Chapter 117
Opposite her, Seo Ju-A puffed out her chest and held her head up stiffly.
It was an imposing figure that made it hard to believe she was only one year older.
Baek-Cheong, with a faint smile playing on her lips, stealthily gathered the spiritual energy inside her Dantian.
‘I won’t hold back.’
Putting away the Ilseong Sword was purely because she feared the growth monster’s life might be in danger.
Even so, she never had any intention of sending her back gently.
Soon, the Outer Sect Elder standing on one side of the Stone Platform raised the jade plaque in his hand.
“Begin the first duel of the Qi Condensation Group!”
As soon as the Outer Sect Elder’s shout fell, Baek-Cheong poured out the spiritual energy from her Dantian all at once.
“Ice Dragon Shatter.”
With the short Incantation, the air around Baek-Cheong cooled down rapidly.
Following that, a faint mist rose, and from within the mist, dragons forged of ice revealed their thick bodies, one by one.
At a rough glance, no fewer than ten Ice Dragons circled around Baek-Cheong.
A Stir spread among the Cultivators who were leisurely watching from outside the Stone Platform.
“Are there ten Ice Dragons for Ice Dragon Shatter even in the main tournament?”
“She’s pouring out her full strength from the very first move.”
Leaving the murmurs behind, Baek-Cheong divided her Divine Sense and tied a string to each Ice Dragon.
Immediately after, the ten Ice Dragons surged in unison toward Seo Ju-A from all directions.
“It is Ice Dragon Shatter, as expected!”
Far from being startled, Seo Ju-A shouted as if she had been waiting for it.
She had clearly seen from afar the Ice Dragon Shatter that Baek-Cheong unleashed in the preliminaries.
As she fiercely crossed her two arms, which were heavily adorned with golden jade bracelets, Earth-Attribute Spiritual Energy poured out all at once from around her palms.
“Shatter Thick Earth!”
Rumble.
Earth surged up from the Stone Platform beneath her feet, swirling around Seo Ju-A’s head and enveloping her entirely like a turtle shell.
Soon after, the ten Ice Dragons descended upon the mound of Earth from all directions.
CRASH!
As ice and Earth clashed, thick fragments shot up in all directions.
White steam and dirt dust tangled together, spreading thickly over the Stone Platform.
Due to the cloudy dust, the center of the Stone Platform was obscured for a while.
“Did it end in a single strike…?”
“No, the dust hasn’t cleared yet.”
Eventually, the dust slowly began to clear.
Beyond the cloudy dust, the silhouette of Seo Ju-A standing perfectly fine gradually became clear.
The mound of Earth was gouged and cracked by the ice in places, but it held strong without collapsing to the end.
“So this is the Earth Element, huh.”
Baek-Cheong gave a small nod.
Earth-element techniques/spells were inherently sturdy, and she was wielding a Technique/Spell that had similarly reached minor completion at the 1st-Grade High-Tier.
Since Techniques/Spells of the same caliber had clashed head-on, Ice Dragon Shatter alone was insufficient to break the defense in a single strike.
As the mound of Earth was smoothly scattered, Seo Ju-A fiercely swung her Robe Hem.
With her nose raised even higher, Seo Ju-A lifted her head more stiffly.
“Hmph! That level is nowhere near enough against This Lady!”
Her articulate voice was full of the confidence befitting a Scion of the Hosan Seo Clan.
Outwardly, she was so triumphant that not a hint of intimidation could be found.
But it was right at the moment she shouted so triumphantly.
A tiny water droplet fell onto her cheek with a tap.
“…?”
Not knowing the reason, Seo Ju-A wiped her cheek with the back of her hand and slowly raised her head to look up at the sky.
Before she knew it, dark clouds completely covering the Stone Platform hung low.
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.
The small raindrops soon turned into thick streams of rain, pouring down fiercely.
Even as her robe was instantly soaked through, Seo Ju-A could not figure out the cause.
“Spirit Rain Art…?”
She was well aware of the Technique/Spell that called forth rain.
However, because she hadn’t even sensed the slightest hint of Baek-Cheong chanting an Incantation or forming a Hand Seal, her confusion only grew.
Squinting through the rain, Seo Ju-A flinched and looked at Baek-Cheong.
Baek-Cheong was once again displaying ten Ice Dragons.
However, it was quite different from before.
Instead of surging straight toward Seo Ju-A, the Ice Dragons were slowly roaming around Baek-Cheong.
The pouring rain rapidly froze around the bodies of the Ice Dragons.
Tap, tap-tap.
The raindrops that failed to freeze turned into finely crushed ice granules and flowed down the scales of the Ice Dragons.
The more rainwater they absorbed, the larger the Ice Dragons grew.
The Ice Dragons, which had been as thin as snakes, soon formed thick torsos and revealed a mysterious majesty.
“I thought the Spirit Rain Art was useless.”
It was a 1st-Tier Magic Art that merely called forth a light drizzle, and since she wasn’t a spirit plant cultivator, she had rarely touched it, wondering where she could even use it.
But upon its unleashing alongside Ice Dragon Shatter, the Ice Dragons drank the spiritual energy-infused rainwater and swelled their bodies on their own.
The Cultivators watching from outside the Stone Platform also looked up blankly at the Ice Dragons swirling in the rain.
“Just what in the world is that…”
“The Spirit Rain Art is becoming nourishment for growing the Ice Dragons!”
“To think of such a method…! It’s hard to believe this is the skill of someone in Qi Condensation.”
Belatedly, Seo Ju-A flinched and gathered her senses.
If she left things as they were, there was no telling what kind of state she would end up in.
Seo Ju-A put strength into her stiffened legs and thrust both arms forward.
“Th-Thick Earth Shatter!”
It was right at the moment she tried to send a mound of Earth flying at Baek-Cheong.
One of the Ice Dragons roaming in the rain flew straight in and rammed into the mound of Earth.
CRUNCH!
Far from an attack, the surging mound of Earth was instead swept away by the Ice Dragon and scattered to pieces.
“Wh-What!”
Before she even had time to react, another Ice Dragon surged straight in front of Seo Ju-A.
Seo Ju-A hastily pulled up an earthen wall with Thick Earth Shatter.
Even if Earth Element Techniques/Spells excelled in defense, the earthen wall was pierced straight through when the thickly grown Ice Dragon struck.
CRACK!
Still, thanks to its momentum being exhausted from piercing the earthen wall, the Ice Dragon barely stopped right before it could pounce on her.
As Seo Ju-A swallowed a scream and stumbled backward, an even thicker Ice Dragon flew right before her eyes again.
This time, instead of spreading the earthen wall wide, she concentrated her spiritual energy on one side to pack it thickly.
THUD!
Thanks to gathering her spiritual energy on one side, Thick Earth Shatter barely managed to block the Ice Dragon.
Seo Ju-A felt a brief moment of relief that the earthen wall had held out without breaking.
However, the relief was only temporary.
There were still eight Ice Dragons swirling around Baek-Cheong, and as time passed, they absorbed the rainwater and only grew thicker.
Above all, because she had repeatedly used a 1st-Grade High-Tier Spell, Seo Ju-A’s Dantian was slowly bottoming out.
Her spiritual energy was rapidly drying up from repeatedly unleashing Thick Earth Shatter.
‘This Lady’s Dantian is already…’
As she realized this, a sudden chill ran down Seo Ju-A’s spine.
Baek-Cheong had unleashed Ice Dragon Shatter twice with ten dragons.
“A 1st-Grade High-Tier Spell… twenty times…?”
When she counted it, it was a completely unbelievable number.
Unleashing even a single 1st-Grade High-Tier Spell required no small Amount of Spiritual Energy.
Yet Baek-Cheong was perfectly fine even after unleashing Ice Dragon Shatter twenty times, and she was still leisurely commanding eight dragons in the rain.
She couldn’t even fathom how large her Dantian had to be to make such a Feat possible.
Seo Ju-A finally began to vaguely realize just what caliber of opponent Dao Friend Baek-Cheong was.
‘I-I can’t lose in vain.’
Still, as a Scion of the Hosan Seo Clan, she couldn’t just collapse like this.
She hastily took out a jade bottle from her Storage Platform and opened the stopper.
She tossed a Top-grade Spirit Gathering Pill from the jade bottle into her mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.
As the Top-grade Spirit Gathering Pill melted, spiritual energy filled her dried-up Dantian once again.
Seo Ju-A gritted her teeth and repeatedly pulled up Thick Earth Shatter against the thick Ice Dragons.
She blocked the third Ice Dragon by concentrating her spiritual energy on one side, and she barely withstood the fourth Ice Dragon by packing the earthen wall in multiple layers.
“Just a little, just a little more…!”
The fifth Ice Dragon twisted its thick body and surged in.
Seo Ju-A gathered all her remaining spiritual energy and raised an earthen wall.
CRUMBLE!
She somehow managed to block up to the fifth Ice Dragon, but that was the end.
Her meridians revealed their limits from the repeated Thick Earth Shatters, and she staggered.
“Gasp…!”
In the end, Seo Ju-A could hold out no longer; her knees buckled, and she collapsed onto the Stone Platform.
Her soaked robe hung heavily with rainwater, and only her golden jade bracelets trembled faintly in the rain.
Confirming that Seo Ju-A had fallen, Baek-Cheong examined the Ice Dragons swimming in the rain.
The five Ice Dragons had grown so large that they now brought to mind young flood dragons.
Any other Qi Condensation cultivator would have been knocked out by a single ordinary Ice Dragon, yet she blocked five massive Ice Dragons.
“Impressive.”
Soon after, Baek-Cheong sent the Ice Dragons floating up toward the dark clouds hanging in the sky.
The five Ice Dragons twisted their massive bodies and soared into the sky, going against the streams of rain.
Soaring up as if ascending to heaven while cleaving through the rain, the Ice Dragons vanished into the dark clouds.
Eventually, she dispersed and withdrew all the Techniques/Spells she had unleashed.
The dark clouds scattered, and the remnants of the Ice Dragons turned into fine ice granules and fluttered down.
The pouring rain had somehow turned into large snowflakes, settling softly over the Stone Platform.
At the endlessly mysterious sight, the inside and outside of the Stone Platform fell silent for a moment.
The Outer Sect Elder, belatedly gathering his senses, barely managed to tap his jade plaque.
“Victor, Baek-Cheong of the Yeonha Baek Clan!”
Baek-Cheong bowed her head politely and withdrew her Five Elements Shield.
Thanks to it, her robe hadn’t gotten wet even in the fierce rain, and she stepped down from the Stone Platform.
The Cultivators packing the Spectator Stands densely could not open their mouths for a long time.
In the midst of that, a certain Cultivator muttered softly, chewing over the sight before his eyes.
“The hidden dragon of the Yeonha Baek Clan was someone else all along.”