Chapter 130: Battling the Ascendant
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Within Liyue Bottomless Valley, there were four Adepts.
Of them, He Daochang, Supreme Elder of the Seven Spirits Sect, had been struck and killed on the spot by the Red River White Night Yin-Spirit Chariot. The Poisonous Hermit, Han Yu, had died before them, his corpse incomplete. That left only Sun Yu of the Sun family and the rogue cultivator Gan Huan.
Who had killed Han Yu—Sun Yu, or Gan Huan?
Qingyuan was still pondering this question when he heard a hoarse voice.
The voice was rough, halting, and weak, unlike any voice he had heard before. Yet Qingyuan still recognized its owner…
Gan Huan!
“You actually survived…”
A figure slowly emerged from the passageway. His appearance was horrifying: his skin was burned and twisted, his hair charred, his clothes hanging in tatters. He looked like an evil spirit as he spoke in a low voice.
“I thought you were already dead. Heaven must truly be taking pity on me, allowing this old man to avenge himself.”
Qingyuan frowned slightly and glanced at Han Yu.
“Was he killed by you?”
Gan Huan seemed to want to nod, but the skin around his neck had been twisted beyond movement, so he abandoned the attempt. After casting a glance at the corpse, he said flatly, “Yes… He was a clever man. In the eyes of the many rogue cultivators, among the three of us who came from such backgrounds, he was probably the most formidable, wasn’t he?”
Qingyuan nodded.
“That is my opinion as well.”
“It was the truth,” Gan Huan said with a hoarse laugh. “His talent was extraordinary, and he had enjoyed great fortune since childhood. The cultivation arts he practiced were formidable, and his spells difficult to deal with. Though still young, he had already entered the Middle Three Heavens and attained the Adept realm. He also possessed many hidden contingencies. Truly astonishing.”
“More than that,” Qingyuan said slowly. “He was surely skilled at planning, concealment, and stratagems. Though he usually appeared mild and gentle, there was a cold darkness hidden beneath, along with the air of someone who always had everything under control. I had long believed that, given his cultivation and wisdom, none of you Adepts should have been his equal. If even he died, then you should have had even less chance of surviving…”
“Yes.”
Gan Huan nodded ruefully.
“Within that magma, had it not been for one of his hidden measures, the three of us would have been reduced to ashes.”
“Did he use some secret art or treasure to protect you?” Qingyuan asked calmly. “And once you escaped, you killed him?”
“If he had not been so ruthless, if he had not been so skilled at plotting, we would not have feared him so deeply, nor worried that he would strike first,” Gan Huan said slowly. “Whether in talent and fortune, cultivation and attainment, scheming and calculation, or spells and supernatural abilities, he surpassed us all. I have even heard that he possessed a method capable of extracting another’s vital essence and using it to nourish himself. Under such circumstances… to prevent him from striking first, we had no choice.”
“I see,” Qingyuan said with a sigh.
The reason Han Yu had died… was simply that he had always been too unfathomable, too deep to gauge, and had therefore aroused the fear of others.
“Had he not died here…” Gan Huan looked at the corpse. “He might have become a great figure in the future.”
Qingyuan tightened his grip on the iron staff.
“No matter how dazzling a person may be, no matter how bright the road ahead, a genius who dies young is ultimately only a genius—not a great figure.”
Gan Huan clearly agreed. Looking at Qingyuan, he laughed hoarsely.
“You are the same.”
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Qingyuan did not answer. Beneath the flesh of his forearm, patterns of lightning emerged.
He raised the iron staff, and scarlet thunder abruptly shot forth.
Gan Huan gave a cold laugh. A spell condensed within his palm, and he thrust it forward, catching the bolt of lightning.
A thunderous explosion rang out!
Lightning flashed.
“How can this be…?”
Gan Huan stared at his mangled palm. The flesh had been shattered, exposing stark white bone; the hand was nearly crippled. His entire body had gone numb in that instant, and his face filled with disbelief.
“How can this be?”
In the short span of several days, the power of this young man’s thunder arts had increased so dramatically.
Gan Huan had once caught Qingyuan’s thunder arts with his bare hand. Yet this time, a single strike had nearly destroyed his palm.
He was stunned, but Qingyuan did not pause.
Gan Huan had overestimated himself. By catching the thunder head-on, he had not only ruined his palm but had also left his body paralyzed for a moment. This was the perfect opportunity to strike…
With a thunderous boom, Qingyuan raised his hand and released a burst of flame. A foot thick, it swept forward like a colossal fiery dragon-serpent.
“Three days apart, and one must look at a man anew.”
Gan Huan sighed, yet with the cultivation of an Adept, he dispelled the lingering power of the lightning. He pressed out one hand, and the Primordial-Spirit Grasping Hand shot forth.
The Primordial-Spirit Grasping Hand expanded in an instant, growing more than ten feet across as it thrust sideways toward Qingyuan.
The flames struck the center of its palm.
The Primordial-Spirit Grasping Hand halted for an instant. Then the palm closed, seizing the fire that resembled a fiery dragon-serpent.
The flames scattered within its grasp. Ashes turned to dust and fell to the ground, where vines sprang up and wrapped around the Primordial-Spirit Grasping Hand.
Immediately afterward, earth surged up from below, coiling around the hand and extinguishing it.
“This…”
Gan Huan was left speechless with astonishment.
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A moment earlier, Qingyuan had successively employed the arts of fire, earth, and wood. Each had been unleashed in an instant, without hand seals or incantations, and every one possessed tremendous power. He was more extraordinary than any cultivator at the peak of the Third Heaven, nearly touching the realm of the Adepts.
Gan Huan found it impossible to believe. With a wave of his hand, he sent out an object black as ink. It shot forward in an instant.
“Rise!”
Qingyuan uttered a single word.
One long spike of refined iron after another burst from the ground, blocking the object and striking its black surface. Its spiritual radiance vanished at once.
Gan Huan’s heart shook violently. He had never imagined that anyone could master the arts of all five elements. From his previous understanding, this young man excelled in fire arts and should have condensed the fire element among the Five Elements.
Yet now, he possessed all five. What was more, the power of his arts had nearly exceeded the limits that should have belonged to a cultivator of the Third Heaven.
Qingyuan raised the iron staff, and the thunder arts erupted once more.
This time, Gan Huan was forced onto the defensive.
A cultivator of the Third Heaven had suppressed an Adept of the Fourth Heaven.
Such a thing… was truly absurd.
“It should not be like this!” Gan Huan shouted as he summoned the Primordial-Spirit Grasping Hand to withstand the thunder. “You are still only at the Third Heaven. Compared with this old man, you are no more than an ant…”
In the eyes of cultivators of the Adept realm, those of the Lower Three Heavens were as snakes compared with dragons, or cats compared with tigers.
“My cultivation is inferior to yours, Senior,” Qingyuan said as he attacked with all his strength, never pausing. “But as for our ability in combat… that remains uncertain.”
Gan Huan’s cultivation had reached the Adept realm, and his foundation was deep. Qingyuan was merely at the peak of the Third Heaven, with a comparatively shallow foundation. If the two were truly compared, they were indeed like a cat and a tiger. But a clumsy tiger was not necessarily stronger than a mountain cat skilled at killing.
After enduring relentless tempering within that empty chamber, Qingyuan could now bring his abilities fully to bear.
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