The more bizarre was to come.
While everyoneâs attention was drawn to the vortex, it weakened and dissipated even faster, the dust surrounding it sucked in and dispersing completely.
In only a few breaths of time, all of the sand and dirt around it had disappeared. The air had quieted down. There was no vortex. No nothing.
Jiang Chen stood out like a sore thumb. His clothes were in pristine condition. Even his hair was as neat as itâd ever been. It was as if heâd merely stood there, waiting for a moment, unfazed by whatever had happened around him.
What the...
Brown cloak couldnât believe his eyes. Neither could his three companions.
What was going on? Even if the young man had narrowly survived the earth vortex, it shouldâve at least left some marks on him. Nothing could be more humiliating to the brown-cloaked man.
Yan Wanjun and the others brightened up. Huangâer was especially delighted. Gloom lifted from her face and her caring heart returned to its place.
Elder Shun couldnât contain his excitement. âI knew heâd be fine! There hasnât been a battle Jiang Chen went into that he didnât win!â
Yan Qingsang shook his fist and exclaimed vehemently, âThatâs right. No one in Myriad Abyss can defeat him!â
Jiang Chen looked at the brown-cloaked man with a faint smile. âThose who donât know the truth might suspect you of going easy on me.â
That was the most insulting thing he couldâve delivered. Brown cloakâs breath hitched, his face flushing. If not for the cloak hiding his face, everyone wouldâve seen how twisted his expression was at the moment.
Fury boiled in his heart. Now he was truly angry!
However, he had to admit heâd underestimated the young man and the fight. Jiang Chen was much more difficult to deal with than expected.
âNine more moves. You better have a good think about what youâre going to do.â The more composed Jiang Chenâs smile was, the heavier the blow to brown cloakâs ego. The young lord was acting like this wasnât a fight, but a friendly sparring session!
âI have to admit you arenât completely incompetent and that thereâs a little something to you, kid, but that was just a warm up.â
Of course he wasnât going to admit that his first move was one of his most powerful techniques. He had to play it down to save face.
Jiang Chen snorted. âYou better have finished warming up in ten moves.â
âIâll show you what purgatory is with my second, boy!â Brown cloak was fed up with Jiang Chenâs attitude.
He had already planned out the order of the ten techniques he was going to use, but that plan was now out the window. He was going to teach the young man a painful lesson with an ultimate move, preferably making the young man regret his life in three attacks.
Despite Jiang Chenâs taunts, the young lord was concentrating fully on the battle. He was in no place to take his enemy lightly. He wasnât any better than the cloaked man.
It had been only by chance that heâd been able to use the powerful Earth Bodhisattva Orb to easily dispel the first attack, and it was also the reason why he was so calm. He could tell that the cloaked man specialized in the earth element.
If the subsequent attacks were all with the same element as well, Jiang Chen was confident heâd be able to take them on with ease. Heâd wait and see when the man realized the crux of the problem.
An earth specialist wouldnât be able to reach the same level of power with attacks of other elements, which would make things easier for Jiang Chen.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
From the way brown cloak spoke through gritted teeth, Jiang Chen speculated that the next move would be one of the manâs best.
That was precisely what he wanted. He wanted to see how powerful the manâs most vaunted techniques were.
Brown cloak made a series of hand seals as he chanted. From his palm emerged a series of strange glyphs. They multiplied and leapt into the air like sentient beings. The symbols populated the air and morphed into a black hand. Every finger seemed as heavy as a mountain, its presence threatening enough to topple the sky.
âFive fingers form mountains, the road to hell opens. Take him!â
Five fingers forming mountains!
Wisps of black restrictions radiated from the hand, looking like black lightning encircling Jiang Chen. The restrictions sparked and popped with ear-piercing intensity. The fingers loomed over the young man and slammed down.
Jiang Chen tilted his head up at the sky. All he could see was the enormous hand as the mountainous fingers slowly descended on him.
He remained composed. Not a change flickered over his expression. The mountainous fingers were still of the earth element, which meant they wouldnât pose any challenge to him as long as he had the orb.
The earth vortex was meant to churn the enemy to pieces, while the mountainous fingers were meant to crush the foe. Naturally, the latter was more dramatic, fierce, and intimidating.
The black restrictions were a cage, preventing foe from escaping. Before the hand even landed, its powerful presence alone was enough to break tendons and bones, or even destroy oneâs will.
Its power exceeded the limits of oneâs imagination.
The technique made use of kinetic energy, gravity, and terrifying restrictions. It appeared to be simple, but was in truth complicated.
Nonetheless, it made no difference to Jiang Chen. At the heart of things, it was an earth element attack.
The Earth Bodhisattva Orb was the source of all things earth. It radiated a powerful dissolving and absorbing power, resonating with the mountainous fingers and drawing away their energy. In no time, the terrifying might of the attack dissipated, exposing the black hand for what it was.
The five fingers slowly fell apart with everyone bearing witness.
Slam!
It shattered the way it attacked, powerfully and mightily, but the sight made its cultivator despair.
This canât be! The brown-cloaked man stared at it in disbelief.
Yet reality was thus cruel.
In only a few breaths of time, the mountainous fingers had collapsed completely. Brown cloak could scarcely believe his eyes, and his three companions were just as shocked.
They knew how powerful brown cloak and his techniques were. Even if they were the one fighting their leader, theyâd have a hard time dealing with his attacks. However, the young man seemed to be the natural bane of those techniques!