"You talk too much."
Tang San fell silent for only a moment. Then an explosion rang beneath his feet. With both feet as the center, the ground split open into a deep pit.
His body spun. The Clear Sky Hammer in his left hand shifted to his right side. His calves drove his waist, his waist drove his back, his back drove his arm, and his whole body turned halfway. The foot-long black hammer swept up from below, then came crashing down toward Isaac.
"So this is the Clear Sky Hammer's Disorder Splitting Wind. Good."
Isaac showed no panic at Tang San's sudden attack. Only delight crossed his face. His arms swung at the same time, and wings formed from wind element spread behind him.
Boom.
Tang San's fierce hammer strike knocked Isaac flying, but blue wings unfolded from Isaac's back and carried him into the air.
"Tang San, my Gale Demon Wolf Chain Slash began as a self-created skill made behind closed doors. But after I entered Spirit Hall's service, under His Highness Son's guidance, it became completely different from its original form. Today, I will use it to break your Clear Sky Hammer."
As Isaac spoke, two sharp blue whirlwinds rapidly compressed. They spun faster and faster until they gathered above Isaac's palms as two masses of blue rotating blades.
"Come!" Tang San roared. Rarely, he showed the temperament of someone prepared to clash head-on.
Whoosh.
As Isaac fell at high speed, he struck with both hands. The spinning blue wind blades shot out, slashing toward Tang San with frightening speed.
Tang San's body rotated almost as soon as Isaac moved. The pitch-black Clear Sky Hammer swung out and collided with the two streaks of blue light.
The two blue circular blades were knocked aside at once by the Clear Sky Hammer. Yet a heartbeat later, another force drew them along. After drawing two arcs through the air, they returned to Isaac's side, circled around him, gathered even stronger force, and shot out again.
On the stage, Isaac and Tang San both spun. The two fought from a distance. Blue light and black hammer constantly collided. One was in the sky. One was on the ground. Although neither used Spirit Ring skills, the surging waves of energy were even more terrifying than many ten-thousand-year Spirit Skills.
Isaac's wings beat down again and again. Tang San's small hammer swung upward again and again. The impact sounds were dense as falling rain.
Both men spun faster and faster. In moments, more than a dozen collisions had already passed.
What Tang San was using now was naturally the orthodox Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Method. This hammer method could unleash eighty-one uninterrupted strikes, with each strike stronger than the last. It was said that if trained to the peak, the force of all eighty-one strikes could be united in one strike, enough to split mountains and crack the earth.
The Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Method was one of the secret techniques the Clear Sky Sect had relied on to dominate the world. Although the Clear Sky Sect had deeper techniques, such as the Nine Clear Sky Hammers and the Great Sumeru Hammer, the most famous one in the Spirit Master world remained the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Method.
Tang San was indeed a talented Spirit Master. Innate full Spirit Power, twin Martial Souls, and Tang Sect hidden-weapon training made him surprisingly skilled with a hammer.
Unfortunately, he was facing Isaac Gale, who also possessed innate full Spirit Power. Isaac had once delayed his cultivation in order to create his own Spirit Skill, but after joining Spirit Hall, Wu Ling had helped him fully develop his talent. Now he had broken through to Spirit Daoist rank, and in both cultivation and combat strength, he was not inferior to the current Golden Generation.
In this fight against Tang San, Isaac only used a self-created Spirit Skill and suppressed his cultivation to level forty. Even so, the body of a beast-Martial-Soul Spirit Daoist could easily suppress Tang San in raw power, not to mention that Isaac was a power-and-speed assault type with almost no weaknesses.
The dozens of blue wind blades that formed the Gale Chain Slash were enough to defeat opponents with stronger Spirit Power than Isaac. Tang San's ability to endure so long was already impressive.
Of course, that was also because of the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Method. It was practically the highest-level technique among this kind of accumulating-force skill. A more complete self-created Spirit Skill held an obvious suppressive advantage over similar skills. In addition, Tang San stood on the ground, so exerting force was naturally easier for him than for Isaac.
"Tang San, you are indeed impressive. But if your Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Method only reaches this level, then today, you will lose."
Isaac suddenly rose dozens of meters into the air. Dozens of streaks of blue light abruptly converged into one. As he descended, he accurately seized the opening as Tang San changed hammer rotations. One strike broke through, completely shattering the rising hammer blow.
Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer was indeed practiced to a high level. It was not even worse than that of a direct Clear Sky Sect disciple his age. But he had not yet returned to the sect, and Tang Hao had never truly taught him the real method of using Disorder Splitting Wind. His hammer technique was still somewhat rigid. That was why Isaac caught the flaw and defeated him in one move.
"You lost. But the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Method did not lose. I can feel that you have only barely learned this hammer method."
Isaac looked down at Tang San, who stood frozen in place. As Isaac slowly descended, he said those words, then left the stage without wasting more time speaking to him.
"Your Highness Son."
Outside the stage, on the VIP platform, Isaac came before Wu Ling after defeating Tang San and bowed respectfully. He carried no arrogance at all, because he understood that with his achievements, he had no right to be arrogant before this Saint.
"Isaac Gale, your cultivation these past years has been very good."
Wu Ling nodded and acknowledged Isaac's strength. Defeating Tang San was not much by itself. What Wu Ling valued was that Isaac had refined and renewed his Gale Chain Slash, making it far better than before.
Innate full Spirit Power represented a high ceiling, but whether that talent could become reality still depended on the Spirit Master's later performance.
"Thank you for your praise, Your Highness. Gale is unworthy of it."
Isaac remained extremely respectful. After a round of polite exchanges that carried little real meaning, the genius student of Divine Wind Academy withdrew.
Wu Ling did not keep him or give further guidance. After all, Isaac was not one of Heavenly Water Academy's beautiful girls.
As for Isaac's fight with Tang San, Wu Ling understood what Isaac meant by it. On one hand, Isaac wanted to verify what he had learned. On the other, he wanted to display his loyalty to Spirit Hall.
Isaac's current achievements came from Spirit Hall's cultivation. Yet he had never officially joined Spirit Hall. Instead, his position in Divine Wind Academy had risen higher and higher. Divine Wind Academy had already expressed submission to Spirit Hall, and Wu Ling had personally granted Isaac permission to remain there.
But there was still a layer of separation. Over the years, some people inside Spirit Hall had criticized this. Isaac's actions today answered those voices by showing both his talent and his loyalty to Spirit Hall.
"Your Majesty, there are still matters in Spirit City. As for the later matches, I will have to trouble you, Bishop Salas, and Sect Master Jewel to discuss them."
After speaking with Isaac, Wu Ling stood and bid Emperor Noctis farewell. The Polaris emperor's expression was ugly. He had discovered that the imperial family's signboard no longer worked very well.
Spirit Hall had risen and expanded over the years, and its influence had become more terrifying by the day. The natural result was that the influence of the two imperial families and the seven great sects had declined.
Three of the seven great sects were crippled. One had defected. Of the remaining three, the Clear Sky Sect had gone into seclusion, the White Tiger Sect was tied to the Star Stripe imperial family, and only the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect remained. Even that sect now looked as if it was about to lean toward Spirit Hall.
As for the two imperial families, the Star Stripe side was still slightly better. On the Polaris side, imperial prestige had almost sunk into the ground.
Watching Wu Ling leave, Emperor Noctis sighed to himself.
A season of troubles.