Chapter 178: The Coordination of Phase Arts

Clang!

Li Luo's blade shimmered with water-light as it cut through the curtain of water droplets, meeting head-on the spear tip that roared like a wild beast; the ferocious clash of phase force blasted every floating droplet into mist.

Li Luo's frame jolted, and he took a step back.

At the same moment, a folding fan pulsing with dark-green phase force darted in like lightning, striking like a venomous snake flicking its foul-smelling tongue.

Li Luo's other short blade swept up a flash of steel; water-phase power surged forth, forming a mirror of water: "Water-Light Magic Mirror!"

Bang!

The folding fan struck the water mirror; the violent toxic phase force exploded, shattering the mirror in an instant, but the rebound force that lashed back stalled the fan for a beat, and Li Luo used that moment to slide backward and evade the attack.

Yet clashing head-on with two powerful foes in succession, their assault falling like a relentless downpour, the palms gripping Li Luo's twin blades were already showing faint traces of blood, and his arms had begun to sting.

Fortunately, he himself possessed the "Water-Light Phase" as well as the Wood Phase; all three kinds of phase force carried a certain healing and restorative power, so whenever wounds appeared within his body, the restorative nature of these three forces would erupt, swiftly mending the injuries.

This was the main reason Li Luo had been able to hold on so stubbornly under the downpour-like combined assault of Wang Wang Hejiu and Duze Duze Beixuan.

And regarding Li Luo's tenacious resistance, Wang Wang Hejiu and Duze Duze Beixuan were somewhat taken aback; their offensive had clearly pinned Li Luo down so that he couldn't even draw a single breath, yet Li Luo stubbornly managed to endure, never once collapsing.

It was starting to feel somewhat monstrous; even if water-phase force excelled at endurance, surely it shouldn't be this tenacious?

Wang Wang Hejiu's gaze met Duze Duze Beixuan's for a moment, and both read the ruthlessness in each other's eyes; Li Luo was already a spent arrow at the end of its flight—as long as they kept intensifying the assault, they would surely break him.

The two stepped out in unison, phase force surging like raging waves.

But Li Luo clearly sensed their intent as well, and immediately retreated several steps; wood-phase force pulsed on one short blade, then erupted violently.

"Tiger General Art, Ten Thousand Trees Binding!"

The great trees all around suddenly began to tremble, and tree vines shot forth like giant pythons, coiling toward Wang Wang Hejiu and Duze Duze Beixuan.

Upon those vines, clusters of little blossoms swayed and sprouted forth, as if drawing in the power of light, causing the vines to grow ever tougher.

In this Tiger General Art, Li Luo had also infused light-phase force to strengthen it.

"Tiger General Art, Heavy Water Art!"

After casting "Ten Thousand Trees Binding," Li Luo in one breath also unleashed a water-phase technique he had long been preparing; deep-blue liquid spurted from his mouth and fell upon those vines.

In an instant, the force with which those vines whipped about surged dramatically, as if they had become extremely heavy.

Moreover, if one observed closely enough, one would notice that within the heavy water formed from phase force, there seemed faintly to be sand and earth flowing within.

This too was no ordinary Heavy Water Art, because Li Luo had also infused earth-phase force into it, which would intensify its Qi Chen Zhong.

The two phase techniques Li Luo had cast this time were clearly a further refinement compared to when he had faced Duze Duze Beixuan at the Master-Selection Tournament.

Previously, he had strained to withstand the joint assault of Wang Wang Hejiu and the other, all while secretly channeling the powers of the Water-Light Phase and the Wood-Earth Phase to prepare this counterattack.

Ssssk!

The vines tore through the air, carrying a sharp whistling gale, and smashed viciously toward Wang Wang Hejiu and Duze Duze Beixuan.

Seeing this, the two immediately surged their phase force and met it with everything they had.

Bang! Bang!

The spear and fan, wrapped in surging phase force, became streaks of afterimages as they collided with the incoming vines, and at the moment of impact, the expressions of both Wang Wang Hejiu and Duze Duze Beixuan shifted.

"What tremendous force!"

Wang Wang Hejiu's brows knit tightly; the power contained within those vines felt as heavy as ten thousand catties, and after a single clash even his palms had gone faintly numb.

"This is Li Luo's fused phase technique!"

Duze Duze Beixuan said swiftly, his face darkening, because at the previous Master-Selection Tournament, he had been defeated precisely by these two fused phase techniques of Li Luo's.

And this time, he could clearly sense that the might of Li Luo's fused phase technique seemed to have grown even more formidable.

"Truly worthy of a dual-phase wielder—even without having mastered dual-phase power, this fused phase technique remains so vexing to deal with," Wang Wang Hejiu sighed and said.

"But Li Luo, do you really think we came unprepared to face this kind of fused phase technique?"

"This kind of technique may catch us off guard the first time, but the second time it won't work nearly as well."

Wang Wang Hejiu drew a deep breath, and faintly on his face dark-green light-lines seemed to writhe, finally gathering at the position of his mouth.

He suddenly opened his mouth, and dark-green phase force swept out: "Tiger General Art, Venom Erosion Storm!"

Whoooo!

The dark-green phase force seemed to transform into a storm of deadly poison, ravaging outward in all directions; where the toxic storm met the vines, a sizzling sound immediately erupted, and the power upon the vines began to dissolve.

At the same moment, Duze Duze Beixuan also stepped out, opening his mouth as well, and deep-blue phase force exploded forth: "Tiger General Art, Kun's Cry!"

Whoooo!

The deep-blue sound wave erupted violently, sweeping outward, carrying Wang Wang Hejiu's toxic storm as it howled along, and managed to utterly shred the incoming vines, then surged toward where Li Luo stood.

Li Luo's expression changed, and his figure shot back rapidly; he hadn't expected that Wang Wang Hejiu and Duze Duze Beixuan would also unleash a coordinated combination of phase techniques, directly shattering his offensive in its entirety.

Indeed, none of these students who could stand out at the Holy Mystic Star Academy were pushovers; after a period of adjustment, they too began to display the power of coordination, and under such circumstances, the advantage Li Luo's fused phase technique could claim was rapidly being whittled away.

He watched the sound-wave toxic miasma rapidly expanding in his pupils; the power contained within was already quite terrifying.

Li Luo was silent for several breaths, then said softly: "Student Xin Fu, can you block it for me?"

The shadows at the side stirred, and Student Xin Fu's voice had grown far more Solemn than usual: "That's no problem, but against an attack of this level, I can only block it once; after that I won't have the strength to help you."

"Are you sure you can handle it alone after that?"

Li Luo smiled faintly; feeling the two phase-force seeds within the two phase palaces in his body pounding violently, he gave a slight nod.

"Alright." Seeing this, Student Xin Fu asked no further, simply replying with a single word.

Li Luo's figure rapidly retreated.

And the shadows all around began to writhe at this moment; Student Xin Fu stepped out from the shadows, and boundless shadow surged forth like ink, giving a sense of blotting out the sky.

As the sound-wave toxic miasma rolled in ahead, Student Xin Fu pressed his palms together, and a low voice rang out: "Shadow Curtain!"

The shadows erupted violently, as if transforming into a world of darkness, completely flooding this mountain stream.

The sound-wave toxic miasma ravaged through, colliding with the spreading dark shadow curtain.

Boom! Boom!

A low, tearing sound of phase force continuously rang out within the darkness.

This stalemate lasted for roughly half a minute, when suddenly the black curtain began to sprout holes everywhere, and was finally torn apart with a violent rip.

Rolling waves of sonic toxic gas swept through, scouring it clean.

From the shadows, Student Xin Fu's figure was sent flying in a sorry state, crashing into a thicket. He leaned weakly against a tree trunk, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and looked at the faint dark-green stains marking wounds across his body, shaking his head helplessly.

What a pity — if the ranking battle's timing could be pushed back a little, he would have been able to step into the Life Pattern Stage, and at that point the opponent's advantage wouldn't be as overwhelming as it was now.

His gaze turned toward Li Luo's direction, and he murmured, "Captain, the rest is up to your performance."

(First update.)