Chapter 325: Chapter 280: Divine Radiance
Amidst a chorus of discussion, Shangguan Yangyao slowly ascended the steps. The Haoyang Robe he wore, made of special material, trailed on the ground, untouched by a single speck of dust.
Standing opposite him on the arena was a Turkic youth. He had a grim expression and a sturdy build, wielding a broad-bladed saber. A necklace of Wolf Tooth beast bones adorned his neck, an exaggeratedly long bow was slung across his back, and a quiver was tied at his waist.
The Turkic youth thumped his chest with his fist and said coldly, "Ashide Fuxiao."
"Shangguan Yangyao."
The disciple of the Holy Rite Council offered a gentle smile. His right hand formed a fist, grasping his left thumb. With both hands positioned before his left shoulder, he traced a diagonal slash downwards, performing a Taihao Mountain salute. This simple motion once again stirred a wave of chatter from the crowd below.
Ren Xin explained, "People from the Holy Ceremony Institute have a complete set of rituals for everything they do. Every gesture, movement, and word represents a different meaning, and the complexity of their gestural language is even ten times ours.
"So, when two disciples from the Holy Ceremony Institute disagree, they usually avoid verbal opposition to maintain the Institute’s public image.
"Instead, they use a variety of gestures that are difficult for outsiders to understand.
"The faster they gesture, the fiercer the argument."
Italians performing hand seals, heh. Li Ang chuckled inwardly, then his curiosity was piqued. His memories of the Otherworld were fragmented; his impression of Italy seemed limited to pineapple pizza, the Sicilian mafia, unreliable wartime allies, and some bizarre internet memes.
BUZZ—
The Arena Restriction lit up, and a one-way light screen rose, signaling the start of the match.
Ashide Fuxiao stomped heavily on the arena floor, his figure vanishing instantly. All anyone saw was a fleeting shadow and a slash of dark saber light aiming for Shangguan Yangyao.
So fast! Li Wei’s breath caught in his throat. Especially for a Martial Artist like himself, the vast difference in their abilities was starkly apparent.
If this saber light appeared in a forest, it could split countless centuries-old trees in two. If this saber light appeared on a battlefield, it could flatten a square formation of elite soldiers armed with shields and sabers.
Unadorned, yet brutally efficient.
On the arena, Shangguan Yangyao faced the incoming horizontal slash and once again formed hand seals. His eyes burned with pure white flames, the human smile vanishing, replaced by the dignified solemnity of a Haotian Disciple.
HUM!
A flawless halo spread from beneath his feet, and the air thrummed with a sacred, chant-like resonance.
Divine Arts. Li Ang’s expression turned serious, his eyes narrowing as he observed carefully.
Divine Arts, alongside the Talismanic Sword Thought Body, represented another crucial Dao Path to achieve the Candle Cloud realm. Due to their mystical and unique nature, they were exclusively passed down by Taihao Mountain. Even the Academic Palace’s Book Collection Pavilion held few detailed texts on Taihao Mountain’s Divine Arts, as discussing them risked broaching sacred taboos.
In some ancient texts, legends described the highest level of Divine Arts as deriving directly from the will of Haotian. They were capable of eradicating all diseases and resurrecting the dead; predicting myriad future changes and preventing disasters in advance; reducing countless demons to ashes and saving humanity from peril; and even... reversing cause and effect, forcibly altering reality.
The ’Buzhou Records’ mention that Taihao Mountain once suffered a great disaster at the end of the Han Dynasty. The entire mountain crumbled and fractured, the Haotian Bell fell silent, and countless demons from the vast wilderness surged back, slaughtering tens of millions of common people. It was the Head and four cardinals of that era who, wielding Supreme Power, performed Divine Arts to alter that segment of reality, ensuring these events never occurred in history. As for the truth... no one could say for sure. It was only known that the Head of Taihao Mountain and the cardinals of that period successively died under mysterious circumstances. Of course, it’s also possible that the Head and cardinals died mysteriously first, and the people of Taihao Mountain concocted this story to hide the truth.
BOOM!
On the arena, the halo vibrated. Ashide Fuxiao was sent flying backward even faster than he had charged in. His broadsaber stabbed into the ground; scraping against the Prohibition, it erupted in a continuous, blazing red light.
Shangguan Yangyao didn’t pause. The divine light condensed into droplet-like forms, raining down like a torrential downpour, chasing his opponent.
Ashide Fuxiao skimmed across the ground like a falcon, each push propelling him over ten meters. He tried to close the distance, but the divine radiance, like maggots boring into bone or arrows relentlessly pursuing their target, clung tightly, offering no chance to breathe.
There was only one option left: shoot arrows.
Ashide Fuxiao sheathed his saber and drew the longbow from his back. His muscular arm drew the sturdy bowstring, crafted from demon sinew, as effortlessly as parting strands of hair. His fingers deftly notched a long arrow with gray-white fletching onto the string. The eagle and falcon tattoos on his arm seemed to come alive, flowing towards the arrow and spiraling around its shaft.
WHOOSH—
The arrow shot out silently, circumventing the rain of divine light, spinning through the air as it sped towards Shangguan Yangyao.
The latter stood motionless. A web of light automatically materialized around him, entangling the incoming arrow.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The strands of the divine light web snapped one by one. The arrow slowed abruptly, inching closer, and finally stopped half a palm’s distance away before falling to the ground.
But the divine light web needed time to recover, and Ashide Fuxiao still had many arrows.
The two circled the arena, engaged in a spiraling duel. The repercussions of the battle made the Arena Restriction resonate violently. The pure white divine light and the red glow of the Prohibition nearly obscured all visibility. Disciples with slightly lower cultivation levels couldn’t discern what was happening on the stage. They could only imagine it based on the commentators’ words and the deafening explosions.
"...The outcome has been decided." Ren Xin, who had been silently watching the match, suddenly spoke.
As he finished speaking, the divine light on the stage also subsided.
The final arrow hovered before Shangguan Yangyao’s glabella, just half an inch from the last layer of the divine light network.
Ashide Fuxiao, on the other hand, was pinned in place by dozens of spear-like constructs of divine light, unable to move.
He lowered his head, coldly surveyed his situation, and calmly said, "I’ve lost."
"...Thank you for the match." Shangguan Yangyao slowly nodded, refraining from any superfluous words such as, "Had you brought a few more arrows, perhaps you could have beaten me."
The two were closely matched in strength. Ashide Fuxiao brought only that many arrows because his physical power limited him to shooting just that number with enough force to harm an opponent of equal rank. At this moment, any false modesty would be disrespectful to both his opponent and himself.
Shangguan Yangyao retracted his divine light, turned, and descended from the arena.
Ashide Fuxiao also unstrung his longbow, stepped down from the arena, and said with regret to his friend Ashina Que Teqin nearby, "I couldn’t win."
"You did well enough." Ashina Que Teqin shook his head, his eyes glinting. "I’ve taken note of his moves..."
The arena matches were merely a prelude. The top twenty cultivators from both the Rain Listening Realm and the Cloud Patrol Realm would leave the Academic Palace to participate in an additional contest at a designated location. This contest would decide who earned the opportunity to study further at Taihao Mountain’s Zhanquan. Then, without the protection of the Arena Restriction, it would be the perfect opportunity to settle old scores...
"This arena match was arguably one of the most exciting in recent days! If any students couldn’t see clearly, you might consider visiting the sixth shop from the east on Third Street in Chang’an’s West Market to purchase a pair of the latest obsidian spectacles.
"It’s a shop I opened with a few partners. Our prices are fair, our dealings honest, and you won’t be cheated or regret your purchase..."
The commentator Huang Donglai chattered on, but then he happened to catch the indifferent expression of Sword Study Master Cui Yixian at the neighboring judges’ table.
He quickly stopped his spiel, offering an awkward smile. "Ha ha, that was just a joke to lighten the mood, please don’t take it seriously.
"Now, back to the matches!
"The next contestant to enter the stage is... Li Ang, from the Academic Palace!"
It’s my turn.
In the spectator stands, Li Ang took a deep breath and stood up.
Today was the penultimate day of the Rain Listening Realm competition. If he won this match, he would qualify and eventually face Bian Chenpei.