Chapter 640: Secret Pattern Combat

During the few days when the Black Dragon devoured the Golden Dragon, Ye Feng wasn’t idle. He realized that the various laws the Black Dragon used were far more diverse than those he employed. Thus, he reviewed the Black Dragon’s battles repeatedly, memorizing all those combat methods and even those of its opponents.
He analyzed in particular the final battle between the Black Dragon and the Golden Dragon. In truth, in terms of true strength, the Black Dragon was far inferior to the Golden Dragon—even the sealed Golden Dragon had combat capabilities that far surpassed those of the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon won through surprise.
Ye Feng finally understood what happened after the Golden Dragon first unleashed its dragon flame.
He carved many secret patterns in the Black Dragon’s mouth, including the Law of Dark Devourment, the Law of Light Reflection, and the Law of Wind Repulsion. In previous battles, Ye Feng had already guided the Black Dragon to use these three patterns—to absorb shockwaves fired from afar, reflect them back, and amplify their power with the Law of Repulsion.
The Law of Devourment allowed the Black Dragon to absorb part of the shockwave, reducing the damage it suffered. The Law of Repulsion also reduced damage to its mouth and enhanced the reflection effect. As for the Law of Reflection, it could send the shockwave back, though not necessarily 100%, but it was sufficient.
Ye Feng had long planned to use these three laws together and had practiced them a couple of times in actual battles. However, since the reflections were of long-range attacks, and those attacks were already weakened by 20–30% after reflection, they didn’t yield significant results. Yet, he never expected such astonishing effects at close range.
At such close distance, the Law of Spatial Annihilation meant that even a 10–20% force of an attack could cause severe damage. Not to mention that about 70% of the reflected force, amplified by the Law of Repulsion, had at least 80% of the original power. The remaining 30% was absorbed by the Black Dragon, but thanks to the Law of Devourment and the Law of Repulsion, the actual damage to the Black Dragon was less than 10%. Compared to the Golden Dragon, this was a huge difference. This was why, despite bleeding from its mouth, the Black Dragon still retained its combat strength, while the Golden Dragon, after taking that strike, barely retained any combat ability and almost perished instantly. This led to the Black Dragon’s ultimate victory.

After witnessing the battle against the black dragon, Ye Feng even considered whether these secret patterns could be applied to living beings to achieve the same effect. He even experimented on himself by carving the patterns on his palm, but saw no result, which led him to give up in the end.

Several days passed, and the black dragon finally completed its consumption. However, after that, it fell into a deep sleep.

“It probably won’t wake up in the short term. After each act of consumption, it needs a long time to digest. You can put it inside your Virtual Treasure first,” the Voice of Heaven spoke again.

Following the Voice of Heaven’s instructions, Ye Feng placed the black dragon inside the Absolute Martial Ark.

“Let’s begin the final test now!” The Voice of Heaven grew serious. Before Ye Feng even realized his surroundings had changed, he suddenly found himself in a void.

“The final test involves fighting against the remnants of your senior brothers. These remnants represent their strength when their mastery of secret patterns reached 10,000—exactly the same as their strength at that time. Your task is to defeat them one by one so I can see how far you’ve come,” the Voice of Heaven explained the rules. “In this space, all combat methods except for secret pattern seals are prohibited.”

Only after hearing this did Ye Feng realize that his spiritual energy could no longer be sensed, nor could he detect any of his innate abilities. He couldn’t even feel any energy flow in his dantian. He was surprised—unaware of what method the Voice of Heaven had used to achieve this. Yet the effect was astonishing, even causing him some fear.

But he quickly calmed down, knowing that if the Voice of Heaven wanted to kill him, it would take just a finger twitch—there was no need for such elaborate measures. As far as Ye Feng knew, the Voice of Heaven was so powerful that it feared nothing, not even the Immortals, so it wouldn’t worry about the Immortals seeking revenge if he died.

With these thoughts in mind, Ye Feng slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“The competition begins now…”

Across from Ye Feng appeared a young man in white, roughly the same age as him, wearing a confident smile. Ye Feng knew this young man must be one of his senior brothers.

The young man in white didn’t even say hello; he quickly formed a seal in his hand. In an instant, Ye Feng was engulfed in white mist.
“Damn it…” Ye Feng realized he had been caught. After cursing himself for not being more vigilant, he warned himself that the opponent was merely a remnant of memory and wouldn’t bother with courtesy.
From behind, within the mist, a sound of something cutting through the air came faintly. Ye Feng immediately dodged. He could also faintly see that the weapon used to attack him seemed to be ice needles.
“Smart. Using thick mist to block the opponent’s vision, and since soul energy can’t be released externally, attacking with such tiny weapons like needles makes it impossible to defend against.” Ye Feng thought his senior brother was indeed a genius.
However, he wasn’t going to sit idly. He formed several seals, invoking the laws of light, which instantly dispersed the mist. But the young man in white refused to miss any opportunity to attack, firing more ice needles.
What surprised Ye Feng wasn’t these ice needles this time, but the previous batch, which had silently reached his back. These overt ice needles were merely meant to distract him. Fortunately, with his rich combat experience, he detected the danger right away; otherwise, he would have been hit. He quickly formed several seals, causing several walls of earth to rapidly form and block his back.
But things weren’t that simple. The earth walls only held back the attack for a blink before the ice needles continued advancing. This made Ye Feng frown as he hurriedly dodged and formed more defensive laws. Only then did the speed of the ice needles slow down, and Ye Feng finally realized what was wrong. The ice needles were wrapped in a thin layer of black mist, hiding their presence, but inside, they carried the law of destruction. If hit, it would be devastating.
“This is what battle with secret patterns is like…” Ye Feng couldn’t help but marvel. He hadn’t expected the opponent’s attacks to involve so many tactical elements. But he wasn’t inexperienced in tactics either; otherwise, he wouldn’t have helped the Black Dragon win nine battles in a row. “If you play dirty, I can do the same!”
He quickly formed several more seals. “Hehe, reflection—let’s give it an extra boost.”
Ye Feng used the laws of reflection, repulsion, and mirroring, not only reflecting all the ice needles back but also replicating them hundreds of times, sending them flying.

Seeing this, the young man in white moved his fingers swiftly, turning an area of a hundred feet around him into a sea of fire. The ice needles that entered it were quickly vaporized. Ye Feng also moved his fingers rapidly. “Do you think it’s that easy?” The vaporized ice needles didn’t completely disappear but, under Ye Feng’s control, turned into mist that enveloped the young man in white. “Seal him!” Ye Feng’s fingers moved rapidly, and the mist quickly contracted, shrinking to the size of a person before beginning to freeze. However, Ye Feng didn’t expect to defeat him in one go; he just wanted to trap him for a while to buy himself some time. As the young man was about to break free, Ye Feng completed his seal technique. A cold smile appeared on his lips. “Let me show you what it’s like to experience both ice and fire!” No sooner had he spoken than a loud roar was heard—the ice layer exploded instantly, and the young man in white was completely charred, in a miserable state. “Trapped in the mire!” Ye Feng’s attacks continued as he quickly formed another seal. Before the young man could react, his legs were entangled in mud, with countless hands reaching out to pull him down. “Freeze him again!” Ye Feng changed his seal technique once more, turning the mud into frozen ground. The ice quickly climbed up the young man’s legs. Several ice needles, carrying the power of destruction, cut through his feet, causing blood to seep out. “You’re done!” Watching the crimson blood, Ye Feng accelerated his seal technique. The blood quickly froze and, in the blink of an eye, seeped into the young man’s body. The young man finally managed to escape from the frozen ground. “Bloom!” Ye Feng finished his seal technique and snapped his fingers. The young man’s body instantly solidified. Red ice pillars continuously emerged from his body. In less than a breath, the last trace of life in him vanished within the blood-stained red ice. “The winner is Ye Feng!” The voice of the Heavenly Dao appeared again. “The second wave of challenges begins now!” Ye Feng was full of confidence. Having not been very good at using secret patterns in battle before, he now had a fierce fighting spirit after this fight. “Come on! No matter how many come, I’ll take them all down!”