System's Super Sect Chapter 1197 - 1062: Zi Ran the Invader (Part 1)

Having said that, Zi Ran walked to the front of the platform.

On full alert!

Her slightly hunched body now stood there utterly motionless, like a Cang Song. Those somewhat cloudy yet extremely resolute eyes were set straight ahead, yet her gaze did not truly alight on anything; only her heart, at this moment, had a clear destination—it stopped on the Vortex Dueling Platform.

Zi Ran had no intention of contesting victory or defeat, because she possessed no desire for such things. Having lived so long, she had long since seen through many things.

However, she wanted this world to witness the Vortex New Dao, and she wanted the Immortal Sect’s Vortex New Dao to become renowned throughout You Country.

Starting from this very moment!

Seeing Zi Ran’s unwavering demeanor, Lin Yehong hardened his heart. "Since that’s the case, Master Zi Ran, then I, Lin, shall seek your instruction."

As soon as he spoke, Lin Yehong said without holding anything back: "I, Lin, cultivate one of the Thousand Crafts Sect’s Ten Divine Arts—Small Thousand World. Over the years, the twenty-three Elders and seven Vice Palace Masters of our sect who have cultivated ’Small Thousand World’ have all become famous throughout the world through this Divine Art. My own ’Small Thousand World’ may only be at Great Success, yet it was enough for me to become first among the Four Vortex Divine Artisans on the Vortex Divine Artisan Ranking in the Primordial Yang Domain."

Lin Yehong’s words suddenly cut off, and then, like a tiger and like a dragon, he exploded into a roar!

"Let me see how your so-called Vortex New Dao is going to defeat me today!"

As his voice fell, Lin Yehong’s Meridian Gate shook with a bang, and an overwhelming surge of blood-colored Vein Qi erupted, sweeping across the entire Vortex Dueling Platform like a tide. Standing within it, Lin Yehong’s eyes also turned blood-red; if not for the complete absence of killing intent, no one would have believed this was merely a vortex duel.

With the eruption of the blood-colored tide, one hundred and twenty portions of Celestial Material and Earthly Treasure essences—pre-refined in advance by the City Lord’s Mansion to a purity of seventy percent—flew out from their containers, and then the blood-colored tide instantly grew complex, interwoven Blood Branches to tether them in place.

From afar, within the blood-colored tide, Blood Branches drew along the essences of Celestial Materials and Earthly Treasures, like a towering tree reaching into the heavens!

The Blood Branches were the branches, and the multicolored essences of Celestial Materials and Earthly Treasures were the fruits!

The next moment.

Lin Yehong extended a single finger and pointed toward one Blood Branch. The branch trembled, and the essence of the Celestial Material or Earthly Treasure upon it fell in response, landing with perfect accuracy into the Vortex Diagram. Then the second, the third, the fourth... trembled in succession.

In a mere ten breaths, a total of thirty-three Celestial Material and Earthly Treasure essences fell into the Vortex Diagram. Within the Vortex Diagram, they were like a group of strangers suddenly brought together—some irritably repelled one another, some eagerly fused, and some outright swallowed another type of Celestial Material essence in one bite...

Anything could happen, so the instant all this began, Lin Yehong condensed his Blood Qi into a serpent of flame, which dived headfirst into the Vortex Diagram. The moment the fire serpent entered, all the Celestial Materials and Earthly Treasures rushed toward it as if they had seen a dear kin, flowing with its rotation within the Vortex Diagram and slowly fusing together.

One circuit, two circuits...

Only after the fire serpent roamed the Vortex Diagram for a full hundred circuits did Lin Yehong once more raise a finger and point toward a Blood Branch above his head.

At the same time, Zi Ran merely watched, making no move to act immediately.

But the low, amazed murmurs of Li Changhai, Qing Qian, and the others had already risen.

"So this is Small Thousand World? It truly is extraordinary!"

"Worthy indeed of being one of the Ten Divine Arts. In the time of just a quarter of an hour, the essences of thirty-three types of Celestial Materials and Earthly Treasures have already fused so well. This is something an ordinary Four Vortex Divine Artisan would need an entire day to accomplish."

The two of them sighed in succession.

Yet there was one more thing they did not say aloud—that even after stepping into the Five Vortex Realm, they still could not fuse Celestial Material essences this quickly.

If those words came from their own mouths, it would more or less be dampening their own prestige and boosting the Thousand Crafts Sect’s momentum.

Just then, Luo Ye Guifeng also opened his mouth to speak. "Small Thousand World is the pinnacle of Vortex Dao technique, the peak path painstakingly researched over a thousand years by those who came before. At Minor Success, the fire serpent roams three thousand three hundred and thirty-three circuits; at Great Success, one thousand one hundred and eleven circuits; at Perfection, nine hundred and ninety-nine circuits, and the Vortex Map is thus formed—only then is it called a Divine Art! As for this so-called Vortex New Dao, aside from that Special Ability, does it possess any other truly impressive aspects?"

Those words were aimed squarely at Wen Ping!

Luo Ye Guifeng cast a distant gaze toward Wen Ping; beneath the calm of his eyes, killing intent surged.

But Wen Ping merely glanced at Luo Ye Guifeng and gave a helpless smile. "The era has already changed. Your struggle is nothing but futile. Even if your Thousand Crafts Sect wins this vortex duel, it cannot change the fact that your Vortex Dao has already been surpassed. Moreover, you will not win..."

Wen Ping spoke those last five words with utter calm, utter confidence, and utter certainty.

This scene, falling into the eyes of the crowd, stirred ripples of curiosity.

The ripples slowly spread, rising into waves!

Everyone was intensely curious as to why Wen Ping was so certain.

Clearly, the Vortex New Dao had only just emerged, while the original Vortex Dao had already been developing for several thousand years.

Luo Ye Guifeng responded with displeasure, his expression likewise filled with a firm conviction. "It seems you still don’t understand this world, nor do you understand our Thousand Crafts Sect."

The man of virtue is guiltless; the man who carries jade invites his own ruin.

This is an eternal truth that has never changed.

Setting that aside, the Thousand Crafts Sect represents the pinnacle of the Vortex Dao in Heaven-Gazing Gorge. For a Vortex New Dao that has only just stepped through the doors, to be thoroughly researched and dissected would not take long at all. It’s just like the Vortex Skills of Zeming Palace—our Thousand Crafts Sect knows them all like the back of our hand. The principle is the same.

Of course, such words could not be spoken here and now, because this sort of thing could only be done in the shadows, never openly declared.

Even if everyone knew full well that the Thousand Crafts Sect would act in this way!

"No, it’s you who doesn’t understand." Wen Ping replied with a hint of deeper meaning, then fixed his gaze back on the Vortex Dueling Platform, no longer paying any attention to Luo Ye Guifeng.

Luo Ye Guifeng let out a soft chuckle.

"What a truly naïve young man."

With that, he too ceased to concern himself with Wen Ping.

But Wen Ping’s naivety, he understood.

Because when he was young, he’d been the same.

He had even fantasized about conquering this world and becoming the strongest Vortex Divine Artisan.

But as time slowly passed, he finally understood that nothing was that simple.

At this moment, Zi Ran on the Vortex Dueling Platform heard Luo Yeguifeng’s words; the patience she’d had to keep watching instantly vanished, and she directly took out a cauldron from her Storage Ring.

A square tripod!

The square tripod was very simple; with one glance you could see its entirety, almost no different from the square tripods most people had at home for worship. The only special parts were probably its unique patterns, and that deep black, and at the same time extremely unfamiliar, Dragon Wall Text.

After taking out the square tripod, Zi Ran said coldly to Luo Yeguifeng, "What a self-righteous, ignorant old geezer."

As soon as these words came out, they made everyone almost burst out laughing.

Very clearly, Master Zi Ran was taking revenge on Luo Yeguifeng.

Luo Yeguifeng had mocked the Immortal Sect’s Sect Leader as naive, so she mocked Luo Yeguifeng as an ignorant old geezer.

And she even used the word "head" for him!

Normally, when they talked about pigs or cows and the like, only then would they use "head."

Just as anger was rising on Luo Yeguifeng’s face, Zi Ran slapped the square tripod, channeled Hellfire into it, and then activated the deep black Dragon Wall Text around the tripod. The instant the Dragon Wall Text was activated, black flames ignited inside the tripod.

Under countless watching eyes, the flames released a deep and mysterious aura, causing Celestial String, Yan Lai and the others to frown.

This kind of flame, they had never seen before!

Never even heard of it!

Under the curious gazes of the crowd, the black flames did not let their tongues of fire pass over the mouth of the square tripod; they only burned fiercely inside, and then Zi Ran threw the Vortex Diagram into it, letting the black flames devour it.

At this moment, deep within the square tripod where they could not see.

The black flames were continuously pouring into the Vortex Diagram, and as the black flames flowed in, the large amounts of slag from the Celestial Materials and treasures within the Vortex Diagram began to burn, emitting a strange dark-purple radiance.

No extra movements.

No flashy blood-colored tides.

The essences of those one hundred and twenty Celestial Materials and treasures were all poured into the square tripod by Master Zi Ran at the same time, and were simultaneously swallowed by the black flames.

After doing all this, Zi Ran leisurely sat down under the gaze of the crowd. Aside from one hand still channeling Hellfire into the tripod, Zi Ran made no extra moves; she just kept sitting there, occasionally glancing at the flames inside the tripod, occasionally adjusting the intensity of the Hellfire being fed into it.

At this moment, Lin Yehong was imposing as she shook down the Celestial Materials and treasures on the Blood Branch one by one, letting them fall onto the Vortex Diagram, then immediately using fire serpents to draw them in, making them begin to rotate within the Vortex Map together with the essences of the Celestial Materials and treasures that had already been fused before.

As time passed, an hour went by.

Seventy-eight Celestial Materials and treasures had already fallen from the Blood Branch above Lin Yehong’s head, and the fire serpents had circled more than five hundred times.

Lin Yehong’s Small Thousand World had already reached Great Success, so when the fire serpents reached their one thousand one hundred and eleventh rotation, the Vortex Map was completed.

At this pace, at most two more hours were needed for Lin Yehong’s Vortex Map to be completed!

Compared to Master Zi Ran’s side, where no one could understand what was happening, Li Changhai, Qing Qian and many other Vortex Divine Artisans were paying much closer attention to Lin Yehong’s situation. Because in just one short hour, Lin Yehong had accomplished what took them seven or eight days to complete.

In their eyes, the most terrifying part wasn’t even the shortened time.

It was that the essence of every single Celestial Material and treasure could, under the guidance of the fire serpents, fuse together almost perfectly!

"Worthy of being one of the Ten Great Divine Arts."

"No wonder Lin Yehong has a ninety-percent chance of producing High Quality Four-Vortex Vortex Maps!"

"Seeing the ’Small Thousand World’ with my own eyes today, I finally understand why I lost to people from the Thousand Crafts Sect."

The Vortex Divine Artisans of Zeming Palace sighed repeatedly, and even the two Five-Spin Vortex Divine Artisans, Qing Qian and the other, couldn’t help but ceaselessly sigh in their hearts.

The Ten Great Divine Arts truly were the pinnacle techniques of the Vortex Dao.

All these years, Zeming Palace’s losses had not been unjust.

Just as they were marveling at Lin Yehong’s "Small Thousand World."

Just as the spectators beneath the Vortex Dueling Platform were looking at Zi Ran in total confusion.

Just as Luo Yeguifeng was chatting and laughing happily with Yan Lai.

A streak of purple light suddenly bloomed from the Vortex Dueling Platform, flashed once from within that square tripod, and right after that, Zi Ran immediately stopped, stood up, and then carefully watched the Dragon Wall Text gradually appearing on one side of the tripod that no one could understand.

Looking at it, Zi Ran shook her head slightly with a hint of regret.

"What rotten luck. This Four-Vortex Enchantment Tripod contains a total of seven Innate Attributes, and this Vortex Map just had to end up with the worst Innate Attribute."

(The second update will be in the afternoon...)