Chapter 247 - Eternal Melody (II)
It evolved? Long Haochen still remembered what the Knight Temple’s Hall Master and Chief of the Alliance Yang Haohan told him, that Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light’s greatest characteristic was its capability to evolve. Could it be that after only a few months time, as the Saint Spiritual Stove had been nurtured, it actually had been completing its first evolution?
Looking at the fluctuations of light essence released by Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light, Long Haochen could be certain that this sword was now at least at the level of a Glorious Tier weapon, or possibly even higher.
Rather than the Holy Spirit Sword in his right hand which only let out a faint white gloss, Long Haochen almost automatically chose to use Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light. This action signified that he chose to abandon the utility of the Holy Spirit Set. Henceforth Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light become his main weapon, as he decided to stop using the Holy Spirit Set as a whole.
He obviously made this choice because Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light had more utility than a whole Holy Spirit Set.
Vast amount of knowledge was passed on to Long Haochen through the Pendant of Eternal Melody, but to get practical experience in this Tower of Eternity, he had a single choice: to keep going forward.
Not riding on Haoyue, Long Haochen advanced with a pair of swords at hand. Each step of his was slow and steady, as he focused his senses on the possible danger arriving from any direction.
First step, second step, third step…
Just four steps after passing the location where he got this Eternal Melody, Long Haochen suddenly came to a stop and, waving the swords in his hands, he looked forward.
Two white glows shot from his back without any warning, and immediately, two massive figures appeared before his eyes out of nowhere.
These lights were two gigantic skeletons, surrounded by a white halo and filled at the same time with an aura of death and holy aura.
The two human-shaped skeletons were approximately 2.5 meters tall, had pure white bones, and three layered golden rings around them, which were against all expectations Faith Halos, Imposing Halos and Courage Halos that Long Haochen was very familiar with. As they wielded a bone shield with their left hand and a bone sword with their right hand, their eyes were filled with a golden flame, just like the Pendant Eternal Melody, but without its purity.
_Bang, bang, bang…._ Exploding sounds could be heard as the skeletons stepped forward, and they directly jumped at Long Haochen, instantly breaking out with an important oppressing strength. What they used was actually pretty similar to charging techniques used by humans.
Long Haochen used the Nine Long Footsteps Stances, swerving to the left side with a sideways step. It was so that he wouldn’t get hit by the two skeletons’ attacks from different directions.
Holding the Holy Spirit Sword in his left hand horizontally, he launched Divine Obstruction.
_Bang!_
A strong exploding sound reverberated as Long Haochen was pushed back three steps, even after using Divine Obstruction, barely standing firm.
_How powerful!_
Although Long Haochen didn’t know what level his own internal spiritual energy had reached, he still sensed that after obtaining the Pendant of Eternal Melody, it passed the threshold of 3,500. That this skeleton managed to push him back in such a situation meant that its internal spiritual energy was at least above 7,000 or 8,000. And this was the first test of the Tower of Eternity!
The second skeleton didn’t attack Long Haochen, but aimed its attack at Haoyue, looking straight at him.
With a white glow, the skeleton forcibly closed the distance, and as it was still at a meter away from Haoyue, it suddenly turned toward Long Haochen’s direction, precisely because of the Saint Spiritual Stove’s effects. And from beginning to end, Haoyue seemed as though he hadn’t seen it, his three heads focused on chanting an incantation. This was the level of trust between Long Haochen and Haoyue.
_Dong._ Another collision rang, this time from an attack launched by Long Haochen. As the Holy Spirit Sword parried a blow, Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light drew power from Bright Vengeance’s amplification, aiming at the human skeleton that attacked him. The skeleton waved the shield in its left hand, parrying the latter’s blow along with an intense exploding sound.
After evolution, Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light was completely different. This last blow came with a scrape of bright light, leaving an inch long trace on it.
Charging, Long Haochen suddenly stepped to the side, getting out of the way of the skeleton’s attack pulled by the Saint Spiritual Stove, and as he turned sideways, a Light Thorn was aimed horizontally.
Immediately, Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light shone with a golden blaze, and a sharp sword intent simultaneously erupted. Only, this was clearly not enough to frighten these two skeletons, that held their shields horizontally, releasing a Holy Filter Shield-like ability to welcome the Light Thorn fired by Long Haochen.
At this time, Haoyue’s spell was finally completed, launching a large wind edge, a light thorn and fireball aiming at a skeleton’s knees, exactly the one who was the target of Long Haochen’s Attraction spell.
These two skeletons possessing holy attribute were even more troublesome than Long Haochen imagined. The targeted one had even the awareness of having been locked down by Haoyue’s magic, without a single glance. Suddenly crouching down, it used its shield to parry the attack.
With three loud collisions, Long Haochen saw to his shock that the skeleton’s body let out a bright golden color. That was to say, it relied on Divine Obstruction to parry Long Haochen’s attack. And the other skeleton went at Long Haochen at fast speed.
A spotlessly white bone shone, filled with a sacred radiance. To Long Haochen’s surprise, it was Holy Sword, which was aimed directly at him.
Suppressed to this degree on the spiritual energy side, Long Haochen didn’t dare to use Condemning Revolving Sword, because this skeleton would be able to rely on its spiritual energy’s superiority to forcefully interrupt the skill.
_Buzz._
A fog of light was suddenly released from Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light, and Long Haochen did a blocking motion, using Divine Obstruction like before.
_Bang–_
Facing the Holy Sword of this skeleton, Long Haochen surprisingly managed to block it without being pushed a step back.
Furthermore, on that skeleton’s bones, a little gap had appeared. Without managing to push the bone sword back, he relied on Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light, to attack on the side, violently striking the ground.
This ground was made of some impressive material, to show no trace of damage, only a little spark, upon taking on such a powerful Holy Sword as this skeleton’s.
A resonant dragon cry burst forth from Long Haochen’s body. Intertwining Blue Rain as well as the Holy Spirit Sword, he used the offensive Retribution Knight technique of the fifth step, Ascending Dragon Strike. And that dragon cry carried a bizarre buzzing sound.
At that moment, it was the skeleton that was at a disadvantage. The bone sword was used, only to be pushed back to the ground. This blow of Long Haochen’s could be said to be perfectly orchestrated.
Hastily, the skeleton could only use its bone shield to block Long Haochen’s attack, letting out an ear-piercing boom. This time, it was the skeleton that was violently struck by Long Haochen, and at the time it stood up again, half its shield was already destroyed.
To Long Haochen, the most important use of this strike was the boost of confidence he gained from it. It was for a single reason that he was able to stop the opponent’s powerful attack in addition to breaking his shield, which was the Ripples of Light.
When he combined Divine Obstruction along with the control of the light elemental waves with Ripples of light, not only was the defensive power strengthened by a lot, but it also had an additional effect of stealing power, which was why this skeleton’s Holy Sword wasn’t completed when it clashed against Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light.
Even Long Haochen himself didn’t think that the combination between Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light and Ripples of Light would turn out so powerful. Although this skeleton’s fighting strength was great, its defense fell short in comparison. It was just like himself at the time he didn’t have any good equipment.
The other skeleton didn’t get in Long Haochen’s way, it was busy resisting the attacks of Haoyue, that he launched after his first three successive spells were blocked.
His massive figure leapt forward, and though each spell launched by itself wasn’t so strong, the three were in fact launched simultaneously.
Resisting Ring of Fire of the fire element, Ripples of Light of the light element and Wind Gale of the wind element.
These three spells had a single goal, to attack. Even that skeleton that possessed Divine Obstruction, the mortal asset of a knight, could only fall a few steps back under the effects of those three spells used offensively. And this was what gave Long Haochen enough time.
A strong sunlight fire burst forth from Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light, and the high frequencies of Ripples of Light gave it an exquisite appearance.
Assault, Shining Sunlight Strike.
Without a doubt, Shining Sunlight Strike couldn’t compare to Holy Sword in terms of power, but unlike an ability that needed time to be prepared like Holy Sword, Long Haochen could already complete it instantly with his current cultivation.
The intricacies of his abilities were exquisite; in fact, combining Shining Sunlight Strike and Sunlight Fire wasn’t in the scope of any Retribution Knight’s ability, but Long Haochen was the son of the Divine Knight of Adjudication, Long Xingyu.
With two massive glints of intense sunlight, Long Haochen’s two swords disappeared in an instant as the lustrous sunlight fire formed two orbs of sunfire, carrying a blazing holy aura that intensified dramatically.
At this time, the difference in equipment between the two parties became distinct. In comparison to the interweaved use of sunlight fire and Shining Sunlight Strike, Holy Sword even fell short by twofold
_Houu!_ The skeleton didn’t wait helplessly for its death, and with a bellow, the golden flames in its eyes suddenly increased sharply, and its body was covered with a layer of golden flames, as the skeleton violently abandoned the shield in its left hand. As the skeleton waved its sword with the two hands, in that instant, the air surrounding it was gathered at fast speed, producing suction in Long Haochen’s direction. That terrible blow provoked a hissing sound in the air, and the bone sword turned a brilliant golden color. Against all expectations, this strike’s power caused even Long Haochen to feel helpless and almost unable to block it.
This strike felt to Long Haochen like it could split Heavens and Earth, and the most terrifying aspect wasn’t its attack power, but the oppressive force it had, forcing Long Haochen to stake everything to go against it.