Chapter 498: Suppress

Qiu Jin'an flew into a towering rage. That brat Yang Ding had always seemed like such an honest lad; since when had he learned to pull such underhanded little tricks in secret?

How on earth had he missed this line of thought himself!

Their Five Elements Sect had been eager to promote themselves as well. This time, the Heavenly Court Cult had provided such a splendid opportunity to puff up their own sect, yet they had let it slip by for absolutely nothing!

Daoist Buyu spent every single day fabricating "The Legend of the Wendao Sect." Nowadays, one could stroll into any teahouse at random and hear the storytellers spinning tales of the Wendao Sect, sending its renown skyrocketing several fold.

Qiu Jin'an yearned to do the same, but unfortunately, the Five Elements Sect lacked a talent of Daoist Buyu's caliber.

Luo Hongxia was well enough off. The Laurel Immortal Palace was a semi-secluded sect entirely composed of female cultivators, so its fame was naturally higher than that of the Five Elements Sect and the Prison Suppressing Sect even without any publicity.

"Sect Master Lu, is it still in time to promote our Five Elements Sect now? The remuneration is highly negotiable," Qiu Jin'an inquired of the Immortal Invincible beside him. The general consensus in the cultivation world was that the ancient era represented the absolute zenith of prosperity, and everyone wished to tie their lineage back to those ancient times. With the Heavenly Court Cult present, a few casual words would easily link them to that primordial age.

The terms of cooperation had all been negotiated by Lu Yang, so the Immortal Invincible knew next to nothing about such matters.

She sent a voice transmission to Lu Yang, who was currently locked in combat upon the arena stage. Lu Yang pondered for a brief moment before sending back a reply.

"Though I could seize this moment to praise the Five Elements Sect, saying things like 'as expected of the Five Elements Sect, imbued with the primordial elemental forces of heaven and earth,' or praising their founding ancestor's peerless genius, the timing is all wrong. It would easily feel forced to the audience and damage the reputation we are trying to build for our Heavenly Court Cult. Tell Sect Master Qiu that it won't do this time, but we can cooperate with the Five Elements Sect next time."

"Oh."

Upon the stage, Lu Yang was locked in a fierce, trembling battle with Yan Tianzhi.

In the previous round, Yan Tianzhi had fought with desperate, life-risking ferocity to defeat Bai Ming just for the sake of publicity. To have overcome Bai Ming meant he naturally possessed true capability.

The Taotie and the Azure Dragon were transcendent, exalted lineages within the beast race. Normally, a Golden Core cultivator could only imprint a single battle totem, but Yan Tianzhi's constitution was incomparably suited for the totem cultivation method. Since returning from the Qingzhou Grand Ceremony, he had entered secluded meditation to comprehend the Dao, bathed in the Dragon Transformation Pool, and successfully awakened the Azure Dragon battle totem.

Compared to the Taotie battle totem, the Azure Dragon totem had been manifested for a shorter duration, and he could not yet wield it with flawless mastery. Yet even so, it was more than enough to exert immense pressure on Lu Yang.

"The power of these battle totems is truly troublesome to deal with." Lu Yang gritted his teeth. This was no chanted advertisement; he truly meant it from the bottom of his heart.

Yan Tianzhi's combat style was fierce and predatory, consisting entirely of close-quarters physical brawling. Lu Yang was no physical cultivator; trading blows directly with Yan Tianzhi would only leave him at a disadvantage.

According to the classification of cultivation paths, Lu Yang fell under the categories of a spell cultivator and a sword cultivator.

If only he could have swapped places with Meng Jingzhou, letting Meng Jingzhou trade blows with Yan Tianzhi while he faced Lan Ting, ensuring that both of them could advance safely.

Several spheres of water manifested behind Yan Tianzhi. The Azure Dragon governed water, a fundamental ability of the Azure Dragon battle totem.

The water spheres tapered sharply at both ends, transforming into a volley of watery needles that pierced straight toward Lu Yang.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

"Jinghong—The Startled Swan!" Lu Yang casually invented a name for his sword technique, though the strike he actually deployed was the basic "Severing Mantra."

At this realm, sword techniques were largely identical with no profound variations; the sole distinction lay in their names.

Though Ming Tai possessed transcendent sword skills and had slaughtered his way ruthlessly through the Early Golden Core group with seemingly exquisite strikes, they could all fundamentally be reduced to the basic techniques Lu Yang knew, such as the "Severing Mantra," the "Breaching Mantra," and the "Piercing Mantra."

So long as one did not employ techniques with starkly distinctive traits like "One Sword Transforms into Ten Thousand," "Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Ancestor," or "The Sword Opens the Heavenly Gate," the moves of sword cultivators differed very little. It was one's comprehension of the Sword Dao that truly determined the strength of these basic strikes.

The Severing Mantra clove through the watery needles. The moment the water needles made contact with the sword qi, they dissolved into a dense mist that enveloped the entire arena.

"Kaitian—The Cleaving of Heaven!"

Lu Yang casually invented yet another name for a sword strike. The resulting sword qi was grand, majestic, balanced, and upright, carrying the unstoppable might of a lone warrior facing ten thousand foes.

Yan Tianzhi, who had originally intended to use the water mist to close the distance to Lu Yang, felt his hairs stand on end as an overwhelming sensation of mortal peril washed over him.

This particular strike could absolutely not be endured with his bare physical body.

"Shield Ghost!"

A shield-bearing ghost king bared its fangs and brandished its claws, materializing directly in front of Yan Tianzhi. The ghost king born of the battle totem collided with the sharp sword. The impact was utterly silent, yet it generated thousands of rolling air currents that instantly blew away the mist permeating the stage.

The Shield Ghost was Yan Tianzhi's very first battle totem. It possessed zero offensive capability, but in return, it boasted a defensive power that could not be breached by anyone of the same cultivation rank.

Yan Tianzhi's pupils shrank slightly. He saw fractures spreading across the Shield Ghost; it was actually struggling to withstand this single strike.

As expected of an ancient genius, he was truly terrifyingly strong.

Yan Tianzhi remained completely ignorant of Lu Yang's true identity.

"Withdraw!"

Yan Tianzhi recalled the Shield Ghost, which dissolved back into a totem and branded itself onto his arm. His arm absorbed a portion of the damage the totem had sustained, and fresh blood immediately began to pour from it.

Fortunately, it only transferred an equivalent portion of the shock; had the full damage been redirected, his arm would have been completely impaled by the sword qi.

Yan Tianzhi summoned both the Taotie and Azure Dragon battle totems once more, preparing to launch another offensive.

Lu Yang scratched his cheek, sheathing his sharp sword. "Fighting like this will go on forever. Forget it, let's try out that technique I just learned."

"Suppress!"

A colossal, glittering golden statue descended from the heavens, completely encasing the charging Yan Tianzhi within its hollow interior!

Yan Tianzhi had not anticipated the sudden appearance of the statue, and his head slammed heavily against the inner wall, raising a massive lump on his forehead.

The two battle totems slammed furiously against the statue, but the statue was as heavy as a mountain range. The impact of the totems caused it to sway only slightly.

Instead, the echoing vibrations generated by the impacts temporarily deafened Yan Tianzhi's ears.

"What on earth is that?!"

Even though the audience was highly knowledgeable and well-traveled, none of them could recognize this particular technique.

"It feels somewhat like the Buddhist Sect's Six-Sovereign Golden Body."

"Don't talk nonsense. Whose Six-Sovereign Golden Body manifests so far away from the caster? It must be a lost technique from the ancient era."

"Didn't you hear him shout 'Suppress' just now? Perhaps this is the ancient, long-lost Art of the Sovereign Word, where words manifest as absolute law!"

"What?!"

Yan Tianzhi attempted to dig a tunnel to escape from underneath, but unfortunately, the arena stage had been reinforced with profound magical arrays. Even a battle between Deification Stage experts could not damage it, utterly severing his final shred of hope.

Lu Yang was not so weak that he couldn't even budge his own golden body. Seizing the moment while Yan Tianzhi was still dazed and unable to devise another plan, he delivered a sharp kick to his own golden body. The statue, along with Yan Tianzhi trapped inside, went rolling and tumbling right off the arena stage.

Lu Yang emerged victorious.

The Young Cult Master Lu had cut his way through every adversary to finally reach the grand finals, where he would face the nemesis of his life—Meng Jingzhou.

Lu Yang sat cross-legged to restore the spiritual energy he had just expended, and the final match officially commenced.

Meng Jingzhou had long been unable to restrain his eagerness and leaped onto the stage.

He let out a couple of strange, eager chuckles, rubbing his hands together. "Heh heh, it's finally my turn."

He had returned fully accomplished from his studies under Qiu Jin'an, and now he finally had the chance to display his skills and thoroughly discipline the utterly lawless Lu Yang.

So what if he was the Acting Cult Master? When it was time for a thrashing, he was still going to get thrashed!

"Wendao Sect, Meng Jingzhou."

"Heavenly Court Cult, Young Cult Master."

"Let's discuss this. Cooperate with me and put on a good show this time, and next time I'll praise you the same way," Lu Yang advised via a well-meaning voice transmission. They were disciples of the same master; it was best not to fight if it could be avoided, so as not to damage their solidarity.

"Who says we aren't fighting? I'll have you know, I am absolutely set on thrashing you today!" How could Meng Jingzhou possibly let slip an opportunity to fight Lu Yang?

Lu Yang sighed, left with no choice but to try a different approach. "Then, in my capacity as the Acting Sect Master, I command you to concede."

Meng Jingzhou: "..."

"How about we discuss this a bit further?"

The second chapter will be posted at eleven o'clock.

(End of this chapter)