Chapter 17: Spirit Fusion - Red Dragon Tian
The superficial wound on Yue Guan's cheek, a thin red line from the ricochet of Qin Xuan's sword qi, was not fatal. It was not even severe enough to be considered a serious injury.
But it was enough.
For a man as profoundly vain as Chrysanthemum Douluo, a man who considered his own face a masterpiece, this graze was a personal, unforgivable insult. It was enough to ignite his true, murderous anger.
Gui Mei, seeing the golden light in his partner's eyes shift from irritation to cold fury, felt his blood run cold. When Yue Guan's ninth spirit ring, the 100,000-year red ring, would have normally blazed to life, it remained dark, but the intent was the same.
"Yue Guan, are you crazy?" Gui Mei's voice, usually a ghostly whisper, was now a sharp, panicked exclamation.
As Yue Guan's oldest friend, and as the other half of their Martial Soul Fusion Technique, how could he not know what that stance meant? How could he not recognize the build-up of spirit power, compressed not into a Spirit Ability, but into a raw, physical form?
This was Yue Guan's only self-created Spirit Ability, a move he had spent decades perfecting: the "Golden Chrysanthemum Spear."
[Inorin's Note: The original MTL name was "Spear of Breaking Chrysanthemum." This has been adjusted for clarity and to align with the character's naming conventions (e.g., Golden Chrysanthemum).]
This move was, under normal circumstances, famously regarded as a "chicken rib."
[Inorin's Note: "Chicken rib" (jī lèi) is a Chinese idiom for something that is tasteless to eat, but still a pity to discard; something of very little value or practical use.]
The technique was somewhat similar to Tang San's future Blue Silver Overlord Spear, focusing immense spirit power into a single point for a single-target attack.
The difference was that the Blue Silver Overlord Spear was a pinnacle of efficiency. Yue Guan's Golden Chrysanthemum Spear, however, was a disaster of design. It not only consumed a large, disproportionate amount of spirit power for no good reason, but the final attack could only unleash less than 40% of its own concentrated strength. It was a net loss of power.
It was tasteless to eat and a pity to discard. Calling Yue Guan's self-created Spirit Ability a 'chicken rib' was not an exaggeration.
Even so, that was all based on a situation where all Spirit Abilities could be used.
In this sparring match, where Spirit Abilities were forbidden and only the raw application of spirit power was allowed, it was no longer a 'chicken rib'.
Instead, it was a killing move.
With his spirit power as high as Level 89, unleashing the Golden Chrysanthemum Spear with his full, unmitigated force was enough to unleash power comparable to the strongest attack of an ordinary Spirit Emperor—their 10,000-year sixth Spirit Ability.
Qin Xuan was only a Spirit King. And, like them, he could not use his own Spirit Abilities.
Facing such a situation, if any accident occurred—if Qin Xuan was crippled or, worse, killed—given the High Priest's extremely high, almost obsessive regard for the boy, plus the fury of his two Peak Douluo teachers... Yue Guan would be in serious, career-ending trouble.
"Don't worry, Old Gui, I haven't been blinded by anger yet," Yue Guan hissed, his voice trembling with rage. His eyes, usually soft, were now bloodshot as he looked straight at Qin Xuan, the golden, ethereal shape of a spear forming in his hand.
"At the critical moment, I'll hold back. I won't kill him, just teach him his place."
He then raised his voice, the chilling pressure of a Spirit Douluo flooding the hall. "Qin Xuan! Let me tell you in advance! The power of this move of mine is comparable to the sixth Spirit Ability of a Level 60+ attack-system Spirit Emperor! It is still not too late for you to surrender now!"
Qin Xuan's chest was heaving. He held his long sword horizontally in his right hand, his left hand, index and middle fingers extended, forming a sword-finger that lightly caressed the crimson blade.
He was in trouble.
After battling a Level 89 Spirit Douluo until now, his spirit power was also running dangerously low.
Ultimately, he had only just learned the Horizontal Sword Technique. He could execute the moves, but he hadn't truly mastered it. He couldn't perfectly integrate it with his own power, leading to significant, inefficient spirit power consumption with every exchange.
He couldn't dodge this. The spear had already locked onto his aura.
Therefore, he thought, his mind racing, what follows will be my final move. Win or lose, this is it.
He planted his feet and lied without batting an eye.
"I also have a self-created Spirit Ability," he announced, his voice projecting a false confidence. "I comprehended it based on my first Spirit Ability, 'Sword Breaking the Sky,' and I call it... 'Traverse the Eight Directions'! I ask Senior Yue Guan for your generous guidance!"
He didn't wait for a reply. He poured the dregs of his spirit power, combined with the internal energy from his Ghost Valley Breathing Technique, directly into the Changming Sword.
Invisible red airflow appeared from nothing, swirling around his body. The air crackled with crimson lightning. The power gathered, finally transforming into the ethereal shape of a fire dragon, which coiled protectively around Qin Xuan.
Roar—!
The fire dragon roared, its voice a shriek that was half-dragon, half-phoenix.
The next second, a scene that shocked everyone present—including, and especially, Qin Xuan himself—appeared.
High on the platform, standing beside Qian Daoliu, Qin Xuan's teacher, Qian Jun Douluo, suddenly jolted. The Coiling Dragon Rod in his hand, a nine-ringed Peak Douluo's Spirit, actually began to tremble violently, emitting a low, draconic hum.
At the exact same time, the Changming Sword in Qin Xuan's hand also trembled, fighting to leap from his grasp.
A few seconds later, the fire dragon summoned by Qin Xuan's "Traverse the Eight Directions" completely lost control. It didn't shoot at Yue Guan. Instead, it tore through the air and flew across the hall, directly towards Qian Jun Douluo.
Under Qian Daoliu's surprised gaze, the astonishment of the other Elders, and the absolute fright of Yue Guan and Gui Mei, the fire dragon merged into Qian Jun Douluo's Coiling Dragon Rod.
The Evil Breaking Dragon sealed within the Coiling Dragon Rod, a dormant, ancient will, seemed to gain a soul. It instantly came alive.
An ethereal black dragon, wreathed in dark energy, burst from the staff. It wrapped around the Coiling Dragon Rod, and with a sound like shattering chains, it broke free from the spiritual restraints of Qian Jun, a 96th-level Peak Douluo.
Simultaneously breaking free was the Changming Sword in Qin Xuan's hand.
Clang!
The sword flew from his grip, and the Vermillion Bird sealed within it also seemed to come alive. A crimson, fiery phoenix burst forth. Wrapped around the Changming Sword, it soared across the hall, flying towards the Coiling Dragon Rod.
The two great Spirits—the black dragon and the crimson phoenix—met in the center of the hall. They intertwined.
At this moment, five words simultaneously appeared in everyone's minds:
Martial Soul Fusion Technique!
"It... it actually succeeded!" Even the usually steady Qian Jun Douluo couldn't help but exclaim in shock.
Before this, they had tried. On the High Priest's orders, they had attempted to trigger the Martial Soul Fusion Technique multiple times, but each attempt had failed, ending with their spirit powers violently rejecting each other.
They had all subconsciously believed it was due to the vast, insurmountable difference in spirit power between the two parties. They assumed that only when Qin Xuan advanced to Titled Douluo would it be possible to complete the fusion.
Unexpectedly, today... today, it fused. It was triggered by the resonance from Qin Xuan's desperate, "self-created" Spirit Ability, which had awakened the dormant wills of both Spirits.
Although it was only a two-person fusion, not the three-person fusion they dreamed of (with his brother, Jiang Mo), this was undoubtedly a very good start. In the future, if they could fuse all three... even the High Priest might not be their opponent.
Ignoring his amazement, Qian Jun Douluo urgently reminded the stunned hall, "Jiang Mo! Xuan'er! Opportunities are rare! Quickly, perform the Spirit Fusion!"
Wait, Jiang Mo? Qin Xuan thought, confused. But...
He looked, and it was not his teacher Qian Jun who had leaped down, but the other Priest, his brother Jiang Mo.
[Inorin's Note: The original text confuses Qian Jun and "Title Douluo" (who is Jiang Mo). The fusion is between Qin Xuan and Jiang Mo, his other teacher, who also wields a Coiling Dragon Rod. Qian Jun (the first teacher) remains on the platform.]
"Haha, good!" Feeling the irresistible pull of spirit power from Qin Xuan, Jiang Mo Douluo laughed wildly. He leaped down from the high platform where the Seraphim statue stood. In the blink of an eye, he crossed the hall and arrived in front of Qin Xuan, opening his arms wide.
"Come on, Xuan'er! Let this old man see what level our two Spirits can reach when fused!"
"Uh..."
Fuse? With a man?
Qin Xuan's face turned pale. He looked at the towering, two-meter-plus Jiang Mo, a man of pure muscle and old-man-smell. He suddenly felt a wave of profound nausea in his stomach. He had a horrifying mental image of the Dragon Ball Z fusion dance.
Qian Jun Douluo, still on the platform, saw Qin Xuan not moving and thought he was scared silly by the sudden event. He sternly reminded him, "Xuan'er, quickly! This opportunity is fleeting! Once lost, it's gone forever!"
"Uh..." Qin Xuan's face twitched violently.
He looked at the two-meter-plus Jiang Mo in front of him, who was a full head taller than himself. He suppressed his disgust and reluctantly opened his arms.
It's over... my, Qin Xuan's, chastity is gone... My, Qin Xuan, am going to be defiled by an old man...
Qin Xuan closed his eyes, shedding tears of profound regret.
Just as the two were about to collide, and Qin Xuan braced himself to be embraced by the muscular man... the imagined sensation of crushing muscles and awkwardness did not come.
Instead, their Spirits, already intertwined in the air, pulled.
Qin Xuan: Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black.
Jiang Mo: Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black.
The 14 spirit rings of the two Spirit Masters suddenly floated out, appearing around their bodies in a dazzling display.
A strong, blinding white light appeared between them, then exploded outward.
The Elders in the Elder Palace were temporarily blinded by the sheer intensity of the light.
When the white light finally reced, a tall, completely unfamiliar figure stood in the center of the hall, where Qin Xuan and Jiang Mo had been.
The man was about two meters tall. His face was cold and devastatingly handsome, bearing a striking resemblance to both Qin Xuan and Jiang Mo, combining the former's sharp features with the latter's imposing aura.
He wore opulent, flowing red robes. His long bangs were parted in the middle, framing his face, and his hair was a waterfall of pure, ghostly white. Fiery red dragon scales appeared on his chest and arms, and the decorations on his shoulders were two sharp, fiery dragon horns. Intersecting white bones coiled around the front of his robes, giving him a look of ancient, primal power.
He stood unarmed.
In the air, the Changming Sword and the Coiling Dragon Rod, still fused, had somehow merged into a terrifying blood spear about two and a half meters long.
The spearhead was the blade of the Changming Sword. The spear shaft was the Coiling Dragon Rod. The patterns engraved on the rod, in addition to the black Evil Breaking Dragon, now featured a new, lifelike crimson Vermillion Bird, coiling around it in perfect, deadly harmony.
The man instinctively raised his head and beckoned with his hand.
Clang!
The blood spear spun in the air, forming a perfect circle, and then flew into his hand, landing with a solid, heavy thud.
The smooth, mirror-like spearhead, red as blood, met the man's cold gaze. Looking at the familiar, yet unfamiliar, figure reflected in the spearhead, a surprised exclamation suddenly rang out, seeming to come from the man himself, yet also from within his mind:
"Holy crap! Isn't this Black Dragon Tian? No... the clothes are red, so it should be Red Dragon Tian!"
It was Qin Xuan's voice, his consciousness still awake within the fusion.
[Inorin's Note: "Black Dragon Tian" (Hei Long Tian) is the main antagonist from the donghua/manhua Wu Geng Ji / Feng Shen Ji. He is an ancient, white-haired, red-robed (in his "Red Dragon" form) dragon god of immense power. The fused form bears a striking resemblance to him.]
Unfortunately, this voice was destined to be unheard by anyone.
Because the moment the fused being grasped the blood spear, an aura unique to Titled Douluo of Level 97 and above—the aura of a Peak Douluo—suddenly erupted, spreading out as a visible wave of air.
Centered on the red-robed man, the reinforced floor of the Elder Palace collapsed, cracking in a spiderweb pattern. Stones flew, and the entire Elder Palace, a structure that had stood for 10,000 years, trembled violently.
Yue Guan and Gui Mei, who had the lowest spirit power in the hall (Level 89), were instantly sent flying. They were swatted like insects by the immense spirit power, slamming into the far wall and collapsing to the ground, unconscious.
Even Qian Jun, Guang Ling, Xiongshi, and Qingluan—four Peak Douluo Elders—couldn't help but be forced to retreat several steps, their faces pale with shock, before they could barely stabilize themselves.
Only Qian Daoliu, whose spirit power was as high as Level 99, and Gold Crocodile Douluo, at Level 98, remained unaffected. They stood as firm as a mountain, their eyes wide, staring in absolute disbelief at the new, terrifying power that had just been born in their hall.
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