Book 2: Chapter 29: Reversing the Advantage
A thought flashed through his eyes, and Bai Zimo took a step forward, carrying the wooden sword in his hand. He angrily raised the sword and roared, “Sword Energy Elucidation!” As his words echoed, a sharp ray of sword energy burst out from the wooden sword. The sword energy was as thick as his wrist, and it flew toward Zhao Jiuge.
Bai Zimo had cultivated the sword energy to this level in just one day. On the night Zhao Jiuge was able to use it, he felt happy and felt like he was the greatest. However, others were more diligent than himself. His sword energy could only cut flowers, but Bai Zimo’s sword energy was already as thick as his wrist. If that sword energy landed on his body, it wouldn't be good.
Bai Zimo was already so vicious at such a young age—he didn’t hold back at all. Zhao Jiuge suddenly felt anger in his heart, as well as a bit of dissatisfaction, and he had an impulsive thought to meet it head on. He swung the wooden sword and also released a dazzling ray of sword energy. However, his momentum didn’t stop—he continued to charge forward. The golden light from his body shined brightly, making the other three’s lights seem dim. Zhao Jiuge followed behind his silver sword energy and rushed toward Bai Zimo.
Two sharp rays of silver sword energy collided together before Bai Zimo and Zhao Jiuge’s eyes.
This collision didn’t have the expected violent explosion. Bai Zimo’s wrist-sized sword energy moved like an agile, white snake, and with a few twists, it destroyed Zhao Jiuge’s thumb-sized sword energy. It didn’t slow down, but it had been weakened a lot and was smaller when it landed on Zhao Jiuge.
Bai Zimo’s eyes trembled in joy. He had landed the hit!
However, before he was able to enjoy his happiness, he saw that Zhao Jiuge was perfectly fine and rushing toward him. After the sword energy landed on Zhao Jiuge, it quickly faded. The bright light around Zhao Jiuge only dimmed for a bit before it was quickly replenished. Bai Zimo cursed this overbearing body-protecting spell in his heart. It was this spell that had allowed Zhao Jiuge to shine during the exam.
Zhao Jiuge only felt a heart-piercing pain coming from where he was hit, but the pain soon disappeared. He moved like the wind, and even Zhao Jiuge felt the power of the Sanskrit Divine Body. However, this wasn’t even the most peculiar part about the Sanskrit Divine Body. Perhaps once his cultivation became stronger, the Sanskrit Divine Body would reveal its true strength.
Then he immediately fell in love with the Sanskrit Divine Body. Before, he felt envious at how others had all these various spells, while he only had this annoying protection spell. Now he was very satisfied with this protection, but if Ye Wuyou was still alive, he would be angered to death by Zhao Jiuge’s thoughts.
About to close in on Bai Zimo, Zhao Jiuge jumped into the air. Spirit force poured into the wooden sword and he fiercely swung it down on Bai Zimo. His eyes were filled with battle intent. Zhao Jiuge didn’t understand why so many people were hostile to him when he hadn’t provoked anyone. He wanted to let the others know that he was not easily to bully. Not everyone could just jump on his head to bully him.“No matter how arrogant you are, I’m still going to bite some flesh off you!”
If the aura Bai Zimo had erupted with was like a sharp and dazzling sword after being unsheathed, then Zhao Jiuge, who was filled with battle intent, was like a lone wolf. He seeked the small chance of survival and chased after that glimmer of hope. Now one could stop him.
Zhao Jiuge’s violent offense grew larger inside Bai Zimo’s pupils, and he revealed a look of disdain. If he continued fighting with his “pride” in mind, then he would be a fool. Since Zhao Jiuge had used a spell, he would no longer hold back. He wanted Zhao Jiuge to know that he wasn’t the only one who knew how to use spells.
It was precisely Bai Zimo’s expression that completely angered Zhao Jiuge. That expression of arrogance and disdain was what that Zhao Jiuge hated the most. Zhao Jiuge did not hold back as he surged his Sanskrit Divine Body to the extreme. The spirit force inside his body was rapidly consumed and his face became a bit pale.
The phenomenon appeared once more—it was the laughing buddha, and it enveloped Zhao Jiuge’s body. It had a kind and serene expression.
Under Bai Zimo’s shocked gaze, Zhao Jiuge erupted!
At this moment, Bai Zimo could no longer hide. He waved his hand and a bright light appeared before his chest. This revealed to be a beautiful-looking, diamond-shaped shield. It was about one meter wide and had three bumps on the back. It gave off a gloomy glow and had a cyan light around it, giving people a sense of power and sturdiness.
The aura Zhao Jiuge gave off shocked Bai Zimo, so he finally panicked, taking out his biggest trump card, the Three Star Shield. The fierce Zhao Jiuge was right before him, and the panicked Bai Zimo quickly activated the shield. The one-meter-wide shield was filled with spirit force and then a cyan light firmly protected Bai Zimo.
Boom!
The serene laughing buddha and the Three Star Shield collided, creating a thunderous rumble. A large hole more than three meters deep appeared between the two of them. This was caused by the collision of their attacks!
After the thunderous rumble, the buddha trembled a bit and its bright light became dim. Finally, a cracking sound echoed and the buddha began to break. Finally, the magnificent shadow that had protected him several times shattered and dissipated around him.
Zhao Jiuge stared at this shocking scene before him. Facing this scene, he was suddenly at loss at what to do.
When the divine body shattered, Zhao Jiuge suffered the backlash from his spirit force. His blood flow became unstable and he spat out red blood that had a bit of spirit force mixed in. At this instant, his aura wilted and he no longer had the vigorous aura he had before.
Bai Zimo smiled triumphantly after seeing Zhao Jiuge’s appearance, and his arrogant expression appeared on his immature face once more. The Three Star Shield was a powerful spirit treasure, and when used by someone with more powerful cultivation, it could even use the spiritual energy in the surroundings to help defend, not to mention it had its own attribute. Bai Zimo was merely at the Spirit Transformation Realm and therefore couldn’t use its full power, but it was enough to deal with Zhao Jiuge.
And at this moment, the Three Star Shield was still releasing a powerful, blue light that protected Bai Zimo. There was not a dent on it and it was perfectly intact. However, soon after, Bai Zimo revealed a shocked expression as he found that in this short period of time, he had used so much spirit force that there wasn’t much left in his body. The moment the Three Star Shield erupted, it had drained him of almost all his spirit force!
The Three Star Shield had been given to him by his family before entering the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect. Even with Bai Zimo’s family background and cultivation level, he had never touched or used a spirit treasure, so how could he know how terrifying a spirit weapon could truly be? The spirit force of a mere Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator was like a drop of water in the ocean. Using a spirit treasure would instantly drain him of almost all of his spirit force. Only after building his foundation formation and reaching the Foundation Realm could he gather spiritual energy at all times. Right now, at the Spirit Transformation Realm, he still had to actively accumulate spirit force. This result left Bai Zimo dumbfounded.
A cold snort made Bai Zimo realize that Bai Qingqing was not far away. Hearing Bai Qingqing, Bai Zimo revealed a frightened expression. The battle over there was over—the slender youth had already fallen to the ground. He was sweating profusely as he held his arm and shook his head with a painful expression.
It turned out that the moment Bai Qingqing had seen Bai Zimo and the slender youth, she was already planning to take action. After she saw Bai Zimo charge at Zhao Jiuge and that Zhao Jiuge was making his move as well, she didn’t take action. Instead, she set her crosshair on the slender youth. This slender youth was even more unpleasant than Bai Zimo, and his words had angered Bai Qingqing to the point of grinding her teeth.
Bai Zimo was most arrogant and a bit cruel. Bai Qingqing had already decided to steal everything from them, so how could she hold back? She was going to deal with the slender youth quickly and then deal with Bai Zimo.
When the slender youth saw Bai Qingqing rush toward him, he revealed a cruel smile. Although Bai Qingqing was the undisputed number one person on the stairs, he was not worried. After all, he was also at the late stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm, and the difference in cultivation was not that important. They both rushed at each other with their wooden swords.
Neither released their spirit force, they only used their wooden swords. They were both using the sword energy they had learned from the Elucidation chapter.
One was conceited, the other was confident.
When the slender youth saw Bai Qingqing not using any other moves, he felt even more relaxed. A ray of sword energy the size of his wrist flew through the mountain. It has to be said that for such a short period of time, the slender youth’s comprehension of the Elucidation chapter was commendable. However, his mistake was that he was too conceited and had met the even more talented Bai Qingqing!
Three sounds echoed as rays of silver sword energy flew out. They were the same size, but Bai Qingqing’s were sharper and more profound.
The sword energy used by Bai Qingqing gave people a sense of coldness. Before the sword energy even arrived, one could feel a tingling sensation on their skin. The three sword energies flew out in unison. The first one collided with the sword energy from the slender youth, cancelling each other out.
The other two rays of sword energy accurately flew toward the slender youth’s arms. As the two rays of sword energy grew larger and larger in the slender youth’s eyes, he subconsciously released his spirit force to protect himself. Fortunately, this subconscious action weakened the sword energy rays by a lot.
However, the sword energy rays still landed on the slender youth’s arms, causing his flesh to erupt into a bloody mess. Fortunately, Bai Qingqing was still sane, so she hadn’t tried to kill her fellow student. It was only a minor injury that didn’t injure his foundation.
Her control, speed, and quality of sword energy could not be matched among the new disciples. Bai Qingqing was indeed worthy of the title of number one among the disciples, and her talent was in full bloom. The slender youth felt like he was going to faint from the pain coming from his arms. He didn’t expect their difference to create such a result. Bean-sized beads of sweat started to roll off his forehead and he did his best to not scream.
After dealing with the slender youth, Bai Qingqing saw Zhao Jiuge vomit blood due to the backlash and then Bai Zimo’s triumphant expression. This caused her to let out a cold snort, and that's what happened there.
Bai Zimo felt panic for the first time after his spirit force had been drained by the Three Star Shield. A feeling of helplessness suddenly appeared in his heart. When he saw Bai Qingqing walk toward him with the wooden sword, his expression changed several times. He held back his thoughts and his lips trembled. “Bai Qingqing, you… What do you want?”
Seeing the change on Bai Zimo’s face, the way that nasty arrogance had faded, Bai Qingqing felt happy. The corner of her mouth curved up to reveal a charming smile. “What’s wrong? Why are you not arrogant anymore? This doesn’t match your style.”
“Hmph, just say what you want to do.” Bai Zimo felt embarrassed after being called out by Bai Qingqing, and he didn’t want to argue with her over this matter. He just wanted to quickly leave this place. Seeing what the slender youth looked like, he knew that Bai Qingqing would not hold back. Now that his spirit force was dry, he didn’t want to suffer like an idiot.
“Hand over the three herbs and you guys can leave, or else I’ll beat you until you two hand them over.” She had noticed that Zhao Jiuge's condition was unstable, so, not wanting to waste time, she directly expressed her thoughts. Since those two had come to provoke, they would need to pay the price.
Bai Zimo’s pupils shrank. He knew that Bai Qingqing would want the herbs. However, he had no spirit force left, so he did not dare to disobey her. He had really picked up a rock and smashed his own feet.
His face was completely red. When had the proud him ever suffered such wrong? He trembled in anger and was thinking about what to do. Seeing that Bai Zimo didn’t react for a long time, the hot-tempered Bai Qingqing could not endure anymore and was about to make her move.
At this moment, Bai Zimo finally shouted, “Wait, I’ll give it all to you.”