Chapter 205: Battling Dharma
"Zhou Donghuang, you're facing your death, and you still dare to utter such ludicrous words!"
Chen Dandan regained her composure and smiled coldly. She was confident that Zhou Donghuang would not be able to win a fight against her teacher, Zhong Ya.
If her teacher, Zhong Ya, was the old Golden Essence adept of before, she would have a different opinion and fear for her teacher's life when fighting against Zhou Donghuang, given that he had managed to kill the Xuanyin Sect's other Golden Essence adept, Qi Ming, easily.
However, Zhong Ya was now a Dharma adept.
A Primal Core adept would definitely be unable to match up to the powers of a Dharma adept.
In the mind of a Dharma adept, a Golden Essence adept and a normal early Primal Core adept did not differ much as both could be easily killed within seconds.
"Young man, do you really... think that you could kill my brother, Qi Ming, and win over me?"
Zhong Ya smiled mockingly at Zhou Donghuang before suddenly taking a giant step forward. His body flew upwards and evolved into a Dharma-level, black raven about one-foot tall and had a pair of double wings.
Suddenly...
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
With the vigorous flapping of the Dharma-level, black raven's wings, the Feast of Ziyun's setting was suddenly engulfed in a violent wind. Those onlookers of weaker status were taken aback by the wind and forced to take a few steps back.
In the skies, several flying beasts were blown until they immediately ran away and escaped.
As for the other party, Zhou Donghuang, the robes on his body were also swept up like a white flame burning up.
"Today, I'm going to show you the power of the third Dharma adept in the history of the powerful supreme sect of Ziyun!
As Zhong Ya uttered these words, his entire body flew forward forcefully.
Once everyone heard his words, they immediately turned their gaze to Zhong Ya.
More accurately, they turned to glance at the one-foot-tall black raven that had arisen from Zhong Ya's body.
This one-foot-tall, Dharma-level beast was the symbol of an early Dharma adept.
In full view of the audience, Zhong Ya raced forward, and the black raven similarly flapped its wings hard and moved forward like a floating shadow towards Zhou Donghuang.
"This is the power of a Dharma adept?"
"The power of a Dharma adept lies in the concentration of his inner Yuan... Even the inner Yuan of an early Dharma adept can easily defeat that of a Golden Essence adept's golden inner Yuan!"
"This Zhou Donghuang is doomed..."
...
The black raven flew forward at an astonishing speed, and he dived forward with his body, looking extremely glorious. His huge body was a sight to see, and it rushed towards Zhou Donghuang murderously. The onlookers in the crowd all had on expressions of pity for Zhou Donghuang as they watched this spectacle.
Although everyone would agree that Zhou Donghuang's skills were impressive, he was definitely not on Zhong Ya's level yet.
"Die! Die!" Chen Dandan had on a maniacal expression and she laughed coldly to herself. "Zhou Donghuang, once you're dead, I will return to the Sixteen Countries of the East Valley, kill your mother and send her on her way to reunite with you!"
The lucky survivors from the Xuanyin Sect similarly watched this scene joyously, happy at the thought of revenge for their dead comrades.
"If you were from the supreme sects or the Star Clan, with the powers I possess now, I definitely would not be your match... It's just a pity that you, Zhong Ya, are only a Dharma adept of a low practice planet. You simply are unable to utilize the real potential of a Dharma adept in battle!"
Towards the murderous Zhong Ya, Zhou Donghuang could not help but laugh to himself.
Next, he raised up his hand and opened up the eighteen-fold fan in his hand. The silver halo continued to wrap around him, and it looked as if there were eighteen dragons swimming around the fan.
"Today, I, Zhou Donghuang, will put you, Zhong Ya, to shame as the most short-lived Dharma adept of the powerful supreme sect of Ziyun!"
Zhou Donghuang spoke up. Even before that, his body had trembled, and the eighteen-fold fan in his hand exploded outwards like eighteen sharp arrows, flying towards Zhong Ya.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
...
The 18 wings of the fan cut through the air and made a whipping sound as if they were 18 separate swords. This sight was magnificent to behold, and the wings of the fan were all directed towards the black raven.
"What powerful inner Yuan!"
Once Zhou Donghuang reached out his hands, Zhong Ya had immediately realized just how powerful the former's developed inner Yuan was. In fact, it was rather scary! As compared to the inner Yuan that Zhong Ya possessed before he became a Dharma adept, it was about double that amount!
"Good thing I'm a Dharma adept now... If not, I would definitely lose this battle!" Zhong Ya cheered to himself silently.
"He is but a Silver Essence adept. How could he have such great amounts of strength? The fan in his hand seems to be enabling his inner Yuan to expand greatly... could it be an ultimate spirit weapon?"
While Zhong Ya made guesses on whether the fan in Zhou Donghuang's hands was indeed an ultimate spirit weapon, his heart raced as it was a shocking matter to him should this guess be true.
"I really cannot believe that your inner Yuan has developed to this level of strength... However, in any case, it is still not nearly enough to battle a Dharma adept like me!"
With a deep breath, Zhong Ya quelled the surprise that had welled up within him and gazed at Zhou Donghuang with a stern glare that was as piercing as lightning.
"Is that so?"
Zhou Donghuang laughed coldly and lightly. Within an instant, his body shook, and his entire body rushed forward and brushed past the eighteen wings of the fan like a ghost.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
...
The eighteen wings of the fan not only began to glow silver but also largely began to change direction once they brushed past Zhou Donghuang's body.
Within an instant, the eighteen wings of the fan moved from all directions towards Zhong Ya and eventually converged to surround him fully, intending to kill him. It was as if eighteen silver shooting stars had appeared in the sky, determined a common direction, and had rushed towards a singular planet to attack and destroy it.
"Ridiculous!"
Zhong Ya glanced at this sight and laughed coldly. "Do you really think your attack can truly fight the power of a Dharma's inner Yuan?"
Just as Zhong Ya had spoken, the black raven on his body let out a piercing and high-pitched shout. This exclamation was ear-shattering and caused all who were present to feel almost deafened. For those who were standing close to this scene, these adepts even started to bleed and some even died on the spot.
This only added another layer of tension to the already tense atmosphere.
...
The black raven gave off an extremely aggressive aura, and it was vibrating tremulously as well. This aura was given off in all directions like a first attack wave and turned the entire Feast of Ziyun into chaos. Chen Dandan, who was standing on the high stage, was flung into the distance. With a shout, she spat out a mouthful of blood and quickly ran to escape as her face turned pale.
"Run!"
"Let's run far, far away, lest we become casualties of this fight!"
...
Apart from the people of the four great sects, who were still watching the fight, others began to quickly leave the scene.
Although the people of the big sects had not left, a group of Primal Core adepts had reached out their hands collectively to unleash their inner Yuan, creating a shield layer to protect the other adepts of their respective sects.
Their collective inner Yuan was still somewhat able to provide a respectable cover against the black raven's power.
"This is the extent of a Dharma adept's power!? Zhou Donghuang is doomed for sure!"
When Chen Dandan had run to a far distance, she stopped again to watch the scene. Although she was now in an extremely ragged state, when she raised her head to glance at the skies once more, her face was still filled with excitement as if she had already witnessed Zhou Donghuang being killed by Zhong Ya.
"Once a Dharma adept has grasped his Dharma power, one definitely needs to train hard to allow that power to become full and intact."
Zhou Donghuang's words suddenly filled the air just as the eighteen wings of the fan attacked like swords in the direction of the black raven's body.
"If I'm not wrong... Not only have you not trained your Dharma power, but you also haven't even identified the cracks in your Dharma power yet, am I right?"
These words by Zhou Donghuang angered Zhong Ya slightly when he heard them. Zhong Ya furrowed his brow slightly before relaxing again. "Young man, it's not your place to lecture me!"
"If my Dharma power is not intact, feel free to attack me and see for yourself!"
Clearly, Zhong Ya did not believe a word that Zhou Donghuang had uttered.
Ping!
Ping!
Ping!
...
At this moment, the fan by Zhou Donghuang completely split into its eighteen wings. Encompassing solid silver inner Yuan, some of it shot out and landed simultaneously on Zhong Ya's black raven.
In this first wave of attack, the majority of the eighteen wings were easily blocked by the black raven's wings.
Twelve remaining beams were shot out. Six landed on the black raven's body again, while four did not create any significant damage to the black raven. As for the last 2 beams, however, once they had landed on the black raven, they caused him to let out a shout of anguish.
"This is not good!"
In that instant where Zhong Ya heard the black raven call out, he began to feel a force of repulsion travel quickly from the black raven's body to within him, causing his entire body to swell internally.
An instant later, the shock made him tremble violently as well.
"Wah..."
Witnessing this first exchange, the audience could not help but cry out in shock. The black raven had now shrunk from being one-foot tall to merely being five-meters tall. Furthermore, Zhong Ya was now spitting out a large amount of blood. His face turned as pale as paper and his entire being seemed to have aged greatly all at once.
"What an embarrassment for a Dharma adept!"
Just as Zhong Ya was damaged and spitting out blood, Zhou Donghuang had already arrived before him. By raising his hands, the eighteen wings of the fan returned to him and reformed into a singular fan.
"I thought hitting one of the weak spots in your inner Yuan would be quite lucky... Instead, I managed to hit two of them!
"You're really weaker than I thought you were."
Zhou Donghuang's body's silver flames exploded like a ball of fire and directly flew towards Zhong Ya, who was badly injured.
The black raven was now unable to fend off any attacks.
"How is this possible!?"
Zhong Ya had never imagined that he would be so badly injured in the mere first round of battle. He was also not ready for the attack by Zhou Donghuang, which was apparently able to overcome that of a Dharma adept.
"Is my Dharma power truly lacking in some ways?"
Just as he was mumbling to himself, Zhong Ya realized that Zhou Donghuang was coming forward with an attack yet again. This time, he did not use the fan in his hand but instead rushed forward with his whole body.
"Even if I'm injured, it's still enough to summon up some remaining power... I have to kill you and end this whole saga properly!"
Zhong Ya's face was stony and cold, and the shortened black raven began to withdraw. It formed a thick and solid layer of black light around Zhong Ya, like a layer of black armor.
Dharma armor.
This was one of the main methods a Dharma adept could use in war. The Dharma power could be used to surround the body as a defense lawyer and utilize the Dharma adept's inner Yuan at a shockingly fast speed.
Of course, when a normal Dharma adept attacked others, it would be using Dharma power to create explosive attacks, and many seldom bothered with the Dharma armor, which was more of a defensive move.
However, the method used by Zhou Donghuang had already scared Zhong Ya enough, and he was now more concerned that Zhou Donghuang would exploit more of his Dharma power's weaknesses instead!