He had managed to chip away the majority of the scales on the statue but unsurprisingly the actual body of the statue was much harder than the scales. It didn't mean that he stopped attacking, no, it just meant that he had to put even more effort to get through the statue's defence.
His thigh had been slightly burned when the dragon released flames that Ye Xiu would have been killed with if he hadn't dodged in time. He had used some of his burn salves though it didn't help the soreness of the body part. He was planning to change into his transformation if he managed to strike the statue down to the ground, too bad its wings had been relatively unaffected by Ye Xiu's whip attacks since it had blown it away with its powerful wings.
His Medical Arts were slowly healing him though they wouldn't be able to heal him back to perfect health since that would require too much Qi. The original gashes that he had on his chest had closed up and were angry red lines. Ye Xiu doubted that they would ever heal properly but at least they were battle scars.
Tian Bai had kindly helped him with his healing process by doing some unknown technique that he knew.
He managed to bind the statue down with both of his whips for extra measure. He had made Tian Bai hold on to the whips to that the dragon would stay bound to the ground. The whips wrapped around the dragon's wings, preventing it from flying. It was unlucky for Ye Xiu that the statue's tail was still unbound and definitely had an obsession with his body as it was still trying to strike him with ferocity. The tail was definitely scary and Ye Xiu wanted nothing to do with it.
The statue had been able to heal up most of the damage when he was busy binding it down. The statue was fighting Ye Xiu with so much skill that Ye Xiu was slightly frightened by the proficiency that the statue was fighting with. It had been able to predict most of his attacks and the ones that got through the first line of defence were quickly blocked by its claws.
Just as Ye Xiu was about to start the next step of his plan, the statue managed to break from its bindings by literally burning through the whips with its flames. Ye Xiu knew that he should've expected this but he seriously didn't think that it would break free that quickly.
Consuming a single drop of his stored blood essence, he started to enhance himself. He enhanced himself to twice his normal combat power since he had no idea how long he would be fighting for. By enhancing himself to only twice the strength, he could last for several hours on a single drop of his essence. Once he finished stabilising his strength increase, he started to use the technique mixture and transformed.
Tian Bai had noticed what he was doing and was acting as a diversion for him. The statue, however, didn't really care about Tian Bai and was now attacking Ye Xiu and only Ye Xiu. Its claws glowed crimson red and struck out towards Ye Xiu. Even without the visual glow of the statue using a Qi technique, Ye Xiu would've noticed it due to his usage of his observation technique.
Ye Xui quickly kicked the claws that were approaching him and the only thing he felt was a dull sensation on his scales when the Qi technique struck. He was lucky that he used his legs to try and kick the claws otherwise he'd have been heavily injured. His legs were one of the first few body parts that he had managed to transform and he was still continuing his transformation now.
His foot was still in mid-air which Ye Xiu seemed to have realised when he noticed the statue grabbing on to it. He rotated on the one free foot that he had left, holding his katana, 'Despairing Roar' completely activated and ready for a strike. Ye Xiu had finished his transformation in the time that the little trade had been going on which meant that he was currently at the strongest he could be without completely exhausting himself.
His attack was more of a swing due to the position that he was in though it didn't matter as his katana managed to cut off the scaled hand that had been holding on to him. He pried off the fingers that had a firm grasp on him when he noticed the statue's hand regenerating himself. To be honest, it was certainly grotesque since he could see things such as the body growth as well. Once again, Ye Xiu was amazed at the detail but at the same time, he was horrified at the sight since its a pretty traumatizing thing to see.
Ye Xiu at least knew that his attack was enough to get through the scales with ease and that was without him using metal Qi to enhance the attack. It would've taken him too long in order for him to do so which is why he had used fire Qi though it seemed to still be effective. He had thought that if he literally amputated off the offending limb, it would be unable to regenerate back but he shouldn't have applied logic to a statue that probably had more secrets than his entire life.
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Whilst he was wallowing in his disgust, the statue attacked him with its regrown hand together with a Qi technique. Luckily he dodged it with his 'Swallow Mirage Steps.'
It felt like the statue was about to release a very powerful attack and all Ye Xiu could do was watch as the statue's core literally drained itself of Qi until there was barely a sliver of it left when he felt himself on the floor. He shouldn't have been surprised really. If the claws had managed to cause such damage to his body even with fortified clothes then he should've expected the same even when he was transformed.
The statue had used all of its power in a single strike and all it would take for Ye Xiu to defeat it would be for him to pierce the core. Yet, he seemed oddly calm as he lay on the ground, bleeding out. He saw the Qi drain inside of the statue, he should've been prepared. No, preparation wouldn't have helped him dodge the attack. It simply moved too fast, especially with his weight being increased by the transformation.
He continued laying on the ground wondering if he should get up. All he could do was stare at the lit stone ceiling of the room. 'I truly wonder if this should continue to be so. I was wondering when I was going to ever get to a fight that would truly threaten my life. The fight against the satyr would've been considered one but I had lost my own mind during that fight.'
He had plenty of time to think now that he was just lying around. 'I don't know what to do. Should I get back up and fight or should I just leave myself to rest like I was supposed to the first time?' He could hear faint sounds in the background but his thoughts drowned it out fairly quickly.
Tian Bai was doing his best to fend off the statue as Ye Xiu lay down on the ground bleeding. He wanted to heal him but he could only do so much from a distance whilst fighting at the same time. He was doing his best with the long-distance healing but he wasn't sure that it was enough. Ye Xiu was his master and he was his familiar. He had no choice but to defend and heal him to the best of his abilities.
He decided that he couldn't be alone in his efforts considering his master was just there lying about, contemplating his life choices. "Ye Xiu! Stop lying around and get your ass into gear! You're literally bleeding out and you are still thinking about random things. You need to survive. What about all your friends that you told me about? What about your family? Do you really want to let them down?"
Tian Bai continued to abuse the telepathy link to talk to Ye Xiu but it seemed like his efforts were being wasted since he didn't seem to hear him. "Respond to me!"
Ye Xiu could hear dull whispers directly in his mind, but once again, his thoughts were occupying his attention. Tian Bai forced his way into Ye Xiu's mind by using a technique that was highly invasive but he knew that the current situation was dire and he needed Ye Xiu to fight back. He repeated what he said earlier and just continued to shout.
The whispers grew louder and louder, until the dam burst and his thoughts could no longer occupy his mind and was forced to listen to what Tian Bai had to say. He listened closely to Tian Bai's words, and felt his determination and will to live be ignited yet at the same time, he still felt like he should continue to lie down. It wasn't completely Ye Xiu's fault that he wanted to lie down so much but was mainly due to the fact that the statue hadn't only attacked him physically but mentally.
The mental attack was an obscure one and was very hard to even recognise that it was being used. It was rather effective seeing how Ye Xiu had little determination to do anything currently. Tian Bai's last hope was to incite anger and that definitely wasn't something he wanted to do, however, it was his only hope.
He planted mental images of the statue killing Ye Xiu's friends and family. How Tian Bai got these images of his friends and family were through some rather unknown means, but he certainly knew enough to make it seem realistic. Tian Bai noticed that these images were definitely inciting Ye Xiu into action but it wasn't enough. He placed more and more images and the scenes continued to get worse.
When Tian Bai jumped over Ye Xiu's body as he dodged, he could see that his eyes had glazed over and that his body was trembling with anger. His muscles were tense and he was clenching and unclenching his fists. Tian Bai knew that he had done enough since it seemed like Ye Xiu was getting up.
Ye Xiu's body started to change into one that definitely looked more similar to the statue. Ye Xiu stood up as his body was changing. His scales seemed to change into a deeper colour whilst his head was changing into one that looked like a dragon. Wings started to sprout from his back and a tail grew from his tailbone.
The transformation was completed in a relatively short amount of time and Ye Xiu's body seemed to be moving by itself once again. Its claws were lit aflame and rammed through the chest of the statue, where the core was. The core was immediately shattered but it seemed like Ye Xiu wasn't stopping anytime soon.
Ye Xiu's hand pulled back out of the statue's chest and continued to pierce the body of the statue. Contrary to what Tian Bai expected, the statue didn't shatter but he could still see the insides of the body. The organs and whatnot may have never been created but it still looked like an empty husk of a person
Once Ye Xiu had finished mauling the statue for what it was worth, he started to fly and unsurprisingly to Tian Bai, Ye Xiu started to breath flames directly to the statue, literally incinerating it. Tian Bai noted that whatever took over Ye Xiu's body when he was unconscious, definitely liked disfiguring and fire.
Tian Bai quickly got out of sight once he realised that Ye Xiu would not snap back to reality or fall unconscious anytime soon.