Chapter 148: Counter
As Lin Huang settled on her platform, news spread to the spectators and challengers on other battle platforms.
"How could she lose?" Someone asked.
This question was echoed by many people, but none had an answer. All they knew was that Lin Huang was talking with Jiang Yue in one minute, but had lost in the next.
"Could she have been defeated by Jiang Yue’s charm?" A young man asked.
"Don’t be stupid." Another answered.
Although Jiang Yue was good-looking, what kind of men had Lin Huang not seen?
No one could believe she was defeated by the other’s charm. Otherwise, she would have been defeated as soon as she stepped on Jiang Yue’s platform, but that hadn’t happened.
"I heard Jiang Yue has an illusion origin. Maybe he trapped her in an illusion?"
Others were silent as they thought about it.
As a matter of fact, Jiang Yue was still playing his pipa while speaking to Lin Huang.
Could it be that the music created the illusion?
Everyone was suddenly enlightened, but they didn’t know the truth was even more fantastic.
If they knew Jiang Yue could now weave illusions into his voice, they would be horrified.
After all, one could take precautions when they noticed an enemy taking out a weapon. However, it was difficult to tell when the manner of one’s voice changed slightly to initiate an illusion.
"Anyway, it is quite something that he managed to defeat the little phoenix."
"Who would have expected it?!"
"You are thinking too highly of him." Someone argued.
"If Lin Huang didn’t let her guard down, where would it be his turn to defeat her? If they encounter each other again, he wouldn’t have the chance to trap her in an illusion and defeat her."
Those who were listening didn’t argue because they believed the same.
However, they failed to realise that only those who create and grasp opportunities can win every time.
If Jiang Yue didn’t provoke Lin Huang, which destabilised her state of mind, his subtle illusion would never have had a chance to take root.
"There will definitely be a show to watch after the competition ends." Someone commented.
"You are right. She can’t challenge him now, but she will never let him go."
"I want to go to the second platform to wait for the competition to end." A young woman said excitedly.
"I want to go too."
"Let’s go together."
At this time, most of the winners had already been decided.
Although some fights were still going on, a lot of spectators decided to head to the second platform to see what would happen when the competition ended.
However, they did not wait for the competition to end before Yu Nianzhen made his move.
About an hour before the deadline, he suddenly surrendered to Zhu Jianfeng, who had just challenged him.
Without waiting for a reaction, he jumped down from the third platform and rushed to the first.
"Looks like he did notice someone trying to dig his corner." Jiang Yue muttered to himself and chuckled happily.
His plan to clean up the swordsman was quickly forgotten, and he got ready to watch a good show.
"What do you want?" Lin Huang asked.
Her voice sounded as usual, but anger was bubbling in her stomach.
When she challenged Jiang Yue, she planned to force his hand by challenging him close to the deadline.
Unfortunately, she failed to steal the chicken and even lost the rice used to lure it.
After that humiliation, Lin Huang was in a terrible mood and didn’t think someone would dare to use the same tactic against her.
"If you lose quickly, you may still have a chance to challenge another platform before the time ends." Yu Nianzhen said.
The audience went silent in shock, and Jiang Yue tried not to laugh out loud.
’As expected, he is most handsome when he is overbearing.’ He thought.
No matter when, Jiang Yue felt that Yu Nianzhen was born to stand above others. He was born to not look up to others, but to have others look up to him.
Fortunately, he was the only one who never needed to look up to Yu Nianzhen.
He had confidence that no matter what happened, the two of them would always stand side by side.
However, he suddenly thought of a situation where he would need to look up at Yu Nianzhen, and his face reddened.
’What the hell am I thinking?’ He chastised himself and shook his head to clear his thoughts.
He then focused his eyes on the first platform and saw the situation had worsened.
Lin Huang was surrounded by red flames, and even her body seemed to be on fire.
However, Yu Nianzhen didn’t seem to see or care about the flames.
"I will give you the same advice." Lin Huang said through gritted teeth.
She couldn’t believe she was underestimated twice in one day, but this was also a chance.
Her inexplicable loss against Jiang Yue had harmed her prestige, but if she defeated Yu Nianzhen...
As she thought of that, a scary smile formed on her lips.
Over the last month, she had seen Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen communicate. Their manner of speaking was very familiar, and she could tell they were very close.
’Is this revenge for Jiang Yue?’ She wondered and looked at Yu Nianzhen.
’It doesn’t matter. I will use him to settle accounts with Jiang Yue. I wonder what expression he will have when I kill Yu Nianzhen."
When she thought of this, Lin Huang’s mood lightened.
The dark cloud hanging above her head cleared, and she chuckled happily.
"My phoenix fire won’t even leave ashes." She chirped.
"Don’t worry, I don’t plan to take your life." Yu Nianzhen countered.
He was angered by her behaviour towards Jiang Yue, but he was still measured. He only planned to teach her a lesson without taking her life.
"You are too arrogant." Lin Huang roared and swung her whip.
The whip was covered with red flames and the air heated up as the swing flew toward him.
However, Yu Nianzhen neither panicked nor made a move to avoid the whip.
Instead, he swung his sword, and a transparent barrier made of sword intent appeared in front of him.
The whip hit the barrier, and it contorted grotesquely as it neutralised the flames.
A moment later, the barrier broke, but the whip had been perfectly stopped.
"You have a little skill." Lin Huang shouted.
Yu Nianzhen didn’t answer.
When he came to this platform, he had absolute confidence to defeat Lin Huang.
The variable was only the time it would take to defeat her.
However, he didn’t plan to do it quickly.
According to the rules, all the fights that started before the deadline could continue even after time up.
If he dragged the fight until after the deadline, Lin Huang would not have a chance to challenge another platform.
This meant she wouldn’t be part of the eighteen and would lose her chance to get a part of the map.
Although this method was mean, Yu Nianzhen couldn’t care about so much. In this world, it was enough for him to care about Jiang Yue. He didn’t need to be overly sympathetic to random people, especially someone who had tried to dig his corner.
"How will you handle my phoenix fire?" She asked.
As she spoke, the fire around her began to gather in the shape of a phoenix.
Yu Nianzhen had also seen the form and knew the fire was sticky and difficult to deal with.
’I can’t let it touch me.’ He thought, and his mind rushed.
He could use the sword intent barrier to block the fire, but he worried the fire may stick to the barrier.
If that happened, the fire may spread to himself, which was very dangerous.
Although his body still retained the vitality of the tree of life, and he was unlikely to be killed by the fire, he didn’t want to take his body to experiment.
However, he was unwilling to show weakness or use external things like talismans to deal with Lin Huang.
’How to deal with this?’ He wondered.
As he thought, an idea suddenly came to him, and his eyes narrowed. Since he was dealing with fire, didn’t he need water to extinguish it?
Among the sword arts he learned, there were several water-related sword arts, but their power was nowhere near enough to deal with phoenix fire.
However, he had a feeling that giving his sword intent the quality of water would do the trick.
In fact, his usual barrier already contained a vague meaning of malleability, which was a quality derived from water.
Unfortunately, it didn’t have the wetness of water, which was capable of dousing a fire.
When he thought of this, his mind went blank, and his heart was exceptionally calm.
He watched the fire that had already formed into a phoenix and stretched out the arm holding his sword.
