Chapter 213: Lord of the Divine Wood
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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With reading the future using the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye as the end, all the power of the lightning tribulation was exhausted.
As the speed that had been accelerated to the limit returned to normal, a wave of dizziness washed over him for a moment.
Just as he clenched his jaw to endure the feeling of exhaustion.
The Lord of the Divine Wood, who had been staring blankly at him, shook his head.
“If you had fled with that power, there might have been a chance of survival. What a pity.”
“···”
“You have only just reached the Soul Formation stage and probably have not even adapted yet, so why do you invite a disadvantageous fight?”
“I remained because it is worth a try. Who will win in the end is something one only knows by clashing.”
“Is that so? I truly hope it turns out that way···”
Let’s out a smirk, the Lord of the Divine Wood went on the offensive for the first time.
He lightly extended his finger as if touching the void, and
Crackle!
a massive amount of spiritual Qi that gathered like a whirlwind pressured his entire body.
Though he had merely poured out his energy, it felt like being crushed by Mount Tai.
If he were in the Nascent Soul stage, it was a power so mighty that he would not even be able to resist, but he was now in the Soul Formation stage.
Simply by exploding the magic power sleeping in his dantian, he was able to escape from the pressure weighing down on his shoulders.
The moment he escaped from the energy suppressing his entire body.
Rumble!
The earth split, and a massive figure raised its body.
It was a giant whose entire body was covered in tree bark, and its size was so vast that it could barely be compared to three or four mountains combined.
Whoosh…!
An arm larger than a typical skyscraper flew in like a mace.
The sound of breaking the air arising from the overwhelming mass was chilling.
Facing a strike that would leave him as a bloody mess without even a proper shape remaining if hit, he extended his palm.
Rumble!
Yin and Yang . The two attributes located at opposite extremes were forged in the shape of lightning.
The first spell he cast after reaching the Soul Formation stage.
Kaboom!
The Yin-Yang Great Hand Seal, wrapped in intense lightning, crushed the giant’s arm in a single breath and blew away half of its upper body entirely.
‘…What is this?’
He thought it would be a close match at best, but to overwhelm it.
It did not make sense; the opponent was in the late Soul Formation stage. The magic power accumulated in their dantians should differ by dozens of times, so it was strange that his side won.
He instinctively felt that something was wrong, but focused on the present for now.
Pazzzzt!
He exploded the Yin-Yang Great Hand Seal to generate a lightning storm and burned the giant.
The giant, engulfed in flames, turned to ash in an instant, and the heat that wafted up brushed past his cheek.
The moment he frowned at a somehow ominous feeling.
The flames that burned using the giant as firewood grew rapidly in scale and split into tens of millions of pieces.
‘Huh?’
It was clearly a flame generated from his side, yet he could not control it.
The bright red flames wriggled as if alive and breathing, then transformed into the shapes of birds.
Screeech…!
At least tens of millions. There were too many to count individually.
Indeed a fiery hell.
A swarm of fire birds of a massive scale, enough to fill a thousand li in all directions with flames, flew in like a bombardment.
‘Just how much magic power does he possess…?’
Even if Jin So-myeong mobilized all the magic power he possessed, he could not cast a spell of such a scale.
To use that much magic power for just a single light probe. Was the difference between the early and late Soul Formation stages this vast?
In a sight that left him dazed for a moment, he faintly realized.
‘It is not a spell cast with magic power.’
The greatest difference between the Nascent Soul stage and the Soul Formation stage is the control over spiritual Qi.
A Soul Formation cultivator could use the spiritual Qi inside the region grasped by his Divine Sense exactly like magic power.
Generally, that was why such firepower emerged, as all spiritual Qi existing in heaven, earth, and nature was equivalent to magic power.
Whoosh!
Cleaving a fire bird that flew right before his nose before he knew it, he realized one more fact.
‘I must use the magic power in my dantian only at critical moments.’
Normally, while casting spells using the surrounding spiritual Qi,
when he had to exert full strength for an instant, he had to target a turning point where victory and defeat would be decided and pour out the magic power accumulated in his dantian.
Slash!
Slicing through two fire birds aiming for his solar plexus and flank simultaneously, he released his Divine Sense to firmly grasp the surroundings.
‘…!’
His fingertips trembled at the sensation of his mind expanding for a fleeting instant.
An energy of a vast scale, which he could not even dream of during his Nascent Soul stage days, responded to his will.
The moment he unleashed the Five Elements Shattering Annihilation Wheel while trembling at the control over spiritual Qi, which had entered a different dimension upon ascending to the Soul Formation stage.
Crackle!
Like a black sun, a massive sunspot generated in the empty air began to suck in all the surrounding fire birds.
It was truly a Soul Formation stage-class spell.
The sense of accomplishment from casting a spell using spiritual Qi in its natural state was short-lived.
He felt an invisible pressure suppressing his Divine Sense, and turning his gaze with a start, he saw the Lord of the Divine Wood staring this way with a calm expression.
‘This is…’
The area he had considered firmly grasped by his Divine Sense was distorted, and the Five Elements Shattering Annihilation Wheel, which had emitted an authoritative power like the sun, also shook precariously.
Screeech!
A noise as if two objects with colossal mass were colliding was heard.
Looking at the empty air distorting like a broken glass window, he realized.
‘Divine Sense collision.’
To interfere so that he could not grasp the spiritual Qi. He got a sense of how fights at the Soul Formation stage class were conducted.
He tried to focus his mind and hold on, but it was not easy.
Once he began to be interfered with in earnest, his Divine Sense was pushed back unilaterally.
It was not because his Divine Sense was lacking; the opponent was simply superior.
In short, the difference in weight class and strength was too great.
The Divine Sense of the Lord of the Divine Wood, who had cultivated for a long time and was called the ruler of the Sacred City, was twice as strong as his.
Just how long did he endure amidst the pain throbbing in his brow?
Swish!
He hurriedly twisted his upper body at the faintly heard sound of breaking the air, and a black spear that had flown in secretly while they clashed with Divine Sense brushed past his flank.
‘Oh…’
His spine was almost pierced; although he fortunately avoided it, the Divine Sense he had barely held onto shook rapidly.
Boom!
Ultimately, his concentration was disrupted, and the Five Elements Shattering Annihilation Wheel collapsed, breaking down from the inside as spiritual Qi was not properly supplied.
‘It’s not easy.’
Casting spells using the surrounding spiritual Qi was trickier than expected.
He would quickly become proficient once he engaged in real combat, but the opponent this time was formidable, and it was obvious he would die before getting used to it.
Screeech!
Behind the swarm of fire birds that began to surge again as the Five Elements Shattering Annihilation Wheel vanished, the ashes remaining after burning gathered in the empty air and became jet-black spears.
A giant tree raised its body and was burned, only to fly in as a swarm of fire birds, and the half-burnt ashes flew in as iron spears.
He admired the spell that freely crossed the five elements, even though it came from an enemy.
Clang!
The moment he struck away the black spear that flew in just in time.
The Lord of the Divine Wood brought his palms together, and rain even began to fall from the sky; he did not know what he intended to do, but it did not seem like it would be good to leave it be.
‘As expected…’
There was no chance of winning by clashing head-on in a test of strength with the Lord of the Divine Wood, who had become a Soul Formation cultivator long ago.
He had to shake the board itself.
Simultaneously with his decision, he extremely narrowed the range he grasped with his Divine Sense; although the scale of spiritual Qi he could manipulate became smaller, it became far more stable.
Next,
he converted all the spiritual Qi under his control into vital energy to reinforce his Blood Armor.
Wrapping his entire body in the Blood Armor that had turned pitch-black upon reaching the Dark Armor realm…
Boom!
He unleashed the Lightning Escape Art and charged at the same time.
Rather than fighting in an unfamiliar way, it was better to pour all he had in a split second to decide life and death.
Close combat; the moment he chose to devote all his strength to it,
a blindingly pure white light blazed from the blade held in his hand.
The divine ability that could only be cast when the subconscious and conscious stared at the same place: A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens shone.
Slash!
Splitting the black spear plunging toward the crown of his head vertically, he kicked the ground.
“To use A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens in such a way… I do not know where on earth you obtained the Light-Moon Silent-Life Sword.”
The Lord of the Divine Wood frowned as if something displeased him, but he had no intention of replying.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
He dashed forward, cutting and dividing all the spells pouring down like a shower with a single sword.
At the rapidly narrowed distance, the moment they became close enough to touch if they just reached out their hands.
Enduring the spells chasing from behind with his Blood Armor, he struck down his sword with all his might.
Slash!
A sphere of light hovering around the Lord of the Divine Wood blocked like a shield, but he cleaved it in a single strike.
Even the sphere of light created by compressing massive spiritual Qi could not endure the destructive power of A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens.
Although he sliced the sphere, his speed did not decrease at all; just as he tried to strike the neck in one breath.
Letting out a sigh so faint it was barely audible, the Lord of the Divine Wood reached out his hand.
His bare hand, which did not even wear light armor, collided with the blade bearing A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens, and…
Clang!
At the intense repelling force, his grip tore.
For the sword struck with all his might to bounce off instead.
‘…What a ridiculous physical body.’
Even with the sword bearing A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens, he could not cut the bare skin.
He was certain from the vast physical strength felt when colliding with the hand: the Lord of the Divine Wood was a Spell and Body Dual Cultivator whose body tempering had also reached Rank 5.
Although it was a mind-boggling thing, he was not surprised.
Among the futures he read with the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye, there were some where the Lord of the Divine Wood was a Spell and Body Dual Cultivator.
Since it was in the realm of possibility, he could not be certain, but he had already completed his mental preparation.
The moment he straightened his center, which had collapsed after being pushed by the brute force.
The Lord of the Divine Wood, who had become expressionless to the point of bleakness, took a step closer.
Tap.
The moment he lightly stepped on the ground as if taking a stroll, the raindrops that were pouring down roughly came to a dead halt in the empty air.
He grew tense at the unusual feeling, but only for a moment.
The raindrops tangled in midair turned into pillars and surrounded the area.
‘…A formation?’
Although he could not identify it precisely, it was certain that he had at least deployed a formation.
To set up a formation with just a single step.
He could not even estimate just how many secret techniques the Lord of the Divine Wood, who had lived for a long time, had mastered.
Crack!
His brow furrowed of its own accord at the sound of bones popping in his shoulder.
Pain was pain, but since the instantly set up formation exerted tremendous pressure, he could not even budge a single finger.
Just as he was resisting the formation trying to crush his physical body with absurd force.
Boom!
Stamping his foot like a martial artist who trained in fist and foot arts, the Lord of the Divine Wood thrust his fist toward the heart.
‘Ha.’
Truly relentless… since the situation had reached this point, there was no keeping anything in reserve.
He triggered the magic power inside his heart, which he had kept as a trump card.
Rumble!
The magic power starting from his heart dashed along the meridians.
In an instant in which one could not even blink, it broke through the spleen, and passing through the lungs, kidneys, and liver, became the power called the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration.
Controlling the power that felt like it would explode any second, he circulated it inside his body.
The moment he spread his Blood Wings.
Rumble!
The blood droplets leaking through his pores formed the shape of wings, and the energy amplified as it circulated through the five viscera turned into driving force.
Boom!
Simultaneously with tearing apart the pressure of the formation, he struck away the fist flying toward his heart.
The Lord of the Divine Wood’s expressionless face was dyed with surprise.
“A marvelous divine ability. No matter how I look at it, it is not of the lower realm’s level.”
He tried to deflect the fists flying in succession, but his balance was disrupted by the hand that dug in while smoothly pushing away the side of the sword, and
Crack!
he grit his teeth at the pain of his collarbone shattering.
‘It is not enough.’
He guided the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration, which he had been using as a driving force by letting it flow along the meridians, back into his heart.
The moment the Blood Wings entered the second circulation.
The world began to slow down rapidly.
He accelerated his body, which had become light as a feather, and thrust his sword toward the Lord of the Divine Wood, whose pupils dilated in surprise.
Clang!
A shockwave erupted as the fist and sword collided.
Although it was blocked easily, this clash was different from all before.
A close match.
Excluding when he accelerated using the power of the Red Lightning, it was the first time he possessed strength and speed equal to the opponent.
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