Yin Long spoke in a somewhat mocking tone as Tao Tiankong experienced the effects of Esi, but that didn't mean that he was staying still. He was moving forward at the same time, his blood splattering the stage as the wound in his shoulder started to slowly stitch back together. His wings had also been pierced, but the feathers around the wounds simply liquefied into a thick mass that filled in the holes before returning to normal.
It was almost grim how little Yin Long cared about wounds, this reckless type of fighting was usually reserved for body cultivators since they were generally the only ones who could deal with wounds this quickly. Granted, this way of fighting wasn't something Yin Long could do as he pleased, it all relied on the stored up Netherworld Energy. And right now, after employing a good portion of it now, he only had enough for one similar use left. If he was reckless or got wounded too much then he may actually end up with nothing left, removing one of his trump cards.
Yin Long did not bother spending any energy on thinking about that possibility, dragging the pitch-black devouring sword along the ground for a bit before slashing it upwards as he aimed for his opponent's chin. Tiankong didn't allow the hollow hunger and pain to completely distract him so he was well aware of the blade that was aiming for his head. But contrary to what Yin Long expected, Tiankong didn't move to dodge or block the attack.
No, Tiankong simply tilted his head to the side slightly. He was fully capable of hopping back or to the side, but he didn't. He allowed the blade to cut through his robe and skin, producing a bone-deep gash that went from his sternum and up across his shoulder. His bones felt as hard as steel, Yin Long's wrist vibrating slightly from the rebounding force. He allowed the black sword to slip from his grasp, soaring past Tiankong for a bit before it fell down and embedded itself in the stone close to the edge of the stage.
Yin Long's hand didn't remain empty for long, the black sword filled with swirls, the swallowing sword, appearing in his grasp as he brought his arm down again. But this time Tiankong wasn't going to let himself get hit, flicking his wrist to push the tip of his spear upwards. The shaft of the spear collided with the swirling black sword, Yin Long's wrist vibrating once again due to the force of the collision. The blade slipped out his hand and went the same way as the previous one, soaring past Tiankong and embedding itself in the stone at the edge of the stage.
Tiankong stood up from his halfway kneeling position, allowing his blood to stain his robes and the stage around him. He glanced at Yin Long and then down at the wound, actually digging his fingers into the open gash, frowning heavily due to the pain.
"Arrogance, arrogance is what kills men. I said that I would not give you any chances, that I would show you respect by going all out. And yet I stayed still, I unleashed a lukewarm attack and didn't follow up on it, I allowed you to make the first move. This wound I deserve, this wound is my punishment for arrogance, I will give you this one."
He removed his fingers from the wound, small lumps of flesh stuck under his nails due to how hard he dug them into the sides of the gash. Yin Long's gaze narrowed slightly at Tiankong's actions and declaration, his steadfast expression. He was his enemy, but on this point, Yin Long had no choice but to respect him. This was the mindset of a future ruler, he was definitely suited to bearing the crown of someone strong.
"Swordsman of Dancing Leaves, Yin Long, prepare yourself, there will be no more quarters."
Tiankong corrected his grip on his spear as he spoke, sliding his right leg back slightly as he grasped the weapon with both hands. The domain that covered the stage strengthened in accordance with Tiankong's actions, an additional piercing sharpness emerging in the blackened air. The broken world around Yin Long was forced to shrink more thanks to the strengthening of the domain, now covering barely more than half a metre.
Tiankong's spear rushed forward like a snake the moment he grasped it with both hands, the crimson tip turning into a blur that made it hard for Yin Long to see the movements of the weapon. He quickly stepped back, the cyan sword made from wind appearing in his left hand while the transparent silver sword made from fractured space appeared in his other hand.
Both swords swept out to deflect the spear, one blade impacting the side of the spearhead while the other impacted the shaft. Seeing the spear was hard for Yin Long, but he couldn't miss it the moment it entered his crumbled world, he just had to make sure to deflect it within the short time he had before it reached him.
His energy exploded outwards in a quick burst from his two blades to deflect the spear, but Tiankong tilted his wrists slightly to slide the spear down along the two blades. He flicked his wrists slightly when he reached the tip of the two blades, counteracting Yin Long's burst of energy with his own while also rolling his spear past Yin Long's blades, the weapon ending up behind his swords and continuing forwards unimpeded.
It drained a bit of the power he had put into the original attack, but it was still enough to be devastating. But he didn't want to give Yin Long any chances to escape so the blackened air around Yin Long came alive at the same time, turning into dark spears radiating a sharp aura that devoured the Qi around them. One spear came from the front and a multitude more came from the sides and behind him, one particularly large one drilled down towards him from just above his head.
Yin Long's gaze stilled as the attacks approached, his body springing into action the second they broke into his fractured world. The cyan sword he was holding turned soft and flexible, a flick of his wrist wrapping it around Tiankong's spear. The silver sword also morphed and changed, turning into a thin rapier with a slightly curved tip, as if it was trying to mimic a drill.
He used the grip his whip-like sword had on the spear to yank it towards him while stepping forward, twisting his body so that the spear would slide past his chest while his other arm was allowed to push forward. A spear was a relatively poor matchup for him, it allowed Tiankong to stay out of the range of his swords, assuming Yin Long relied solely on swordsmanship at least.
The spear in the front was dealt with by his two hands, but he still had the rest to deal with. An azure sword crackling with lightning appeared behind him, embedding itself in the stage before it rapidly grew into a gargantuan greatsword, one so large that it completely blocked his back. His wings also flapped at the same time, a myriad of bloody feathers loosening and launching themselves towards the spears that came at him from the side.
Each feather acted like a small sword, hammering against the weakest points of the spears to divert and deflect them. As for the descending spear, his wings rose up to welcome it after launching the feathers. But he had learned from taking Tiankong's previous spear, he wasn't going to block the descending attack. He aimed for the exact moment the spear touched his world, both his wings slamming into the very tip of the spear at the same time, taking advantage of the fact that the spear seemed to slow down as it entered his world so that he could get the timing right.
It was the point where all the power of the spear was gathered, but since there was no one grasping the spear it was inevitable that the descending attack wasn't as stable as a normal spear. The collision swatted the spear aside enough to ensure that the shaft would be what hit Yin Long's head rather than the speartip, and that would certainly be something he could handle.
He heard soft cracking sounds from behind him as the azure greatsword was bombarded by the spears, his Qi quickly moving to control the weapon. The blade rose from the ground and tilted skyward in one quick motion, swatting aside the spears like a man swatted away the flies that annoyed him. At the same time, his silver rapier was still heading for Tiankong's chest, barely any time had passed between Tiankong launching the attacks and Yin Long dealing with them.
Tiankong glanced at the incoming rapier, snorting coldly as he put some force into his wrists. He flicked both of them upwards while tilting them slightly, the forward stab that was pulled aside by the whip-like sword morphing into a diagonally ascending slash. Yin Long immediately let go of all the strength he had put into one of his legs, the limb giving out beneath him so that he dipped downwards.
The sharp tip of the spear passed over his head as he fell beneath it, but his position was now so awkward that the cyan sword was yanked out of his grasp and pulled along with the spear. The blade rose with the spear and was tossed away when the spear reached a nearly vertical position. The weapon was thrown behind Tiankong, straightening out as it flew and finally embedding itself in the stone along with the two previous blades.
Tiankong's Qi burst out immediately, turning into sharp spears that rose at Yin Long from beneath him, taking advantage of the fact that he had to fall down to dodge the previous attack. He was caught in an awkward position since his left hand was pointed towards the sky and his right hand was stretched towards Tiankong, he wouldn't have enough time to deflect the spears if he had to pull his arms back.
As such, he decided to simply roll with it, he was already falling towards the ground anyways. His wings retracted and folded behind him as he twisted his body, presenting his back to the incoming spears. The weapons stabbed into his wings, losing a great deal of power but still running them through. But Yin Long was still rolling with it as they pierced into his wings, and the time it took them to fully pierce his wings was enough time for him to go from having his back facing the ground to having his side facing the ground.
The attacks were diverted as a result, slicing open his back rather than running him through. Yin Long could hear Tiankong's actual spear descend towards him at the same time, he obviously wasn't going to give Yin Long a single moment of rest. But that was just fine with him, he had no intentions of giving Tiankong any chance to rest either.
His left hand traced the stone stage, his soul surging out and snatching up some of the stone used to build the stage. A dull grey sword quickly formed in his grasp, his arm swinging out and launching the new stone sword towards Tiankong's head. He flung out his other arm shortly after as he completed his roll, the silver rapier shooting forwards as he threw it towards Tiankong's abdomen.
Tiankong immediately stepped to the side so that he could dodge while continuing his own attack. He didn't change his descending smash into a descending stab, favouring the range of the smash over the destructive force of the stab, he felt it would be more useful to deal with the tricky Yin Long. But sadly for him, he had yet to see the full extent of Yin Long's tricks.
The two swords he had sidestepped suddenly vanished, one appearing right in front of his left knee while the other appeared behind him, stabbing towards his spine. The blood that stained his robe also rose at the same time, rising out from his wound and forming a grim claw that clutched onto his flesh, its crimson claws digging into his skin.
But that still wasn't enough, Yin Long's eyes flashing sharply as his now empty hand stretched out. The azure greatsword landed in his hands and shrank down to a more manageable size, his arm sweeping out and slashing at empty air. But while the actual blade hit nothing, four exact copies of the sword appeared around Tiankong, each one copying the same slash as they descended on him.
But even that was not considered enough by Yin Long, he wanted more, greater strength, a sharper blade. His empty left hand opened as he gathered his focus on the crumbled world around him. That little broken world was one of his greatest skills at the moment, but what if he could transform it into a blade? What if he could transfer it to his blade rather than his surroundings, what if everything his sword reached could become part of that fractured world?
He wanted to know, so his soul surged out. Even something as elusive as laws could become his blade so there was no reason that this fractured couldn't. And indeed, he could feel his soul latching onto that little world, surrounding and encasing it so that it could become another sword.
But a sharp pain assaulted his soul as he tried to turn that little world into a blade. It felt as if a blade was cutting his soul in half again and again, shearing away at him and leaving him feeling hollow and empty. In the end, the parts of his soul that he sent out to take control of the little world faded, unable to have any sort of effect other than making him lose a bit of his soul.
Tiankong was luckily right in front of him so there was plenty of lifeforce around that his parasitic soul could leech on to restore what had just been lost, but he was a bit disappointed that it hadn't worked. Nonetheless, he knew that he couldn't allow himself to think too much about it, not right now at least.
One avenue failed, so he moved on to the second avenue he had available. Each slash of his sword had left behind faint traces in the air, the law of swords solidifying the attack into a lingering scar on the world. Tiankong's devouring domain had eaten away at these scars, but some of them still remained due to how fresh they were. And all these scars now rushed towards Tiankong, mixing in with the rest of the attacks that were descending upon him.
Faced with all these attacks, Tiankong's expression was solemn and dignified. This was why Yin Long was worthy of respect, he looked so harmless and weak, but he was a monster with glistening fangs, a moment of weakness and he would eat you whole. But that didn't change what Tiankong had to do.
"Thank you, Yin Long, you have taught me a valuable lesson. I thought that a grand lion facing you down with bared teeth was the scariest thing to handle, but you have shown me that a lion that can don the clothes of a sheep is scarier than any grand lion could ever be."
He tightened his grasp on his spear as he spoke, his Qi bursting out from every pore of his body. The Qi mixed into the air and turned into something akin to black sludge, fanged maws covering almost every inch of the thick darkness. The sludge covered all of Tiankong's sides, welcoming the attacks with open maws.
And as all the attacks landed on the sludge, the maws started to gleefully eat away at them, devouring the energy contained in them with ravenous hunger. They even bit into the swords and tore away at the energy inside them, even the parts of Yin Long's soul that held them together was quickly devoured.
Yin Long's expression sunk slightly as he quickly recalled the two swords, both of them shifting through space by relying on the spatial fractures he had produced earlier. There were a few chunks missing from both of them, but they luckily hadn't shattered completely, allowing him to give at least one sigh of relief.
As for the rest of the attacks, none of them had managed to reach Tiankong, they were all devoured without fail. And Tiankong's spear reached Yin Long at the same time, the shaft smashing into his two wings and forcing him down against the stage. The stone shattered beneath him, his bones creaking and cracking under the strength contained in the weapon.
But there was less power in the spear than he had expected, devouring the attacks like that clearly wasn't something that Tiankong could do easily. The black sludge retreated into Tiankong's shadow after devouring the attacks, merging with the darkness as it vanished from sight. From the start of the battle, Yin Long's sword had only managed to reach Tiankong once, and even that was only due to Tiankong's own unnoticed arrogance. That was the disparity, the difference in strength. He raised his spear again so that he could once again smash it into Yin Long, crushing him before he could find his bearings.
"This ends now, let your dancing leaves come to a rest. Watch, Dear Yu, it is time for things to return to normal."
Tiankong decreed the end of the battle, and from his words, Yin Long could guess that Xiao Yin Yu had probably arrived at the arena while they were fighting, he just couldn't see her because she was outside of the range of his crumbled world and focus. It wasn't too strange, Yin Yu was a strong contender for one of the top rankings, if she set her mind to it then reaching the later stages wouldn't be too hard.
But was this really the end? Had Yin Long given it his all? No, he still had more to give, more he could do. Everything had already been set up properly, the pieces had fallen into place and were ready, all that remained was for Yin Long to give his all to deliver the final blows. So he moved, he brought out his all so that he could stay true to what he said when he challenged Tiankong.
A burst of violent energy erupted from Yin Long as Tiankong's spear descended towards him, the eruption is so fierce that Tiankong's spear was actually pushed back. Not just Tiankong, but even the people hidden in the private booths suddenly felt their throats dry up, it was as if the moisture in their bodies was slowly being drawn out.
Tiankong's eyes shrank fiercely as he looked at Yin Long, who was slowly standing up. The devouring domain that still covered the stage trembled fiercely around Yin Long, small cracks appearing in it within the immediate area around Yin Long. Or perhaps it was more correct to say that small cracks were appearing in it within the immediate area around the sword he was holding, a blade such a deep blue that it was almost black, roiling waves practically screaming in apparent pain as they coursed through the blade.
"This is the end Tiankong, but it won't be for me."
