Chapter 298: Mind Games

Without even speaking, Huo Ming came up and sliced the black volcanic rock.

At the same time, he paid the Northern Tribe man for slicing the rock once.

Zhu Yi raised his brows and traded five pieces of Thunderous Echo Elixir to the Northern Tribe man in exchange for slicing the rock. After that, he whipped out his sword and slashed two strokes, blocking off Huo Ming's long spear.

The killing intent of Huo Ming was unleashed at this point. There was a frightening aura emanating from his long spear and it was converted to a ferocious Asura Doomsday Blade. His target was the black volcanic rock and Zhu Yi.

The way he positioned his body and spear clearly showed that he wanted to cut the volcanic rock and Zhu Yi into half.

As the rest saw this scene, they watched Huo Ming and Zhu Yi excitedly.

Everyone knew that the person who made the first move might not necessarily be at an advantage. His efforts could be wasted and might even be helping his opponent.

But while making the later move increased the possibility of winning, it could give the opponent the upper hand and it might be too late to regret then.

Besides a game of luck, this trade involving the cutting of the rock was also testing the mentality of people.

One who was impatient was undesirable. Being overcautious and indecisive was also equally undesirable.

Zhu Yi and Huo Ming understood this rationale, but they each wanted to be the first to cut the rock. This was caused by a psychological battle between the both of them.

If they could not cut it in the first try, they would go for a second one. But firstly, they had to possess the momentum, so as to bring about pressure to the other party.

Zhu Yi was calm as he faced Huo Ming's spear. His self-created Way of the Facile Blade changed, as he slashed two strokes. One was the 'Kan' Sword Technique while the other was the 'Dui' Sword Technique. 'Kan' was on the top while 'Dui' was at the bottom.

A person must exercise control in the things he did

Only with control could one act with propriety.

Control breeds relevance; A country that exercises efficient control was stable and a person who exercises control was perfect.

Zhu Yi's 'Jie" swordplay, formed by the combination of the 'Kan' and 'Dui' Sword Technique, controlled the devastating Asura Doomsday Blade of Huo Ming and prevented him from making another move.

Huo Ming focused his gaze on Zhu Yi. Before he changed his move, Zhu Yi had already retracted his sword. As he kept his sword, he sliced apart the volcanic rock into two.

The left half of the volcanic rock lost its spirituality and became a normal rock. It was no longer able to devour the analytical awareness of a cultivator. The right half of the volcanic rock retained its spirituality and was still able to cause a cultivator to lose his awareness.

After Zhu Yi sliced apart the volcanic rock, he stood firm and looked indifferent.

After staring at Zhu Yi for a while, Huo Ming did not continue to be on the offense. He did not draw his spear to slice the rock for a second time but kept it.

As he kept the spear, his killing intent disappeared too.

After losing to Zhu Yi in a bid to cut the rock, Huo Ming did not draw his spear again. Being the second to cut the rock was meaningless to him.

As the spectator watched Huo Ming retreating from the fight, they felt that he destroyed the fun.

Many of the spectators were hoping that the embarrassed Huo Ming would become angry and fight with Zhu Yi, allowing them to see a preview of the Aurous Core Stage competition.

Some of them with a higher cultivation and a keener eye became serious as they saw Huo Ming's gaze.

Zhu Yi was one of them. He looked at Huo Ming silently and thought, "If it was his brother Huo Chen, he would retaliate in embarrassment. But it is people like him that are less scary."

"Huo Ming could control the revelation of his killing intent well. Although he seemed hostile, he could maintain his calmness. This fits our 'Jie' sword technique. He is a worthy rival."

Lin Feng looked at Huo Ming in approval, "If he manages to stay alive, he will become the pillar of the Huo family one day. He would cultivate the deadly Asura Mantra and the Asura Doomsday Blade but still maintain his emotions well. Such a temperament will be very rare."

"The Huo family members were ranked in terms of their abilities. I heard that Huo Ming was ranked second? Who is the first place then, I am very curious about that. Not sure how he is compared to Shi Xingyun, Jiao Junchen, and Tao Yaoyao?"

A cultivation in the Aurous Core Stage was a very powerful one. The powers and talents of an Aurous Core Stage cultivator often had a significant influence on the growth and development of a sect."

As Lin Feng was pondering over the matter, he saw a group of people surrounding the black volcanic rock. After Zhu Yi had sliced it apart, no one dared to lay their hands on it anymore."

Although the price to pay for slicing the rock apart was not that high, the lack of result would mean that paying it was a waste of one's resources.

More accurately speaking, not only would it be a waste, it could even be aiding others.

No one knew what treasure the black volcanic rock was. They were unsure whether it was worth to pay such a huge price for it and cut it more than once.

It would be a tragedy if nothing could be retrieved from it.

At this point, a Sword of Radiance disciple stood up and paid the due amount to cut the rock before cutting the rock.

His rationale was simple. What if the surface of the rock was thin and the size of the treasure was not small? Maybe one slice could cut it out.

If the treasure was huge, then it would be easier to cut it out if it was done earlier.

However, the end result left him disappointed. As the volcanic rock was sliced into half again, one-half of it lost its spirituality while the other half maintained its spirituality.

At this point, everyone hesitated and the volcanic rock was left with a quarter of its original size. But the failure of the first two individuals made everyone think before acting.

Lin Feng slightly smiled. At this point, it was probably the most awkward moment. From then on, every cut could help to retrieve the magic treasure, but could also lead to failure and help any future individuals in increasing their chances of obtaining the treasure.

This was a dilemma. Those who really cared about the treasure were feeling the pressure now.

Those who were present at the scene were cultivators in the Aurous Core Stage. They were very tough individuals but in the face of such a situation, they were all at loss.

Of course, there were those who did not care. A Purple Clouds Sect cultivator laughed, "Not that you only have one choice, what are all of you hesitating for?"

He threw a purplish-blue gem towards the Northern Tribe man. After that, he gathered his mana and consolidated it to form a Thunder and Lightning Blade. After that, he slashed the volcanic rock.

The volcanic rock broke into two halves. But the treasure did not appear and the rock's size was halved again.

The Purple Clouds Sect cultivator twisted his mouth and asked the Northern Tribe man, "Let me ask you, did you give us a fake rock to scam everyone?"

The man snorted, "Cut it and you will find it. If nothing comes out eventually, I will return everything that I have taken and apologize to everyone at this conference."

"Good, I will have a peace of mind in this way." The Purple Clouds Sect cultivator laughed. As he was saying, he threw a piece of purplish-blue gem out and was prepared to slice for a second time.

Huo Ming suddenly made a move and cut the volcanic rock first.

The Purple Clouds Sect cultivator picked his brows and smiled while shrugging his shoulders. But he did not stop Huo Ming.

Nothing from the rock appeared again.

Huo Ming creased his brows and stared at the even smaller rock for a moment. Suddenly, he turned and left.

The spectators were all shocked. Someone shouted, "What is this, must he also do this first? I still thought that he was coming up with something. Leaving after one failure, he has such poor determination."

"That is true, he is backing off after one failure." Someone else nearby commented.

As Zhu Yi and the Purple Clouds Sect cultivator heard, they shook their heads. As they saw each other's actions, their eyes lighted up.

"Huo Ming is not someone who cannot take a failure and gives up easily." The Purple Clouds Sect cultivator laughed while saying, "On the contrary, he had broken through his mantra bottleneck."

"He left to consolidate his powers. Compared to the breakthrough that he had achieved, the treasure was a minor issue."

Among the people around, some of them comprehended the logic while some were still skeptical.

Zhu Yi nodded, "That is the case."

He looked up at the Purple Clouds Sect cultivator and said, "My name is Zhu Yi, may I know what yours is?"

The cultivator smiled brightly and his face even had a dimple. "I am Gu Lei from the Purple Clouds Sect. You are too kind."

Zhu Yi nodded his head, "Would you like to make the next cut?"

Gu Lei laughed, "I am not one who calculates. I do as I please."

After he spoke, the second cut had already landed. But it was a pity nothing happened."

At this point, the black volcanic rock had already shrunk extremely small. Everyone looked at the rock nervously and the atmosphere became more and more serious.

Gu Lei did not stop and handed three purplish-blue gems to the Northern Tribe man. He followed it with the third cut.

"Third time lucky!" Gu Lei shouted and shook his head. He looked at the volcanic rock which was already the size of a fist only and laughed bitterly, "It seems like I have no fate with it."

Zhu Yi slightly smiled and did not speak. He did not make a move either.

Everyone was now tempted to cut the small rock. They felt that the next cut could be the decisive one.