Liang Chen and the black-haired and brown-bearded Bao Shan stared each other down, one wielding a grey dragon-maw spear while the other wielded two large crimson greataxes, each one so large that it looked like it would need two hands to hold properly. The two men didn't bother squandering time with pointless words like the young leader of this estate had, they knew exactly how things would go down.
One was the governor of this city who had taken part in an untold amount of atrocious actions and the other was a stranger who had just waltzed into the city and mercilessly massacred a third of the governor's men, his presence even resulting in the remaining two thirds to get preemptively killed to conceal any information. There would be only one end to today's events, the death of one of them. And the one who decided to take the initiative in the battle was Liang Chen, his body leaning forward as his knees bent slightly and he let out an exceedingly short mumble to direct Yumao.
"Follow me."
The earth beneath Liang Chen's feet exploded into a cloud of dust as he kicked off and shot forward, the blue pupils of Bao Shan shrinking slightly. He knew that Liang Chen was a dangerous opponent, the Sky-Piercing Sparrow wouldn't have preemptively killed his own men if he wasn't. But the speed that Liang Chen achieved by infusing his nerves, muscles, and brain with the law of lightning and time, made Bao Shan realize that he would still have to raise his opinion of the youth in front of him if he wished to come out on top.
All trace of emotion vanished from Bao Shan's face, the only thing that remained was the dignity of a mighty cultivator who ruled an entire city. He didn't try to dodge Liang Chen's attack, that speed was not something he could contend with using normal means, especially in this situation where Liang Chen had already started moving, even already reaching his back while the thoughts flashed through Bao Shan's mind.
He simply tensed his muscles, his golden robe bursting and revealing that Bao Shan's aged body was so muscular and rigid that it seemed to be chiselled from stone. Liang Chen's spear crashed into the side of Bao Shan's neck and unleashed a brilliant burst of brown lightning that crackled out from the point of impact and produced a thunderous rumble as it tore through the air.
But Liang Chen's expression didn't ease up in the slightest after he delivered his attack, practically all the lightning bounced off of Bao Shan without actually harming him. And the hand grasping the handle of the spear felt as if it had smashed into a boulder, a faint ache spreading through his fingers. And sure enough, as his gaze pierced through the light of the lightning he saw that Bao Shan's neck only had a small bloody mark on it, a mark that immediately healed itself.
Bao Shan let out a breath so heavy that the grass at his feet was torn out of the ground and blown away. After Bao Shan let out the breath, Liang Chen felt as if a transparent bubbled extended from Bao Shan's body and quickly covered the surrounding 500 meters. When the bubble stopped growing, a strange scene took place within it, grey trees covered in small cracks started to grow from the ground. Liang Chen immediately felt his body grow heavy as a tree started to grow up behind him, his leg instinctively kicking out to shatter the tree.
But to his surprise, his leg grew heavier as it got closer to the tree, the bones within his leg nearly creaking by the time he managed to kick it. And even when he did manage to kick it, he once again felt like he had attacked a boulder, the tree only cracking a bit more from the attack. He narrowed his eyes and kicked forward with his leg, placing his foot against Bao Shan's back and kicking off to launch himself away to create some distance.
Several small spots of darkness appeared in the air above Bao Shan as Liang Chen created some distance between them, each spot unleashing a rain of small black needles that pierced into the earth. Bao Shan stood within the rain of black needles and placed his greataxes above his head to block them, the needles were far from as fast as Liang Chen so it wasn't impossible for him to block them.
Liang Chen had to navigate around the sprouting trees, each one seemed to radiate a small field of intense gravity that made it harder to move properly. But he managed to land a short distance away from Bao Shan, who swept out with both his axes and sent a ripple through the air that caused the black spots produced by Yumao to collapse. Bao Shan turned his body to face Liang Chen, whose eyes were still somewhat narrowed.
"Stone, wood, and gravity, those should be the laws you fused to enter the Primordial Immortal realm, no?"
Liang Chen clenched his left hand slightly as he spoke, a few arcs of lightning crackling around his finger. But compared to how smoothly it usually went, he actually had to expend a bit of energy to create and control this lightning, likely a product of the transparent bubble that formed a dome around them. Bao Shan held both his axes at the ready and nodded his head, this was one of the things that was too open to bother hiding in a battle of this level, the enemy had already figured out half and would easily figure out the rest before it could matter.
"Indeed, I call it the law of the Stonecore Forest. And looking at that lightning you're playing with there, it seems like you've never actually properly fought someone who has spent a bit of time within the Primordial Immortal realm. This is my Stone Forest Domain, an area forcibly taken over by my fused law, every respectable cultivator in the Primordial Immortal realm has one, it's one of the main reasons they are known to be easily able to kill weaker cultivators. Trapped within here, you will find it much harder to use your own laws."
The answer he received was mostly in line with what he had guessed, but Liang Chen's expression didn't betray any of his emotions. Just fighting someone at the middle stage of the Primordial Immortal realm was troublesome, but this Bao Shan was especially troublesome for Liang Chen. He clearly dual cultivated body and Qi and thus had exceedingly strong defence, his laws just so happened to counter all but Liang Chen's laws of time and void, and this domain all around him would force him to use more energy and thus hastening the speed at which his energy reserves, which were already lower than his enemy, would deplete.
Liang Chen's golden pupils flickered slightly as a thought passed through his mind, his feet kicking off the ground once more as he shot back and left the domain. Bao Shan didn't chase him as Liang Chen hopped back and left the bubble, revealing that the area was indeed surrounded by a faintly grey translucent dome, the stone trees only growing within it. Liang Chen swiped his interspatial ring and took out an item he had stored away for quite some time already, a white bone bow.
This was one of the three bows he had picked up on Tripartite God planet that had the ability to grow harder and tougher as he inserted more Qi. Using a bow became less and less useful to him as the strength of his opponents increased, he simply wasn't good enough with it to make it useful in the type of combat that he engaged in so he ended up putting them away and rarely ever using them. But now, when his opponent was clearly unwilling to leave his domain, was a perfect chance to use this bow again.
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Liang Chen straightened his back and tensed his muscles while drawing back the string, creating a hollow arrow composed of a mixture of wind and his soul energy. He filled the arrow with his laws of poison, death, and rot, each one filled to the brim with the energy of his soul. Since his opponent had such a strong bodily defence then he simply wouldn't bother going for the body, he would just exterminate the soul straight away.
Liang Chen drew the bowstring back with all his might, the bone that the bow was made of bending and creaking as small cracks appeared on it. The bow could grow harder and tougher, yes, but there was a limit to how hard it could become, it was doomed to break if Liang Chen unleashed all his might. And that was just what he did, he poured as much strength as he could into the arrow and bow, even going as far as to use the second step of the Dragon King's Six Steps. And then he let go of the bowstring, the bow simply falling apart as a deep purple light cut through the air and headed directly for Bao Shan, whose entire body was suddenly restrained by thick tendrils that rose up from his own shadow. But faced with the incoming attack, Bao Shan simply rolled his eyes and spoke to Liang Chen.
"A terrifyingly strong attack, but what a shame that no ranged attacks work against me in here. You underestimate the power of gravity, naive."
The branches of the stone trees moved slightly, the verdant leaves fluttering in a non-existent wind as the air around them rippled and distorted. The arrow flew into these ripples and turned slightly, deviating a tiny fraction off course. It might just be a tiny fraction, but each tree it passed by caused it to deviate a bit more as it was again affected by the gravity, even trying to control the arrow was nigh impossible due to the sheer number of gravitational fields that ended up working on the arrow.
The arrowed veered around Bao Shan and shot toward the crowd of spectators gathered in front of the estate, Liang Chen's expression sinking drastically. There was no telling how many people would simply fall over if that arrow hit the spectators and exploded, there was no way their souls would be able to resist that attack. But the domain stopped right in front of the spectators so Liang Chen had no way of controlling the arrow to stop it before it hit them, unless he was willing to risk being able to stop it the instant it left the domain of course.
Liang Chen didn't even let his gaze drift over the now terrified spectators, he simply clicked his tongue and then shot forward at full speed, diving headfirst back into the domain. The gravity around the stone trees immediately impacted him and either punished him down or tried to suck his body in, each tree having a different level of gravity to make things even harder for him. Liang Chen maintained his solemn expression and headed straight for the arrow, which moved fast, but not faster than Liang Chen's law of time supported speed.
Bao Shan didn't change his expression as Liang Chen approached, he made sure to divert the arrow in such a manner that Liang Chen would have to move past him if he wanted to stop it. And Liang Chen didn't disappoint, he had charged in straight away without a second of thought. Bao Shan ignored the tendrils coiling all around him, which had started growing small drills that were boring into his defence, his gaze looking directly at Liang Chen as the trees all around him suddenly grew and extended, the branches turning into spears and the blades acting as knives.
Liang Chen would be able to move past him, but he would cut himself to ribbons in the process and grievously wound himself, this was one of the plans that Bao Shan had set. But just as Liang Chen dove headfirst into the web of extended trees, a rumbling hissing sound rang out from every single shadow within the domain. The shadows melted and extended, covering the entire domain in complete darkness. And within this darkness, several black wisps of energy started to flow out from Bao Shan's body and into Liang Chen's, the gravity affecting him suddenly lessening drastically in intensity while his own body felt like it grew harder.
Liang Chen knew what this dark domain was, he had already heard Yan Ling describe it to him once in the past. Back then Yumao had used it against Qian Liao on Tripartite God planet to save Yan Ling's life and heal the law of death that had invaded her body, in his shock Qian Liao had called it the Nether God's Grasp. Back then just activating the domain for half a second had robbed Yumao of nearly all his energy, but now he was able to keep it active for an entire second before it vanished.
And by the time it vanished, Liang Chen had already shot past Bao Shan and arrived by the arrow, grabbing onto it from the side and forcibly sucking it back into his body. His body was covered in several cuts and holes from having dashed directly through the grove of deadly stone trees, but not a single one of the wounds even reached his bones thanks to Yumao's supportive domain. And if the wounds didn't even reach his bones or contained some terrifyingly strong energy, then they wouldn't even be considered wounds to Liang Chen.
And that thought was immediately proven correct as all the wounds healed, leaving Liang Chen's body bloody but without a scratch. Bao Shan's pupils flickered around the surroundings for a short moment as he tried to locate Yumao, who was hiding somewhere within the darkness. But after he failed to find him, he turned his gaze onto Liang Chen and the blood that covered his body.
"You shouldn't have bothered saving them, the only thing you've done is create another weak point for yourself. As a ruler, you need to be aware of when it is best to protect something, and when it is best to abandon something to win. That is what a ruler is, someone who can easily abandon things for the sake of looking at the greater picture. If you still manage to end up as the winner, you'd do well to learn that."
Things had ended well this time, but could that strange pet of Liang Chen raise that domain once more? If it couldn't, then if he was forced to dash through such a web of trees again he would end up with more than just flesh wounds. But faced with what he considered respectable advice from one strong cultivator to another, Liang Chen simply spat out a small glob of blood and sneered.
"Fuck you, and fuck that definition of a ruler. I once knew a sect master who happily sacrificed himself just to give the weaker disciples beneath him a chance to flee, I knew a pair of parents who happily kneeled and presented their necks just so that one child could get the chance to grow up, I knew a young girl who endured all sorts of torture in silence just so that a single boy could be left alone. They are what you can call rulers, and they weren't rulers because they abandoned things, they were rulers because they chose to protect and people gravitated towards them as a result. Compared to them, you are nothing but a bottom-feeding worm who isn't even worthy of looking up at the sky. Fuck you and fuck your abandoning, I will protect that which I choose to protect."
The vicious cursing actually caught Bao Shan completely off-guard, he hadn't expected such a simple piece of advice to produce such a strong reaction. But listening to the words and thinking about Liang Chen's actions, a light lit up within Bao Shan's head.
"Ah, so that's what all this is about. People keep sacrificing themselves for you so you've decided to save others and bring evildoers to justice for the sake of those who died to protect you. That explains why you ignored everything and simply massacred everyone here, even going against the Golden Branch and the Tranquil Lake. What a strong sense of justice, truly worthy of respect."
Bao Shan actually gave a light clap of his hands as he spoke, not to mock Liang Chen but out of heartfelt respect for his sense of justice and determination. But then, just as he did when Bao Shan gave him the previous piece of advice, Liang Chen proved that Bao Shan had no idea what he was talking about.
"Justice? Nothing I have ever done has been for justice, justice has never been on my side or in my mind. It has always been wrath, hatred and wrath that burns so fierce that it wants to swallow the sky. So don't you go around spouting shit about justice and respectable determination, I'm just an angry child, one that is going to kill you."
Liang Chen sucked in a deep breath of air and then exhaled a light grey mist that actually caused the leaves of the stone tree closest to him to disintegrate as if they were being erased. He tightly grasped his spear, his knuckles practically turning white as his gaze pierced into Bao Shan.
"But one thing you said was somewhat right, sometimes we have to abandon things to win. But I won't abandon people, I'll just abandon my care and worry about what sort of state I'll end up in after I kill you."