Chapter 568: Elementalist Xu Jingming! Overwhelming Suppression!

"I never said I was only a martial artist."

On the vast arena, the tall Xu Jingming stood firm.

Behind him, a golden halo bloomed with dazzling radiance, paired with the violent thunder that raged across the entire arena.

Just like the legendary Lei Shen—sacred and majestic.

"An elemental weapon? Is Lei Di trying to fight Andrey with an elementalist's methods? Isn't his strongest point close combat?"

"Not necessarily. Haven't you noticed? Lei Di's elemental weapon doesn't affect his use of weapons.

I figure he just wants to amplify his abilities—the main offense will still be close combat."

"True enough. After all, it's a Grandmaster-level spear art—the close-combat advantage is just too great."

"..."

Among all the contestants in the entire Global Genius Exchange Tournament, only Xu Jingming's weapon proficiency had reached Grandmaster level!

Therefore, as the audience discussed, they all guessed that Xu Jingming would not abandon this advantage.

Yet Xu Jingming on the arena simply flipped his right hand and stored the Flowing Cloud Golden Edge Spear directly into his spatial ring.

At equal strength, an elementalist has absolute suppression over a martial artist!

Especially since Andrey's ice-element ability possessed an extremely terrifying slowing effect.

Although close combat could still work, there was no need to fight the opponent's strength with one's own weakness.

Of course,

if he activated Lei Bao Tai, no matter how powerful Andrey's elementalist methods were, he could crush them with brute force.

But having finally met an opponent of the same tier, Xu Jingming also wanted to test whether his elementalist methods could defeat him head-on.

According to his expectations, having cultivated the SSS-grade spirit refinement art *Lei Hai Visualization Method* to the fourth layer.

achieving this should not be particularly difficult.

"Come! Let's see which of us two elementalists is stronger!"

The Lei Guang in Xu Jingming's eyes grew ever more dazzling, and within the sacred aura he exuded, there seemed to be a hint of suppressed brutality!

"Lei Prison!"

His right hand rose, and he made a grasping motion in the void toward Andrey's position!

Crackle-crackle—

Violent golden thunder bloomed above Andrey's head.

Lei Prison, this restriction-type A-grade combat technique, had already been upgraded by Xu Jingming to Perfection-level proficiency.

The moment it was unleashed, thick bolts of thunder were about to close together in the blink of an eye, locking Andrey in place.

"Frost Tornado!!"

Andrey roared, and biting frost gathered around him, forming a fierce icy tornado!

Whoosh—

The gale howled, and the frost tornado actually lifted Andrey up, dodging out before Lei Prison could close!

Frost Tornado, an A+ grade combat technique, could be used both for offense and to lift an ability-user for evasion.

This technique had been cultivated by Andrey to Grandmaster-level proficiency, making it extremely easy for him to unleash.

Xu Jingming, shrouded in thunder in the distance, did not seem surprised by this scene.

Instead, he pointed his right hand from afar: "Heavenly Thunder Art!"

Rumble rumble rumble~~~

In the sky, dark clouds rolled, with violent Lei Guang flashing within them.

The next moment,

heaven and earth blazed bright, and a golden thunderbolt roughly as thick as a water barrel suddenly cleaved down from the clouds!

The speed of lightning is the speed of light!

Even with the Frost Tornado, Andrey knew perfectly well he had no way to dodge this strike!

But he had long been prepared for this!

Six smooth, mirror-like ice-crystal shields, each about a person's height, constantly guarded around his body.

Even above his head and beneath his feet, there was one more each!

Hexagonal Ice Shield!

A defense-type S-grade combat technique—if dodging was impossible, he could only take it head-on!

Rumble rumble rumble!!

The golden lightning struck the Hexagonal Ice Shield, and in the blink of an eye, it annihilated the ice shield!

And the remaining thunder, after penetrating the combat suit, struck Andrey's body, but did not cause particularly high damage.

It only made his complexion turn slightly pale.

Even so, it still made Andrey's heart jump.

Both being S-grade combat techniques, defense-type techniques should be more stable than offense-type ones.

In other words, his Hexagonal Ice Shield should have been completely enough to block this Heavenly Thunder without letting him get hurt.

This situation only pointed to one result: either Xu Jingming's Heavenly Thunder Art proficiency was higher than his Hexagonal Ice Shield's,

or Xu Jingming's spiritual power was higher than his!

"My S-grade Hexagonal Ice Shield has already been cultivated to Advanced proficiency.

Judging by Xu Jingming's Heavenly Thunder release speed, his proficiency should also be around Advanced.

In other words, Heavenly Thunder being able to shatter the Hexagonal Ice Shield is entirely because his spiritual power is even stronger than mine!

But how is that possible?! I'm 26 years old this year, Xu Jingming is only 20—I have a full six more years of cultivation time than him!

"If his rank were equal to mine, fine, but how is his Soul Refining Art even more profound than mine?!"

Andre let out a silent roar in his heart.

An Esper's combat strength is determined by many factors.

His and Xu Jingming's Esper rating and rank are the same, so the contest comes down to whose combat technique proficiency is higher.

Whose Soul Refining Art cultivation is more profound, whose combat experience is richer!

He had thought that at twenty-six years old, he should have held the upper hand, but instead he was the one being suppressed!

"How exactly did this Xu Jingming cultivate? His combat technique's power is even stronger than Andre's!"

"His rank rises fast, and he hasn't neglected his combat technique proficiency or Soul Refining Art either — what kind of monster is this?"

In the VIP hall,

A group of sharp-eyed eighth- and ninth-rank Espers also saw this point and exclaimed in low voices.

"Lei Di! The strongest!"

"Lei Di! The strongest!"

"......"

Cheers and shouts belonging to the people of Great Xia rose in waves; they couldn't make out too many details.

But they knew Xu Jingming had successfully suppressed Andre!

"Lightning Sphere!"

"Chain Lightning!"

"Lei Mao!"

"......"

Strike while you're down, go for the kill!

Andre's hexagonal ice shield vanished, and Xu Jingming also spared no effort in unleashing various ranged spell-type combat techniques!

Although he hadn't activated the SSS-rank combat technique 'Lei Shen Jiang Shi', his fluid spellcasting still had not a single hitch!!

Rumble rumble—

Crackle crackle—

Across the entire arena, golden Lei Guang flickered.

Andre, also an SS-rank Esper who had crushed his way here.

Faced with terrifying thunder combat techniques crashing over him like wave after wave, he could only defend passively.

Every now and then, when he tried to counterattack, it would be easily neutralized by Xu Jingming!

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! How can he be this strong?"

Andre's face was hideous, the pent-up frustration in his heart with nowhere to vent.

As an SS-rank elemental ice-system Esper, he had always crushed his opponents with all manner of spells.

Without seventh-rank or above strength, there was simply no way to pose him the slightest threat.

But now, he was being firmly suppressed by Xu Jingming of the same rank, without even a chance to counterattack!