Chapter 1270:
Xiao Chen maintained a calm expression, looking at ease as he spoke. There was no hint of nervousness in his speech at all.
No one would be able to tell that he was a Consummation quasi-Emperor who had challenged a bona fide Martial Emperor.
It was like the person Xiao Chen wanted to kill was just a random person, a dancing clown.
Lan Chaofeng sighed with sorrow. This battle had stirred up a storm on the outside, startling the entire Heavenly Starry Ocean. However, the person responsible for this matter was actually this calm.
What would the Five Poison Sect's Old Bai think if he knew Xiao Chen intended to use his death as a sacrifice?
The location of the battle was fixed at the Azure Dragon Plaza. This was the only place in the entire Heavenly Dragon City that had an arena especially for Martial Emperors to fight in.
Any space near the plaza that could accommodate a person was already occupied. When seen from the sky, the people looked like ants densely packed together.
The Martial-Emperor-level arena that was laid with formations was empty. No one went up yet.
Old Bai's group of Martial Emperor friends crowded around him. He was not in a rush to enter the stage yet, declaring his status. Before Xiao Chen came, he would absolutely not take the initiative to stand in the arena like a fool.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, a series of intense rushing sounds rang out above the plaza, shaking the place up.
Old Bai and the others looked around, focusing their gazes at the entrance. Indeed, it was Xiao Chen, accompanied by Lan Shaobai, slowly walking in.
"Old Bai, let us congratulate you in advance for killing the Azure Dragon King. With this person's head, you will be able to flaunt the might of our Heavenly Starry Ocean's Martial Emperors!"
"That's right. For the past few hundred years, we old folks rarely made a move in public. Old Bai, you must not spoil our prestige."
Old Bai smiled sinisterly. "Don't worry. Today, he will definitely die. No one will be able to save him!"
Old Bai directly tore space and used it to enter the arena. As he looked at Xiao Chen, who was strolling over, he shouted coldly, "Azure Dragon King, come here and accept your death!"
The Five Poison Sect's Old Bai's cold shout rendered the noisy plaza quiet.
Xiao Chen raised his head and glanced at Old Bai. His gaze lingered for a second before he continued speaking to Lan Shaobai, ignoring Old Bai and unhurriedly walking towards the arena.
This response stunned Old Bai, causing rage to blaze in his eyes. Xiao Chen actually ignored him.
"Azure Dragon King, come up here and accept your death!"
Old Bai shouted once again. This time, he used his Law Energy to amplify his voice, causing the entire Azure Dragon Plaza to shake.
The stone pillars and statues vibrated intensely with this shout. It even caused the Qi and blood of the weaker cultivators to surge, suppressing them into silence.
The more unfortunate people ended up vomiting blood as a result.
"Martial Emperor experts are indeed unfathomable. If there were people with even weaker cultivation around, this shout would kill them."
"It is indeed horrifying. I heard that this Five Poison Sect's Bai Feng was a First Heaven Martial Emperor whose progress halted there."
[TL Note: This Bai Feng has not appeared in the novel before. He is different from the Bai Clan's Clan Head from the Sky Dome Realm.]
"It has been a few hundred years since a Martial Emperor of the Heavenly Starry Ocean made a move in public. Things do not look good for Xiao Chen this time."
Discussions sprang up in every corner of the plaza. This furious shout of the Five Poison Sect's Bai Feng successfully demonstrated the unfathomable strength of a Martial Emperor to the crowd.
However, Xiao Chen remained indifferent. He raised his head and glanced over again before continuing to walk over leisurely.
The tense atmosphere immediately turned somewhat strange. One was overwhelmed with rage while the other was in no hurry, completely ignoring the other party's taunts.
"Haha! Interesting. This Azure Dragon King actually ignored him."
"A bona fide Martial Emperor left hanging like that, this is probably the first time. I wonder what gives the Azure Dragon King the courage to do so."
"I heard that the Azure Dragon King's head can be exchanged for a Rank 8 sect. Isn't this Five Poison Sect's Elder Bai too excited?"
"If it were me standing before a Martial Emperor, this furious shout would scare me into hiding, yet Xiao Chen shows no reaction to it at all."
As a Martial Emperor, Bai Feng clearly heard the noise of the crowd. In these discussions, every word caused him great humiliation.
When had anyone ignored him—a Martial Emperor—like this?
Rage filled Bai Feng's heart. This time, he infused his Primordial Energy into his voice, becoming truly enraged.
"Azure Dragon King, get up here and accept your death!"
The shout sounded like ear-splitting thunder. All the stone pillars and statues in the entire plaza crumbled and fell over from it.
Cracks appeared on the ground. The eardrums of several people burst immediately, causing intense pain.
Just the shock waves contained such might. This hinted at how much pressure Xiao Chen had to be under as the target of the shout.
However, despite that, Xiao Chen remained calm and at ease, not showing any anger or serious expression on his face at all.
He glanced at Old Bai once again before turning his head back and continuing his conversation with Lan Shaobai. Then, he set out for the arena alone, in no hurry as he strolled over.
The arena of the Azure Dragon Plaza was covered in the spatial formations left behind in the Dragon's Gate's secret canon. The spatial laws were already completely changed there.
This was rather similar to the arena of the Four Seas Hero Gathering in Bright Moon City. However, it was on a much larger scale and quality, able to endure the shocking battles of Martial Emperors.
On the arena, after Bai Feng got ignored by Xiao Chen three times, his rage had reached an unbearable level.
Bai Feng had only one thought in his mind: to immediately deal a fatal blow the moment Xiao Chen entered the arena, showing Xiao Chen the price of ignoring him.
There had never been anyone who dared to ignore him like this!
After Xiao Chen walked over, step by step, eventually climbing onto the arena, he performed a cupped-fist salute. Then, he looked at Bai Feng. In his heart, the other party was already a dead man.
"Let me see what gives you the confidence to ignore me repeatedly. Die now!"
Bai Feng did not even bother holding a polite exchange of words with Xiao Chen. After Xiao Chen bowed, Bai Feng roared ferociously and charged over.
"Venomous Dragon Claw!"
Bai Feng's figure flashed and turned into a venomous dragon. Dark clouds filled the sky as he took a swipe with his claw. He looked like an enormous, ancient, evil dragon descending from the clouds, smashing down its dragon claw.
The gigantic dragon claw nearly covered half the arena. It was pitch-black and horrifyingly mighty, and also contained a deadly venom.
This move immediately prompted many startled exclamations from the crowd. Bai Feng lived up to being a Martial Emperor. He did not need any time to store up power for an Inferior Grade Profound Martial Technique, launching it as he pleased and displaying a perfect and flawless state.
Many people in the Azure Dragon Plaza knew Inferior Grade Profound Martial Techniques like the Venomous Dragon Claw. However, none of them could execute it easily while still maintaining a perfect state like Bai Feng did.
The speed and profoundness of the Martial Technique were both merged perfectly.
However, the cultivators that came with Bai Feng all showed changes in their expressions. Furthermore, this change was not that of joy.
"The situation is not good. Bai Feng has been agitated into losing his rationality. Didn't he say that he would aim for a drawn-out battle before he went up?"
"Indeed. By clashing head-on like that, he is falling for Xiao Chen's trap. The Sharp Spirit Finger never suffered any losses when clashing with others."
"That's not right. Bai Feng is still a Martial Emperor after all. His mental state should not get messed up so easily. He must be doing this on purpose. Remember that he mentioned the Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign's will clone visiting him that night?"
The old man from the Western Sea Divine Dragon Palace suddenly remembered this matter. The other Martial Emperors immediately changed their expressions and smiled. "Indeed, ginger gets spicier the older it gets!"
As Xiao Chen looked at Bai Feng, who had transformed into a venomous dragon and was tearing space with a claw, his gaze flickered with his racing thoughts.
The mental state of a Martial Emperor would absolutely not break so easily. This fellow could be pretending to be enraged into an attack in order to expose an opening to draw me into making a move.
How about I just play along and see how he reacts?
Feeling confident, Xiao Chen took one step forward. Four lightning whirlpools gathered at his chest, pulling together half of his energies. Then, he executed the Sharp Spirit Finger.
The Sharp Spirit Finger was the strongest offensive technique in the Heavenly Starry Ocean. Once executed, it shattered the dragon claw without losing any power.
The lightning-quick finger attack continued onwards, flying towards the vital spot of Bai Feng's Heart of an Emperor.
"Dang!"
To Xiao Chen's surprise, the unbreakable Sharp Spirit Finger that could overcome everything was blocked. The rebound of the force knocked Xiao Chen into the air. Caught off guard, he vomited a mouthful of blood.
Bai Feng laughed loudly, "You are too young to be playing with me. Just some small tricks to purposely reveal an opening, and you took it for real!"
Just at this moment, Xiao Chen clearly saw a mirror armor covered in Deity markings where the Heart of an Emperor was.
[TL Note: A mirror armor is a piece of armor that looks like a disc, normally worn over the heart. It is also known as disc armor. A direct translation would give heart-protecting mirror.]
The thing that the mirror armor protected was not the physical heart but the Heart of an Emperor. Xiao Chen was extremely familiar with the Deity markings on the mirror armor. He raised his eyebrows and said softly, "This is a mirror armor Secret Treasure of the Deity Race. Only Deity Race Martial Emperors would have this."
Bai Feng laughed loudly and said, "It is too late for you to realize this. The Sharp Spirit Finger is useless against me. Let's see if you have any other trump cards to fight with me. Azure Dragon King, I, Bai Feng, will be accepting your head! It would be impolite of me to refuse it."
How despicable! A bona fide Martial Emperor actually sought out the Deity Race to borrow such a Secret Treasure to deal with a Consummation quasi-Emperor—this took everyone aback.
If Bai Feng were fighting someone of the same cultivation, no one would have any objection to him using a Secret Treasure. However, he still did this against a Consummation quasi-Emperor. This was truly not befitting his status.
All the people in the plaza worried for Xiao Chen. How was he going to continue such a fight?
Although people found Bai Feng's actions despicable, he had not violated the rules. Battles to the death never had any rules.
Xiao Chen wiped away the blood on his lips. Then, he looked at Bai Feng indifferently and asked, "Who told you that my Sharp Spirit Finger is only this strong?"
"What?!"
Before Bai Feng had any time to be shocked, nine lightning whirlpools flickered at Xiao Chen's chest.
With a flash of light, the nine lightning whirlpools gathered at Xiao Chen's fingertip at the same time.
The sky immediately turned dark. The spectators could not see their fingers if they stretched their hands out. The light from Xiao Chen's fingertip dazzled the entire Azure Dragon Plaza.
This time, the full-powered Sharp Spirit Finger broke through three layers of Bai Feng's defenses and eventually landed on that Deity Race mirror armor.
"Crack!" Everyone heard a distinct crunching sound. The Deity Race mirror armor reserved especially for Martial Emperors suddenly shattered.
The Deity markings turned into a seven-colored spiritual light and disappeared like a meteor in the darkness.
"How can that be?! How can his Sharp Spirit Finger be so strong?!"
Such a scene startled the Martial Emperors who accompanied Bai Feng, bringing all of them to their feet at the same time.
Xiao Chen frowned slightly. Even at full power, the Sharp Spirit Finger only managed to break the mirror armor.
This was not the result that Xiao Chen sought. This was a rare opportunity where Bai Feng lowered his guard. With such an opportunity, this was all Xiao Chen managed to achieve; it did not feel worth it.