168: Chapter 168 Sword Like Thunder

On the arena, Lin Tian looked down at the autumn water sword in his hand. The lingering charm of the Xiaguang Sword Technique still remained on the sword's body, and the seven-colored sword light was slowly dissipating.

The direct, hard-hitting clash of those dozens of moves just now had allowed him to completely figure out Chen Yixiao's bottom line—

The palm force of the Great Strength Vajra Palm was too thick and heavy, while the Xiaguang Sword Technique followed a path of lightness and variability. Although there were many sword lights, the force of each one was dispersed. Colliding with such unreasonable, fierce, and violent palm force was like trying to poke an iron plate with seven chopsticks; it couldn't pierce through.

Even at the Major Achievement Realm of the Seven-Light Sword, it could only barely keep pace with the opponent's palm force; it was far from enough to suppress it.

Then he would switch to another sword technique. He also mastered another set of sword techniques—the Thunderclap Sword Technique.

This sword technique was more violent than the Xiaguang Sword Technique. The Xiaguang Sword Technique excelled in agility and variability, while the Thunderclap Sword Technique excelled in explosive power and penetrating power. The sword strikes were like thunder, the sword hums were like the sound of thunder, specifically designed to break through fierce and violent styles.

He took a deep breath and held the autumn water sword horizontally in front of him. The Internal Energy within his Meridians suddenly changed its circulation route, switching from the path of the Xiaguang Sword Technique to the Thunderclap Sword Technique.

The light that lit up on the body of the autumn water sword was no longer the seven-colored Xiaguang, but a blinding, blazing white light that looked like lightning.

The sword body began to vibrate at an extremely high frequency, emitting an extremely sharp metallic trembling sound.

Then, he thrust the sword towards Chen Yixiao.

The sound of thunder exploded on the arena. It wasn't just one sound, but several thunder claps layered together. The sword light, wrapped in lightning, collided fiercely with the Vajra palm that Chen Yixiao had struck out, with a domineering posture completely different from the Xiaguang Sword Technique.

With a loud boom, that giant palm wrapped in pale golden Qi was forcibly forced back by the sword light.

Chen Yixiao only felt a sharp penetrating force bore through his palm force into his palm. That force was completely different from the dispersed attacks of the Xiaguang Sword Technique—

It was concentrated at one point, like a red-hot iron nail, piercing through his layers of palm force defense and stabbing fiercely into his palm.

His feet sank abruptly, and his body was pushed back seven or eight steps by this impact force. Every step he took on the bluestone arena left a deep footprint, and stone chips flew out from the edges of the footprints.

After retreating seven or eight steps, he slammed his back foot down hard to forcibly stop his momentum.

The whole audience was shocked.

The noise under the stage seemed to have been strangled by someone at that moment.

Captain Liu of Team 3 straightened his body, the contempt on his face replaced by an expression of disbelief.

The captain of Team 5 had originally been leaning against a willow tree, but now his back had left the trunk.

Several veteran Disciples looked at each other. Some had their mouths open, forgetting to close them. After several breaths, one managed to squeeze out a sentence from their throat: "Chen Yixiao—was actually forced back?"

Ma Gang stood in the front row of the crowd with his arms crossed. Those eyes, which had been tempered for ten years at the Yunhai Fishery, were now wide open.

He had seen Lin Tian use a sword; he had seen it when he shot at the White Bird above Fish Pond No. 6, he had seen it when he practiced sword alone on the lake, and he had seen it every time a Vicious Beast attacked. But he had never seen the sword light wrapped in lightning on the arena at this moment.

He said in a voice that was almost a murmur: "The sword technique is so strong—this is not the Xiaguang Sword Technique, what sword technique is this? When did this kid learn it?"

On the arena, Chen Yixiao steadied his figure. His chest rose and fell slightly, and there was a shallow sword mark on the center of his right palm. Most of the pale golden Qi had been dispersed, and the few wisps of Internal Energy remaining on his palm were rapidly dissipating.

He looked down at his palm, then raised his head to look at Lin Tian. For the first time, an unconcealable shock appeared on that bronze-colored face.

How is it possible? He could feel that Lin Tian's cultivation Realm was the same as his, at the Late Stage of the Fourth Rank, and the exquisiteness of the opponent's sword technique was also within his expectations. But the Xiaguang Sword Technique didn't work; after switching to another sword technique, the power suddenly became stronger?

No—it wasn't that the strength became stronger, but that the force became concentrated. The Xiaguang Sword Technique involved seven sword lights attacking separately, and the strength of each one was only one-seventh of the total force.

But in this sword technique, all the force was concentrated in a straight line, and the penetrating power had multiplied several times.

This kid actually still hid his strength. When he fought Liu Yidao before, he hid this sword technique until the very end before using it. Now fighting him, he hid a second sword technique—how many more trump cards does he have that he hasn't revealed?

Lin Tian walked back from the edge of the arena holding his sword. Just now, he had been pressed by Chen Yixiao all the way from the center of the arena to the edge. The arena line was right under his feet; one more step back and he would be judged to have lost.

At this moment, he walked back to the center of the arena step by step, his pace neither fast nor slow, the same rhythm as when he returned to the bamboo house after patrolling the fish ponds by the lake.

He looked at Chen Yixiao, his voice not loud, his tone calm: "Senior Brother Chen, your palm technique is very strong. But wanting to defeat me is not that easy."

Chen Yixiao exhaled a breath of turbid air heavily. In those eyes like copper bells, all the contempt and certainty of victory had disappeared, replaced by a Battle Intent forced out of him. He did not speak again,

but roared, slammed his feet on the bluestone arena, and threw himself at Lin Tian again. The Great Strength Vajra Palm was unleashed, his palms striking out in succession, palm shadows layered and overlapping, the golden palm wind covering the sky and earth.

Lin Tian met him head-on as well. The Thunderclap Sword Technique was unleashed move by move, the sword light crisscrossing the arena like blinding bolts of lightning.

The roaring sound of the sword and palms colliding was even duller than before, shaking the stone powder on the bluestone arena until it jumped up with a rustling sound.

Unlike the Xiaguang Sword Technique, every collision of the Thunderclap Sword Technique carried a sharp penetrating force. Although Chen Yixiao's palm force was thick and heavy, it was no longer as solid as a rock in the face of this penetrating force.

The situation had reversed. Previously, Chen Yixiao was pressing Lin Tian, but now it was the other way around—Lin Tian's Thunderclap Sword Technique completely suppressed the Great Strength Vajra Palm.

Every time the sword light collided with the palm force, it tore a gap in that layer of pale golden Qi. Chen Yixiao was forced to retreat step by step, his feet, as steady as an iron tower, retreating again and again on the bluestone arena, each step taken with immense heaviness.

He gritted his teeth, his arms already numb from the shock. Although the sword mark on his palm was not bleeding, that sharp penetrating force was boring up along his Meridians, like countless fine needles stabbing into the crevices of his bones at the same time.

No. If this continues, I'm afraid I will be defeated. He could clearly feel that the opponent's sword momentum was becoming more and more violent, while his palm force was being disintegrated bit by bit.

I cannot hold back any longer, I have to use that move.

He suddenly leapt backward to create distance from Lin Tian, pressing his palms together in front of his chest.

The Internal Energy within his Meridians began to circulate wildly along another route that had never been shown to anyone. This power was different from the fierce, violent, and upright nature of the Great Strength Vajra Palm; it was an Aura that was deeper, more blazing, and carried a kind of primitive explosive power.

His eyes instantly turned blood-red, and a layer of dark red luster shone from under his bronze-colored skin. His whole person seemed to have turned into an angry Vajra that had walked out of ancient mythology.

An old Disciple under the stage exclaimed: "Vajra Glare! The secret technique of Chixia Peak—Chen Yixiao has been forced to this point!" Another candidate gasped: "Once the Vajra Glare of Chixia Peak is unleashed, strength and defense will double in a short time, but it extremely consumes Qi and blood; it won't be used unless it's a life-and-death struggle! Chen Yixiao is truly risking his life!"

Chen Yixiao struck out with his palm again.

The power of this palm was far beyond any previous one. The golden Qi wrapped around the palm surface was more solid and blazing than before, and wherever the palm wind passed, the air was compressed into a white wave of Qi visible to the naked eye.

He took a step forward, and a three-inch-deep footprint sank directly into the bluestone arena floor beneath his feet. He struck out with both palms together, shooting towards Lin Tian with an overwhelming momentum like moving mountains and draining seas.

Lin Tian's Thunderclap sword light was forced back by this palm.

The moment the sword light collided with the palm force, Lin Tian only felt an irresistible giant force coming from the sword, sliding him and the sword backward several feet.

His feet plowed two white marks on the bluestone arena, and the friction between his shoe soles and the stone surface emitted a harsh creaking sound.

Chen Yixiao took advantage of the momentum to pursue, striking out with another palm. The target of this palm was not Lin Tian's body, but the edge of the arena under his feet—as long as he forced Lin Tian out of the arena line, the opponent would lose.

Lin Tian felt an unprecedented crisis. Chen Yixiao's palm not only doubled in power, but the palm momentum also blocked his routes for dodging left and right, clearly intending to force him off the arena.

He took a deep breath, and the Internal Energy within his Meridians was driven to the extreme at this moment. The Mind-Cultivation Technique of the Thunderclap Sword Technique flashed through his mind.

His Thunderclap Sword Technique had previously only been able to unleash Three Thunders in One Sword when it was at the Minor Achievement Realm. Now that he had long since reached the Mastery Realm, the strongest sword strike was not Three Thunders, but Five Thunders.

Then come on.

The autumn water sword was raised high, and the lightning wrapped around the sword body suddenly surged. It was no longer the blazing white flash from before, but a layer of deep purple, crackling, and substantive lightning.

He held the sword with both hands and slashed down at Chen Yixiao's infinitely imposing giant Vajra palm.

With one sword thrust out, five thunder sounds rang out in succession—Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom! The five thunder sounds layered together, and five streams of thunder power burst out from the sword, condensing in mid-air into a purple thunder light as thick as a child's arm, slamming fiercely forward.

The thunder light and the Vajra palm force collided. This loud sound was no longer the dull sound of fists and palms colliding from before—it was a real, deafening explosion.

A blinding ball of light exploded over the arena, the bluestone arena was shaken violently, and the bamboo flagpoles at the four corners of the arena simultaneously emitted creaking sounds of being unable to bear the load. A long, thin crack split at the bottom of one of the flagpoles.

The wave of Qi exploded in all directions, pushing the onlookers under the stage back several steps, and several guards with weaker cultivation were directly knocked to the ground by the wave of Qi.

Grayish-white stone powder flew all over the sky. Everyone stared with wide eyes, fixedly watching the ball of light that was slowly dissipating over the arena. Then, a figure flew backward out of the ball of light.