Chapter 256, Hindrance

Wiping his brow by instinct, Huangpu Qingtian seemed calm, but turning to Zhuo Fan, he had lost his casual stance and became grave.

Although he was a very conceited person, it didn’t stop him from admitting that today he had met his match.

“It seems I can’t let my guard down around you!” Huangpu Qingtian’s tone dropped and he stared at Zhuo Fan like a hunter.

Grinning, Zhuo Fan said, “Oh, so that’s what you’ve been missing so far? Are your ready now?”

With another creepy grin, Zhuo Fan was gone.

He popped before Yan Bangui and slapped him while cackling, “Then I’ll go after your sidekick’s head this time!”

Yan Bangui panicked. He never thought Zhuo Fan would pick on him. He got flustered while defending and released his poison!

Since when could a hastily made plan repel Zhuo Fan’s long ready palm strike? Moreover, his poison hardly worked on the likes of Zhuo Fan who could just use Demon Transformation Art to dispel it!

But before his attack could land, Zhuo Fan squinted and was gone.

Boom!

Huangpu Qingtian was looking at rubble. It was where Zhuo Fan and the two girls had stood but was now littered with dust. Zhuo Fan reappeared a hundred meters away holding the girls while giving Heaven-shaking Dragon Lord the evil eye.

Huangpu Qingtian snickered back, “Like I said, you can’t get past me!”

Zhuo Fan clenched his jaw and his fists. Huangpu Qingtian was no muscle-brain and quite cunning as well!

Zhuo Fan wanted to relieve Yan Bangui of his cumbersome head as an affront to this man. But this guy knew he couldn’t give chase and settled for targeting Luo Yunchang and Xue Ningxiang.

Forced to save them, regardless of how fast one was, he had to abandon his tricks!

Yan Bangui was scared out of his mind as he watched them. He didn’t want his fate to have such an untimely ending.

The fright was so intense, he felt he had lost a decade of his lifespan!

You Yushan was affected as well, seeing the two dragons on the brink of a war and bolted. Only the crippled Lin Xuanfeng was left behind wailing on the ground!

Not that anyone had a mind to pay him any attention when they were focused on the two monsters. They all wanted to know who was going to be the champion in the Esoteric Debate!

Anticlimactic as it were, finding the result so early...

Holding a girl in each arm, Zhuo Fan’s eyes glared with anger at Huangpu Qingtian. If earlier he was just messing around, he was now focused.

The girls caught onto the situation and ran far away to not disturb their battle.

Huangpu Qingtian grinned in excitement, sensing the change in Zhuo Fan. Facing an opponent like Zhuo Fan couldn’t be more thrilling. Wrapped in a golden light, his power surged and he was putting pressure even on Chu Qingcheng’s group despite how far they were.

Huangpu Qingtian’s power dominated the scene, just like how a king showed his presence!

Zhuo Fan’s stance paled somewhat, but the faint black energy rolling about, the flickers of purple in his eyes, spoke of a deep power laying hidden, waiting for the emperor to come close so he could wring his neck!

It gave everyone a feeling of danger never sensed before.

The onlookers felt their heart in their throats, yet they couldn’t budge an inch.

“Imperial Tyrant Body Art!”

Huangpu Qingtian shouted and nine golden dragons twisted around him before shooting for Zhuo Fan.

Seen from afar, it was as if the sky was coming down to pulverize the earth. Such mighty power could be felt even by the audience!

[Is this how much of a freak he has become? Is this the level of Huangpu Qingtian’s profound ranked martial art?]

All swallowed dryly in shock, waiting nervously for Zhuo Fan’s reaction!

Laughing, Zhuo Fan’s eyes had a golden ring with purple lightning streaking in them, and charged as well!

Roar!

A draconic roar followed the image of a black dragon growing around Zhuo Fan. But the streaks of purple lightning around it caused the earth to rumble incessantly. It was as if the end of days was coming!

While others cried in shock, Huangpu Qingtian’s eye trembled. Because of the power Zhuo Fan displayed.

This martial art was no weaker than his 9th stage of Imperial Tyrant Body Art!

As far as the eyes could see the two mighty powers created a stark and conflicting contrast.

Huangpu Qingtian was bathed in golden glow, like an emperor gracing the world with his presence. Zhuo Fan, however, was in the form of a black dragon wrapped in purple lightning, threatening to tear the world asunder!

If Huangpu Qingtian was a natural born emperor, Zhuo Fan was his antithesis, a necrotic dragon ready to defy any ruling that was imposed on him!

“These two are fated enemies!” Xie Tianshang sighed.

The others nodded.

They were unclear, however, who was it that would come out on top. Heaven-shaking Dragon Lord or Soaring Demonic Dragon?

They all looked perturbed at this scene. Perhaps the Esoteric Debate would be cut short here and now. Perhaps Regent Estate’s millennium long reign would come to an end!

The six houses were witnessing history in the making!

“Soaring Demonic Dragon!”

“Imperial Tyrant Body Art!”

Roar! Roar!

With two mighty roars, Zhuo Fan and Huangpu Qingtian’s dragons were on a collision course. But, a third roar resonated from between them, followed by a blue glow.

The two were forced to slow down their attacks!

Because the blue glow came from none other than the second of Four Pillars, Marshal Dugu Zhantian’s 6th grade spiritual weapon, Dragonslaying Crescent Blade!

A mighty figure drifted from the sky and landed between the two. He caught the two’s wrists and flung them into the air.

Bam~

Zhuo Fan and Huangpu Qingtian’s outrageously powerful martial arts hit nothing and instead each of them were buried in rubble!

When they crawled out and got their wits about them, the aged and mighty Dugu Zhantian stood in all his majestic form before them!

“I will have no grudge fights in my Dragon Cloud City! You two bastards take me for air?”

Dugu Zhantian’s eyes snapped on Huangpu Qingtian, causing his breath to catch in his throat.

He was prideful, but no fool! He was overbearing among peers, and even if he skipped stages, he’d only fight the average Radiant Stage expert.

In the face of Dugu Zhantian, the general who reeked of blood and battle, he was subdued!

“I won’t ever violate Marshal Dugu’s orders again!” Huangpu Qingtian admitted his wrongs. His face was calm however, like a king’s!

Dugu Zhantian’s anger had nowhere to vent since he didn’t want to tangle with Regent Estate. So he turned to Zhuo Fan and barked, “Zhuo Fan, where do you think you’re going?”

The man in question was skulking away, like a thief in the night. He sighed at having been caught, but putting on a bright smile the next instant, he said, “Ha-ha-ha, Marshal Dugu, how’s it going? Please show consideration for my young master. He’s right over there!”

“Cut the crap! I knew you were still alive and have been waiting for this!” Dugu Zhantian mocked him the instant he spouted hypocrisies, “But where did you run off to this time, what trouble have you stirred up? When did you arrive? And how is it that you’re already giving me trouble?”

“Uh, today, actually.”

Zhuo Fan scratched his head shyly. But then he squinted and pointed at Luo Yunhai, “Ol’ Marshal, this is totally not my fault! Look at my young master, your godson! Someone broke his leg. I was only doing my duty as the Luo clan’s steward.”

[Say what?!]

Dugu Zhantian took in the sorry state this place was and found his five godsons on the ground, with Luo Yunhai feeble from the blood loss due to a broken leg.

Dugu Zhantian’s eyes went bloodshot as he roared, “Who did this? I’ll never let you go!”

“They did it, Marshal Dugu! Please give our young master justice!” Zhuo Fan pointed fingers instantly, at Huangpu Qingtian, of course. Zhuo Fan was the picture of a good servant having the backing of his faithful master.

Luo Yunchang added her two cents in the form of a grieving sister, “Please godfather, please give my brother justice!”

Taking a deep breath, Dugu Zhantian’s eyes spat fire as he glared at Huangpu Qingtian...