Chapter 88: Exchanging Blows

Chapter 88: Exchanging Blows

Mao Yun was the first to step forward. Brandishing his axe, he said, “Let’s take the head off of one of these worms!”

The One-Armed Iron Titan Tie Gangwan flicked his sleeve and growled, “It’s been a long time since we fought side-by-side, Grandmaster Sun.”

“I will fight,” Lawat said. As usual, he was dressed in traditional Kithiri garb and wielded the long, sickle-like blade that was common in Nangu, a look which had earned him the nickname Golden Djinn.

One by one, the Profound Masters voiced their intention to join Sun Mai in fighting one of the flood dragons.

“That one!” Sun Mai said, pointing to the furthest of the dragons, which was speeding in an arcing path that would bring it past them within seconds. “Keep the fight away from the rest of the sect!”

With that, Sun Mai leapt into motion, calling up his Qinggong to speed away from the sect, his robes flapping in the wind. The other Profound Masters followed, preparing weapons and kung fu techniques alike. Despite being expert fighters, each one of whom had combat experience far beyond most other people in the world, none of them had ever fought an enemy as enormous as this.

As for the flood dragon, it was completely focused on Kun-Peng, and didn’t notice the lowly humans converging upon it from the side.

As Sun Mai neared it, he waved his fingers through the air and said, “Sword Rain of the Scholar God!”

Instantly, more than two dozen illusory swords sprang into being around him, which then slashed through the air toward the flood dragon.

The flood dragon was taken completely by surprise as the volley of swords slashed into the base of its neck with such force that it twisted to the side, lost altitude, and slammed into the ground, sending dirt and sand flying out in all directions.

As it did, the nearest of the Profound Masters unleashed further attacks, including a blast of energy that resembled a spear, a flying dagger that blazed with white fire, and a violet lightning bolt.

Before the flood dragon knew what was happening it was hit again and again with numerous attacks, causing it to howl in anger.

However, after the initial surprise, the creature snapped its head around to glare in the direction of the approaching heroes, its eyes shining with blue light. Although a few rotting scales had been knocked off or melted, it didn’t seem seriously hurt.

At that point, the flood dragon seemed to inhale, whereupon Sun Mai shouted, “Don’t let the liquid touch you, and definitely don’t let it get past us to touch the sect!”

A moment later, a blast of frigid black liquid erupted from the flood dragon’s mouth, heading, not only toward the Profound Masters, but the rest of the sect behind them.

Sun Mai spun to the side with barely a moment to spare; some of the liquid even hit the corner of this robe, instantly freezing it into a solid mass that shattered a moment later.

“Sleeve Cyclone!” Tie Gangwen growled, spinning his long sleeve in a circular motion which sent a wind screaming out in front of him to meet the black liquid.

Instantly, the cyclone of wind began to suck up the black liquid, and yet, was clearly not on the same level as the flood dragon’s attack. A moment later, the wind began to collapse, having neutralized only about half of the black stream of liquid, which continue to stream through the air.

“Lava Arrow!” Wang Tian let loose an arrow which instantly transformed into a stream of burning, molten rock.

When the freezing black liquid and the burning lava touched each other, a high-pitched screeching sound rang out, along with a shockwave that sent clouds of dust and sand up into the air.

Even as Sun Mai landed off to the side, he drew a jian sword from his side and called out, “Press the attack. Kill it before it releases another blast!”

Moments before, when Sun Mai had been calling for the Profound Masters to intercept the flood dragon, not all of the Profound Masters had joined him. Neither had Sunan or Bao.

“You two,” Sunan said, pointing to two of the remaining Profound Masters. “Go handle that Bone Slicer to the west.” Next, he looked at Blackleaf from the Hen-Shi Sect. “ Can you take care of the Bone Slicers to the north?”

Blackleaf nodded and led his men away immediately.

“Ma Ge,” Sunan continued, “you stay with Bao and I.”

“I can handle him myself,” Bao said through gritted teeth. She took a step forward.

“Maybe you can,” Sunan said, stepping to follow her, “but the safest thing--” Before he could finish his sentence, his legs buckled and he dropped forward onto his knees. Then he reached up and placed his right palm onto his chest.

Bao turned to look at him, a slight frown of concern on her face. “Sunan?”

Ma Ge kneeled down and felt the pulse at his left wrist. “Poison,” she said a moment later.

Bao’s eyes widened. “Lin Cuirou poisoned you?”

Sunan settled backward into a cross-legged position, placing his still-sheathed Wind Sabre across his knees. Closing his eyes, he said, “Yes. I thought perhaps it was a trick, but apparently not.”

“You--”

“Go,” Sunan interrupted. “Take care of that bastard once and for all. I can handle a bit of poison. Lawat, you back her up.” Resting his hands on top of each other in his lap, palms up, he began to meditate.

Bao looked over at some of the lower-ranking members of the sect a few meters away and said, “You six, come stand guard over the Dragon Sovereign!”

With that she turned toward Geng Long. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.”

Moments before, Geng Long had been transfixed by the shocking fight erupting between the flood dragons and Kun Peng. However, his attention was quickly drawn back to Bao as she began to walk toward him across the sandy soil, with Ma Ge following close behind her. Although he was surprised to see Sunan sitting cross-legged in meditation, he didn’t mention it.

“Just you two against me?” he said loudly. “Feeling suicidal?”

“This will be one-on-one,” Bao replied. “The only question will be how long it takes for me to kill you. You stay back, Ma Ge. Don’t interfere unless absolutely necessary.”

Geng Long chuckled coldly, reaching over his shoulder to unstrap what appeared to be the femur bone of some enormous animal, the end of which had been sharpened into a point. The surface of the bone itself had been carved with countless strange symbols, and was pitch black, although it was impossible to tell whether that was by natural occurrence or because of having been dyed.

Geng Long gripped the unsharpened end with one hand, then slowly ran the index and middle finger of his other hand down the length of the bone, simultaneously muttering words in an incomprehensible language.

Instantly, countless bone spurs erupted from the strange symbols on the pitch-black bone, and the bone itself began to grow longer. Originally, it had only been about half a meter long, but in the blink of an eye it was a full meter in length, and then two. In the end, it was a full three meters long!

Geng Long slowly lowered the enormous weapon to rest on his shoulder. “Even if ten of you came at me simultaneously, I’d still cut you all in half.”

Bao wasn’t in the mood for banter, nor for a protracted fight.

“Drop that weapon,” she said, glaring into his eyes.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she could sense the power of the Phoenix Crown erupting out and boring into Geng Long’s mind.

Geng Long’s eyes widened, and his hand which gripped the bone sword twitched. However, a moment later, his eyes narrowed.

“So that’s how you got into the fortress,” he said. “Nice trick. Thankfully, the King of the Pure Ones trained me well. Mind tricks like that won’t work on me.”

By this point, Bao was only twenty meters away from Geng Long. Considering that her Phoenix Crown didn’t affect Geng Long, she decided to draw upon her next most powerful move. Some Qi fighters prefered to start with their weakest moves and save the powerful ones for later in the fight when, presumably, the opponent was more tired and had used enough of their own techniques to reveal a weakness. But not Bao.

Using her rage to channel her Qi along the same pathways as she had discovered years ago on Zhifu Shan, she slashed her right hand through the air and growled, “Rage Holocaust.”

Five beams of red energy shot out from her fingers, which rapidly expanded in width until they merged with each other, forming a one-meter-wide column of destruction that hewed a massive furrow into the quaking ground as it bore down on the shocked Geng Long.

There was no time for Geng Long to ponder the situation or how to defend himself. Reacting on pure instinct, he swung his bone sword off of his shoulder and, in the final moment before the column hit him, assumed a defensive stance with the sword held out horizontally in front of him.

The instant the column of energy made contact with the pitch-black bone sword, red sparks erupted in a fountain-like shower, and Geng Long was shoved backward. He tried to dig his feet into the soil to hold his ground, but it did not good. Intense rumbling sounds filled the air, as he was pushed backward one meter, two meters, five meters, ten meters….

The entire time, red sparks sprayed out in all directions, including onto Geng Long himself. When they hit his bone armor, they sizzled, leaving behind nicks and scratches, and when they touched his flesh, they smoke and burned. Geng Long howled at the top of his lungs, drawing on all of his energy to push back against the column of energy.

At the thirty meter mark, he finally stopped moving, then shoved his bone sword forward with all the strength he could muster. As he did, the bone sword’s serrated edge tore into the column of energy, ripping it apart right in the middle, sending a tempest of red sparks out in all directions as the column was completely destroyed.

As the energy faded away, Geng Long stood there panting, at the end of a seventy-meter long trench that separated him from Bao. His bone armor was in bad condition, and his face was covered with countless burns and patches of melted, seared flesh. And yet, a wild gleam could be seen in his eyes as he once again hefted his bone sword up onto his shoulder.

“Impressive, Bao. Much better than last time. Too bad you won’t be able to use that move again any time soon. Also, now I’m at the perfect distance to use one of my favorite techniques. Bone Meteor!”

Even as he spoke the final words, he stamped his right foot down onto the ground, releasing a burst of energy that sent a minor shockwave rolling out as he suddenly shot up into the air.

To Bao, it looked like a Qinggong technique, although she couldn’t be certain. Geng Long became a blur as he shot up in an arcing path, reaching a height of about twenty-five meters before beginning to plummet back down toward her. As he sailed through the air, he spun his enormous bone sword spun like a wheel, creating a black blur that virtually crackled with Qi energy.

Bao’s first instinct was to run to the side, but even as she did, the black blur changed course, as if it were locked onto her person. As it closed in, she realized that she had no choice but to meet the blow, and yet, had no weapons to do so, other than the daggers in her sleeve.