Martial Arts Master-Chapter 704 - Home-ground advantage

Lou Cheng raised his arm and held a hollow fist. It was dim and sparkly within his palms, as though he was grabbing onto a starry sky or universe. Deep, vast, mighty, distant, and all-encompassing.

Bam!

He jolted his shoulder and pressed down with his palm. Around it, the dull, soundless darkness crumbled and shattered. Firelike radiance shot out from the cracks, as though there were endless cracks in the sky, so many that not even Nüwa herself can mend them in time!

The heavy black God Slaying Saber was going to land on Lou Cheng. It was at least twofolds faster than when he used it during the Master Battle. However, after being “attracted” by Lou Cheng’s palms, it swayed upwards. Once it collided with the palm, it behaved like matter that had been caught up in a whirlpool or black hole.

This was what Lou Cheng managed to acquire after studying the Forbidden Sect, Yuqing Chapters, using his “Cosmic Universe Sect” as a foundation.

Self-created secret art, “Tilting North-Western Skies. Sinking South-Eastern Earth”!

An exceptional fusion between mind power and physical strength containing the intent of great destruction! It happened to be the counter to world-creating type moves like Lu Yongyuan’s Boundary and Eternal Silence!

Boom!

Lou Cheng’s palms crashed onto the saber. There weren’t metallic clatters as airwaves tumbled outward in a loud and noisy fashion, completely destroying the darkness.

Buzz! At first, the God Slaying Saber was soft and flexible, then with a sudden flick, it vibrated fast and uncontrollably, like a hurt beast wailing in pain.

This intense reaction affected the mind. Lu Yongyuan felt dizzy, almost losing his grip on the hilt of the saber. With a burst of Black Sky Force, he channeled strength to his fingers and barely managed to maintain his grip. However, his purlicue had already been cracked apart, staining the hilt with fresh blood. Plus, the bones, fascias, and muscles at his wrist, forearm, and biceps felt sore and painful, temporarily affecting his movement.

This was his first injury since the start of the round!

There was no way that Lou Cheng would let this chance go. Instinctively, he used the follow-up move that he had rehearsed countless times both physically and mentally.

His left leg went forward irregularly, reaching a parallel level to the God-Slaying Saber. His muscles, fascias, and form were all like a winded-up clockwork.

Bam! Turning in the opposite direction, the “clockwork” spun uncontrollably. With a jolt of the left arm, Lou Cheng raised his palms. Internally, he connected a burst of strength and mind power. Externally, he connected heaven and earth.

Boom!

His left palm slammed down, the center of his palm a sparkling dimness.

“Tilting North-Western Skies. Sinking South-Eastern Earth!”

Two consecutive hits!

Of course, in order to seize the fleeting opportunity, Lou Cheng didn’t make a complete visualization. Instead, he used his movements and physical techniques, using brute strength to make up for the lost in potency. It was weaker than usual.

Not like he had a choice. Against a Mighty One at Lu Yongyuan’s level, the tables could be turned against him if he hesitated for a split second.

Therefore, as long as he had a chance, he had to combo like crazy. By doing so, if he still couldn’t win or wound his opponent, he should probably be admitting defeat, especially since he was weaker and already fought around before!

The light dimmed before his eyes as air currents burst apart. Lu Yongyuan, who couldn’t swing his saber with his right hand at the moment, saw his enemy’s palms collapsing like heaven and earth. Even with his mind and willpower, he was inevitably a little shaken.

Fortunately, he still had his left arm and sheath.

Bam!

Holding the upper part of his hilt, Lu Yongyuan slashed in the reverse direction, accurately hitting Lou Cheng’s left palm.

Replacing defense with offense!

Boom! A tiny crack the size of a spider web appeared on the dark green sheath. Muscles trembling, Lu Yongyuan drew his arm back and tensed his foot. He was going to kick upwards. He wasn’t going to let himself enter a passive defense.

At this time, Lou Cheng lowered his center of gravity, channeling the rebounding force into his right foot and cracking the ground with a stomp.

Bam!

At where Lu Yongyuan was standing, the volcano suddenly erupted, spitting streams of flames uncontrollably. Had he not noticed the noise from the depth in advance and forcefully changed his whipped leg to a back kick, thereby leaping away, he would have been enveloped and injured by it.

Lou Cheng’s third combo, home ground advantage!

After retreating, Lu Yongyuan immediately used his Dark Sect movements. As though he had turned into a saber, he generated countless clones that hid many changes. He sometimes zig-zagged and sometimes went back and forth to avoid the pursuing attacks and get away from his opponent.

As if Lou Cheng would give him time for a breather! The flames raged forth with the help of the wind. Using the target lock-on with Enemy Heart Freezing Move, he barely caught up with Lu Yongyuan’s movements. However, his movements weren’t as fluid, so the gap between them increased slowly but surely.

At this moment, he “grabbed” out a lump of faint purple while sprinting and shot it at where he predicted Lu Yongyuan to be at next.

“Starlord’s Purple Flames!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Lou Cheng attacked with both his left and right, sometimes bombarding and sometimes throwing out slithering flames. He wasn’t afraid of misjudgments and used quantity to make up for it.

As to the huge consumption and the fact that he couldn’t sustain it in his current state, he couldn’t care at all. If he couldn’t take care of Lu Yongyuan with combo, then the remaining Fire Force he had wouldn’t matter anyway!

Of course, this was also preparation for the follow-up.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Lu Yongyuan was surrounded by dust, smoke, and fluttering flames. Though he hasn’t taken a direct hit, his movement was affected. The forceful breath he drew was about to dissipate. His footwork was starting to slow down.

A certain thought flashed past. Lu Yongyuan drew a breath, as though he was about to use Force Concentration to alleviate the soreness and trauma in his vitals.

Noticing his pause, the light-blue flames on Lou Cheng’s back erupted, propelling him towards his opponent.

At the same time, Lu Yongyuan’s figure dimmed, as though it had turned into a shadow. When the wind blustered against it, it spread apart weightlessly.

Missing his attack, Lou Cheng quickly swung his arm and threw a faint-purple fireball at the shadow.

Boom!

A ditch immediately appeared. With his odd form, Lu Yongyuan barely managed to evade, then dimmed and faded away.

Finally, he paused and using Force Concentration, concentrating all the negative influences to his Dantian and recovering his arms as much as he can.

Phew, almost ended my combo, thought Lou Cheng. Directly stimulating a certain part of his body, he used a Simplified Version of the Attainment Formula.

Bam! At his back and below his feet, faint-blue flames erupted once more, propelling him to close the gap between them. Appearing before Lu Yongyuan in a flash, he threw a punch at him.

The world darkened before Lu Yongyuan’s eyes. Dan Qi inflated his body. The God Slaying Saber went up in mysteriously swift movement, slicing onto Lou Cheng’s fist. The edge of the fist is dim with latent power, making it even scarier.

There wasn’t the slightest delay in Lou Cheng’s movements or hesitation in his eyes. His left fist, without purple flames around it, went for the edge of the saber.

Splat! There came the sound of the dull blade entering the flesh. This God Slaying Saber had ruptured his skin, muscles, and fascias, and bit into his white finger bones. However, there was a significant pause, as though it was stuck in there.

No, rather than stuck, it had lost all its momentum after cutting through the solid ice wall. The thick crystals that had covered the saber spread quickly, freezing Lu Yongyuan!

Self-created secret art, Lament of the Ice Queen!

Lou Cheng was wasting his Fire Force to create a momentary, extreme imbalance between Ice and Flames, to simulate a cosmic region without stars, and to simulate the terrible ultra-low temperature.

No need for other preparations, and no need for Five Flames Revolution. He can use it just like that!

The cleverness of the moves depended on the mind!

Snap! The ice coffin that had trapping Lu Yongyuan couldn’t last for more than a second before cracks began to form, as though it had been cut up by countless blades.

Lou Cheng, his combos uninterrupted, retracted his blood ice mist left fist. As though fire powder exploded in him, his right fist turned into a cannonball as he launched it as his opponent.

That wasn’t all. Without caring about the injury at his left fist and left arm, he used them as weapons. Using his shoulders as a pivot, he punched out.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

With his internal burst of Emperor Yan Force, the speed of Lou Cheng’s punch kept increasing. He threw out eight punches in the time when other Physical Invulnerability Experts could have only used four moves. He was so fast that the audiences thought that he had four arms.

If only my Yamata No Orochi can be this fast, thought Kaori Karasawa as she stared intently.

To push Lu-senpai to this extent, Lou-kun has truly left me in the dust…

Bam! Bam! Bam! The ice coffin completely shattered, but a portion of coldness still lingered in Lu Yongyuan’s body. Against Lou Cheng’s mad bout of attacks, his God Slaying Saber went horizontally and vertically, up and down. Even though he was slower, he managed to block the eight punches through sheer saber techniques and judgment.

Bam!

Lou Cheng suddenly bent his knees and arched his back. As though he was insane, he pummeled the ground.

Lu Yongyuan relaxed. Just as he was going to use the move Divine Spear to switch from defensive to offensive, there was a sudden change in his expression. He could sense the energy in the ground.

With this strike, Lou Cheng wanted to detonate the Infernal Hell in the surround area. He was going to exhaust the majority of his home ground advantage here!

No matter which direction I go, I will be hit by the lava. Even if I use Black Sky energy to protect myself, it’s only a temporary solution and wouldn’t prevent me from getting injured… I still have to deal with Empress Luo later… As the thought flashed past in his head, Lu Yongyuan jumped up high, his legs obscured by dim darkness enveloping it.

Boom!

Apart from where Lou Cheng stood, the ground within 30-meters-radius suddenly collapsed. Flames, lava, and dust spurted up, painting the sky in red, then grey.

After going up for a few meters, the geyser lost its momentum and sprinkled down. It failed to devour Lu Yongyuan, and merely “tore” apart from the area below his feet apart for two seconds.

The dimness faded away. His shoes and socks had been reduced to ashes.

Just as Lu Yongyuan was about to cross the volcano using air slashes on the lava, the area around him turned dark like the deepest part of space. Extreme coldness.

In the distance, stars were moving while maintaining balance.

Lou Cheng’s previous attack was both to erupt the energy stored underground and to prepare for his follow-up attack.

“Cosmic Phantoms!”

He straightened his back, raised his hands, and stood up.

At first, Lu Yongyuan became a “worm” in transparent ” amber”. Then, he watched as the stars struck at him in succession.

I have won now, haven’t I? Lou Cheng’s consecutive attacks had exhausted him. He gazed at the sky as he waited for the result.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The “Ice Coffin” was shattered, as more “stars” came crashing from every direction at Lu Yongyuan.

Seeing the successive explosions, a ray of dim glow slashed forth, as darkness gushed to completely envelop the stars.

There was no sound or light. The Ninth Style of Dark Sect, “Darkness Devouring The Day. Eternal Nightfall Descends”!

This was the parental blueprint of the last move in Lu Yongyuan’s Nine God-slaying Strokes, Eternal Silence!

As compared to Eternal Silence which had undergone many changes, this killer move from the dark sect was clearly more complete!

Damn…Lou Cheng felt a chill down his spine. He didn’t expect Lu Yongyuan to be able to use this move without any preparation!

If that’s the case, shouldn’t he have won way earlier?

Looks like he can’t use it easily. It probably comes at a heavy price…

In the time of a breath, the darkness was ripped apart like a curtain. Faint rays of light streamed down, swallowing the lava.

Lu Yongyuan’s figure appeared. His hair was still flawlessly neat, but his clothes were already in tatters, and his God Slaying Saber was tremoring non-stop.

Seemingly out of strength, he fell down in a straight line. However, there was no ground below him. Only scarlet lava flowing slowly and irregularly.

Retracting his gaze, Lou Cheng lifted his right hand strenuously.

That was when Lu Yongyuan had recovered. His figure faded, turning into a shadow once more, which visibly slowed down his free fall. Then, he sent an air blade at Lou Cheng’s position, using the recoil to change directions.

He seemed to have more strength in his reserves!

However, a majestic shade of purple filled his eyes as he saw a dense, terrible fireball forming at Lou Cheng’s right palm.

I cannot veer in time due to being airborne, so I’ll have to take a direct hit from that. The result of that would be losing the chance to cross the lava “lake” by using the recoil from the air blade. I’ll end up falling into it.

Even if I use “Black Sky” to protect my body, there’s a fifty percent chance I get reduced to nothing and another fifty percent chance I barely crawl to the surface and escape with grave injuries.

Lu Yongyuan’s eyes turned icy at the thought. He sheathed his blade, and with a lift of his sole, he kicked a dim arclight at the “island” where Lou Cheng was standing. It landed on rock walls.

Using the recoil, he floated backward weightlessly, landing thirty meters beyond the “lake” like a kite.

While he was doing that, Lou Cheng did not use his Starlord’s Purple Flame, and dissipated all of it instead. The God Slaying Blade had given his answer by sheathing his blade.

Without hesitation, the referee raised his right hand.

“Round two, Lou Cheng wins!”

Exhaling a tense breath, Lou Cheng felt as though he was shriveling up. Before Lu Yongyuan said anything, he gave a fist and palm salute.

“Thanks for going easy on me, Senior,” he said with a smile.

With that, he turned and headed for the Longhu Club changing room coolly on unsteady steps, just like how Lu Yongyuan made his casual exit at the end of nine strokes back then.