H. Chapter 16
“He is Cao Zhongcheng, a disciple of the Martial Hall from Phoenix Jade Palace. Often regarded as one of the most talented disciples in the history of the Martial Hall. Cao Zhongcheng may not resort to any devious tricks, but facing him alone will be time consuming and energy draining. Avoid him.” Lan Yue mentioned to Qin Jia about a black robed muscular youth who had just arrived.
She notified Qin Jia about the strong cultivators that would obstruct them.
“Those fruits are about to ripe. We will be fighting tomorrow. Everyone, take a good rest tonight, from tomorrow we might not have any break.” Lan Yue instructed her team.
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As the fruits began to ripen, a formation was activated. The Bitter Wind Formation created a barrier that surrounded the Blazing Parasol tree. The air inside the barrier was controlled. This formation alone could help a single group to control the flames on the tree and make it easier to pick the Flame Baby Fruits. But the main usage of this bitter wind formation was not going to be used on this day because of the agreement between the sects.
Many cultivators from different groups held storage bags and flew into the air, and when they reached their assigned positions, they started pouring the pollen dust of the Star Yin flower. The people outside could see the inside of the transparent barrier enveloped in silver dust, they sparkled under the sunshine.
Formation masters controlled the Bitter Wind Formation and wrapped the tree with the Star Yin flower’s pollen dust, only the Flame Baby fruits could be seen.
“Beautiful! What a sight to behold.” A voice, amplified by Qi, rang out to the cultivators. Many of them turned to look towards the source of the voice.
“Yao Xiong.” Lan Yue murmured in dissatisfaction upon hearing the voice. She didn’t turn to look at him.
A young man in purple robe could be seen flying with his followers towards the gathering location. He was smiling, while his entire attention was on the Blazing Parasol tree. If there was a way, he might have transplanted the silver tree on his mountain.
“Huh, what a loss.” Yao Xiong sighed, expressing disappointment.
“Greetings.” Yao Xiong greeted the bustling crowd without bowing his head. He knew that he was the strongest among this bunch of cultivators.
Yao Xiong crossed the cultivators and arrived at the forefront of the groups. He asked a formation master from his sect, “Can we pick the fruits now?”
“Yes, young master Yao.” One of the formation masters replied as he bowed his head.
No cultivator objected when Yao Xiong had just arrived and crossed them to take the lead. Even the honourable formation master, who hold a high position in the sect, bowed to him.
Yao Xiong is the head disciple of the Thunder Phoenix Hall. He is one of the high ranking Core disciple of Phoenix Jade Palace. His reputation is spread beyond the territory of the Phoenix Jade Palace. Many cultivators in this gathering fought with him, and most of them had lost to him in the battle.
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“Who is he?” Qin Jia asked Lan Yue. He felt the formidable strength of Yao Xiong when he noticed the strong Qi in his voice and turned more cautious.
“Avoid him, he is a rare thunder element cultivator with a huge volume of Qi. If you had to confront him, retreat instead of picking that fruit. There are many Flame Baby fruits, you can choose other fruits. The fruits are more important than a fight with him.” Lan Yue warned against Yao Xiong. She had seen the battles of Yao Xiong and noticed the decisive and domineering actions of him. A fight with him while picking the fruits might be an arduous task.
“I will try to avoid fighting him.” Qin Jia agreed with her. For him, the fruits are a great treasure that can improve his cultivation. He will decide to avoid battles if they are unfavourable for his goals.
With Yao Xiong taking the first step into the barrier, the remaining cultivators entered the barrier one after another.
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Qin Jia and two True Qi realm cultivators floated near the tree while keeping a distance of 20 metres. The Qi Transformation realm junior brothers divide into two teams and flew towards the fruits they were assigned.
When one team picked a ripened fruit, they were attacked by cultivators from another sect. One of them defend by condensing a shield from wind. The wind removed the pollen dust from the tree, and flames burst from its branch. His companion controlled the flames for an instance and altered its direction towards the attackers. The fire cultivator carried the box with the fruit and accelerated towards one of the True Qi realm cultivators.
A companion of the attackers, a True Qi realm cultivator, attacked Lan Yue’s team. Qin Jia took a step forward, unsheathed his sword and confronted the attacker.
Hundreds of drops of flames circled around him. As Qin Jia’s sword sliced through the air, his opponent’s fist unleashed pointed branches at him and confronted the sword strike.
The sword strike cut many of the branches overflowing from the fist of the opponent.
The drops of Flame rained on the branches and the opponent's face.
Qin Jia aggressively followed with a series of sword strikes. The opponent cried in pain from and burn and immediately covered his body with the wooden branches, and defended the sword strikes with the branches.
Burning wood chunks were chipped from his body, while the opponent rapidly grew a new wooden armour to replace them.
“Gah!” The opponent shouted when a sword strike sliced his shoulder.
“Argh!” Qin Jia sliced a second time on his shoulder, the sword cut through both the shoulder bones and ribs of the opponent.
The opponent exploded the front of his armour and seized the moment Qin Jia was troubled to escape.
He retreated to a distance while gritting his teeth to hold back the pain. When he stopped at a safe distance, he looked at his injury. A big, deep cut overflowing with blood could be seen from the top of his shoulder onto his heart. The opponent stopped the bleeding with True Qi and looked at Qin Jia with hatred.
“I won’t hold back a second time.” Qin Jia warned him.