Chapter 423: Site of the Decisive Battle
Translator: chuchutrain Editor: DavidT, Rock
The valley was completely silent, with only a few lone wolves around the area, giving off a picture of desolation!
"This sort of martial arts really leaves one…." Li Xue opened her small mouth wide in shock, unable to close it as her eyes stared in shock. She finally understood the extent of strength that Justice possessed, to be able to chase Ling Tian to the point that he had no road in heaven and no escape in hell!
In some ways, Li Xue could be said to be even more proud than Ling Tian. Ling Tian only could be considered to have barely touched the surface of their family's core practices back in their past life, but Li Xue was a true core disciple of their family back then! If Ling Tian could be said to look at everyone here in disdain, then Li Xue had not even put them in her eyes at all! However, the strength Justice showed right now let her understand that every generation had their own talents, and with every capable person, there would definitely be someone more capable than them somewhere! Justice's cultivation was enough to tell her that, even in Ling Tian's and her world, he could be considered an end-game level boss. Even the strongest fighter in their clan in their past lives still fell far short of him, just how incredulous was this situation?!
The fact that Ling Tian could actually escape unscathed from such a character for so many times could be considered a miracle among miracles! Li Xue doubted that she could even have done the same that if it was her!
Ling Tian gazed over the entire place with the eyes of a hawk, carefully taking in the wreckage! He knew that the shocking noise that sounded the last time was probably the true extent of Justice's strength! While he did not understand till now why Justice would choose this stupid method of clashing head-on with 10 different people at once, he was also starting to regret the fact that he did not join hands with Li Xue to finish him off while he was occupied! However, he knew that this strike had completely revealed the true strength of Justice and that he needed to take the opportunity to really understand Justice, or else it would be too late for him to regret in the future!
Ling Tian clearly and astutely saw that in the area there were over ten pairs of distinct footprints, distributed over the rough stone in the surroundings. After counting, Ling Tian concluded that there were a total of fifteen pairs, with some heavy and some light-footed, all unique. This was because the final blow was one which everyone had given their all without holding anything back!
However, were the surroundings something that Justice along with the fifteen others could cause? Or to put it another way, was it just the power of Justice and the other fifteen? Ling Tian suddenly grew suspicious in his heart!
Based on the current scenario in front of him, while Ling Tian had roughly gauged the level of battle, he still got a shock at the actual scene!
Closing his eyes, Ling Tian faced the sky and fell into silent contemplation.
He began to piece together every little detail he had obtained about Justice from the first time he met him at the Smoky Thea Tower all together! Whether or not Justice possessed the world's number one martial arts was not something Ling Tian could judge, but just based on all the people who had appeared, no one could even meet up to half of Justice's strength! And this was under the impression that Justice had given it all for his recent fight since no one had a clue what exactly was Justice's full strength!
But the scene before him was a little too dreadful. For Justice to go against fifteen other people and even exceed them in power, this already showed how Justice's martial arts had far surpassed Ling Tian's expectations! Having tangled with him the whole journey, if there had been a slight chance that Justice had used his full strength, then Ling Tian would have long ago turned into a corpse!
Could there be some other hidden reason?
"Penny for your thoughts?" Li Xue had already done a scan within this time and returned back to where Ling Tian was standing.
"Unsolvable! This is an unsolvable puzzle." Ling Tian slowly opened his eyes, full of questions and suspicions. "Li Xue, have you found out anything?" Ever since he found out the true identity of Li Xue, he had never called her 'Xue'er' like back in the past lives. This 'Xue'er' seemed to have become a taboo between the two of them, and Li Xue naturally had a tacit mutual understanding, deliberately ignoring this topic.
The pain from their past lives had no need to be carried over. While it was already over, and they had already forgotten it, some things were destined to remain within the deepest recesses of one's mind! On this point, both of them were mutually connected.
"It is indeed strange!" Li Xue raised her eyebrows. "Just based on the strength that created this blast, why are there no broken pieces of flesh or dismembered body parts lying around? How could this be possible?"
Li Xue only needed to speak a sentence and Ling Tian naturally understood her, because this was the same point that he was puzzled over!
Based on how tragic the battle scene looked, everyone there would not be so kind as to hold back something during the fight. As such, there would definitely be injuries! And under such an intense fight, furthermore with weapons, with the opponents below Justice in strength, how could there not be any splatters of blood and flesh?
"How far out have you checked?" Ling Tian slowly exhaled as he asked.
"Based on my experience, a circumference of 200 feet should be enough." Li Xue replied.
"Possibly not enough!" Ling Tian's face grew grave as he shook his head. "Let's increase the radius of search, in this way it should be around this distance. However, we have to first look at the central zone. Did you count how many pairs of footprints there were?"
"There were numerous footprints, but the deepest ones only measured about thirty." On this point, Li Xue had long ago scrutinized the scene and immediately answered without any hesitation.
"Thirty prints, which equates to fifteen people." Ling Tian started to pace, as he mused, "However, there are already fifteen people from the Xiao Family, so including Justice, there should have been sixteen footsteps. Where has the last pair of prints gone to, then?"
"This…." Li Xue was also struck speechless.
Ling Tian faced the footprints on the ground, and slowly spoke, "Based on your thoughts, which pair of prints would belong to Justice?"
Li Xue followed his gaze and began to observe the thirty footprints. But after a long time she could only say, "Among all the footprints, I believe not one of them belongs to Justice."
A trace of a smile appeared on Ling Tian's eyes as he replied, "That's right! Those fifteen footprints all possess similar depth, which signifies that their internal energy levels are all similar. Justice's cultivation should likely outstrip theirs and thus will definitely not leave behind similar prints. Since that's the case, then where are Justice's footprints? Could his movement techniques have achieved perfection, allowing him to block the full-on assault of fifteen people without even leaving behind a single footprint?
"That's definitely not possible!" Li Xue immediately came to this conclusion. "So long as he is still utilizing martial arts, there is no possibility of that happening! The only possibility is that he had suddenly broken through the void to become an immortal! However, there might be an option which would allow him to not leave behind a single footprint."
"Are you talking about the Vaulting Assault? Using the momentum generated from gravity to go head-on against them?" Ling Tian stroked his chin as he spoke. "While this might not leave behind any traces, why would Justice resort to this? It is not very practical after all. With his skills that are definitely more than a notch above the Xiao Family members, all he needed would be to just delay for time and tire them out before finishing them off one by one! Is his brain damaged to resort to such a method?"
"Maybe there was a pressing issue that he needed to solve? Or maybe he was in a rush to pursue you! And to be trapped by the group, while he could annihilate them it would require a long time, and he did not want to be delayed?" Li Xue came out with another hypothesis.
"That should not be the case." Ling Tian shook his head vigorously. "It's just as you said, that Justice only wishes to pursue me! But even so, because of that he would not choose such a brutal method! If he were to be injured, then pursuing me would only give me more opportunities." Ling Tian let out a sneaky smile, "You must know that on my body are numerous hidden weapons, and he has suffered under them before!"
Li Xue chuckled, "I knew you would definitely prepare those weird things. That's right, as long as he's injured, he would not appear before you unless he wants to perish together with you! The poison on your hidden weapons is not something he hasn't come into contact before, thus he will definitely have his guard up for that! Since that's the case, then we can rule that out. But what else would make him do such a thing?!"
Ling Tian did not reply, his mind whirring. He frowned as he walked back to the huge hole, and then stared at the footprints of the fifteen people before his eyes suddenly lit up. "Look at this. See the difference between the hole and their footprints?"
"They are around twenty feet away. Is there a problem?" Li Xue asked in bewilderment.
"Is there a problem? It's a big problem!" Ling Tian suddenly laughed, "Based on your cultivation, how far can your Sky Splitting Palm travel for?"
"At most the same distance I suppose, or else there would not be much of an effect…" Li Xue's eyes lit up as she caught on.
"That's right, while the pressure from the Sky Splitting Palm is huge, the weakness is also apparent, that it cannot travel far." Ling Tian began to laugh. "Justice might have the ability to project his skills to a further distance, but definitely not those fifteen of them."
"Your meaning is that Justice did not even take the initiative to attack, but rather always remained in the center of the hole?" Li Xue could not believe this scenario. "That's quite impossible, isn't it? This would mean that he had taken a completely defensive posture and wouldn't that place him in a disadvantage?"