Chapter 162: Duel (1)

After he made his declaration, Su Chen’s aura underwent a drastic change.

His tone had been one of tranquility and indifference befitting his youth, but an immense pressure suddenly began explosively emanating from his body.

A thick wave of killing intent burst out of him in a wild, unrestrained manner.

Then a massive human-like image appeared behind him. It was still the Primordial Blood Incarnation, but this time it had grown to nearly two hundred feet. Its massive body stood erect like a tall mountain, and the Mountain-Beheading Blade seemed to have transformed into a Heaven-Sundering Blade. Flames engulfed the edge of the blade, mixing into the intensely crackling lightning.

When he saw this, Astin’s gaze narrowed sharply.

What technique was this?

Why could this youth who was only in the Yang Opening Realm suddenly give off such an intense pressure towards him?

It didn’t feel like he was facing a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, but rather a Light Shaking Realm cultivator just as strong as — no, perhaps even stronger than him!

The vigorous desire to do battle and the dense waves of Origin Energy flowing out of Su Chen caused Astin to feel an immense power wash over him, and this power only seemed to continue increasing.

This guy was actually getting even stronger!

Astin knew that the situation wasn’t looking good.

At this moment, the best thing for him to do would have been to immediately attack and interrupt Su Chen while he was gathering his strength.

However, he didn’t do that. Instead, he pulled out something from his breast pocket and tossed it into the air.

Whoosh!

A streak of fire shot high into the sky like a flare, lighting up the sky.

After doing this, Astin laughed delightedly. “Su Chen, you’re dead for sure!”

“So you’ve finished notifying them? And with that you feel at ease?” Unexpectedly, Su Chen didn’t seem to care. He stared at Astin, his gaze filled with contempt. “A Light Shaking Realm cultivator’s first move against a Yang Opening Realm challenger is to call for reinforcements. Astin, where did your courage go? You aren’t even confident in yourself, so what right do you have to talk about fighting me?”

Astin smiled ferociously. “Trying to shake me with your words? Unfortunately, that has no use against me! I have never placed much faith in willpower or explosiveness. I will attack with the abilities that I have. I don’t need self-confidence when I fight, just strength!”

As he spoke, he began to sing an extremely strange song.

As he sang, the Origin Energy in the air began to twist onto itself as wave after wave of Origin Energy began to condense, forming a large vortex that began to paradoxically simultaneously expand and contract.

Elemental Vortex!

As a remnant of the Arcana Race, it stood to reason that Astin would use Ancient Arcana Techniques.

The Elemental Vortex was a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique, so it wasn’t extremely powerful. However, it was a foundation for many other Ancient Arcana Techniques, which was why it was a favorite technique for many Arcana Masters.

Astin was stubborn and conservative, so he didn’t like change. But just as he said, he would use as much strength as he possessed to defeat his opponent, which meant that he never lost the battles he should win, but also that he would never win the battles he should lose.

It was formulaic, in a way.

Because of this, Astin was known as the Ruler amongst the Resurrection Door.

Rulers were measuring tools, so the name was extremely indicative of Astin’s thought processes.

After the elemental vortex appeared, what immediately followed was a full demonstration of the power of Ancient Arcana Techniques.

The space between Astin and Su Chen began to distort as if there was a massive hand squeezing it. Countless streaks of lightning appeared out of thin air and gathered into a massive ball of lightning before shooting at Su Chen.

It was patently obvious that this ball of lightning was different from the lightning that Su Chen used. Su Chen could sense that the lightning here was at least ten times more concentrated than his own.

What a frightening attack!

Ancient Arcana Techniques were powerful without equal, making their offensive prowess far greater than that of contemporary Origin Skills.

When faced with this ball of lightning, which was so powerful that it distorted the very air as it moved towards him, Su Chen didn’t dare take it head-on.

His figure immediately disappeared as he shifted to the side. At the same time, the blade in his hand whizzed through the air.

The massive Primordial Blood Incarnation swung the equally massive Mountain-Beheading Blade through the air, generating massive shockwaves as it sliced through the air. There was a frightening feeling that an impending shower of blood was about to fill the air.

The shockwaves of blade energy traveled tens of thousands of kilometers, and countless illusory images of beasts appeared behind Su Chen, howling in unison.

These silhouettes included the Soaring Serpent, the Thunder Spirit, the Mountain Demon, and even Luo You..... Su Chen had gathered countless bloodlines these past few years. For the few he liked, he refined, absorbed, and used them on himself. Even though he hadn’t managed to fully integrate the power of their bloodlines, he had still incorporated them into his style of battle, forging them into his own unique brand of strength.

This blade seemed capable of carving through the fabric of the universe as it exploded with boundless light.

The ball of lightning was deflected to the side by the blade, but the explosive lightning energy still pushed Su Chen backwards.

As Su Chen flew through the air, his figure suddenly shimmered and disappeared. He had used Whitetower Teleportation to appear behind Astin.

“Ancient Arcana Techniques?” Shock appeared in Astin’s eyes. Su Chen had actually used an Ancient Arcana Technique!?

Even as he was numbed with shock, Astin’s figure contorted into a beam of light. Su Chen’s blade descended, but all it did was make the light tremble slightly, as if Su Chen had merely passed through a figure made of water.

Astin quickly returned to his physical form. His right hand blasted out an intense swath of flames which roared to life and climbed towards the sky before taking on the form of a blade.

This was Flame Strike, a Third-Ring Arcana Technique. It wasn’t as powerful as the elemental vortex, but it formed and struck much faster. Given Astin’s strength, it was possible for him to call forth this technique at a moment’s notice.

The sharp flaming blade flew straight at Su Chen’s face, but was instantly blocked by a barrier.

A moment later, Astin cried out again.

As soon as he heard his voice, Su Chen’s figure trembled as his movements slowed down dramatically.

The Demonic Dirge could control the opponent’s consciousness; it was a powerful skill that focused on slowing an opponent’s Origin Energy gathering rate.

Astin smiled darkly as a strange wave of darkness began to take form, preparing to envelope Su Chen.

The Wave of Darkness was a Fifth-Ring Ancient Arcana Technique that contained incredible power, at the cost of taking a certain amount of time to charge up. As such, Astin liked to use the Demonic Dirge to first restrict his opponent’s movements before activating it.

However, the instant the black wave of light appeared, Su Chen’s figure disappeared yet again.

He had been completely unaffected by the Demonic Dirge, and he showed it by sauntering away with a self-confident smile on his face.

“You aren’t affected?” Astin was stunned.

Su Chen tilted his head. “I have a hard time feeling a consciousness attack on that kind of level.”

As he spoke, he stabbed out with his blade.

As the blade moved, lightning and flames congregated on the surface of the blade. In the blink of an eye, Su Chen’s power had multiplied once again, and the blade’s aura somehow grew even more violent and overbearing. It surged forwards with a peerless confidence.

Astin yelled loudly, and powerful waves of energy began to stream forth again from the elemental vortex, gathering to form a large mirror that guarded in front of Astin. Another circle of light also appeared in front of Astin; that was the Order Shield. Finally, flames roared to life on Astin’s body; that was the Inferno Armor.

He had activated three defensive techniques simultaneously.

Su Chen, however, had only unleashed a single blade strike. A long, deep scar was left behind in the ground as the blade built up momentum and slammed into the crystal mirror, shattering it and sending shards of ice flying everywhere. Next, it met the Order Shield, which reverberated with a saintly hum. As the shield rang out, the light on the blade noticeably dimmed down. Finally, when only a fraction of the blade strike’s original strength was left, the Order Shield also broke. The remaining momentum crashed into the Inferno Armor, causing sparks and flames to fly everywhere.

Boom!

A massive, fiery explosion burst forth, all of it centered around Astin.