9 Heavenly Thunder Manual TOC Ch 36 – Dueling The Instructor

“Uncle Nuo, this happened three years ago. The duel between Cai Zhong and I is something personal between the two of us, it will not affect Dragon Group or Martial Sect” replied Lei Yu.

“Naive!” Shangguan Xi Hong’s single palm heavily struck the coffee table. “Don’t you know? On the surface, the duel between you and Cai Zhong is a mutual exchange of pointers, but in reality, it’s a contest of power between the two major forces Martial Sect versus the Ming Sect? You better properly explain how this situation came to be!”

“Uncle Shangguan, it is my fault. It was all because of me that caused this problem.” Ai Er stated this in a weak voice and stood up besides Nuo Yi Feng.

“What exactly happened?” Asked Nuo Yi Long with a frown.

“The incident started when…”

“So that’s what happened.” Nuo Yi Long and Nuo Yi Feng gave Lei Yu an appreciative look. But Shangguan Xi Hong, Martial Sect’s highest authority figure still with a cold attitude said: “I still don’t even know if you have the ability to fight with Cai Zhong or not. I’ll tell you all frankly; yesterday Ming Sect had already informed Martial Sect that the contest location has been changed. And they have invited the other two major forces – Celestial Court and Lei family to watch the battle. Do you know what they are intending to do? Ming Sect is using this opportunity to demoralize our Ming Sect’s power and influence!”

“Chief, I will fight with all my effort!” Lei Yu said confidently.

“That’s ridiculous! In order to become a branch leader of Ming Sect, do you think your opponent’s strength is weak? This is not something you can depend on your confidence to win! You should know, this is related to Martial Sect’s face, if you were to be defeated, I will not let you off easily!” Shangguan Xi Hong angrily said.

“Little Yu, he…”

“Whatever, you don’t need to say anything more.” Shangguan Xi Hong prevented Nuo Yi Long’s explanation. “Freakin stupid! Daring to not ask for my consent before accepting the duel, you better be prepared, or…” *Slams table again* Shangguan Xi Hong left these words before turning around and angrily leaving.

*Sigh* “Little Yu, you really should have told us about this situation earlier, why have you not mentioned it to us all this time?” Asked Nuo Yi Long with a frown.

Lei Yu looked at the several people left here; he wasn’t sure what he should say. Originally it was just an agreement between two people; he did not expect to involve the reputation and strength between Martial Sect and Ming Sect. This was similar to burdening Lei Yu’s shoulder with a 1000 jin item.

“Uncle Nuo, whatever I say now is useless. There’s still a little over a month’s time, I want to devote myself to cultivating.” Lei Yu exhaled a deep breath, and then walked towards the second floor’s training hall.

“Brother, do you not have any confidence in little Yu?” Asked Nuo Yi Feng.

“That’s right father, little Yu is currently very powerful, within Dragon Team, he is already the most powerful” said Nuo Hu sitting on the side.

“It’s not that I don’t have any confidence in little Yu, but did you guys know? Before Shangguan Xi Hong came over, we already spoke over the phone. The person called Cai Zhong, whom was a small branch leader, had been promoted to become the Northern Main Hall’s leader. Do you know what it means to be a Main Hall’s leader? You need at least the strength of a rank Fourth or Fifth Order Warrior. Also, Ming Sect mainly cultivates devilish energy; their moves are all sinister and ruthless. Even if little Yu’s strength was equivalent to his opponent, there is no guarantee that some surprise could not happen. Besides, we currently do not have any information pertaining to little Yu’s current strength, and we don’t even know what rank of strength he has achieved.” Nuo Yi Long’s fears were indeed reasonable. Devil cultivators relied on yin energy – they were ruthless and proficient in poison. For someone like Lei Yu who has been mainly relying on the power of strength, it indeed had quite a few drawbacks.

“Then… what about the challenge between little Yu and I, are we still continuing that?” Asked Fan Hong Chang.

Nuo Yi Long thought for a bit, “I think it’s necessary, at least we will get to know the extent of his current strength.”

“When should we do this?”

“We’ll do it tonight.”

“That’s fine, I’ll go get ready and notify little Yu.” Fan Hong Chang nodded and left.

That night, a space was cleared on the second floor of the training hall. On top of a spacious blue carpet stood Lei Yu and Fan Hong Chang. This match had been pushed back for a few days already, a match that all the Dragon Team members had looked forward to. There was no one absent tonight and the audience also included the two siblings Nuo Yi Long and Nuo Yi Feng, Nuo Hu, and Ai Er.

“Little Yu, it’s time to test your strength” laughed Fan Hong Chang.

“Instructor Fan, please!” Lei Yu clasped his fists together in respect.

Fan Hong Chang is a descendant of one of the ancient martial arts clans. By using his family’s inherited cultivating methods, he has reached the strength of a rank Fourth Order Warrior in a short thirty plus years. Within the country, he was already considered an outstanding genius.

Most people will often encounter a difficult to breakthrough bottleneck in the third stage of a rank. Highly talented individuals may be able to break through in a year or two, but for the normal people, they may be trapped in the third stage for a decade, twenty years, or even their entire lifetime. Breaking through from the Fourth to the Fifth Order Warrior rank could be considered a critical juncture. Fan Hong Chang has spent quite some time at this critical juncture, unable to break through at all. If we are talking about the hardest part, then it will have to be from the Fifth Order to the Sixth Order. In the country of Tenglong, Nuo Yi Long and Nuo Yi Feng could be considered as top-level figures. Of course, besides the leaders of the four major forces in the country, Nuo Yi Long has been stuck on the Fifth Order rank for over a decade; he is still unable to have an insight in breaking through.

Based on this, the thing we must mention is how absurd Lei Yu’s luck was. The process of him from the Third Order breaking through to the Fourth Order, he relied on the jade pendant left by his mother. While hanging on a thread between life and death, he managed a breakthrough. Perhaps Lei Yu felt the fear of treading the fine lines of life and death, therefore he did not have to experience the hardships in advancing a rank.

“Ahh!” After a burst of shout, Fan Hong Chang’s whole body surged forth a rich white internal energy. Inherent in its power, it was formlessly interacting with the surrounding environment causing ripples in the air, like it was bonding unceasingly with Fan Hong Chang. Inside the main hall, half the air was instantly sucked out, and to a normal person, breathing would be quite difficult. But everyone present weren’t ordinary people so it was natural that they were able to easily withstand it.

Lei Yu as always did not move, but was ready to counter any circumstances, he was waiting for the arrival of Fan Hong Chang’s attacks. The internal energy inside his body was instantly surging around, almost circulating throughout every inch of his body. Having already reached the stage of [Energy Suppression], Lei Yu relied on his power of lightning to hide his true strength to the extent that one would call it almost perfect. Lei Yu was able to give off a feeling to others filled with elusive mystery. And it was this mysterious atmosphere that gave people an illusion that Lei Yu was not a strong individual.

Fan Hong Chang’s body moved, causing a short burst of whistling sound in the air. His move made him similar to a cheetah, at breakneck speeds rushing towards Lei Yu, his fist containing a powerful explosive force. But Fan Hong Chang’s degree of power burst forth after careful consideration, he did not want Lei Yu to suffer any irreparable harm, therefore he held back some power. But his concern was unnecessary; the extent of Lei Yu’s strength was no less than Fan Hong Chang. Already in the late stage of [Energy Suppression], he could easily rely on his body’s ability to generate a gravitational field that could detect the strength of any attack.

His mouth gently curved to a smile, at the moment Fan Hong Chang got close to him, he effortlessly lifted up his right arm, “Bang!”

Chapter end