Over the Precipice of Zhangu, a strong wind was whistling. Sword Qi could be seen shooting in every direction. An insanely strong wind could be seen on the edge of the cliff, it was a powerful whirlwind of sword Qi.
The sword Qi became thicker and more violent as you moved closer to the eight drums. Unending whistling noises as well as thunderous roars were filling the atmosphere and causing a violent wind to appear all around.
Lin Feng forgot how many times he had used his roaring thunder skill to strike at the drums. The Qi released from the sword became a transparent layer around Lin Feng's body in an attempt to protect him from any attacks. The powerful sword attacks continued bombarding the drums. Lin Feng's body was covered with wounds from head to toe. Some wounds were scratches while others were so deep you could see the bone. Anyone who could see him would think he had just fought in the most terrible of battles.
But it seemed like Lin Feng had forgotten everything, He was immersed in the infinite Qi of his sword and began unlocking its mysteries, defending himself, attacking, defending himself, attacking again…
If someone had been there looking at Lin Feng, they surely would have cried out in alarm for him to stop damaging his body. Each time he conducted an assault on a drum, he was defending himself against the counterattack. Then he would attack the drum again using Roaring Thunder. Even though the counterattacks were twice as powerful as his own attacks, he was endlessly attacking them.
"There has been no sound yet." The reality sobered him up. Even though it was extremely dangerous for him to do that, he understood how much he had progressed. Before when he had been practicing the Roaring Thunder skill he had thought that he had reached the highest level possible and had complete mastery of the technique. There on the Precipice of Zhangu he understood that he didn't master the skill and had only truly understood the basics. Compared to a truly strong cultivator, his technique would be at the level of a child not long from his mother's breast.
At the beginning he was using only half of his power to attack a single drum. Then as time progressed, he attacked two, then three, until he had begun attacking all eight drums. He was attacking all eight drums while receiving their counter attacks, each time he would receive a counter attack many times more powerful than his original attack. If he wasn't careful then the counterattacks could destroy a limb or crush his ribs. His sword technique had grown to a much deeper understanding.
As time progressed he increased the power of his attacks and continued to train. The power of his attacks became twice as strong, then three times as strong, he continued until the power of each of his strikes was amplified in power by seven times the power of his original attacks. Every time he had thought that he had reached his limits he then would discover how to surpass that limit. He then multiplied his power by seven and attacked all eight drums at the same time. His body had become used to the pain and pressure created from constantly enduring this kind of harsh training.
Unfortunately the drums were just making the same muffled noise and didn't emit the noise which would pass the exam.
...
There were an innumerable amount of people gathered around the Life or Death Arena.
"What happened here? The Elders are coming." said the crowd while staring at the person in the Life or Death Arena. They felt puzzled.
"It's senior disciple Chen Xing, two months ago he became the strongest ordinary disciple, because he defeated an Elite disciple in one hit and was allowed entry into the elite disciples. What is he doing here?"
"Hehe, who cares about Chen Xing? Haven't you seen Tu Fu and fellow disciple Ling Hu are here?"
"What! You're saying that Tu Fu and Ling Hu are in the crowd?!"
The crowd was noisy and all sorts of discussions could be heard about the reason behind these events. Tu Fu was very famous in the Yun Hai Sect. He was allegedly the strongest Elite disciple. As far as Ling Hu, the Yun Hai Sect could say it didn't have a single disciple who didn't know him as he was regarded as the strongest disciple of the sect. Ling Hu He Shan had surpassed everyone's level on the path of Cultivation within the sect, including that of some elders.
How was everyone supposed to keep calm after seeing such a strong disciple at the Life or Death Arena?
On the horizon the wind was growing uneasy. There was a legendary looking roc in the sky, spreading its wings and soaring toward that location, everyone could see that it was extremely powerful.
"It's coming." said the people around the Life or Death Arena while looking at the silhouette flying in the sky. They were all tense.
The speed of the legendary roc was extremely fast. In a flash it had already arrived within stormy gorge. The Yun Hai Sects crowd of disciples burst into an uproar again. They were giving shouts one after the other.
"Oh my… There are people…! Two people are riding the legendary roc. Can you see there is also a beautiful girl up there."
People watching this scene could feel their hearts racing with excitement. The legendary roc was carrying people and there was even a very beautiful girl. What a mind blowing scene! It was too much for those lower disciple, they had already seen too many shocking things today.
"I apologize for having kept you waiting." The bird landed in the Life or Death Arena. The speed at which it had been flowing and arrived was unconceivable. The crowd saw it clearly… that roc was a spirit. Both wings were spread wide and it looked like a real roc. The roc spirit was that of a young unknown disciple, his expression was strange… he looked extremely handsome and extremely evil at the same time.
"How young! He has such a strong roc spirit at his age? How did he become so strong?"
"Wait, wait. I heard that in the core disciples of the Hao Yue sect, there is a highly ranked disciple who has a roc spirit… it is even difficult to compare him to a human….."
"Absolutely, that core disciple enjoys a well-deserved reputation. He has amazing Agility techniques. His spirit can also carry others on a flight with its strength." said some elders of the sect. He was indeed the first disciple of the Hao Yue sect, his name was Chu Zhan Peng. A short while ago, the Yun Hai sect received a letter written by Chu Zhan Peng saying he wanted to enrich his knowledge and exchange pointers with an outstanding disciple of the Yun Hai sect. And besides he would immediately come in the Life or Death Arena, of course for a fight.
Chu Zhan Peng became a core disciple in the Hao Yue sect, he was extremely famous in the Xue Yue Country because of his status. He was the sixth strongest disciple of the country. Hardly would it be an exaggeration to say that no man in the entire Yun Hai Sect could match his strength. Ling Hu He Shan wasn't going to fight Chu Zhan Peng. The sect wasn't willing to challenge him. However, if he, himself, challenged someone, the clan had no choice but to accept.
"Dear Elders, you're flattering me. This is my female junior apprentice Lin Qian. Not long ago she had already reached the Ling Qi layer. This time I am coming because my apprentice Lin Qian heard that Yun Hai disciples are all strong and powerful, therefore she wanted to come and broaden her knowledge. I was hoping that you could help her achieve enlightenment by allowing a match of similar strength. She would learn a lot from such a battle"
Chu Zhan Peng introduced the beautiful girl who was on his side. Chu Zhan Peng still looked both handsome and evil at the same time.
Mo Xie insulted Chu Zhan Peng silently in his thoughts. Chu Zhan Peng had a certain reputation and could not be easily rejected. He had sent the letter in advance and planned some type of scheme.
"Go Chen Xing, you're the one appointed to battle Lin Qian. Show her our sects techniques and teach her through battle." Chen Xing had reached the Ling Qi layer two months before when he had defeated an Elite disciple. He was already at the first bottleneck of the Ling Qi layer. If he couldn't defeat Lin Qian, no other Yun Hai Ling Qi disciple would be able to defeat her.
"Yes, Elder." said Chen Xing while nodding. He then went in the middle of the Life or Death Arena to face Lin Qian.
"Fellow practitioner Lin Qian, let's start" said Chen Xing while releasing his spirit. Suddenly a layer of rocks covered his body. This made him look like a huge golem monster made completely of the hardest rocks.
"This is Chen Xing's rock spirit. Not only is this an outstanding defense ability but his attacks are also extremely powerful. He will clearly win this without needing any more skills." said an older disciple while staring at Chen Xing with confidence.
Even though Chen Xing was covered with gigantic rocks, his speed hadn't decreased and he could move with incredible speed like before he was covered. In the blink of an eye, he had arrived in front of Lin Qian. He lashed his fist in the direction of the thin and frail Lin Qian which made everyone feel worried for the safety of this beauty.
"Ice" whispered Lin Qian. A freezing cold air coming from her body spread began freezing the air around her. This sudden attack froze Chen Xing's rocky hand in place which gave him the feeling he had hit an iron wall, unable to strike forward.
Then Lin Qian suddenly grasped Chen Xing's fist using her both hands. Ice spread on Chen Xing's arm and then violently spread until it covered his entire body.
"That ice spirit is so powerful, she really does have natural talent!" Mo Xie said. Everybody was born with a spirit, but the same spirit in different people didn't have the same strength. The spirits strength would depend on level of cultivation, natural gifts, martial skills and many other variables which made it impossible to become so strong without the correct foundations for cultivation.
Mo Xie was not worried about Chen Xing. After all he had a rock spirit so his defense skills were extremely high.
"Fire" whispered Lin Qian coldly. Chen Xing was suddenly covered in flames and his frozen body was trembling. His rocky body started to crack which caused him to give a blood-curdling scream. Everybody was staring in shock as his rocky body was blown to pieces.
"Ice and fire." Mo Xie's face suddenly changed. A universal spirit, it was probably a universal spirit.
"Lin Qian's strength is high. I lost." said Chen Xing looking depressed as he no longer had his body made from rocks to protect him. He went back to stand at Mo Xie's side, The crowd burst into an uproar. He lost. He actually lost.
The Yun Hai sect had chosen an elite disciple to battle and he had been defeated. The Elders cheeks were burning, they had lost face.
Chu Zhan Peng still had that enigmatic smile on his face. He glanced at everyone: "Hehe, as expected the disciple chosen by the Yun Hai Sect is very strong, but my junior disciple chosen by the Hao Yue Sect is extremely strong as well. The people who can beat her in this continent are few."
"I, Chu Zhan Peng wanted to find an outstanding disciple in the Yun Hai Sect to exchange pointers with Lin Qian, but I originally came because I had something to ask."
"What request do you have?" Mo Xie said looking anxious.
"My junior apprentice has an uncle and her uncle's son is called Lin Feng. He is truly insane. He humiliated some elders of their family and injured their clan's disciples. He is just an arrogant ordinary disciple. I hope the Yun Hai Sect will deliver him to me. I don't want the Yun Hai Sect to be known for having such disciples."
Mo Xie understood everything when he heard these words. That was Chu Zhan Peng's purpose behind all these events. Chu Zhan Peng knew that if he had directly asked to get a member of the Yun Hai Sect then the letter would have been refused as this would cause the sect to lose face. However he was very smart, he made Lin Qian defeat a Yun Hai Sect's elite disciple and then the words he carefully chose so that the clan wouldn't lose face by giving him Lin Feng.
Of course if Mo Xie didn't accept Chu Zhan Peng's request, then he wouldn't be as friendly as he had been until that moment.
"It seems like Lin Qian means a lot to him, otherwise he wouldn't have come to the Yun Hai Sect for such a small matter. The universal spirit was indeed a very strong one. That's precisely what has brought him here for revenge." Mo Xie had already made a decision and said to the others: "Go and bring Lin Feng here."
When he heard these words, Chu Zhan Peng smiled and Lin Qian's eyes seemed to fill with killing intent.
Lin Feng couldn't know what had happened in the Stormy Gorge as he was still training on the Precipice of Zhangu.
Lin Feng was surrounded by an immense amount of sword Qi. Every hit he carried out with his sword was almost strong enough to kill him with a single strike and then it would be returned many times stronger. His dark spirit was completely released. He was using his Roaring Thunder skill without any flaws. There was a white light surrounding his body and thunderous roars were spreading throughout the atmosphere. It was a terrifying scene to anyone who could see.
Lin Feng was in a complete frenzy and used all of his strength to bombard the drums. He was completely unaware at this point the sect was searching for him, to bring him to his execution.