sbdcsierra Chapter 309 There's an Alchemist in the Family
Chapter 309 There's an Alchemist in the Family
Chapter 309 There's an Alchemist in the Family
Shi Potian, dressed as a mercenary, was still wearing the mask he had been given at the auction when he entered the venue. The Qiu family allowed this, but he would have to pay compensation for any damage to the specially made mask.
The opponent who stepped forward was a burly man of average appearance, dressed in black, with armor strapped to his arms, legs, and chest. He was taller and more imposing than the person who had participated in the auction. He was not the one who had challenged him. However, this did not violate the Qiu family's rules. The Qiu family stipulated that it was a one-on-one duel, and that each person could only be challenged once per auction. Both sides could send substitutes, or even hire someone else.
"Wearing a mask in this dueling arena, are you afraid to show your true face?" The burly man was unsure of what to do as Shi Potian stood there motionless and nonchalant. So he broke the silence, trying to get some information out of him and learn more about his background.
“We have never met before, and we are unlikely to cross paths again in the future, so what I look like is irrelevant to the duel. I would like to ask, is your attempt to obtain this batch of Earth Flame Crystals through this method due to excessive confidence, or is there another reason?” Shi Potian asked.
"Whatever the reason, what I want is mine. If I can't buy it with money, I'll get it with my fists! I never leave anyone alive under my fists. There's no need for any talk of stopping short of death. If you don't want to die, you'd better admit defeat now, or don't blame me for not giving you a chance," the burly man said arrogantly.
"It seems there's no need for further words, let's begin!" Shi Potian pulled out a five-foot-long, one-foot-wide, tungsten steel ghost-head broadsword with a back over an inch thick from his storage bag. This massive sword, weighing four hundred jin, was the Ghost King Blade that Shi Potian had brought from the valley floor. This sword was his sworn brother's signature weapon, a high-grade black iron treasure infused with the heavy metal tungsten steel. Originally, he brought this sword out to find his brother and old friends, to return it as his brother's keepsake. Unfortunately, after searching for several years, he hadn't found a single old friend or descendant.
Shi Potian rarely used weapons in his previous duels, but judging from the aura his opponent displayed, his opponent's profound skills were not low, making him a formidable opponent.
The opponent's weapon was also a pair of heavy magical artifacts: the Xuan Tie Heavy Mace, which was about three feet long and as thick as a bowl, like two iron pillars, each weighing at least a hundred pounds. In terms of appearance, it was in no way inferior to the Ghost King's Blade.
Without saying a word, the big man swung his double maces upwards, creating a powerful gust of wind that whistled as it smashed towards Shi Potian.
Upon seeing this, Shi Potian shouted, "Well done!" He took a step forward, gripped his sword with both hands, and held it horizontally, then countered by using the back of his sword to meet the double maces head-on, starting the fight head-on.
With a loud 'bang!', the double maces slammed into the broad back of the blade, the immense impact sending sparks flying between the two weapons. The powerful shockwave forced Shi Potian back three steps before he regained his footing. The burly man who had initiated the attack fared no better; the rebounding maces nearly sent him flying, and he stumbled back several steps before dissipating the hidden force.
"Good! That's powerful!" the burly man roared, swinging his double maces again with a whooshing sound as he smashed them down on Shi Potian. A faint yellow light emanated from the maces. The air seemed to grow heavy wherever the maces passed.
The burly man was clearly a practitioner of earth-attribute profound martial arts. With each swing of his double maces, the yellow light emanating from them deepened. After a short while, the light on the iron maces transformed into two golden pillars, each ten feet long and as thick as a person's embrace, resembling two giant bronze pillars. The aura they emitted caused the black iron arena to resound with loud 'bang, bang' sounds.
Shi Potian cultivates a metal-based profound art, which certainly cannot compare to the earth-based one in terms of depth and weight. However, Shi Potian's metal-based profound art is somewhat strange. Unlike other metal-based profound art practitioners who are known for their speed, his moves are more like those of the earth-based art, characterized by their solemnity and moderation. Every move is conventional and seems to have nothing to do with the sharpness and speed of the metal-based art.
If you are truly deceived by his appearance, you are sorely mistaken. Shi Potian's metal-based profound skill is a different kind of speed, one that you can only feel after engaging him directly. His speed is embodied in the word "vibration," which is also the foundation of his combat domain after breaking through to the fourth level of the Heavenly Rank. A seemingly ordinary slash will vibrate four or five hundred times in an instant upon colliding with the enemy's weapon, as if hundreds of strikes have been delivered in a short period. The opponent's weapon will be as if glued to the ground, without even a chance to change tactics. They can only be forced to endure the blows. Even the most exquisite moves will be interrupted by his slash, making it impossible for you to continue.
As the burly man's twin maces transformed into two massive golden pillars that crashed down from above, the area within several feet was subjected to their attack. The space seemed to collapse under the weight of these giant pillars, completely sealing off Shi Potian's surroundings and rendering him immobile.
"Hehe, the power of a domain? I have that too!" Shi Potian remained completely calm in this space.
Just as the golden pillar was less than a foot from Shi Potian's head, Shi Potian advanced instead of retreating, gripping his broadsword horizontally with both hands and slashing diagonally upwards at his double maces.
"Buzz!" The heavy Ghost King Blade emitted a sound like the plucking of a zither string, and a blue light flashed on the blade as it slashed towards the pillar.
Just as the blade touched the pair of golden pillars, tiny ripples appeared at the point of impact. The ripples grew larger and larger, eventually turning into violent shaking. In a short while, centered on the point of impact, the two huge golden pillars began to peel away layer by layer, scattering like burning gold and copper fragments, before disappearing without a trace.
"What kind of combat technique is this? It actually managed to break through my Golden Pillar Collapse Domain!" The burly man asked in surprise when he saw that Shi Potian had broken through his combat domain with his sword.
"Excuse me, this is my combat domain, called the Domain of Force Shock. You should experience it for yourself!" Shi Potian said as he continued to slash forward with his broadsword. In a moment, the two golden pillars of the big man turned into ashes and disappeared without a trace. The Ghost King's broadsword directly struck the big man's pair of iron maces.
The burly man then realized that he had lost even the chance to draw his double maces, and could only try his best to use his profound skills to block the incoming blades, unable to use any combat techniques.
This was the crudest and most primitive brute force duel. Shi Potian's broadsword was stuck to the iron mace as he slashed, while the big man's double maces could only passively accept the blows from the broadsword, and he had to endure hundreds of blows in just a few breaths.
The burly man's face turned red, and he gritted his teeth and roared, trying to break free with all his might, but to no avail. His hands, which were gripping the maces, split open, his tight sleeves were ripped into thin strips, and the armor on his arms crumbled and broke through by his swollen arms.
Combat is extremely taxing on spiritual energy, especially when facing an evenly matched opponent, where the consumption increases dramatically. After persisting for ten breaths, Shi Potian's spiritual energy was exhausted, and he had to stop, using the last jolt of energy to retreat ten steps away. He used the opportunity to use his hands to strike the sword and recover his strength.
At this moment, the burly man knelt on one knee, his hands gripping the iron mace tightly. Blood from his tiger's mouth slowly flowed down the mace, his swollen arms turning red, fine drops of blood seeping from his pores. The intense pain caused his arms to tremble uncontrollably.
At this moment, the Han army was almost completely exhausted, which should have been an excellent time to kill him. However, Shi Potian's spiritual power was also completely depleted. Although an assassination at this time could be successful, the possibility of a desperate counterattack by the enemy could not be ruled out, and he himself might also be injured.
Although there were nine of them who came to Tianxin City this time, the other eight were all early-stage Heaven Rank forces, while he alone was at the mid-stage. The Blood Fiend forces that came this time were Earth Rank, and their numbers were unknown, but based on the information obtained, there were quite a few mid-stage Heaven Rank experts among them. It was also unknown whether the person challenging them on this stage was from the Blood Fiend forces, but this person was also at the mid-stage Heaven Rank. If he acted rashly, he couldn't guarantee that he would be unharmed. Therefore, Shi Potian had to ensure that he was absolutely safe.
“Cultivating to the mid-stage of the Heavenly Realm is not easy, why risk your life like this? As long as you admit defeat, I can spare your life!” Shi Potian said.
"Heh, I'm afraid you don't have such good intentions. You think you'd let me go? I'm probably only saying that because you're exhausted and not confident you can escape unscathed! If not, why not come at me and see how much strength you still have to kill me! ... We both know the drawbacks of the combat domain. Why make it sound so noble!"
"If that's how you put it, then I have nothing more to say. But I'm a little curious, why are you only focusing on these refining materials? With your strength, you could easily rob the imperial palace and treasury. What kind of treasures don't you have there? Since you're going to rob anyway, what's the difference between robbing us and robbing the imperial palace?"
"I don't know what you're trying to say. This is a legitimate challenge, not a robbery!"
"Is that so? Now that you've failed your challenge, shouldn't you send someone to ambush you on the way? There should be a few other Earth-level Blood Fiends among you with similar skills to you, right?"
"You know about Blood Fiend! How did you know? Are you in cahoots with the person who bought the Bile of the Gold-Eating Turtle?" The burly man was shocked. However, he quickly regained his composure. He didn't press Shi Potian about how he knew their secret, but instead, as if making some important decision, looked at Shi Potian and said:
"It seems the hall master's worries were justified; you do indeed possess meteorite iron!"
After speaking, the burly man placed his double maces on the ground and crossed his legs into a meditation posture. He began to breathe rapidly. A few breaths later, his swollen hands strangely returned to normal, and even the blood that had seeped from his skin seemed to be absorbed back into his body. The burly man's cultivation was recovering rapidly, at a speed that was astonishing.
However, the burly man's complexion worsened. The redness on his face, which had been flushed, faded rapidly, leaving it completely bloodless. His once robust face grew thinner, his eyes became sunken, and his muscles began to atrophy. The middle-aged man suddenly appeared decades older, transforming into a gaunt old man.
"Blood Dissolving Technique! In the hundred years since I debuted, you are the first person to force me to use the Blood Dissolving Technique. You should be able to rest in peace after dying under my Blood Dissolving Technique! Although my cultivation will regress to the early stage of the Heaven Rank after this, or even lower, and it will take at least several decades to recover, it is still worth it to eliminate an opponent like you!" The big man said to Shi Potian expressionlessly.
"Heh, are you so sure you can kill me?" Shi Potian sneered.
"My Blood Melting Technique can instantly restore my cultivation to its peak state, or even higher, while you are in a weakened state after using the Battle Domain, with your strength at most only 20% or 30% of what it used to be. What do you have to fight me with? The defensive formation here blocks all your escape routes. Where can you run to? Could it be that you have also cultivated our Blood Wolf Hall's secret technique, the 'Blood Melting Technique'?"
"I have never practiced the Blood Dissolving Technique, nor do I need it, because I have this!" Shi Potian took out a jade bottle from his pocket, poured out three Spirit Gathering Pills from the bottle, and swallowed them in one gulp.
"Although this Spirit Gathering Pill is only of medium to high quality, and its effects aren't very good for us Heavenly Rank cultivators, each pill only restores a little over 10% of our power. Even if I take three pills, I can only restore about 45% of my power. Adding the 30% I still have, I can reach about 80% of my original power. With 80% of my power, I might not be able to defeat you, but at least I can remain undefeated!"
After speaking, Shi Potian straightened up, his previous dejected appearance vanishing instantly, replaced by renewed vigor. He brandished his broadsword, then smiled and said, "The quality of the pills is quite good; they melt in your mouth, even better than I expected!"
Then, he said to the big man in a mocking tone:
"Old man, let me tell you a secret. Although my Spirit Gathering Pills are only of medium to high quality, they are indeed at the Heavenly Profound level, and I have seven of them!"
"How do you have so many Spirit Gathering Pills? Heavenly Profound Pills are hard to come by. Although they are not high-grade pills, it is not easy to collect so many!" The big man did not believe it.
In the Tianxuan Continent, all Tianxuan-grade pills are obtained by martial artists through exploration of domain tombs, with only a few being collected at a time. Due to their rarity and preciousness, they are rarely sold, making it extremely difficult to collect ten Gathering Spirit Pills through purchase. Wealthy martial artists are most likely to purchase high-grade pseudo-Tianxuan Pills from the Alchemist Association at exorbitant prices. However, even the highest-grade pseudo-Tianxuan Pills contain trace amounts of pill toxins. Taking one occasionally is acceptable, but consuming large quantities will undoubtedly have significant side effects on cultivation.
"These pills are indeed hard to come by for you, but they are just ordinary things for me. I can use them as I please, because I have a family member who refines pills, and he refines Heavenly Profound Pills. I was in a bit of a hurry this time, so each of us only brought one bottle."
Seeing the burly man's suspicious expression, Shi Potian continued:
"You guys bought one of our detoxification pills last night, didn't you? How come you couldn't figure out if it was real or fake?"
"Were the pills auctioned last night yours? Are you from Medicine King Valley? No, the people of Medicine King Valley are mostly medicine slaves who only know how to handle flowers and herbs. Few of them have cultivation levels as high as yours, and the metal-type profound technique you cultivate is not unique to Medicine King Valley. There are no metal-type cultivators in Medicine King Valley!"
"Just because it didn't exist before doesn't mean it doesn't exist now. Maybe Medicine King Valley already has all five elements by now!"
"You've rambled on for so long, are you trying to buy more time to recover your cultivation? But it's useless. Even if you had another quarter of an hour to recover, it wouldn't change anything! You'd better just give up your life sooner rather than later!"