[C86] ZE Chapter 22.2
Chapter 22 – Battle Painting (II)
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A showdown between the Zither and Painting Sects? Ye Yin Zhu suddenly recalled what Ma Liang had said before the match. Taking a deep breath, he didn’t pursue and attack, instead sitting down as he faced Ma Liang. Since this was a confrontation between the Zither and Painting Sects, he wouldn’t use the martial arts of the Bamboo Sect.
The Moon and Tides’ Clear Brilliance rested atop his legs. Ye Yin Zhu’s hands lightly strummed the strings, a series of sonic booms echoing forth at the same time. A five hundred meter distance. To an ordinary Divine Music mage, it would have been very difficult for their formidable power to transverse across this spacious and empty field and into their opponent’s ear. For this kind of situation, Ye Yin Zhu embedded dou qi within the plucked zither notes, so that issue simply didn’t exist for him.
Sonic booms rang out one after another, like seven thunderclaps, and echoed within Ma Liang’s ear. His complexion immediately changed, his hand speed slowing down abruptly. Because Ye Yin Zhu had previously made a mistake, however, Ma Liang’s second drawing had already been completed.
A furious roar reverberated out as a huge body suddenly obstructed Ye Yin Zhu’s line of sight. Its physique, brimming with power, held a valiant aura. Thick scales and a large crystal horn on its head gave Ye Yin Zhu the clues to identify what it was. A Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon. It was exactly identical in detail to Austin’s Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon.
The Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon Ma Liang summoned was clearly smaller than Austin’s by a large margin. This was not a Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon King, but even so, this Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon was still a peak rank 5 magical beast. Its huge body violently sped towards Ye Yin Zhu with astonishing speed, not hindered in the slightest by its prominent weight.
With deep red eyes and a near berserk aura, these features highlighted a Tyrant Dragon’s inherent nature. Sunlight shone down on the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon, making its scales glitter and shine. At the very least, superficially the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon appeared more ferocious than Nesta’s Red Dragon.
After summoning forth a Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon, Ma Liang’s complexion waned; summoning a peak rank 5 magical beast had consumed an enormous amount of his magic. He was very confident in this Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon, however, as it wasn’t just a solid meat shield; it also held a formidably powerful and ferocious offense. He was convinced that even if Ye Yin Zhu were to summon that violet haired male from the other day, he still would take a while to destroy the Tyrant Dragon. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he sat back down on the ground, closing his eyes. His hand placed the magical painting brush over his legs as he began meditating, trying his utmost to restore his magic power.
Eight fingers vibrated simultaneously, a graceful melody torrentially pouring out. Gentle yet lively, the rhythm completely cleared the heart and mind of worry. Within this gentle and pleasant song, >, sparkling, translucent yellow blades of light elegantly emerged from the strings of the Moon and Tides’ Clear Brilliance Zither.
These sound blades didn’t appear the slightest bit domineering, instead looking like faint, flickering rays of light that rose up to the sky during Ye Yin Zhu’s performance. Their goal was the rapidly approaching Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon.
The Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon’s body was enormous, spanning over eight meters in length even though it wasn’t a Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon King. This kind of huge build—Ye Yin Zhu basically couldn’t dodge it. The Courageous Zither Heart Realm-issued sound blades accurately struck at its thick armor. A shocking scene emerged. The sound blades unexpectedly seemed solid, striking into the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon’s body and causing trails of sparks to emerge.
“Ao——!” The Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon roared once more. Unlike the first roar, this one held a lot of pain behind it. On its thick scales, the sound blades left behind a mess of scratches. Although unable to slice through its defense, the damage from the numerous sound blades accumulated and slowed down the momentum of the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon’s rush.
At this moment, Ye Yin Zhu’s heart was completely immersed within the zither. Everything was as carefree as moving clouds and flowing water. For a long time now, his inability to perfectly harmonize his sound blades with the music had perplexed him. After entering the Courageous Zither Heart Realm, however, this issue was easily resolved. Even the simplest note could be mixed with a destructive sound blade.
Sound blades and wind blades were not the same. Wind blades shot out rapidly with a sharpness that could naturally wound the opponent. The sound blades, on the other hand, struck the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon for a split second, causing it to violently tremble. Sound blades relied on the note’s high frequency and vibration to mimic a saw blade to cut through the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon’s thick scales. Its destructive capability was incomparable to wind blades.
For each step the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon took, at least 10 sound blades would slice into it. Under Ye Yin Zhu’s precise control, all of these sound blades struck at its chest, unceasingly attacking, causing the cracks on the scales to become increasingly larger. The somewhat fine scales began shattering into pieces, carried away by the wind. Because of this sound blade assault, the dragon’s pain steadily increased in magnitude.
As the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon neared Ye Yin Zhu, the sound blade barrage became increasingly concentrated. The natural and fluid > song played out from the strings of his strumming hands. Fourteen sound blades simultaneously broke the silence, striking at the airborne Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon.
At this moment, the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon’s red eyes suddenly changed to gold. A golden sphere of metal attribute power suddenly rushed forth from the tip of its crystal horn, releasing a dazzlingly beautiful golden beam of light. This speck of golden light violently shot out, simultaneously striking all of the 14 flying sound blades. A clash of metal resounded out as the sound blades and light beam shattering to pieces at the same time.
Metal magic was a kind of sub-magic, a branch of elemental magic. Internally, it could increase one’s defense. Externally, it could launch a strong attack, such as metal spears. This was a Golden Tyrant Dragon’s innate magic.
Perhaps because of the high damage it accumulated from the sound blades, the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon’s dash stopped, and its crystal horn and the tip of its huge dragon tail unceasingly attacked Ye Yin Zhu with metal magic.
A faint smile appeared on Ye Yin Zhu’s face. In the event that the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon insisted on rushing over, the formidable power within the > song wouldn’t have been able to rush forth, and Ye Yin Zhu would have had to rely on his close combat skills to block his opponent’s frenzied attacks. The moment the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon used magic to attack Ye Yin Zhu—it already had no chance.
According to the Rainbow Ranking system’s partitions, a peak rank 5 Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon had strength equivalent to a human Primary Level Cyan Rank, three levels higher than Ye Yin Zhu. As a result, Ye Yin Zhu’s sound blades were unable to completely block the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon’s berserk metal bombardment. The speed at which he launched out the sound blades, however, exceeded the speed of his opponent. A sound blade would cut through and reduce the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon’s metal magic to a fraction of its strength. By the time it reached Ye Yin Zhu, it couldn’t possibly overcome the Divine Celestial Protection’s defense.
Just at that moment, Ma Liang abruptly opened his eyes, sensing trouble deep in his heart. These sound blades he witnessed didn’t seem to be of the Zither Sect; they were entirely an innovation of Ye Yin Zhu. He thoroughly understood the genuine strength within the Zither Sect’s songs, however. At this moment, the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon slowly ceased attacking. It was very difficult for him to determine what kind of change Ye Yin Zhu’s zither song could make in the match. Ma Liang’s eyes displayed a trace of momentary hesitation before he took a deep breath and lifted his left hand. A sparkling, clear crystal bottle appeared in the palm of his hand. Within the crystal bottle was a bright scarlet liquid.
The Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon’s attack speed had become increasingly slower. Ye Yin Zhu had also bizarrely reduced the speed of his sound blade attack as well. The rashness within the Tyrant Dragon’s eyes gradually became gentle. When Ye Yin Zhu used the Precious Goose Holding Reeds in its Mouth gesture to create a pleasant string of melodies, it unexpectedly stopped attacking Ye Yin Zhu completely.
Smiling faintly, Ye Yin Zhu said to the Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon, “You are tired, go rest.”
The well-known, well-documented fiery tempered Golden Crystal Tyrant Dragon unexpectedly nodded its humongous head and turned to walk over to the side of the battlefield. Its huge body transformed into a speck of gold light as it quietly faded away.