## AST 2083 - Area Dominance, Continental Frost Sword

The frigid Qi flew along the Golden Battle Halberd as it rushed back to Qing Shui, assaulting him relentlessly. He broke into a cold sweat before a fiery energy within him neutralized it.

Tong Yuan wasn’t much better off. When two diametrically opposed energies clashed, nobody got off easy. Qing Shui’s Primordial Flames were also exceptionally tyrannical, overcoming the natural phenomenon of Water countering Fire. Otherwise, a normal flame wouldn’t affect Tong Yuan.

Tong Yuan’s eyes lit up as he noticed that Qing Shui was perfectly fine, then his sword struck out again.

Whirlwind Sword Shadow!

Tong Yuan’s sword was akin to a black hole, tearing through the atmosphere as it charged towards Qing Shui to deliver a fatal blow.

This was a strange land. Its soil and even atmosphere were far tougher than anywhere else in the Nine Continents. Tearing open a black hole large enough to glance at was as easy as flipping one’s palm elsewhere, yet forming even a hint of such a black hole here was an astronomical task.

Being able to do this, Tong Yuan’s strength was horrifying, even frightening Qing Shui. A mighty warrior could subjugate ten skilled warriors. Once one’s personal strength reached a certain level, no amount of skills could bridge such a gap. Skills were still an important factor in allowing David to overcome Goliath, but there was a limit to everything.

Area Dominance!

Qing Shui understood that the gap between them was far too massive. Simply using skills was insufficient and not using his weakening techniques was simply foolish.

Area Dominance; its greatest effects were in the area of detoxification, the clearing of one’s mind and even removing some negative effects, such as being weakened, poisoned or slowed. It could even negate the benefits of an opponent’s strengthening techniques, but it only negated it by half.

Qing Shui then began applying Area Dominance on Tong Yuan!

Other than increasing a target’s speed and strength by 20 percent, it could also decrease a target’s speed and strength by 20 percent!

The Area Dominance being applied on Tong Yuan was naturally of the latter kind.

The strength that he had recovered had immediately been debuffed by Area Dominance and the weakening had become even more intense. His strength and speed had been decreased by 30 and 60 percent respectively.

Weakening his speed by half was crippling his battle prowess and caused Tong Yuan to panic. It was as though he were wading through mud and at this level, he simply looked foolish.

Tong Yuan began to feel fear, as his opponent had displayed some special methods before, but he was confident that he was on the verge of breaking through the opponent’s defense with the previous attack and if he displayed his killer move, he could end the battle.

However, before he could display his killer move, his speed had already been reduced to a crawl.

Tong Yuan collected himself as he avoided any more rash attacks, gripping tightly onto his Continental Frost Sword that was glistening like ice at the exterior. His eyes brightened as his slow footsteps carried an indescribable rhythm.

In a single step, the air seemed to coalesce as the atmosphere intensified.

Qing Shui was stunned. This was the Heaven Suppressing Steps!

It had a similar effect to the Seven Steps Nine Palace Crush, but it had a far more profound effect.

Qing Shui’s expression broke out into a smile as he retraced the Nine Palace Steps.

Qing Shui’s speed was far superior to Tong Yuan’s as he was utilizing the steps. Many people were stunned as they saw Tong Yuan fall down upon making his fifth step. The surroundings began to crackle with each step that Qing Shui took. Tong Yuan’s shadow was suppressed.

Nine Palaces Break!

Tong Yuan fell directly to the ground. His plan was thwarted, but he remained unharmed. He was simply startled by Qing Shui, “You also know the Heaven Suppressing Steps.”

“Mine are not the Heaven Suppressing Steps. I simply crush the heavens.” Qing Shui smiled.

“I don’t deny that you are a formidable foe, especially your control abilities. However, our battle has not ended. You cannot beat me.” Tong Yuan’s eyes shone with a glint of determination as they turned pitch black.

“I’ll show you what happens when a Sword Demon rampages.”

Tong Yuan’s pupils turned jet black as the three sword shadows hovering around him merged into the Continental Frost. Qing Shui clearly felt the surge of Tong Yuan’s strength and speed, with his overall strength being even higher than his initial strength.

Qing Shui did not dare to be careless. As he wielded the Golden Battle Halberd, he immediately used the Buddha Wisdom and the Diamond Seals.

Qing Shui’s body was illuminated with pure, radiant light as his defense skyrocketed to a terrifying level, minimizing damage and effectively mitigating his opponent’s attacks.

Buddhism was a school of benevolence and its best techniques were all about strengthening one’s self-defense, forgoing attack for absolute control and defense.

Sword Demon Intent!

Tong Yuan darted around sneakily. The Continental Frost Sword was sending out a net-like wave of sword shadows at Qing Shui.

Qing Shui could detect a mysterious power hiding amongst the sword shadows, slithering like a snake stalking its prey. Suddenly, his eyes glowed with a golden glint!

Heavenly Vision Technique!

Qing Shui saw the rain of sword shadows congeal into a single sword shadow, manifesting into an ice dragon charging towards him.

Paragon Strike!

Qing Shui’s Golden Battle Halberd struck his target, the reverse scale of the ice dragon. As a brutal force surged forth in an unstoppable torrent, Tong Yuan’s face turned pale. After all, this level of strength far exceeded his expectations and it was even aimed at the vital spot of the dragon.

Qing Shui’s attack was nothing special. It was not comparable to Shen Huang and the others present. It was only 100 million or so Dao Force and his Paragon Strike could just barely bridge the gap, but Qing Shui’s Heavenly Dao Realm was far superior to theirs, giving him a significant advantage.

Hong!

Tong Yuan spat out a mouthful of fresh blood as he was forced back. He even released the Continental Frost sword which prompted Qing Shui to just go and grab it. It was cold on the first contact, yet exuded boundless warmth.

The sudden change stunned everyone, including Shen Huang. Though everyone saw Tong Yuan’s weakened speed, his secret move had already seemed to neutralize the debuff. Yet, while Tu Fu and the others were calming down, with Shen Huang beginning to worry, the fight was concluded at lightning speed.

The result was even more shocking as Qing Shui emerged unharmed. On the other hand, Tong Yuan was severely injured. He already fainted. Even if he escaped from the jaws of death, his recovery would also take a long time and whether his future cultivation was affected remained to be seen.

Qing Shui threw the sword into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal as he charged towards Tong Yuan with the Golden Battle Halberd.

“You’ve already won. Do you need to be so cruel?” A cold voice rang out as a shadow appeared next to Tong Yuan, glaring at Qing Shui with a raging killing intent.

It was the taciturn Shadow Demon.