Within Tian Ji Han’s Earth barrier shield, the roots of the Poison Harlot Rose from Yin Na’s attack quickly grew, forming dagger-like stems with poisonous thorns extending from them. They inched rapidly close to Tian Ji Han, intent on impaling him.
The ball of mud, roots and roses that was the Earth Barrier shield immediately erupted in flames. The poison fumes of the Poison Harlot Rose were eaten up by the smoke, as Tian Ji Han had summoned a new elemental barrier from within. Fire Encasing Pillar! He then fired several bolts of molten-hot fire towards Yin Na.
Thus, the battle continued like this, as their minds rapidly adapted to which element was vulnerable to another. Only a fool fires random spells and hopes for the best. Each element they called upon was a calculated gamble, a mental chess battle whose stakes were their qi reserves and ultimately, their lives. Occasionally, they targeted each other’s mounts, to no avail.
Tian Ji Han overall possessed better battle intelligence. He was talented, and always adept at adapting tactics to abrupt changes to the situation. He was no less calculating, nor less fearful to take risks than Yin Na.
But the crucial difference in this battle right now was Yin Na having recently made a breakthrough into a perfect Golden Core stage.
Originally, when both Yin Na and Tian Ji Han began their journey as cultivators, Tian Ji Han always studied hard while putting emphasis on honing the best possible starting foundation in his cultivation progression, while Yin Na was the one who slacked and seemingly didn’t care about the quality of his breakthroughs.
With the support and help of the Hidden Fist elders, Tian Ji Han unlocked a rare 10th stage of Qi Condensation level, while Yin Na barely succeeded with his breakthrough at the mediocre and average 8th level of Qi Condensation.
“Brother Ji Han, you’re so talented,” Yin Na had sardonically praised him. “The differences between us are like that of Heaven and Earth. In the future you can fight all my battles for me!”
After Yin Na destroyed the Hidden Fist Sect with the help of other demonic cultivators, and the two former friends split their ways, Tian Ji Han vigorously set out to form a strong, perfect Foundation sea for his breakthrough into Foundation establishment. During the encounters he had with Yin Na afterwards, he had observed that Yin Na was finally striving to also perfect his cultivation progression, having also achieved a perfect Foundation sea.
But the Core Formation stage was where power levels were exponentialized. The difference between an already impressive Red Core and an Azure core were like that of Heaven and Earth, with the latter resulting in the cultivator possessing double the lifespan and qi reserves of the former.
Tian Ji Han lived with survivor guilt and regret in his heart after the destruction of the Hidden Fist sect. He felt responsible for every report or rumor he heard of the destruction and slaughter resulting from his former Dao Brother Yin Na’s rampage across the Southern Domain.
Thus, in the race towards Gold Core, he decided to forego the desire to achieve a perfect Grade Golden Core. The sooner he reached Core Formation, the sooner he could catch Yin Na while he was still struggling as a lone cultivator in the Foundation stage. That was his reasoning.
He used all the sect contribution points he had earned, and utilized what little connections he had to gather the materials and pills required to boost his cultivation and acquire a Golden Core. It was either he spent indefinite years in uncertainty gathering the rare, expensive ingredients needed for a perfect Golden Core or sit down in determination in secluded cultivation and emerge with a near-perfect Golden Core.
This was the decision he made, and it took him two years to breakthrough. During that time, he made preparations beforehand for his apprentice Xiao Feng to train under a few trusted companions, while sacrificing a huge portion of his already depleted funds to pay other cultivators to delay Yin Na’s progress. These cultivators were kept accountable by his companions, as they spied on Yin Na, sabotaged his attempts to gather resources and cultivate, or even outright attempted to assassinate him.
Of course, it was too much for Tian Ji Han to hope that these cultivators would succeed. He emerged out of his private Qi-gathering cave with a Golden Core at 89% perfection, and received the reports from his apprentice and companions that Yin Na evaded and thwarted their every attempt.
He had spent two years to reach Golden Core, he wasted zero time in the next steps. He pleaded with his companions and seniors, he borrowed spirit stones- he did everything he could to determine Yin Na’s location and stage of cultivation.
“Yin Na has grown privy to our tracking methods, and he frequently kills the cultivators he cooperates with. The cultivators we hired with our measly funds don’t have enough advanced divining or tracking techniques to locate him. It’s best that I increase my attainment in divining to figure out his whereabouts myself.”
His relief was none too small as he figured out Yin Na’s meandering path through the Southern Domain, leading all the way recently to the Green Bamboo Valley. Through intel gathered from cultivators and mortal witnesses alike, it was determined that Yin Na was still at the Foundation stage, albeit at a bottleneck.
“Yin Na is seeking to surpass his bottleneck and reach Golden Core,” Tian Ji Han thought. “He’s no doubt cooking a scheme to acquire the resources necessary for this, and it seems his ambitions have led him to target another sect!”
His suspicions were right, as he learned about two lone cultivators, one named Deng Ping and another resembling the appearance of his former Dao Brother on their way to destroy the auxiliary branch of the Yellow Fox Sect.
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However, he did not expect Yin Na to suddenly breakthrough into Golden Core, and achieve one with 99% perfection as well!
The quality of one’s Core in the Core Formation stage meant leagues of difference in power, energy and lifespan.
Because of Yin Na’s ridiculously and unfairly-earned 99% Golden Core, he had mitigated all his shortcomings with his 8th degree Qi Condensation in the beginning. Yin Na had balanced the playing field with Tian Ji Han, who only possessed an 89% perfect Golden Core!
Knowing all this, Tian Ji Han felt dismay as he sensed the current tide of the battle shifting in favor of his enemy Yin Na.
“Because of Yin Na’s perfect grade Golden Core,” thought Tian Ji Han. “He expends more qi than I do in my attacks. However, he has endless spirit stones, he is even using them to replenish his qi mid-combat!”
Tian Ji Han lived his life as honestly as he could according to Righteous sect principles. He did not concern himself in the earning of benefits, and he was even considered impoverished in wealth compared to his peers. Very quickly, his depletion of resources, and therefore imminent defeat was becoming clearer!
The two cultivators had been fighting for nearly an entire day. The sun had begun to turn a lazy red and was sinking in the horizon by this point in the battle.
“So, brother Ji Han. Was it worth it?”
Yin Na asked his opponent in a solemn tone. The question was heavy and obvious in its implication. Yin Na was declaring himself the winner!
“The battle is not over, why are you running your mouth?!” Tian Ji Han spat out a mouthful of blood as he fired a sword the size and length of a giant tree towards Yin Na.
Yin Na easily blocked it with a treasure shield that was the size of a boulder.
“You’ve lived your life in opposition to my ideals. As stubborn and difficult as you made it to be, in the end, your resilience to Righteousness and benevolence is like the Spirit Budgie that was my first pet. They’ve only weighed you down.”
“Shut…your mouth!” Tian Ji Han closed in with blurring stabs of his treasure blade, a dragon-adorned golden sword.
Yin Na easily parried these blows with his demonic claws.
“If you learned the demonic techniques I offered you, you wouldn’t have wasted so much time being restrained by the bureaucracy of a Sect. You could have increased your cultivation speed, and probably have attained a higher grade Golden Core like myself. Why, you could have found me faster, instead of leaving me to roam freely for ten years!”
“Shut up!”
“If you didn’t waste your time protecting the Yellow Fox Sect girl, your Diamond Formation could have been more efficient as a roving combat fortress instead of being wasted as a sedentary defensive formation.”
“Shut up!”
“If you simply plunged your sword through your brother while I was holding him in front of me as a shield, you could have grievously wounded me!”
“Shut up!” Tian Ji Han screamed.
“Idiot!” Yin Na berated. “I tried to let you in on my father’s lessons, hoping you’d gain great benefits from his teachings. Instead, you wasted all your time and effort on trying to mentally rationalize and form ideals in opposition to every single one of them. Now you’ve made it your life goal to stop me, just to selfishly satisfy your own personal sense of justice.
“We shall see finally whether the Dao of Benevolence, or the Dao of Benefits, is superior!”
Yin Na’s void ring glowed powerfully, as all of his remaining treasures stored in his collection suddenly came out at once.
A vast array of magically-forged blades and halbreds, as well as a dozen desolate tamed beasts spread around Yin Na like an army of benefits. There were iron human-shaped vessels that reanimated with the injection of qi, and even sentient swords and hammers that fought with intelligence, adapting to their opponent. There were self-manned ballistas and elemental turrets, and even undead blight zombies.
“Charge!” Yin Na shouted atop his Spicy Oil Boar.
Various weapons showered upon Tian Ji Han as he fought desperately to parry, block and evade the magical weapons. The tamed beasts and Yao Guai rushed at Tian Ji Han in hunger and fury. Yin Na even threw pill furnaces at Tian Ji Han, hoping their heavy weight would crush him!
Yin Na activated one-time use talismans and spells that fired lethal elemental bolt projectiles and star-energy fragments, all to wear his opponent down.
Tian Ji Han was exhausted, as the star fragments blinded him, and a Sentient Sword had dug deep with its stab into his right bicep.
“I drink thy blood!” The Sentient Sword cried gleefully.
“Your granny!” Tian Ji Han cursed, and ripped it out. He parried the Sentient Sword’s slashes with his Golden Dragon sword before swatting it away successfully.
At a pivotal moment, the barking of Ethereal Hounds could be heard. The entire mob of Ethereal Hound clones have finished their job of hunting the two other righteous sect cultivators, and have joined Yin Na in finishing off the remaining survivor!
Tian Ji Han was overwhelmed, he was unable to fend off the tamed beasts and enslaved Yao Guai who attacked him in their own beast formation.
Beast claws mauled him, their fangs bit into his flesh. Poison, venom and turbid qi entered his system.
Just when Tian Ji Han looked like he was about to collapse, his entire body suddenly became wispy and transparent, like a ghost’s! It wasn’t exactly like the crystal-like ethereal image of the Ethereal Hounds, but more like a fog of steam.
Tian Ji Han’s body drifted from the pile of Yao Guai and Beasts that were intent on devouring him on the spot earlier, and tried to flee.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Yin Na asked. He and his collection of weapons and beasts followed the steam body of Tian Ji Han for several hundred meters.
Finally, Tian Ji Han couldn’t maintain the technique anymore, as he manifested back into his corporeal body.
“Attack!” Yin Na did not allow him time to breathe.
Tian Ji Han concentrated, having one final trump card in his repertoire.
Instead of running away, Tian Ji Han flew directly at Yin Na.
“You’re not gonna kiss foreheads with me again, are you?” sneered Yin Na. But what he saw next made his eyes widen in alarm.
Tian Ji Han took out his special, last resort trump card: a golden-colored pill pulsating with energy. Yin Na watched helplessly as Tian Ji Han placed the pill into his mouth and swallowed.