Chapter 306 306 – Combined Techniques
"Are you ready to combine our techniques and see if we can make combinations work?" Ken asked the woman by his side.
"Sure."
The two were surrounded by over a hundred enemies that found them by the large booms and their complete disregard for hiding their presence. While they could engage in a hard battle and come out victorious, it was a good chance to test their heavier weapons.
'Mind-Poisoning Domain – Frenzy Mode.'
'Plain of Love.'
"Frenzied Love," Ken said the name he had come with for their combined technique. Their enemies, circling them with weapons unsheathed, had found Tiara attractive from the beginning, and she was one of the most famous figures in the tournament alongside Ken due to her elegance and lithe shape.
When the Qi they exuded washed over the dozens of disciples in their proximity, everyone's eyes turned somewhat foggy before turning bloodshot, their expressions twisted. Only a very few, experts of the mind, could resist the heavy influence on their minds, only thanks to the fact that it was a mass technique.
"Kill everyone."
"Kill everyone."
Ken and Tiara's voices echoed together through the silent icy plains, and the many cultivators emanated killing intent that rose to the sky as they turned against each other.
"What are you doing?!"
"Resist their evil technique!"
Those still sober screamed and tried to clear the minds of their former allies, to no avail. The crowd watched in surprise as a gory battle took place with group members stabbing each other in the backs or in the chests.
Fire, lightning, and every other element could be seen flashing in swift attacks. Spears, swords, hammers, and every kind of weapon appeared as the members of the 18 sects slayed each other.
"What is going on?! Whose technique is it, and what does it do? It reminds me of the Charm Qi of the Qiteria Continent, yet it's not that. Did we just get a clue to the origins of Kara's beauty???" Steve shouted into his microphone, riling up the spectators.
The fights raged in the arena as Ken and Tiara stood in the middle, unaffected by the chaos. Nobody aimed for them. Those under their technique did not see them as targets for their frenzy while those resisting were busy fighting the others.
"Let's help them end it faster," Ken instructed and started waving his sword around, sending slashes at the fighting cultivators to put an end to their lives.
Tiara did not stay idle and produced many of her beautiful ice birds, their frosty beaks sharp and deadly. They shot themselves at their master's enemies and pierced their backs and chests, creating a frightening hole before exploding and freezing the whole area.
The bodies piled up rapidly, making the crowd and the commentator forget about the early remark that called for peace.
"The Deadly Couple is back, and they are deadlier than ever this time! Hundreds of cultivators are caught in their techniques, this is nothing short of a massacre!" Steve shouted as the watchers cheered.
It only took ten minutes for Ken and Tiara to kill over a hundred of their peers, cultivators who were supposed to be the best of the continent and of an equal stage to the two.
"I wouldn't be able to cause so much destruction with my technique alone, the combined effect is impressive," Tiara commented as she surveyed the corpses lying on the red ice.
"True," Ken nodded. He knew his technique could bring forth just as much damage by itself, but he'd need to spend much more Qi and maybe even his Bloodlust intent.
The two continued their hunt, taking down every single enemy they came across while allowing only the disciples from the unranked sects and the Peaceful Demon Sect to forfeit the match alive.
While Tiara and Ken were busy accumulating future Immortal Qi Stones, Henry and Alaric did not get to rest and were occupied with their own trouble. After Ken took a look at the platform from above to find the icy quarter, revealing their presence in the process, hundreds of haters had gathered together to take the hateful Devil's Heir down.
"Haha, let's if you can survive long enough for the token to activate and carry you out of here!" The duo's enemies jeered and launched their attacks, sure that the two already tried to use their tokens to saves their lives.
"Team Leader is quite mean, letting us handle this mess he had created on our own," Alaric commented with a wry smile as endless attacks hit the golden bell they were hiding in, producing countless ringing sounds.
"Trust in yourself alone and be the guide of your own path. Since we must handle this ourselves, should we try a combined technique?" Henry turned his head as if he could see the situation through the blindfold. He was expending his Qi at a rapid rate, and he could not hold on against the attacks of so many cultivators on his own for long.
"Sure, which one?" Alaric asked and his guqin levitated in the air in front of him, his fingers waiting above the strings.
"I've already produced a bell." Henry straightened his head and concentrated on working together with Alaric.
"Hmm… How did Team Leader call it? Right, it's called Retaliation Bell…" Alaric whispered to himself as his fingers started moving. This time the music's flow was not constant; it did not even have a clear rhythm. It changed from fast to slow, only depending on one thing that only Alaric and Henry knew what it was.
*Ring!* *Ring!* *Ring!*
This time the guqin mysteriously did not play any music nor made any sound. However, Henry's bell started ringing vigorously. Rather than the muffled dongs it had created earlier, the sounds now matched that of a bell empowered by runes.
Powerful shockwaves were sent at the cultivators attacking, sweeping them off of their legs with unstoppable momentum and crushing their bones and organs.
"Attack! We must destroy this bell, it's the one sending the sonic shockwaves!"
Someone screamed and everyone sent their most powerful attacks in an attempt to break it. However, they were no match for the duo, and the shockwaves continued wreaking havoc in the 18 sects' ranks.
"We can't win… run, we just need to survive to get to the next round!" The last dozen or so enemies looked around them, seeing everyone groan and puke blood as they writhed in agony on the cold hard ground.
"Time to take out the garbage," Alaric sighed and Henry made the bell disappear. Fast-paced war music was emitted by the guqin, and one could hear brandished spears in the background as a rain of ethereal spears made of Spear Qi began to rain, killing the few who were on the verge of death and hunting those running away.
"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding." Henry nodded seriously and heavy palms descended from above alongside the spears, bringing despair to those who tried to run.
Those who were not killed already broke their tokens and waited for the 7-second countdown to end to be teleported to safety. How unfortunate, most of them didn't make it.
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"What is this kid's technique? I don't get it, does he have a fourth type of Qi, or did he find a way to influence the girl's Charm Qi with Sword Qi? Could it be that he found a way to utilize Runic Qi or Alchemical Qi as an offensive type of Qi?"
Those words were told by many elders across many mountains as they tried to understand what was going on.
They all knew that Tiara and Ken pulled off a combined technique, something they already found quite amazing. They also realized that Tiara practiced Charm Qi since they had experienced it before.
However, none of them had witnessed Blood Qi in the past, hence nobody could discern Ken's abilities and fourth Qi type.
"Even if he has four, he will have to give up on one type eventually if he ever wants to get to the seventh stage, so why does it matter?" many of them mumbled, shrugging their shoulders.
Ken might be a genius who had invented revolutionary theories in many fields, but some things could not be solved and there was no way around them.
Or at least, that's what they all believed currently.
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"Hmm, that boy's inheritance reminds me of Grand Elder Martha's techniques, doesn't she also have a set of melodies she plays to cause different illusions and attacks?" Layla asked Yuhua.
"She does, it's the inheritance passed from Supreme Elder Ursula, but nobody managed to get to the ninth stage with it ever since Elder Ursula... ascended. However, it seems different from Elder Martha's melodies and has different effects. Elder Ursula's inheritance did not include a weapon, and the records don't mention that she had ever used one."
Yuhua told the higher-ranked woman what she knew about the topic, her expression twitching for a moment when mentioning the elder suspected to be part of the infamous Bloodthirst Sect. Yuhua was in charge of many administrative jobs due to her position, making her a reliable source of information on many subjects.
"I see. Is he the one from the Divine Sword Sect?"
"Yes."
"Hmm… I don't think they have something like that there. And now we might have even accidentally put our hands on a Charm Qi inheritance as well after chasing it for so long to no avail. This child is interesting, seems like he has brought many treasures to us, haha!"
Layla started laughing at the thought that they might have acquired four great inheritances when they thought they were doing a favor to a single child in exchange for his single one, one of them even a coveted type of Qi they failed to steal for many years.
"When you deliberately plant a flower, the flower doesn't bloom; whereas when you slip a willow casually in the mud, it grows to give shade, (1)" Yuhua agreed with a smile.
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A/N: (1) When you deliberately plant a flower, the flower doesn't bloom; whereas when you slip a willow casually in the mud, it grows to give shade – an idiom meaning that when you search for something you might never find it, but then it might fall to your hands at an unexpected moment.
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