Chapter 196: Θ

Ling Tian felt relieved upon seeing his opponent down for the count. Well, that was to be expected since it seems to be the first time Fang Lin used that new attack of his.

Ling Tian knew that Fang Lin’s expertise with his new attack was not yet at the peak. Had Fang Lin fully mastered that move of his, Ling Tian’s sword slash would surely have lost. But since he still could not control it well, Fang Lin’s move got overwhelmed.

“You still had a long way to go... Too bad you won’t be reaching that far since I will personally end you now.” Ling Tian knew stories of practitioners leaving after thinking that they already killed their opponents.

Ling Tian thought that this kind of people were idiots. Since that person was your enemy, make sure he/she was completely dead! Do not just leave them behind!

Ling Tian clearly wanted to be sure that Fang Lin was gone. He approached him as he drew out one of his bone swords. The clash earlier made his qi reserves at the critical level, making it impossible for him to summon many swords. Right now, he can only summon at most 10 swords.

“It was a great fight Fang Lin, too bad for you I am the winner. After I kill you and take your treasures, I will make sure to be involved on the prosperity of the Immortal God Sect.” This was what Ling Tian thought as he stabbed the bone sword towards the unmoving body on the ground.

His bone sword let out whistling sounds as it sliced through the air.

Ling Tian was about to stab the body when he suddenly felt danger approaching from his side. He tried to dodge it, but the surprise attack and the injuries on his body made it impossible for him to evade the attack.

His eyes widened as he saw a symbol whistling through the air. He could only watch as the symbol Θ entered his body. Once this symbol was inside him, he squirmed in intense pain as he felt that his body’s vitality getting sucked away.

This vitality of his was actually being sucked by the symbol Θ! Ling Tian used his remaining strength to look where the attack came from. What he saw made him sigh in disconsolation.

He saw Fang Yu staring at him, with her left hand outstretched towards him. Aside from her pale, flushed face, he saw no signs of injury on her.

Ling Tian looked again on the body on the ground, which suddenly moved. When he saw who the body was, Ling Tian already knew what happened.

“So you tricked me with your special abilities huh.” He said as he saw the real Fang Lin staring at him. Fang Yu smiled at what he said as she replied,

“That explosion was too powerful you know. I realized I can use that to fool you.”

“Sigh.” Fang Lin coughed out a sigh as he reminisced the details of the risky bluff that he and Fang Yu had pulled off.

Once he saw the stalemate between his ‘Yin-Yang Perpetual Ice-Fire’ and Ling Tian’s First Slash, Fang Lin realized that a massive eruption will happen at this clash. With that knowledge, he formulated his next step.

Right before the explosion happened, Fang Lin and Fang Yu separated from each other, becoming the separate Yin and Yang Bodies.

Fang Lin stood in front of Fang Yu as he bore the brunt of the explosions. He survived the blast, but he was critically injured. He then laid down on the ground, hoping to attract Ling Tian’s attention. Luck was on their side as the visibility-reducing mist allowed their bluff to be not seen by Ling Tian easily.

As for Fang Yu, she used the distraction of the explosion and the mist to distance herself away from Ling Tian and Fang Lin.

She watched as Ling Tian’s silhouette in the mist turning ecstatic upon seeing Fang Lin on the ground. To her surprise, she saw him letting his guard go down.

She frowned when she heard Ling Tian saying that Fang Lin still had a long way to go.

“Look who’s talking. Look how you lowered you guard just now. I thought you were the reincarnation of the Million Hand Sword God! Look at how sloppy you are now!” She grumbled to herself as she ever so silently opened her left palm.

Fang Yu could slightly understand what was happening to Ling Tian. After all, her master Wang Hao had undergone on the same thing. Wang Hao clearly lost some of his fighting edge due to his imprisonment on the stone coffin. He had to spend some time to regain his battle awareness. Coupled with the fact that he was naturally a shameless coward, Wang Hao regained his defensive sense quickly.

As for Ling Tian, he went through a different thing. He was reincarnated after his death. That meant he had no quick access to his abilities compared to Wang Hao. Coupled with the fact that he was born in a mortal family, Ling Tian was not able to regain his survival edge on his childhood years.

Only when he reentered the cultivation world that he managed to slowly regain his abilities. But maybe due to his fear of others discovering his abilities, Ling Tian might have possibly unconsciously restricted his full battle potential.

Wang Hao was free to use all that he can since he had an understandable case. Ling Tian on the other hand had to hide the fact that he reincarnated. That means he was not able to actually go all-out yet on this new life of his.

Fang Yu was highly confident that Ling Tian had not even faced any true life-or-death experience in his new life. He must have used his knowledge to avoid such confrontations since he was still weak. Ling Tian must have grown comfortable with his new life that was made easy by his past knowledge.

This unconscious lax behavior made Ling Tian drop his guard to Fang Yu today. Had it been him in his past life, he might have watched the surroundings warily first.

“Poor guy, he got disillusioned with his new life that he got overconfident.” Fang Yu knew a chance like this will probably not happen again. She had to make a move right now.

She looked at her open palm and there she saw the symbol Θ along with the other symbols on her left palm. Her right palm had no symbols in it, they were probably with Fang Lin’s right palm.

Fang Yu realized that after her separation with Fang Lin, she lost her ability to use the Dual Marks since she can only use Origin Energy to activate it. But that restriction only lies with using the marks in their dual form.

She can use just one symbol with her mana as long as it was on her left palm. The explanation for that was because the Dual Marks will produce their whole strength only when they were used together. Using them together produces a unique technique that dramatically strengthens its user. That was the reason why it needed Origin Energy for it to activate.

If she used just one symbol though, its effects will not be as dramatic as that of a Dual Mark. This may feel as if using one symbol was not good, but it was actually advantageous for Fang Yu. Because it was weaker than the Dual Marks, using just one symbol will not require Origin Energy. Just qi or mana will do.

This downgrade will be of great help to Fang Yu since she can now use a symbol to sneak attack Ling Tian. She looked at the symbol ♀(female), thinking what effect it could have if it was used by itself without the symbol ♂(male).

“I am sure it will not change Ling Tian’s gender to female. That’s for its Dual Mark form. Maybe using ♀ will make him more feminine?” Fang Yu immediately scrapped the idea of using ♀ on Ling Tian since it was not suitable for this situation.

As for the symbol ?(ice) Fang Yu thought it will just reveal the half-step Pure Yin Cosmic Ice. Fang Yu was sure it will not be of help right now too since Ling Tian just faced it earlier. If she lets out her half-step Pure Yin Cosmic Ice right now, Ling Tian’s contact to it earlier might make him notice it, thus foiling Fang Yu’s plan to hide.

That means Fang Yu can only use the symbol Θ(death). It was the symbol that she was not yet using so Ling Tian will not be able to detect its arrival.

Fang Yu could only pray that its effects will be great as she activated it with her mana. She then threw the symbol Θ to Ling Tian right before he could stab Fang Lin.

“Fwah.”

Fang Yu felt an unknown sense of satisfaction as she saw the symbol Θ absorbing Ling Tian’s vitality. This just aggravated Ling Tian’s already bad injury.

Upon seeing this effect, Fang Yu and Fang Lin turned excited as they imagined what effect will the Dual Mark form of ? and Θ will be.

“You two really are shameless.” That was what Ling Tian could say as his body continued to weaken.

“Hmmph, blame yourself for being careless.” Fang Yu said as he drew out a sword. She levelled it against Ling Tian’s throat as she said,

“Any last words before I send you to the Underworld?”

Ling Tian tilted his head as he said,

“Well... I will stop being careless from now on.”

“What do you mea-” Fang Yu’s retort however was cut short when she saw a powerful aura emanating from Ling Tian. She stared at him as she saw a pitch-black sword coming out of his back. The sword was large, about two meters in length. She could feel that the black sword was trembling in happiness after it was let out of Ling Tian’s body.

Fang Yu could see Ling Tian giving her a savage grin as he said,

“Since you asked for it, then I will use my trump card against you!”

“This f**ker! So you had something like this! You really are protected by plot armor!” Fang Yu wailed as she jumped away from Ling Tian, whose aura was now filled with an evil intent.

“F**k you Ling Tian, just play with that big, black stick of yours by yourself!” Fang Lin snarled as he continued talking. “I did not expect that you can store something that long and hard inside you all this time!”

“......”