Chapter 172: Tian Er (1)
Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations
He had actually mastered and could control the Demonic Change?! This was the true reason that Ming Wu was so shocked that his expression changed. Without question, any first generation Demonic Jewel Master who was in the Demonic Change was extremely dangerous, even with their disparity of power levels. When Zhou Weiqing lifted up the huge hammers in his hands, Ming Wu realised his mistake – Zhou Weiqing had sufficient Heavenly Energy to use more skills, otherwise, how could he possibly summon this Legendary Consolidated Equipment Weapon!?
At this moment, the Absolute Delay and Fetters of Wind was on the last second of its effect, and as the originally dark gold hammers smashed down towards Ming Wu, they went through an astounding change.
Two strange colours swirled around in a green and silver mix around the pair of hammers, brightening them up. Without question, Zhou Weiqing had set more skills onto it. This strike of his could be to said to be the most powerful strike he had ever done since he had become a Heavenly Jewel Master. In order to accomplish that, when the pair of hammers struck down, his entire body was drained of all his remaining Heavenly Energy.
In that instant, Ming Wu’s heart was actually filled with fear! However, he was after all a powerful 9-Jeweled Zong Stage Heavenly Jewel Master, and despite his fear, he swiftly reacted. A massively thick wave of Heavenly Xu Energy burst forth from his body, forming into a glittering gold armour.
The Absolute Delay could only slow down Ming Wu’s speed or usage of skills, but would not be able to stop him from just unleashing raw Heavenly Energy or using his Consolidated Equipment… Not even when coupled with the Fetters of Wind.
The entire suit of gold armour he was wearing was a set made out of eight pieces of Consolidated Equipment. From the day he had Awakened as a Heavenly Jewel Master, this Set had been prepared for him. Helmet, breastplate, shoulder pauldrons, waist guard, and the four limbs. The most important eight parts of the body were entirely protected. On the golden armour, there was the symbol of the bright red Hades’ Flower embroidered upon, causing it to look extremely brilliant.
Ming Wu’s own power was already very synergized with his Consolidated Equipment Set because of that. As for Zhou Weiqing, being a Consolidating Equipment Master, he naturally knew the significance of such a completed Set. To have a 8- piece set, and an entire armour set to boot, it was definitely created by at least a Zong Stage Consolidated Equipment Master or greater. Alas, at this point there was no longer any time for him to sit back and ponder over the situation, but could only gather all his strength for this one ‘all-in’ blow. Indeed, just at the instant when the Absolute Delay ended, the hammer in his left hand slammed down hard onto Ming Wu’s head.
Ming Wu reaction speed was just too quick. Even though the Absolute Delay just ended, he still managed to get his hand up in time to block the blow just in time.
When the entire Consolidated Equipment Set coalesced around Ming Wu’s body, his released Heavenly Energy also underwent a change. The original white Heavenly Xu Energy turned into a glittering gold. As such, when he raised his hands to block the hammer, a brilliant gold light flashed out, filled with terrifying strength and pressure.
Ming Wu’s mouth curved into a slight smile. This little brat was indeed good, but he was just missing a little at the end, being off with the timing by just a sheer split second! If not, he might actually been able to cause some trouble.
Indeed, in Ming Wu’s eyes, Zhou Weiqing had made a slight misjudgement in not striking him before the Absolute Delay had ended. However, almost right after the smile appeared, his face froze in shock.
The fist, along with the strong gold light clashed with the hammer in Zhou Weiqing’s hands. However, the result was definitely unexpected, the fist passing right through the hammer! Such a powerful blow, spinning right into the air. At the same time, Zhou Weiqing’s right hammer was already just reaching his head.
The feeling of striking nothingness and losing his balance was something so surprising that even such a powerful person like Ming Wu could handle easily. Having such a powerful blow not land was already a blow to him, causing his entire body to freeze and slow for a split second.
Luckily, Ming Wu had not planned to kill Zhou Weiqing, thus the blow was not using his full strength. It was only because of that that he didn’t cause any self injury. However, at the same time, he was off balance as the hammer in Zhou Weiqing’s right hand was already at his head.
How could Zhou Weiqing make an error in calculation earlier? Especially in such a dire situation which concerned his life and death. That had all been his plan to trick Ming Wu, from the first three arrows, their skills all the way down to the end. His entire goal was to mislead Ming Wu into thinking his Heavenly Energy was lacking and make an error in judgement.
In the Heavenly Bow Unit, besides archery, the thing Zhou Weiqing had studied most under Mu En and the other members was human nature, and how people reacted to things.
The reason why the members of the Heavenly Bow Unit were such successful assassins, being able to take down those who were much more powerful than themselves was just due to that reason! All humans had a sense of ‘normality’ or common sense, and a certain line of thought. With his grasp on human nature, Zhou Weiqing had been able to create a trap in such a short period of time, step by step leading Ming Wu down a line of thinking and directing him along in the series of actions. The only thing that had gone awry was that Ming Wu had not used all his strength in that previous blow and inflicted some self-injury, if not he would have an even greater chance.
Right at that moment, a figure appeared from the distance. It was Ming Hua. The moment she appeared, what she witnessed was her father’s fist passing through Zhou Weiqing’s hammer and the other one striking his head!
Ming Hua felt her mind go totally blank. She could never in her wildest dreams imagine that her father, with his 9-Jeweled cultivation level, being forced to use his Consolidated Equipment Set by the 3-Jeweled Zhou Weiqing! And not only that, he seemed to be on the defensive! How could this be possible?
In such a moment of critical danger, in a situation where it seemed Ming Wi had no room for escape, he burst forth with all the power of a Zong Stage Heavenly Jewel Master.
With all his might, he managed to lower his head slightly, at the same time forcibly twisting his body. At such a off balance position with his energy used wrongly, he was still barely able to twist his body, moving his right hand up to bring his shoulder up to receive the blow, avoiding his vulnerable head.
If it were any other ordinary Consolidated Equipment Weapon, with his own Consolidated Equipment Set, Ming Wu would have ignored it totally. However, at this point, Zhou Weiqing’s one was different. The hammers in his hand were created by a God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master, and he was also in the Demonic Change state, and it even had skills laid upon it! In such a circumstance, Ming Wu would not risk his own life to bet on it.
*Bang!* The first hammer had indeed been fake, but the second was a truly huge blow. With a loud sound, it slammed savagely into Ming Wu’s shoulder.
Ming Hua was too far to do anything to help, and she could only hold her hand to her mouth helplessly in shock. Staring at such an unbelievable scene before her, she was struck dumbfounded.
When Zhou Weiqing’s huge hammer slammed into Ming Wu’s shoulder, the gold Consolidated Equipment Set Armour shimmered in a thick shield of gold light, attempting to block the attack from the huge hammer. Alas, the hammer shone with a green and silver light, emitting a loud earsplitting explosion as it tore through the layer of protection, slamming hard into Ming Wu’s shoulder.
In that vast explosion, Ming Wu was sent smashing right into the ground, embedding him deep in the hard rock floor, causing a ten metre wide crater on the road and stone chips to fly everywhere. The gold light around Ming Wu’s body also dimmed, almost extinguishing.
However, as the attacker, Zhou Weiqing was also in bad shape. As the hammer had struck Ming Wu, the powerful backlash had also sent him flying. In mid air, the hammers had vanished as he no longer had any energy left in his body to sustain them. He flew back, slamming hard into the wall behind, and with a *wah* sound, he vomited out a mouthful of blood.
Even with the Immortal Deity Technique supporting him, Zhou Weiqing had totally drained every last drop of Heavenly Energy from his body in this terrifying battle. In that last strike, for it to have such a destructive power, it was not just only because of the Legendary Hammers.
First of all, he still had the Tornado Strike skill from the Icy Soul Heavenly Bears on him, that he had used while charging towards Ming Wu. Its main effect was to double one’s speed in that instant, but its secondary effect was to double the strength of his next attack! Previously, the members of the Heavenly Bow Unit had suffered much under this very skill when they were fighting the adult Icy Soul Heavenly Bear King. As such, Zhou Weiqing had decided to Store this Skill from his little Icy Soul Heavenly Bears. This sudden burst of speed and strength, if used properly, could be one of the top supporting skills.
At the same time, due to his surging emotions earlier, faced with Ming Wu’s strong pressure and stress and thinking about the life and death of himself and Shangguan Bing’er, Zhou Weiqing had finally managed to activate the Demonic Change. That had also tripled his power once more, and also used up much of his Heavenly Energy.
Even then, that was not all. Even though the Legendary Hammers did not have sockets, they still had the ability to improve the skills of the Heavenly Jewel Master, increasing it by a level.
On the Tornado Strike, it had not improved the speed, but the strength increase was even further boosted. Of course, the Demonic Change could not be further boosted. Finally, the last bit of Heavenly Energy had been used by Zhou Weiqing to release two skills with the hammers. Both these skills were from the Silver Emperor, one was the Spatial Rend, and the other was the Wind Attribute Skill, the Silver Emperor Wing Slash. This was the reason why the hammers had turned green and silver from its original dark gold.