Chapter 277: The General Explanation About Legendary Beasts
Warriors would howl at the very mention of the phrase “powerful momentum”. It was a term which included both power and momentum, and that, in simple terms, meant immense amounts of force or strength. The warriors with the strong martial arts skills could perform this powerful momentum to the extreme, and it alone could be used to suppress or even attack his/her opponents.
But one needed to keep in mind that “strong” and “weak” were not absolute concepts but a relative comparison. Although the momentum contained in the flood dragon had been extremely strong, it still had a hard time affecting and threatening people like Elder Xu. This was because Xu was formidably stronger than Jacques! Therefore, it was reasonable to venture the guess that such strong momentum could not have been launched by Jacques.
Whoever launched it forth would soon be found out. The more pressing matter on hand was that Elder Xu, first ranker among all the elders of the Cloud Sect, only weaker than the head and vice head of Cloud Sect, was not the only one feeling threatened just now.
If even he had been affected, then it was not surprising that the situation of people less powerful than him would clearly have been worse.
The referee in charge of the match between Zen and Jacques had seen sense a long while back, as he had run out and was now standing at a place he believed to be safe before Jacques took out the bone spear.
The referee wasn't weak by any means. But the battle had spread out far too wide for it to be measurable by common sense and common level. The referee was not a fool. He knew exactly that even being involved in the aftermath of this match would end badly for him and therefore, he had no desire to stay any close.
But even with his foresight, he did suffer quite a blow due to the aftermath.
The loud roar from the dragon was so intense that its voice felt like a sledgehammer repeatedly hitting on his head. He felt a loud humming voice in his brain and lost his unconscious with a tumble down to the ground.
He had been standing the closest to the ring at the time of the match, and therefore, was the one most affected by the roar.
And the disciples watching the match were in no better situation than he was.
After all, the referee had very recently entered the level of Illuminating Soul Realm, and was still affected. The disciples, who were watching the All Peaks Competition, on the other hand, were from a variety of levels, with many of them at the consummation grade of natural level. Worse, some of them hadn't even reached that point yet and therefore, were extremely hurt.
Fortunately, Elder Xu's reaction upon hearing the roar had been quite rapid. As soon as he had felt that the dragon roar was exuding unimaginable amounts of momentum, Elder Xu had acted just like he were being confronted by a horde of formidable enemies. He had exercised his skills to force out all his life vitality, and made it pour out like a waterfall. This had let him strengthen the light curtain that was protecting the audience, though it wasn't going to protect them completely.
The green life vitality driven out by Elder Xu was so strong and full of energy that the wrinkles on his bark-like hands all disappeared when it infiltrated slowly into his arms. As a result, his hands now looked white and tender.
The cultivation method he was practicing and utilising today was based on superior understanding of vital energy. It was so special that it could rejuvenate him and protect him as well as many others. To be honest, instead of being scared, he was kind of depressed, and even found the whole affair annoying, albeit a bit funny. A match between two junior disciples, Zen and Jacques, had made him react as if he was being threatened by formidable enemies. That was kind of embarrassing to think about.
The situation was slightly funny in his mind, but he still had to take it seriously. If he didn't handle the power gushing forth from the dragon roar in a careful way, there were extreme risks involved to the life of every one else and a distinct possibility that a vast majority of those disciples from each peak would be seriously injured!
“Rise up!” Elder Xu bellowed and the green light curtain formed by his life vitality immediately surrounded the periphery of the battle ring!
Yet, the powerful momentum of the dragon roar was not a means of direct attack, but a spiritual force. It could not be contained physically. The green light curtain formed by Elder Xu could not directly block it, and all it did was greatly weaken its power. All due respect to Elder Xu, because if he hadn't reacted this quickly, there would have been several deaths until now.
And even with him greatly weakening the momentum, there were still a lot of disciples who felt dizzy as soon as they heard the roar, and as if that wasn't enough, some disciples with still weaker strength directly passed out.
Even personal disciples like Wing, Sheeny and Dick, who were supposed to be among the top disciples from the 33 peaks with strength extending far deep into the Illuminating Soul Realm, looked pale and had to run their respective cultivation methods to resist the formidable momentum!
Patrick, meanwhile, was still sitting on the ground. Though he was affected by the roar, his eyes went deep and his palms clasped themselves together devoutly. He began to utter something silently. Actually, he was exercising his Buddha cultivation method. With his command, six golden balls appeared abruptly and kept spinning around him, trying very hard to block the powerful momentum outside his body. Since Buddha cultivation method was broad and profound and his own cultivation method was unique, when compared to Wing and other disciples, his situation was naturally much better. Even then, he wasn't in a very good situation, and was afraid to relax even for a second lest the momentum hurt him beyond repair.
Rocher, who had not even touched his sword on his back in any of the fights, was now gripping it tightly with his right hand. His pupils had turned a rather furious shade of flame. The sword, which had not been pulled out from beginning of the competition till now, had always been his greatest reliance. But right now, even though he had not been standing in the ring, there was a strong impulse inside his heart to draw the sword. With great effort, he eventually held it back. With the strength of the shield of his sword, it was quite enough for him to block the momentum the roar had exuded.
Kenneth, head of the Cloud Sect, once again stepped down from the high platform.
His body was burly but he walked down step by step lightly, as if he was walking gracefully on air, like a general possessed by the heavenly god. The expressions on his face were more serious than ever right now, and he was troubled inside, though he did not show it.
“What's going on? How can the dragon roar have such a strong effect?” Kenneth asked seriously with the usual calmness and indifference written on his face, suddenly and finally replaced by a doubtful expression.
Elder Xu shook his head and replied, in an extremely concerned tone, “Jacques is so powerful that he can exercise the dragon bone spear to this extent. I am afraid that Zen… ” his voice trailed off.
“No!” Kenneth replied abruptly and shook his head. He was thinking of a lot more than Xu was, so he was obviously more confused than the latter. Then, he continued, “No flood dragon is powerful enough to exude a momentum like this.”
In his eyes, Elder Xu's analysis of the event was too cursory and simple. It was flawed. He simply thought that the dragon roar had been let out by the flood dragon's bone spear, but Kenneth did not believe so.
His disbelief didn't arise from the thought that flood dragons could not have burst out a momentum of that degree. Indeed, they were perfectly capable. The momentum that had just broken out in the battle ring was strong and for the disciples of the younger generation, it was certainly extremely frightening. But in eyes of Kenneth, Elder Xu and other elders who were at comparable levels to them, it hardly deserved a mention in powerful forces of the time.
If a real flood dragon had burst out a roar, it would have been powerful enough to turn an entire hilltop into powdery dust.
It wasn't the power that Kenneth found formidable. Instead, it was the feeling that roar was giving Kenneth which made him ponder and had him worried.
There was something about it, as if it had experienced a nirvana and was now standing at the highest level, looking down on all living creatures as if they were nothing at all. This kind of otherworldly feeling could not have been brought onto him by a flood dragon at all.
The flood dragon was an aquatic creature with power over storms and floods, but was not a legendary beast. It was merely a close relative of one since it had dragon lineage behind it.
What Kenneth was worried about was the fact that such a powerful effect could only have been achieved by A GENUINE DRAGON!
He started pondering over things. The idea was a bit farfetched but the effect he felt was coming from a super legendary beast!
“It's not from a flood dragon?” Elder Xu asked in astonishment. His eyes were full of an incredible expression. “Are you trying to suggest that it has come from a genuine dragon instead?”
Kenneth nodded slightly and replied in a solemn tone, “Yes, that's exactly what I'm thinking right now.”
“Impossible…” Elder Xu immediately denied the idea when he heard it, almost out of reflex, completely forgetting that he was talking to his leader at the moment. “A genuine dragon doesn't exist. It is the product of legends, and a figment of our imagination!”
The world was a big place. There were some people who had practiced hard and made their way to the peak level of martial arts. Then there were those who liked to make up stories and legends about martial artists and legendary creatures.
Several years ago, a book called “The General Explanation about Legendary Beasts” suddenly found itself on the market and gained quite a bit of popularity. It spread all the way from the Central Region to the Eastern Region, with various pirated versions, and its popularity was such that the number of copies sold on the black market too was unfathomable.
All the public's common knowledge about legendary beasts and super legendary beasts had been derived from the same book and therefore, was not too trustworthy.
There were remarks in the book which had suggested that Genuine Dragon, Crimson Rosefinch, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise were the only four super legendary beast races to thrive in this world. There were others too, who belonged to the super legendary beast class; unique, powerful, but unable to thrive or reproduce to increase their numbers. For example, the Sky-Devouring Beast, the Nine Colored Phoenix etc.
It also spoke of creatures less powerful than the super legendary beast, though still quite incredible. These included the Roc, an unfathomably gigantic bird which could transform into a fish, the Blue Phoenix, the Nine-Colored Deer, and so on.
The book was full of legends about those beasts and had even gone so far as to describe a war between the Genuine Dragon and the Crimson Rosefinch, which had changed mountains and rivers, made stars fall down, and, in one strange moment, even turned the heavens and the earth upside down.
The contents of the book were pretty fascinating, but many strong people sniffed at them, because the authenticity of those contents it described could not be verified.
According to them, these unverifiable things were basically legends; stuff of novels could not be taken seriously. And after all, if someone did claim that the dragon was a super legendary beast and it existed, how could it ever be verified? And how could someone be convinced about the ranking of the four super legendary beasts without a shard of proof?
The flood dragon, on the other hand, could be easily proved as an existent creature, because it did exist and even thrived in the regions that extended across the globe.
Denied by Elder Xu, Kenneth heaved a long sigh, and then explained: “I fought for the Cloud Hall about ten years ago, and I saw the flood dragon during one of my missions. Although I was only able to catch a short glimpse of it, the powerful momentum emitted by the flood dragon affected me very much. I knew there and then that I would remember it for the rest of my life.”
“Your grace, you have actually seen a flood dragon?” Elder Xu asked in amazement. The flood dragon, with its blood relation to the dragon lineage was still very close to a legendary beast.
Kenneth nodded and continued in a serious tone, “I can very surely say that the momentum of that flood dragon is basically the same as, or at least similar to the momentum that burst out from Jacques's bone spear. It was a very harrowing experience for me back then, and I can't have remembered it wrong.”
After a pause, he went on, “But the dragon roar which just emanated from the ring is completely different from the flood dragon's roar. What's more, the feeling inside it was much more profound and meaningful. I am fairly certain that these two voices belong to two entirely different creatures.”
After thinking for a while based on the facts that Kenneth had provided, Elder Xu was also immersed in the same doubts as Kenneth, 'How exactly could Jacques do that? How could he tap into the momentum of a genuine dragon and exude such strong force? Was it the bone spear made from the spine of the flood dragon in his hand? That was completely impossible!'
As a general rule, Kenneth could have easily detected the real situation through his superior spiritual sense. But right now, there was a demonic life vitality that had completely spread through the arena and no one could see through it.
There was something about it that stopped anyone from seeing through it with naked eyes and even spiritual sense as powerful as Kenneth's could not penetrate it at all.
As a result, all Kenneth could do was wait for the demonic life vitality to disperse gradually.
The stewards of the area, by contrast, were quite busy at the moment. Each of them was roaming around, holding a small bottle in their hands, filled with pills that had the power to nourish souls. As soon as they saw a disciple who was feeling unwell under the impact of the dragon momentum, they gave a pill to him. It was worth noting that the pill wasn't enough for those disciples who had passed out completely. The stewards had to perform emergency medical procedures on site to help them. Therefore, right now, the scene of the All Peaks Competition was very noisy and haphazard.
Master Wen, also under the impact of the dragon roar, felt unstable and his head was full of a buzzing, humming noise, which was giving him a headache.
At this moment, however, he was not worried about any possible damage to his spirit, but about Zen's safety, considering the fact that under the impact of the little bit of momentum which had dissipated from the battle ring and crossed into the audience area, even after it was half weakened by Elder Xu's green light curtain, Master Wen's spirit was still damaged.
Now that Master Wen was hurt, what about Zen who was standing almost at ground zero?
Although Master Wen didn't want to figure out the question, his face turned deadly pale when he thought of an answer.