Between a Gesture and a Movement

Shui Qinghe transformed into the body of a River Earl. His moves were broad and powerful, sweeping in all directions as he stood alone atop the platform. Numerous upper-court disciples attacked from every side. Many possessed soul weapons, yet none could set foot on the platform. Some had barely climbed up when they were sent flying!

As a core disciple of one of the Ten Great Clans, the Shuitu Clan, Shui Qinghe had been personally taught by a qigong master. He was a fierce tiger, a flood dragon. Though there were many formidable figures among the upper-court disciples, how could they possibly be his match?

Until now, Shui Qinghe had not even used his soul weapon. Alone, he had suppressed dozens of people below the platform, clearly showing that he still had strength to spare!

"Zhongshan Clan's Zhong Yue!"

Shui Qinghe stood atop surging waters that flooded the platform. Suddenly, his gaze passed over the crowd and landed on Zhong Yue, and his eyes lit up. "Junior Brother Zhong, there is no need to wait any longer for our three-move agreement. Come up with them. Please!"

His battle intent ran high. Having overwhelmed all his opponents with his skill had given him unprecedented confidence. By now, Shui Qinghe possessed an invincible conviction, confident that he could defeat every enemy!

This sort of confidence would allow him to cast off every restraint completely. His spirit would soar, making his moves more fluid, their power greater, and his strength stronger still!

This was the invincible state of mind.

Back then, Li Xiuniang had also sought out Zhong Yue of her own accord for the sake of this invincible state of mind. She had wanted to maintain an unstoppable momentum and fight all the way into the finals. Unfortunately, the Zhong Yue she had anticipated and the Zhong Yue she had actually faced differed greatly in strength, leaving her to suffer defeat with bitter regret.

"Xinhuo said that you don't even qualify to put shoes on Heavenly Phenomenon Mother's feet..."

Zhong Yue narrowed his eyes. He stopped some twenty zhang from the platform, then slowly raised his right hand, spreading his five fingers with his palm facing the platform. If you don't even qualify to put shoes on Heavenly Phenomenon Mother, then you don't qualify to put shoes on me either!

He showed no battle intent, nor did spiritual power flow through him. No aura blossomed, and the sword case on his back remained as calm as ever. Only his palm faced the platform—and Shui Qinghe upon it.

Crackling lightning surged in his palm. Bolts of Lei power remained restrained, fine as strands of hair, darting between his five fingers like tiny, lively flood dragons.

Yet on closer inspection, those thin strands of Lei were formed from one Lei Thunder Totem Pattern after another and Flood Dragon Totem Pattern after another.

But all of that was merely the surface. What truly formed those bolts of Lei was the Sword Pattern of the Great Freedom Sword Qi!

The thin strands of Lei in his palm were Lei Sword Qi formed by combining twelve Lei Thunder Totem Patterns, eight Flood Dragon Totem Patterns, and that single Sword Pattern. It was no longer merely the Thunderclap Sword Art!

"Brat Yue, now let me see whether you've achieved crispness, ferocity, and hardness!"

Waves rippled through his sea of consciousness. Zhong Yue's spiritual fluctuations were slight, but Xinhuo was exceptionally excited. Perched on Zhong Yue's soul, the little flame hopped up and down, shouting, "Blast him! Blast him in one strike!"

"Xinhuo, take a look and see whether this strike of mine is ferocious enough."

Zhong Yue's expression remained as calm as an ancient well. He lightly shook his raised palm and murmured, "Lei..."

Crack!

A thunderclap that shook the heavens erupted. The dozens of upper-court disciples surrounding and attacking the platform were shaken until their minds went blank. Nearly all their visualizations shattered. One sound was enough to leave your soul unsettled and make visualization impossible!

All the techniques surrounding the platform and attacking Shui Qinghe exploded one after another. Soul weapons clanged as they fell to the ground, while the upper-court disciples stood there woodenly, knowing and sensing nothing.

"Roar—"

A long dragon's roar rang out. The strands of Lei in Zhong Yue's palm shot forth, crossing the twenty-zhang distance in the blink of an eye, moving so quickly that the eyes could barely catch them!

When the strands of Lei had flown only halfway, they had already transformed into flood dragons two or three zhang long. By the time they reached the platform, they had grown to more than twelve zhang!

Within this single palm strike, Zhong Yue had sent out twelve flood dragons, corresponding to the twelve forms of the Thunderclap Sword Art. It appeared to be a combination of the Thunderclap Sword Art and the Dragon Totem Body Coiling Art, but the technique he used was solidly the Great Freedom Sword Qi!

Those vivid, lifelike flood dragons were actually strands of Lei Sword Qi!

Their twisting and shifting was also the twisting and shifting of sword qi!

At that moment, the water dragons, water swords, and ice swords around the platform shattered one after another. Water pillars collapsed. As the horde of dragons charged in, the Totem God Pillars exploded with a series of cracks. The formation laid down by the Totem Pillars was crushed beneath the dragon horde and fell apart in an instant, disintegrating completely!

Shui Qinghe's expression changed drastically. It was simply too fast. From the moment Zhong Yue raised his hand, to the eruption of Lei in his palm and the flood dragons surging out, to the flood dragons charging onto the platform, only a brief instant had passed—barely enough for him to blink once.

In that blink of an eye, the formation he had laid across the platform had already collapsed!

Before his eyes, twelve ferocious flood dragons bared their teeth and brandished their claws. Their dragon heads were hideous and terrifying, their postures varied, and each contained the mysteries of a divine ability. They pounced at him from different directions!

"Zhongshan Clan, don't underestimate me! I originally thought I would only bring out my ultimate technique when battling the core disciples of the other clans. I never expected that I would have to use it on you first!"

Shui Qinghe roared. His voice exploded from his throat like a blast, and his spiritual power seemed ready to explode as well. The body of the River Earl instantly became incomparably solid and powerful. Shui Qinghe seemed to transform into a ten-zhang-tall divine River Earl. Hissing sounds rang around his body as fish scales drilled out from beneath the River Earl's skin, covering him like fish-scale armor!

A careful look revealed that every fish scale overlapped with the others. In other words, the fish-scale armor possessed two layers of scale defense.

That was not all. Every fish scale was a shield, and the Totem Patterns appearing upon it were defensive patterns, equivalent to a miniature defensive formation!

The River Earl formed from Shui Qinghe's body stood ten zhang tall. How many fish scales covered him? How many defensive formations did his body contain? How powerful was the defense of this fish-scale armor?

The reason he had the courage to contend with the other upper-court disciples—including core disciples of the Ten Great Clans such as Li Xiuniang and Yu Zhenglong—was precisely this fish-scale armor.

Furthermore, beneath the fish-scale armor, the River Earl's skin bore another layer of Totem Patterns. Its defensive power overlapped with that of the fish-scale armor. With such defenses, who could break through them?

If his opponent could not break through his defenses, then he would stand in an undefeatable position. And once he was undefeatable, his opponent would be the one to fall!

The twelve flood dragons pounced downward. Strangely, there was no sound of collision. Instead, the sound they produced was the shriek of sword qi tearing through the air.

They were not pure flood dragons, but sword qi shaped like dragons—sword qi mixed with Lei.

The instant the twelve flood dragons collided with Shui Qinghe, the platform trembled violently. A figure was sent flying backward. The flood dragons tumbled after him, striking his body one after another and sending him flying several li from the mountaintop before he finally began to fall!

The figure flying backward was none other than Shui Qinghe. His fish-scale armor was already riddled with holes. When the final flood dragon coiled and twisted around him, the armor shattered, and the River Earl's body also fell apart, breaking into utter pieces.

Boom!

Shui Qinghe landed at the foot of the mountain. His entire body rolled along, knocking down swathes of trees as he went. The sight was astonishing!

Zhong Yue stepped forward. Under the gazes of the upper-court disciples surrounding the platform, he slowly climbed onto it.

Shui Qinghe was nowhere to be seen atop the platform. Only Zhong Yue stood there.

In the distance, on Five Pine Peak, elder after elder and qigong master after qigong master nearly jumped to their feet upon seeing this scene.

With a raised hand, the platform had changed hands. Zhong Yue had chosen this path, and they had originally thought his eyesight was too poor, that he had muddleheadedly chosen Shui Qinghe, a core disciple of the Shuitu Clan. They had never expected that Zhong Yue would merely raise his hand from afar and blast Shui Qinghe away, taking the platform for himself!

An elder muttered, "Could this Zhongshan Clan member be a naturally born Spiritual Body, possessing the same constitution as Fang Jiange and Feng Wuji?"

"Brothers, does anyone wish to come up and seek instruction?" Zhong Yue stood on the platform, his voice drifting down, clear and indifferent.

Below the platform, dozens of upper-court disciples exchanged glances as fine beads of cold sweat appeared on their foreheads. They could feel the pressure coming from above.

The youth atop the platform had not released any astonishing aura, nor had he displayed extraordinary spiritual cultivation. Yet merely standing there, he gave them an invisible pressure that made them afraid to move rashly.

With one raised hand, he had blasted Shui Qinghe from the platform. In the hearts of these upper-court disciples, Zhong Yue was ferocious beyond measure. Shui Qinghe's strength had not yet driven them to despair, but Zhong Yue's strength made them feel despair!

"Brat Yue, your strength and aura have achieved ferocity: a hungry tiger descending the mountain and slaughtering its way into a flock of sheep; a venomous dragon emerging from the abyss, leaving a thousand li barren of human life. That's the kind of ferocity you need—the feeling of power crushing strength and might overwhelming all resistance! Your soul is hard as well, like Heavenly Emperor seated in the central hall. For your current realm, it is already flawless."

Within the sea of consciousness, Xinhuo suddenly shook his head again. "But I haven't seen crispness. What we call crispness means that your strength must be indestructible—strike a mountain and shatter the mountain, strike a god and explode the god. Use one portion of strength to produce ten portions of effect, releasing the full might of your strength without holding anything back!"

Zhong Yue frowned slightly, feeling that something was amiss. "Xinhuo, I understand what you mean. But that is for killing people!"

One portion of strength erupting tenfold required every limb and bone, every meridian and tendon, every muscle, drop of blood, and internal organ to coordinate perfectly. His spiritual power, soul, and body had to unite into a single pure force, released in an explosive and utterly exhilarating burst!

This was the crispness Xinhuo spoke of!

But this was a killing technique—a pure killing technique. It was easy to imagine what would happen to Shui Qinghe if such power erupted. The instant Zhong Yue's strength touched him, his entire body would explode, bursting apart and dying on the spot!

Although Zhong Yue was displeased with the Shuitu Clan, he did not believe Shui Qinghe had been involved in the matter of Heavenly Phenomenon Mother. There was no need to kill him.

"Xinhuo, I will show you that I've achieved what you require. My strength is crisp enough, my soul is hard enough, and my aura is ferocious enough."

Standing atop the platform, Zhong Yue looked toward the other mountains and finally found Shui Qingyan. He spoke quietly, "But Shui Qinghe isn't worthy."

...This week is about to end, and it makes me so sad that this week's recommendation votes didn't exceed ten thousand—there were only eight thousand two hundred, still far short of the goal. But next week is coming right up. Brothers, let's accomplish this goal with Zhuzhu and charge straight past ten thousand weekly recommendations!