Chapter 746: Mammoth Form
Standing in front of the prayer room door, Lei Kuang heard a voice praying inside.
It was the great fighter Xun Liang praying.
“Grand Barbarian God, you are the ancestor of the Barbarian Race, you are the source of our strength, you are the crown of glory.”
“You are the God that protects the barbarian race, you are the Emperor of Winter Ice, you are the liberator of adversity, you are the totem of fighters!”
“You sit atop the frozen ice. Under Your icy gaze, all life reveres and all frost submits. You shield Your children with the might of ice and frost. Blessed by Your peerless power, the barbarians grow strong and unyielding like the wolves.”
“You brandish the Adversity Hatchet and through inexhaustible wisdom You weave fate, through Your tenacious hands You tear apart danger, Your finger illuminates the barbarians’ way through boundless suffering, towering and unwavering.”
“Your benevolence is like a resplendent star, and within Your beneficence, our souls can be purified to become as innocent and pure as a child.”
“Barbarian God, my Heavenly Father, my Supreme Imperial Master, I piously pray to You, calling out for Your absolution and guidance!”
“I was once lost in the swamps of ignorance, my heart was once wrapped in the vines of darkness, You witnessed me like that and know the stains and sins I have deep within my heart.”
“Your grandness overcomes my sins; Your benevolence far surpasses my misguidance.”
“I ask You to lay out a great path for my redemption, let me step onto this journey to wash clean my sins and welcome a pure tomorrow.”
“Allow me to firmly and faithfully stay on the road of redemption and honor Your name until my soul can be purified and resonate with your divinity!”
Lei Kuang patiently waited until Xun Liang’s long prayer finished, then he lightly rang the doorbell.
Movement was heard inside the room, and the door quickly opened, showing Xun Liang.
He was an old man, the years had shriveled his muscles, but his disposition as a fighter still remained tall and straight.
His upper body was exposed, a gray leather skirt was wrapped around his waist, his feet were bare, and he was covered in scars.
The scars were of varying sizes, scattered across his body without rhyme or reason.
When Lei Kuang saw these scars, his eyes instantly filled with admiration and veneration, this was a fighter’s glory!
There were iron-like branches stuck in Xu Liang’s back. There were a dozen of them, and they cut Xun Liang as he moved, causing minor seeps of blood.
“Great Fighter Xun Liang, please forgive my disturbance. You saved my life, but before I am able to express my appreciation to you, I am forced to ask you for help again.” Lei Kuang bowed his head, looking ashamed.
Xun Liang shook his head, his voice deep, but gentle, “I am no longer a barbarian great fighter, I am only a sinner.”
“Furthermore, I am not your life saving benefactor.”
“Just when I stepped foot onto the road of redemption and plunged these twelve branches of sin into my back, I heard you shouting.”
“This is the Grand Barbarian God guiding and granting me the road of redemption.”
“And now, just as I finished my prayer, you once again came to me. This is God’s plan and also the next road of redemption I must walk!”
“Therefore, it is I who should thank you.”
“Please tell me, what is going on?”
Lei Kuang’s Adam’s apple rolled, and he almost blurted out, “Does the Barbarian God exist?’
But he swallowed those words into his stomach, and with denser shame, spoke of his current predicament.
“I see.” Xun Liang rubbed his stomach, and bowed to bless God’s name, “My road of redemption is here.”
“I will act and participate in a duel to challenge a user of the magic construct armament [Cold Pudding].”
“Ah?” Lei Kuang was flabbergasted.
Xun Liang replied, “Your misgivings lie with being unable to definitively determine the performance of [Cold Pudding]. Your predicament rests with how to look for reinforcements from the Ice Sculpture Kingdom.”
“When I display the barbarian race’s strength, I believe the Ice Sculpture Kingdom will value your request more.”
“Duels are popular in this country, and it is time I unveil my race’s power.”
…
The military supervisor found Bao Li Gen, “Good news, bad news, which do you want first?”
Bao Li Gen replied, “Good news?”
The military supervisor then said, “The statistical data from the last duel looks pretty good.”
Bao Li Gen was overjoyed, “You’re saying I can challenge Long Fu!”
The military supervisor shook their head, “Still out of the question, something unexpected occurred.”
“Someone wants to challenge you.”
Bao Li Gen’s expression collapsed, and anger rose, “Who?!”
The military supervisor replied, “A former barbarian great fighter – Xun Liang.”
Bao Li Gen’s expression stiffened, finding it hard to believe, “A great fighter? A saint level expert wants to challenge me?”
The military supervisor shook his head, “Xun Liang is a former great fighter, nowadays he is a burdened sinner, his cultivation level also dropped and is only a gold level.”
“However, you absolutely cannot be careless.”
“Since the other party is still publicly challenging you after you exposed the magic construct armament [Cold Pudding] and showed off its superior performance, he naturally must be confident in himself.”
“This is a state visitor. Therefore, we must take up the challenge!”
“You want to deal with Long Fu, but that has to be pushed back.”
“Humph!” Bao Li Gen had no choice but to clench his teeth and nod.
…
In the Ice Sculpture Capital’s greatest dueling arena, the dragonman youngster was watching in the audience.
This time the barbarian burdened sinner - Xun Liang openly challenged the [Cold Pudding] user – Bao Li Gen!
As soon as both appeared, it stirred up heated debate between everyone.
Bao Li Gen was fully armed, while the burdened sinner Xun Liang was empty handed and without equipment. A clear contrast between the two.
The audience’s eyes were attracted by the iron-like sinner branches on Xun Liang’s back.
“He really is a burdened sinner!”
“He forcibly inserted branches into his own body; the barbarian race really is crazy.”
“Woo...it looks painful.”
“It is far more than just physical pain. The sinner branches’ negative effects cover one’s entire body and can increase their burden enormously. At the same time, it can also constrain a person’s mind. Don’t be fooled by Xun Liang’s blank face, every motion he makes causes acute pain in his body and mind, and that pain bores into his mind and chills his bones!”
“He carries a dozen sinner branches, what sin that requires such inhuman torment?”
“The spectators discussed enthusiastically and curiously.
But information on Xun Liang was limited, and the only thing everyone found out upon investigation was that he was once a barbarian great fighter. He was once saint level but has fallen to the gold level nowadays.
Bao Li Gen was grave and was the first to attack.
Xun Liang mainly relied on evasion.
Bao Li Gen used battle skills and two of [Cold Pudding’s] offensive components, increasing the density of his attacks.
Xun Liang’s bare feet stepped on the soil; his movements were simple and plain, utterly devoid of flashiness.
He avoided the vast majority of attacks, giving the impression that it was being done effortlessly.
“Dodging intuition!” The answer sprung up in Bao Li Gen’s mind.
The barbarian fighters that lived on the Frost Continent endured the ice’s harsh trials. Some veterans and talented barbarian fighters could rely on practice to temper their minds and will, thereby gaining the ability to dodge intuitively.
Barbarians with dodging intuition did not fear besiegement, they had no need to think in the moment, they only needed to listen to their intuition to evade complex and concentrated attacks.
Now, Xun Liang was showing that very thing.
“Dodging, dodging, dodging, how long can you keep dodging this?” Bao Li Gen was at first very on guard, but when he noticed that Xu Liang was just evading, and was never going on the offensive, he felt humiliated. And due to that resentfulness, his attacks became more unrestrained.
He relied on the magic construct armament [Cold Pudding] for defense, while depleting his battle qi to constantly use battle skills, many of which covered a large area in constant, quick succession that gradually submerged Xun Liang.
Bang, bang, bang…
A gigantic cloud of dust gradually spread, enveloping the battlefield.
An astonishing aura suddenly came about within the dust cloud, blowing the dust around it away and clearing out a part of the battlefield.
In the cleared smoke, Xun Liang stood tall.
His entire body was wreathed with gold battle qi.
The battle qi appeared somewhat linear, some woven into the form of a mammoth, others condensed into chunks that looked like armor that were fastened to the mammoth’s body. There were also battle qi spirals that twisted and grew into large mammoth teeth.
Xun Liang’s body hung in the air about one meter from the ground as he stood in the battle qi mammoth.
Form – Mammoth!
Everyone was in an uproar.
“What is that thing?”
“This is the first time I’ve seen such a special battle skill.”
“Form, that is a form! It is the fighter technique above [Force].”
The dragonman youngster subconsciously sat up straight.
These days, he was rushing to learn the form [War General] from Long Meng.
It was very difficult, and he hadn’t grasped it yet.
His outstanding fighting talents finally hit a rigorous challenge.
“I didn’t expect that this barbarian Xun Liang can actually use [form]!” The dragonman youngster focused his attention, this was an excellent chance to learn.
“What the heck is this?” Bao Li Gen coldly snorted and continued to attack.
But all sorts of battle skills were almost all stopped by the mammoth form.
The dragonman youngster’s mind stirred, and he immediately analyzed, “Mammoth Form has the Ice Armor defensive battle skill!”
The battle qi mammoth lowered its head and stuck up its spiral tusks.
A moment later, it suddenly ran so fast that it formed afterimages to the naked eye!
Bao Li Gen considered, then activated the defensive modules, first forming the spherical cover, then condensed an arm ice shield.
As a result, the instant the mammoth tusks crashed into the sphere cover, they suddenly changed greatly, becoming sharp as blades.
After being mildly obstructed, the mammoth tusks easily pierced the light sphere protective cover, then knocked into the ice shield.
Bao Li Gen was an experienced fighter, and when his heart suddenly jumped, he promptly kneeled to the ground, raising the shield above his head and inclining it at an angle.
This movement saved him.
The bladed mammoth tusks’ Collision Force was offset for the most part, but as the thick and solid tusks chafed against the shield, they revealed how sharp they were.
Bao Li Gen got away in time and immediately discarded the ice shield.
A brief second of friction had nearly cut the ice shield in half.
The dragonman youngster was impressed by what he saw, “The mammoth tusks’ deformation is obviously a battle skill. But the tusks grown aren’t sharp, but they can still cut, they are empowered by [Cutting Force]!”