Heavenly Jewel Change

Chapter 73 An unexpectedly powerful opponent (3)

By now, Zhou Weiqing was quite sure that this was a powerful Sealing Technique. From its slow movement speed, its power was likely extremely terrifying. If he were sealed by it, not even mentioning the rest of this fight, he could probably forget about fighting for the rest of the fights as well.

Still in mid air, Zhou Weiqing forcibly turned his body, the Overlord Bow in his right hand, while his left hand slid forth and waved at the incoming shadow. In a flash of silver light, a large, three yard wide tear in the air appeared below his feet.

As the black shadow clashed with the rift, an earsplitting sound rang out in the plaza. At that point, Jiang Fei’s Darkness Skill, and its terrifying offense, was displayed in its full glory. Even facing Zhou Weiqing’s Spatial Rend, her Sealing Technique was still not disrupted. Although a portion of it vanished into a puff of black smoke, some of it managed to get around the Spatial Rift, continuing to chase Zhou Weiqing. The strangest thing was that, as they passed each other, it seemed to leave a black stain in the air, as if even though weakened by the Spatial Rend, it had left its mark in the air.

If Zhou Weiqing had been at the same cultivation level as Jiang Fei, at five Jewels, even without any boost from Consolidated Equipment, his King Stage Skill Spatial Rend would definitely be able to block her Darkness Sealing Technique. Alas, the difference in power levels and Heavenly Energy quality was just too great, and even the King Stage Spatial Rend was unable to completely dissipate the attack.

Right at that moment, two consecutive explosions rang out, as Crow had finally reached Wu Zhengyang in her charge, under the cover of Zhou Weiqing’s arrows. Having fought with him earlier, she knew that he was no pushover and she immediately released her legendary axes and swung them savagely at his shield of light.

Wu Zhengyang was at the four-Jeweled cultivation level, one Jewel more than Crow, but how could Crow’s attacks be looked upon with ordinary logic. With the legendary axes each weighing more than a thousand jin, along with her terrifying strength, what sort of power did that hold?

Even though Zhou Weiqing had his pair of legendary Consolidated Equipment Hammers, but their main strength was from their set bonuses, various imbued buffs as well as their boost to Elemental Skills. Without making use of any skills, and just in terms of pure physical combat, Zhou Weiqing was definitely sure that his plain attacks were not comparable in any way to Crow.

Despite the fact that the Shimmering Light Shield had an impressive defense, cracks still appeared upon it when Crow’s first blow chopped down hard. As her second axe landed on it, it wavered as more cracks appeared, and was clearly on the verge of breaking.

At this point, the ZhongTian Emperor, Shangguan Tianxin, who was seated comfortably in the VIP stand, smiled faintly as he said: “These two three-Jeweled little fellows are very interesting. To be able to see the Spatial Rend Skill here, impressive. And that little girl with the huge physique… that pair of axes aren’t ordinary as well. As for that little girl from the Mi’Ou Empire, she is impressive herself, her power levels is almost at our ZhongTian reserve team level.”

Jing Fei did not look at Zhou Weiqing, nor did she hesitate a moment. Right after her second round of attacks targeted at Crow was once again disrupted by Zhou Weiqing, she launched a third salvo, still the five balls of black light as before. However, this time, it would not be as easy for Zhou Weiqing to disrupt the attack, as he was now facing the threat of the black shadow nipping at his heels.

At this point, the easiest, and perhaps best solution for Zhou Weiqing was undoubtedly to use the Blink Skill to avoid the shadow; that way, even if it continued chasing him, he would still have time to plan and react. However, if he did that, Crow would have to face the two opponents by herself during the period when Zhou Weiqing was dealing with the shadow. As such, Zhou Weiqing ignored that easy option, and instead did something that no one else understood.

Still in midair, Zhou Weiqing stopped dodging and running, instead using his right leg to kick at the shadow, as if doing so in a subconscious movement. At the same time, he swiftly shot an arrow into the air. It was already too late for him to shoot five arrows to block the five black balls speeding towards Crow, but he had his own plans to deal with that.

The remaining shadows instantly swarmed into Zhou Weiqing’s right leg, without making a sound. At the other end, Jiang Fei’s mouth curled up into a smile. In her eyes, Zhou Weiqing was finished; without her help, he would not be able to break free of that, and with that skill, she could even take his life. Of course, she did not think of killing Zhou Weiqing, but would wait until the fights were all over before she would help him remove the seal, also known as the Necrosis Decay Seal.

At the other side, the five balls of black light had reached Crow, just as she had finished her second blow and destroyed the shield of light.

Jiang Fei had supreme confidence in her Skill. Not to mention a three-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, even a similar five-Jeweled Master would be hard pressed to take on her fully boosted Skills head on. After all, the Darkness Attribute’s greatest strength was its continuous and sustained attacks; once it hit, its destructive capabilities would last for quite a long time.

“Heaven Destruction!” Crow shouted out loud, and the two legendary axes in her hands suddenly glowed in a brilliant maleficent crimson light. At the same time, her sleeves evaporated as her muscles bulged out, and it could clearly be seen on her large arms a blood-red glow similarly shine forth. As she swung the axes, the red glow followed, dancing around eerily as they slashed through the air, striking hard into the five balls of black light which were actually smashed apart, losing control and falling to the ground.

An earsplitting *chih chih* sound rang out, as the black balls of light fell onto the ground one by one. The tough diamond rock was actually dissolved in a one yard diameter for each ball, causing a huge hole to form in the stage, and it was spreading wider.

At that point, Crow turned to smash her glowing red axes into the shield of light once more, and in a large explosion, the shield of light shattered, dissipating into many golden glows of light. Like a whirlwind of death, she continued charging towards Wu Zhengyang.

On the VIP stage, when the many powerhouses saw Crow’s arms and axes glow in that sudden brilliant red light, they all exclaimed in surprise: “Blood Sacrifice Legendary Weapon?”

Even Shangguan Tianxin’s expression changed. “No wonder I felt that the pair of axes were special, they are actually Blood Sacrifice Legendary Weapons, requiring specific bloodlines to activate. Since she is from the Fei Li Empire, and with such a physique, she must be from the Gold Crow Tribe then. Haha, this Fei Li Battle Team is quite remarkable!”

No one had expected Crow’s sudden outburst, and Zhou Weiqing had also not expected that she would be able to break through both their opponents’ attacks so easily. As such, their understanding and teamwork ran into problems. The charging Crow suddenly found herself stopped in her tracks, as a silver light enveloped her, just managing to save Wu Zhengyang, who was just about to be struck by her whirling axes.

Alas, that skill was Zhou Weiqing’s Spatial Shackles. As it turns out, when Zhou Weiqing had been unable to take care of the last five black balls, in order to protect Crow, after releasing the arrow into the air, he had used the Spatial Shackles on her. His plan had been for the Spatial Shackles to land just as Jiang Fei’s balls struck, which would block most, if not all, of the attacks, allowing him time to react after dealing with the shadow. Unfortunately, he had not expected Crow to power through the balls so swiftly, and his Spatial Shackles ended up being more hindrance than help, causing him to stare helplessly for a split second, at a loss whether to cry or to laugh.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* The Spatial Shackles did not block Crow for long, only standing for less than two seconds before she cleaved through it with her axes with the ‘Heaven Destruction’ in effect. However, Wu Zhengyang had seized the opportunity to catch his breath, and another Shimmering Light Shield sprang up. At the same time, the Heavy Sword in his hand slashed forward, glowing with the effect of his skill as he struck towards her from behind the shield.

At that moment, the one who was most surprised was actually Jiang Fei; not because of Crow and her arrows, but because of Zhou Weiqing. When Zhou Weiqing had landed on the ground, he had actually drawn his bow again, as if the Necrosis Decay Seal had not taken effect at all.

However, surprise was surprise, it did not stop her from acting swiftly. Jiang Fei raised her hands once more to unleash another five balls of light. This time, it wasn’t on an attack, but floating above her head in a circle, the linking thread between them seemingly growing more solid until it seemed to form a black shield, blocking the arrow descending from the sky. Using an attack as a defense, such control over her energy and skills was indeed top quality. She knew that for Zhou Weiqing to take an attack to unleash that arrow, it definitely couldn’t be just any simple arrow.

The truth was indeed like she expected; in shooting that arrow upwards, Zhou Weiqing had used an archery skill to extend the duration it stayed in midair, and when used as a sneak attack, it indeed would have a good effect.

This was actually the Heavenly Bow Unit’s Transvestite Yi Shi’s secret technique, called the Sky Descent Arrow. Although Zhou Weiqing had only learnt about fifty percent of it, but its effect was not to be denied.

*Puff* The Sky Descent Arrow fell right smack into the black shield made out of the five black balls above Jiang Fei, melting instantly. However, it still managed to released its skills.

This arrow was what Zhou Weiqing had planned to use to turn the tides, how could it be that simple? With a huge explosion, uncountable bolts of purple blue lightning spread forth in the sky. Naturally, Jiang Fei was protected by her shield of black balls, and did not sustain any damage. With Zhou Weiqing’s Heavenly Energy, even with the explosive effect of the Overlord Bow, it could not hurt her. However, that was not the only Skill that Zhou Weiqing had socketed, nor was it only targeted at her.

Thousand Lightning Strikes. Currently, Zhou Weiqing’s only AOE attack skill. As it exploded forth, its huge area of effect meant that Crow would actually be in the attack. However, due to the fact that it descended from the sky, it ended up behind the ‘enemy lines’. In front of Jiang Fei and Wu Zhengyang was his Shimmering Light Shield, which ended up blocking the bolts spreading out in that direction, actually protecting Crow from it! As such, the only unfortunate recipient of the entire skill was Wu Zhengyang.

The offensive power of the Thousand Lightning Strikes was not great, especially since it was an AOE type skill. However, being struck by nearly the full impact of it, and so unexpectedly, Wu Zhengyang was still dealt a huge blow, causing his entire body to go numb, his hair standing, and a burnt smell emitting from his body.

At the same time, Jiang Fei did not go unscathed. That was because Zhou Weiqing had imbued a second skill in the arrow - Absolute Delay.

[1. Zen's note - This is one of my favourite fights, mostly because it shows some of Zhou Weiqing's flaws, always taking things on himself instead of trusting his team mates. Also, I'm glad he f*ed up a little, since he had no prior experience coordinating with Crow or any of the other teammates thus far. ]