Chapter 568: What Were You Doing Earlier
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
“Heroes are indeed usually youths!”
Right as he said it, Lin Yue’s bones began producing a cracking noise, his muscles at times tensing and others relaxing. Inside his body, it was as though there were thousands of lungs tugging at his diaphragm. The sound of howling reverberated in the stadium, drowning the sea of cheers, like an army of ferocious tigers roaring in the forest.
Bam!
Lin Yue took a swift step, closing the distance before them as he cut through the air. The frigid wind bl.u.s.tered against Lou Cheng’s face.
He raised his right arm, seemingly clenching his fist but not actually doing so, shaping his hand like a tiger’s claw. He then swung his arm downwards diagonally in a savage and vicious motion, again letting out the sound of a tiger’s roar, and leaving an almost incandescent trail of air behind.
“The tiger is alive…” praised Unparalleled Dragon King in the Lou Cheng fan club forum.
The Tiger Form was among the most ordinary and common moves, but it was no easy feat to attain such an advanced mastery and execute it at such a standard.
Lou Cheng neither dodged nor evaded. Instead, during the time when Lin Yue closed up to him, he made rapid visualizations, first the serene and icy universe, then came the thunderclouds that broke the silence.
Utilizing his stage of Encountering G.o.d in the Voids, he reduced the amount of preparation needed for his muscles, fascias, organs, Qi and blood. He jerked his shoulders and swung his arm upwards. The uppercut soared upwards like a cannonball being fired.
Severe Warning!
For a fight at this level, Lin Yue’s attacks were lacking—his moves weren’t closely connected, and was in need of deceit. That gave Lou Cheng the chance to use his Simplified Physical Invulnerability Move. His opponent had a tough body, but he wanted to find out whether his opponent’s mind was equally top-notch!
Bam!
Lou Cheng’s uppercut crashed into his opponent’s downward-smas.h.i.+ng fist. With a flash of cold light, the ‘tiger claw’ that was poised to strike stopped in the air, encased by a layer of ice crystals. Staring blankly, Lin Yue seemed to be frozen.
With a push of the shoulder, Lou Cheng swung out his left arm, his fingers spread apart, fascias bulged with a tracery of veins, and grabbed at his enemy’s eyes. He intended to finish him off while he was weak!
But at that moment, Lin Yue, with his eyes vacant, tilted his head. Instinctively, he lifted his other arm, barring it in between himself and Lou Cheng’s grabbing attack.
Even with his mind frozen, he managed to parry!
Immortal Flesh—Perfect Serenity!
Pomf!
Lou Cheng’s fingers latched onto his opponent’s forearm. He felt a strange sensation—soft, yet hard, spongey, yet st.u.r.dy. The force he used was enough to rip a steel board apart, yet it merely tore his opponent’s sleeves.
At the time the cloth produced a ripping sound, Lin Yue, with Immortal Flesh’s strong resistance against psychological attacks, had come back to his senses. The cloth around his leg tightened as he dealt a Tiger Tail Kick. His leg was like a steel whip forged from alloy, las.h.i.+ng at Lou Cheng in a sudden and vicious manner.
Compared to the Golden Bell Cover, Immortal Flesh developed the pract.i.tioner’s mind and body holistically, not giving rise to any weaknesses. Like the Unshaken Body of the Wisdom King, Immortal Flesh had its own strength!
Because of that, Lin Yue dared to make big movements without worrying about Simplified Moves of Physical Invulnerability!
Bam!
His leg whipped through the air, sweeping up a violent gust. But Lou Cheng, as though he expected it, released his grip beforehand. With a burst of strength from his abdomen, he gained a backward momentum, instantly gliding more than 30 feet away. On the ground, there were two trails of ice crystals, resembling the rails of a train.
Snap! Missing his kick, Lin Yue immediately stepped on the group. With the flawless combination between the withdrawal and release of Qi and blood, he turned to a male eagle soaring through the nine skies, leaping into the air and swooping down on Lou Cheng. His shadow canopied his opponent’s vision and frame.
This time, he wasn’t going to give his opponent a chance to use Simplified Moves of Physical Invulnerability.
Thud! His feet touched solid ground. Swinging his right fist rapidly, he punched out. Immediately after that, his left arm followed, his moves connecting like bullets fired from a Gatling gun.
Bom, bom, bom!
Stretching his fascias and moving his joints, with spurts of Dan Force erupting from his abdomen like a volcano, the sound of Lin Yue’s Machine Fist was redolent of ten thousand cannons fired at once. It was swift, powerful, glorious and magnificent.
From his eyes, he saw a flash of white-hot light leaping into Lou Cheng’s eyes, which was then quickly turned purple. Unhurriedly, Lou Cheng pushed out his palms, blocking them before the two cannonball-like fists in the nick of time.
Hooo! Lou Cheng opened his mouth, where a jet of pale-purple flame errupted, merging into one with the lava stream on his palms. A whirlpool sunk into place, steadily warding off the enemy’s attack.
Fire Sect Simplified Move of Physical Invulnerability—Purple Sun!
Boom!
The whirlpool burst apart, spitting out purple flames that landed all over Lin Yue. Shutting his eyes, Lin Yue defended against it using the sole power of his body. Numerous burn marks, shallow in depth, formed, then quickly peeled off, and his body was unblemished again, without the slightest evidence of injury!
Using the recoil from the explosion, Lou Cheng stretched his hips and leaped more than thirty feet away, out of the radius of Machine Fist.
Seeing Lin Yue das.h.i.+ng at him again, he lowered both arms, flicking both wrists at once, throwing out a ray of white frost light and a column of scarlet flames that slithered through the ground. At the same time, he s.h.i.+fted his center of gravity, and bulged his muscles to force a turn in direction. Riding on the frost wind, he repositioned himself.
Thump, thump, thump!
In the arena rampaging as though he was a ma.s.sive elephant, Lin Yue ran through the frost light and scattered the flames. Neither the stiffing cold nor the scorching heat affected him or slowed him in the slightest. His gold martial arts suit, swelled up over his muscles, was sharply-edged and clearly-defined.
The sight of such a scene and such physique made the audiences’ blood boil in excitement, desperately compelled to be put into their shoes.
This was the beauty of strength! This was the sensation of battle!
Boom, boom, boom!
Using the footwork of Ascension to Heaven’s Stars, Lou Cheng successively zig-zagged in the arena. The air above the arena, as though overcast with nimbuses, boomed incessantly. Cold winds rushed in every direction, shaking even the large suspending screen.
At this point, descriptions like ‘flying gravel and sand’ could no longer justify the scene. It was practically a fight between demi-G.o.ds!
In the minutes that followed, Lou Cheng shuffled through his moves: Scorch, Blazing G.o.d, Jet Spray, Snow Cover, Cold Swallow, and Aurora. Unfortunately, none of these did any real damage to Lin Yue. To him, it was no big deal, as though he had merely been bitten by mosquitoes. However, Polar Region—which he used to bind and disrupt his opponent—seemed to have some effects, since it affected the terrain and caused the enemy’s attacks to slow down.
“This fight is going to last for a while,” commented ‘Outspoken’ on the Longhu Club forums.
“Yeah. Immortal Flesh is absolutely disgusting! He’s like a bronze pea: too hard to be steamed, too tough to be cooked, too st.u.r.dy to be flattened, and too durable to be fried! Lou Cheng’s in for a haul!” a.s.sented ‘Road to the Arena’.
‘Invincible Punch’ smiled as he wrote, “An extreme survival TV show featuring Senior Lin would be extremely entertaining.”
In the climax of the fight, Lou Cheng drew a sudden breath and leapt several feet backwards. Right as Lin Yue chased behind him, he made a visualization, channeling his Qi and blood to stimulate the corresponding parts of his body.
His bloodl.u.s.t turned into an ‘arrow’ that lodged itself in the ‘ma.s.sive elephant’s’ head.
Simplified Version of the Army Formula!
In a split second, Lin Yue was inside of an illusion. His head and limbs were tied to different horses that were galloping in all directions. He struggled desperately, vehemently defying the fate of being ripped apart.
But, just as he steadied the horses, a heavenly blade glistening with a cold l.u.s.ter suddenly struck down. The coldness alone was enough to slit his skin!
He shuddered, awakening only to see Lou Cheng’s fist punching at him.
An utmostly condensed incandescent flame gathered at the surface of his fist. Suddenly, it exploded.
Boom!
Lin Yue was dazzled by the strong light. An endless rain of flaming arrows crawled into his skin, one at a time, causing him a sharp and burning pain.
The 36th Style of Fire Sect—Devour!
Lin Yue wriggled his muscles and contracted his skin, and the flame went out before achieving anything significant. But, while he was disoriented and confused, Lou Cheng had closed up to him and was launching a punch from his waist.
Before that, he withdrew his Qi and blood to reach Dan Equilibrium. The scorching heat was expelled from the boundary, and the darkness grew colder.
Self-created Secret Art—Lament of the Ice Queen!
Yet to sense the danger, Lin Yue relied on his Absolute Reaction and dealt a hammer-fist. In the narrow radius, his fist exploded the air.
Thud!
A dull sound soared into the sky. Lou Cheng swayed backward, twice, before regaining his balance. Lin Yue, by now, was entombed in a thick layer of ice, as though he was sealed into an invisible coffin.
No matter how resistant his body was, he couldn’t prevent ice from forming around his body. That would only be possible for someone at the stage of Physical Invulnerability!
Crack, crack! Lin Yue’s bulging muscles began cracking through the coffin of ice. However, Lou Cheng had seized the chance to visualize the dense, scorching Emperor Yan, and compressed all the Fire Force in his body.
After that, he tamed the savage power with ‘Fire G.o.d Zhurong’, then drew his right arm back and punched out at lightning speed.
The 10th Style of the Fire Sect, Simplified Move of Physical Invulnerability, Internal Explosion Punch!
Lin Yue’s feet were still encased in ice, so he couldn’t dodge. Confident in his physical abilities, he jerked his arm and punched out.
Boom!
The force from the Internal Explosion Punch came short to seeping fully into his enemy’s body. Half of it exploded on his skin, causing a slight tremor, and the other half barely seeped through, disordering the flow of his Qi and blood, and jerking his organs.
However, this amount of damage was nothing to Lin Yue. Impa.s.sively, he pulled his legs out of the ice coffin, completely shattering it!
But, at that moment, Lou Cheng had already directed his Qi and blood to stimulate his body. He used the Simplified Version of Fighting Formula!
By controlling his body, he tensed most of the muscles that were supposed to be bulging. He raised his arm and slammed downwards.
Bam!
Right as they contacted, Lou Cheng’s taut muscles expanded at once, sending intense shockwaves outwards and triggering the lingering effects in Lin Yue’s body. Lin Yue teetered.
This was the result of merging the Simplified Version of Fighting Formula with Thunder Roar Zen!
Lin Yue started, his trembling muscles slowing him down. Lou Cheng made another visualization, forming and throwing another Internal Explosion Punch.
Boom! Bang! Boom! Bang! Straightening his hips, Lou Cheng threw one punch after the other. Every punch imbued with Internal Explosion Force was followed by a punch enhanced by Fighting Formula. The first packed damage, while the second restricted movement, flawlessly complementing each other. Lin Yue, without the stage of Encountering G.o.ds in the Void, could only struggle to defend himself without any solution to overcome the situation.
Once, twice, thrice, four times, five times! Lou Cheng used five Simplified Version of Fighting Formula and hit his opponent with Internal Explosion Punch five times in a row. If it had been any other Inhuman Mighty One, even if they managed to survive the attack, they would be heavily wounded by now. Lin Yue, however, only had blood seeping from his lips and his form worsened. He wasn’t nearing his limits just yet.
Still, Lou Cheng could now affect him by using only Dan Force imbued Tremor Punches Without the need to use the Simplified Fighting Formula, he could restrain his enemy and give himself a chance to recover from energy backflow.
Six, seven, eight! Lou Cheng landed three more Internal Explosion Punches on him. Every punch was solid and driven by an insane power. The audience was thrilled by the sight.
Bam!
Lou Cheng took a step forward. Glaring, his body grew extraordinarily large, looking like a descended Immortal. He drew his right arm back violently and delivered another Internal Explosion Punch!
Lin Yue, with his vision blurred from the tremor, subconsciously barred his arms before him and blocked off the attack.
Boom!
The sound of an explosion traveled from the inside to the outside of Lin Yue’s body. Lin Yue went still. Completely still. His muscles were still tremoring. Lou Cheng backed off by himself, putting distance between them.
The referee raised his right hand, announcing loudly, “Lou Cheng wins!”
Lin Yue’s lips quivered, as though he wanted to say something, but blood spurted from his mouth the moment he parted his lips. He fell to the ground like an avalanche.
Thud!
Many of the audience was taken aback by the sound.
In the Longhu Club Forums, ‘Pig-riding Knight’ commented puzzledly, “What was Lou Cheng doing earlier…?”
If he had fought like this from the start, he would have won way before this!