บท 18: The Fourth Exam (2)

The very moment the flame appeared on the incense stick, Ning Rongrong reacted. A dazzlingly beautiful seven colored light rippled out from her body. Her hands were cupped in front of her and in her right palm, a seven colored pagoda about a foot tall appeared. With a smile, Ning Rongrong's two yellow spirit rings rose up from beneath her.

"Seven treasure words, first spoken: Strength. Seven treasure words, second spoken: Speed," said Ning Rongrong gently.

As she did so, her spirit rings flashed one after another. When they did, eight streams of light burst out from the pagoda in Ning Rongrong's hand and enveloped the other four youths. The moment it did, Durand could feel their whole bodies brimming with strength and then incredibly light.

Zhao Wuji looked a little shocked and said, "Man! One of this year's examinees is from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile clan. Old Ghost Glender must be super excited this time."

At this moment, Zhao Wuji moved. Instead of rushing over towards the five youths, he moved into a crouch as he smashed toward the ground with both his fists.

"Durand!" cried Tang San.

Durand understood what Tang San wanted him to do. Previously, Grandmaster had taught them that if they were ever to face an opponent from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile School, they must first dispose of that Seven Treasures Glazed Tile School spirit master. Conversely, this meant that if they were to ever have an ally from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile School, they must prioritize defending them. Though Zhao Wuji's ground smash was not directed at Ning Rongrong alone, this area of effect attack was clearly for the purpose of interrupting Ning Rongrong's spirit abilities that were amplifying the other four.

Quickly jade colored light flashed from Durand and his entire suit of armor appeared. His first spirit ring flashed and his massive shield appeared right in the way of Zhao Wuji's fists. Locking his right arm in front of his chest, the moment that Zhao Wuji hit Durand's shield, Durand was pushed back by several feet. It was very fortunate for Durand that his second spirit ring had granted him the armor on his lower arms. This had significantly dampened the damage transferred from his shield to his arm. Even so, Zhao Wuji was a spirit sage and the force from his attack had caused Durand to be pushed away from the front.

A blue and black long vine suddenly twisted around Durand's waist to stabilize him. This was Tang San's first ring ability at play. At the same time, Tang san also wrapped a vine around Ning Rongrong so that he could pull her from harm if need be. Seeing that his attack had failed, Zhao Wuji stepped onto Durand's shield to push off and rush toward Ning Rongrong. The moment Zhao Wuji was about to push off the shield, Durand smirked and his first spirit ring flashed again. Attempting to push off a solid shield but only kicking air, Zhao Wuji stumbled in surprise. As he fell forward, Durand's ring flashed again and the shield appeared in front of Zhao Wuji's face. As Zhao Wuji's face smashed into the shield, Durand rushed forward.

Behind him, he could hear Tang San yell, "Xiao Wu, above! Durand, catch!"

Xiao Wu and Durand reacted immediately. These last six years together had brought the three of them much closer and they could already cooperate together without having to speak much. Behind him, Xiao Wu had jumped onto Tang San's hands that launched her above Durand. Then, Durand's ring again flashed, this time in a rhythmic fashion. Above him, Xiao Wu could be seen hopping from Durand's shield which appeared below her next step each time she pushed off from her previous step. Xiao was now directly above Zhao Wuji.

At the same time, Durand turned to give Zhu Zhuqing a look. It seemed that this was enough and the both of them launched their attack at the teacher. As they rushed forward, Durand's shield suddenly appeared by his right arm once again. Just as he reached Zhao Wuji, he quickly raised his right arm and smashed down towards Zhao Wuji's face. At this time, Zhao Wuji had just recovered from his embarrassing fall and was a little enraged to have lost a little face. However he did not have enough time to react when a massive shield with spiked rims bashed his face once again. At the same time, Zhu Zhuqing had stealthily appeared behind Teacher Zhao. Her movement was so quite that Dai Mubai had gasped in admiration. Her sharp claws slashed at Zhao Wuji's Achilles tendons before she slipped away, readying for another attack.

Against a weaker opponent, this vicious attack would have crippled their legs. Unfortunately, Zhao Wuji was a seventy sixth ranked spirit sage with impressive defensive abilities. Therefore, even though Zhu Zhuqing had been able to wound him, it had not vitally injured him. Durand's attack though had caused some serious damage. With a taller stature and equally muscular body, Durand was incredibly strong for a twelve year old. In fact, the attack had broken Zhao Wuji's nose. Combined with Zhu Zhuqing's attack to the Achilles tendons, Zhao Wuji's body was forced to bend backward instead of stumble backward.

At this time, Xiao Wu who had been falling headfirst, toward the Zhao Wuji when Durand's shield had returned to his arm appeared. Her spirit had already been released with her body enhancements appearing. As she fell, her body passed just over Zhao Wuji's head. Just as she was half way past him, her legs suddenly wrapped around his neck. This caused Zhao Wuji to fall backwards even further. When her hands reached the floor, her body suddenly compressed, elbows bending, knees tucking toward her chest. Then in an explosive motion, they snapped forward like a whip, elbows and knees extending, pulling Zhao Wuji's head and his body with it. At the climax of Xiao Wu's whipping motion, she released the spirit sage and the five youths watched as the celebrated spirit sage launch into the air for a couple seconds.

Durand took this moment to glance over at Ning Rongrong. With her amplification, the four of them had been able to display abilities that surpassed the thirtieth rank level. Even so, Durand knew that the fight was not over. Zhao Wuji had yet to release his spirit power and the incense — Durand glanced over — was only a third burned. Zhao Wuji landed roughly onto the ground. His entire head rammed into the ground and sank completely into the soil.

At this time, Xiao Wu whispered, "Did we go too far?"

Durand quickly answered, "No, Zhao Wuji still hasn't released his spirit abilities."

Suddenly, Durand had a flash of inspiration. His first spirit ring flashed once more and the shield appeared right above Zhao Wuji's prone figure. Both of Zhao Wuji's arms pushed on the ground, pulling his head out. However, only his head moved up, the rest of his body couldn't move an inch as a massive heavy shield seemed to press down on his body. Zhao Wuji was now forced to release his spirit. The brown light emanated and Zhao Wuji grew to nearly 250cm (>8 ft). His entire body was now covered in thick brown fur and his all the muscles on his body coiled like dragons. The seven spirit rings rhythmically revolved around his body.

Durand who had been feeling smug at his idea to trap Zhao Wuji under the shield suddenly cried out in pain. The drastic increase in Teacher Zhao's body had transferred a massive amount of pressure to his arm. Feeling as if his arm would be squeezed until his bones shattered, the shield instantly disappeared from Zhao Wuji's back and returned to Durand's side.

Like Durand had said, Zhao Wuji had yet to use his spirit power. As a seventy sixth ranked spirit sage, facing these five spirit grandmaster youths was rather simple. He had only planned to mess around with these children and loosen up his body. However, he had severely underestimated the five youths before him and he had paid a price. The five of them, especially due to Ning Rongrong's amplification had been able to surpass the thirtieth rank power levels. Their coordination significantly contributed to the previous result.

Patting the dirt from his head, Zhao Wuji was upset as he said, "Damn it. I got tripped by children. Little Bai, what are you laughing at? Tomorrow, come find me or a real combat lesson."

Dai Mubai who had been laughing into his sleeve at Zhao Wuji's dirt covered appearance, paled a little. His smile disappeared in dread of what was in store for him tomorrow.

Turning back to the five examinees, Zhao Wuji said, "Alright you've done well. Let's take it up a notch."

Zhao Wuji rushed forward with large strides. Instead of targeting Ning Rongrong this time, he directed himself at Durand, Xiao Wu, and Tang San. It seemed that their tacit coordination had left an impression.

Tang San called out, "Xiao Wu, meteor person hammer."

Launching off of Tang San's shoulders, Xiao Wu pounced toward Zhao Wuji, kicking at his head. At the same time, ten Blue Silver Grass simultaneously surged out from around Tang San's body to entangle Zhao Wuji. However, this couldn't prevent him from swatting at Xiao Wu. Suddenly, Xiao Wu's body changed direction in midair, avoiding Zhao's Wuji's palm attack. As she swept across from the side, one of her legs kicked at his shoulders.

Meteor person hammer was a technique that Tang San and Xiao Wu had developed. By using Tang San's blacksmith hammering techniques and his Blue Silver Grass bind ability, Tang San is able to control Xiao Wu's position in the air like a wire system. This allowed him to give her a boost in attacking force or help Xiao Wu avoid attacks. Unfortunately, the defense power of Zhao Wuji was simply too much for lower level spirit masters like Xiao Wu to surpass. Even if he couldn't dodge, damaging his body would not be easy.

Zhao Wuji was distracted by Xiao Wu's attack and his eyes revealed a serious expression. All of the children in front of him could become his students. If they fought him off again, he would lose too much face. How would he be able to instruct them later?

At the same time as Xiao Wu's attack, Zhu Zhuqing also did not stay idle. Her two yellow spirit rings lit up and her body flashed forward with incredible acceleration. Jumping up into the air, her body wrapped into a ball midair and she rapidly rotated as her body dashed toward Zhao Wuji. In that round blur, the only thing that people could see were faded images of her claws from her second spirit ring ability, Hell Hundred Claws. Using the fast rotation and the penetrating power of her claws, Zhu Zhuqing could potentially inflict a hundred attacks on the enemy in a short breath of time.

Similarly, when Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing were attacking Zhao Wuji, Durand had also been rushing toward the teacher. Although he had been about to launch his second ring ability, he noticed that Zhu Zhuqing was attacking and he knew that Quake Blast was no longer suitable in this moment. If he were to use it, he would only be damaging his own team member. This was not Zhu Zhuqing's fault though, the five of them did not have the years of experience and cooperation to work together seamlessly. Instead, Durand simply opted to disrupt Zhao Wuji's ability to defend against the other two fighters. Quickly punching out with a simple one-two combo directed at the teacher's belly and face, Durand drew Zhao Wuji's attention. After all, Durand had been the one to smash him in the face just a couple moments prior.

Just as Zhao Wuji was hit by Xiao Wu's kick in his shoulder, Zhu Zhuqing also landed her attack on his back. Zhao Wuji let out a growl, his eyes released a cold light, and his fists clenched tight. Of the seven spirit rings on his body, his first yellow spirit ring flashed its light. An intense golden light exploded out and the fully engaged Zhu Zhuqing was immediately sent flying as she let out a wretched groan. Dai Mubai seemed to appear out of nowhere and caught Zhu Zhuqing in his arms as she was about to drop. When he caught her, he discovered that she had already passed out from the counter attack and both her arms had been dislocated.

Similarly, Xiao Wu had also suffered greatly from the attack. Even though Tang San had pulled her back slightly, the intense gold light had rebounded everything within three meters back. More worryingly, closer targets were smashed to pieces. After Zhu Zhuqing, Xiao Wu was the one who received the most injuries. The violent shaking force caused Xiao Wu to spit out a mouthful of blood as she flew back midair. Tang San quickly brought her down with his Blue Silver Grass out of concern.

The next person was Durand. Despite his close proximity to Zhao Wuji, he had suffered less damage than Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing due to his incredible defensive ability from his shield, armor and endurance stats. Even so, Durand was pushed back several meters and his body felt like it had just been smashed by a sledge hammer everywhere.

The last person to get damaged was Tang San who had the smallest injuries. His Blue Silver Grass had been wrapped around Zhao Wuji's body and when that ability had been activated, it had shredded the Blue Silver Grass to pieces. This had caused quite a bit of backlash. However, it was the injuries to Xiao Wu that caused him to be unable to maintain his calm attitude.

This powerful ability of Zhao Wuji was his first spirit ring, Motionless Bright King Body. Despite the fact that it was only a hundred year spirit ring, the ability combined with Zhao Wuji's powerful spirit power created a far stronger ability than before.

This is a natural progression. When Durand had absorbed his second spirit ring Quake Blast, his first spirit ring, Teleport Shield, had been improved too. Some of it was minor: his increased defensive power increased his shield's defensive ability or his ability to resist more powerful attacks had increased the utility of his first spirit ring. Similarly, Tang San's Bind ability had grown when he gained his Parasite ability.

By relying on his seventy sixth ranked spirit power, Zhao Wuji was able to overcome three top tier spirit grandmasters with only his first spirit ring. With both offensive and defensive capabilities, the ability had been able to break the youth's quartet joint attack. This was power, a spirit sage's true strength.

Ning Rongrong was extremely anxious. Right now that stick of incense had only burned half way down. However, her Seven Treasure Glazed Tiled Pagoda only included every kind of auxiliary attribute. It was unable to incorporate any healing or treatment for injuries. Moreover, she had already activated both her spirit rings for all four of her comrades and could no longer contribute further to this battle.

Now that Zhao Wuji was freed from the binding of Tang San's blue silver grass and the attacks from the youths, his speed immediately became faster. It seemed like he had only taken a single step when he appeared before Tang San. His immense palm swatted down. At the same time, his second spirit ring shined and as he burst out into laughter, his palm fused with his second spirit ring's power and doubled in size.

Tang San was carrying Xiao Wu in his hands. He simply could not let her take his place to intercept that powerful palm strike. So instead of evading the attack, he hastily pulled her away by turning. At this time, Durand's first spirit ring flashed once again, his shield covered Tang San and Xiao Wu to defend against monstrous palm strike. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Tang San quickly activated Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to break away from Zhao Wuji's attack range.

Now that Durand had recovered, he quickly took charge of the team in place of Tang San who has distracted by Xiao Wu's injuries. Seeing as Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu were quite injured, it was unwise to have them continue fighting Zhao Wuji.

"Tang San, bring Xiao Wu over to Dai Mubai. The three of us just need to hold Teacher Zhao for another half a stick of incense. Ning Rongrong will continue to support us in the back, Tang San will control Teacher Zhao's movements and I will absorb the brunt of his attacks in the front," said Durand.

The three of them quickly got into formation. With the help of Ning Rongrong and Tang San, Druand was actually rather confident in holding Zhao Wuji off. Teacher Zhao seemed surprise that they had decided to continue. Regardless, Zhao Wuji once again charged at them. This time though, Durand was the only one among the youths to directly face him head on. His shield back onto his arm, he also charged at Teacher Zhao and his second spirit ring flashed just before contact. A light jade green light flashed from his shield as the two collided. Behind Zhao Wuji, the ground was completely upturned like it had been freshly plowed by a farmer.

For a moment, Zhao Wuji seemed to freeze for a single second. His spirit power that had been pressing down on the remaining three youths in front of him slackened. This was the effect from Durand's Quake Blast. However, that changed back to normal. Zhao Wuji instantly recovered his senses and his spirit power that had dipped intensified once again.

Even though he had recovered extremely quickly, that brief moment of respite had been all Tang San needed to bind Zhao Wuji with his spirit. Different from before though when his blue silver grass had wrapped around Ning Rongrong or Xiao Wu, it had some incredibly sharp thorns. This change in his spirit came from his second spirit ring from the spirit beast, Ghost Vine. As they wrapped about Teacher Zhao's body, the sharp thorns created small cuts everywhere on his body. Most deviously, Tang San was depositing small seeds from his spirit into Zhao Wuji's body through these cuts.

Of course, Zhao Wuji's quick recovery from Durand's Quake Blast meant that Tang San's Bind also could not hold him for long. However, this quick moment had been proof to the three of them that Zhao Wuji could be put out of commission as long as Durand was able to continue using his second spirit ability. Seeing that the incense stick had only burn through a little over half way though, Durand knew that he had to conserve his spirit power. After all, he had already used his first spirit ring ability many times over the course of this fight. Now that he had used his second spirit ring, he could feel that his spirit power levels were already quite low. He would need to carefully ration his spirit power use.

Without even looking back, Durand yelled to Tang San, "About 7 Hornet Stings!"

This seemingly cryptic phrase was something that Durand had come up with to inform Tang San and Xiao Wu how much spirit power he had left. Before he had even gotten his first spirit ring, Hornet's Sting had taken nearly half of his spirit power to launch and retract. Now though, Durand's spirit power had grown exponentially. At rank 30, he was able to use Hornet's Sting nearly 10 to 12 times before exhausting his spirit power. By telling Tang San that he could only use Hornet's Sting about 7 times, he accurately told Tang San that he had already used a third of his total spirit power.

Hearing Durand's message, Tang San began using his hidden weapons. With Durand in front, he had been slowly condensing his entire body's power. Though a relatively minor wound, Xiao Wu had still been injured and he felt that he had failed her as an older brother. His arms gradually became white, wither a jade luster. Between his ten fingers, faint streams of qi could be seen moving. His eyes also slowly turned purple.

Motionless Bright King Zhao Wuji was extremely startled by the transformation of Tang San's body, especially his eyes. He could clearly feel that Tang San's body atmosphere had transformed and although his spirit power had not increased, Teacher Zhao's instinct warned him of danger. Suddenly, Tang San's hands that had been hanging on his sides, suddenly swung forward; ten lights flung from his fingers, each distinctly aiming for Zhao Wuji's eyes, shoulders, throat, heart, knees, genitals, and abdomen. Not only were the targets different, but they were all accurately aimed at the vitals.

Tang San did not stop, the moment he threw those ten lights, he used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to move like lightning around the sides. With Durand preventing Zhao Wuji from moving easily, Tang San was assume Zhu Zhuqing's former responsibility of attacking from the flank. Using his hidden weapons from range, Tang San continued to aim for Zhao Wuji's vitals. Even though Durand was still distracting Zhao Wuji with frontal attacks, he as maintaining his attention at Tang San. Seeing these powerful hidden weapons thrown at all his vitals, Teacher Zhao reacted quickly. His first spirit ring flashed once again just before the hidden weapons were about to hit him.

Once again, Durand was pushed back by the flash of yellow light. Also, the ten hidden weapons thrown by Tang San were deflected as well. Dai Mubai had been correct when saying that Zhao Wuji did not have any weaknesses that they could exploit. Despite this, neither Durand nor Tang San gave up. With Ning Rongrong backing the two of them up, they continued to unleash as many of their abilities onto Zhao Wuji as possible.

Durand continued to lock Zhao Wuji down. Using his first spirit ring ability to prevent Zhao Wuji from committing to larger more powerful moves, he could keep Teacher Zhao from using his more powerful abilities unless he threw away his face and used his more powerful rings. For example, each time he drew his arm back to strike, Durand would either teleport his shield behind the arm to prevent further pre-attack movement or right in front of the arm so that Zhao Wuji could not strike down. With Tang San's blue silver grass binding, Zhao Wuji found it incredibly difficult to move away from his predicament.

From the side, Tang San used his Sky Filling Flower Rain hidden weapon throwing technique and his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to throw out a large variety of hidden weapons like Willow Leaf Knife, Flying Locust Rock, Gold Coin Dart, and Penetrating Bone Nail. These hidden weapons flew out toward Zhao Wuji from all sorts of directions and angles, straight, slanted, spirals, from the front, sides, and back. This torrent of hidden weapons combined with Durand's lockdown caused Zhao Wuji to feel as if he was trapped inside a hurricane of attacks.

By now, the incense stick had burned down to just a quarter length. With so little time left, Zhao Wuji was beginning to get worried. As a spirit sage, if he were to truly lose to a group of five grandmasters, he would be subject to ridicule from his faculty peers.

With a challenging smile, Zhao Wuji chuckled, "Alright, the three of you have held on for quite a while. It's time to step it up again!"