Chapter 36 - One Willing To Hit, The Other Willing To Get Hit
Zhao Qingteng didn"t approach Xu Xiaoshou. Instead, he lifted his Ice Stream Sword and looked up as he muttered, "Galaxy!"
"Whoosh…"
The snow on the ground instantly floated and swirled up into the air before shattering to become a sword aura.
Zhao Qingteng"s attack seemed to tear open the galaxy, and it sliced toward Xu Xiaoshou amidst the hovering snow.
The sword behind Xiao Qixiu"s back trembled, and the judge looked startled.
Acquired-stage Sword Will!
To think that it was an Acquired-stage Sword Will!
In the previous battle, there was Zhou Tianshen"s Acquired-stage Blade Will, and now there was Zhao Qingteng"s Acquired-stage Sword Will.
"Is this Xu Xiaoshou the key to unlocking the secrets of winning?" he thought to himself. "How does he expose all of his opponents" trump cards?"
Zhou Tianshen hugged his sword while sitting in the spectator seats, looking worried.
To think that it was a Sword Will!
"Faced with a Sword Will, how can Xu Xiaoshou, who"s trapped within an ice sculpture, defend himself?
"Is Xu Xiaoshou, who defeated me, about to be taken down by Zhao Qingteng in three moves?
"Then won"t I be…
He hit himself hard on the head, no longer able to sit still.
On the other side, Mu Ziqi grabbed her pigtails. She was standing on a chair in the waiting room, craning her neck to see how strong Xu Xiaoshou, who hadn"t cared to greet her, really was.
In the end, she saw that he"d become an ice sculpture the moment the battle started.
Elder Qiao sat silently in the spectator seats. This was the second time he"d come to watch Xu Xiaoshou"s battle, and it was also the second time he"d felt that he should go and console Xu Xiaoshou after the battle.
Under the crowd"s gaze, the galaxy-like sword aura sliced the target into two.
The sword aura flashed past the arena, and the ice sculpture immediately exploded.
However, the crowd was shocked to find that the ice sculpture hadn"t been cut by the Sword Will. Instead, an arm had sliced out from inside the ice sculpture, breaking it from the inside.
Zhao Qingteng"s eyes narrowed. "An arm?" he thought.
The arm had a transparent glow about it, as if the flesh of the arm had a spiritual quality and was made out of treasures. The arm grabbed onto the fiercely approaching sword aura.
Everyone was shocked. It grabbed the attack?
Clang…
A piercing sound rang out. Xu Xiaoshou looked as though he"d just been reborn, and jumped out of the ice sculpture.
He somersaulted in the air, then tossed the Galaxy Sword Aura back at Zhao Qingteng!
"Oh f***!"
Zhou Tianshen, who was outside the arena, was shocked, and his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. This scene was extremely familiar.
In their battle, Xu Xiaoshou had reversed his Deity Mountain-Lifting Technique with his sword technique, which had ultimately led to his defeat.
In just the one day he hadn"t seen Xu Xiaoshou, he didn"t expect him to now be able to reverse his opponent"s techniques without even using his sword.
"Grabbed onto a sword aura with his bare hands?" he thought, incredulous.
"Are you kidding me?"
Xu Xiaoshou knelt weakly onto the ground and trembled as he slowly expelled the chilly energy in his body.
Fleeting White Cloud Two: Modified Sword Style!
That"s right. This was the Sword Will attack that he"d learned during his battle with Zhou Tianshen yesterday. It was just that Xu Xiaoshou had executed it with his Glow of Sharpness.
He gathered the transparent glow on his arm and turned it into a blade. Its sharpness was comparable to that of Hiding Pain.
Snow fell in the arena. The crowd was dumbfounded.
It would"ve been fine if Xu Xiaoshou had used his sword. However, Xu Xiaoshou had grabbed onto the sword aura with his bare hands, which shocked everyone beyond belief. Even Zhao Qingteng was unable to react for a moment.
The sword attack sliced toward Zhao Qingteng, and Zhao Qingteng narrowly managed to avoid it. The Galaxy Sword Aura blasted onto the barrier instead, causing it to ripple, and the barrier was almost torn apart.
"Terrifying!"
Everyone was shocked and couldn"t believe that Xu Xiaoshou had been able to grab onto such a ferocious attack. At the same time, the Innate-stage physical body rose in their estimations.
There was frost on Xu Xiaoshou"s face, and his lips had turned purple. He"d clearly been severely frozen. However, the wound on his palm that he"d gotten from the sword aura made him feel wide awake.
The scorching energy in his energy reserve spread through his body and quickly dispelled the cold, which was a pleasant surprise.
"I"ll take his life now that he"s weakened!" he thought.
Xu Xiaoshou didn"t let the opportunity to launch consecutive attacks slip by. He immediately grabbed onto Hiding Pain after throwing the sword aura out.
A moment later, he gracefully sliced his sword through the air, and his Sword Will immediately pressed onto the surroundings.
Fleeting White Cloud One: Sword Web Style!
He"d thought up these names for two attacks while frozen, and during that time he"d also thought about how to use them!
He, Xu Xiaoshou, knew more than just close-range combat.
Zhao Qingteng had just avoided his own Galaxy Sword Aura when he saw the web of swords pressing toward him. He immediately sliced forward with his Ice Stream Sword, and the clas.h.i.+ng of swords rang out in the arena as they hit.
Creak, creak, creak!
Streaks of red blood appeared on Zhao Qingteng"s white robes.
The reality was that Xu Xiaoshou"s Sword Will had become more powerful after refining it over the course of his battles.
Even though Zhao Qingteng also had an Acquired-stage Sword Will, he couldn"t defend against Xu Xiaoshou"s intensive barrage of attacks.
The next second, Zhao Qingteng gave up resisting, and the web of swords sliced past his body. Zhao Qingteng"s ice sculpture appeared once again, and it instantly crumbled from the attacks of Xu Xiaoshou"s sword.
It appeared!
The unknown subst.i.tution technique!
Xu Xiaoshou had been prepared for this. His Sense had constantly been concentrating on the movements of the snow. Sure enough, he saw some of the snow in one area abnormally stagnate.
It"s there!
The crowd watched in shock as Xu Xiaoshou shot a palm toward the air beside him, and they grew so anxious that they almost cursed at Xu Xiaoshou.
However, the next instant, Zhao Qingteng appeared where Xu Xiaoshou"s palm had struck!
"Oh, G.o.d!"
The crowd became confused at that moment. What was going on?
Xu Xiaoshou had hit Zhao Qingteng. One of them was willing to attack, while the other was willing to get hit?
Zhao Qingteng"s expression changed. He knew that his opponent had seen through his Snow Traversing Technique with his attack just now.
Xu Xiaoshou"s ability to a.n.a.lyze the battle was terrifying!
Caught off guard, Zhao Qingteng couldn"t even lift his Ice Stream Sword. All he could do was meet Xu Xiaoshou"s palm with his own.
Xu Xiaoshou snickered.
He twisted his right palm and made the Glow of Sharpness circle it. His palm instantly transformed into a claw as it pierced fiercely into Zhao Qingteng"s comparatively tender palm.
Rip!
Blood sprayed into the air. Zhao Qingteng had already conjured an ice mirror so their palms would collide, thus defending himself against the attack. However, how would that stop the Innate-stage Sharpness?
The claw directly ripped apart the ice mirror and left five b.l.o.o.d.y holes in Zhao Qingteng"s palm!
Xu Xiaoshou finally understood the difference between a palm strike and a claw attack. Now that his Sinister Skeletal Claw had landed, his opponent would be left with one finger if he pulled his hand back.
His opponent would be left with his shortest finger!
However, Xu Xiaoshou held back. It was just a thought. He didn"t really do it.
Even so, Zhao Qingteng"s face contorted with pain, and his body instantly disappeared.
This time, he didn"t dare be careless. He immediately s.h.i.+fted his body to the furthest point away from Xu Xiaoshou. Xu Xiaoshou naturally couldn"t catch up to him.
"There really was a problem with this snow…"
Xu Xiaoshou chuckled. He turned to look at Xiao Qixiu. "I already told you that he was cheating, but you didn"t believe me. If it was me, I would"ve immediately judged that he"d lost."
Xiao Qixiu pouted but didn"t say anything.
The crowd was shocked. To think that Xu Xiaoshou was the first one to make Zhao Qingteng bleed during the Windcloud Compet.i.tion. No one had expected this.
"So Zhao Qingteng"s teleportation technique was really done through moving around in the snow as Xu Xiaoshou said?"
The spectators all had odd looks on their faces. If that were the case, then Zhao Qingteng really had cheated.
No one would"ve thought it inappropriate if Zhao Qingteng had made the snow fall before the battle started to add to his charisma. In fact, they would"ve even been envious of his ability.
But, because the snow was connected to a technique that required charging up or a technique that was done in secret, his actions sparked the crowd"s ire.
At that moment, people started switching sides. It was clear that Zhao Qingteng"s actions didn"t sit well with them.
"Do your best, Xu Xiaoshou! I know that you"re the best."
"Xu Xiaoshou, defeat Zhao Qingteng and I"ll bear you a child!"
"Xu Xiaoshou! Ahhh, you"re so handsome!"
Zhou Tianshen looked over in shock, only now realizing that he had unknowingly left the arena to observe the battle. Was the crowd always so fierce?