The reason why most cultivators succeeded in their Qi Building tribulation on the first try was that the tribulation remained the same for everyone: a single lightning blot. From the Golden Core realm onward, however, there was no way to predict what tribulation could be.
As beads of water condensed around, Ye Mu put his guard up and made leaves fly around his body, nervous at the thought of the incoming tribulation.The beads of water, interconnecting together, formed a ring which quickly retracted over the fox!
The latter tried to block it with the leaves but it was pointless, as the water ring couldn't be cut. Using his great agility, he could still jump out right before he was touched. However, upon touching the ground, the energy-filled water caused the herbs there to quickly grow to a disproportionate size, turning into organic lashes that rushed toward him.
"Weak!"
Combining his strong physic, he dodged around the lang herbs while cutting them with his leaf blades, getting rid of these in a second. The next moment, the cut herbs quickly caught flames, a blue spiritual fire that burned Ye Mu's leaves, destroying his defenses as they turned into blue fireballs and rushed toward him.
'This is bad!' Baotian thought.
Both leaves techniques and wind spells were inefficient against fire spells, and these blue flames weren't something that a Qi Building could block with pure physical resistance. It was the worst possible matchup!
Ye Mu, not losing his calm, began to run in the opposite direction. The flames kept following and so, he stopped running and began flying upward, using leaves as supports to soar in the air. The flames followed him over a hundred meters, slowly bridging the distance between them. In the air, Ye Mu suddenly made a u-turn in the air, falling back down at full speed. In the process, he was grazed by the flames, and it was enough for part of his flesh and fur to be burned mercilessly.
Approaching the ground at full speed, he was getting dangerously close to being squashed on the ground but, at the last moment, using his flying technique, his wind spells, and every single bit of his physical strength, he avoided impact with the ground. The flames were not able to change directions as he did and so, they exploded against the ground in a succession of bright lights.
"Ye Mu, watch out!" Baotian shouted.
The fox, already bone-tired, looked up: a small storm was raging in front of him, and large chunks of the ground had been ripped off and were now flying inside it. Under the power of heaven, these large boulders were chiseled into numerous stake-shaped ones, increasing manyfolds the lethality of the storm.
It was likely the last part of the tribulation, but that alone was rivaling a pseudo-Core Formation level killer move!
"Ah, dropping the seniors already, now that I've absorbed your blood essence, I thought you would wait until my advancement was over" the fox laughed.
"Stop talking and just run! Luckily, that thing doesn't seem to fast, if you put distance and wait for it to weaken, you'll be sure to pass the tribulation"
The storm slowly approached, but the fox did not seem hurried to escape, instead showing his fangs in a ferocious way:
"Escaping? Me? I, Ye Mu of the Fox tribe, have been waiting for this moment for over fifty years now, the only way I will pass this tribulation is by crushing it! Deadly Autumn Leaves Storm!"
As he used his killer move, a hurricane filled with red leaves sharper than any mortal blade rushed toward the stakes-filled storm, and the two collided.
The next moment, a titanic explosion sound echoed, one that could be heard clearly even from the other side of the hills, and everything in-between these hills, due to this monstrous choc that could have leveled an entire village, was mercilessly swept away.
.
.
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The next day, at noon. Everybody was standing around the battle stage, but remained at a reasonable distance, conscious of the cataclysm that would soon manifest there. Both Zhenyun and Hanliang got on stage, and the air suddenly became heavier. The referee from the Divine Storm Sect, only at the mid stage of Core Formation, was shaking in his boots, terrified at the idea of becoming a casualty of the fight, as he had to stay close enough to monitor them. Nonetheless, he announced:
"The single fight of the third round is about to begin!" he said. "Today's match will oppose Liu Zhenyun, the heir of the Liu clan, to Hanliang, heir and grand elder of the Griffin tribe, two of the five geniuses! As young master Liu is only in the late stage of Core Formation, and senior Hanchen is in the early stage of Nascent Soul, to make this fight more fair, only young master Liu will be allowed to use an artifact. In addition, if the fight has not reached its conclusion in the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Liu Zhenyun will automatically be declared as the winner"
He turned to the two combatants, forcibly repressing his fear:
"Are the two of you agreeing with these terms, honored duelists?" he asked.
Both Zhenyun and Hanliang nodded, getting ready for the fight. The first had the appearance of a robust and handsome young man in his early twenties, while the second seemed to be around thirty, with stronger features, a much larger build and well-defined features. While both were handsome people, even these good looks of theirs were largely overshadowed by their monstrous talents and, now, these talents would clash together.
"I am ready, let's have a good match, senior" Zhenyun said, taking out the Liu Golden Sword, the traditional weapon of the clan's heir.
"Yes, let's have a good match, and try not to kill each other if possible" Hanliang replied before looking at his sword: "But are you sure you only want to use this artifact at the grand perfection Core Formation? Nascent Soul artifacts are authorized in this round, and I hope you would use one to make this more fair…"
"It's alright, I have already been given more than enough advantages. If I abused these any further, I wouldn't be able to call myself Liu Zhenyun anymore"
The Nascent Soul Spirit Beast did not seem particularly happy with that answer, but just sighed and nodded:
"Alright, then let us duel"
He looked at the crowd, noticing two individuals missing, but quickly focused back, gesturing for the referee to announce the beginning. And the latter, with a shaky voice, did just that:
"May the duel begin!"
Before anyone could realize what was happening, a gigantic clash happened. A griffin, several meters tall, had covered the distance separating them in less than a tenth of second, and thrusted his muscular paw forward, nearly decapitating Zhenyun, who could barely block with his sword.
"Good reaction speed, now stand ready for the next move!"
Before Zhenyun could recover his balance, his opponent extended his wings, flapping him with it in the process and sending him crashing against the barrier covering the arena, spitting blood.
"Akh!" Zhenyun groaned, rolling against the barrier and narrowly avoiding a monstrous charge that created small cracks into it.
The referee, too, spat blood. Even if the barrier had been created by the two kings, to avoid spectators being affected, it was currently controlled by a mere Core Formation, after all.
The young man, trying to counter-attack, pulled out dozens of grand perfection Qi Building swords, hurling them at Hanliang, but the latter had already moved, turning around and swiping them away with his lion tail. Using the distraction, Zhenyun sneaked under his belly, before trying to stab it with the Liu Golden Sword. However, before he had even reached him, his opponent had already risen in the air:
"Trying to attack me from a blind spot? You will need to try a little harder!"
Despite the blood dripping from his lips, Zhenyun smirked, and flew after him. The two of them fought in the air, clashing dozens of times every second. A blade thrusting toward the griffin's face was blocked by his beak, a paw was deflected by the flat of a golden sword, and swords flew all around, blocked every time at the last instant by feathers detaching from Hanliang's body.
Zhenyun tried to kick him in the solar plexus, but the griffin simply flexed his muscles and changed his posture, blocking it with his superior body. Then, turning back to a human form without any warning, he moved right in front of the young man and, too fast for him to block or put distance, landed an uppercut on his face, sending him flying away and crashing against the barrier.
'This is insane! Even when he only fights physically, I can barely follow!' Zhenyun thought.
Every time he tried something, his opponent had already found a fitting reaction. Was a Nascent Soul even supposed to be that fast!?
No, it wasn't just being fast…
'He's using his Earth talent!' he realized.
On the other hand, Hanliang himself had been frowning:
'Even with this sword increasing his close combat skills close to the Nascent Soul-level, I can't believe he can stand his ground when I'm using my Instant Exploring Eye!' he thought. 'It doesn't even look like he's using his talent yet, that's insane!'
Instead of trying to exploit his advantage, he remained at a distance, observing as the young swordsman was getting up, not seeming to be much injured.
"To think you managed to turn yourself just enough to reduce the damages, truly impressive, not just a tiger but a dragon among men!" Hanliang exclaimed sincerely. "In this case, I will now begin to fight seriously, so stand ready!"
Hearing this, the observing cultivators felt sick: had it only been a warmup so far!?
But Zhenyun, instead, grinned brightly: he could feel it, his talent was starting to react, and his cultivation, which had dropped to the late stage and had since shown no change, seemed to have slightly recovered!
"In this case, allow me to be serious too!" he shouted.
Organizing the swords he had scattered across the battle area earlier, the young swordsman used the blades to create a formation with himself as its center, and pointed the Liu Golden Sword forward. His master, Liu Jianhong, who had woken up in time for the match,felt a tear roll down his cheek.
'Yes, with such a disciple… life cannot be anything but worth living' he thought.
Zhenyun pointed the golden sword forward, and the latter, amplified by the formation, began to shine with a light that could be seen kilometers away. He took a stance, took a breath and, as the griffin seemed to be preparing a powerful spell too, unleashed a first killer move:
"Liu Sword Technique, first formation move: Circle Piercing Brightness!"