Chapter 210 Important Announcement, Return of the Gravity Field
Chapter 210 Important Announcement, Return of the Gravity Field
Important Announcement: Return of the Gravity Field
Honestly, I don't know how to start this, but I'll just make this short. I don't know anything about the future of this book. I want to continue writing this novel deep down, but I haven't found the time/will/ or even the energy to do so.
I have like 10 advanced chapters already written, but I don't know if I can bring myself to publish them.
However, since I wanted to get this message out, I'll publish this one.
I will try to upload every once in a while as this story was important to me, but no promises as I'll probably break them.
For readers who enjoyed this book, sorry. But thanks to following this ride, as short as it was.
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After being touched by the rune, Xue Bai didn't even have a chance to resist the pulling feeling it gave him and could only helplessly watch his own body fly a few hundred meters toward the center of the leftmost martial field.
Of course, even if he could resist the feeling, he wouldn't, as it would only serve to annoy Tian Ji. But still, having no control over your body and only being able to watch as it moved against your will was never a good feeling.
Xue Bai experienced a great number of times back on the Southern Continent, but it was from his parents. It was fine when Li Rou or Xue Feng did it, but those were his parents, people he trusted deeply. Tian Ji was just some random ancient relic he met just a day ago. How could Xue Bai trust him on the same level as his parents?
Thankfully, Tian Ji didn't have any ulterior motives and simply used the runes as magnets to pull the students toward the martial field, setting up a small tournament with them.
Along with Xue Bai, a Kun Empire student also flew toward the leftmost martial field. Xue Bai didn't recognize this student at all and could only see the man's cultivation base, which was at the 7th stage of the Qi Sea realm.
Such a cultivation base was one of the higher ones participating in the secret realm, but from what Tian Ji said earlier, it seemed that Spiritual Qi wouldn't decide this battle, but rather one's comprehension of formations.
Using formations in the middle of battle was definitely something Xue Bai had never tried before. Still, the concept was interesting, and he had read some novels with characters doing similar things, so he knew it was possible.
He just needed a bad enough whetstone to figure it out. Thankfully, he got just that.
Once everyone landed on their own respective martial fields, Tian Ji spoke up once more.
"I have unsealed your Spiritual Qi for this battle, but you may only use it to power your formations. Any use of Spiritual Qi in the manner of reinforcing the body or using martial techniques will result in an instant disqualification and ejection from my inheritance realm. Of course, if you think you can use your Spiritual Qi and have it escape under my senses, feel free to try. That is a type of strength as well."
"However, beyond those rules, there is nothing else. Battles will either be to the death or until one submits! Begin!"
Tian Ji was a man for little words, so without bothering even to give the final trial a concise set of rules, he left, leaving only his Profound Pale Sword Brush hovering in his previous position.
Back on the martial field, Xue Bai felt the seal on his dantian loosen and his connection to his Spiritual Qi return. But he ignored that feeling and instead eyed his opponent.
Still remembering what happened earlier, Xue Bai tried to initiate a conversation before the fight began.
"Hey Brother, you all looked rather shocked when Tian Ji pulled out that sword of his. What exactly is it? Is that Profound Pale Sword Brush something special?" Xue Bai asked with an amicable smile, hoping to fish some information out of his opponent before killing him.
Of his many features, one of the ones Xue Bai was most confident in was his charisma. So, even though he planned to kill this man in a minute, he still tried to act friendly beforehand.
The shock that Ji Ruxi, Lin Fu, and the other students had when they saw Tian Ji's sword was too much, and Xue Bai couldn't help but grow curious about that mysterious yet powerful sword that Tian Ji pulled out.
Even though Xue Bai wasn't paying her too much attention, he still noticed many things about Ji Ruxi. One of the main things he did notice was that she had yet to show even a bit of emotion in this entire secret realm, and yet, just at the sight of the sword, she lost all of her previous composure and let out a shocked shriek.
The Profound Pale Sword Brush had to be something extremely special in order for Ji Ruxi to let out such a reaction.
Surprisingly, though, Xue Bai's opponent didn't react much to Xue Bai's words and had an expression of half disdain and half indifference.
'Choose an expression, weirdo. Are you looking down on me, or do you not care about me?' Confused but also realizing his first sentence was rather ignorant sounding, Xue Bai wanted to ask something else.
Sadly, even before Xue Bai could speak another sentence, his opponent disregarded everything and charged at Xue Bai, engraving brush in hand, as he scribbled a simple attack formation mid-charge.
'Damn it! Have I gone rusty during my slumber?!'
Xue Bai cursed inwardly, but since his opponent had already made his move, he didn't dare dally and pulled out his Lava Spring Sword, preparing to retaliate.
When it came to affinity to Spiritual Qi, Xue Bai was most had the heighest in the entire Baishen Plane. Let alone if he were to use an engraving brush, even if he was forced to use a plunger, Xue Bai would still have an easier time engraving formation runes than the engraving brush in his opponent's hands.
So, ignoring the disdain on the charging man's face, Xue Bai tilted his sword at a downward angle and let it drag onto the floor as he dodged the incoming attack.
"Firebolt!" With a soft shout, the charging man completed his first rune and sent out half a dozen small, torso-sized balls of fire toward Xue Bai and his possible escape routes.
Like how alchemy had simple body refining liquids, not every formation was ranked on the Yellow, Black, Earth, and Heaven grade system. Some were far too easy or simple to be so. As such, these formations were usually called pseudo-formations and were generally used for apprentices trying to enter the path.
However, despite their simplicity, they had a unique feature. They didn't have an innate limit, either higher or lower. Their power, duration, and even effects were dictated by just how much Spiritual Qi was poured into them.
Of course, this wasn't foolproof.
Because of their simplicity, pseudo-formations were also extremely unstable. Without a deep foundation in formations, it was nearly impossible to make a pseudo formation more powerful than a low Yellow-grade one.
But a low Yellow-grade formation was already the limit of everyone in the secret realm, so it was enough. Coupled with just how easy it was to engrave a pseudo-formation, these types of attacks were going to be the main characters today.
Xue Bai, however, didn't even so much as frown in the face of this complex attack. Raising his unoccupied left hand, Xue Bai imbued it with his Dao of Space before slashing it into the open air in front of him.
Whoosh!
A spatial tear instantly opened in front of Xue Bai, leading into the unforgiving void. The fireball that was also blocking that possible escape route was also swallowed into the void, disappearing from sight.
This not only allowed Xue Bai to escape the small net of fireballs but also horrified the Kun Empire student.
Who wouldn't be mortified at the sight of someone literally tearing a hole through the fabric of reality with their bare hands? The only red herring for the man was that it seemed Xue Bai couldn't use that ability offensively.
Moreover, he had orders from Zhou Yi, making it impossible for him to give up on the chance to kill Xue Bai. If he managed to kill Xue Bai, he would be heavily rewarded as well, making him go mildly blind with greed.
Still once bit, twice shy. Even though greed filled his mind, the Kun Empire student remained cautious. He wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice in a row, which meant that Xue Bai was going to have to get creative.
Even more annoying was that since the attack was a formation and not a normal attack of Spiritual Qi, it stayed around. It was just now missing one fireball. This left Xue Bai with the headache of having to deal with the other fireballs.
Still, Xue Bai was more than satisfied with his handiwork. Using his Dao of Space to swallow up attacks was an extremely strong defense that Xue Bai didn't take advantage of enough.
Calm-hearted, he continued to retreat while not forgetting to scrape his sword on the ground along the way. But even while he retreated, he never forgot to make conversation.
"Brother, exchanging blows increases a bond. Why must we fight? Can't we make amends and speak? That Profound Pale Sword Brush would be an interesting thing to talk about!"
"Brother, I can't hold on anymore! Please dissipate these fireballs of yours! Aiya! It almost hit me!"
"Brother, I swear I'm not lying this time. I'm about to die here!"
Xue Bai would constantly speak, spewing out a sentence or two every minute, leaving his opponent both distracted and annoyed.
In truth, though, Xue Bai was still more than able to dodge all of the fireballs perfectly. He was only forced to act pathetic and miserable as should he not, most likely, his opponent would realize what he was doing.
Forced to act pathetic for the moment, Xue Bai bided his time and continued to dodge attacks, all the while scraping his Lava Spring Sword along the ground.
Thankfully, his plan worked eventually, albeit to a slight degree, and the Kun Empire student broke his vow of silence and stopped his attacks for a second.
"If you want to speak, stop that scrapping sound! Are you trying to annoy me to death!" The Kun Empire student roared angrily.
Xue Bai was much weaker than him, bearing almost two realms below him, in the Bone Strengthening realm, yet he had managed to dodge his attacks without so much as a drop of sweat for almost 2 minutes.
No matter how well Xue Bai acted, it wasn't hard for the Kun Empire student to see that Xue Bai was relaxed during the entire fight and wasn't 'about to die.'
Still, despite that, just the fact that Xue Bai was able to talk the entire time while also dodging his every attack by the skin of his teeth made the Kun Empire student livid.
He was so much stronger than Xue Bai, yet he couldn't even touch a hair on the kid's head! It was insulting and aggravating at the same time.
That wasn't even the worst of it, though. Throughout the entire fight, Xue Bai had not once lifted his sword off the ground. The entire fight so far was occupied by a screeching sound from Xue Bai's sword that scrapped everywhere. It was hard to concentrate on that type of sound.
However, unlike the boy's anger, Xue Bai was relieved.
'It was done.'
"But why would I? This is my trump card?" Xue Bai said with a broad smile.
Chills instantly went down the spine of the Kun Empire student once he saw the smile from Xue Bai. Sure, the smile was wide, but the eyes, the eyes, didn't match it whatsoever.
There wasn't a single bit of emotion in those eyes, let alone the amount of emotion that should match that broad of a smile.
Horrified, he tried to retreat. But without the ability to use either his Spiritual Qi or movement techniques, his escaping ability wasn't much better than Xue Bai's.
But even if he did have those, it wouldn't matter.
"Gravity Field Formation, activate."
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