Chapter 535: Being deceptive can take many forms
=Indeed, but the question is whether or not they’ll be able to maintain this momentum, even in the event of underhanded tactics…=
=No, but I do think the kaijin may have to get involved soon…=
=I think he’s still…=
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“What’s wrong big guy? Shark got your tongue?”
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As Zhen Hai bounced away from Gou Huang, after the former had landed a rather heavy blow on the latter, Gou Huang made sure that this injury did not go unpunished.
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Gou Huang began to circulate his aether into his chest, repairing the indent and causing several sharp growths of crystals to bubble out of his rock-like skin like boils.
<<[Countershard Barrage]!>>
“Counterwha-WHOA!”
Gou Huang fired off a barrage of crystal shards out of his skin and directly towards Zhen Hai. Each shard carrying with it enough force behind them to match the amount of power Zhen Hai had used when he left that fist print in Gou Huang’s chest.
Sensing this, Zhen Hai opted to try and dodge the incoming counterattack, knowing full well that not even he had the defensive skills necessary to block his own attack power, especially in the form of shrapnel. Unfortunately for him though, he didn’t have the same fancy movement arts that Zhen Yue had, so he had to dodge manually.
“Shit, shit, shit-AH!”
Zhen Hai had managed to dodge a majority of the crystal shards, but a few had managed to graze him at various points of his body.
While none of the attacks managed to draw any blood, surprisingly, Zhen Hai did feel like he just got punched multiple times instead.
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Unfortunately for Zhen Hai though, Gou Huang wasn’t done attacking him yet.
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“FUCK!”
Zhen Hai could tell he wouldn’t be able to dodge or block this attack…but he could at least hit the guy right the fuck back!
‘I don’t think my [Megaladon Thrash] can destroy that seal…in that case…’
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[Wait, what? How is manifesting a giant seal more intimidating than a giant shark?!]
[I think it’s because that former one is radiating “authority” or something like that.]
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While the above scene as happening…
Zhen Yue stood at the ready, preparing herself mentally and physically for Lei Zhong’s returning blow.
Not many people would take being combo-moved and slammed by a double palm strike well, especially by someone they saw as their “inferior”.
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Lei Zhong forcefully stopped his forward momentum by slamming both of his feet into the ground, breaking the pavement, and releasing a powerful clap of thunder that echoed through the area.
Normally, this would be the part where one would pause long enough to catch their breath after being so thoroughly smacked around.
Lei Zhong did not do that, instead, as he stopped his forward momentum, he began to circulate the aether in his legs in a weird way, causing them to generate even more electricity as they ripped through the ground.
If a certain otherlander saw this, they would comment that this was like watching someone develop a more extreme case of generating static electricity.
Of course, just because it looked ridiculous, didn’t mean it was a ridiculous action.
‘Oh it was a good call preparing for a possible counter attack,’ Zhen Yue thought to herself as she could sense Lei Zhong’s aether steadily growing more and more violent as he kept circulating his aether.
It eventually came to a head when Lei Zhong finally stopped moving forward…
<<[Thunder Demon's Charge!]>>
And launched himself back.
*BOOM!*
Lei Zhong had transformed himself into a human lightning bolt as he launched himself at Zhen Yue, ready to not only slam into the girl, but also deliver enough electricity from the attack to essentially cook her from the inside out.
Fortunately, Zhen Yue saw this possibility coming.
‘Dammit! I was expecting a lighting bolt, but not like this.’
Zhen Yue had channel aether into her arms long before Lei Zhong released his counter attack, so she could use them in the event of having to redirect whatever the latter was going to launch at her.
She didn’t expect the man to launch himself at her.
Regardless, once Lei Zhong had reached the distance where he was expected to slam into her, that was also the distance where Zhen Yue could use her defensive measures to redirect Lei Zhong in a completely different direction, even knocking the man airborne.
Unfortunately, that turned out to not be enough.
‘FUCKING ELECTROCUTION!’
In the process of redirecting Lei Zhong, Zhen Yue ended up suffering several electrical burns that zig-zagged up and down her arm, accompanied by a sharp pain in her arms.
Worst still, Lei Zhong was gearing up for another attack.
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As Lei Zhong flew through the air, he forcibly stopped himself and manifested an aether formation that radiated a feeling of foreboding judgement.
From the formation, Zhen Yue could see arcs of lightning, roiling in the formation like dragons in the deep ocean.
‘Looks like I’m going to have to take a page out of Zhen Hai’s book…luckily I do have one powerful move…not as good as grandfather’s but it should still work…’
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[Wait a minute, Hurricroak, isn’t that your trick? The one with the leg drag?]
[Not exactly, it’s a thing a lot of lightning type cultivators do. Something about friction producing a lot of electricity that let us do our moves easier. Of course, it’s never anything that dramatic…normally.]
[Huh. More you know.]
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As Lei Zhong and Gou Huang continued to fight, their companions and leader continued to watch on the sidelines, commentating all the while.
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Zhen Ren Fa was just about to write off these two “Shen” warriors as defeated and have her associates detain their much weaker cousin.
That is until they noticed a subtle yet undeniably powerful fluctuation in the aether that seemed to originate from the two “Shen” Aether Masters, one that caused the ground around them to freeze up.
Once she saw this, Zhen Ren Fa’s expression became a touch more sour.
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A direction that just so happened to ignore Zhen Yue and Zhen Hai, and led directly to a certain group of four young men and an injured slave.
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With the order given, Ao Tang and Fan Ying began to circulate their aether in a mysterious manner, causing them both to suddenly disappear out of sight and cause their presences to become much harder to detect.
That is…if the one trying to do the detecting were normal mortal cultivators…
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[Oi, kaijin! Look alive. Looks like we were right about them trying to do something underhanded and sneaky in order to win,] Nepherage pointed out as she saw how the lazy looking guy and the sarcastic looking girl suddenly disappeared from the sidelines.
If she hadn’t kept an eye on them from the start, things could’ve definitely gone sideways.
[Ah shit, which one are they’re going to help out? The lightning guy or the rock guy?,] Hurricroak asked.
[Neither, look.]
Under the gaze of the kaijin, they could see how the two minions of the Zhen lady were sneaking their way over to Zhen Liu’s weaker cousins. It didn’t take a genius to deduce that they were going to try and take them hostage in order to use them as leverage.
[Under…handed…]
[Tsk! I may like to captivate people, but forced audiences are antithetical to my existence.]
[So…we’re agreed on making these two suffer for their choices?]
[Yup.]
[Yes…]
[Agreed.]
[Excellent…so who wants to do the honors?]
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“Are you done yet?,” Zhen Liu asked “because the others are still in the middle of combat…”
“To be fair, you’re the one who came to me at the last moment to try and disguise you as an Overlord,” Jin Fang replied, “we have to make you at least look old enough to justify that.”
“Fair.”
“If it helps, you still look pretty good with all of those wrinkles,” Rianna added.
“Uh…thanks?”
“Still looks pretty rid-”
“Stop that,” Jin Fang interrupted.
“Fine…for now…”
