Chapter 52: Boom!

Spear thrust forth, thick globs of blue water dancing around its blade. One mistake and and a spear would skewer his heart in an instant. Afanzo's face appeared grim to Bai Yunru's eyes. He saw a devilish smirk lift the corners of Afanzo's lips. For a moment his mind went blank, unsure of which action to take. Dragging his sword to block the strike would be meaningless. Earlier he already lost out in strength to the man. His body was already in a vulnerable position, the amount of physical force that could gush out of it now was meaningless.

Igniting his qi would waste precious time, leaving only one option. And option he set up earlier in case things went south. And now they did. He snapped his fingers. Four lotus petals appeared out of nowhere, wrapped in black light. He pressed the index and middle finger of his right and left hand together. In an instant the four petals formed a four corner formation around Afanzo. Just as the tip of his spear pierced through Bai Yunru's heart, the four petals pulsed, freezing the air around Afonzo instantly. Ice spread from the four corners, freezing Afonzo in it.

Bai Yunru capitalised on that moment, guiding large amounts of sword qi from his Mindscape into Pale Emotions. Another Core Cultivation Technique that Bai Yunru learned and used was known as the Frozen-Time Sword Scripture. A Sword Technique lauded as one of the too hundred techniques to grace the Myriad Realms since it began its existence in the first dawn of all existence. Frozen Time Sword Scripture erupted with unimaginable strength when paired with the Chaos Black Ice Scripture.

Blue haze covered his eyes when his Sword Intent graced the physical world. All swords within the vicinity shivered with excitement at the arrival of their king. Those that held onto swords felt stinging pain cut through their palms as their trusted swords rebelled for the first time.

Bai Yunru's own aura shifted. No longer was it inexplicably cold. Now it was sharp, like an erudite Scholar that spent countless time in books sharpening his own mind. The cold didn't disappear completely. Some of it was left, lingering in his being, amplifying the sword's natural intent.

Normal cultivation techniques often required a chant to amplify its power several fold. But those that tredded on the path ofthe sword needed no acceptance from the Heavens to amplify their power. True freedom danced at the tip of their swords. All they ever had to believe in was one thing! Their heart.

As a three in a trillion genius of the sword, Bai Yunru embarked on the true path of the sword before he gained the qualifications. That had its own risks, but the power he held now was all worth it. Ice cold dew dribbled on the tip of his sword.

He flicked the dew.

The dew disappeared.

Time froze.

Countless slashes appeared on the block of ice that Afanzo was trapped in.

Time resumed.

Blood spurred in all directions. Limbs flew everywhere. Even peace of teeth rained from the skies.

Bai Yunru sheathed his blade. No longer feeling Afanzo's Aura. He huffed and puffed, his entire hand trembling from the massive exertion of energy.

"Was I wrong?" Tang Pengfei asked.

His senses couldn't pick up Afanzo's aura after Bai Yunru used his sword techniques. He found it odd that his analysis was incorrect. That made little sense to him. The man still hadn't used the Golden Qi to its fullest extent no did he perform any arts worthy of someone that claimed to set a trap for them. Was he just over estimating him?

"Brother Bai did it! I knew he would!" Kun Hui leapt up from his seat and started throwing a round of applause. The others joined him, a little miffed that things went the opposite direction they wanted. They smiled and acted happy too. They would have preferred he lose, that way they would have less competition.

Some of them knew the faint history surrounding Long Wei and Bai Yunru. And seeing how casua Long Wei was around Bai Yunru, they understood that the pair was still close. Fighting against both Long Wei and Bai Yunru would be an impossibility, especially if they wanted to gain anything substantial from the Temple.

"If only things were so simple," Long Wei rested his elbow on the arm of his little throne, and cupped his chin.

Silver layered his deep black eyes as he gazed at the air space Bai Yunru fought Afanzo. The others only saw Long Wei's mesmerising black eyes. Long Wei saw an extremely thin black aura around Afanzo, one so thin that shocked him. It was thin in length but thick in width, normally those worked hand in hand. The thicker ones aura, the larger it was. But this was an odd juxtaposition. The only cause for this he thought, was that something was eating and gifting him life force constantly, but now it was eating more than it was giving.

Afanzo wasn't dead as most thought. Rather the golden qi wrapped around him just before the ice froze him to death and hid him in a makeshift pocket space. Long Wei saw all that unfold before his eyes.

"And Boom!" Long Wei scrunched up his fingers and spread them out, mimicking an explosion.

Everyone turned to face him, but their attention turned towards Bai Yunru when the heard a massive explosion of qi spread from that direction.

Bai Yunru tumbled through the air, the explosion of qi caught him off guard. He didn't expect something like that to come out of the blue. He tried bringing his qi to block off the attack, but that failed miserably. Cold Water Qi invaded his meridians, attempting to hijack his control over his own qi.

Afanzo's figure appeared a few metres from Bai Yunru, in perfect condition. Not a single scratch found its way on his body, confusing those that saw Bai Yunru's Vicious strike.