Chapter 9: A Sudden Astonishment
Chapter 9: A Sudden Astonishment
“Well, really, it’s nothing to fuss about…” Yan He saw his chance to show off and waved a hand, deliberately putting on an air of magnanimity. “This Dao Transformation Armament is derived from the ‘First Armament’ – ‘Whale-Throwing Hand’. Its name is ‘Whale-Rending Arm’.”
“Whale-Rending Arm?” Gu Yanran murmured. The name sounded truly majestic and fierce, carrying a might that spoke of tearing whales apart with bare hands!
“Grandmaster Wu Yi believes that while ‘Whale-Throwing Hand’ might be an exaggeration, the core idea is sound. As the saying goes, ‘a heavy greatsword needs no sharpening.’ Boosting physical strength is far more powerful and practical than all those flashy abilities! This ‘Whale-Rending Arm’ embodies that concept. It holds within it the strength of a Dragon Whale!”
“The strength… of a Dragon Whale?”
Everyone looked stunned, expressions full of disbelief. Yan He felt quite satisfied with their reaction.
“That’s enough warming up. Try again!”
An aged voice drifted over from a distance.
Hearing it, Li Yi felt his eyelid twitch slightly. That voice… he had heard it somewhere before.
Him? Could it be?
“Alright, coming!”
Bathed in swirling black energy, as if clad in heavy armor, Yang Zhan roared. On his sword-wielding right arm, countless crimson magic circuits lit up one after another. The energy nodes shone like bloody stars. It was like a vast, magnificent red tapestry unfurling at incredible speed!
A blood-red glow erupted on his right arm, accompanied by the mournful song of whales, rolling out in all directions!
“Those magic circuits on the ‘Whale-Rending Arm’ were drawn using the essence blood of a Dragon Whale. And at its core hub? A sealed and processed Dragon Whale heart.”
Yan He provided commentary on the spot.
It seemed either Butian Pavilion didn’t have confidentiality rules, or Yan He was simply too puffed up with pride. The latter seemed far more likely.
Thud!
Yang Zhan’s steps suddenly halted. His right foot sank deep into the ground. It was as if the weight of a giant elephant had abruptly been added to his body!
“Die!”
Bai Feng naturally wouldn’t waste this chance. He dashed forward, his form becoming a streak of comet-like light. Countless shards of stardust scattered around his blade as he violently tore through the air!
Combat Skill – Stardust Assassination!
Seeing Yang Zhan couldn’t dodge, he simply roared, gathering his strength and stomped down with immense force.
Combat Skill – Earth-Sundering Stomp!
Visibly, his battle aura poured down like a tide, concentrating in his right foot. Like a piledriver, he slammed down!
Bang!
The entire Martial Arts Platform visibly heaved like raging ocean waves, bucking up and down before violently shattering! Broken rock chunks flew through the air, scattering as they crashed down!
Bai Feng grunted, retreating swiftly. As he landed, he sliced apart a huge boulder flying straight at him.
The boulder split. Yang Zhan’s figure emerged from behind it, sword raised towards the sky.
A continuous, roaring tremor filled the air, sounding like a Dragon Whale’s mournful howl. For a fleeting moment, the whole world seemed to dim.
When light returned, the greatsword descended like a spinning wheel, chopping down with ferocious might.
Combat Skill – Light-and-Dark Wheel Slash!
“Shield of Falling Stars!”
Bai Feng’s face instantly paled. He retreated a step, crossing his blades defensively. For a moment, countless stars seemed to fall, starlight blossoming wildly as if the sky itself was plummeting.
The starlight gathered, forming a shield. Yet it crumbled back section by section, growing fainter and fainter.
Bai Feng retreated step after step. Each step left a deep footprint in the ground.
His faltering state was plain for anyone to see.
Li Yi watched, dizzy and unsteady. His body trembled slightly, his mind shaken utterly. The spectacle had reached an almost unbelievable intensity!
The others weren’t faring much better; they were equally dumbstruck.
Perhaps… this was a power that could change an era!
“This ability is called ‘Dragon Whale’s Dirge’. Compared to a mage’s spell like ‘Mighty Bear’s Strength’, it’s many times more powerful,” Yan He said, his expression proud and smug. “Once perfected, for a warrior, it will be an immense…”
Sadly, he never finished. Cracks of flame and lightning burst across Yang Zhan’s right arm! Crimson snakes of energy writhed in the air, and streams of fire sprayed out wildly!
“Again!” Yan He shouted, all traces of his pride vanishing instantly, replaced by sheer panic. He snapped into action with practiced urgency.
Judging by his movements, he’d clearly done this many times before.
“Why are you just standing there?! ‘Frost Breath’, and ‘Quick Freeze Ray’, now! Don’t hold back on the mana, hurry!”
“‘Healing Rain’ and ‘Xi Wangmu’s Mercy’ need to wait! Wait until the freezing is complete! Even healing spells could become a trigger for a matrix explosion if there’s arcane energy leaking!”
“How many times do I have to say it? ‘Healing Potion’ won’t work! Are you trying to kill everyone? Ice it first!”
“Keep your distance! Wait for the rune matrix to cool down! Be careful of secondary explosions!”
……
Li Yi and the others stood rooted to the spot. This time, they were truly stunned into wooden idiocy.
“Does… does this sort of thing happen often?” Gu Yanran was the first to recover, carefully choosing her words as she asked quietly.
“Well… this… failure is the mother of success?” Yan He wiped sweat from his brow, looking embarrassed. “It only happens…”
Yang Zhan’s furious cursing quickly exposed the truth.
“Damn it all! I quit! I’m never doing this again! One hundred and thirty-five times! If my ‘Mystic-Aura Armor’ wasn’t known for defense, this arm would be long gone! Are you magicians all utterly useless?!”
“Let’s… let’s just go see Grandmaster Wu Yi first.”
Afraid of what else Yang Zhan might blurt out if they lingered, Yan He hurriedly made the suggestion.
Naturally worldly-wise, Gu Yanran took the offered opportunity to save face and agreed with a polite smile.
“What happened? That energy node… I strengthened it repeatedly! I upgraded it from ‘Mountain Confinement’ to ‘Mountain Range Confinement’! Why did it still explode? Does it need ‘Black Tortoise Confinement’? No, no… that doesn’t feel right at all!”
The aged voice reached them before they saw its owner. Clearly, it was Grandmaster Wu Yi.
Li Yi’s face took on an even stranger expression.
“It’s really him…”
Grandmaster Wu Yi was actually the garrulous old man who had given him the Dawn Cliff tokens!
Li Yi sighed inwardly. Dawn Cliff really was too small a place.
Wu Yi kept slapping his own forehead. Hovering before him was a massive blueprint for the Dao Transformation Armament.
The blueprint was covered in energy nodes like scattered stars. Magic circuits crisscrossed like roads in a field. Deep and unfathomable rune matrices and orderly arrays of magical seals combined into a miniature world, both mysteriously beautiful and profoundly inscrutable.
No one dared disturb him, forced to wait as he vented his frustration.
“Where… where exactly is the problem?”
Wu Yi looked deeply troubled, practically wanting to smash his head against the table to see if it knocked inspiration loose.
“It’s because your approach is wrong. You took the opposite route!”
“Who said that?!” Wu Yi snapped around, his tone sharp.
His gaze swept over the crowd, which instinctively parted like startled birds, revealing Li Yi standing there.
Li Yi blinked in surprise.
The perfectly synchronized movement… why did suddenly feel like, “Step aside everyone, I’m about to show off”?
“It’s you again!”
Gu Yanran gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to kick him. She softly addressed Wu Yi, “Grandmaster, don’t mind him. This fellow just likes to make a spectacle! Whatever he says is nonsense, not worth…”
“Li Yi, do you want to get kicked out?” Her voice was tight with anxiety as she turned to him.
“The problematic energy node… it’s the third one at the back of the elbow, right?”
Li Yi’s words made Wu Yi’s expression change instantly.
“How did you know that?”
“The strength enhancement of the ‘Whale-Rending Arm’, while seemingly direct and simple, is ironically extreme. Focusing solely on power amplification is going off the deep end. The entire armament simply lacks enough nodes for energy buffering.”
Li Yi straightened his clothing. Under Gu Yanran’s dumbfounded gaze, he spoke calmly and confidently.
“So what do you think should be done?” Wu Yi’s expression shifted again, growing thoughtful.
Without realizing it, his tone had become that of seeking counsel!
“For improvement, thirteen buffering circuits should be placed in a row at the back of the elbow. Additionally, change the ‘Mountain Range Confinement’ to ‘Rolling River Confinement’. There’s a saying, ‘Blocking is less effective than channeling’. That’s the principle…”
Wu Yi stared intensely at the blueprint, standing still for a long time, seemingly calculating.
After a while, a silence filled with shock, stupefaction, tension, and disbelief was broken by Wu Yi bursting into hearty laughter.
“The ancients spoke of a ‘Single-Word Teacher’. Young man, you are my teacher!”
Jaws dropped everywhere.
“This kid? He was holding back this talent?” Yan Zhao was shocked into near paralysis.
“He looked like a total amateur from every angle…” Zhangsun Shenji narrowed his eyes, utterly bewildered. “How? Was he playing the fool to feast on the tiger?”
“Is this kid a shapeshifted magical beast? Or at least, some ten-thousand-year-old monster…”
Gu Yanran was struck speechless. From the bizarre tale of the ‘Ghost-Blowing Lamp’ to the Dao Transformation Armament now, this mere thirteen-year-old before her suddenly seemed profoundly unfathomable.
Li Yi took a deep breath. His heart was still pounding like thunder.
Of course, this was the work of the Heavenly Prophecy Ring.
Its stored power – ninety Magic Crystals – had been completely drained!
“Let me see your hands!” Wu Yi said, looking urgent as he strode forward. “If your hands meet the requirements, forget being an assistant. Become my fourth direct disciple!”
Whoosh!
Innumerable stares laden with envy focused directly on Li Yi.
“Hands?”