Chapter 35 - Breaking the Array
ROOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!
The evil dragon roared as it charged at one hundred sky sabers with a savage look on its face, forming a black storm with the Inauspicious Qi lingering around it.
Outside the valley, the demon beasts scampered away in fright more and more. As the evil dragon's Sinister Qi soared, the black-robed men grew restless and looked at Ninth Young Master as one.
"En?" Ninth Young Master stared with wide opened eyes. "Humph, your dragon's might was bestowed by my array, you dare to resist me with the thing bestowed by me?" swore Ninth Young Master as his eyes flickered with a cold light.
The moment he stretched out his hand, one hundred sky sabers were congealed completely with substantial bodies and cut towards the evil dragon.
ROAR!
The dragon's might was vast! Even though the cultivators in the valley had been thrown to the ground, they were not the least bit furious. On the contrary, they clenched their fists ever so tightly, watching the evil dragon with an endless hope, praying that the evil dragon could block the strike of one hundred sky sabers.
Upon the weiqi board, after Gu Hai placed the black piece on Tianyuan, a breathtaking change took place in the layout of the weiqi board suddenly. Just having placed a piece, a large number of white pieces were taken out in the blink of an eye.
BANG!
One hundred sky sabers and the evil dragon smashed into each other with a thunderous clash of power.
Almost everyone's eyes went wide, no matter whether they were inside the valley or outside the valley, gazing at the endless blooming light at the point of contact, so dazzling that everyone went blind momentarily.
The deafening bang set off billowing qi waves that spread in all directions, raising a huge storm inside the valley immediately. Even if everyone was falling over like ninepins, they kept on staring at the center of the dazzling explosion nonetheless.
ROAR!
A roar of dragon spread out from the center of the dazzling glimmer of lights.
Crack Crack Crack!
The sound was followed by the sound of many sky sabers breaking into pieces and the fragments shooting away in all directions.
Nevertheless, the evil dragon had swallowed nearly thirty complete sky sabers in its mouth. The devastating havoc it had wreaked was one of a kind; not only did it defeat the sky sabers, it ate them as well!
ROAR!
Without showing any signs of halting its charge, the evil dragon roared and rushed straight towards the dark clouds.
"What? The evil dragon can still press forward?" Looks of ecstasy showed up on countless cultivators faces.
In contrast, Gao Xianzhi and Meng Tai stared at the weiqi board. With the piece placed by Gu Hai on Tianyuan, the entire game had changed completely. The white side had lost any advantages, and the black side, rather than merely gaining the upper hand, had obtained an overwhelming victory.Â
"Impossible, how can the evil dragon swallow the 'death' attribute sky sabers? The Sky Saber Absolute Offensive Array should have steamrolled the evil dragon!" came the furious shout of Ninth Young Master from the dark clouds.
Gu Hai stood up and looked at the sky as a cold smile appeared on his lips, "You're late, the Sky Saber Life and Death Game is not in your control anymore! Break!"
BANG!
The evil dragon rushed into the dark clouds, thras.h.i.+ng apart the dark clouds with a thunderous blow. In mere moments, Â wherever it went, the dark clouds were torn apart. Meanwhile, Ninth Young Master attempted to control the array to quickly kill the evil dragon.
However, the evil dragon had become stronger, and the sky sabers that went to kill it were swallowed by it in return.
BANG!
Suddenly, many sky sabers were knocked away as it swung its long tail, ripping the billowing dark clouds apart as a faint sunlight pierced through them.
ROAR!
Wherever the evil dragon brandished its claws, sky sabers were broken apart one by one, and the saber-like dragon scales on its body stood even more erect. The evil dragon opened its jaws, and just as a whale would swallow, it sucked in sky sabers madly.
The sky sabers were indeed huge, a hundred zhang in length, but the evil dragon was now even bigger, it had reached four hundred zhang. Wherever its humongous body tossed and turned, storms would be set off.
The subsequent storms set off from the clash were tyrannical. The cultivators in the valley were thrown to the ground continuously. Outside the valley, many demon beasts fled in panic under the dragon’s might, and some of the Saber Qis even rushed outside the valley, causing a huge mess.
"Kill the player, all of you, kill the player!" A savage look appeared on Ninth Young Master's face as he tried to control the formation.
Since the sky sabers were unable to destroy the evil dragon, then he could only cut the source. But at this moment, the formation had long been out of Ninth Young Master's control. It was in complete shambles.
Indeed the sky sabers were large in number, but as the array was destroyed, they self-destructed.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!Â
BANG!...
Up in the remnants of the dark clouds, the sound of explosions rang out without stopping. Meanwhile, the evil dragon raised its body, tearing countless sky sabers and dark clouds apart. It even stretched out its dragon tail and swept it towards a group of demon beasts.
BOOM!
A peak exploded.
ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!
The mighty dragon's roar reverberated throughout the sky. The dark clouds billowed as the previously huge Sky Saber Life and Death Game fell apart.
Inside the mountain valley, as the dark clouds were torn to pieces, rays of sunlight pierced through the dark clouds, illuminating the valley.
The evil dragon tossed and turned amid the dark clouds, sending churning storms towards the valley inside.
Nevertheless, the cultivators who were treated like ninepins by the storm were mad with joy.
"Long live Throne Master Gu!"
"Long live Throne Master Gu!"
Countless cultivators started cheering, some of them so happy they were even crying.
RUMBLE!
Suddenly, a large number of cracks appeared on the weiqi stage. Apparently, the evil dragon in the sky had destroyed the array already and was about to break through the Sky Saber Life and Death Array.
BOOM!
The dark clouds covering the sky scattered, revealing a humongous crystal-like transparent weiqi board hovering high in the air.
"Press it down!" Ninth Young Master controlled that transparent weiqi board to smash into the evil dragon.
On the other hand, a hideous look appeared on the evil dragon’s face, as the blade-like scales on its body snapped to attention like spears. Arching its body, the evil dragon threw itself toward the crystal weiqi board with a determination to destroy everything.
Because Gu Hai understood that the crystal weiqi board was the source of Sky Saber Life and Death Game, it was everything for the array.
ROAR!
“PRESS DOWN!”
BOOOOOOOM~
A thunderous boom reverberated throughout the sky before a blast wave around the explosion spread into the surroundings.
RUMBLE!
Many peaks collapsed under this shock wave. Many demon beasts who were too late to flee were buried.
The energy from the collision enveloped the evil dragon and the crystal weiqi board.Â
After an entire three breaths...
CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK
Sounds akin to crystal breaking into pieces rang out.
When these sounds fell in the ears of the black-robed men and Ninth Young Master, a look of disbelief covered their faces! In contrast, when it fell on the ears of the cultivators within the valley, it was akin to the most melodious symphony.
"Broke? It broke apart?"
"Throne Master Gu won!?"
"Awesome, we are saved, we are saved!"
"Long live Throne Master Gu!"
"Long live Throne Master Gu!"
".."
Cries of cheers rang out endlessly within the valley.
Gradually everyone looked at the scene in the sky and saw the crystal weiqi board breaking into countless pieces which dropped away in all directions. As they fell, they slowly disappeared into the air, as if they were but mist.
In the confrontation with the transparent weiqi board, even though the evil dragon was the winner, it didn't fare well. The final clash of impact was akin to both sides peris.h.i.+ng together; a major part of evil dragon's body had fragmented, leaving only an incomplete head. Suddenly, the dragon head also turned into a ma.s.s of Purple Qi, which, mixed with a trace of sky saber aura, rushed down to Gu Hai.
BOOM!
The ma.s.s of Purple Qi was Gu Hai's True Qi, which drilled back into Gu Hai's body instantly.
BUZZ!
The True Qi returned to him was a lot more than the True Qi that was released. After rus.h.i.+ng into Gu Hai's dantian, it charged straight at the cyclone, where it was quickly congealed into True Yuan.
BOOM!
Immediately after, the nine peanut-sized True Yuan beads merged again into a bigger True Yuan bead.
"Third level of Xiantian Stage?" Gu Hai gawked.
Previously, the Spirit Source Qi inside the spirit pool was insufficient for him to attack the third level. Much to his surprise, the released True Qi which had swallowed the power of the Sky Saber Life and Death Game, had gained him the benefit of breaking through to the Third Stage after it returned!?
Furthermore, his True Qi was still increasing!
After a good long while, when Gu Hai felt that he had reached the peak of the third level, the growth was unable to move forward because of insufficient momentum, and came to a halt.
However, as far as Gu Hai was concerned, it was quite sufficient already.
The third level of the Xiantian Stage? How long ago did he have a breakthrough?
A glimmer of excitement flashed past Gu Hai's eyes. Tilting his head, he took a glance at the already fragmented weiqi board and frowned slightly.
"Sky Saber Life and Death Game? Elder Guanqi was indeed powerful. Unfortunately, you are not here, and it was just a pre-set game; so, I won luckily! Elder Guanqi? It would have been nice if you were still alive!" Studying at the weiqi board, a regretful look appeared on Gu Hai's face as he murmured under his breath.
For Gu Hai, meeting such an opponent was akin to a “once in a blue moon” kind of opportunity. And he wasn't feeling jealous or anything of someone who had such powerful weiqi skills; on the contrary, he appreciated him even more. What he hated was the fact that he could not play a true game with Elder Guanqi. Unfortunately, Elder Guanqi had already pa.s.sed away eight centuries ago.
"Benefactor, you won!" Little Rou rushed over in excitement.
"Congratulations, Your Grace!" Gao Xianzhi and Chen Tianshan were extremely excited as well.
"Thank you Throne Master Gu, thank you very much!" the crowd of cultivators cheered in excitement one after other.
As for Meng Tai, who was protected by at the center of the Ascendant Hall's disciples, he could only stare at Gu Hai while he recuperated. There was a complex look in his eyes, jealousy and envy mixed with cold scorn.
Peng Peng Peng!
Slowly, demon beasts all around them crawled their way out from the devastation. All the demon beasts had reached the Xiantian Stage. Although they had lost their footing and were buried under the rubble, they quickly broke out by using their powerful strength.
Even though many peaks all around the valley had collapsed, others had managed to escape the ruin.
Atop one of the remaining peaks, a group of black-robed men gathered around Ninth Young Master.
"The Sky Saber Life and Death Game is broken?"
"Ninth Young Master, what do we do now?"
The congregation of black-robed men looked at Ninth Young Master.
Ninth Young Master's eyes radiated killing intent as he stared at Gu Hai with an ice-cold gaze.
PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP!
The black-robed men started blowing their flutes quickly before the demon beasts crawling free got away, and once again they surrounded the valley from all directions.
Now that the evil dragon’s might was not there, the demon beasts were no longer afraid. At this moment, they also glared in Gu Hai's direction, baring their teeth. It appeared that the demon beasts would charge as long as the command was issued.
In response, the cultivators in the valley gathered around Gu Hai one after another. After cheering, they looked at the demon beasts who had surrounded them worriedly. Then, they unsheathed their swords and sabers, bracing themselves coldly against the demon beasts.
Having destroyed the Sky Saber Life and Death Game, Gu Hai seemed to have become everyone's spiritual pillar. Surrounding Gu Hai, they were awaiting Gu Hai's order to deploy together.
At this instance, Gu Hai who was at the center, raised his head as he coldly looked at the Ninth Young Master atop the peak.
"Ascendant Hall's Gu Hai greets Your Excellency, I wonder how to address Your Excellency?" Gu Hai took a long, deep breath before he greeted the other calmly.
"You don't deserve to know who I am. You have destroyed the Sky Saber Life and Death Game left by Grandmaster, you have destroyed Grandmaster's thing!" stated Ninth Young Master icily, glaring back at Gu Hai.
"Oh, I don't deserve to know who you are! Very well, I am also not that interested in you, the Sky Saber Life and Death Game was broken, not because of me, but because of you, you were too self-confident!" stated Gu Hai in a steely voice.
"Self-confident? Hahaha, do you think you can escape? Do you think I will let you all go?" sneered Ninth Young Master coldly.
"You are reneging your promise!"
"You are breaking your promise!"
Everyone burst into a furious uproar.
In contrast, Gu Hai smiled chillingly and said, "You want us to remain here? I said, you are too self-confident!"