Chapter 688: Break Through

Proofreader: Papatonks

[As of right now, I have three powers that I can use against the Decimating Golden Flame: azure flame, purple lightning, and Qilin Arm…]

Zhuo Fan sat cross-legged in his room, carefully pondering his strength and his enemy’s.

These three powers were on the same grade as the golden flame, while only their level differed. Purple lightning was divided into twelve heavens while the current him could unleash the 5th Heaven at best. From what he saw of the golden flame and its degree of power, he needed the purple lightning to be at the 6th Heaven at the least.

As for azure flame and Qilin Arm, he hadn’t even begun developing them.

The two sides’ advantages and disadvantages were laid before him. Ye Lin won in quality, while he won in quantity. In other words, he was a mess.

He had so many tricks on him, yet none that could measure up to that guy.

Adding to that heaven dragon soul, something the guy was adept at using compared to him, made it, so all his trump cards were useless.

[Not even dumb luck could give me a win at this point!]

This analysis only showed his downsides, while he did have something going for him. It was something Ye Lin had no way of having.

Ye Lin’s methods were too specialized, all coming from the dragon ancestor.

[My methods are all random and flexible, not something every expert can handle, but with how resourceful they are, most fights are won. Mixing all these random skills will unleash a most unstoppable and unpredictable skill!]

Zhuo Fan sighed. He and the master he never saw, Nine Serenities Emperor, were very similar. The Nine Serenities Secret Records contained others’ ultimate skills, with none of them coming from Nine Serenities Emperor himself. His sole creation was Demon Transformation Art, which he never got to train with.

Even so, he was an expert in stealing others’ skills, becoming one of the three strongest emperors. Wasn’t this the same situation he was in?

A jack of all trades.

However, following in his master’s footsteps, he believed that combining all these ultimate skills would be more than enough to face Ye Lin’s orthodox dragon soul.

[Even a mixed bag like us can stand tall!]

[Wait, aren’t I going too far with this? Though I’ve never received orthodox teachings in all my lives, that doesn’t mean I should go about calling myself a mixed bag. There’s no self-respect in it…]

(StarReader: the word here has a variety of meanings like mixed breed, bastard, halfbreed, sob)

Face twitching, Zhuo Fan immediately abolished the thought of being a mixed bag of tricks. He calmed down and directed his senses inward to combine all he knew.

In Zhuo Fan’s mind, the huge dragon had its eyes closed, as a rainbow of colors washed over its scales. But then the light began to fade as a mote of azure fire appeared on the dragon’s forehead. Moments later, a purple flash streaked its body, crackling.

Next came several red glows over the dragon’s body. Sometimes, there was even something black crawling all over it, soon engulfing it.

In this way, Zhuo Fan explored how to use his heaven dragon soul best…

At the same time, Ye Lin was also cross-legged in the Ultimate Clarity Sect’s courtyard as the heat gathering around him grew stronger and stronger.

In his mind, a golden sea of fire was traversed by a huge dragon with fiery and savage eyes.

“Humph, a dragon is a most savage creature, hard and strong. No one in the world knows more about them than master. A heaven dragon soul is not a match to my Decimating Golden Flame to unleash its full potential. Zhuo Fan, your heaven dragon soul, can only show around twenty percent of its power. You’ll see I’m right!”

With an evil grin, Ye Lin muttered to himself, filled with confidence. He could practically see himself winning this fight.

Outside, Wu Qingqiu passed by his door and shook his head as he looked at the shut door.

Next to him was another Ultimate Clarity Sect disciple filled with curiosity. “Junior brother is always laid back. Why does he go for seclusion all of a sudden? Has the world gone crazy?”

“Ha-ha-ha, that’s what happens when he meets his fated adversary. I’d be the same if I were him.” Wu Qingqiu chuckled and said, “Let’s go and not disturb him. Three days later, the battle will be more important than us. If we annoy him, he will be so pissed he’ll take it out on you.”

The other guy was taken aback and rushed after Wu Qingqiu thinking of Ye Lin’s terrible power, “If we do disturb him, why would he take it out on me?”

“Why else? I am his senior brother and also his friend, ha-ha-ha…” Wu Qingqiu laughed like it was natural. Then the disciple shook his head with a bitter smile.

[This little monster only cares about his senior brother…]

Meanwhile, in the Universal Righteous Sect, Zhao Dezhu was getting ready for the challenge stage three days from now, “Juniors, three days from now, Sword God Sect’s strongest ten members have taken heavy soul damage. They are of no threat. The crux is Demon Scheming Sect, Zhuo Fan in particular. Everything will be in our grasp if we defeat this monster!”

“But senior brother, he has the heaven dragon soul as the exalted do. Does senior brother have a marvelous plan to thwart this headache?” One disciple complained.

Zhao Dezhu frowned and suddenly said, “Relax, I already have a plan in mind. The heaven dragon soul is amazing, but just a beast soul. Even if he is freakish, he is all alone, and we can capture it. I plan on using the Soul Chain Array to lock it in place.”

“The Soul Chain Array?!”

Everyone cried out in shock, looking around at each other with difficulty.,

One disciple was nervous, “Senior brother, the Soul Chain Array can restrain monsters, but it will put our lives at risk, using our souls as chains. One wrong move and he will break out of the array, destroying our souls in the process. This is not a fight to the death. We can’t…”

“Coward!”

However, Zhao Dezhu glared and cursed the speaker, “Humph, have you all forgotten who we are? We are Universal Righteous Sect’s disciples. At a time when the Ultimate Clarity Sect and other righteous sects do not abide by justice and are in cahoots with the demon, we alone value righteousness. It falls unto us alone to keep it. If we don’t stop Demon Scheming Sect right here, something unimaginably disastrous will happen!”

“Western lands’ superior-three sects will have two belonging to demons. Heavens above, this is the demons’ plan to subjugate the western lands. How could we let that happen?”

Zhao Dezhu spoke with fervor and zeal, reprimanding the disciples with righteous fury. The disciple who spoke hung his head, “But even if we risk our lives, can we block him still?”

“Yes. Haven’t I told you evil can never win over good? As long as I, Zhao Dezhu, am standing, we will grasp victory!” Flaying his fists around, Zhao Dezhu’s straight face inspired the confidence of victory.

As if his attitude was infectious, the other disciples raised their fists and shouted, “Righteousness we shall prevail! Good will win!”

The thundering roar grew louder as it filled them with a passionate thirst for battle…

Like this, every sect made their preparation for the last stage. Some to keep their status, some to take others’ status.

And some just for the thrill of battle!

Creak~

Three days later, Zhuo Fan came out of his room before the solemn faces of his team. His eyes were sharp, his aura strong, and it even revealed he had entered the 4th layer of Radiant Stage.

However, although it was just one layer, Zhuo Fan’s eyes left everyone gaping.

They were blacker than ever before, brimming with unspeakable power, ready to swallow everything.

“Zhuo Fan, are you alright?”

Frowning, Fiend Yang gave him a deep look, not recognizing him at all. In just three days, Zhuo Fan’s entire aura had changed. It was as if he had been transformed.

Zhuo Fan’s looked himself up and down and looked at them oddly. “What, aren’t I the same?”

In that instant, Zhuo Fan’s aura reverted to normal and caused them to pause. They were still phased out, unable to determine if what they saw really happened or not.

[Why was it that we felt such danger coming from Steward Zhuo? It’s like he wanted to destroy everything.]

Fiend Yang probed, “Uh, Zhuo Fan, just what did you do in there? Are you confident of winning against Ye Lin?”

“I’m still not sure.”

Zhuo Fan frowned and shook his head, “In these three days, I have combed through all the skills I knew and found some flexible enough to fight Ye Lin with. I just don’t know if they’ll be enough. And there are some among them that I’m not too clear on their effects. I’ll need more time to think before I know more.”

Fiend Yang’s eyelid twitched as he stared down hard, “If you succeed, that will be the day you’ll be even more frightening, far more than Ye Lin. I am sure of it.”

Zhuo Fan blinked doubtfully, only to see Fiend Yang smile and wave him off, “It’s just a hunch of mine. Don’t mind it. The superior-three sects’ challenge stage is about to begin. Let’s go.”

“Let’s!”

Zhuo Fan did not press Fiend Yang for answers, taking the lead of the team as they walked, filled with more power than ever. He did not realize that the gazes on him were not just of amazement but fear.

He never noticed how his teammates looked at him with nothing but dread the minute he came out.

[That was no illusion!]

Zhuo Fan went through great changes once more…