Yao Jun looked at the transformed Peyton, his bug-like wings and black scorpion tail moving slightly while his silver carapace shimmered in the light. If it was in this state then Yao Jun would believe Peyton's earlier words, that he had been able to kill a strong Demonic beast the middle stage of the Earthly Deity realm. But still, Yao Jun showed no signs of fear or worry, his gaze remaining as still and almost indifferent as it had been since the start of the battle.
Yao Jun took a deep breath, the force of his inhalation so strong that it created a small wind that rustled the surrounding grass and flowers. He simultaneously opened the five channels he had carved and drew upon the strength of five of his Demonic beasts, the energy radiating from his body rapidly increasing in a violent manner. He stopped his inhalation when his energy reached its peak, faint light swimming in his eyes as he and Peyton locked gazes. There were no more words, no starting signal, the battle simply started once more.
Yao Jun's footing vanished as the earth beneath him changed, turning into a strange yellow liquid that was a bit thicker than blood. Wind gathered beneath Yao Jun's feet and held him aloft before any of the liquid could touch him, he didn't know the true identity of this liquid, but looking at how it ate away at the earth around it at a rapid pace he knew that getting touched by it wasn't a good idea.
Yao Jun stretched out his left arm and held his palm towards the ground, all the air in the surrounding area starting to gather beneath his palm. The greenery around him also started to vanish, dissolving into small dots of energy that flew up and gathered together with the wind beneath his palm, a one-meter wide disc slowly forming. Peyton had no intention of letting Yao Jun complete his attack, dashing forward at a speed far faster than before, he was probably about half as fast as actual lightning now.
Yao Jun took a step backward just as the yellow liquid beneath him suddenly rose up and swallowed the area where he had just stood, more and more wind still gathering in the disc beneath his palm. The air around Yao Jun turned to sand as Peyton charged over, obscuring his vision while also attacking him, each grain of sand as sharp as a blade and as heavy as a boulder.
Space around Yao Jun rippled for a short second before he vanished, appearing a few steps away from the cloud of sand, the disc beneath his palm finally fully formed. Yao Jun flicked his wrist slightly, the disc almost turning invisible as it shot towards Peyton, another disc starting to slowly form beneath Yao Jun's left hand. Peyton didn't stop his charge, frowning at the disc while countless thin strands of metal appeared in front of him, weaving together into a thick oval shield.
The disc started to slice through the metallic strands the moment it came into contact with the shield, Peyton quickly changing his tactic from blocking the attack to redirecting it. The shield tilted slightly, the strands making up the bottom part of the shield growing even sturdier so that the incoming disc sliced through the thinner strands and tilted upwards. He knew that this would only buy him about a second or so, Yao Jun could surely control the disc with ease. But right now, that one second was more than enough for him to cross the gap between the two of them.
Peyton ducked down slightly as the disc cut through the last strands of his shield and flew over him, stomping the ground and shooting forward, arriving in front of Yao Jun. He towered over Yao Jun thanks to his transformed state, clenching his right fist and sending out a heavy punch that tore through the air with a strangely high-pitched screeching sound.
Yao Jun's brows furrowed slightly as he raised his left arm, the gathering disc dissipating. He gave a slight flick of his wrist while raising his arm to block the attack, the disc that had sliced through Peyton's shield turning around and aiming for Peyton's waist. A thick kite shield formed from ice sprouted from Yao Jun's left hand just as Peyton's punch was about to touch it, a cracking sound resounding from the shield the moment it came in contact with the attack.
Yao Jun pushed his hand, and the shield, to the side the moment the attack collided with it, putting all his physical power in his arm to push Peyton's arm aside. He successfully parried the attack just as his shield succumbed to Peyton's law of shattering, a sliver of it digging its way into his hand and causing the bone in his little finger to crack slightly.
But with the attack parried, the right side of Peyton's body was left wide open for Yao Jun. Fire gathered in Yao Jun's left hand while his right hand stabbed out with the sword it was holding, piercing through space in front of it and arriving directly in front of Peyton. The air in front of Peyton became thick with heavy sand while he simultaneously used his laws of flesh and blood on Yao Jun, focusing them on his right arm so that his flesh and veins started to squirm and twist, forcing his arm to slow down.
The scorpion tail behind Peyton took advantage of Yao Jun's attack slowing down, shooting forward and aiming for his left hand, whose fire was currently turning darker and darker, about to turn pitch black. Yao Jun looked at the approaching tail, his gaze remaining indifferent as he pulled back his left arm slightly, buying it a fraction of a second.
While he pulled back his arm, the disc that came flying back reached Peyton's range. The two wings on Peyton's back swung out, smashing down onto the disc and overloading it with his law of shattering, the disc falling apart but also leaving several cuts on his wings.
Yao Jun opened his hand the moment Peyton's tail touched it, grabbing onto the tip of the tail and causing the now black flames on his hand to spread onto the tail. But at the same time, the tail unleashed the same yellow liquid that Peyton had used earlier, the skin on Yao Jun's hand starting to melt away and allowing the liquid to touch his flesh.
Yao Jun temporarily ignored his left hand and focused on his other attack. Drops of water appeared in the air around them, countless of them quickly gathering together and forming a small wave that crashed into the cloud of sand, both mixing together and forming a thick mud that fell to the ground. Yao Jun's right arm was then flooded by his Monarch Essence and his Anima Essence, the body and soul equivalent of Qi.
He ignored Peyton's attempts to slow down his arm, allowing his laws of flesh and blood to tear apart the flesh and veins in Yao Jun's right arm. His Monarch Essence regenerated the wounds the moment they appeared, the cycle of tearing and regeneration bringing with it immense pain. But by not paying any heed to the wounds and pain, Yao Jun was able to push his sword forward and reach Peyton.
Peyton tried to quickly twist his body to dodge, but his left arm had just been parried and his tail was assaulting his mind with scorching pain, a strange energy in the black flames sapping away at even his lifeforce. He quickly swept out with his right arm while also moving one of his wings in front of his body, one trying to parry the sword while the other tried to block it just in case.
His right fist connected with the side of the sword, but he felt his mind grow blurry the moment the two made contact, a nauseating feeling assaulting his stomach and head, the world before his eyes starting to spin slightly. Yao Jun's sword was currently filled to the brim with his Anima Essence, the energy invading Peyton's body and assaulting his soul. At the same time, Yao Jun also made sure to use this moment of contact to pour as much poison as he could into Peyton's body, picking a poison that attacked his center of balance by attacking the vestibular system in his ears.
His sword continued to move forward, but Yao Jun vanished just as Peyton poured everything he had into increasing the sturdiness of his defending wing. Peyton's expression distorted slightly when he saw the scene and realized that his temporary light-headedness and nausea made him forget one of Yao Jun's main laws, but it was already too late for regret.
Yao Jun appeared behind Peyton, his steaming and bloody left hand grabbing onto Peyton's second wing and using it to hold him in place as his sword stabbed forward. Peyton's carapace shattered when it came in contact with the tip of the blade, blood spurting out as Yao Jun dug his sword as deep into Peyton's back as he could. But while it was too late to dodge the attack, Peyton was still able to put up a defense after the attack hit him, grains of metal and sand appearing within his own body and hampering the advance of the sword, halting it before it could pierce into his spine.
Peyton tried to move forward but Yao Jun simply tightened his grasp on Peyton's right wing to hold him in place so that he could launch his strongest attack, Void. But Peyton was resolute and acted quickly, gritting his teeth and creating a sharp metal blade that quickly cut through the stem of his wing, freeing him from Yao Jun's grasp and allowing him to dash forward at full speed the moment Yao Jun finished launching his attack.
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A small chunk of Peyton's back was still gouged out by Void as he charged forward, a fist-sized hole appearing in his back and causing torrents of blood to gush forth. Yao Jun clicked his tongue and had the miniature black hole dissipate, his gaze following the fleeing Peyton while his face grew a little whiter. Peyton turned around after putting some distance between the two of them, glancing at his still burning tail before locking his gaze on Yao Jun again.
"Truly horrifying, just like I expected. Those discs should be a fusion of wind, space, lightning, and death, no? And this black flame that won't vanish no matter how much Qi I pour into it should be a fusion between fire, darkness, space, death, and poison, correct? Really, not only can you use a myriad of laws but you can even fuse them together. I dread to imagine what you can become if you get more time to cultivate and practice the fusions."
Peyton had seen a lot of things, he was smart enough to recognize all the laws Yao Jun had fused into those two attacks. Yao Jun didn't give an answer, glancing at his left hand, which had lost all its skin and a portion of its flesh, revealing the bones in three of his fingers. His decent body cultivation would let him heal it, but it would take time, mostly due to the fact that Peyton's Qi was still present in his hand after he came in contact with the liquid. He lowered his hand again, his gaze once again drifting over to Peyton.
"This doesn't seem like poison, it doesn't have a lasting effect on the body that poison should have. Is it acid? Acid, sand, shattering, flesh, blood, you say a lot about my laws, but yours are just as strange and rare."
Acidic like some poisons but none of the lasting effects, Yao Jun could not think of any other law that the yellow liquid could be other than acid. Peyton wore a somewhat thin and pained smile as he looked at Yao Jun and his now whiter face, the multiple fused attacks, as well as that last horrifying attack, must have taken quite a toll on his energy reserves. Peyton warily kept an eye on Yao Jun and his own surroundings, responding to the praise he had just gotten.
"There are certain perks that come with being the Fifth Young Master of a clan like the Merged Heaven clan. Getting my hands on some Demonic beast par...!"
Peyton's words suddenly cut off before he could finish his sentence, a searing pain assaulting his entire body. Four more discs had appeared right by him, moving far faster than the first one as they tore through his body. One cut off his tail at the base, two of them cut off his legs, and the third one cut cleanly through his torso and caused him to collapse to the ground. Even worse, the cuts left behind by the discs started to burn with the same black flames that were eating away at his now severed tail. Peyton looked at the wounds, as well as Yao Jun, whose face had already returned to its normal color, as if the previous paleness had been nothing more than a dream.
"You...but...?"
Peyton almost believed that he was just dreaming, but the horrific pain made him certain that what was going on was no dream. As he watched Yao Jun slowly walk over, his stride calm and filled with vigor, he seemed to realize the situation, an extremely bitter smile forming on his face.
"I see, it was all a ruse from the start. The time needed to charge the disks, the time to create the fire, even the talking just now, all a ploy to create this chance. Tell me, was that earlier failed attack also just another step to create this chance?"
This was the only explanation he could come up with, Yao Jun had been preparing for this since the very start of the battle, since he launched his first attack, all to make Peyton feel like he had gotten a clear understanding of Yao Jun. Yao Jun didn't respond to Peyton's question or his deduction, the tip of his blade scraping against the ground as he walked.
Peyton was badly wounded and close to death, but he wasn't dead yet so there was no telling what might happen. It was due to this mindset that Yao Jun was able to react when Peyton suddenly acted, a pillar of intertwined metal and flesh sprouting up beneath his body and launching Peyton forward at an almost blinding speed.
Yao Jun stepped to the side and dodged Peyton's outstretched arms, his sword stabbing upwards and piercing deep into Peyton's chest. It was as if all of Peyton's defenses had been erased, the sword digging so deep into Peyton's chest that it only stopped when the handle, and part of Yao Jun's hand, collided with Peyto's chest. Yao Jun felt a familiar energy pour into his head from the small moment of contact, his expression darkening when he realized what Peyton's actual plan was. He quickly pulled out his sword and cut off the contact between the two of them, but it was already too late. Peyton landed on the ground with a heavy thud, blood pouring out of his mouth as he started to laugh loudly, a few coughs occasionally cutting him off.
"Hahaha, and here I thought you were terrifying enough as you were! But oh, how wrong I was! Demon God Yao Jun, ruler of ever-evolving demonic gods, that is who you are! Scary, Yao Jun, you and your potential are absolutely terrifying! What a shame, if only a power like that had ended up with someone more worthy, someone less selfish, it would have been a blessing for this universe!"
Just like when Yao Jun had killed his servants on Four-Peaks Planet, Peyton had invaded Yao Jun's mind with the power of his Supreme Law fragment, a much stronger version of mental energy. Now that it was his actual body using the energy it was strong enough to let Peyton read all of Yao Jun's memories in that single instant. Every conversation he had ever had, every thought he had kept hidden, everything he had ever seen and feared, Peyton had seen them all, he now knew Yao Jun just as well as he knew himself. Yao Jun's expression was unpleasant as he looked at the laughing Peyton.
"You pry too much into things you have nothing to do with."
Yao Jun stepped closer, remaining wary just in case Peyton had anything else up his sleeve. But it didn't seem like he was planning anything else, he continued to let out small laughs, his lips actually curling into a satisfied and somewhat vicious smile.
"Hehehe, I will die here, Yao Jun, but I can rest easy knowing that you won't end up much better than me. A girl you forced to love you and a child you have never even met or helped raise, that is all that awaits you in the outside world, a fake family and endless loneliness. Even better, once people realize who you are there are bound to be countless people looki...!"
Yao Jun cut off Peyton's words by stabbing his blade into Peyton's skull and flooding it with lightning and fire, his brain liquefying under the intense heat and influx of energy. When he pulled out his sword again, Yao Jun's expression was icy cold, his mood so dark that frost appeared on the few plants that remained in the area.
"Just like the last times we've spoken, you talk too much."