Above Zilan’s head a scene resembling a painting could be seen. Glistening, illusionary, mystical raindrops that appeared to embody the very laws of water surrounded him.
The raindrops did not fall to the ground, instead they hovered above the surface of the stage slowly rotating around him. As they circled him, their numbers quickly began dwindling, from a few hundred, to a couple dozen, all the way down to just a single, lonely water droplet.
Looking at that raindrop, Zilan could not help but gasp in joy and wonder.
‘It truly is beautiful’
Domin, on the other side of the stage also had his eyes focused on that strange raindrop. He however, was not nearly as happy as Zilan. His instincts were flaring, warning him. He did not fully understand how great the danger was but for safety purposes he’d rather not wait to find out. He had already been the victim of one of the Half Breed’s surprises and he did not want to taste another.
Gripping his life saber with both of his hands, Domin channelled most, if not all, of his strength as he prepared to bring it down on Zilan’s head.
Seeing this, not only did Zilan not panic, his smile actually grew wider.
‘To achieve the greatest effect I’ll hold out a little longer.’
As if receiving a command, the raindrop that was hovering around him suddenly increased its rotating speed, spinning around so fast that with every revolution it was getting more and more indistinct. When it reached maximum speed it turned practically invisible, with only some of the powerful individuals in the audience being able to clearly identify it. Domin unfortunately was not one of these powerful individuals. To him, an invisible fly was speedily circling Zilan yet no matter how hard he focused, the fly was impossible to isolate or spot for more than an instant.
As the raindrops rotation speed increased, it also simultaneously started distancing itself from Zilan. Going from a few inches away from him all the way to around ten meters before finally stabilising.
Domin did not dare give Zilan more time to prepare whatever it was he was planning.
“AAARGHH!”
Lifting his gigantic blade and using all of his strength bolstered by his peak Tempering stage Beast Force, Domin ruthlessly swung his blade downwards.
The air pressure and wind generated from just the force with which it was descending was enough to cause not just Zilan discomfort but most of the entire audience. It was almost like the blade was pointed at all of their necks as well.
With the help of gravity the saber cut through the air in a smooth and swift manner, a scene that was unexpected from such a large weapon. This just went to show how powerful as well as gifted Domin truly was.
To Zilan though, this blade that was so close to his head that he could almost feel its cold edge was simply,
“Too slow!”
At the same time that those words entered Domin’s ears, a sword incomparable to the saber in his hands had suddenly and without notice arrived by his neck, resting on his shoulder. Having said that, that sword was clearly a High grade spirit tool for the Tempering stage meaning with but a strong swing his head could be separated from his body.
“You lose.” The voice of the person supposed to be crushed under his saber reverberated in his ears. As he slowly turned back and saw the confident smile of Zilan as he held a sword to his neck, Domin’s jaw couldn’t help but slightly drop and his eyes opened wide in disbelief.
‘I..didn’t see a thing. No, I couldn’t see a thing. How? Just how?’
Looking back to the spot where his saber had landed, a deep ravine that stretched to the very edge of the platform had been formed by the sheer power contained in his strike. However, that was not what Domin was focusing on.
Three currently dissipating after images of none other than Zilan could still be seen on the now destroyed stage. If one looked closely they’d notice that each after image was around ten meters apart from one another. Domin did not bother dissecting how exactly the Half Breed had done it as now he was simply stuck in a stupor. He was in awe of the absolute speed the Half Breed possessed, even when he compared this kind of speed to the soul-compression stage practitioners under his father who were in the Lower level early and Intermediate phases, those higher level practitioners still fell short in terms of speed to Zilan.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, Domin turned back to face Zilan.
“My loss is justified. I admit defeat.” He said this in a deep and domineering tone however, the person he was talking to simply smiled, put away the sword and proudly walked off stage.
‘I understand what you’re trying to say. “You may have defeated me now but there will come a day when I close the gap and challenge you again.”’ Thought Zilan. ‘I will welcome your challenge any time however, to surpass me a lot more is needed than what you currently have. Besides, while you try and close the gap do not think that I will remain idle.’
‘My strength already exceeds yours. For you to catch up to the current me is definitely possible but to equal the future me? I’m afraid that is a feat that no one will be able to achieve or rather, a feat that I will allow no one else to accomplish.’
As he was busy in his own thoughts, the audience had been nice enough to remain silent as they did not wish to disturb his thinking. Or more realistically, they had once again been stunned silent by the Half Breed’s performance.
This time, the visual feast alone was enough to cause those who practiced in the way of water to almost go crazy while those who did not have the water attribute were dumbstruck by Zilan’s speed.
“Hey..?”
“What is it?” asked a dumbfounded spectator.
“He’s a Half Breed right?”
Hearing this question many members of the audience remained silent as they did not know how to answer properly.
“Mm, I believe he is.”
“I see, then if he’s this strong and fast what Beast bloodline do you think he has?”
Once this question reached the ears of one person, the words, like wildfire, travelled throughout the arena. All of a sudden, the burning question that everyone seemingly needed the answer to was what in the hell kind of perverse bloodline did this Half Breed possess? They all naturally made the mistake of believing that his speed came as a result of a Divine Ability and not a technique. Thus when they thought about how this Divine ability at the tempering stage gifted the Half Breed this kind of speed then just what level of Bloodline did he have? Don’t forget he had just defeated a youth whose Bloodline was the same as the First Elder of the bloody Alchemy Association. That was a level just below the Chairman, a peak existence in this world.
Did this mean that the Half Breed’s bloodline was somehow superior to the First Elders?
Speculation began and it did not stop even after Zilan had taken his seat. This time, even the aloof and silently arrogant Yasen was looking at him.
✴
“Wazimu, that rain, it cannot be what I’m thinking….”
“If we’re both thinking the same thing then…..”
“Congratulations, that Amani of yours has once again brought you benefit.” Smiled Fourth Elder.
“Haha, do you really think a child who has gained insight into a [Secret], allbeit small, lacks a capable Master? Even if I’m willing do you believe he will be?” asked Wazimu.
“Oh, since when does Wazimu ask for permission?”
“Since I bared witness to such a young child who’s gained insight into the Universe.” Said Wazimu. “I know the type of life I lead but that does not mean I will go seeking my end.”
“Maybe you’re overpraising his Master?”
Wazimu simply shook his head.
Fourth Elder bitterly smiled, “I’m not good at joking around.”
“It’s alright. That Half Breed boy though seems to have spent all of his energy after that outburst of speed. No wonder he used a sword at the end to threaten that kid Domin.”
The crowd had yet to settle down but paying no mind to it, seated on the first chair was Zilan who was slowly going over the battle in his mind. He was specifically focusing on the technique he had employed.
‘This cheat version of the Rain Drizzle technique is really too effective. Only three uses and my Blood force is spent.’ He happily lamented.
The real Rain Drizzle technique was similar to the one he had just used only that it was partnered with a footwork that was equally as impressive and the effects of the overall technique were much, much, much grander. So in essence they weren’t all that similar.
Unfortunately because he was not in the soul-compression stage he could not properly train within the Cloud Inheritance Palace therefore in order to get a ‘mastery’ of the basics of the Rain Drizzle technique Zilan had decided to cheat his way through by using his eyes to gain insight into the [Secret of Rain]. Needless to say, what he got was negligible to the extreme as seeing the secret and understanding it were concepts that were worlds apart. However, once he coupled this little understanding with the introduction to the Rain Drizzle technique, Zilan was able to form a counterfeit rain droplet that could usually only be produced once one had mastered the first part of the Rain Drizzle technique.
The specifics of the Rain Drizzle technique and its effects were wondrous as well as completely abnormal even making Zilan believe that it was the greatest of the three techniques in the [Infinite Rain].
As for its complexities, they were too numerous to go through at this point in time where the only thing Zilan had to show for it was a below average mimicry of the technique that led to him exhausting all of his strength just to operate it three times.
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