Skysea Alliance Tournament, Part 3
"All of you want to challenge me right now?" Wu Zhangkong stared at his five students, flabbergasted.
The five students had just finished experimenting with Xu Xiaoyan's prowess and found out she could seal the soul power of Gloxinia, the strongest among them for 3 seconds!
This sounded like it wasn't much but it was a lot! In 3 seconds, it was easy to kill even a Soul Emperor with enough preparations!
"Yes! Please give us pointers," Gloxinia said earnestly.
"Let's go then." Wu Zhangkong nodded. It was already late into the night and was lights out for the dorm. Instead of the designated combat arenas, he brought them to the training fields. Regardless of whether these children were looking for trouble or had a surprise in store for him, he would gladly entertain them.
A silent darkness hung over the field. Wu Zhangkong walked to the field's center and gently removed his white robe. "Come."
Tang Wulin said, "Teacher Wu, you're so powerful. Shouldn't you suppress your strength while battling us? The strongest one of us only has three rings, so why don't you restrict yourself and only use those three rings as well?"
Wu Zhangkong narrowed his eyes. He was an adult, and if he couldn't even guess what kind of schemes these children came up with, he wouldn't be fit to call himself a teacher. From the way these kids were speaking, he could clearly tell that they had challenged him with victory in mind!
He was well acquainted with the strength of the four of them. Xu Xiaoyan, however, was still a mystery.
"No. Gloxinia has already fought me when I used all of them, thus with all of you facing me I will naturally do the same." Wu Zhangkong answered coldly.
Gloxinia and his teammates exchanged looks, immediately jumped backward, and got into formation.
As usual, Tang Wulin was in the front with Xie Xie and Gu Yue beside him. Gloxinia was right in the middle of them, hovering in the sky. Xu Xiaoyan positioned herself below Gloxinia and the formation was ready.
Soul rings rose from beneath their feet, even more resplendent in the dark of night. Gloxinia's three purple soul rings shone the brightest of all of them, as if they were nobles among commoners.
Strand after strand of Bluesilver Grass appeared in the surroundings, sheltering the comrades behind him while golden scales appeared on his right arm in a burst of light. Tang Wulin released a low growl and ferociously charged Wu Zhangkong, immediately using his first soul skill, Bind!
Hundreds of strands of Bluesilver Grass whistled through the air, a display of the thousand-year soul skill's monstrous might. A roaring tempest arose the moment Tang Wulin launched his assault. One strand of Bluesilver Grass had sneakily launched Xie Xie into the air. The moment that he arrived above Wu Zhangkong's head, Gloxinia appeared behind him and lobbed him downwards, flying at Wu Zhangkong.
He angled his body and descended upon his teacher. He didn't hold back at all and immediately initiated with Twin Dragon Storm. But it wasn't just a two-pronged attack. A wind blade, a fireball, and an icicle flew through a small crack in the barrier of Bluesilver Grass! They converged on Wu Zhangkong—Xie Xie was just the opening act!
Not only that, there were a plethora of golden daggers moving in and out of the Bluesilver Grass, acting as if they were hunters stalking prey.
They knew that one thing was certain: the longer they waited, the slimmer their chance for success would be. If they wanted to succeed, they had to immediately launch an all-out attack!
Wu Zhangkong stood rooted in place, merely raising his Skyfrost Sword and gently pinching its tip with his other fingers. In the face of the children's attacks, he remained still like an immovable mountain. Not even a flicker of emotion appeared on his face. It was as if there were nothing in this world that could affect him.
The moment the onslaught reached Wu Zhangkong, he suddenly lashed out with his Skyfrost Sword. An azure halo that seemed to possess some sort of limitless gravitational force formed around him. The halo pulled Gu Yue's elemental attacks inside of it, ripping control of them from her hands.
It was simple and effective, two things Wu Zhangkong excelled at.
The Twin Dragon Storm easily drilled through the elements, but Wu Zhangkong's move had done its job—the might of Twin Dragon Storm had been greatly diminished.
Wu Zhangkong's eyes flashed with a violet hue, and Tang Wulin defended with his own Purple Demon Eyes. It was futile, however, as a wave of vertigo struck him, and the Bind slowly unraveled.
Wu Zhangkong swung his Skyfrost Sword. Its previous dignified aura had been replaced with blinding speed. Hundreds of sword waves shot out, accurately chilling and cutting at the golden daggers. It was just a single slash, yet hundreds of sword waves appeared! Each one clashed against the golden daggers and kept them at bay.
The Twin Dragon Storm finally descended from the sky, but Wu Zhangkong disappeared in a blur. After-images of him appeared all around the field as he evaded with Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
In the beginning, Xie Xie could follow Wu Zhangkong's movements and adjust his assault accordingly, but soon his teacher's movements proved too fast for him to keep up with. By the time he touched the ground with his Twin Dragon Storm, his aim had been thrown off. His attack met nothing but air.
A wave of frost flew out and Xie Xie reflexively tried to defend against it with his Light Dragon Dagger. His strength was already exhausted, however, and he was immediately sent flying.
Tang Wulin finally snapped out of the daze caused by the Purple Demon Eyes and rushed at Wu Zhangkong, sending hundreds of Bluesilver Grass flying at him while he brandished his dragon claw once more.
Seeing this, Gu Yue sent many fireballs and ice spikes flying at Wu Zhangkong while Gloxinia commanded the golden daggers to once more attack, effectively distracting Wu Zhangkong.
At that moment, Tang Wulin arrived before Wu Zhangkong so that two were facing each other.
Choosing not to fall back, Tang Wulin attacked Wu Zhangkong with his radiant Golden Dragon Claw!
Even if Wu Zhangkong hadn't suppressed his cultivation to their level, he would have a hard time escaping this attack. Yet, in this single battle, he made a stunning choice.
Icy mist exuded from him as sword waves burst forth and quickly weaved together to form a net, forming a protective barrier.
And at that moment, a golden six-pointed star appeared beneath Wu Zhangkong's feet while shackles of ice shot out of it and latched onto his body.
A metallic screech resounded. Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Claw had seized the sword wave net and crushed it!
But the results were far from his expectations!
Though the Starwheel Shackles had activated at just the right moment, but Wu Zhangkong's stalwart defense exceeded their calculations! It had deflected the shackles within the split-second, and while Tang Wulin had been able to crush the net, he had received backlash as well.
he might of the sword wave sent a tremble down his spine and forced him to step back.
This single step back had broken his offensive stance. Wu Zhangkong's eyes lit up and the ice shackles on his body splintered before falling to the ground. The Starwheel Shackles could only last two seconds before his overwhelming strength.
The Frost Scars had fended off Tang Wulin for two seconds and now that he was freed, Wu Zhangkong pointed his sword at him..
But at that instant, Wu Zhangkong saw Tang Wulin smile. He instantly had a bad premonition and unleashed another Frost Scar net without hesitation.
However, he was too late.
A palm gently landed on his back and an explosive tempest of fire and ice bombarded him!
A layer of protective frost instantly coated his body, but it was not enough to prevent him from staggering forward from the blast. He released his full might, sending the four children flying.
Unfortunately, Gloxinia was in the sky and dodged his attack.
Diving down at speeds unknown, Gloxinia accurately palmed Wu Zhangkong on the shoulder, leaving behind a trace of ice.
This trace of ice rapidly expanded, covering Wu Zhangkong's entire body, freezing him for 3 seconds.
These 3 seconds were enough for Gloxinia.
Commanding Basquias back into it's spear form, he commanded it to shrink into a size fit for him to hold and pointed it at the frozen Wu Zhangkong's neck.
At this time, a light flashed and Gu Yue appeared behind Wu Zhangkong, holding a fireball mixed with ice right at his back.
When the ice surrounding him finally shattered, his icy expression cracked, revealing an unsightly face!
"Woohoo!" Xu Xiaoyan was the first to celebrate!
That was right! They won!
He withdrew his Skyfrost Sword. Considering his status, it was impossible for him to admit his defeat so instead he asked indifferently, "Whose plan was this?"
Tang Wulin snickered. "Teacher, it's mine."
Actually, although Tang Wulin had proposed the plan to trap Wu Zhangkong with Xu Xiaoyan's martial soul, everything after that wasn't planned, he was simply caught up in the moment and passed it off as his plan.
Wu Zhangkong nodded. "Very good. We'll continue again tomorrow. And this time, I won't be caught off guard." He turned around and left after dropping this bomb, his white robe fluttering in the wind and his aura as glacial as ever.
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Words: 1628
Author's Note: Next chapter is a small time skip and then plot is gonna be gone!
Thank you for all the collections and powerstones!