Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 217
"However—"
Three bolts of lightning interrupted his thought. He squatted and accelerated into a vague smoke, dashing through the gaps between the lightning.
The four crystal suits had entered the second trap of the racetrack, the lightning zone!
The air in this zone would unleash high-intensity lightning unpredictably. If a crystal suit was to be accidentally hit by the lightning, it would risk being wrecked and eliminated out of the match immediately.
In order to avoid the lightning, Mystic Skeleton, Tiger King, and Mournful Mist all performed wonderful small-scale movements.
Of the seven Mournful Mist Battlesuits, only the real one was doing the movements, while the other six were simply mimicking it, which made them odd and easy to distinguish.
"Second from the left!"
Li Yao certainly wouldn't let go of such an opportunity. He located his target without any trouble and accelerated again. More than ten lightning bolts were dancing around him, yet all of them missed him as if he were insulated.
Zuo Feijing had identified the target at the same time.
The Tiger King Battlesuit lunged at its prey like a hungry tiger. The full-speed charge of itself was as intimidating as the march of an entire legion.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them were already behind the Mournful Mist Battlesuit.
Their craziness seemed to be enough to tear Mournful Mist apart without them doing anything.
Feng Kai, driver of the Mournful Mist Battlesuit, was an experienced Exo. Now that he was aware that his opponents had seen through the disguises, he made up his mind and threw the Flying Crystal to the front with his full strength.
Li Yao and Zuo Feijing launched their attack simultaneously, not at Feng Kai, but at each other!
They were only five meters away from each other. Flying swords and crystal cannons were of little significance at such a short distance.
Li Yao suddenly kicked at Zuo Feijing's abdomen.
With the enhancement of the power rune arrays on the leg, the kick had almost reached the sonic speed.
A coldly shining spike stuck out from the tip of his foot.
It seemed that if the kick was to arrive at its destination, not only would the crystal suit that Zuo Feijing was wearing be broken through, Zuo Feijing's stomach would be ripped open, too.
Right then, two claws that were vibrating violently protruded on the back of Zuo Feijing's hand.
Zuo Feijing waved his arms and snatched at Li Yao's ankle.
Li Yao's kick seemed to be going to a dead end. Before it was to pierce through Zuo Feijing's abdomen, Zuo Feijing's tiger claws would mince his foot into pieces.
Li Yao scoffed. The crystal reactor on his back was burning furiously. Every power rune array was brought to maximum. His leg folded miraculously like a switchblade and avoided the attack of the tiger claws. Then, at the same speed, he kept his legs bent and kneed Zuo Feijing's chest brutally.
Zuo Feijing roared and took the blow. In the meantime, the two tiger claws struck at Li Yao's ribs unstoppably.
"BOOM!"
The two crystal suits clashed.
Cracking noises were ringing in the waist of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, whose components were flying everywhere.
"Li Yao, how arrogant of you!
"Tiger King Battlesuit of Deep Sea University has been co-developed with Gold Armor Clan. Much of its design is based on the Mystic Turtle Battlesuit. Its defense ability is far beyond your expectation!
"You think you're tough? Idiot!"
After being hit by Li Yao, a shallow hollow had appeared the armor on Zuo Feijing's chest. But it did not affect the normal functions of the crystal suit. The fact that he was laughing right now seemed to be evident enough that his crystal suit suffered much less damage than his opponent's had.
With the counterforce of the collision, Zuo Feijing accelerated again and caught the Flying Crystal in less than five seconds.
Right then, he heard the sound of wind.
More exactly, the sound of tornadoes.
Desperate alarms were ringing inside the Tiger King Battlesuit. All the information in front of Zuo Feijing was bloody red.
The audience all exclaimed in bewilderment because they had seen something that was impossible to happen.
Hit by the tiger claws, the most distinguished melee magical equipment of the Tiger King Battlesuit, right in the critical part, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit regained balance only one second later and caught up with Tiger King, as if nothing had happened.
The destruction of so many magical equipment components seemed to have had no effect on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit at all.
At this moment, several expert Cultivators realized what Li Yao was trying to do.
The reason why he attacked Zuo Feijing aggressively just now was to reduce Zuo Feijing's attention and to enlarge the distance between them, so that he could perform what he was best at…
The saber art!
In lightning and thunder, Li Yao was only ten meters away from his opponent.
With the enhancement of the power of lightning in the air, Li Yao spun, unsheathed his saber, and slashed forward!
The heavy battle saber, which he'd spent half a month refining and could bring the speed to maximum by the air paths on its surface that were as delicate as flowers, turned into a shocking flash and tore the sky apart.
The Thunderous Tornado Saber Art!
The saber art that absorbed the mysteries of the martial arts of Long Wenhui, a Core Formation Cultivator, that had been created and improved in savaging dust storms, and that had slain tornadoes once before, first revealed itself ferociously in front of the world!
"So fast!"
"So intimidating!"
"So brutal!"
Those who witnessed the slash all shuddered in horror.
Although they were in two different worlds, they felt their hearts nearly stop beating, as if the slash could break through the boundary of worlds out of the light beams and land at their own necks.
Zuo Feijing didn't expect Li Yao's defense ability to be so good as to be able to take his attack and still launch such an unstoppable slash as if the damage on his crystal suit was nothing.
Li Yao had calculated his speed, strength, and angle too well. He chose the timing when Zuo Feijing just caught the Flying Crystal.
Zuo Feijing's attention was all focused on the Flying Crystal. He had nowhere to run and could only bring the spiritual shield of the crystal suit to the maximum for defense.
In the meantime, he thought of dozens of counterattack plans.
As long as he could take the slash, there were hundreds of ways he could turn around and cut Li Yao into pieces!
"Bo!"
Li Yao's saber slashed into the spiritual shield of the Tiger King Battlesuit.
The seemingly solid spiritual shield was shattered into pieces like an eggshell, which had been broken through by the heavy saber without any trouble.
Astounded, Zuo Feijing gritted his teeth and, having no time to consider his demeanor anymore, leaned forwards until his body reached the ground. Then he dashed forward like a giant lizard.
The saber missed the target.
But the saber aura that had been condensed by the dancing lightning nearby followed him and hit his back like a haunting ghost.
Chapter 318: Rush Hour! |
"Crack!"
The plate armor on the back of the Tiger King Battlesuit which looked like a giant turtle shell was slashed into two halves by Li Yao's saber.
Everybody seemed to be able to hear Zuo Feijing's grunts.
But a dead enemy is better than a wounded enemy!
Li Yao didn't chase the Flying Crystal. Instead, he turned around, intending to kill the Tiger King Battlesuit while he had the chance.
But right then, hundreds of flying swords launched by the Sword Torrent Battlesuit rained down upon him.
The Mournful Mist Battlesuit sneaked by him and reached the Flying Crystal without bothering the two of them.
The other 16 crystal suits were also coming close rapidly.
Li Yao sniffed. The moment before the flying swords tangled him, he pulled back his saber and rushed at the Flying Crystal, leaving Zuo Feijing behind.
The auditorium was filled with dead silence in the beginning, which was then broken by louder and louder whispers that resembled the sound of a pot of boiling oil in which a block of ice was tossed.
Students of Deep Sea University pulled their hair in bewilderment. Someone was repeatedly blinking their eyes in shock, trying to wake themselves up from the nightmare.
They could not believe that Zuo Feijing had been hit by Li Yao and wounded so badly.
Supernova Jiang Sheng was still inscrutable.
But the metal ring that had been on his nose all the time suddenly turned brighter than ever.
His eyes were ten times sharper than before as he looked at Yuan Manqiu, his senior sister, who was sitting among the delegates of the Grand Desolate War Institution.
Yuan Manqiu bit her lips and waved at him.
"Interesting."
In the zone of the military delegates, Guan Chao, captain of 'Red Lightning', took over a crystal processor from General Shangguan Ce and browsed through Li Yao's files. "It's indeed marvelous that a boy no higher than the peak of the Refinement Stage was able to perform such a deadly slash, harnessing an air of the destructive dust storms and thunderbolts in the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau.
"If he hits the critical part of an enemy with the same slash just now, he might even be able to put down a middle-level demon general instantly.
"Oh? He killed a demon general when he just entered the Refinement Stage?
"The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit is tough enough, too. After a huge impact against the Tiger King Battlesuit, not only did it remain intact, it even allowed its Exo to perform such a splendid slash.
"This is going to be an interesting match."
While they were talking, the situation on the racetrack was changing drastically.
Li Yao dashed forward from the right. His saber slashed the Flying Crystal like a hurricane, which came to a halt.
Li Yao took the opportunity to sheathe his saber before holding the Flying Crystal in his arms.
"Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!"
The Flying Crystal was violently shaking in Li Yao's chest like a Hellfire-Lightning that was going to explode.
Meanwhile, deep blue electric arts pierced into his body through the gaps in the crystal suit.
"Shhhhhhh!"
Li Yao was grimacing because of the electric shock. Every one of his body cells were itching in pain, and he couldn't focus at all.
He finally understood why Zuo Feijing had taken the blow from him without counterattacking immediately just now.
One second!
Two seconds!
The longer he held it, the more violent the Flying Crystal became. The electric shocks it sent out were getting more and more intense, too.
Li Yao almost gritted his teeth to pieces. He dashed forward, having no time to bother anything.
Behind him, 19 crystal suits had crowded and launched their long-range attacks.
Hundreds of flying swords, dozens of mystic lights and almost a hundred Thunder-Palms were flying at him unstoppably.
It was a tricky multiple-choice question.
If he gave it up too early, his time of control over the Flying Crystal would not be long, and such a rare opportunity would be wasted.
If he gave it up too late, he would have little time to prepare to defend himself, and he might be eliminated on the spot.
Li Yao's pupils shrank to the size of the tip of a burning needle, as he had brought his computational ability to maximum. The crystal camera on the back of the helmet scrutinized every upcoming attack, before he analyzed the frequency, speed and trace of the weapons and the tiny gap between flying swords, mystic lights and Thunder-Palms.
It was not until a flying sword exploded in the right corner of his spiritual shield that he thrusted the Flying Crystal away…
Not forward, but backward!
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Flying swords, mystic lights and Thunder-Palms enveloped the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit immediately. Bloody lotuses were blossoming one after another. But the stamens of the flowers were cut open by a flashing saber, through which the burning Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit jumped out of the sea of flames.
Up until now, Li Yao had kept the Flying Crystal for 5.3 seconds.
Feng Kai, in the Mournful Mist Battlesuit, was behind him. He had kept it for 3.7 seconds.
Sha Yucheng, Exo of the Sword Torrent Battlesuit, had kept the target for 3.5 seconds.
To everyone's surprise, Zuo Feijing, who had been driving the Tiger King Battlesuit that had been deemed as the best of all the MP crystal suit models, had only kept the Flying Crystal for 0.1 seconds.
"Ho!"
The crystal reactor of the Tiger King Battlesuit was engaged in the full-fire mode. It roared astoundingly like a dangerous tiger that had just come down the mountain.
Thrown back by Li Yao, the Flying Crystal was in the middle of the other 16 crystal suits, which immediately caused major chaos.
Colorful blasts occurred one wave after another. All kinds of magical equipment components were flying everywhere in the air. Explosions and screams were echoing nonstop.
Right then, the Tiger King Battlesuit finally caught up with the crowd. It charged at the other crystal suits as though they were goats and was not blocked by any of them at all. Then it snatched the Flying Crystal and held it in its arms.
Li Yao, Feng Kai, and Sha Yucheng looked at each other.
The three of them were like a squad that had been cooperating for a long time. They cornered the Tiger King Battlesuit in a triangle with tacit mutual understanding.
The remaining part of the match turned into a demonstration match for Tiger King, Mystic Skeleton, Sword Torrent, and Mournful Mist.
For 90% of the time, the Flying Crystal was handed over amongst themselves. Hardly anybody else was able to touch the Flying Crystal.
When another crystal suit was bold enough to seize the Flying Crystal, it would be crushed by all of them instantly.
Even if the crystal suit did not explode immediately, it would suffer enough damage to get itself eliminated in the next minute because it would not be able to catch up with other crystal suits anymore.
Meanwhile, whenever one of the four crystal suits had the Flying Crystal under control, it would be attacked by the other three crystal suits directly.
Strong as the Tiger King Battlesuit may be, it was not good enough to resist the collective attack from the other three crystal suits under the interferences of the Flying Crystal.
One lap… Two laps… Three laps…
The match was so intense that people had lost the sense of time.
Although the racetrack was 10,000 meters long, every lap seemed to be as short as a 100-meter sprint.
After five laps, most of the other crystal suits had been blown to pieces or had to withdraw from the match because of malfunctions.
The time length that each of the four crystal suits gained in every hand-over had significantly increased, too.
The advantages of the Tiger King Battlesuit, which were that it had no major shortcomings and that its defense ability was remarkable, were gradually made best use of in the match.
Sword Torrent and Mournful Mist, on the other hand, were terribly lopsided and therefore found it more and more difficult to keep up with the game.
The Sword Torrent Battlesuit was most distinguished for its flying swords and long-range attacks. But in the intense combat, most of its flying swords had been sent out, of which few were able to be retrieved. As a result, its attack ability was greatly undermined.
The Mournful Mist Battlesuit, although adept at stealth and soul attack, was not famous for its defense ability. After several collective attacks from the other three crystal suits, sparks were bursting out from all the critical parts of the crystal suit. The hallucinations that it created became fuzzy and shabby, too.
The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was the only one that could keep up with the Tiger King Battlesuit.
Ostensibly speaking, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was the most miserable crystal suit on the spot.
It looked as if it had been soaked in the corrosive venom of demon beasts for a day and a night before being roasted on a fire.
At first glance, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit seemed to be a pile of garbage. There was no charisma of 'King of Magical Equipment' in it whatsoever.
But such a pile of garbage had tangled with the Tiger King Battlesuit like an undying cockroach.
They clashed and separated, again and again!
The tornado-like saber was as bright as the very beginning.
However…
'There is something wrong with the spiritual waves on the back of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.'
Many experienced Exos raised their eyebrows.
Generally speaking, if a crystal suit was in a normal state, the transition of the colors of the spiritual waves would always be natural and smooth. There shouldn't be any abrupt changes.
But right now, the surging spiritual waves behind the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit were fluctuating high and low, bright and dark.
For a while, it was glaring in brilliance; a moment later, it turned into dull green; then, it turned as red as blood; suddenly, it was orange with purple sparkles dancing here and there.
Such a phenomenon was often indicative of a problem with the crystal reactor, which was mostly because the telepathic thoughts of the Exo were obstructed and were not able to trigger the spiritual energy in the crystal reactor normally.
Could it be…
The experienced Exos and refiners looked at one another. Cold sweat was appearing on their forehead.
No matter what the case was, they could see that the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had reached its limit.
"Beep!"
Right then, a brisk shriek rang in the sky of the racetrack.
The Tiger King Battlesuit's total time of keeping the Flying Crystal had surpassed 95 seconds.
