
Mo Tianliao could not take a look, he just pretended not to know and stalled for time by talking, while at the same time quickly pondering countermeasures.
It would not be difficult to go over and slay Ding Ziyu given his middle-stage Golden Core cultivation and his Half-Immortal divine soul, but he had no chance of winning against a Half-Immortal. And most importantly, he could not let Ding Hu see that he was an old ghost who had been reborn.
Nowadays, although the cultivation world held the late “Lord Duantian” in very high regard, the only thing they really respected was his crafting prowess. At the time, he had killed half of the elites of both the righteous and demonic paths at his Mo Palace and at Absolute Death Valley. If they knew that he was still alive, who knew how many people would come seeking revenge?
The other Golden Core cultivators who were dragged from the competition could not help showing their displeasure when they heard him.
Some of them were going to take part in the last round of today’s competition. If they consumed their spiritual power here, things would surely go wrong when they went back into the arena. Looking around, none of the cultivators who had been dragged here were from Liuyun Sect.
“If we waste our energy here, the Liuyun Sect disciples will have an advantage.”
“You want your own disciples to win the competition, how treacherous.”
“Humph, our sect lost its most valuable treasure. How could your trifling matters compare to that?” Ding Hu snorted coldly and said, “If we find the thief today and get back our lost property, you will be compensated.”
The instant Ding Hu was distracted, his divine sense which had been secretly monitoring him withdrew. Mo Tianliao immediately moved, he turned Taishi into a changdao, and slashed towards Ding Ziyu.
Because both of them were high-ranking cultivators with divine souls, when they started moving, their divine souls were galvanised. Their darting movements were just like red beans and mung beans mixing together, if one did not keep their eyes on the beans from the very beginning, and tried to look again after some time, one would not be able to see anything at all.
Ding Ziyu was caught off guard and was nearly cut in half by him, he immediately took out a sword to block. A highly qualified craftsman, Ding Ziyu had a dual earth and fire spiritual root, which was as good as what Duantian had had during his previous life. The sword was covered in flames while at the same time, countless earth spikes burst out of the ground.
The biggest difference between the Nascent Soul and the Golden Core stages was that Nascent Soul cultivators could use multiple techniques at the same time thanks to the aid of the Nascent Soul in their Dantian, while Golden Core cultivators could only use one at a time.
However, that problem did not stop Mo Tianliao. The sword in his hands transformed into a spear, he stuck it in the ground and used it to vault over the earth spikes, once he was in mid-air, the spear turned into a bow and arrow. The tortoiseshell-coloured bow only had one arrow, he drew the bow and shot.
Ding Ziyu immediately erected an earth wall to block, but the arrow was surprisingly invincible, it instantly penetrated the three chi thick earth wall and headed straight towards his brow. He retreated at once, while at the same time raising his hands to make a seal. One after another, earth walls were constantly erected in front of him, yet the arrow cut through them like a hot knife through butter. After piercing through three walls one after the other, the arrow exhausted all its energy and promptly return to Mo Tianliao.
Without waiting for Ding Ziyu to catch his breath, Mo Tianliao drew the bow again and shot once more.
Ding Ziyu was enraged, he used his spiritual power and erected a one zhang thick earth wall while summoning a fire dragon at the same time, it rushed straight towards Mo Tianliao.
Mo Tianliao dodged but the fire dragon gave chase. His feet stepped on his newly crafted flying sword, which had no attack power and could only be used to fly. However, because he had discarded all other supplementary functions, the flying sword was so light and fast that it carried Mo Tianliao to the earth wall before the arrow could reach it.
As long as its Master was within one zhang of it, Taishi could control its own body. The tortoiseshell-coloured arrow went straight through the earth wall and, like it had grown eyes, turned a corner and kept flying towards Ding Ziyu.
Ding Ziyu never imagined that this arrow would be capable of changing direction, his shoulder blade was suddenly pierced through, but he did not pay it much attention. He promptly commanded the fire dragon to engulf Mo Tianliao, while at the same time he threw the sword in his hand, using his divine soul to direct it at Mo Tianliao.
The tortoiseshell-coloured arrow returned to Mo Tianliao’s hands and merged with the bow, then once again it split into two in mid-air, becoming a pair of swords which clashed against the coming sword. Ding Ziyu needed to use his divine soul to control his sword, in contrast, as long as Mo Tianliao was within one zhang of Taishi, he did not need to worry about it as it would be happily able to play by itself. Mo Tianliao could concentrate on the fire dragon.
Countless withered trees rose into the sky, leading the fire dragon away, when the fire met the wood it promptly ignited, turning into a raging inferno, which immediately disrupted the shape of the fire dragon, it was then assimilated into the boundless flames.
The watching crowd had to retreat so as not to be burned.
Because Ding Ziyu had only one divine soul and he had to handle his sword, he could not split his attention to control the fire dragon, once it lost its shape, it also lost the ability to shake its head and wag its tail. Mo Tianliao himself had a fire attribute, raising his hand to mobilize his spiritual power, and gathering that blazing fire, he drew a Taiji symbol in the air.
When all the flames converged, it would be like a gourd full of wine, with one push from behind it would start gushing instantly. The giant fiery Taiji rushed to envelop Ding Ziyu. Mo Tianliao stuffed a few Qi Restoring Pills into his mouth, his spiritual power was insufficient, but absorbing lingshi required absolute concentration. The rest of the Golden Core cultivators waiting their turn were all dumbfounded, what no going overboard? These two men were clearly fighting to the death!
Ding Ziyu had to call back his sword, at the same time he used his earth powers to block. Fire strengthened soil, the earth wall became more solid when it was touched by the fire, yet the tortoiseshell-coloured swords were not affected at all, they returned to Mo Tianliao’s hand and combined into a claymore, which Mo Tianliao raised over his head.
The sturdy earth wall crumbled, Mo Tianliao raised his hands and chopped at the horrified Ding Ziyu.
The Taiji Fire Gathering Technique, the attack that only Lord Duantian knew!
“Stop!” Ding Hu saw that the situation was heading south, he raised his hand, readying to hit Mo Tianliao in the centre of his back.
The whistling wind generated by the slapping motion carried with it an enormous amount of spiritual power, and it headed straight towards Mo Tianliao. No matter how strong he was, that was the place that housed his cultivation, it would be unable to withstand a hit from a Half-Immortal who was two levels higher.
Mo Tianliao immediately turned around and stretched his hand, turning Taishi into a shield, at the same time he concentrated his spiritual power in order to block.
There was a loud noise, and Mo Tianliao was violently launched several zhangs away.
“Ow! Pain pain pain!” Taishi yelled inside his mind, the shield had been deformed by the great force, but it soon turned back into its normal shape by itself. Before the man or the device had recovered, another hit followed.
There was a tremendous and sudden explosion, turning the vegetation and buildings of the surrounding li into ashes.
Of the people who were watching nearby, those who had good reflexes had set up a defensive barrier and had had a narrow escape, those who had been slower had ended up spitting blood.
When the smoke and dust cleared, a shining white figure could be seen standing defensively in front of Mo Tianliao, his slender white hand against Ding Hu’s palm.
Mo Tianliao had been too close; he was injured by the impact force. A rivulet of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, he wiped it off with the back of his hand. He opened his mouth and called, “Master!”
Qingtong and Ding Hu retracted their hands at the same time, but at the instant of withdrawal, Qingtong started another attack, a slap rushing towards him. At a moment like that, should they have not stopped at the same time, acted politely and sat down to have a good talk? Ding Hu had not expected Qingtong to keep attacking so he was caught off guard. He received a direct hit, blood immediately dripped from the corners of his mouth.
This was not from an internal injury; his lip had just split from the blow.
“This excellency’s disciple is not to be bullied by others.” Qingtong said in a cold voice.
It was the first time that Ding Hu, who had lived to such an advanced age, had been slapped on the face, not to mention that Qingtong Zhenren was several hundred years younger than him. He was momentarily stunned.
“Father!” Ding Ziyu clambered up from the earth mound. “Mo Tianliao, he is– ah!” Before the phrase could be completed, he was swatted by Qingtong and fell heavily to the ground.
“Qingtong, you’ve gone too far!” When Ding Hu came back to his senses, he saw Qingtong beating his son, he was suddenly boiling with rage.
“If you hurt my disciple, then I will beat your son, fair is fair!” Qingtong crossed his arms and took a punch from Ding Hu, the two men immediately started fighting with all they had.
It was obviously not a wise choice to stay on the spot where Half-Immortal cultivators fought. The Golden Core cultivators, together with the Liuyun Sect disciples and attendants, escaped one after another, quickly going to inform the Elders of their sects. The whole mountain immediately became deserted, only the rocks and plants which were being constantly destroyed and flew everywhere were left.
Countless ice crystals turned into sharp spikes and surrounded Ding Hu, a huge spiritual blow turned into an ice dragon in mid-air, which hit the more than ten zhang high earth wall and cracked it. The pure ice spiritual force was enough to freeze the flames released by Ding Hu into ice shards. The flames climbed the ice dragon, the ice dragon devoured the flames, they disappeared one moment and grew the next. At the same time, countless ice spikes battled against earth spikes.
Craftsmen’s divine souls were usually stronger than those of other cultivators, and Qingtong’s divine soul was incomplete. If they were to fight simply by using spiritual force, he would have nothing to worry about, however Ding Hu obviously would not simply use normal moves against him. As a craftsman, his fighting skills were not as good as other people’s, his advantage lay in his divine soul, so of course he would fight while using his divine soul.
When a powerful divine soul attack hit, Qingtong had to use his own divine soul to repeal it. Under the blow, his divine soul became agitated, his head suddenly started to ache faintly, Qingtong promptly frowned. Ding Hu immediately realized that Qingtong’s divine soul was weak, he exploited that weakness. His transparent divine soul emerged from his body, almost turning into something physical, and rushed towards Qingtong’s divine soul.
Mo Tianliao immediately discovered that something was wrong, he turned Taishi into armour to protect his chest and, rushing to Qingtong at the risk of injury, grabbed his waist and said, “Master, I’ll help you!”
His powerful divine soul immediately confronted Ding Hu’s, he trapped Ding Hu’s divine soul inside his mind, and attacked him hundreds of times in quick succession.
Ding Hu’s eyes widened and he let out a wail.
The two people were standing in the same place, Ding Hu could not see who the divine soul belonged to, naturally he thought Qingtong had pretended to be a pig in order to eat the tiger, his showing weakness just now was merely a trick to lure him into a trap. He immediately pulled out his divine soul and drew back.
“Father!” Ding Ziyu scrambled to stand and painfully flew to Ding Hu, seeking his father’s protection, at the same time, he threw a handful of tiny magical weapons. Those magical weapons exploded in the air, shielding him slightly.
Qingtong raised his hand and made a slapping motion, the blow heading towards Ding Ziyu.
Ding Ziyu raised his hand to block, terrified, the deep blue wrist-guard on his arm met this murderous slap and suddenly emitted a blinding flash of light. The palm full of spiritual power bounced back instantly.
“Cough.” Qingtong was hit by this great power and immediately spit out a mouthful of blood.
“Qingtong!” Mo Tianliao, who had been absorbed in dealing with Ding Hu’s divine soul, suddenly turned back and flew to catch that white figure who was like a butterfly with broken wings. The wrist-guard was a pair with Qingtong’s bracelet, when he was little, the kitten was not very smart and had always attacked Mo Tianliao without meaning to. Mo Tianliao had been reluctant to use something to tame animals on him, so he had added a function to his wrist-guard, any attack with killing intent would bounce back to the cat.
Although the kitten was naughty, he had not really meant to hurt him, so this function had never been used, Qingtong did not know it existed at all, but now…
“Aaaaahhh!” Mo Tianliao roared, threw Taishi, turned it into a machete, and chopped off Ding Ziyu’s hand with one slash.
Unedited, please point out any mistakes
I swear that that mixed beans comparison was like that on the raws