Liang Chen and Yu Jiang silently gazed at each other, the heaven-sundering roar of thunder serving as the symphony of their imminent battle. Yu Jiang tightly grasped his twin daggers while Liang Chen held his spear at his side, the tip stabbing slightly into the ground as the two of them observed each other, neither in a rush to make the first move.
It once again ended up being the ongoing heavenly tribulation that made the first move, the ground underneath Liang Chen bulging for a slight moment before exploding outwards. Liang Chen had already taken a few steps to the side by the time the bulging earth actually exploded, but he had guessed wrong when it came to what sort of attack the tribulation would launch.
Rather than the earthen spike that he expected, the bulging earth unleashed several tens of metal needles that spread out over the area. Liang Chen dodged most of the needles thanks to the fact that he stepped to the side earlier, but before he could even begin to think that he was safe, all the needles started to multiply and spread out even further.
Yu Jiang picked this moment to charge forward, nimbly dodging through the needles and making a beeline for Liang Chen, his daggers ready in a reverse grip. Liang Chen's gaze had never left Yu Jiang from the start, and it didn't move now despite the needles flying at him. He took a step forward to meet Yu Jiang, his robe fluttering as a strong wind blew around him and pushed all the needles upwards. They'd come down eventually, but he could bother with that when the time came.
Yu Jiang bent his body slightly forward and slashed out with both his daggers, aiming an upward-angled cross-slash at Liang Chen's throat the moment the two got within range of each other. Liang Chen dodged the daggers by dropping down on his right knee and then immediately launching a counter-attack by stabbing his spear into the ground and using it as a support to deliver a sideways sweep with his left leg.
Yu Jiang shifted the positions of his hands while jumping up to avoid Liang Chen's sweep, altering the cross-slash into two downwards stabs. Liang Chen retaliated in kind, angling his sweep upwards and leaning his body back while using the momentum of his sweep to spin himself into a handstand and kicking out with his now free right leg as well.
The tip of his right foot made contact with the side of one of Yu Jiang's daggers and kicked it aside while his other foot made contact with the wrist of Yu Jiang's other hand. Yu Jiang's dagger stabbed a bit into Liang Chen's foot, but he in return managed to flood Yu Jiang's left arm with a poison that would attack his nerves and disrupt the control he had over his arm.
Yu Jiang quickly leaned his body backward after Liang Chen's kick connected, shifting into a backflip and kicking Liang Chen's legs away, putting some distance between the two of them again in the process. Liang Chen pushed off from the ground and used the force of Yu Jiang's kick to spin himself back into an upright position, pulling his spear out from the ground in the process.
He felt his heart lurch as he landed on the ground, a sense of dread and sorrow creeping up on his mind. He got a strange feeling that no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to win the current battle, he felt like he was doomed to lose everything dear to him. Liang Chen's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Yu Jiang, the feeling slowly fading. Yu Jiang glanced at his wrist, giving it a few shakes with a faint smirk.
"Quite a vicious poison you got there. But what a shame, this body was created to be immune to poison, so it's naught but a futile effort. But I must say, I'm impressed by your mental fortitude, my law of despair should make it seem like the world is on fire and coming for you, yet you still stand there and glare at me like that. Seeing you so unaffected almost makes me feel bad."
Liang Chen's eyes narrowed a bit more at Yu Jiang's confident remark. The body had been created to be immune to poison? Did that mean it was nothing more than a doll, or had he moved his soul over to a new body after his own one got destroyed? Liang Chen was somewhat curious, but he was pretty certain Yu Jiang wouldn't answer his questions. But he had at least learned a bit more about Yu Jiang's laws, he now knew that he used both the law of illusions and the law of despair, but there might be more. Liang Chen's eyes flickered slightly, his hand softly touching his chest.
"Sorry, but right now the fire inside burns brighter than any other, so I feel like I wouldn't be hurt even if the whole world did end up burning."
Yu Jiang's lips curved into something that resembled a mixture between a smirk and a sneer when he heard how Liang Chen described his rage, it was really rather excessive. He glanced at the small wound on Liang Chen's foot, which was already healing, raising his gaze again and opening his mouth.
"Really, that healing speed is a bit che...!"
Yu Jiang's words were cut short by a piercing pain coming from his right shoulder, the corners of Liang Chen's lips pulling up slightly. Yu Jiang quickly cast a glance at his shoulder and saw that three of the metal needles that Liang Chen had propelled into the air earlier were now stabbed into his shoulder. Even worse was the fact that the rest of the needles were also descending at a rapid pace, heading directly for Yu Jiang.
Yu Jiang quickly jumped to the side and started to dodge the needles, but he was just barely able to catch a glimpse of Liang Chen moving his fingers, the needles changing direction each time he moved his fingers. Yu Jiang had lived for quite a while and seen a lot of things, he quickly figured out what was going on while dodging the needles, clicking his tongue when he realized the truth.
"Tch, so that's how it is. Keep me talking so that I don't notice the needles coming for me. Let me guess, you used lightning to turn a small part of me into a magnet, probably some of the iron in my blood, no? But that magnet would be rather weak, so you're using wind to supplement the movement and speed of the needles, no? Clever, I must admit."
Liang Chen ignored Yu Jiang's statement and dashed forward, brandishing his spear as he joined up with the metal needles surrounding Yu Jiang. He stabbed out with his spear the moment he got close to Yu Jiang, forcing him to dodge the spear and block some of the needles with his body.
Liang Chen continued to stab and sweep at Yu Jiang, who was surprisingly nimble as he moved around and dodged the needles, using his daggers to swat away and shatter some that he couldn't dodge. He also didn't forget to launch counter-attacks as the battle dragged on, ducking beneath or sidestepping Liang Chen's attacks and slashing at his body.
Each cut would bring with it the despairing feeling that Liang Chen felt earlier, a sense of hopelessness assaulting him for a short moment before being swallowed by his wrath. The battle slowly dragged on, both of them occasionally forced to put some distance between each other to dodge an attack launched by the heavenly tribulation. But even then, they would quickly clash again once they finished dodging the attacks, wounds slowly starting to appear on their bodies.
Liang Chen wasn't too bothered by the wounds, they quickly healed thanks to his strong bloodline and body cultivation, but he was rather surprised to see that Yu Jiang was capable of completely ignoring the wounds he suffered. He didn't really look like the wounds affected him that much mentally, as if there was no pain accompanying them.
But after fighting for almost a full minute, a change suddenly happened, Yu Jiang's eyes grew a bit blurry for a second, his breathing rushed. Liang Chen quickly took advantage of this and swept his spear upwards, knocking away one of Yu Jiang's dagger and slicing directly through his left arm from below, taking it off at the shoulder. Yu Jiang quickly pulled back, his face flushed and breathing rushed as he moved his gaze between his missing arm and Liang Chen.
"Impossible! This body is immune to all but the most harrowing poisons, how did you manage to infect me with poison?"
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Yu Jiang knew the specs of this body very well, his laws weren't very well suited for direct combat like this, so the poison immunity had saved him many times in the past while he worked on what he was more suited for, ambushes and assassinations.
Liang Chen looked at the perplexed and slightly panicky Yu Jiang, who still didn't seem to feel any pain from his missing arm. It seemed like that truly wasn't his body, but it didn't seem like a puppet either, so he guessed that it was a body he was inhabiting by transplanting his soul into it.
If that really was the case, it meant that Yu Jiang likely specialized in soul cultivation rather than Qi cultivation, otherwise he wouldn't have a soul strong enough to survive the transplant, unless he received outside help of course. The law of illusion and the law of despair were immaterial laws, so they would be rather suited for soul cultivation, which was known to be more ethereal than Qi cultivation. Liang Chen wore a thin smile, his gaze calmly sizing up Yu Jiang as he spoke up.
"I didn't poison you, I gave you some medicine. It speeds up the flow of your blood a little and refreshes the mind, don't you like it?"
Yu Jiang's eyes narrowed slightly when he saw Liang Chen's demeanor. He hadn't actually expected Liang Chen to answer, mainly because he hadn't said a word ever since the battle entered its most heated state. For him to suddenly voluntarily speak up, Yu Jiang couldn't help but grow somewhat wary. But his vision once again grew a bit blurry, his body heating up slightly as his blood rushed through his body. And suddenly, he realized what Liang Chen had sent into his body to induce this state, and he couldn't help but curse upon realizing what it was.
"Fuck me, you gave me an aphrodisiac?"
Yu Jiang's body just got hotter and hotter, he almost felt as if a fire was brewing within his groin, it was to the point where it was getting somewhat painful. He knew that Liang Chen's words weren't wrong, an aphrodisiac wasn't exactly considered a poison, so even this poison immune body was unlikely to have been created with immunity for aphrodisiacs.
Liang Chen didn't respond to Yu Jiang's curse, all the energy within his body exploding forth the second Yu Jiang's gaze turned blurry from lust once more. He arrived directly in front of Yu Jiang and stabbed out with his spear, once again tapping into his Dragon Lotus and drawing upon the new law he had acquired.
Yu Jiang was half a second too slow to react, Liang Chen's spear stabbing into his chest and unleashing the new law. The flesh around Liang Chen's spear started to vanish once it was infiltrated by the new law, it didn't disintegrate, it simply vanished, as if it had never existed to begin with. And for the first time since the proper start of this battle, Yu Jiang's expression distorted in pain as he let out a shocked, and terrified exclamation that was slightly broken up.
"It can't...be...void?... You're a...Void Born...? Venerable Master!"
Yu Jiang quickly swiped his interspatial ring and took out a jade orb, clearly intending to send out a message about what he had just learned. But how could Liang Chen possibly let him do something like that? He pulled out one of the cards he had kept hidden up until now, pulling his spear out of Yu Jiang's chest and smashing it down at the arm that pulled out the jade orb. His spear flashed with gray light and suddenly increased drastically in speed, the sole special ability that his Bloodwind weapon currently had.
The handle of the spear crashed into Yu Jiang's wrist and smashed it into paste, the mangled hand and jade orb falling to the ground. Liang Chen quickly stretched out his other arm and snatched up the jade orb, Yu Jiang taking this chance to escape. But it wasn't his body that hurriedly escaped, it was his soul. His body collapsed to the ground, a faint outline that looked just like Yu Jiang rapidly flying through the air away from the body.
The soul left behind small trails of energy as it moved, and judging from the pace at which the soul was weakening, and the speed at which it was moving, Yu Jiang seemed to have used some secret technique to temporarily increase the strength or speed of his soul. But just like when he smashed Yu Jiang's arm, Liang Chen pulled out another one of the moves he had kept hidden for a situation like this.
The law of time merged into every cell in his body, time seeming to slow down in front of his eyes as his speed increased by several levels. He took a step forward and turned into a blur, the earth where he had just been standing splintering and exploding outwards as Liang Chen vanished. He arrived directly in front of Yu Jiang's soul, blocking his path of escape and forcing him to face him. Yu Jiang's soul grit his teeth, charging directly at Liang Chen as his somewhat ethereal voice echoed throughout the area.
"If that's how you want it to be, then let's see who of us has the stronger soul!"
Yu Jiang's soul flew directly into Liang Chen's body and sank into his mind, where the bloody lake and his soul resided. Yu Jiang quickly located Liang Chen's soul and immediately flew over to it, piercing his hands into the chest of Liang Chen's soul.
But Yu Jiang didn't even get the chance to feel victorious before a horrendous pain assaulted his soul, gray, purple, white, and black streams flooding up his arms from the place where they pierced into Liang Chen's soul. The streams spread through Yu Jiang's soul like a plague, corroding it and eating away at it, causing it to fall apart and start to sink into the bloody lake.
Liang Chen's soul and body weren't like other people's, his cultivation technique literally changed them into something else. When Yu Jiang stabbed into Liang Chen's chest, he had plunged his own soul into a cesspool of poison, rot, death, and time, he had delivered himself to his own death. Yu Jiang knew this too, he could feel his soul breaking down with excruciating pain, a burst of nearly mad laughter echoing out within Liang Chen's head.
"Hahahehe, so this is where I die after all. Monster, you really are a monster Liang Chen, a freak aberration, a horrific chimera and mutation, a blight that should never have existed. I'll go ahead of you, but know this, you will die too. A thing like you will not be allowed to exist in the universe, you will die a horrible death, I hope you're ready for that!"
Yu Jiang's voice became garbled and distorted as he continued to laugh and shout, his mental state breaking down along with his soul. The eyes of Liang Chen, as well as the eyes of his soul, remained as cold as they had since the battle started, the burning fire in his chest not fading even now. He looked on as Yu Jiang's soul finished breaking apart, his low and icy voice the last thing Yu Jiang would hear in this world.
"I'm always ready to die. But it won't be here, and it won't be by your hands."