Chapter 0401: To Cook A Tortoise

Kiii!

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The exultant shriek of the green luan agitated the air with its sonic vibrations. And then green fire spilled from its beak, spreading out to enclose a large area around Zhong Nan.

The green flames were special. They spilled forwards with a lightness to them, as though the essence of wind was captured within the heat. They drifted across the ground in a sea of fire that burned down everything in their path.

The temperature in the mountain range steadily climbed.

Zhong Nan was drowned in a sea of fire.

He was fully serious now, sensing the skill level and the very real threat that these flames posed. First Princess had specially prepared this secret technique to deal with him - the flames were too fast, and too widespread to avoid. His only way of dealing with it was to tank it head-on.

Although...

He indeed did not lack head-on tankability.

Zhong Nan put his hands together and closed his eyes. His gray-white power started to form rings around his feet that began to expand outwards. All that they touched - tree, leaf, flower - all of it turned to stone.

With Zhong Nan at the center of the locus, a huge area several meters wide was turned into a zone of stone.

BOOM!

The green flames roared on relentlessly.

Zhong Nan stood his ground and did not budge, although the set of his jaw was grim as he braced himself.

"The Immovable Xuan Art."

Suddenly he pulsed once more with gray light, and suddenly the entire stone zone shattered all at once into rock dust that hung in the air for a moment before it started to gather.

In a few short moments, it had reformed into a gray tortoise dozens of meters tall.

The enormous tortoise stood quietly, calm turtle eyes peering out from its ancient and well-weathered shell.

The green flames fell from the sky onto the great dome of keratin, spilling off to burn the ground all around it.

The tortoise stood calmly, not budging an inch. It let the fire burn away at it.

From the viewing platforms, the students were awestruck by the scene. Where a lush forest had once stood, now green flames burned in its wake, burning as high as the canopy used to be. And in the midst of this forest of fire, the gray tortoise stood unmoving.

Li Luo was just as awed as the rest of his peers.

"This is the power of a Heavenly Dipper General?" Both the sea of fire and invulnerable tortoise displayed magnitudes of power that were far beyond his own capabilities.

He was feeling very inadequate as a Resonant Master right now.

Still, he was not completely discouraged. Heavenly Dipper General might be a faraway dream for now, but he had complete confidence he could reach it in three years' time.

He had to. Or he would be dead.

"Leader, do you think Zhong Nan can endure that?" Bai Mengmeng whispered, watching the struggle below with eyes wide open in fascination. Even at a distance, they could feel the sweltering heat.

There was a pang of sympathy in her voice, for Zhong Nan. Of course, she was not hoping that he won, but his situation looked extremely nasty indeed.

Turtling desperately in the midst of flames from all sides.

To be able to hold on through the conflagration demanded intense skill and willpower. It was an admirable feat indeed.

An opponent worthy of respect.

Li Luo watched the flames carefully. "If this was a fight to the death, it'd be hard to say who would win. But this is a timed fight. First Princess' green flames are awesome, but I think Zhong Nan's reputation has spread further than those flames ever will... First Princess is testing his willpower with this move - once his will wavers, then his perfect defense will crumble, and it will be her win."

"Still..." he paused.

"Zhong Nan has never lost a single battle throughout his entire record. Do you think such a man will waver easily?"

Bai Mengmeng shook her head.

The cheers of the spectators had died away now. All eyes were on the tortoise, waiting to see if it would fall. The position of the fighters made the students want to cheer for Zhong Nan, who looked like the underdog. Even the Astral Sage College students' hearts went out to him.

"Blue Abyss Sage College must be very proud of him," vice principal Su Xin said to vice principal Qiu Jizi.

Qiu Jizi smiled at the high praise. "The kid is not as shrewd as Zhao Huiyin, but we Violet Vibrance mentors think his future brightest."

Su Xin nodded in agreement.

All was silent except for the roar and crackle of the flames, searching for any weakness along the stone.

It did not remain unharmed. The fire was causing definite damage to the shell, which was starting to peel away under the heat. Chips of rock and dust fell away from the shell.

Large fragments began to fall, and burn marks developed into weak points that began to deepen.

Through the gaps in the flames, an unmoving Zhong Nan stood like a statue.

Still, the experts present could tell that the intensity of the flames were ebbing away. They could not be sustained for much longer.

From the beginning, the outcome had already been decided.

Time ticked on.

The great tortoise weakened and weakened, until finally it was at its limit. It crumbled away all at once into white ash.

Zhong Nan's outline appeared in the ashy cloud, still surrounded by green flames.

A collective sigh from the crowd, some out of sympathy for Zhong Nan.

But he did not look defeated at all. He looked at the flames without concern as they roared around him.

He took a step into the fire.

Everyone gasped, then gasped again. Where he trod, the fires went out, and then the adjacent flames winked out as well.

In a few short moments, all the flames had been completely extinguished, leaving thick black soot on the floor.

Zhong Nan stood still, his gray figure a shining spot amidst a landscape of black. He looked up at First Princess, still floating in mid-air. "Thank you for the fight."

First Princess smiled back with some irritation. She looked up to see that the joss stick had been burned down.

The battle was over.

Dong!

The gong sounded across the battleground.

First ticket match: draw.