The one that broke the silence that had descended over the stage was Yan Ling, the sound of howling wind screeching throughout the entire arena as she shot towards Shi Tengriu, her sword at the ready. Ren Ooyung took a step forward to block Yan Ling, but he felt all the hairs on his body stand on end when he finished his step, quickly turning around and delivering a backhanded smash with his left fist.
Liang Chen leaned his head backward slightly, the fist just barely grazing his nose as it whizzed past his face. Ren Ooyung quickly let go of his whip and punched out with his right arm, using the momentum of his spin to add more force to the punch. Liang Chen injected his law of time into his own brain and nerves, the punch drastically slowing down in front of his eyes.
He tilted his head to the side and stepped forward, his right fist colliding with Ren Ooyung's ribs and unleashing the gathered up energy. He had gathered a dense layer of ice over his skin just before the punch connected, but three of his ribs still ended up shattering under the violent force that was Liang Chen's Fiendgod Essence, his entire body flung uncontrollably through the air.
Liang Chen heard a rushing sound from behind him, a quick glance showing him that both of Shi Tengriu's right arms were currently coming for him, one for his head and one for his spine. Liang Chen looked away from the two fists, his right arm stretching out and poking the waist of Yan Ling, who was currently passing by him at full speed. Poison flooded her body from the touch, overloading her nerves and completely numbing her sense of pain, ensuring that it wouldn't distract her during the battle.
Yan Ling ducked beneath Shi Tengriu's fists by throwing her body to the ground and sliding beneath his legs, a forceful gust of wind mixed with the laws of pressure and crushing pushing down on both of his right arms. Both his right arms were diverted downwards, away from Liang Chen, who was already chasing after Ren Ooyung.
Shi Tengriu's brows furrowed slightly when he felt his arms get diverted, his left arm quickly punching downwards, aiming for the sliding Yan Ling. Yan Ling was currently between Shi Tengriu's legs, her shoulders and head just about to completely pass through the gap, so dodging to the sides was not an option right now. She slashed out with her sword, a large gash surrounded by countless smaller cuts appearing on Shi Tengriu's left wrist.
She didn't choose to push the punch away, allowing it to smash into her left shoulder, the impact hitting her so hard that her lower body was lifted into the air. She let go of her sword and buried both her hands into the stage, using the force of Shi Tengriu's punch to lift herself into a handstand. She then wrapped her legs around Shi Tengriu's chest, the law of pressure and crushing flooding into her legs and causing cracks to form on Shi Tengriu's hard skin.
She then exerted all her might and used her law of wind to lift Shi Tengriu up using her legs, slamming him into the stage head-first in a pile driver. As his head slammed into the stage, she stretched out her now free right arm, a gust of wind sending her sword flying back into her grasp. She stabbed down towards Shi Tengriu's head, his right arms quickly stretching out to block the sword. Her sword pierced cleanly through his lower right arm, but it lost so much power in the process that he was able to punch the tip aside using his upper right arm, saving his head.
Shi Tengriu then used his already bloody left arm to punch Yan Ling in the chest, knocking all the air out of her lungs and pushing her away, giving him the time to stand up. Shi Tengriu looked at his two bloody arms, clenching his fists to push away the pain that caused his arms to tremble, sending a slight glare at Yan Ling.
"It seems like you've grown quite a bit stronger since I last received news of you, that or I just underestimated you to begin with."
He was quite proud of the hardness that his skin possessed after he activated his energy, most attacks would simply bounce off without dealing any damage. Yan Ling simply sent him a cheeky and somewhat bloody grin, spitting out a glob of blood and not bothering to say anything. A loud exploding sound suddenly caught their attention, Liang Chen flying past Yan Ling and skidding across the ruined stage for a few more meters before he managed to stop himself.
His robe was badly burned, only the cloth covering his lower body remaining somewhat intact. Some of his scales were scorched, others were cut open, and some others, in turn, had been frozen and then cracked, blood dripping forth and running down his body. Ren Ooyung's whip was currently coiled around his abdomen, the sound of scales cracking sounding out as it got tighter and tighter. But even so, Liang Chen wore a smile on his face, his scales had already grown to cover his entire left leg.
Liang Chen used both arms to grab onto the whip that coiled around his stomach, giving it a strong pull to force Ren Ooyung to get closer. But Ren Ooyung seemed to have learned his lesson already, thick spikes of ice grew out from his soles and dug into the stone stage, spreading out like roots and securing his footing. Sadly for him, Liang Chen cared not one whit for his preparations.
"You. Will. Come. Here!"
The muscles on his arms bulged and the stone stage beneath Liang Chen turned into fine dust under the rampant energy he released. Ren Ooyung didn't show much of a reaction at first, but when he heard cracking sounds coming from around him, he knew that he had underestimated Liang Chen's strength. Both Ren Ooyung and the stone stage around him were thrown into the air, Liang Chen stomping down on the stage once more, unleashing all his might to swing Ren Ooyung in a full circle before using him like a mace, slamming him down towards Shi Tengriu.
Liang Chen then locked eyes with Yan Ling, who quickly understood what he wanted and nodded her head. She took advantage of the fact that Shi Tengriu had to deal with the incoming Ren Ooyung, dashing over to Liang Chen and slashing out with her sword, the tip turning blurry as she used her new law to slice through the whip that was coiled around Liang Chen's stomach.
Shi Tengriu looked at the incoming Ren Ooyung, as well as the part of the stage that was coming along with him, his eyes narrowing dangerously. He bent his knees and punched the shattered stage with all three of his arms, his fists burying themselves deep within the stage. He then took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, his voice turning so heavy that it seemed to affect even the air in the area.
"Ox-Serpent's Feast!"
Not just the five-kilometer wide stone stage, but even the area between the stage and the seating area trembled fiercely after Shi Tengriu's voice rang out. The entire area suddenly exploded outwards, countless two-meter-thick horned serpents made out of metal rushing out from the earth and stretching towards the sky, their bodies covered in razor-sharp spines that could easily shred a person's body.
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Neither Liang Chen or Yan Ling had seen anyone on this planet use a battle skill before, but they still reacted quickly to dodge. Yan Ling wedged her foot underneath Liang Chen's foot and kicked him into the air. In turn, Liang Chen quickly leaned down and grabbed onto Yan Ling's outstretched arm, throwing her up into the air, both of them using their wind to further propel themselves into the air.
Ren Ooyung had a bit of an easier time dodging, he only had to twist his body slightly, the serpents even crushed the part of the stage that was still stuck to his feet. The iron serpents continued to chase Liang Chen and Yan Ling higher into the sky, only stopping when they had stretched four-kilometers into the air. Liang Chen looked down from his vantage point, his gaze landing on Shi Tengriu, a light mutter escaping from his lips.
"Metal, huh? Alright, let's finish you then."
Liang Chen stretched out his right arm and pointed at Shi Tengriu, all the metal serpents suddenly twisting and distorting violently, smashing into him. Shi Tengriu had summoned countless metal serpents, now he was forced to suffer under their combined might and weight. He managed to resist the first 30 or so serpents just fine, but as more and more of them crashed into him, his body was slowly crushed. Even worse, he noticed that even after they crashed into him, they continued to press onto him, as if they were trying to go straight through him.
Liang Chen could not control the law of metal, but he was quite skilled in the law of lightning. The technique he used just now was one he had actually stolen from a bandit he fought a little after leaving the Mystic's Hidden Realm, she had used it on him and he had observed it, taking it for himself. He used the lightning he inserted into Shi Tengriu's arm when they touched at the start of the battle to create a current that formed a magnetic field around his entire left arm, which was covered in metal, turning it into a large magnet that attracted all the metal he had summoned. Back when it was used against him, the woman was able to make the magnet strong enough to even attract the metal within Liang Chen's blood, but he had yet to become that skillful with the technique.
Trapped beneath the distorted mess that used to be the metal serpents, there was no way for Shi Tengriu to move. Liang Chen swiped his interspatial ring, his golden spear appearing in his grasp as he tilted his head slightly at Yan Ling.
"Mind making a small opening for me? It just has to be large enough for my spear."
Ever since she had absorbed the White Tiger bloodline, Yan Ling had technically gained control over the laws of earth and metal, it was just that her control over them was so weak that it wasn't really useable in combat yet. But if it was just moving a bit of metal, she was more than capable of it, so she nodded her head and flicked her wrist, a small hole opening in the distorted metal mass, leading directly to Shi Tengriu's head.
Liang Chen raised his spear high, emerald and crimson lightning gathering within it, the tip of the spear turning completely white, a sizzling sound barely audible as poison started to fill the tip. The entire spear started to release a blinding light that was a mixture of emerald, crimson, and white, some of the spectators forced to look away. Once the spear was filled to the brim with energy, Liang Chen threw it with all his might.
The spear turned into a bolt of lightning, a deafening shockwave spreading out from it as it easily surpassed the speed of sound and almost vanished from sight, only a thin line visible as it passed through the air. Shi Tengriu was trapped under the metal he himself had summoned, he had no choice but to take this attack head-on, not even able to use his arms to defend himself. He raised his head and looked at the thin line that came for him, calling out one last curse.
"I curse you, Scourge King! I pray that all you hold dear is ruined!"
His curses amounted to nothing, the tip of the spear colliding with his forehead. The poison melted any semblance of defense his skin had left, the spear going through his head and then through his back, stabbing into the ground that used to be the stone stage. Normally, this would not be enough to kill someone from the Fiendgod race, the race famed for their strong vitality. But the violent energy that the spear contained was fully unleashed inside his body, evaporating all his organs before they could even start to regenerate.
Liang Chen and Yan Ling descended to the ground again after Shi Tengriu died, now only Ren Ooyung remained. Ren Ooyung observed Shi Tengriu's fate, but thanks to the Soul Oath, he wasn't too worried, such an attack would go directly against it should they try to launch it against him. He looked at his whip, which was ruined after Yan Ling cut off the front part, throwing it aside and raising his fists, continuing to look at Liang Chen.
"Just me left huh? Well, I'm still not done, I still have something I need to figure out, so come!"
Yan Ling looked at the fired-up Ren Ooyung, shrugging her shoulders and stepping back, giving Liang Chen a pat on the shoulder, leaving the rest to him. Since he wanted to awaken his bloodline here, there was no point in her interfering in the battle. Liang Chen nodded his head and cracked his knuckles, stepping forward and charging towards Ren Ooyung.
Neither of them used any fancy moves or techniques, they simply sent out punch after punch, aiming to break down the other. As he was a body cultivator, Liang Chen had a clear advantage in this situation, his wounds slowly healing while Ren Ooyung's only got worse and worse. Since he was trying to fully awaken his bloodline, Liang Chen did not even bother dodging any of Ren Ooyung's punches, letting all of them land on his body.
Each time they touched, his bloodline would move a little faster, scales quickly starting to cover his right leg, energy welling up from deep within his body. And then, after the two slugged away at each other for almost two minutes, Liang Chen's gray scales grew to cover his right leg, covering his entire body.
A change immediately happened when the gray scales grew to cover his entire body, they suddenly vanished beneath his skin. All the scales sank into his flesh and skin, no longer visible, but still clearly there. As they were his scales, Liang Chen was even able to feel that they had grown thicker and sturdier than before, his defenses growing even stronger. Power started to well forth from the gray blood in his veins, spreading to every inch of his body and causing a majestic aura to radiate from his body.
Ren Ooyung's eyes shot open the moment Liang Chen's gray scales vanished and his body started to radiate the majestic aura, his finger swiping his interspatial ring and taking out a jade orb. He immediately smashed the jade orb, a large and thick screen of smoke spreading out to cover what was once the stone stage, preventing anyone but those currently on the stage from seeing the following scene.
The phantom of a large serpentine dragon appeared on the stage, coiling around Liang Chen, just barely hidden by the screen of smoke. The dragon was covered in gray scales, a few cyan stripes running through the scales along its side, the dragon's left eye was a brilliant gold while the right one was a more ethereal cyan. Both eyes were filled with an unmistakable majesty and disdain, the dragon seeing everything around it as beneath it. The only one it didn't look at with disdain was Yan Ling, as the dragon was a phantom of Liang Chen's bloodline, it was able to sense the strong bloodline flowing in Yan Ling's body, one that even it had to take very seriously.
While Ren Ooyung looked on with trembling eyes, and Yan Ling looked on with eyes burning with excitement, the dragon raised its head and opened its maw, unleashing a horrifying roar. Just as it had been when Yan Ling's bloodline awakened, the roar echoed over the entire planet, instilling the majesty and terror of the dragon in the minds of every living being, announcing the birth of a monarch.
The dragon vanished after unleashing its roar and announcing the complete awakening of Liang Chen's bloodline. As his bloodline had been gradually awakening all along, he didn't get an instantaneous increase to his cultivation like Yan Ling had, but his strength still grew quite a bit, especially his physical strength. Right after the dragon vanished, a sound from Ren Ooyung drew Liang Chen and Yan Ling's attention. Ren Ooyung had heavily kneeled down in front of Liang Chen, reverently lowering his head.
"This subordinate greets the Young Prince!"