This One's for External Use
Mo Fan's Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces had a noticeably smaller area of effect than Ding Yumian's, but it hit markedly harder.
Scorching flames surged against the Barrier, making the blue dome visibly shudder. The spectators could feel firsthand just how blazing and overwhelming the Rose Flame was in the hands of that brutal Mage down in the arena.
Caught inside the Nine Palaces, Ding Yumian held nothing back. Piece by piece, her body was wrapped in smooth, flexible armor — pale blue-green plates that were soft and supple, crafted not from the hides or bones of beasts or Demon-Beasts, but looking more like something refined from a plant.
Perhaps because her own element was Fire, Ding Yumian's Armor Enchanted Gear offered no fire resistance whatsoever — it was barely effective against flames. Under the onslaught of Mo Fan's Rose Flame burning at two-and-a-half times its normal power, she was forced all the way back to the far edge of the arena.
Mo Fan knew how dangerous Ding Yumian was. He'd barely scraped together this one chance to strike back — he wasn't going to give her a single opening to unleash Soul Shockwave.
While Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces still blazed and the Focus Pendant still offered him some protection, Mo Fan began tracing another Star Chart.
Purple-black lightning arcs flashed around him, rapidly coalescing into a wilder, more savage constellation pattern.
"Qianjun!"
"Thunderbolt!"
"Frenzied Dance!!!"
The Lightning Element Star Chart still glowed beneath his feet as the furious, crackling force of lightning gathered directly above Ding Yumian's head.
An enormous Lightning Cloud hung suspended, serpentine bolts writhing and flashing within its depths. At Mo Fan's pointed command, a sheet of purple-black lightning tore open the air and hammered down into Ding Yumian on the ground below.
**BOOM!!!!**
Qianjun carried a spatial shockwave — when the Thunderbolt struck, the entire section of the arena trembled and rang out.
**BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!**
More Thunderbolts rained down, each one slamming into Ding Yumian's armor and the ground beneath her feet. The floor fractured in a wide swathe, debris spinning through the air.
Ding Yumian had no movement skills. All she could do was endure, relying on her Armor Enchanted Gear and Shield Enchanted Gear — but this third-level intermediate Lightning Element magic was even more savage than Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces, especially against a single target like her. Each bolt that landed threatened to pulverize her armor outright...
The Frenzied Dance of lightning turned everything around Ding Yumian into a kill zone. Locked into pure defense, she felt numbness spreading through every inch of her body.
Lightning crackled and snapped; that corner of the arena had been reduced to ruin. Even with her Shield Enchanted Gear and Armor Enchanted Gear protecting her, Ding Yumian was shaking violently.
Her Armor Enchanted Gear had already shown its limits against Mo Fan's Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces; against lightning that combined penetration force, overhead smashing power, and spatial shockwave all at once, it simply could not hold.
Blue-green armor fragments slowly peeled away from her body. Ding Yumian stood her ground, pale-faced, swaying on her feet.
"You've got nothing left to defend with." Mo Fan stepped forward. Countless lightning arcs — wild as rearing pythons — still hovered around him in the air as Lightning Seals.
One word from Mo Fan and those rampaging bolts would lunge at Ding Yumian. Her shattered armor couldn't withstand the force of those Lightning Seals.
"You were willing to take the full punishment from my flames without using the Focus Pendant — just waiting for the right moment to bury me." Ding Yumian breathed hard, each exhale heavy.
Ruthless. Overwhelming.
That was Ding Yumian's verdict on Mo Fan. A dual cultivator of Lightning and Fire, he was nothing short of a machine of destruction — capable of delivering the explosive force of Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces and then following it up with the even more terrifying Thunderbolt: Frenzied Dance.
Lightning was even more unreasonable than fire. None of Ding Yumian's previous opponents had been this kind of relentless offensive monster, which was why she had chosen light, flexible Armor Enchanted Gear — so that even without movement skills, she wouldn't just stand there like a target.
In theory, her expensive Armor Enchanted Gear should have been able to withstand a full round of an opponent's attacks in a one-on-one fight. Unfortunately, this agile, lightweight armor was no match for a Mage of Mo Fan's violent, crushing style.
The moment Mo Fan was free to act, Ding Yumian simply had no answer for him.
"The two most devastating spells across the entire intermediate level… Hah. If Ding Yumian had been wearing heavy Armor Enchanted Gear, Mo Fan would definitely have been the one to lose."
"There's no point in 'what ifs.' A win is a win!!"
"Fair enough… Still, for a freshman to have trained both Elements to the third level — this Great Demon Lord really is something else."
The outcome had been decided. For most of the fight, Mo Fan had been on the back foot — either getting his Star Charts shattered by Mind Impact, or enduring the searing burn of Ding Yumian's flames.
The catch was that Ding Yumian had chosen Mind Element as her secondary. That limited her offensive toolkit to a relatively narrow range, and against a Mage like Mo Fan, who had strong innate fire resistance, she simply couldn't bring him down quickly.
Most critically, Mo Fan — who had spent the entire fight playing helpless — suddenly deployed his Focus Pendant at the last moment, then unleashed lightning and fire together in a world-wrecking barrage that shattered Ding Yumian's defenses in an instant. She had probably believed she'd already won, only to be dismantled at the very end.
Mo Fan had only one chance to turn the fight around. He only needed one.
"Mo Fan — winner!"
Wei Rong announced the result in a loud, clear voice. A wave of stunned, disbelieving cries swept through the stands.
Most of those crying out were fellow freshmen. Among the new students, the highest-ranked was Mu Nujiao, who had only just broken into the top fifty — yet Mo Fan, living up to his name as the Great Demon Lord, had just taken down one of the top-ten prodigies.
Everyone had witnessed Ding Yumian's power firsthand. Putting themselves in her place, these so-called intermediate-level experts knew they would likely have been crushed before they could cast a single spell — and even if they had a Focus Pendant to strike back with, none of them could have delivered blows as devastating as Mo Fan's at the intermediate level.
In truth, even the victorious Mo Fan let out a long, slow breath.
Had he not advanced his Lightning Element Star Nebula to the third level the previous month, this fight against a top-ten challenger would have been a guaranteed loss. Thunderbolt: Yaksha simply didn't hit as hard as the sustained, relentless barrage of Thunderbolt: Frenzied Dance.
"My flames have a lingering effect," Ding Yumian said after resting a moment, having recovered somewhat. She casually tossed Mo Fan a small bottle of pale brownish liquid — its color faintly reminiscent of her own fire. "Drink this. It'll clear out the residual flame damage."
Mo Fan was covered in injuries. Ding Yumian, by contrast, showed no wounds at all — just the pallor of exhaustion.
"Thanks." Mo Fan took the bottle and, with an easy, carefree air, knocked the whole thing back in a few long gulps.
Ding Yumian watched him, looking slightly dazed.
Mo Fan assumed she'd been captivated by his casual, unaffected manner — and it didn't hurt that he was shirtless, showing off a perfect physique. A smug, self-satisfied grin spread across his face: the grin of a man utterly convinced he had just made ten thousand girls swoon.
Ding Yumian blinked. Then, without a word, she produced a second identical bottle of pale brownish liquid and said mildly, "This one's for external use."
The triumphant smile on Mo Fan's face froze solid.