Chapter 50: The Six Spirit Abilities of Qin Xuan (Part 2)
"This isn't good! The barrier is about to be burned through!" Fourth Priest Xiongshi Douluo roared, his powerful body braced against the shimmering, cracking shield. The waves of divine, golden-red flame from Qin Xuan's Suzaku Domain were a pure, elemental force that even their combined spirit power struggled to contain.
"We absolutely cannot let the Elder Palace be affected by this! Fifth and Sixth Priests, come with me! We must reinforce it now!"
Seeing that the barrier was about to give way, Xiongshi Douluo moved.
Almost the instant he spoke, he, Fifth Priest Guang Ling Douluo, and Sixth Priest Qian Jun Douluo had already flashed from their positions, arriving at the edge of the barrier and pressing their palms against it.
Guang Ling Douluo, whose appearance and voice resembled a youth, pouted as he poured his own immense spirit power into the barrier. "This guy... he really knows how to cause trouble for this old man. My hands are getting singed!"
"Stop complaining and quickly repair the barrier," Qian Jun Douluo grunted, his own Coiling Dragon Rod Spirit resonating with the power in the arena. "Xuan'er and the Holy Maiden are the future of Spirit Hall. Before they fully mature, it's not suitable for them to be exposed to the outside world. This test is worth us doing this."
With the addition of three Peak Titled Douluo, the golden barrier was instantly repaired and stabilized, now strong enough to withstand the ensuing storm. Even Qin Xuan's rampaging Vermillion Bird Flame failed to cause any further damage.
Inside the now-secure arena, Qin Xuan's sixth spirit ring—his first 100,000-year red ring—lit up with an apocalyptic light.
The soaring Vermillion Bird Flame that filled his side of the arena suddenly condensed, merging with his raw sword qi. The flames twisted, writhed, and transformed into six fiery, monstrous snakes.
Each serpent was ten meters long, covered in crimson-gold scales, and had nine fleshy, tumor-like growths on its head, making them resemble the very 10-headed Fierce Yang Serpent he had slain to gain this power.
The six flame-serpents coiled around Bibi Dong, cutting off all avenues of escape. They occupied almost half of the Elder Palace's main hall, their combined heat turning the air into a shimmering inferno.
"His sixth spirit ring... just how many tens of thousands of years old was that Spirit Beast?" Bibi Dong thought, her heart pounding. She was already cornered. "The raw power of his spirit is actually this strong..."
The moment these giant snakes, formed from the divine Vermillion Bird Flame and the sharp Changming Sword qi, appeared, her own Death Spider Emperor Spirit actually shrank back. It let out a psychic hiss, not of aggression, but of primal fear.
And this feeling, she knew, did not come from the fiery monstrous snakes. It came from Qin Xuan himself. From the divine, ancient aura of the Vermillion Bird his Spirit had become.
"Be careful, Holy Maiden." Qin Xuan's voice was calm, a stark contrast to the violent power he had unleashed.
He held his primary longsword in his left hand, reversed, and placed it behind his back, a duelist's resting stance. With a gentle flick of the identical clone-sword in his right hand, he pointed it forward.
"Sixth Spirit Ability: Ten-headed Lieyang Strike."
Twelve fist-sized, blood-red eyes—two on each of the six fiery serpents—lit up simultaneously.
The six monstrous snakes opened their giant, fanged mouths at the same time and, with a deafening, unified roar, their bodies launched forward. They fiercely enveloped the space where Bibi Dong stood, their speed as fast as lightning.
Qin Xuan had, after all, held back.
The greatest advantage of the Tool Spirit Clone was not just having an extra weapon with power equivalent to the original Spirit.
It was the ability to cast Spirit Abilities from two sources.
If he had used the Ten-headed Lieyang Strike with both Changming Swords simultaneously, unleashing twelve serpents instead of six... given the Douluo Continent's general preference for turn-based, single-ability combat, Bibi Dong would have been overwhelmed.
She wouldn't even have had a chance to use her Spirit Avatar. If she didn't die, she would be severely injured. But this was a spar, a performance for the Pontiff, not an execution.
"Not good!"
Seeing that there was no way to avoid the all-encompassing attack, Bibi Dong's seventh spirit ring—a profound, 100,000-year red—finally lit up.
"Seventh Spirit Ability: Death Spider Emperor True Body!"
At the same time, her fourth and fifth spirit rings also lit up, their purple and black lights merging into her seventh.
A colossal, terrifying spider phantom, even larger than the fiery giant snakes, abruptly appeared, enveloping Bibi Dong within its center. The enormous spider phantom, a true Spirit Avatar, let out a terrifying, soul-shaking roar.
The gigantic spider phantom, covered in thorny, purple-black spider armor, opened its massive, razor-sharp pincers. It released countless purple-black sharp blades—her fourth ability—that formed a bizarre, spinning shield—her fifth ability.
This ultimate defense collided with the six serpents of the Ten-headed Lieyang Strike.
BOOM!
The hall was filled with an intense sound wave, resulting in a violent explosion that shook the Titled Douluo-reinforced barrier.
The spider armor and the shield shattered almost simultaneously. The powerful, fiery recoil force directly caused Bibi Dong's internal qi and blood to surge, boiling uncontrollably within her. She almost spat out a mouthful of blood, her Spirit Avatar flickering dangerously.
Fortunately, the two were still one spirit ring apart. A Spirit Avatar granted an absolute, qualitative difference from the Spirit in its normal state.
With a scare but no true, deep injury, Bibi Dong's defenses held, though just barely. Her injuries were not severe, and she still had the strength to fight.
On the other hand, Qin Xuan.
His spirit power was almost depleted from that single, massive attack. His body was thrown backward by the recoil, and his Tool Spirit Clone, its energy expended, had been dispelled at some point, the second sword vanishing.
He held the one remaining Changming Sword in both hands, reversed, and plunged it into the golden floor to stop his momentum. The blade screeched, plowing a deep, dozen-meter-long gouge in the metal before he finally stopped, his chest heaving.
"I won."
Bibi Dong's voice, though slightly strained, was full of triumph. Her colossal, eight-legged Spirit Avatar loomed over him, its multiple red eyes glaring down.
"Qin Xuan, I must say, you are indeed very powerful. That sixth Spirit Ability just now, combined with the Vermillion Bird Flame and the amplification from your two Domains... its power is already comparable to a Spirit Douluo's eighth Spirit Ability."
She smiled, a cold, predatory smile. "Unfortunately, I will always have one more spirit ring than you. And I also have a Domain. Even a Spirit Douluo, I have not failed to defeat. Since breaking through to Spirit Saint, below Titled Douluo, I have yet to suffer a defeat."
In her opinion, the fight was over. Qin Xuan couldn't even maintain his Tool Spirit Clone. He no longer had the spirit power to use that terrifying sixth Spirit Ability again.
On the other hand, she had activated her Spirit Avatar. The opponent could not possibly defeat her, no matter what. This was the absolute, unbridgeable gap between a Spirit Saint and a Spirit Emperor.
"Being blindly arrogant before your opponent has truly fallen... can cost you your life," Qin Xuan said, his voice quiet but clear. He slowly pulled his sword from the floor.
"I still have one last sword strike."
All his remaining power—his spirit power, his internal energy from the Ghost Valley Breathing Technique, his mental force—condensed into one single point. A blue lightning dragon, an attribute inherent to his Spirit, was summoned from his blade.
Qin Xuan unleashed the Hundred Steps Flying Sword.
His entire being, man and sword, almost seemed to merge into one. He became the sword. Carrying the roaring lightning dragon, he transformed into a giant, ethereal sword of pure, crimson-gold light, about ten meters long.
He flew towards Bibi Dong at an incredible, impossible speed.
"This is..." The Six Priests, who had witnessed Qin Xuan's Traverse the Eight Directions before, instantly lit up. It seemed Qin Xuan had once again created an extremely powerful, self-created Spirit Ability.
Under this move, Qin Xuan actually, briefly, completed a true man-sword fusion, reaching a realm of power equivalent to a Spirit Avatar.
Especially the Sixth Priest, Qian Jun Douluo. Because after Qin Xuan summoned that blue lightning dragon, his Spirit within him, the Coiling Dragon Rod, actually resonated, humming with a desire to join.
If he didn't still need to maintain the barrier, he would have wished he could go forward and complete a Spirit Fusion with Qin Xuan right then and there.
Compared to the calm of the Six Priests, the other Titled Douluo were clearly much more worried, because everyone, even Qian Daoliu, felt the sheer, world-ending terror of this single, concentrated move.
Facing this attack, Bibi Dong, who was not a defense-type Spirit Master, would find it extremely difficult to withstand, even in her Spirit Avatar form.
"How dare you!" The most agitated, of course, was Supreme Pontiff Qian Xunji.
Seeing Qin Xuan about to harm his forbidden, personal possession, his "disciple," he roared in fury. He was about to give the order to apprehend him, to stop the fight by force—
He was stopped by a calm hand on his shoulder. "Rest assured, Ji'er," Qian Daoliu said, his voice unmoving. "Xuan'er knows his limits."
The giant sword, formed by Qin Xuan and his Spirit fusion, collided with the two massive, defensive pincers of the Death Spider Emperor True Body.
They were in a stalemate... for only a moment.
Crack—!
The Spider Emperor's pincers shattered. And along with them, the Death Spider Emperor True Body itself.
"Not good! I can't block it anymore!" A trace of blood spilled from Bibi Dong's lips. Her Spirit Avatar disintegrated, leaving her, in her normal form, completely exposed.
Seeing the giant sword about to pierce through her body, she subconsciously closed her eyes, her heart filled with a strange, unwilling acceptance.
...After a long moment, the imagined, sharp pain did not come.
She slowly opened her eyes.
She found that she had been embraced by a strong arm. She was in Qin Xuan's embrace, spinning in the air as their combined momentum carried them, slowly descending to the ground.
Bibi Dong lowered her head. She was pressed so tightly against his chest she couldn't see her toes.
Her gaze moved upwards. Qin Xuan held her securely with his left hand, while his right hand, formed into a sharp sword-finger, had stopped at some point, its tip resting gently against her throat.
"Why...?" her voice was a trembling whisper. "Why did you withdraw your sword at the last moment?"
Her gaze moved further up. Bibi Dong stared, somewhat dazed, at Qin Xuan's perfect profile, a face as if sculpted by a mountain stream and an ancient spring.
This one sentence almost exhausted all her remaining strength.
She had lost. And lost completely.
If Qin Xuan hadn't held back just now, it wouldn't have been a sword-finger at her throat. It would have been the Changming Sword, empowered by divine flame and lightning.
Qin Xuan helped Bibi Dong up, steadying her on her feet. "My Lady Holy Maiden," he said, his voice polite and respectful for all to hear, "you are the Supreme Pontiff's disciple. How would I dare to truly harm you?"
He then leaned in, his lips brushing her ear as he transmitted the rest using his spirit power.
"And... I also can't bear to."
Although in his 21st-century Blue Star life, it would be so cheesy it could make one cringe, here in the Douluo Continent, a place full of love-struck individuals, it was enough to last ten thousand years.
[Bibi Dong's favorability +5]
Bibi Dong's cheeks, already pale from the battle, inexplicably flushed a deep crimson. A strange, chaotic light flickered in her beautiful eyes. She pushed Qin Xuan away, flustered, her heart a mess.
His favorability had reached 80. It was just a hair's breadth away from "admiration."
But Qin Xuan knew that this hair's breadth, this final step from 80 to 81, was incredibly difficult to cross.
"I lost," Bibi Dong said, turning away from him, her voice low and forlorn. "But... I'm sorry. It's impossible for us two. As for the reason… you should know."
She glanced back at Qin Xuan with panicked, complex eyes, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
And just then, a round of enthusiastic applause echoed through the Elder Palace.
The spirit power barrier dispersed, and the Titled Douluo of Spirit Hall, led by a smiling Qian Daoliu, walked over.
"I know," Qin Xuan softly uttered, just loud enough for her to hear. "So I never intended to force it from the beginning."
He then turned, leaving Bibi Dong standing there, and walked directly towards Qian Daoliu.
Under Bibi Dong's surprised and incredibly complex gaze, he stood before the High Priest and all the assembled Titled Douluo and announced, his voice clear and firm:
"High Priest. After my Second Master, the Seventh Priest Jiang Mo, comes out of seclusion, I wish to formally marry the woman I brought back from the far west, Jingni."
As for the "agreement" with Qian Xunji—the challenge he had been forced into, where winning the Slaughter God Domain would earn him Bibi Dong's hand—Qin Xuan did not mention it at all.
Qian Xunji, who had been clenching his fists, was naturally overjoyed to see this.
He had been worried that Qin Xuan would bring up that old, reckless promise in front of all the Priests and Elders, forcing his hand.
Now that Qin Xuan himself said he wanted to marry the strange woman he brought back, it indirectly meant that he had given up on Bibi Dong. He had backed down.
The threat was over.
[Author's Note: Detailed introduction of the protagonist's six Spirit Abilities]
Changming Sword: Contains both lightning and fire attributes, with an ancient mythical Vermillion Bird sealed within.
First Spirit Ability, Sword Breaking the Sky: Attack power and speed instantly increase by 50%. Attack range increases with cultivation level.
Second Spirit Ability, Green Lotus Sword Song: Changming Sword qi attaches to the body, repelling surrounding enemies. Can also be used for defense, forming a protective shield, increasing defense by two times.
Third Spirit Ability, Vermillion Bird Possession: When activated, Vermillion Bird Flame increases by 50%. At the same time, it can summon an ancient Vermillion Bird to possess the body, achieving a state where both Beast Spirit and Tool Spirit coexist (a form of Spirit Avatar). Possesses the attack power of a Tool Spirit Master and the strength, defense, and agility of a Beast Spirit Master.
P.S.: Because the Vermillion Bird was sealed for a long time, resentment formed. When used, there was a risk of losing sanity (harming a thousand enemies, but damaging oneself eight hundred). (After consuming the 10-headed Fierce Yang Serpent inner core, the Vermillion Bird's seal was lifted, and this resentment disappeared.)
Fourth Spirit Ability, Changming Stab Array: Changming Sword qi materializes, a super-powerful area-of-effect crowd control skill. Countless sword blades emerge from the ground to attack enemies. (Evolved into a 10,000-year Spirit Ability: Attack power and range significantly increase, can transform into soft blades to lock onto opponents, with a stun effect.)
Fifth Spirit Ability, Tool Spirit Clone: Divides into two Changming Swords. (Tool Spirit Clone, 10,000-year Spirit Ability. This Tool Spirit clone possesses 100% of the original Spirit's attack power.)
Sixth Spirit Ability, Ten-headed Lieyang Strike: Changming Sword qi materializes and merges with Vermillion Bird Flame, transforming into 10-headed Fierce Yang Serpents. They gather together and instantly detonate. Under the amplification of the Vermillion Bird and Slaughter God Domains, at the Spirit Emperor stage, it can unleash power no less than an attack-system Spirit Douluo's eighth Spirit Ability. For each additional spirit ring rank (Spirit Saint, Spirit Douluo, etc.), one 10-headed Fierce Yang Serpent is added, up to a maximum of nine.
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