Martial World (Web Novel)
chapter-282

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Normally after a Puppet Master stepped into the Xiantian realm, he would be able to reach the Essence Integration boundary. But Mugu Buyu had managed to do so with a cultivation of only a half-step to Houtian. Just based on this point alone, no one believed that Jiang Lanjian had even a small chance of winning.

After the match started, Mugu Buyu released a spider puppet from his bag. Up until now, he had only used this spider puppet, and appeared as if he would also only use this spider puppet to deal with Jiang Lanjian.

“Is that just the spider puppet?”

“Mugu Buyu is too arrogant!”

Jiang Lanjian frowned. He would be the first to admit that he wasn’t Mugu Buyu’s match. Still, for Mugu Buyu to only bring out his weakest puppet to deal with him, he was just being looked down on too much.

“Concept of Wind!”

True essence immediately circulated through Jiang Lanjian’s body. He cut out with the longsword in his hand, and several dozens of sword lights thrust straight towards Mugu Buyu. At that same time, his footsteps flashed, and his figure instantly vanished.

Woosh!

Jiang Lanjian appeared like a ghost by Mugu Buyu’s side. It wasn’t wrong that the spider puppet was powerful, but its reactions were extremely slow. Under the power of Jiang Lanjian’s extreme speed, the spider puppet wasn’t able to respond at all; it was just like a random decoration. Jiang Lanjian had simply stepped around it.

Although a Puppet Master had a very formidable combat prowess, they also had a fatal weakness, and that was because they were a Puppet Master. A Puppet Master was similar to the disciples of the Zither Faction. Their speed was slow, and they had weak defenses. Their close range combat capability was nearly negligible.

But Jiang Lanjian was just the opposite. He was magnificently quick, his sword was fast and fierce, and once he approached someone, his attacks were like a hurricane!

Seeing Jiang Lanjian suddenly close in on Mugu Buyu, the audience’s eyes widened. Would Mugu Buyu fall here? He had only brought out his weakest spider puppet to deal with Jiang Lanjian, this Mugu Buyu was too brazen!

A whirlwind howled, and Jiang Lanjian’s sword cut forth, this sword contained all of his aspirations!

Clang!

There was the sound of metal colliding, and Jiang Lanjian’s sword hadn’t been able to cut down anything. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked down at the sword in his hand. This sword contained the Concept of Wind, and yet it was still kept off by Mugu Buyu just raising his hand!

How was this possible?

Even if it was Lin Ming who had an extremely formidable defensive power, he could only bounce off the sword. It was impossible for him to be like Mugu Buyu and directly hold off the sword with his hand!

Jiang Lanjian’s sense told him that something was wrong here, and he wanted to pull out his sword and retreat. However, he was aghast to find that his sword was stuck. On Mugu Buyu’s arm, there seemed to be black tentacles that writhed out like massive earthworms, wrapping around his sword.

Jiang Lanjian’s expression changed. What the hell was this? Was this a human body?

“Die!”

Mugu Buyu gave a shrieking cry, and his left hand’s fingernail suddenly turned into a foot long sharp barb, aiming towards Jiang Lanjian’s hand!

At this moment, the only way that Jiang Lanjian could avoid this strike was if he abandoned the sword in his hand. But to a swordsman, the sword in their hand was their life. They would rather lose their hand than abandon their blade!

“Concept of Wind!”

Jiang Lanjian cried out, and true essence erupted from his body. The sword in his hand twisted with sword wind, and all the black tentacles were cut off by Jiang Lanjian. However, his speed was ultimately too slow. Mugu Buyu’s long barbed nail caught onto his chest, and that sharp claw pierced through Jiang Lanjian’s chest – blood splashed everywhere!

Jiang Lanjian’s chest was coated crimson with blood.

Jiang Lanjian clenched his teeth as he forcefully drew out his longsword from Mugu Buyu’s hand. He kneeled on one knee, his chest bleeding profusely. That foot-long barb was enough to stab his internal organs!

“You would die to pull out your sword? You are really such a stupid boy!” Mugu Buyu kicked Jiang Lanjian over, mockingly laughing.

As the Sword Faction disciples in the audience saw this, they were filled with indignation and rage. Mugu Buyu was too contemptuous, this was more than insulting Jiang Lanjian.

But even if they were angry, there was nothing they could do to Mugu Buyu. After all, Mugu Buyu had defeated Jiang Lanjian in a fair match. No matter the situation, that was the truth.

If they wanted to take revenge for Jiang Lanjian, they could only challenge Mugu Buyu to an honest match onstage. Unfortunately, there was not a single one among them that was Mugu Buyu’s match. Like this, they could only swallow this insult.

Jiang Lanjian was lifted on a stretcher and brought offstage. He had been heavily injured. Although the Seven Profound Valleys had a vast among of rare and precious healing medicines, none of them were capable of allowing Jiang Lanjian to fully recover in an hour and completely restore his combat effectiveness.

Jiang Baoyun looked at Jiang Lanjian’s chest wound, his face like the surface of a calm lake. He lifted his head to stare at Mugu Buyu with disdain.

Mugu Buyu strangely smiled, “Jejeje, you Sword Faction disciples’ defenses are simply thin like paper. I just gently caressed him and he’s already become like this. If it wasn’t for me promptly receiving my hand, then his heart would have already been destroyed by me!”

Jiang Baoyun didn’t become angry or even heated. He just coldly said, “Your words are useless. Everything will become clear on the martial stage!”

Mugu Buyu’s provocation was clearly transmitted to everyone. This was his sign that he did not fear anyone, not even Jiang Baoyun was an exception!

It wasn’t just Lin Ming and Jiang Baoyun who were constantly surprising the audience with the strength that they revealed, Mugu Buyu was the same! He too was just like a massive iceberg floating in the water. Only the tip of his abilities had been seen so far.

The three great elites of the younger generation had a strength that far surpassed the champions of the last several Total Faction Martial Meetings. If it weren’t for these three individuals, then Ouyang Ming’s own strength would have been enough to win the tournament.

“How did Mugu Buyu do it? How was he able to use his arm to block Jiang Lanjian’s sword? And what were those black tentacles?”

“I have no idea. Those Puppet Faction fellows are just too eccentric and bizarre. They rarely come into contact with other factions, no one has any idea what they are doing most of the time.”

“Could it be… they transformed their own bodies? They are just a gaggle of mad men!”

As the audience spoke, all sorts of theories were tossed about. The only thing that they were able to say for sure was that close combat was no longer a weakness of Mugu Buyu!

He had a formidable defensive power, formidable close combat ability, and even better long-range attacks. With the coordination of numerous puppets, this was a completely comprehensive three dimensional attack method.

Mugu Buyu and Lin Ming were the same; they were both extremely versatile combat geniuses!

Moreover, he was clearly more powerful than Lin Ming!

As the Sword Faction disciples realized this, they secretly became nervous. Would Jiang Baoyun be enough? Would he be okay?

At this time, this was no longer just a match between Jiang Baoyun and Mugu Buyu. After such a grievous insult to their pride, this had already become a matter of honor to the Sword Faction. If Jiang Baoyun was defeated, the Sword Faction really wouldn’t be able to lift up their heads from the shame.

However, Mugu Buyu and Jiang Baoyun’s fight hadn’t happened yet. On the contrary, the first one that Mugu Buyu would fight would actually be Lin Ming.

As the referee announced this matchup, the entire arena started to boil with excitement. This battle between Lin Ming and Mugu Buyu would be a battle between two versatile geniuses at the pinnacle of talent!

For the first time, the country bumpkin Lin Ming’s cheers surpassed those of his opponent.

The Sword Faction disciples and the young Zither Faction girls all cheered for Lin Ming. In comparison, almost no one cheered for Mugu Buyu. The Puppet Faction disciples were already scarce, and at this Total Faction Martial Meeting only a few of them showed up. Not only that, but each of them had a very queer and strange temperament, they would never do something so boring like cheering. In addition to that, the Puppet Faction had never been very popular with the other factions. The Array Faction, Refiner Faction, and most others didn’t have a favorable impression of the Puppet Faction, so naturally they wouldn’t cheer for Mugu Buyu.

However, although there were many people that cheered for Lin Ming, there were only a few that actually had confidence in him.

Indeed, Lin Ming’s strength had already exceeded the expectations that others had placed on him. He had defeated Fang Qi, Jiang Lanjian, Qin Wuxin, and then Ouyang Ming. Time and time again, he made others reevaluate the limit of his strength.

But Mugu Buyu was the same. First he had revealed his Essence Integration boundary, and then he revealed his powerful close-combat ability. Now his current momentum was in no way weaker than Jiang Baoyun!

On the martial stage, Lin Ming stood 100 feet away from Mugu Buyu. During this Total Faction Martial Meeting, what Lin Ming had experienced had really opened his eyes. He had seen a zither musician, an array master, and now a puppet master, three exceedingly different and special fighting styles. And this was only within the relatively small Seven Profound lands. If this were to be extended to the entire Sky Spy Spill Continent, who knew how many weird and fantastic fighting styles there would be.

Mugu Buyu opened the bag on his back, and a series of three puppets jumped up. First was the spider puppet, the second was a mummy, and the last one was a massive eight-clawed alligator.

Mugu Buyu had finally taken out other puppets, and not only that, but he had taken them out from the start, “Before, I never thought that you would come this far. When you defeated Ouyang Ming so easily, that really surprised me. You are the first one among the younger generation to startle me so greatly. But, this is not because of how strong you are, but because how fast you are growing. For you to already force me to use three puppets from the start is enough for you to take pride in.”

“Words are useless. Let’s fight!”

As his voice fell, the Heavy Profound Soft Spear that Lin Ming gripped in his hand began to emit a faint azure color, azure true essence emerged out. Endless true essence vibrations surged forth recklessly, even shaking the air.

Facing Mugu Buyu, Lin Ming didn’t have the slightest idea what to expect, or what would happen. He only knew that Mugu Buyu would be an exceedingly tough opponent. Although this could be called a one-on-one match, the truth was that Lin Ming was up against the equivalent of four powerful enemies.

“Aghh!”

The mummy shrieked, a bone blade in its hand, thrusting straight towards Lin Ming. Its speed was incomparably quick and majestic, it wasn’t even much slower than Jiang Lanjian.

The spear in Lin Ming’s hand turned, piercing towards the mummy! The power of 10,000 vibrating true essence filaments flooded out. It could be said that as long as Lin Ming’s spear scratched an opponent, that opponent would almost die!

It was impossible for that dense bleached white bone blade to stop Lin Ming’s spear.

However, at this moment, the bone blade in the mummy’s hand exploded, and the four foot long bone blade instantly turned into several hundreds of three inch long bone needles that shot towards Lin Ming. Half of these bone needles shimmered with a glossy green substance – they were poisonous!

The attack closed in. This sudden burst of poisonous hidden weapons could be described as an extremely sinister and malefic move. Lin Ming coldly snorted, and the power of vibration erupted. 10,000 vibrating true essence filaments shot out from the Heavy Profound Soft Spear, each one glowing with an azure light!

Pu pu pu pu pu pu pu pu pu!

The audience heard a rain of intensive explosive sounds. Those hundreds of bone needles were completely turned to bone dust by that azure true essence!