Yin Long's hand unconsciously reached towards his face, the tips of his fingers feeling warm against his bare skin. The mask, the hidden identity, the prolonged deceit, Lang Huo's golden flames had burned it all to nothing. All that remained standing was the one that tried to erase himself, Yin Long, the dark blade of the wolf, the sinner whose name should already have been erased from the clan's records.
"You...Do you know what yo...!"
Yin Long opened his mouth to speak, but Lang Huo didn't bother waiting for him to finish whatever he was about to say. She grasped the large sword she had taken back and rushed forward, her speed leagues apart from what she showed earlier. Her sword descended towards Yin Long's head in a ruthless fashion, her condensed golden flames scorching the air as they followed along.
Yin Long's pupils shrank sharply at the sight, the range of his senses plummeting as he crumbled the world around him. In the end, all that remained of his world was a small area of two metres, larger than before but still pitifully small. An uncountable number of water-like drops danced in the air around him, reflecting an uncountable number of Yin Long's, a golden light slowly bathing them all as the greatsword got closer.
The reflections moved in unison, one of the wings that Yin Long had kept neatly tucked away unfolding and shooting upwards. The wing took the role of his blade and collided with the side of the greatsword, hitting its weakest point and altering its path. A horrible burning pain spread to Yin Long's body from the wing as it deflected the blade, but the law of Yin used that pain as fuel to raise his aura.
The large greatsword cut down next to him before crashing into the stage, a sliver of surprise flashing through Lang Huo's pupils. Even Xiao Yin Yu was surprised as she looked at the scene from the spectator seatings, this was the first time she had ever seen Yin Long actually use the wings that grew whenever he activated his bloodline.
But Yin Long didn't stop there, practically acting on instinct as his hand rose slightly, his open palm pointing towards the golden flames that had fallen into his little world. Lang Huo had reached the 5th Earthen Door, she had jumped slightly compared to when he first saw her record, but the power she could release was a fair bit above her actual cultivation. As such, her attacks, especially her famed flames, was not something the current Yin Long should be able to harness.
But even so, his soul surged out and surrounded the flames. And while small parts of his soul were burned away by the fierce heat, what remained quickly surrounded the fire, the purple section of his soul flashing quietly without anyone noticing. The golden flames were sealed into the shape of a sword, a blade thrumming with power landing in his grasp.
This little crumbled world of his belonged solely to Yin Long, the countless drops inside it reflected only him and his blade. As long as it was inside that broken world of his, the threshold for what he could and could not turn into a sword was raised a fair bit, resulting in the current scene of him grasping a pure golden blade that seemed to be filled with a roaring inferno.
The corners of Lang Huo's lips only curved up further when she saw Yin Long's figure bathed in the golden light of the blade, the transparent leaves dancing around him dyed in that very same colour. She almost felt like raising her head to gaze upon the sky, as if she was trying to look through all the projection arrays in Sunson Province to tell them that what they were seeing was true.
But she didn't, she wasn't done yet. There was more to see, more to show off, more fear to drive into the hearts of others. So one of her hands let go of her weapon and was pushed forward, Yin Long spotting golden arcs crackling between her fingers. Had it not been for the seemingly slowed time, or maybe just enhanced perception, inside his crumbled world, then the lightning she was charging up would have probably erupted already. He had never seen Lang Huo use lightning before so it was probably something she picked up later, but he didn't get the chance to ask when it happened, her somewhat drawn-out voice reaching his ears.
"You abandoned your first crush for me."
Her hand finished pushing forward, unleashing the lightning that was charging up around her palm. Yin Long barely managed to twist his waist to the side to dodge the brunt of the attack, but a few errant arcs still traced across his abdomen and back, leaving smoking black marks on his skin. But Lang Huo was not content with stopping there, just dodging almost point-blank lightning wasn't enough.
"You abandoned your chance at the throne for me."
The few flames that still hung in the air burst to life with Lang Huo's voice, coiling around themselves until they formed spears as thick as fists. The life-like weapons rained down upon Yin Long like hail, his empty hand clenching as a transparent silver blade that seemed to be filled with minute cracks appeared in his grasp.
One hand wielded the silver blade while the other held the golden blade, both of them flashing through the air like blurred colours as he defended against the attacks. He incorporated parts of Meiyu's Buddha Dances in the Rain and the Swordsoul Guardians peculiar technique, deflecting the spears by sapping away the energy in them and storing it in his blades.
But the sheer number of attacks was too great for him to properly defend against just like that, even when he was using two swords at once. So, he had no choice but to use one of the techniques created by the Lang clan's founder. Ravenous Beast, the first of the six moves, was unleashed, five perfect replicas of each of his blades spawning around him and replicating his moves.
Ravenous Beast was technically an offensive technique meant to eradicate large swathes of enemies at once, but there was no reason why it couldn't be used for defence. The hail of spears was quickly defended against, Yin Long's eyes flashing slightly when he saw that Lang Huo was already lifting her weapon again.
"You abandoned precious time with our parents for me."
He placed his weapons against each other and slashed out with them as one, unleashing all the energy he had gathered up using the Swordsoul Guardians technique. A soft yet ear-piercing groaning sound reached the spectators as Yin Long's sword tried to break the surrounding space, straining it to its limit.
The sword headed directly for Lang Huo's waist, but she didn't show the slightest intent to dodge it, her eyes containing an almost mad glint as she looked at Yin Long. His mouth twisted slightly as he saw her actions, the attack quickly vanishing as he traced a spatial crack he had created. The two blades appeared again a bit above Lang Huo, unleashing the rampant energy that had gathered inside them.
A thick ray of energy cut through the air, tiny sections of cracked space dancing around golden flames, almost resembling a light source that had been stitched up. The attack crashed into the spectators seating, the sturdy stone and metal unable to resist the fierce heat and force of the attack.
First, it was torn apart by the fractured space, sliding apart as it had never been whole to begin with, and then the raging flames turned the chunks to ash that danced in the wind. But Lang Huo didn't even seem to notice the chaos behind her, focusing solely on Yin Long as she raised her weapon and swept out with it.
"You abandoned all glory and fame for me."
The air was pushed away by the weapon, Yin Long's skin and flesh sinking in slightly before the attack even hit him. Both his wings flashed forward at once, one pushing down on the blade, a whirl of blood forming around its feathers to increase its power. The other wing shot towards Lang Huo's wrist, each feather gleaming like a blade as Yin Long's law of swords poured into them.
His feather whacked against Lang Huo's wrist, only a few centimetres beneath the base of her palm. The sharpness of the feathers left a few small cuts on her wrist, each only just small enough so that Yin Long's law of blood would show the most effectiveness, he didn't want to take off her hand after all.
Her blood started to flow erratically, reducing the control she had over her own wrist, the twin attacks of the wings giving Yin Long enough room to fully stop her attack. But Lang Huo didn't seem bothered, smiling so softly and gently, yet ruefully, that Yin Long's chest clenched slightly.
"For me, you abandoned everything, even your own life. For me, you sank into the darkness and erased your own name. But I won't accept that sacrifice any longer, I can't. I am no longer that young girl who understood nothing, that young girl that needed to make her own brother miserable just to stand stably. Trust in me, I can bear the weight of the darkness now."
She didn't tighten her grasp on her blade, nor did she reach out with her other hand to properly grasp the handle. The world had seen enough. Yin Long, a cultivator who had yet to even reach the Earthen Door realm, was able to fight the one ranked 4th to a standstill, countering her every move. She knew what sort of scene that was, so she smiled, so freely and joyfully that it seemed like she was trying to blow away all the dark emotions that had gathered since the day she sliced him in half.
"I surrender."
She hadn't given Yin Long any chance to say anything, she hadn't even given any indication of what she was planning, she simply announced her surrender without any fanfare. All the points she had gathered up, points enough to land her in the top 50, all of it was abandoned and transferred to Yin Long with that simple declaration.
The battle was considered his victory thanks to this so space around him started to twist straight away, preparing to send him away to the second arena since he had gathered more than enough points. But now he would have all the eyes of the dominion gathered on him since he was ranked in the top 50, now there was no longer anywhere he could hide. And it was because of this knowledge that Lang Huo could smile so freely at him.
"What do you say we compete as we did in the past, Big Yin? Who'll reach the final arena first, you or me? Who'll trash everyone else for the top spot? You? Or me?"
A smile as innocent as the one she showed him when they were just children, before everything had become muddled thanks to the diverging paths they ended up walking on. There was none of the earlier lethargy and sluggishness, but she was abandoning her current rank for him so Yin Long found it somewhat hard to accept. He was the one who abandoned things for others, he wasn't used to them abandoning things for him, with the exception of Lan Yun. Lang Huo also knew that, but she had already made her choice, and she did so gladly, beaming at him as she spoke to him one last time before he vanished into the twisting space.
"I can bear the weight of the darkness now. So why don't you go and bear the weight of the light for a bit? I'd say it's about time, no?"
