Clash of Five Elements Spells

"Dao Seeking Sect, Lu Yang." "Five Elements Sect, Bai Ming." Bai Ming was on high alert. He noticed the shift in his master's expression on the spectator stands, yet his master had not stepped in to stop the match. This meant that while the Lu Yang before him defied common sense, he had not broken any rules or cheated. That made things truly terrifying. *Whoosh—* The piercing whistle of a spear tearing through the air heralded the start of the battle. Bai Ming held a silver spear that gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight. He took the initiative and struck at Lu Yang. Lu Yang remained composed, shifting half a step to the right. The Green Blade Sword scraped along the spear's shaft, sending sparks flying in all directions. Without losing its momentum, the Green Blade Sword slid down the shaft toward Bai Ming's hands. Bai Ming flicked his wrist, sending a vibration rippling through the spear that knocked aside the sword's path. Sword light fell like rain, merging into a rolling river that surged endlessly. The spear was fierce and mighty, moving in broad, sweeping arcs. Bai Ming showed no fear of Lu Yang's swordsmanship, choosing to meet force with force. Sword and spear clashed, fortunes hanging on the blink of an eye in a dazzling blur. The Five Elements Sect disciples watched in shock; none of them had ever seen anyone at the same cultivation stage fight Senior Brother Bai Ming to a standstill in armed combat. "A standstill?" Meng Jingzhou sneered upon overhearing this. From beginning to end, Lu Yang had only responded with the most basic sword stances. The transitions between those basic moves were simply so seamless that the Foundation Establishment disciples of the Five Elements Sect failed to see through them. Meng Jingzhou knew better than anyone how formidable Lu Yang's sword skills were. Up to this moment, Lu Yang had not even employed a real sword technique. Lu Yang rarely drew his sword, but that did not mean his swordplay was weak. As the possessor of a Sword Spiritual Root, how could his swordsmanship possibly be lacking? Tao Yao gazed intently at Lu Yang on the stage, her thoughts turning to a different matter. She had been by his side when Lu Yang studied the *Tree Planting Art*. She clearly remembered that the maximum distance between Lu Yang and his plant-person clone was supposed to be only twenty meters. Yet the distance between the Lu Yang on the spectator stands and the Lu Yang down on the Martial Arts Square was visibly far greater than twenty meters. What Tao Yao did not know was that after defeating the tiger demon, Lu Yang had acquired a spell meant for commanding ghost servants. Once he mastered it, however, it had morphed into the Soul Projection Art. After acquiring the Bodhi tree clone, Lu Yang had projected his soul out of his flesh and into the plant person, completely freeing him from distance constraints between his original body and the clone. In other words, Lu Yang's soul was currently on the Martial Arts Square, while the Lu Yang on the spectator stands was being entirely controlled by the Immortal Fairy. Down on the Martial Arts Square, Lu Yang seized an opening. Flipping through the air, his body spun mid-descent as he raised his right leg high, concentrating his full strength into his right foot. He stomped down squarely on the tip of the silver spear. Bai Ming tried to wrench the weapon free, but Lu Yang's weight bore down like a mountain, pinning the spear firmly in place. The Green Blade Sword traced an arc through the air, breaking the sound barrier as it thrust straight toward Bai Ming! Cries of alarm erupted below the stage, but several Five Elements Sect disciples quickly regained their composure and said calmly, "Don't panic! Don't forget that Senior Brother Bai Ming's true strength lies in Five Elements spells. His spear technique is just a diversion to fool the eye!" Bai Ming let go of the spear and swiftly retreated. Forming a hand seal with one hand, he caused an earthen serpent to surge and coil up from the ground. The Martial Arts Square was not paved with stone slabs, but formed mainly from a special yellow soil stabilized by spell arrays. "It's the Earth Dragon of the Five Elements spells!" Five Elements Sect's Long Xiang cried out in surprise. The form of a dragon carried a special significance in the cultivation world. At his current stage, Bai Ming could not yet shape earth into a true dragon, only into a massive earthen serpent. Even so, effortlessly summoning such a serpent was beyond the reach of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators! Lu Yang acted as though he saw nothing. He softly uttered two words and stepped straight through the earthen serpent. "Shrinking the Earth." Bai Ming's pupils contracted. What spell was that? A Five Elements spell? He had never expected Lu Yang to know Five Elements spells, let alone the Earth Escaping Art, one of the most notoriously difficult spells among them! Even he had only scratched the surface of the Earth Escaping Art and had not truly mastered it! Could this man's talent for spells surpass his own?! How could that be? He was born with the Five Elements Immortal Physique, just like the founder of the Five Elements Sect! He was naturally attuned to the principles of all five elements! Watching this, Qiu Jin'an could not help but be visibly moved. "No, that wasn't the Earth Escaping Art!" No one knew the repertoire of Five Elements spells and how they were cast better than he did. The technique Lu Yang had just performed did not match any of them. Another brand-new spell?! "How was this created?" Qiu Jin'an turned his head and asked the Immortal Fairy. The Immortal Fairy answered expressionlessly, "He picked it up while learning Shrinking the Earth to Inches." "Huh?" Qiu Jin'an's mind failed to make the connection. Did those two spells have anything to do with each other? On the stage, the momentum shifted once more. Bai Ming switched from defense to offense, pinching an incantation seal as the grim, killing qi of Geng-metal coalesced across the ring. Dozens of small flying daggers drifted out from his robes, moving entirely at his command. "It's the Metal Manipulation Technique!" Five Elements Sect's Fang Hao called out the name of the spell. The Metal Manipulation Technique allowed a cultivator to manipulate any metallic material. If trained to a profound level, it could even seize control of an opponent's magical artifacts, making it exceptionally terrifying. At present, Bai Ming could only control his own treasures. It resembled the Telekinesis Art, but was tailored specifically for combat. Dozens of small daggers turned into lethal instruments of death, swarming from all directions and aiming for Lu Yang's vital spots! Faced with an unavoidable barrage, Lu Yang took out a Golden Light Talisman and slapped it onto his chest. His body erupted with brilliant light, forming a protective golden barrier around him. This was the Golden Light Talisman Lu Yang had bought when Dai Bufan rewarded him with three thousand contribution points after returning to the Dao Seeking Sect from Yanjiang Commandery. The daggers struck the surface of Lu Yang's body and ricocheted off immediately. Bai Ming sneered. "Hah! A mere talisman. It has a limit on uses and duration—nothing more than a petty trick. How many times can you block?" Hearing this, Lu Yang peeled off the Golden Light Talisman. Bai Ming continued to sneer. "Given up on resisting—" Lu Yang slapped the talisman back on, and brilliant golden light exploded from his body. Then he peeled it off and slapped it on again, repeating the cycle. The alternating bursts of radiant light flashed with such extreme contrast that they nearly blinded Bai Ming. Bai Ming had never imagined a Golden Light Talisman could be used like this. Having never encountered such a situation, his eyelids instinctively tried to shut. Realizing that closing his eyes now would leave him vulnerable to Lu Yang's assault, he fought his bodily reflexes and kept his eyes squinted halfway open. In the split second Bai Ming was struggling against his instincts, Lu Yang burrowed into the ground and burst out right beneath Bai Ming's feet. A fist packed with gathered power smashed squarely into Bai Ming's jaw, knocking out a tooth! "Golden Crow Flame!" Bai Ming unleashed his strongest attack, aiming to settle the match in a single strike. Scarlet-gold flames raged out, accompanied by the faint cry of a Golden Crow echoing from within. The searing heat caused the temperature across the entire Martial Arts Square to spike by more than twenty degrees in an instant, and even the spectators below could feel the scorching wave washing over their faces! The one in the audience who reacted most intensely to the Golden Crow Flame was Long Xiang, who possessed a Water Spiritual Root. Water and fire had been incompatible since antiquity; the appearance of the Golden Crow Flame pressed down on him heavily, causing the circulation of spiritual energy in his body to grow sluggish. "Is this the Golden Crow Flame that cemented Senior Brother Bai's title as the foremost cultivator of the Foundation Establishment stage? It truly is formidable!" "I heard the Sect Master mention that Senior Brother Bai's Golden Crow Flame is currently transforming into a higher-tier True Sunfire. Once Senior Brother Bai forms his core, the Golden Crow Flame will smoothly evolve into True Sunfire. Possessing true fire right upon entering the Golden Core stage—that's simply terrifying!" Long Xiang glanced sideways and noticed that Li Haoran, who possessed a Fire Spiritual Root, did not look worried for Lu Yang in the slightest. This surprised him; as someone with a Fire Spiritual Root, Li Haoran should have understood the horror of the Golden Crow Flame better than anyone. "Aren't you worried about Lu Yang?" Li Haoran smiled and answered obliquely, "Senior Brother Lu once commissioned me to craft a flying car. The two of us worked together for three days and finally achieved some results." "Throughout the crafting process, Senior Brother Lu was always responsible for providing the flame. Do you know what kind of fire that was?" "What fire?" "Samadhi True Fire." On the Martial Arts Square, an abrupt sense of foreboding welled up inside Bai Ming despite his certainty of victory. But the Golden Crow Flame blocked his line of sight, preventing him from seeing Lu Yang's movements clearly. Suddenly, Bai Ming's face turned pale. From Lu Yang's direction, he felt an even more violent and domineering flame radiating outward. This feeling... was true fire!