Zither Emperor Volume 3 Chapter 20.3

Chapter 20 – Summon, Zi (III)
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Similar to the Divine Celestial Protection, the Jade Silk was also uncontaminated by blood; Ye Yin Zhu didn’t know whether this was because it had once absorbed the source of life or not. At this moment, the Jade Silk appeared to be dark green in color, sparkling and translucent. Used to its fullest extent, the Bamboo Attack’s offensive power was comparable to that of a divine weapon, else it wouldn’t have been able to give Nesta such a huge injury. The dou qi Ye Yin Zhu utilized was not enough to kill a magical beast with such high defense such as the Maginot Iron Dragon in a single blow. The power the Jade Silk contributed couldn’t go unnoticed.
Crawling up from the ground, Ye Yin Zhu stumbled a bit before standing firm, looking towards the distant Nesta. He forced a smile and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kill your dragon. If I hadn’t gone all out, I would’ve been unable to block your attack.”
By this time, Nesta had also dragged himself upright. His body was indeed tyrannical. He wiped away the blood dripping from his mouth and nose, brazenly stating, “That doesn’t matter. It seems to me there should be no difference between this competition and a battlefield. Going all out in a confrontation is enjoyable. I’m delighted—I haven’t received such a wound in a long time.”
“Concede; your injury is worse than mine,” Ye Yin Zhu said. His opinion of this Heavy Cavalryman had increased even more, and he did not want to unleash another attack. This was the first time he used Bamboo Defense and Bamboo Attack when facing an enemy, and it was far more powerful than he had imagined.
Nesta shook his head and said, “From a competitive perspective, you killed my mount, meaning I should already have lost. I still have fighting strength, however, and am thus unlikely to give up. It seems that my original desire to keep this a secret until the final match was futile. Arise, my partner—Degas.” Shouting loudly, he lifted his left hand high, and a red Six-Point Star emerged and shone brightly from within his palm. A golden ray of light soared out, flying high into the sky in the blink of an eye.
“I agree.” Ye Yin Zhu looked with amazement at his adversary, instantly realizing, “You had another mount… no wonder I felt that your Maginot Iron Dragon didn’t suit you at all.”
A warrior’s mount could be replaced, unlike a mage’s magical beast. Similarly, a warrior also had only one chance in his entire life to enter into a beast contract. Only when a warrior genuinely found his ideal companion would he enter into such a contract. Once the contract was completed, this magical beast would accompany him until death. This kind of beast contract, interlinked with its master’s heart, produced the most powerful kind of strength. A warrior couldn’t summon his magical beast; he could only, by means of a contract, call out for his mount. Generally, the contracted beast wouldn’t be far from the warrior.
The deep, resounding dragon cry echoed from far away, the sound rolling forward as a red cloud quickly flew across the sky and towards the field.
Nesta bowed towards the rostrum and requested, “Please open the defensive shield and allow my mount to come in.” Since the start of the match, the central training field’s defensive shield had been managed by Ferguson.
Ferguson looked up at the sky with astonishment, automatically controlling his magic and using his power as the institution’s president to immediately open up the defensive shield. At this moment, the incoming arrival surprised him. As a dragon mage, he naturally knew what was flying through the sky towards the field. It was a Red Dragon like his Xhosa! Although its aura was far inferior to Xhosa, the Red Dragon actually produced a slightly passable feeling. As a genuine Gigantic Dragon, a Red Dragon was ranked higher than a Green Dragon. He couldn’t help but secretly lament within his heart, ‘Students nowadays are indeed becoming increasingly powerful. Just now, second-year Nesta also unexpectedly possesses a genuine Gigantic Dragon.’
One must know that each and every genuine Gigantic Dragon was a growth-type magical beast. Once it matured, a genuine Gigantic Dragon had a strength of rank 7 or higher. A Red Dragon was known for its fire-inclined attack power as a Fire-attribute Gigantic Dragon. Regardless of its physical power, it could still utilize Fire Magic, making it violently powerful.
“Tie Bi, at the end of the match, I will need you to give me an explanation.”
“I will.”
For the first time, Nesta’s eyes displayed a gentle gaze as the red cloud in the sky neared. Ye Yin Zhu was also able to clearly see a Gigantic Dragon over seven meters long. It was a bit larger than Rolande’s Green Dragon, having matured further than the Green Dragon. Sensing the Red Dragon’s inner flame, he couldn’t help but inhale sharply. One must know that when he’d previously prevailed over the Green Dragon, it was because Rolande had already lost the ability to fight. Another reason had been his sudden sneak attack. A Red Dragon was significantly more powerful than a Green Dragon; along with Nesta’s valiant fighting strength, how could he confront them in the next battle? For the first time, Ye Yin Zhu felt powerless.After all, when fighting a Dragon Cavalry, he had to face not only the rider but the mount as well!
The Red Dragon spiraled through the sky, its two wings suddenly vanishing as it slowly dropped down beside Nesta. Nesta joyously whistled and abruptly leapt up to sit atop the Red Dragon’s thick and broad back. He waved his left hand and a brand new spear appeared out of thin air and into his hand’s grasp. Although a space ring required magic to use, some advanced rings only required a miniscule amount of spiritual force.
The spear in Nesta’s hand was just as long as Austin’s dragonspear, reaching eight meters in length and surpassing the length of the Red Dragon. The spear appeared to be dark red with four bloody grooves on its shaft. Sunlight shone down on it as the dark red rays of light weaved around the spear, flowing like actual blood.
“Ye Yin Zhu, this is my real weapon and mount. The spear is named Blood Soul, and my partner, Degas, is a Fire-attribute growth-type rank 5 Red Dragon. In this next battle, I will use all of my strength. If you have a magical beast, it is better to summon it now.”
Ye Yin Zhu slowly shook his head. “I don’t have a magical beast. Since you can still fight, let’s begin at once. I will present you with the song >.” His gaze changed, the clarity gradually replaced with a violet glint. A light silver luster appeared in the depths of his eyes. No longer speaking, he summoned the the Moon and Tides’ Clear Brilliance once more, his eight fingers already pressed on its strings.
Nesta, atop the Red Dragon Degas, soared upwards, reaching a hundred meters in altitude in the blink of an eye. His ensouled dragonspear in hand, the dark red radiance released a dazzling light, sharply contrasting the faint green dou qi taking shape. The Red Dragon abruptly roared, wildly spraying out a mouthful of flames. Because of the emerging green blaze and Nesta’s dragonspear, the atmosphere combusted, a wave of heat rippling out. With the help of boundless concussive force, it directly shot towards Ye Yin Zhu.
An eight meter long Blood Soul Spear, a rank 5 Red Dragon, a Green Rank warrior; this kind of ensemble wasn’t something an Indigo Rank warrior without a mount would have the battle strength to face, not to mention Ye Yin Zhu who was merely a mage.
A scorching stream of air appeared, seeming to tear the sky asunder. Nesta and his dragon resembled a hybrid red-green lightning bolt, charging towards Ye Yin Zhu from the sky like a meteor catching up with the moon. His genuine strength was not limited to just his dragon and spear; he also had his dou qi attribute. In the battle earlier, Nesta merely used pure dou qi to fight Ye Yin Zhu. At this moment, he released his dou qi attribute—Fire. Ye Yin Zhu’s Bamboo Dou Qi was categorized as having a Wood attribute, which was widely known to contain life energy to help automatically recover quickly. In addition, Fire attributed dou qi just so happened to counter Wood attributed dou qi; the rank disparity between both of their dou qis had already vanished.
Ye Yin Zhu sat upright, having not moved from his seat. Both of his hands brimmed with emotion as he caressed the strings of his zither. Deep red zither magic revolved around him, fluttering in the wind. At this very moment, he’d even given up on using his Intermediate Level Green Rank dou qi.
“Quickly, stop them,” Nina anxiously cried to Ferguson.
“No—wait a minute!” Faint violet magic already circled around Ferguson. He was prepared to interfere with the match at any time, but he didn’t know why Ye Yin Zhu still seemed so calm and graceful. From beginning to end, he felt that it wasn’t likely for Yin Zhu to lose. As a result, he endured silently without interfering.