Chapter 133: Cao Zhu

Gazing at the seemingly smiling expression on Lin Dong's face, a cold light flitted across the white clothed man's eyes. He stared at Lin Dong and icily spit out a word: "Trash!"

As the word left his mouth, the atmosphere in the plaza suddenly became tensed. Everyone knew that today's matter would not end well.

On the walkway, Zi Yue also secretly sighed in relief. She did not expect that Lin Dong had such a temperament. Just moments before, he had actually turned and was planning to leave, she did not doubt that if it were not for those last few words from the other party, Lin Dong would have ditched her without turning back.

"I'm interested to found exactly what makes you so special that teacher regards you so highly..." Zi Yue stared at the figure in the plaza as she mumbled to herself. Though she managed to grasp a portion of Lin Dong's abilities in their previous exchange, she still did not believe what grandmaster Yan had said: that she was inferior to him.

As one of the well-known figures among the younger generation of Yan City's Symbol Masters, Zi Yue always had a certain level of self-confidence. Currently, she had already reached the peak of the second seal Symbol Master stage and was only a single step from reaching the third seal. This kind of achievement was already outstanding among her peers.

Though she had heard of Wei Tong's defeat at Lin Dong's hand, Zi Yue felt that the biggest factor that led to his victory was the strength of his Yuan Power. With regards to the fact that Lin Dong was able to advance to the initial Yuan Dan stage at such a young age, she was indeed a little amazed, yet, that was the limit of her amazement. No matter how strong one's Yuan Power was, it was useless in the Symbol Master Tower. There, only powerful Mental Energy would become one's greatest shield.

Plus, most of the clashes between Symbol Masters were based on Mental Energy, therefore, as long as Lin Dong exchanged blows with that white clothed man, Zi Yue would be able to get a feel of his true abilities.

In the plaza, Lin Dong gazed at the sneering man in white. He could tell that this person was intentionally challenging Yan City's Symbol Masters.

"You're planning on being to vanguard to test Yan City's Symbol Masters?"

Upon hearing Lin Dong's words, the white clothed man's eyes slightly narrowed but he did not answer. Instead sneered and said: "Brat, cut the crap, if you don't dare to fight then get lost and let a more capable person from your side come out."

Though he wore a sneer on his mouth, the white clothed man was somewhat alarmed in his heart. Although he had a haughty personality, he was after all no simpleton. Naturally, he would not come to another faction's territory and be arrogant for no reason. The reason why he did so was exactly as Lin Dong had said, he was under orders to find out what kind of talent this batch of younger generation members from Yan City had.

"Since that is so...then, let's do it." Lin Dong chuckled before taking two steps back as he casually replied.

"Humph, brat, I am Cao Zhu from Sky Fire City's Symbol Master Guild. You better remember this name!"

The white clothed man snorted as he spoke, yet, he was clearly a cunning one as before his words could fade away, several icy lights suddenly shot out from his sleeves and quickly flew towards Lin Dong.

"Ding ding!"

Faced with Cao Zhu's sudden attack, Lin Dong did not move, his finger lightly flicked as several black shadows also shot out from his sleeves and easily blocked Cao Zhu's attack.

After blocking Cao Zhu's attack, the onlookers discovered that those icy lights were three sharp short swords. The short swords were entirely white, so much so that they seemed to emit a slight chill. Furthermore, when Lin Dong's Shattered Yuan Shrapnels made contact with the short swords, to his amazement, he found that the Mental Energy he had covered the Shattered Yuan Shrapnels in were stung by the chill, causing him to feel extreme pain.

"Mysterious Ice Metal"

Lin Dong glanced at the three snow-white short swords that were covered all over with sharp sawteeth and managed to identify them. Mysterious Ice Metal was an unusual and rare metal which was formed only in extremely cold places. It possessed an astonishingly cold Qi which could do harm even to Mental Energy.

Lin Dong did not expect that Cao Zhu would actually have this kind of treasure, no wonder he dared to be so arrogant.

Yet, although Lin Dong had suffered a little at the hands of the cold Qi, Cao Zhu was even more greatly alarmed in his heart. In the split moment when the two sides collided, he astonishingly found that the Mental Energy he covered the Mysterious Ice Swords in was unexpectedly almost scattered. Evidently, the former's Mental Energy was stronger than his own!

"Since when did such powerful individual appear among Yan City's younger generation?" Cao Zhu muttered in his heart. Soon after, the cold light in his eyes shined even brighter as the three Mysterious Ice Swords suddenly danced in mid air, transforming into sword images that gave out a potent cold Qi as they trickily shot towards Lin Dong.

From the looks of it, Cao Zhu seemed to be an expert at attacking through using Mental Energy to control objects. The tricky trajectory plus the additional cold Qi on the swords would be difficult to deal with even for an initial Yuan Dan stage practitioner.

However, these did not pose even the slightest threat to Lin Dong. He lifted his palm as ten Shattered Yuan Shrapnels burst forward, obstructing Cao Zhu's three Mysterious Ice Swords with 'ding ding dang dang' sounds, such that they were unable to encroach on the area within a few feet of Lin Dong.

Cao Zhu's level of Mental Energy control was clearly inferior to Lin Dong's. Although Cao Zhu relied on the power of the cold Qi from the Mysterious Ice Swords, he was still unable to break the defense of the seemingly tiny Shattered Yuan Shrapnels.

"Swish!"

While using the Shattered Yuan Shrapnels to block the other party's Mysterious Ice Swords, Lin Dong smiled at Cao Zhu as the sole of his foot stepped off the ground. His figure shot towards the latter like an arrow while a strong Yuan Power undulation emitted from within his body.

Upon seeing Lin Dong dash towards him, Cao Zhu was alarmed as his figure hastily retreated. Soon after, a Mental Energy shock wave swiftly burst out from his Niwan Palace and ferociously charged towards Lin Dong.

As he sensed the swiftly approaching Mental Energy wave, Lin Dong's eyes flickered but he did not take any evasive maneuvers. Instead, he extended a palm, under his control, a Destiny Soul Symbol appeared just beneath the layer of skin on his palm. Immediately, that Destiny Soul Symbol squirmed as it transformed into Soul Symbol vortex.

"Chi chi!"

Lin Dong's palm directly grabbed the Mental Energy shock wave, and what caused Cao Zhu to be shocked, was that not only did the shock wave not do any damage to Lin Dong, it was instead dissipated the instant Lin Dong grabbed it.

While Cao Zhu was shocked by this, joy bubbled up in Lin Dong's heart. This was because he had discovered that that Mental Energy shock wave was completely gobbled up by the Destiny Soul Symbol hidden within his palm.

"What a tyrannical Soul Symbol, to think that it could even gobble up another person's Mental Energy attack and assimilate it for one's own usage."

Lin Dong was both pleasantly surprised and shocked. This was the first time he had heard of such a tyrannical Destiny Soul Symbol, he could not help but be somewhat suspicious; was this mysterious Destiny Symbol truly just a mere Soul Symbol?

The shock in his heart did not last for long as Lin Dong quickly suppressed it. He lifted his head and gazed at the astonished look on Cao Zhu's face and could not help but chuckle. Lin Dong's body moved again and appeared before the latter, the Soul Symbol vortex within his right palm swiftly grabbing at Cao Zhu's head.

Upon seeing Lin Dong's hand swing towards him, Cao Zhu hastily retreated as his body emitted Yuan Power undulations. However, since he was already not Lin Dong's match in Mental Energy, it was even more impossible to contend with Yuan Power. Therefore, before he could retreat, Lin Dong appeared behind the latter like a demon as his palm touched the latter's head.

Just as Lin Dong's palm connected with Cao Zhu's head, the latter's body started jerking violently. Horror quickly filled his eyes, as he found to his dismay, that the two Destiny Symbols within his Niwan Palace started to tremble as streams of Mental Energy flowed out without control, before finally being sucked into Lin Dong's palm.

"Pu chi!"

This weird predicament caused Cao Zhu to become extremely desperate. Unable to deal with it, he forcefully turned his head as an arrow of blood shot out from his mouth towards Lin Dong's throat.

Within this blood arrow was an exceedingly strong Yuan Power undulation. Evidently, this was Cao Zhu's last-ditch effort and this move indeed caused Lin Dong to jolt his body backwards while Cao Zhu borrowed this short moment to escape Lin Dong's palm.

"Swish swish!"

Just as Cao Zhu was escaping, Lin Dong's eyebrow raised and with a flick of his mind, a vigorous Mental Energy condensed before him into ten 'Materialized Spirit Needles'. In a flash, they appeared around the deathly pale Cao Zhu, the sharp points of the needles glimmered with an icy light.

"Stop, I admit defeat, I admit defeat!"

As he gazed at the long Mental Energy needles that floated around him, Cao Zhu's body turned rigid. In the short few minutes of their exchange, he had been beaten so badly till he did not even have the opportunity to retaliate. Even his originally deadly Mysterious Ice Swords were easily disabled. Thus, to avoid any physical pain, he promptly gave up as he loudly shouted out.

"Hss!"

Upon seeing this chap admit defeat, the surrounding Yan City Symbol Masters let out hisses of disapproval. Many of them wanted revenge for the humiliation from before, they hurled ridicule and mockery at Cao Zhu, causing him to turn green with anger. Yet, before the threat of the Materialized Spirit Needles around him dispersed, he did not dare to open his mouth.

On the walkway, Zi Yue was also shocked by this scene. Truth be told, she was unable to make heads or tails of this battle. No matter what, Cao Zhu was a second seal Symbol Master and Lin Dong should not have so absolutely dominated the former.

Logically speaking, this should have been so. If Lin Dong had utilised ordinary methods, he would probably have to tangle for a while before finally defeating his opponent. Yet no one had expected that Lin Dong's strange 'Soul Symbol vortex' would be able to absorb a huge portion of the Mental Energy, within Cao Zhu's Niwan Palace, in such a short time. How could Cao Zhu possibly retaliate?

Lin Dong smiled as glanced at Cao Zhu, but did not immediately disperse the 'Materialized Spirit Needles'. Instead, he beckoned with his hand and recalled not only the ten Shattered Yuan Shrapnels, but also forcefully retrieved the three Mysterious Ice Swords.

Upon seeing that Lin Dong had actually taken away the 'Mysterious Ice Swords', Cao Zhu's cheeks started to tremble.

"Let this be my victory prize. Many thanks."

Lin Dong chuckled, ignoring Cao Zhu's furious gaze as he kept the swords into his Qiankun bag. Lin Dong cupped his hands towards the latter in thanks before withdrawing his gaze and casually glancing at Zi Yue. Without bothering to say anything, he turned exited the stage under the respectful gazes of the group of Yan City's Symbol Masters.