Chapter 72: Xie Tian VS Xu Miao (2)
The flying ice lotus expanded and exploded, scattering dark flame toward the direction of Xie Tian. Everywhere that small speckle of dark flame touched, the surrounding energy was consumed and fueled the flames. These small sparks of fire sucked all qi to increase its size and transform into more ice lotuses.
Chain reaction occurred. 20% of the arena was covered by the small dark fireballs, and they kept absorbing qi from the environment, including Xie Tian. The scattering Yin Flame got bigger and recreated more ice lotuses.
The black fire and ice lotuses didn't increase the temperature, but it gave the opposite effect. Everywhere they went, icicle and frost followed. The weather became dry and freezing as if the stage located on the North Pole.
One of the small fireballs touched Xie Tian's right shoulder. His yang qi that was supposed to fuel his flame saber was directed into the fireball instead.
"!!!"
Xie Tian realized what these dark fireballs could do. He took off his robes and retreated from the fire.
The shoulder where the fire had landed was frozen, and Xie Tian could feel the numbing cold. His qi circulation got interrupted, which prevented him from using his right arm and flame saber.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Five newly emerging ice lotuses detonated. More speckle of fire scattered and decreased the surrounding temperature from minus 50 to minus 250 degrees Celsius.
The stage was no longer a place where a human could live. Yet, Xie Tian and Xu Miao were still alive.
Xie Tian couldn't approach Xu Miao anymore. He kept running away from the expanding area of dark flame.
As for Xu Miao, the user of this skill, his left arm lost a layer of skin, revealing red tissues and blood vessels. He suffered from the backlash of using the dangerous art, which required a reinforced body of a third stage cultivator.
"XIE TIAN, BE CAREFUL! THIS SKILL WILL DEVOUR ANYTHING WITH QI AND KEEP EXPANDING! IF YOU CAN'T SUBDUE THE FLAME, SURRENDER AND LEAVE THE BARRIER!"
Xu Miao maintained the façade of a friendly cultivator by warning Xie Tian. He didn't believe that Xie Tian would simply roll and die because of a simple art like this. Xu Miao still wanted to leave an image of a friendly guy who worried about the MC. He wanted to show Xie Tian that he didn't want to kill him to maintain his trust and friendship.
Moreover, Xie Tian hadn't used any strong art other than dragon fire bullets. Until Xu Miao was certain that the protagonist no longer had any trump card left, he wouldn't make the move.
And lastly, Xu Miao still hadn't practiced using Killer Queen. He didn't know what kind of abilities she had aside from energy leeching. Without the right understanding of his sword, Xu Miao avoided taking risks.
Hearing Xu Miao's words, Xie Tian looked back. When he saw the tattered arm of his friend, Xie Tian was worried, "You've used something excessive, brother Xu!"
"It's disrespectful to go easy on your friend, right? That was my best skill as promised."
Xu Miao borrowed Xie Tian's words as an excuse to use a deadly skill. Even if the protagonist were to fail and get injured, he couldn't blame Xu Miao for it.
"Hahaha! Of course, that's more like it! Now, it's my turn!"
Xie Tian didn't mind that Xu Miao used a deadly skill. He switched his flame saber from the right hand to the left hand. Then, he transferred his yang essence into the flame saber.
*ROAR*
The residual soul inside the heavenly saber released a dragon roar. The temperature around him went over 1,000 degrees Celsius, which could almost melt gold.
Xie Tian raised his flame saber up high, and a magma-like ball manifested above the weapon. It grew bigger every second. Within 5 seconds, it reached the size of 20 meters in diameter.
While Xie Tian was casting his skill, dark flame balls nearby were doused because of the heat. Instead of stealing Xie Tian's qi, the black flame's qi got stolen.
The table had turned in an instant. The protagonist's hidden trump card was crazily overpowered!
Looking at the magma ball, Xu Miao's face twitched. As he had expected, Xie Tian's overall firepower surpassed him. He couldn't challenge the protagonist in the term of power output.
'That motherfucker can use Goku's Spirit Bomb or something!? He has just activated one skill, and my power-move is destroyed.'
Xu Miao squinted his eyes, making a mental note as he discovered many flaws of Xie Tian's skill. It took too long to activate, and the user was restricted to holding the heavenly saber up high. If Xu Miao could find a way to resist the 1,000 degrees Celsius around Xie Tian, he might be able to kill the protagonist.
While Xu Miao was thinking and observing, Xie Tian swung down his saber, and the magma ball descended.
*SCREECH*
For some reason, Killer Queen moved by itself and pointed her katana edge at the oncoming magma ball. Although Xu Miao wanted to run away from the descending comet, he entrusted his fate to the KQ and allowed his hand to move along, pointing the katana at the incoming attack.
*RUMBLE*
At first, the magma comet was at least 30 meters in diameter. After KQ's tip touched it, Xie Tian's magma ball stopped in mid-air, and it slowly shrunk in size.
Xu Miao could feel the energy inside the obnoxious katana increasing. As if this little heaven-grade weapon was a glutton with a black hole belly, the magma comet's energy got absorbed into the magic weapon.
About halfway through, KQ burped.
[Aiya, thanks for the food. I'm full. You can have the rest of the qi.]
The magma comet disappeared since KQ destroyed its core. All energy still entered the blade body, but KQ transferred them into Xu Miao's right hand.
[[Ding]]
[[Killer Queen has transferred you 10,000 strands of yang qi.]]
[[Killer Queen has transferred you 10 drops of yang essence.]]
The amount of energy that KQ gave Xu Miao was no joke. It proved that Xie Tian's qi and his actual skill was superior to Xu Miao's incomplete yin flame since he managed to utilize his essence.
After the comet was gone, the dark flame also disappeared because of the overwhelming heat.
Dry hot air emitted from the ground as Xie Tian's dragon yang qi burned all liquid. The floor tiles had become frying pans, cooking everything above them.
Xu Miao sweated bullets as the heat was killing him. He was relieved that he was still alive after that OP meteor attack.
As for Xie Tian, he still had a wide smile on his face. He laughed and cupped his fist to Xu Miao, "You're something, brother Xu. I thought I could have forced you to retreat, but you destroyed my ultimate skill."
Both men stopped fighting and panted as they had used a lot of energy. Xie Tian even used some of his yang essences in the previous attack, so he wasn't in a good shape.
On the contrary, Xu Miao and KQ's core tactics were energy stealing, which continuously converted Xie Tian's qi into theirs. Xu Miao and KQ were in a good shape, minus the arm injury.
Just one exchange, Xu Miao realized his shortcoming. His current yang qi, yin qi, and essence were too low for a serious fight against the protagonist. He needed more time to cultivate and collect more backup qi and essence before he wanted to kill Xie Tian for real.
"I concede. That skill of yours and the hot air is killing me. I can't continue," Xu Miao avoided trouble, so he didn't hesitate to give up even though he could continue fighting with the remaining qi and system's healing pills.
"Let's make this a draw. I also can't continue. I've depleted one-third of my qi and essence, and your frozen flame got my right arm."
Xie Tian was humble. He gave Xu Miao face and chose to make this a draw.
"What about Wei Feng? Didn't you want to kill him?"
"Ah, it doesn't matter. It was a petty quarrel. I don't want to harm you and your wife's family."
Xie Tian wasn't as gullible and naïve as Xu Miao thought he would be. He slowly adapted and got smarter the longer he experienced the world, and he knew when to compromise for the greater goal. Soon, he would be able to make underhanded schemes if someone were to use it on him first.
The words Xie Tian told Xu Miao just now might indicate that he didn't want to harm Wei Yuan's family. But in reality, Xie Tian realized that the place and time weren't right. There were many Wei Feng's powerful allies, such as Wei Huang, Jia Shan, and many other elders here. It would be a suicide if he stubbornly tried to kill Wei Feng.
Seeing that Xie Tian was playing it safe, Xu Miao was relieved. The annual examination event should be over soon, and he would complete the quest and unlock the second stage.
Since both fighters declared that they wanted to end in a draw, Xu Miao looked at Jian Meng, waiting for him to conclude this match.
Jia Shan and all elders dispersed the hot air around the stage and dispelled the dome barrier.
*WHOOSH*
As soon as the dome barrier was gone, one of the inner disciples blinked and rushed onto the stage!
It was Wei Xiang!
"STOP!!"
Jian Meng, Luo Cheng, and Jia Shan also dove in to intercept the inner disciple.
Wei Huang also jumped in. He led three of the mountain goose minor elders and launched an attack.
Blood Palm!
Three giant hands manifested from Wei Huang's essence and his aura, Dao of Blood. A complete form of an aura skill shot toward the three elders.
Jian Meng, Luo Cheng, and Jia Shan had no choice but to turn around and activate their aura skill as well. The three masters summoned their aura avatars and blocked the blood palms.
Heaven Goose Stomp!
Ethereal Hammer!
Goose Tongue, Force Push!
A giant webbed foot crushed one of the palms. Luo Cheng's giant hammer smashed another one, while Jian Meng simply summoned a goose head and FUS-RO-DAH the last palm.
Wei Huang couldn't harm the three elders, but his objective had been achieved. He managed to delay them for one second, which was enough for Wei Xiang to reach Xie Tian.
The inner disciple landed behind Xie Tian before the latter could react.
*SOEK!*
Wei Xiang's hand pierced through Xie Tian's back and exited from his chest. The strongest inner disciple's hand was holding the protagonist's heart.
"This is what you get for getting in the way of my brother, peasant!"
Wei Xiang pulled Xie Tian's heart and sneered at him.
Xu Miao's eyes went [O_O] as he witnessed the unbelievable development. Yet, it took him less than a second to figure out why it happened. Wei Huang and his grandsons adhered to their promises and attempted to kill Xie Tian right here.
After understanding everything, Xu Miao squeezed KQ's handle and dashed toward Xie Tian as if the former wanted to slice Wei Xiang. But in reality, he aimed to behead Xie Tian and end the tutorial quests for good. The usual crescent smile appeared on the white-haired man's face.
As Xie Tian was collapsing on the floor, he didn't notice Xu Miao's sinister grin. He muttered a few words to activate a life-saving skill.
Return to Zero!
Time froze and everyone couldn't move. The colorful world turned into black, white, and grey.
Xu Miao, elders, and Wei Xiang could see and sense everything, but they couldn't control their bodies.
The distance between Xie Tian's neck and Xu Miao's katana was only 1 centimeter. The villain was in the middle of swinging KQ down, aiming at Xie Tian's neck. The smile on Xu Miao's distorted face intensified, but it froze as the time stopped.
Xu Miao's katana and his body were also pulled back to where he had stood.
Wei Xiang's hand was slowly pulled backward by an unknown force. Blood on the ground, broken bones, damaged tissues, and Xie Tian's heart also returned to where it belonged - inside Xie Tian's body.
Time was rewinding!