703 Goal

Hearing Lu Yongyuan's declaration, Lou Cheng was as calm as the surface of a peaceful lake. He answered politely,

"I'm looking forward to it."

As he talked, he continued his previous preparation of compressing Ice Spirit Force to release Fire Force. Outside his body, he formed the last faint blue fireball as it revolved around him to join the dazzling white, golden, scorching red, and faint purple fireballs.

Facing the God-Slaying Saber, no amount of preparation was too much.

Lu Yongyuan wasn't ruffled by Lou Cheng's answer either. With his back facing the referee, his right palm grabbed his saber's hilt the moment the referee raised his arm. In this whole process, there wasn't any change in speed. The previous second was just like the next, and the audience felt an unexpected chill down their spines.

When his seemingly fat and stubby fingers gripped onto the hilt that was turning hot from the surrounding temperature, the atmosphere around him changed. He was like a loaded gun, a missile with its target locked, or a treasured weapon the with dust cleaned from it.

The fire on the ground instantly turned weaker and the lava flowed more slowly. The world seemed to have been split in half. Between each half of darkness, there was a long ray of bright light.

Lou Cheng's hair stood up as he heard the thunderous voice of the referee,

"Begin!"

Lu Yongyuan took a casual step forward and the God-Slaying Saber silently unsheathed his saber.

With just a slash, Lou Cheng felt that the two of them were cut out from the world into a new and independent realm.

This world was so small that the distance between them was just a few meters wide. Lu Yongyuan had taken a casual step forward and yet he was already in his attack range. When his heavy, black long saber slashed down, invisible air currents seemed to boil and turn into layers that restricted Lou Cheng, while also disrupting the rotations of his fireballs.

Nine Godly Saber techniques, Boundary!

Nothing could be accomplished without proper boundaries set!

Using the uniqueness of this strike, Lu Yongyuan easily imitated the Shukuchi technique of Tang Zexun. In fact, he was even faster than her as he approached the speed of Lou Cheng using the Forwarding formula with Counter Jet Spray. Yet, there weren't any smoke or flames and he was able to move around unhindered.

Compared to when he was at Master Competition, his Boundary was clearly even more mature, mysterious, and effective.

In the past, Lou Cheng had used Fighting formula and the violence of his Dan qi to forcefully break through Boundary and barely withstand strike. Now, he made a similar decision. However, his strength was even more horrifying because he was using Nine Rotations of Five Flames, Descent of the Sun.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh! The five fireballs emitted brilliant light as their heat burned through the invisible restraints. After which, following Lou Cheng's stride, they combined into one as Lou Cheng swung his arm down.

Just as Lou Cheng's fist was about to strike the side of the God-Slaying Saber, and as the sun was forming in his hand and illuminating the area, the black longsword started shaking. The next moment, it disappeared without a trace.

Nine Godly Saber techniques, Axeless!

This wasn't simply connecting a different technique after the other was completed. Instead, it was a technique layered directly onto the previous.

What does it mean, that it does as one wishes? It meant exactly this.

Lou Cheng's pupils contracted, but it was already too late for him to stop.

The blinding light exploded completely. The audience shut their eyes instinctively or suffered from temporary blindness as their vision was overtaken by a patch of bright light.

Following which, they felt the ground shake. The high temperature and bullet proofed glass wall began shaking violently and everyone head thunderous boom.

A huge hole appeared in front of Lou Cheng and the lava below erupted like a fountain with the pressure from above. As for Lu Yongyuan, he had already disappeared, slipping past Enemy Heart Freezing Move by using the thick smoke and violent wind.

Flames shimmered in his eyes. Lou Cheng suddenly felt a strong sense of danger.

Without hesitation, he turned his body around to see. Using the momentum, he opened up his arms and smashed behind him

A longsword covered in brilliant light sliced through the space as it descended, followed by the burly Lu Yongyuan, whose eyes appeared green.

Weng!

With a shake, the brilliant light on the saber shattered into eight parts that slashed towards Lou Cheng's body like a hurricane.

As for the long saber that had shed its brilliance, a dull black lustre remained. It maintained its initial path before slashing down dangerously.

Nine Godly Saber techniques, Nine Yin!

At this moment, a layer of crystals appeared along the surface of Lou Cheng and rapidly extended outwards. The eight homing strikes hadn't come close, but rather seemed to have fallen into thick glue. Their glow started to fade, and they gradually slowed down.

The closer they got to Lou Cheng, the thicker the glue. By the time they stopped, there was an ice wall.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Amidst the sounds of shattering ice, Lou Cheng's fist landed directly on the black longsword.

Poof!

A low voice sounded and the saber was knocked off its trajectory as it slashed into empty space. On the surface, clear and beautiful snowflakes formed. As for Lou Cheng, eight wounds appeared on different parts of his body.

Ice Sect's eighth move, Frozen World, Eternal Freeze!

This move was good for defending and attacking. It could affect the surroundings, rapidly decreasing the temperature and freezing the air currents to neutralize the opponent's attacks. Wherever the punches and kicks landed would also leave small frozen areas. Because of the Ice Spirit Force hidden within, they wouldn't melt easily and could seriously affect the opponent's movement.

If he wasn't in the Infernal Hell, Lou Cheng might not even be injured!

If he didn't have the ability to sense danger, along with all of his life-or-death experiences, he would have either executed in time or made the poor decision to dodge. If that had been the case, the eight rays could have sealed his movements, allowing God-Slaying Saber to succeed.

As darkness fell in a beautiful arc and the snowflakes melted, Lou Cheng was getting ready for a counter attack when he felt another strong sense of danger. This time, he leaned abruptly back.

A bolt of lightning flashed across as the air current behind him took shape and expanded into clouds. Its speed was even faster than Tang Zexun's Flying Dragon Takedown.

Nine Godly Saber techniques, Extreme Shock!

Rumble!

In the explosion, Lou Cheng's ears closed up with the natural laws of physics as he shut himself off, blocking the majority of the sound waves. At the same time, he took advantage of the strong wind and rolled away, before rising to open up the distance between them.

However, Lu Yongyuan didn't stop to introduce his moves like he had during the Master competition. Retracting his Extreme Shock, he strode out to strike with his longsword once again, never giving his opponent the chance to catch his breath.

This was another Boundary, as he shortened the distance between the two of them once again and imposed layers of restraints on Lou Cheng.

Again… As the thought passed through his mind, Lou Cheng took a deep breath and gathered his mind and Force in his lower abdomen to form a miniature universe with darkness and stars in balance.

The stars moved to trace the Fighting Formula.

As he erupted his Dan force, his height grew to over two meters. His expanded muscles pressed hard against his clothing as the shape of his muscles were clearly shown. His skin appeared black and green, and one could vaguely see the network of flames and ice crystals flowing beneath. Lou Cheng seemed to have become an ancient giant, older even than the gods of their mythology.

Bam! Bam! Bam! The restraints broke one after the other. Lou Cheng twisted at his waist and threw out his right fist like a rocket launcher.

Rumble!

Flames from the ground erupted as the tongue of flames tore and ripped Lu Yongyuan's legs. Lu Yongyuan was knocked back several steps.

After a punch, the Fire force within Lou Cheng erupted, giving him a secondary propulsion forward. In the blink of an eye, he had cut to the front of his opponent. With his left fist covered in purple flames, he smashed diagonally towards his opponent's chin.

Lu Yongyuan's expression was like water in a deep pond, and just as steady. Sinking his shoulder, he slashed with his god-slaying saber once again.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh! He slashed left and right consecutively in the shape of an "X" towards his opponent.

Bam bam bam! Lou Cheng fired with both fists. He was either smashing or wrecking, each strike heavy and hot as he pressed forward in a frenzy.

Lu Yongyuan's "X"-shaped slashes were ceaseless, making Lou Cheng's violent barrage of attacks seem like a hot afternoon sun that would eventually be enveloped by darkness, no matter how terrifying it might seem.

Nine Godly Saber techniques, Dusk!

After a round of violent attacks, Lou Cheng, with trace amounts of poison invading his body, couldn't help but catch his breath. Lu Yongyuan was like his reflection in the mirror as he did the same.

Not good! The sense of danger welled up again. Lou Cheng shifted his center of gravity, twisted his back, and pounced forward.

Another bolt of lightning illuminated the surroundings. It quickly took shape and struck out.

At this moment, Lu Yongyuan lowered his body, twisted his wrist, and forcefully stopped Extreme Shock as he halted his god-slaying saber in mid-air.

Rumble!

Amidst the explosion shock waves, he flicked his long saber before slashing down rapidly. He was just like the lightning that was clawing down at earth, like the gods in the skies throwing their long spears towards the ground.

Nine Godly Saber techniques, Divine Spear!

It was another forceful change in technique.

Bam! Before Lou Cheng could stabilize his landing, he was surrounded by saber rays. Unprepared, he could only respond with Severe Warning. He raised his fist up while forming a layer of ice armor over his body.

For Lou Cheng, he had long been able to execute simplified Physical Invulnerability moves on the spot.

Rumble!

The longsword stopped as Lou Cheng staggered. Parts of the Ice Armor shattered and began peeling off.

Lu Yongyuan pulled back his arm and made a preparation posture.

Suddenly, a line of darkness appeared that absorbed all the surrounding light. All Lou Cheng could see was pitch black, all he could hear was silence, and all he could feel was emptiness!

The last move of the Nine Godly Saber techniques, Eternal Silence!

Lou Cheng had planned the full Nine Word Formula in unison to break his opponent's mental suppression and withstand this strike. He also benefited from what Lu Yongyuan said was too slow, meaning that his speed allowed others the chance to salvage the attack, even if he made a wrong decision.

Now, the God-Slaying Saber was making a strong comeback. He had probably overcome this weakness and made specific changes to deal with Nine Words Formula

Facing this situation, Lou Cheng wasn't fearful at all. Instead, he was exhilarated.

He had been waiting for this moment!

Waiting for Lu Yongyuan to use Eternal Silence!

Even if he hadn't faced Tang Zexun previously, his chances of winning against Lu Yongyuan, whose level was close to Dragon King and Warrior Sage, were slim.

Lou Cheng's combination of martial arts with Cultivation, his personal style of achieving balance to form Dan, and his self-created Cosmic Universe had given him strength close to a second-pin expert after learning the godly techniques of Ice Sect and Fire Sect. After he mastered these two schools, experienced life-or-death trials in the war-torn areas, and gained self-understanding in everyday life, he still couldn't claim to be at the level of a first-pin expert. Nonetheless, he still had a thirty to forty percent chance of winning against experts at this level. However, Lu Yongyuan wasn't just a first-pin expert. He was an expert that had won titles and had since improved even further.

Therefore, Lou Cheng had only expected to be able to exhaust him after fighting with Tang Zexun.

However, if he was focused purely on exhausting him, he would bound and unable to perform. Therefore, Lou Cheng set an ambitious goal to give his all.

This goal was to defeat him.

To defeat the God-Slaying Saber, Lu Yongyuan.

This wasn't something that was a completely unattainable, as there was still a slim chance of victory.

This mindset may have come from something he gleaned from the Clear Jade Chapter of the Restricted Sect, and it happened to be a counter to Lu Yongyuan's self-created strongest move, Eternal Silence!

Amidst the silent darkness, Lou Cheng let his heart sink. His legs were shoulder width apart as he lifted his right hand.

This is the moment I've been waiting for!