Capítulo 103: Chapter 101 - A Soldier Fights For Others
"Alchemy Novice Wu," Wan Yue spoke up from the high table as the clash between soldiers captured the attention of the majority of cultivators and mortals watching the contest. "I've been watching you and Alchemy Novice Ao concoct mortal medicines for the past several days and I think I'm beginning to understand a bit of her approach to concoction. How does your Master differ from Alchemist Ao in this contest?"
"He's at a disadvantage for one," the young Novice said simply, shaking his head as he looked from Ao Wen's concoction to the work of his Master. "He's very proud of the elixir recipe he used to challenge Novice Ao," he went on to explain. "You can see his familiarity with the recipe in his movements right now."
"He looks like Hou Jia when she's making plum cakes," Ao Yang observed from his place at the high table. "What? Don't look at me like that love dumpling," he teased when his wife shot him an intense glare. "When it's one of your best recipes, you don't even read the recipe or look at the ingredients as you work. You could read a novel while your hands kept busy and at the end of it all, your cakes would be just as delectable as if you'd given it all of your attention."
"Well, if you put it that way," she said, withdrawing her glare and blushing slightly at his praise. "Alchemy Novice Wu," she spoke up hesitantly, nervous about posing questions to a mighty alchemist even if she had been invited to the high table. "Do you think he's thinking about Wen'er's recipe right now?"
"I do," Wu Lin said, gesturing at the ingredients on Alchemist Wai Dan's table. "He hasn't touched any of the ingredients for your daughter's recipe at all. Now look at Novice Ao's table. She's measured everything for both elixirs and she's moving through all of the preparation and purification phases at once. I think Master intends to complete the refinement of his own concoction before beginning to work on the second elixir."
"Is one approach better than the other," Ju Tse asked, taking her gaze away from her son's dogged defense to look at the work the two alchemists were doing. Since neither alchemist had produced anything yet and both were at different stages of preparation, it was hard to say which of the two were truly 'winning' at any given moment.
"It isn't so much about better or worse," Wu Lin offered diplomatically. "It's about optimal for their circumstances. Ingredient preparation is vital but in terms of mental fortitude, it consumes a smaller amount of an Alchemist's reserves. By doing all of her preparation first, Novice Ao is in her peak state when purifying ingredients and she'll have a chance to produce superior results since she won't be fatigued from completing a refinement while working on purification," he explained. "Master, on the other hand, needs to dedicate all of his focus to an unfamiliar recipe. By completing the recipe he's familiar with, he'll carry a lower mental burden into his study of the new recipe, which is a good thing for him. At the same time, he won't be able to give the ingredients the same level of focused purification that Ao Wen is able to give hers because of the fatigue he's carrying from finishing the first concoction. That's why I said he's at a disadvantage," he concluded. "Even if nothing else goes wrong and he's able to produce the Dragon's Tongue Firebreath Elixir, it likely won't match the purity of Novice Ao's."
Suddenly, Shun Ren abandoned his defense of Alchemist Wai, dropping to one knee while sweeping his spear along the ground in front of him. Countless drops of water spread by his earlier technique gathered together, sweeping along the floor like the tail of a flood dragon and forming a slick puddle beneath the feet of the zigzagging Tao Juan! The young knife wielder felt heaven and earth exchange places as his feet shot out from beneath him before he landed heavily on his back, barely managing to prevent his head from slamming into the stone floor!
Seizing the opportunity, Shun Ren sprung from his kneeling position, charging towards Ao Wen who had just begun adding ingredients to her cauldron for the first elixir.
"Chen, stop him!" Zhang Bai shouted, too constrained by Tong Fan's merciless strikes to make a move of his own.
"RAAAAA" Chen Xiong shouted, sweeping aside Wen Jun's sword with a thickly muscled forearm, ignoring the pain as the gleaming blade bit into his flesh. With the strength born of desperation, he slammed a meaty palm into Wen Jun's chest, sausage-like fingers clenching around the fabric of the swordsman's robes as he pivoted into a one-handed throw sending the hapless poet crashing into the charging Shun Ren!
"IDIOT!" Tong Fan roared his golden aura flaring. Lashing out with a high thrusting kick, the mountain of a man slammed his foot into Zhang Bai's chest, knocking the young lord flying toward Ao Wen's table. The room collectively gasped as a collision might doom the young Alchemy Novice's concoction! Zhang Bai, however, used the tip of his long sword against the ground to steady himself, coming to a stop mere centimeters from Ao Wen's table.
The kick, however, had never been intended to disrupt Ao Wen. Once he gained precious breathing room, Tong Fan pivoted, his right arm sweeping through the air like a golden serpent before releasing one of his ten-kilogram golden hammers, sending it hurling through the air like a meteor aimed squarely at the already bloodied Chen Xiong. Before the burly man could recover from tossing Wen Jun, ten kilograms of polished iron and wood slammed into his right thigh, shattering his femur instantly and driving shards of bone-deep into the muscles of his leg.
Tong Fan hadn't finished with his hammer throwing either! No sooner had Chen Xiong fallen than the hammer wielder completed his pivot, left arm snaking through the air and launching his second hammer directly into Tao Juan's waist, crushing ribs with enough force to drive the broken bones into the young man's lungs. Knocked back to the floor, Tao Juan coughed a bright spray of foamy blood, drawing deep on his energy to suppress the pain, face contorted in anguish as he struggled to return to his feet.
At the side, Wen Jun and Shun Ren had disentangled themselves enough to resume a charge toward Ao Wen's table, leaving Zhang Bai the only standing champion between her and three rapidly advancing Brawlers!
"NO, YOU DON'T!" Zhang Bai shouted, reversing his grip on his long sword and driving it point first into the stone floor, pouring every ounce of energy he could squeeze from his core into six gems that studded the hilt of the weapon. Instantly, a tortoise shell-shaped barrier sprang to life, forming a shimmering jade-green dome over Ao Wen and Zhang Bai.
"YOU THINK THAT WILL STOP ME TURTLE?" Tong Fan roared in frustration. Interlacing his fingers he brought the combined meaty fist crashing down with the full force of his corded muscles onto the tortoise shell barrier. Cracks flared at the point of impact before rapidly repairing themselves leaving the jade-green barrier looking as perfect as when it first formed. "Help me you fools," he snarled at the two other brawlers. Soon, powerful spear thrusts accompanied rapid sword cuts and staggering punches as the trio assaulted Zhang Bai's barrier.
On Zhang Bai's body, bruises blossomed, and cuts formed as he pulled damage from the barrier to his own body for the sake of maintaining its protection. Blood dripped from his sleeves, but the stubborn young lord refused to give up his last stand.
"Bai," Ao Wen said, glancing at the young lord for only a moment as her hands moved, guiding a completed elixir into several waiting bottles. "Thirty breaths," she said, echoing the words Formation Master Shi Tan had spoken to on the corruption-filled island. "I trust you."
"Thirty breaths," he repeated through clenched teeth. "You'll have it!" Drawing more deeply than he ever had before, Zhang Bai pulled a torrent of jade-colored energy through his meridians before channeling every last bit of it into the defensive barrier. His Jadeite Six-Shelled Tortoise bloodline answered his furious call, building layer upon layer of hexagonal shell segments within the barrier, first one, then another, continuing until he had constructed a complete six-layer barrier! "You. Will. Not. Touch. HER!" He shouted, charging at last through the barrier that had seemed as thick as a castle wall and now became as thin as rice paper.
"He's breaking through!" someone in the crowd shouted, stunned by the wave of power the young lord had just unleashed.
"Soldiers fight for someone else," Feng Xi murmured at the high table. Glancing at Tang Jin she couldn't help but smile wryly. "Just how many more will you inspire Wen?"
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