Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Chapter 237 – Sword Spirit Doppelganger

Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon was an extremely unique weapon; it was similar to a whip, yet it also differed greatly from a whip. Some of its special qualities were even more unique. Ling Yun had fought countless matches before, but it was still the first time he had ever encountered this “Ribbon” type of weapon. Though he could tell that “entangle” was one of its core method of attack, Ling Yun completely did not expect that its entangling speed was actually so quick and overbearing. A burst of immense force that was almost not resistible suddenly traveled from his hand, and as he was caught off guard, the Celestial Yuan Sword was directly ensnared away out of his hands.

Even though Ling Yun was shocked, he did not panic. He retreated back as if lightning, dodged the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon’s attack, and extended his palm as sword intent channeled. The Celestial Yuan Sword that was ensnared up quickly escaped after a while of intense struggle within the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon, and flew back into his hands by itself.

“Heavenly Sword of Extreme Lightning!”

With a swing of the Celestial Yuan Sword, there was a burst of deafening thunderclaps and more than one hundred lines of sword light assaulted toward Xia Qingyue as if they were the brilliance of thunderbolts. The Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon turned from offense to defense as it whirled around her body with great speed and intercepted all of the lightning sword beams. However, Ling Yun’s finishing strike also pierced at her at this moment like rolling thunder; the sword beam that seemingly hid itself within the cracks within space, directly went for the tiny opening the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon produced in its dance.

Facing this dangerous sword strike, the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon that was as lithe as a snake, suddenly shot straight out, and directly collided with the Celestial Yuan Sword. Along with an ear-piercing “clang” sound, the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon deadlocked tightly with Celestial Yuan Sword just like that… The long ribbon that was originally as soft as silk, seemed as if it had transformed into indomitable fine steel at this very moment, and completely blocked the sword strike that was filled to the brim with Ling Yun’s sword intent.

“Bang!!”

As a ice lotus exploded, Xia Qingyue and Ling Yun were both blown away backwards simultaneously. Xia Qingyue gracefully landed, but when Ling Yun landed, a thick layer of frost had covered both of his arms. His eyebrows twitched before he finally blew off the frost with a bit of effort. He then looked at that long and snow-white ribbon with an extremely astonished gaze.

That was clearly just a long ribbon, how could it actually turn as tough as a sword!

“To actually be able to wield this Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon that is the hardest to control, so freely… How is this possible!” Ling Yuefeng uncontrollably exclaimed in shock. If he knew that it had only been a single year since Xia Qingyue first came into contact with Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon, it was uncertain whether or not he would directly faint from the shock.

“A part of an ice phoenix’s soul is sealed within the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon, and it is extremely hard to control. The Asgard Mistress had used an entire thirty or so years, before she could display one hundred percent of its power. Yet Qingyue only took one year, and could already exhibit nearly seventy percent of its strength. It would be practically impossible for another with this kind of comprehensive ability to appear in our Asgard, even after a millennia.” Chu Yueli watched as she praised.

The Celestial Yuan Sword was a Sky Profound Weapon, the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon was a Sky Profound Weapon as well. But there also were disparities between Sky Profound Weapons; the Limitless Sword of Heavenly Sword Villa was a high-grade Sky Profound Weapon, and the Celestial Yuan Sword and Celestial Yang Sword were roughly mid-grade. However, the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon was a genuine high-grade Sky Profound Weapon. Just by looking at the wielding proficiency, Xia Qingyue didn’t seem to lose against Ling Yun, who had received Celestial Yuan Sword three years ago either… Thus, in terms of weapons, Xia Qingyue had the absolute advantage!

After those few rounds of exchanges earlier, Ling Yun had also become vaguely aware of this. However, he did not dread the disparity in the weapon at all. What truly shocked him, was the fact that Xia Qingyue’s profound strength foundation was actually not inferior to him in the slightest.

“HAAH!!”

With a loud roar, the white in Ling Yun’s eyes quickly retracted. Within the enlarged pupils, two sword silhouettes were shown. All of the sword intent in his body was conjured without restrain, and was intense enough that it almost turned solid. In a glance, it was as if a cluster of transparent flames were burning around his body.

RIIIP!!

Ling Yun’s sword struck out, bringing along a storm of sword silhouettes that blotted out the sky. The change in Lin Yun’s sword force also made Xia Qingyue’s thin brows move; the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon danced in the air, and a wave of bone-chilling cold aura blanketed toward Ling Yun’s sky covering sword mirages.

BANG!!!!

The profound energy barrier that Ling Wugou personally made directly cracked the instant their profound energy clashed. At this moment, these two superb experts of the Earth Profound Realm had finally and truly begun their full power duel.

The sword was like streaming light and thunderbolt, but the ribbon was at times like the fog, at times as tough as profound ice, sometimes tangled, swept, pierced, and slashed… Yet all these transformations easily danced within Xia Qingyue’s hands without the slightest awkwardness. If an ordinary person faced this kind of weapon for the first time, they would definitely be dazzled and would not be able to keep up. But Ling Yun was Ling Yun after all; even though his sword skills seemed like pressing attacks, in actuality, they were all feints. Defending while pretending to attack, he used his eyes and awareness to capture the different transformations of Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon in its entirety. After more than three hundred sword strikes, he had already adapted to it, and shifted from defense to offense; every single sword strike was aimed at the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon’s openings.

RIIP!!

As the light on the sword flashed, over ten lines of deep marks appeared on the even ground.

BOOM!!

The Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon gently caressed the ground. Yet it was precisely this seemingly soft and gentle caressing action that brought up an ear-shattering sound. A fissure extended with an astonishing cold aura at extreme speed, and only stopped when it reached Ling Wugou’s feet, making him consecutively step backwards in panic.

Ling Yun vaulted up and moved in midair. Every single step he took, a sword blade whirlwind would be brought up. When he had reached Xia Qingyue, over thirty sword blade whirlwinds swept toward Xia Qingyue from different directions, and within every single sword blade whirlwind, were several tens of hidden sword beams.

Ling Yun coming from the front, and several tens of sword blade whirlwinds coming from the surroundings, was a despairing situation that made one’s gall feel cold. Xia Qingyue’s expression was serene and unwavering. As the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon gracefully danced, a gigantic light blue colored lotus blossomed below her feet with incomparable splendor.

“Ice Lotus Prison!!”

Twelve light blue colored flower petals competed to bloom, and displayed a dazzling brilliance like the starry sky. But this time, this enormous ice lotus was not used to attack nor defend, and instead, self-destructed…

Shatter!!

The ice crystals that covered the sky densely flew about and crazily clashed with the sword beams. The ice crystals were grinding apart the sword beams, and the sword beams were also grinding apart the ice crystals. Within the chaotic storm of ice lotus and sword blades, the Celestial Yuan Sword and Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon also crossed strikes like a fierce rainstorm. Gradually, the crowd could no longer see the figures of the Celestial Yuan Sword and the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon, and in the end, even Ling Yun and Xia Qingyue could only see the two’s afterimages that shifted with extreme speed… Only the intense sound of the collisions, as well as the ice crystals and sword beams that covered the sky, unceasingly remained.

More than half of the Sword Discourse Arena, an entire three hundred and thirty meters of area was completely shrouded by sword beams and ice crystals. Even Ling Wugou was forced back three hundred and thirty meters away. The surrounding audience had already become stupefied from watching, and some seniors had already quickly constructed profound energy barriers in front of the seats to prevent the sudden berserk and dispersion of these energy injuring the young sectoral disciples. Seeing the intense battle on the Sword Discourse Arena, the shock in their hearts could not be described with words… Was this really a battle between two youths?

How could a battle of this extent, occur between two youths!!

On the Blue Wind Imperial Family’s seats, Qin Wushang was also staring with wide eyes. Thinking back at his own strength when he was twenty, he sighed and muttered to himself: “These two, would certainly both be the pinnacle of Blue Wind Empire in the future… Especially this Xia Qingyue, will even more so, be unparalleled!”

Ling Yuefeng’s expression became more and more solemn. He had originally thought that since he was similarly at the third level of Earth Profound Realm, Ling Yun should hold the absolute advantage; because dominating others of the same rank was as easy as lifting an arm for him. However, he sat there and saw Ling Yun expend his full power little by little, yet was still incapable of getting the slightest advantage at all. All of a sudden, some anxiety birthed in his heart. Because from this kind of situation of the battle, it was impossible for him to not think about a possibility…

Which was the possibility of Ling Yun losing.

But if Ling Yun also lost, then he would be stopped in the semifinals just like Ling Jie, and the two brothers would be respectively rank third and fourth place! Their power ranking, would also fall into third place!!

His Heavenly Sword Villa that was the number one force in the Blue Wind Empire, the number one supremacy that had never been shaken in history, would only be placed third in this Ranking Tournament! Not even keeping the second place! In all of Heavenly Sword Villa’s history, that had never happened before! To Heavenly Sword Villa’s prestige and fame, this would be an unimaginably heavy strike.

Furthermore, the first place reward in this session of the Ranking Tournament —— the Dragonscale Armor, was a great gift that Ling Kun brought over from Mighty Heaven Sword Region to grant it to Heavenly Sword Villa. The reason why it was used as the first place treasure of this Ranking Tournament, was also just a feint. Because before the tournament, they, as well as everyone else were all completely certain that the first place of this Ranking Tournament must belong to Ling Yun, with no exceptions of other people. Thus, not only would the Dragonscale Armor return to their Heavenly Sword Villa in the end, it would also display their “immense” wealth of his Heavenly Sword Villa.

If Ling Yun loses, this Dragonscale Armor would also fall into the hand of another.

No matter which outcome happens, they were all outcomes that Heavenly Sword Villa absolutely could not accept.

Seeing Ling Yuefeng’s reaction, Xuanyuan Yufeng comforted: “Yuefeng, do not worry. Don’t forget, Ling’er still hasn’t used the Sword Spirit Doppelganger. Once the Sword Spirit Doppelganger is used, Xia Qingyue definitely would not have any possibility of winning.”

“Heaven’s Might Absolute Sword —— Universe!!”

Cyan colored sword light crazily surged atop the Celestial Yuan Sword, and extended all the way up to sixty meters away. Looking from afar, it was as if Ling Yun was holding an enormous colossal sword that was over sixty meters long and one and half meters wide. Both of Ling Yun’s hands were held upwards, and the cyan colored sword light crashed toward Xia Qingyue like heaven’s sword of judgement.

BOOM!!

Amidst the enormous noise, a huge and bottomless chasm that was over three hundred meters long and five feet wide ruptured open in the Sword Discourse Arena, violently dividing the Sword Course Arena in half. But Xia Qingyue had already appeared far away in midair from who knows when. Ice spirits slowly floated around her body as flakes of snow gently fell from above. At first, the snowflakes were sparse, but right after, they increasingly grew in number. Ice cold wind had also slowly started to blow. In the end, the wind and snow melded together into a boundless blizzard and torrented down.

“This is… the sixth stage of the Frozen Cloud Arts, Realm of Heavenly Snow Invocation!!” Ling Yuefeng turned pale from shock! From his knowledge, the old Chu Yuechan who was half-step into the Emperor Profound Realm, had also only reached this stage! Even though Xia Qingyue’s aptitude was extremely astonishing, even if her apitude was even greater, how was it possible for her to reach the sixth stage of the Frozen Cloud Arts with a profound strength at the third level of the Earth Profound Realm… This was unrelated to aptitude, and should instead be restrained by the most fundamental laws of profound strength!

This kind of strength was already not like simple profound strength anymore, and was more like an undefiable force of nature. Those flakes of snow seemed to be soft and gentle, but a terrifying cold energy and destructive force hid within every single flake. Ling Yun quickly retreated backwards, but was still caged within the overwhelming blizzard. His sword lights moved like lightning and cut apart the blizzard with extreme speed as he forcefully endured this attack that fundamentally should not belong to the Earth Profound Realm’s level. And at this time, a line of white light suddenly arrived before his body. Even though he noticed, it was simply impossible for him, who was defending against the Heavenly Snow to take into consideration, and was lightly touched on his chest by the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon.

Bang!!!

Ling Yun sprayed out a mouthful of fresh blood, which sprinkled onto the pure-white snowflakes. And at the same time, he also borrowed the force of this direct attack he received to escape backwards, far out of the overwhelming blizzard’s attack. After tumbling for over ten times in the air, he heavily landed onto the ground on one knee with the Celestial Yuan Sword as support and heavily gasped from his mouth.

Ling Yuefeng stood up with a “whoosh”. With a grab of his palm, the Celestial Yang Sword within Ling Jie’s hands was sucked into his, and was then thrown flying toward Ling Yun: “Yun’er, catch the sword!!”

Ling Yun lifted up his head, and a painful struggle flashed through his eyes. However, he still extended his hands and caught the Celestial Yang Sword. His gaze, also once again recovered its resolution.

When Ling Jie was facing Yun Che before, a show of Ling Yun’s sword support was put on.

And now, the same scenario actually happened to Ling Yun.

The entire Sword Discourse Arena was silent, and no one voiced out any boos. Because anyone would understand that in this battle, Heavenly Sword Villa absolutely could not afford to lose. If they let the dignified number one force and supremacy in Blue Wind be reduced to the third, it would unquestionably be a shame that Heavenly Sword Villa could not wipe off for the generations to come.

Naturally, it was impossible for Ling Yun to not understand this. Thus, even though using the dual swords would hurt his pride and dignity, he still did not refuse… Compared to the prestige of Heavenly Sword Villa, his own personal dignity was simply not important at all.

He had to win this battle.

With the Celestial Yuan Sword in his left hand, the Celestial Yang within his right, Ling Yun slowly stood up. His hand that grasped onto the Celestial Yang Sword also slowly unclenched, yet the Celestial Yang Sword that lost its grasp oddly did not fall, and instead just floated there.

Both of Ling Yun’s hands clasped in front of him, as a eccentric radiance that was as sharp as the sword beams stirred within his eyes. Around his body, there also swirled up a burst of light gray colored profound energy radiance.

“Sword… Spirit… Doppelganger!”