This was practically a subordinate instigating against him in his presence! Naturally Lu Yu would not let him continue his speech of treason any longer.
“What sheer nonsense!” Lu Yu bellowed in rage. “Cease flaunting your sharp tongue, today will be your turn to die! ”
“Good! Today, you and I will have a final showdown!” All of a sudden, Yang Qing steered the dragon steed to rush out, pressing on alone.He positioned himself between both sides in the center of the battlefield. A glowing five-petaled Blue Lotus blossomed between his brows as he pointed his spear at Lu Yu. “Scum, don’t even think of bringing harm to the other brothers. Do you dare to fight single handedly with me to determine which of us is stronger?!”
Miao Yi discovered that this person Yang Qing was extremely courageous, to actually want to duel with Lu Yu, as though it were a mere feat to take him down. His actions immediately caused a great boost in the morale on this side.
Bear in mind that for this kind of battle, under normal circumstances, the general wouldn’t come out to fight in the front line. They would try their best to lessen the consumption of transcendence energy. Otherwise, they would be subject to betrayal, should someone decide to take advantage of one’s depleted transcendence energy. It would be no laughing matter.
Lu Yu had many powerful men amongst his ranks, numbering more than twofold, so he was at an advantage. Thus, it was natural that he wouldn’t want to fight a duel with Yang Qing. The best, guaranteed method, would be for his subordinates to rush forth in large groups, directly clipping Yang Qing’s wings right before ending the battle with a full-on besiegement.
But he never imagined that Yang Qing would actually challenge him to a fight in front of this many people, especially since Lu Yu’s cultivation was one level above Yang Qing’s.
His own forces seemed to focus on him in an instant, seeing whether he dared to take up the challenge or not.
At Mount Shaotai’s side, Xiong Xiao and the rest were apparently already finished with their discussion. Each respective Cave Master immediately raised their arms and cheered, “Mountain Chieftain is formidable, old scum Lu Yu, dare to accept the battle! Mountain Chieftain is formidable, old scum Lu Yu, dare to accept the battle...”
They led Miao Yi and the rest to rally loudly, as well. The sound of the repetitive chant shook across the four plains, their morales soaring greatly as a result.
In contrast, Lu Yu’s side fell into a deep silence, all eyes on Lu Yu, waiting to see whether he would dare to accept the battle or not.
Lu Yu vaguely felt suspicious, was there a ploy at play?
Yang Qing once again waved his spear at Lu Yu, angrily shouting, “Do you only know how to send your subordinates and brothers to death? You cowardly old scum! Do you dare to fight with me to the death?”
Within a short while, he had forced Lu Yu into a corner. If he was afraid to fight against him today, he would later lose face in front of all his subordinates.
If the person had a higher cultivation level than him, he could still avoid the fight, and it wouldn’t be considered disgraceful. But now, he was facing a challenger with a lower cultivation level than him. In addition, it was also his own subordinate who had revolted against him, directly condemning Lu Yu while pointing at his nose. If he didn’t at least give a proper response, then he’d end up a laughing stock.
If his subordinates started thinking he was just a mere facade without any real substance, he feared that everyone would dare to act like Yang Qing. It could be said that his troubles would keep brewing unceasingly.
“Pay with your life!!”
Lu Yu roared furiously, a glowing six-petaled Blue Lotus blossomed between his brows. His dragon steed shot forward like a gust of wind, with him in tow.
With the swift speed of a dragon steed, a distance of a few hundred meters was crossed in an instant. Lu Yu swung his Square Sky-Decorated Halberd, striking out in a fury.
The spear that Yang Qing brandished flashed a blue light, faintly transforming into a phantom that took the form of an ox. The ox crashed headlong at the halberd swinging towards it.
Boom!
A loud sound rang out and waves of transcendence energy shook the wastelands. Bits of sands, stones and weeds flew fiercely around in all directions, forcing the violently charging Lu Yu to a sudden halt. Both of their dragon steeds gave out long neighs as they could not withstand the aftershocks. Luckily, they were both protected under their masters’ transcendence energy.
If ordinary horses had been faced with such pressure, it would have left them both with four broken limbs. But for dragon steeds that could run like a bolt of lightning, its leg power was its most strongest point. And it was because of this that they became the beloved steed of cultivators, treasured by all.
“So you possessed a Second Grade Yao Core, no wonder you dared to be so audacious!”
Lu Yu said shortly, his Square Sky-Decorated Halberd was similarly emitting a bright blue glow, with the form of a phantom bear faintly seen from it. Lu Yu casually swept his halberd across.
Yang Qing’s shoulders trembled, and all of a sudden, the beast heads welded on both sides of his shoulder armor came alive, instantly expanding in size as they morphed into two clouds of silver mist. The mist quickly turned into two specks of congealing silver, which then turned into into two ferocious beasts.
A tiger and a leopard, their upper bodies appearing large while their lower bodies were smaller in comparison. It was as if they had abruptly bore their way out from his armor to crouch on Yang Qing’s shoulders, both suffused by a distinct bright blue glow.
A tiger and a leopard, in addition to the phantom ox longspear in Yang Qing’s hand—Boom! Together they withstood Lu Yu’s aggressive attacks!
Surprised, Lu Yu was forced to brandish the Square Sky Decorated Halberd, continuously warding off attacks. Both of them returned to their horses and spun around, chasing one another in an endless loop. The fierce roundabout battle kicked up the sand and stones like a flying typhoon, their vigor was extremely shocking. Should an ordinary human body try to move closer without the protection of transcendence energy, they would immediately be torn to pieces.
And Yang Qing, as though he had grown three heads and six arms, seemed to fight with the force of three. He delivered blows onto Lu Yu until the Manor Head only had the strength to hold back the attacks, and he was repetitively thrown backwards.
To Miao Yi, it was the first time he had seen such a spectacle, so he instantly transmitted his voice over to Yan Xiu asking what was going on.
After listening to Yan Xiu’s explanation, he finally understood why. Yao Grades were not subdivided further. The cultivation of a First Grade Yao was more or less equal to the cultivation of a White Lotus cultivator. The Second Grade is equivalent to a Blue Lotus cultivator, while the Third Grade is equivalent to a Red Lotus cultivator, and the like.
But the Yao Core contained a large amount of the Yao cultivator’s cultivation, an item that was coveted by many since it could be refined into transcendent artifacts.
Cultivators with a high cultivation base could use these transcendent artifacts from afar to slaughter enemies from remote distances!
Without a doubt, the premise was to behead the Yao cultivator in order to obtain its inner core.
But after beheading a Yao cultivator, the inner core containing the cultivation base could certainly not be compared to when they were alive. The core’s potency would be reduced by one grade.
For example, if one killed a Third Grade Yao cultivator, the inner core obtained would only be equivalent to a cultivation at Second Grade, which is similar to the Blue Lotus realm of cultivators. Once the core has been refined into a transcendence artifact, it will emit a blue light.
But if the one beheaded was a First Grade Yao cultivator, then the inner core’s grade would be non-existent. It would be of little use even against a White Lotus First Grade cultivator.
In a flash, Miao Yi came to a sudden realization. No wonder Lu Yu said Yang Qing came to possess a Second Grade Yao Core. It was obvious that the spear in Yang Qing’s hand was fused together with an Ox Demon’s Second Grade Yao Core while the beast heads on the left and right sides of his shoulder armor were fused with a Tiger Demon’s Second Grade Yao Core and a Leopard Demon’s Second Grade Yao Core respectively. Even Lu Yu’s Square Sky Decorated Halberd was infused with a Bear Demon’s Second Grade Yao Core.
However, Yang Qing and Lu Yu already had a Blue Lotus realm cultivation base to begin with. So the current situation was nothing more than Yang Qing having a cultivation power of Blue Lotus by a factor of four, hitting Lu Yu’s factor of two.
“Too bad, if Yang Qing had a Third Grade Yao Core, then he would definitely be able to defeat Lu Yu in one strike.” Miao Yi sighed, feeling great pity.
Yan Xiu couldn’t resist the urge to roll his eyes, “Brother, with Yang Qing’s cultivation at Blue Lotus realm, it’s already considered to be a difficult feat to get his hands on a Second Grade Yao Core as he would need to behead a Red Lotus realm Yao. I doubt he has the ability to do so. Let’s not even mention that he already has three cores on him. I seriously have no idea how he even came to possess that many. No wonder he dared to challenge Lu Yu. As for the Third Grade Yao Core, the implication is that one needs to behead a Yao of the Violet Lotus realm. The difference between those cultivations were worlds apart. One hundred Yang Qings added together wouldn’t be nearly enough to kill a Yao of a Violet Lotus Grade. Where would you expect him to find one?”
While both of them were engaged in conversation, the other side was still locked in a vicious battle.
It became apparent that Lu Yu was about to lose ground, and it was heard that suddenly Lu Yu emitted a raging roar, “Come on and join the fight, let’s kill this rebel together!”
With the exception of the rebel Yang Qing, all nine Mountain Chieftains under South Edict Manor immediately charged over at great speeds to save the situation. Thousands of cultivators moved upon hearing his orders, their screams of attack quaked the heavens as they violently charged forwards.
On the other side, Xiong Xiao and all the rest—including Qin Weiwei—raised their arms and shouted loudly together, “Attack!”
Over the wasteland, the feeling of death hung instantly in the air, the dragon steeds of both factions frantically charged against the opposing side like a tidal wave, and even the ground shook in their presence.
Miao Yi went speechless when Qin Weiwei’s forcefully pointed her spear at him. Seeing that this woman’s eyes were brimming with pent-up anger, he knew that she intended to carry out her earlier plan, making him spearhead the attack.
Regardless of how ignorant Miao Yi was about the current situation, he still came to understand one thing. If he dared to disobey orders on the battlefield, Qin Weiwei would immediately have an excuse to execute him. In such a case, Yang Qing wouldn’t be able to say anything in his defense.
So in the end, he could only put on a bold front and force himself to take the lead, charging out from Hundred Blossoms Cave’s camp.
Yet he was utterly shocked when the usually hidden-at-the-back Yan Xiu unexpectedly shouted ‘attack’, charging out with both broad axes in his hands. Miao Yi couldn’t help but do a double take.
Translator Note:
Yao [妖 (yāo)] - Yao is a race that is made up of Demons, Demonic Spirits, Spiritual Beasts and the like.