The Favored Son of Heaven

Chapter 422: The Great Battle on the Blade Tips

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Mountain of Blades was one of the most unique arenas of Sacred Martial Hall. Many martial artists who had been at the Sacred Martial Hall for many years had not even realized that there was such a thing here.

Usually, Mountain of Blade was only ever used once every few years. This was also the reason why many martial artists were ignorant of its existence.

Only when Qin Fen was standing before the Mountain of Blades, which was a thousand meter in diameter, did he discover that this arena was completely made of knives. Perhaps there were a thousand knives, or maybe even tens of thousands.

When the young martial artists who had followed them here gazed at the quiet and serene Mountain of Blades, all of them drew a breath of cold air almost at the same time so forcefully they felt their lungs go cold.

Tens of thousands of gleaming sabers quietly stood erect, forming a chill that stabbed straight into everyone’s soul.

No one needed to stand on this special ring, just a glance from the distance was enough for everyone to feel the chilling sensation in those blades.

Gazing at the Mountain of Blades before their eyes, some relatively strong martial artists even seemed to be hallucinating under its influence.

As far as they were concerned, those blades were alive! They seemed to be cheering in excitement, eager for a fierce battle to take place on them.

Martial Madman took off his shoes and lightly jumped ahead, standing on the sharp tip of the blades.

Much to everyone’s surprise, there wasn’t even a single trace of aura from his body between this jump and his landing. His movement was so peaceful. But when Qin Fen saw it, it was like a sword thrusting at him.

Caesar and the others also knit their brows together. The movement technique used by the Martial Madman may seem ordinary but they could still recognize that it was a movement technique with tiger form.

Whenever a tiger made a move, it was always domineering. But Martial Madman didn’t seem even a bit domineering. On the contrary, he displayed another kind of tiger.

Calmness; the calmness of the tiger, the king of all the beast kings no matter what enemy it was facing.

The calm before the attack and the aggression during the attack, both of showed the spirit of the king of the jungle.

Qin Fen had sparred with many martial arts using similar tiger form martial arts since he had started practicing martial arts, but none of them could be compared with the Martial Madman before him.

Most of the people who had practiced tiger forms could only practice the skin of the tiger. Very few could truly practice the spirit of the tiger.

This Martial Madman had not only practiced the tiger spirit but he had also practiced the tiger bones! The moment he stepped to make the long jump, Qin Fen clearly saw Martial Madman – Nash’s spine moving up and down just like the back of a tiger.

When drawing a painting of a tiger, it was hard to draw bones while drawing its skin!

The same was true of practicing martial arts as well! Many people’s tiger claw had been practiced to the extent that it was so hard that it was impossible to depress it, but it was truly difficult to practice a tiger’s spine.

Humans were the only creatures on earth who could stand and walk on two legs. And also because of this, the human spine was the worst of all spinal organisms on earth; it was the only one that could get the cervical spondylosis.

The creator gave felines the best spine in the world. The impact force they could bear was several times more a human spine could, even tens or hundreds of times more.

The current Martial Madman seemed like a tiger in human skin to Qin Fen.

Standing in the crowd, Asura – Fennghua Danyun nodded, again and again. This jump and landing indeed have the might of a tiger.

Having learned from Martial Madman, Qin Fen gently took off his shoes and jumped on the blade tips which could easily slice the human body.

Standing barefoot on the blade tips did not garner praises from the young martial artists. Even those sword maidens of the State of Korea and very old stuntmen could easily do this. This should be nothing to the young martial artists who could enter the Sacred Martial Hall.

The young martial artists knew that the real test would only come when both sides really started fighting.

Both sides were fifteen-star martial artists; the impact from every move they make would quake the ground and blow off dust constantly if they were on the ground.

Whereas on the Mountain of Blades, the one bearing the brunt were the blade tips, which was completely different from standing still on a flat surface.

At the sight of Qin Fen jumping on the blade tips, an indifferent smile flickered in Nash’s red eyes. “Dragons are just a figment of imaginations. Instead of pursuing something illusionary, why not pursue a real king. Chasing something fake will turn people into a fake. And naturally, their martial dao would also become even faker.”

The young people nodded in agreement subconsciously when they heard Nash’s words. For a moment, they felt that the cultivation of their martial art had advanced after having heard these few words.

Qin Fen felt a chill coming from the blade tips under his feet and he grew inexplicably excited. “The reason mankind has developed so far is that we have been pursuing those illusionary and imaginary things. If we only pursued real and existing things, our society would still be in its primitive state. How would have it been so prosperous? If there are no dragons in the world, then I will become a dragon, then naturally, there will be a true dragon in this world.”

Comparing himself with the true dragon!? The young martial artists were stupified. These words were utterly aggravating but when they came from Qin Fen’s mouth, everyone felt that what he said was very reasonable, not as ridiculous as it sounded.

Nash’s eyes flickered with a fierce gleam. At this moment, he was completely sure that this half junior brother of his was indeed eligible to compete with him; indeed had the qualifications to compete with him for the title of a future divine beast.

Divine beast: never had been there any precedent of two titles at once! At the Great Ensemble, other divine beast martial artists would never accept the runner-up as a divine beast, never ever.

A divine beast was invincible! What qualification and face would someone who had been defeated at the Great Ensemble hold to win the title of a divine beast?

I must win! Nash’s red eyes flickered with a cold gleam, his hair fluttering without any wind!

At this moment, whether it was Martial Madman’s opponent, Qin Fen, or the young martial artists in the audience, they could hear the changes is Nash’s body.

Ba-dump... ba-dump...

His heart was pumping blood with such a pressure that the sound of blood flowing in the veins, sounding like a billowing river, was heard by everyone.

War drums-like heartbeat and river-like blood flow! A magnificent aura like the ancient Battle of Red Cliffs 1 slowly emanated from Martial Madman, resonating with the sharp metallic aura of the tens of thousands of blades, his aura of power continued to climb more and more!

Suddenly, the Martial Madman was so vigorous before the battle that his eyes were glowing with red gleams repeatedly; apparently, he had decided to fight with everything he had. Even after having reached such a level, if both sides still decided to stay their hands, then it would be a lot better to simply go to the virtual battle net and fight with everything they got, putting the fear of death aside.

The reason why Mountain of Blades was chosen as the battlefield was to incorporate the atmosphere of life and death into their blood and bones instead of treating it like a game.

There was no hatred between the two but both of them wanted to catch a glimpse of the higher-level martial dao, so, they had no choice but to resort to cruelty.

As for the slogan friendship first and competition second... it had already come to an end with the collapse of the organization called the Official Sports Commission.

Qin Fen felt the aura of power of the opposite party sweeping by like it would split the heaven asunder and crack the earth apart the moment Martial Madman burst forth with sudden aggression.

The person standing before him was no longer resembled a human but a real tiger!

That kind of oppression had no form but had a weight behind it. Qin Fen had a feeling that a speeding tank was charging straight at him.

“Nash, thank you from bringing me here to fight on the blade tips.”

In this instance, Qin Fen’s spirit had completely locked on to the Martial Madman; the entire world around him turned black and white, as if it was in a different time and space. The only thing remaining his world was the most outstanding martial artist in the younger generation who was nicknamed the Martial Madman in the Sacred Martial Hall.

The fight was about to start! Qin Fen’s body was like Wu Zun’s that day. His figure suddenly shook as his every joint, every bone, and even every strand of muscle drew a circle!

The instant his body drew the circle with this shake, all his power was also condensed into a rope!

All of a sudden, Qin Fen’s bones and tendons screamed in unison again and again as if the strings of strong bows were drawn one after another, and had then been broken forcefully by someone.

Explosive sounds rang from bottom to top, again and again.

Toes, ankles, knees, tailbone, lumbar spine, sternum, spine, shoulders... all the joints in Qin Fen’s body were screaming, not a single bone was spared!

With each shake and swaying, all of Qin Fen’s bones and tendons were screaming in unison! The air around him whistled as a visible whirlwind was formed!

His pre-war momentum was not a bit inferior to Martial Madman’s sudden eruption! The younger martial artists who were closer to the ring subconsciously retreated, as if they were forced to retreat by this aura of power the moment the momentum of both sides clashed with each other.

A large group of the younger martial artists was shocked. How can Qin Fen’s strength reach to this extent just after going through the special training for just half a year? Even when the Martial Madman underwent the special training that year, his growth wasn’t as great as Qin Fen’s.

Zeus, an American recruit minging in the crowd, stared Qin Fen on the Mountain of Blades blankly. “It turned out that he had not displayed his true strength when he had fought on the frozen lake. Is here really the same Qin Fen who had to devise all kinds of plans to defeat everyone in the recruit tournament? Half a year... in just half a year, he has actually made such a leap?”

Zeus gulped as he subconsciously glanced at Caesar and the others by the ring; the only people among the younger martial artists who were not forced to retreat by the clash of Qin Fen and Martial Madman’s aura of power. The still looked very calm, as if they were not affected that powerful oppression at all.

“Even them...”

Zeus’ eyes flickered with slight despair. Back then, the Young Dragon King – Yang Lie was pretty good but Zeus was still on par with him. He had entered the Sacred Martial Hall long before Yang Lie. Furthermore, he had directly joined the Inner Sacred Martial Hall in order to pursue the ultimate martial dao and get the best conditions and environment. He took pride in being a nine-star martial artist.

Originally, he thought when he saw Yang Lie and the others again, he could stand proudly in front of them and tell them he was stronger than them. He did not expect that he would be thrown so far back since their last meeting.

Over the past six months, Zeus had desperately tried to close the gap between both sides as soon as possible. But he did not expect that the next time he saw them again, not only would Qin Fen have left him behind but even Yang Lie and others would have pulled a bigger gap between them.

A sense of despair rose in Zeus’ heart. “Qin Fen’s every action is actually so majestic, it seems it is impossible to surpass him in this life.”

Standing not too far away from Zeus, Alice, the African beauty who had once participated in the recruit tournament, had her beautiful eyes flicker with inexplicable confusion and surprise. “Qin Fen is so strong, I’m afraid many mobile armors can’t even hurt him! No wonder martial arts has become mainstream of the Federation today. Compared to the huge mobile armors, martial artists of this level can come and go more like a shadow to seize every chance and opportunity. God knows how many mobile armors and missiles are needed to kill the current Qin Fen. Maybe the Vulcan Cannon M134 can still penetrate his body? I’m afraid ordinary firearms can’t even wound him unless they hit his eyes or other vital organs!?”

The initial forms of Qin Fen’s Dragon Soaring into the Sky showed its strength in the blink of an eye. Martial Madman’s red eyes flickered with a bit of seriousness at the sight of this.

The moment the initial forms and accumulating forms reached their peaks, Qin Fen mixed everyone’s surprise with his own aura of power, forming a thick and unparalleled momentum. Owing to which, the steel sabers under his feet gave off metallic screeches as blade fragments splashed about, charging straight at Martial Madman with the momentum of sweeping everything in their path.

Dragon Cannon!

Martial Madman had once received Yang Lie’s Dragon Cannon single-handedly! And today, it had reappeared in Qin Fen’s hand.

But the power of the same Dragon Cannon was completely different.

Besides the might of the two Dragon Cannon, the spirit impression in the punches was different as well! This was the boxing technique created by Qin Fen himself; it had the essence of his personality, life experience, and understanding of martial dao. Only he could play out the true essence of Dragon Cannon!

Once he blasted the Dragon Cannon, it was like a minefield had detonated.

If Qin Fen’s Dragon Soaring into the Sky was a stong bow in an ancient battlefield, then this Dragon Cannon represented the mine in the modern battlefield! The sound from the air blast gave the impression that Qin Fen was charging through the minefield.

Before the wind from the punch had risen, the fist intent had arrived! Martial Madman’s each and every strand of muscles squirmed as they were stimulated by this fist intent. His eyes flickered with a bright gleam over and over again. T his Dragon Cannon isn’t ten-star Yang Lie’s Dragon Cannon from that day, and not just its firm and fierce burst is unparallel, its aura of power is even more shocking.

The moment Qin Fen made his move, the surprise, envy, admiration and all other emotions of every martial artist present on the field were sucked into his aura of power, and along with Qin Fen’s spiritual essence on this punch, it formed an unparallel momentum never seen before.

It was already extremely difficult for a martial artist to incorporate the aura of ordinary people. As for wanting to suck the aura of another martial artist, it was even more difficult than difficult! Every martial artist dedicated to martial dao has a unique personality of their own; it was impossible to truly force his will and nature onto anyone in an attack from the get-go.

But this punch of Qin Fen’s had stolen all the emotions of everyone and merged it completely into the Dragon Cannon, pushing his aura of power straight into the sky!

Punching the Dragon Cannon, Qin Fen even forgot the knacks of Dragon Cannon; almost everything was moving according to the instincts. There was only one goal left in his mind: to defeat this Martial Madman before his eyes!

Woo!

Qin Fen’s arm swished yet again! His left erupted with visible strands of true energy. These strands of true energy started moving at high speed around his arm, forming a huge turbine. In the end, it formed a huge air stream. When the subsequent wind howls sounded together, they gave rise to deafening dragon roar!

This dragon roar did not originate from Qin Fen’s throat like in the past! But rather it Dragon Cannon’s own voice after Qin Fen had punched out!

The sabers near his feet chimed in series from being shaken by this dragon roar, giving the impression that tens of thousands of blades were crawling under Qin Fen’s feat, trembling and worshipping him.

“What an extremely powerful blow!”

Martial Madman’s red eyes flickered with a sharp gleam . Let’s first retreat from the sharp aura of this unparalleled punch, then I will think about what to do next, this idea flashed quickly in his mind.

Retreat!?

The red sharp gleam flickering in Martial Madman’s eyes immediately bloomed as if it had exploded! It was no longer flickering of sharp gleam but an explosion of sharp gleam!

How can I retreat!? Martial Madman quickly strangled this rising thought. Have I not been waiting for a move just like this from Qin Fen? If I withdraw now, then all the painstaking training, all the waiting over the last half-year, would it not have been for naught?

When all is said and done, today’s retreat will leave a mark on my martial dao, which will render me unable to reach the peak of martial dao one day!

As soon as this thought arose, the bones and muscles of Martial Madman’s ten fingers thundered suddenly. While resisting the might of Qin Fen’s dragon roar, his body moved slightly as two tiger claws separated up and down, mimicking the huge mouth of a tiger before they fiercely snapped shut using the Tiger Rend!

Tiger Swallowing the Dragon!

BOOM!

The tiger roar collided with the dragon roar while Martial Madman’s tiger claw and Qin Fen’s dragon cannon fist clashed with each other. The clash between the claw and the fist sounded like a dozen grenades had exploded in succession. The true energy, pressure from the punch, and the air combined into a shockwave and blew off into every direction. The clothes of both sides flapped due to the energy from the punch; the energy shredded their sleeves in the blink of an eye. Caesar and the others could feel the wind blowing on their faces. It was slightly painful, resembling a small hailstorm blowing on their faces

Martial Madman’s tiger claw bit, tore, and pulled momentarily! But it was as if the tiger could not swallow this huge dragon and it was pushed away by the sound; Qin Fen’s pure physical force had played a great role in this.

Even after having the tiger jaws broken, Martial Madman did not pull for distance immediately. The instant the steel sabers under his feet exploded into pieces, he twisted his tiger waist with full force as his figure leaned sideways! His shoulder and arm acted like a tiger tail, piercing straight at Qin Fen’s chest! From beginning to the end, he had opted for a head-on confrontation.

Having blocked the blow with his hands through a head-on collision, Martial Madman hurled his arm like a tiger tail, pushing through with no intention of retreat, immediately robbing Qin Fen off the initiative on the battlefield.

In a flash, Martial Madman showed the style of the strongest freshman in the Sacred Martial Hall; with claws like tiger jaws, hands like a tiger tail, and a faint thunder in his every move. His offense and defense were completely watertight!

Qin Fen’s very first punch that marked the start of the battle had the complete spiritual essence of his special training over the half-year. Furthermore, it had surprisingly captured the emotions of the other martial artists. Punching this punch had opened a way for the future while carrying the past. His aura of power was still above what he had shown that day he defeated the Neo Taekwondo practitioner, Cai Renying. It wasn’t an overstatement to call this the most beautiful punch since his debut.

At this moment, Qin Fen was affected by the fist intent and the aura of power. Owing to the mutual agitation, his aura of power continued to climb. An invincible spirit filled his heart.

Anyone with a good eye could see that as long as this invincible punch could repel the Martial Madman, the curtain of this battle would fall. The same situation as when Qin Fen blew Cai Renying away would be repeated again if he kept punching punches better than the last, using boxing technique of life sublimation until the Martial Madman was completely defeated.

However, Martial Madman wasn’t the fourteen-star Cai Renying. He was the most talented and most beloved of divine beast-level martial artists in the Sacred Martial Hall. The notion of retreat had been personally strangled by himself in a flash. Just by relying on the strength of sixteen-star, he had stolen the initiative from Qin Fen using a backhand.

CLANG! Blowing away the Martial Madman’s Tiger Jaws, the moment the sabers under Qin Fen’s feet broke into pieces, he promptly withdrew the Dragon Cannon and pointed his fist at the sky before he slammed his erect elbow straight down on Martial Madman’s oncoming Tiger Tail.

At the same time, around Qin Fen’s left arm, which had not moved from the beginning to the end, eighteen dragon-shaped streams of true energy rose up with a swish. Each stream of true energy began to intertwine around each other, squeezing each other. Just as a deafening dragon roar resounded throughout the sky, he punched it straight at Martial Madman’s head.