Chapter 797: Teaching Someone a Thing or Two
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Countless eyes were frozen right there, looking at the figure dressed in white as Ye Futian was done with his words.
I, as the Palace Lord, would be happy to teach you a thing or two!
Palace Lord Ye Futian of the Holy Zhi Palace of the Barren State, referring to himself as “palace lord” for the first time, said to teach a thing or two to Zhou Ya, in a holier-than-thou tone.
What he meant there was: since you begged me, I will oblige.
It seemed as if those words were spoken by an elder to their juniors. The pride and attitude were very obvious. However, the fact was that he had probably been a sage not long ago, and Zhou Ya was considered his peer. Zhou Ya’s powers were probably no weaker than his.
As for status, Zhou Ya was a prince of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty and a figure known to be the successor of the sacred king. If they were to speak in terms of the status of sacred grounds, Ye Futian would have easily been higher, given that he was a palace lord of a sacred ground. But then again, he was still a palace lord of a sacred ground of the Barren State, which had fallen onto hard times, while the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty was in full flourish. As such, Zhou Ya’s status was not actually lower than that of Ye Futian. Furthermore, the Chess Saint had chosen Liu Zong over him, which served as a further testament of that fact.
However, Ye Futian had actually answered Zhou Ya’s intentions. You ask to be taught a thing or two. I then, as the palace lord of a sacred ground, will teach you a thing or two.
Everyone had gotten excited at the turn of events. The Barren State had been too dazzling in this year’s Nine State Forum. Yu Sheng was crowned the champion, and everyone grew interested in how capable Ye Futian was. At that moment, he finally stopped concealing his pride and walked out. They would be able to see how capable the young leader of the Barren State was and how he fared compared to Yu Sheng. Even the saints of the Eastern State turned their eyes to the confrontation, showing immense interest.
Boundless golden light shimmered on Zhou Ya, which shrouded the sky of the forum stage. A regal, huge, golden phoenix appeared. As it flapped its wings, countless shadows of the phoenix seemed to streak through the air, heading for Ye Futian with a destruction aura.
“It would be an honor to learn from you, Palace Lord Ye,” Zhou Ya said, whose voice sounded regal yet cold. He had never anticipated Ye Futian to retort in such a forceful manner. He grew eager to see how Ye Futian would be able to teach him anything.
“You’re welcome,” Ye Futian answered coldly. A tremendously dazzling screen of stars lit up around him, blocking all of the phoenix shadows coming at him, making them incapable of touching his body at all.
Both men began trading blows while they were still chatting.
Countless held their breaths as they stared at Zhou Ya. As the huge golden phoenix behind him continued to flap its wings, more and more golden phoenixes appeared in the air and took tangible forms. The golden phoenixes turned into terrifying storms, dancing about as they soared the skies. The golden wings were incredibly sharp as they went about cutting the space before them.
The scene was a brilliant one. It was as if the phoenixes had descended upon their realm.
“Zhou Ya is going at it for real.” Many peoples’ minds shook violently at the brilliant lights dancing about in the air. Zhou Ya had only broken into the Sage Plane a little more than a year ago. His plane was already incredibly stable and his development of rules had matured. He was able to manipulate his surroundings with his will alone.
Zhou Ya had once been known the most powerful noble in all of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty. While he had not been a sage for long, he had already been lauded highly as the successor of the sacred king. His talents reigned supreme in all of the sacred dynasty.
Ye Futian was at the same plane as him, which was why Zhou Ya wanted to spar with Ye Futian. However, it remained to be seen who, at the same plane as Zhou Ya, would be capable enough to teach that unparalleled genius of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty anything.
One phoenix after another, having taken tangible forms, rushed and rammed hard at Ye Futian’s starry defenses. The screen of light shook and dazzling starlight coursed on it as if it would have cracked and shattered at any given moment, but it stayed intact and incredibly stable.
“Some defenses indeed.” Many praised, but it was not a surprise at all. As a leader of the Holy Zhi Palace and there being so many uncanny geniuses in the Barren State, how could he, Ye Futian, be a weakling?
Zhou Ya remained unfazed. The vast forum stage became incredibly wild and unruly. Many golden phoenixes danced about in the sky and coalesced behind Zhou Ya. A terrifying storm whipped up soon enough. An even greater golden phoenix appeared, with Zhou Ya’s body at the center, melding into one single being with him. The demonic-looking eyes of the bird shot golden lightning. They looked identical to Zhou Ya’s eyes. The great wings shone brilliantly as they flapped, and the golden light emanated seemed to be able to cut the space around them apart.
Voom. The huge, golden phoenix wings trembled, and storms of even greater magnitude manifested. Lethal golden colors shot about in the air, and the huge phoenix dived with its wings cutting down, tearing the space around them. Everyone turned their eyes to the sky above the forum stage and saw beams of golden light shooting down, cutting the air into pieces as they landed around Ye Futian.
The hearts of many leaped. What a terrifying attack! Ye Futian was caught in the center of the storm at the moment as if it was only a matter of time before he was torn to pieces.
Ye Futian lifted his head and pierced the phoenix’s shadow with his eyes. He looked straight at the eyes of the phoenix itself, which had an oppressively overbearing aura as well as coldness. Those eyes that he looked at were Zhou Ya’s own.
At the moment, a formless power covered every corner of the forum stage. The unruly storms seemed to have turned sluggish with the incredibly huge phoenix shadow striking down at him. The space around them seemed to have been frozen solid by that formless power.
“Space freezing.” A line was uttered from Ye Futian’s mouth. The terrifying golden phoenixes around him all froze and ceased moving as he said the line. It was as if everything had stopped in an instant, giving birth to a brilliant, picturesque scene hanging in the air. However, the incredibly huge phoenix shadow continued to come down at Ye Futian, as if the bird intended to tear apart the power of rules that froze the space. It stayed on its set course unflinchingly. That was the battle of rules.
Space rules were not invincible.
However, the speed at which Zhou Ya’s phoenix was flying down had been severely reduced.
“Power of rules of space.” The eyes of the people of the other states all sparkled. Ye Futian also developed space rules, but different from Yaya’s. Yaya wielded Space-manipulation while Ye Futian developed Space-freezing, both of which were branches of space rules.
Countless eyes stared at the battlefield. Everyone saw Ye Futian step forward at the very next moment, turning into a bolt of starlight, streaking through the space, shinning incredibly brilliant light on the field, zipping about the frozen golden phoenixes in the air, ultimately arriving right before Zhou Ya. Ye Futian attacked Zhou Ya right away with a single attack, which was so difficult to trace that many were unable to see it as more than a punch. The attack launched like a meteor as it landed in the shadow of the great phoenix’s shadow.
Boom! A muffled rumble was heard, and many saw the great golden phoenix being thrown backward by the attack, streaking in the air like a beam of golden light as it crashed at the edge of the forum stage.
“Such power…” The hearts of many seemed ready to leap out of their chests.
“Imbued with the rules of stars.” The eyes of the great figures of all nine states glittered. Ye Futian’s punch might have looked simple, but rules of stars were imbued within that single attack, making it packed with the force of a star. The phoenix might have been huge, but it was unable to withstand such an attack and was thrown backward all the same.
One attack was all it took to send Zhou Ya flying.
Many peoples’ hearts continued to pump hard at the silent scene. Many continued to stare at the figure clad in white in the air. So powerful.
The Great Zhou Sacred King’s eyes glittered as he glared at Ye Futian.
Ye Futian was seen standing in the air quietly, looking Zhou Ya, who had taken to the air again. He said, “Flashy moves without substance are mostly useless techniques. Those moves will do you no good in battle. It is best that you keep the use of such moves to a minimum in the future.”
“Wha…” Everyone turned speechless. Ye Futian is actually teaching Zhou Ya without reservation.
Zhou Ya became clad in his golden phoenix form, obscuring his face, but it was assumed to look incredibly frustrated. That much was seen from his incredibly sharp eyes. Both of them were of the same plane, and Ye Futian’s words sounded like an insult to him.
Since when do I need teachings from you, Ye Futian?
A loud phoenix cry was heard as Zhou Ya’s golden phoenix form flew straight up, basked in golden divine fire, looking incredibly dazzling. It dove soon after, and boundless golden divine fire shot below, sending terrifying storms out to tear everything apart with earth-shaking force as if nothing was to stand intact before it.
Ye Futian remained standing where he was, calmly, staring at the silhouette shooting down from the sky at him. The air was filled with lightning bolts all of a sudden as countless flashes of lightning sparkled. In the very next moment, one bolt of thick lightning vines after another appeared in the air, lashing out at Zhou Ya.
Zhou Ya was shooting down at breakneck speed, but the Space-freezing rules were once again used and his speed could not resist turning sluggish once again.
The lightning bolts in the air flashed and purple-golden lightning vines reached the huge golden phoenix’s body in an instant, coiling around its body as if a divine tree had appeared in the air. It was the countless vines from that divine tree that had shackled Zhou Ya’s body. At the same time, terrifyingly destructive powers rushed into the phoenix’s body, making the huge phoenix shake violently, letting out brutal cries.
Ye Futian extended his hand and a huge purple-golden whip appeared in the air, whipping at the phoenix’s head.
Crack… The whip lashed out like a thunder god’s whip. The head of the golden bird blew up, and the huge phoenix shuddered all over, signifying its spiritual will being subjected to ferocious attacks.
“Attacks are too one-dimensional, and powers too weak.” Ye Futian continued standing there and teaching his opponent.
Extremely cold killing intent was seen in Zhou Ya’s eyes. The golden phoenix’s body seemed to have burned as it turned even more dazzling, as if a boundlessly enormous shadow of the phoenix burst forth, shattering the purple-golden vines shackling Zhou Ya.
The spectators from all over the nine states continued to shudder at the scene. He was able to shackle Zhou Ya using just vines. But was that because Zhou Ya is really weak?
Everyone was able to sense right there that there was yet another unparalleled genius who stood before them. The young palace lord of a sacred ground of the Barren State might have proven more exceptional than they had imagined.
Yu Sheng, Ye Wuchen, Xu Que, and all the others were students of the Barren State, while Ye Futian was the palace lord of the Holy Zhi Palace. Everyone lauded him to be the palace lord without exception and without objection. Even when the other sacred grounds from other states wanted to rob them of their students, Yu Sheng and Xu Que refused outright and remained where they were. Even someone as powerful as Zhou Ya, who was widely known to be the successor of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty, was unable to fight back at all before Ye Futian. The fight was more like a slaughter than a spar.
The phoenix that Zhou Ya had taken the form of completely incinerated at that very moment. Golden divine fire shot from Zhou Ya’s eyes, targeting Ye Futian’s eyes. The sky around them burned, and shadows of phoenixes continued to appear as they streaked through the sky in a dazzling manner.
“The Golden Phoenix Tactics of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty. Zhou Ya is truly bringing his all in this fight, giving everything just to crush Ye Futian.” The hearts of many shuddered violently. The scene before them was simply too dazzling. The golden phoenix’s shadow shot through the air and headed straight for Ye Futian. The divine fire shot from his eyes and landed straight into Ye Futian’s.
Zhou Ya was unable to stand such a humiliating battle. He was a prince of the scared dynasty, lauded as the successor of the sacred dynasty. It was not a humiliating defeat that someone like him deemed acceptable. It would be a stain in the history of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty.
Ye Futian looked up at Zhou Ya. His eyes turned incredibly demonic as they clashed with Zhou Ya’s. Ye Futian’s eyes were like a dark, bottomless whirlpool, swallowing all of the divine fire shot out from the prince’s eyes.
At the very next moment, Zhou Ya felt as if he had been caught in an Eye Sorcery World. He saw incredibly terrifying spiritual storms whipping up right before him. Ye Futian’s silhouette appeared within that Eye Sorcery World. Terrifying purple-golden lightning lashed out directly at his spiritual will. The huge phoenix suddenly was clad in fearsome lightning glare. The fearsome power that Zhou Ya was clad in was shed bit by bit as his body trembled.
“You have not been a sage for long and your mind is not in the right place. You have decent talent but you lack mature temperament. You think too highly of yourself, yet your powers do not match that of your pride. You need to train harder,” Ye Futian said plainly, and his voice was heard all over the place. Ye Futian’s body was nowhere to be found as soon as he finished. He appeared right before the phoenix’s shadow and launched a finger at the head of the phoenix, piercing right through it to attack Zhou Ya, who was inside.
Zhou Ya felt as if his brain was to explode. He let out a horrifying shriek, and boundless golden light burst out. Flames danced in the air, and the bird’s wings flapped. His body reappeared again and fell downward.
Zhou Ya fell onto the ground with his hands cradling his head, feeling his head about to split, looking incredibly pathetic.
“Enough.” A cold shout was heard. The Great Sacred King’s voice penetrated into Zhou Ya’s brain, and only then did Zhou Ya calm down. His face was completely ashen and his brow was covered in sweat.
Zhou Ya clenched his fist as he looked up at Ye Futian, who was still in the air with incredibly cold eyes. None of the pride and bearing befitting that of a genius remained to be seen in him.
Many felt sympathy looking at Zhou Ya at the moment.
Their eyes looked different as they turned to look at Ye Futian again. The young palace lord of the Barren State is just too terrifying.
The battle that day would be etched in Zhou Ya’s memory for the rest of his days. It could even be said to be Zhou Ya’s nightmare.
“Please steady your mind and heart more in the future, and beware of getting too worked up and thinking too highly of yourself.” Ye Futian spared Zhou Ya a plain glance but did not sympathize with his opponent. There were people who he deemed not worthy of sympathy. He looked up at the Zhou Sacred King and bowed. “I have overstepped my authority to teach Zhou Ya a thing or two. For that, I beg for your forgiveness, Sacred King.”
He returned to his corner right afterward, flailing his robe. He sat down, looking tremendously impressive!