Chapter 288: They Say You Come From Hell?

A murderous aura emanated from Huo Chen. Directly beneath him, outside of the ring, the once green grass withered to brown, all their life forces extinguished.

His saber tilted slightly towards Wang Lin, like a tiger waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting prey. Black arrow-like auras shot straight towards Wang Lin, each one a deadly messenger in itself.

Wang Lin stood his ground calmly, magical aura surrounding him like loyal sentries. In a flash, he had entered the Destructive Stage of the River of Styx!

This was unseen power. A hidden card up his sleeve. The aura around him turned from light to dark, yellow to black, as though Hades himself had appeared.

The aura from Huo Chen vanished upon nearing Wang Lin, like fine sand gently seeping into the vast ocean, disappearing without a trace.

"The power to vanquish?" Huo Chen's expression took a complete turn, as though he had fought through fire and water to escape hell, and Wang Lin was the Devil himself.

"I heard you have come from Hell" said Wang Lin blatantly, his eyes unmoving, not revealing an inch of expression.

Regardless of what he was, Huo Chen had displayed mental fortitude beyond that of the average foundation establishment stage warrior. If not for his lack of sheer power, his mind was already somewhat ready for the next stage of evolution.

The taunting and trash talk before the fight was mere psychological warfare. Now that Wang Lin proved to be formidable, Huo Chen did not cower, but raised his sword and charged straight ahead.

"Asura killing way! Asura lightning!" shouted Huo Chen.

His magical power concentrated at the tip of his sword, forming a thundercloud that raced towards Wang Lin.

"Celestial Finger of Styx! Go back!" countered Wang Lin.

From the tip of his finger, Heaven, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Water, Fire, Mountain and Pond, all eight elements formed a sphere of light around his body. The thundercloud entered the rotating sphere, and was devoured immediately by the light, only to be spit out the next second, moving at blinding speed towards Huo Chen. Huo Chen's exact attack was used against him! This time, his attack was piled upon Wang Lin's own power, making the move beyond formidable.

Huo Chen's fighting principle was to fight and kill, but Wang Lin took it to a whole new level, his was to eliminate and obliterate completely! What distance there was between killing a man and destroying heaven and earth!

In a violent howl, Huo Chen was hauled out of the ring! A deep sense of fear overcame him. It was pure Armageddon. Absolute despair. From the centre of his body appeared a ball of black aura. Something smelled like death.

From afar, Wang Lin raised his right index and whispered, "Celestial Finger of Styx, vanquish"

Under this technique, everything became a puff of smoke, and the smoke particles became nothing but thin air, and the air became nothing. It was not throwing someone to the gallows, but completely erasing one's existence.

Huo Chen felt his time had come, and every bit of magic in him tingled. His face contorted, revealing what seemed like rage, hatred, betrayal and a myriad of many emotions.

"I can't believe you actually mastered such a disgusting technique! If you have surpassed the foundation establishment stage, then perhaps you would have killed me". Huo Chen's face was beyond furious! "But now you cannot! And you will not!".

The black aura around him concentrated back, forming a sphere once again. The magic that Wang Lin had casted was inevitably pulled towards the sphere, like tiny objects gravitating towards a heavy mass.

On the surface of what now looked like a gigantic bomb was thousands of purple streaks of lightning that snaked their way around the sphere.

"Asura blast" whispered Huo Chen. Below his breath, the command called for the expansion of the black sphere. As though the tides crashing into the shoreline, Huo Chen's black sphere collided against Wang Lin's aura of death, easily breaking through as would a tidal wave.

Outside the ring, every spectator had his eyes on the fight. All the foundation establishment stage warriors looked upon the duo intently.

"The Huo family is known for killing mercilessly." Many of the aurous core stage warriors gasped at the sight of this tremendous power. A mere foundation establishment stage fighter could already rival them.

At the Northern Tribes clan, the aurous core stage fighter turned to Zhamu Zeluo and beckoned, "you may have won against one of the Huos, but if you were to face this Huo Chen, you'd be in serious trouble".

The injured Zhamu Zeluo plainly nodded his head in agreement, his previous arrogance proved unqualified.

Inside the ring, the eruption of Huo Chen's sphere through Wang Lin's death aura shook the stage.

"Now Die!" cried Huo Chen. But to his surprise and everyone's amazement, there was not a single streak of lightning that remained. Everything from the Asura spells had vanished. Completely gone without a trace.

Inside what was left of Wang Lin's death aura was a black and yellow path that extended into the void, nobody could see its end. Huo Chen felt like his was outside of his body. His mind a puzzle taken apart and messily pieced together again. He could not recognise what was happening, things appeared and vanished in his plain sight. His past flashed before him. It was Deja Vu, yet it wasn't. He knew where he was, but he didn't.

From the path into the void came a thousand hands. Human hands reaching out for Huo Chen, beckoning him to join them. It was not a warm invitation, but a cold calling. The hands were without flesh, ivory white bones that seemed only to want to grab Huo Chen and drag him into the abyss.

Every muscle in Huo Chen fought against this sensation. But it was like a dream, a place where he could not control what he did, and he could only surrender to this pull. The scene before his eyes flashed and disappeared, instantly replaced by Wang Lin's cold glare.

Without waiting for his response, the black aura around Wang Lin formed up into the shape of a massive palm, slamming down on Huo Chen.

"Shatter!" shouted Wang Lin.

In a loud thud, Huo Chen's limb body flew out of the ring, spinning in the air like a ball, landing onto the hard ground like a lame rag doll.

It was the work of the fighting ring that had saved Huo Chen. Such a blow, uncontrolled, would definitely have smashed Huo Chen to bits. He would have been minced.

The audience stared mouth agape. They had all witnessed first hand how Wang Lin never gave up the upper hand, complementing the River Styx series of attacks with aggression and initiative, not once letting Huo Chen have a chance to retaliate.

Huo Chen did not stand a chance to begin with. His 'retaliation' seemed like a futile meow of a prey before being devoured by the lion, his courage just another avenue for Wang Lin's exhibition.

From the Great Qin Empire's camp, Shi Shaogan uttered, "Only foundation establishment.."

The Heaven Lake Sect seemed bitter about the outcome. "The Celestial Sect of Wonders are through again! Huo Chen's useless!" cried Fang Zhong.

"He can't even beat someone who's just entered the foundation establishment stage! Shame of the Huo family!"

A junior from the Heaven Lake Sect jokingly mocked him, "Didn't you also lose to someone from the foundation establishment stage?"

Fang Zhong could not take such an insult, "Why you bastard..."

Out of nowhere, Dao Yuting suddenly interjected, "quiet".

And the Heaven Lake Sect fell silent.

Nobody, including Fang Zhong and his junior spoke a word. His junior was taking the chance to rub salt in his wound. But everyone knew that the difference between the middle and final stage in the foundation establishment was less than that between the initial and middle stage.

Erecting the altar raises one's power tremendously, while placing the stand above the altar has limits in its enhancement.

Seeing Wang Lin exit the ring unscathed, Shi Zongyue and Vivant Joy Holy Man exchanged glances, a palette of emotions appeared in the two immortal souls.

What caught their attention was not Wang Lin's current power, but the fact that the Celestial Sect on Wonders had produced so many talents with such potential, each of them harnessing a unique power of their own.

Although it was evident that Wang Lin, Yue Hongyan and Yang Qing shared the same roots, but each of their skill sets were completely unlike one another.

Wang Lin had the power to obliterate, Yue Hongyan had a touch of manipulating space, and Yang Qing had the understanding of evolution. Although each one started off from the Great Celestial Way of the Eight Trigrams, they had each carved their own path from there.

It was as if the branches of a willow, fig, and palm grew individually from the stem and roots of an oak.

It was said that the three Aurous core stage disciples, Zhu Yi, Xiao Yan and Xiao Budian each had their unique traits as well.

"The Celestial Sect of Wonders shares the same roots and origins, yet can produce uncountable permutations. Each variation breath-taking in its own right." commented Vivant Joy Holy Man. "To be able to create such a sect, I wonder how their leader is like" he said as he turned towards Lin Feng.

Shi Zongyue faced Lin Feng at the same time, "it's no coincidence that such a sect is born".