The chains from the dark pagoda also coiled around the weight itself. Both its speed and its mass were increased. The chains were a form of Qi Manifestation. As Gui Bei had reached the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, the manifestation of his Qi was now even more corporeal and powerful. One could still tell the difference between the real chains and the ones formed from his Qi. But in the heat of the moment, they looked real enough. With both mass and speed, this attack could probably kill a middle Mortal with no problem at all.
Just as it was about to hit Huang Cixi, she moved with grace and the weight just passed her by. 'Thousand Flames Dance'. The woman opened both her 'Heaven Climbing Wheel' iron fans. The Incandescent Phoenix Paper they were made of ignited immediately and with a masterful movement of her wrists, the flames danced in the air and got hurtled toward Gui Bei. To be precise, Huang Cixi aimed for the door that had opened within the dark pagoda.
Gui Bei did not care at all. 'Nine Mu Iron Podium'.* From the base of the dark pagoda, columns of chains rose in the air and blocked all the flames sent toward Gui Bei. But he wasn't done with his attack. He still had the chain linked to the weights in hand and swiftly changed the motion of his attack. The chain that was close to Huang Cixi moved and the weight behind her came back toward her head.
'Inferno Blows the Feather Away'. While moving her fans with incredible speed, the young woman produced a fantastical dance of fire. Her own red clothes and her beautiful white hair added to her magnificent elegance. Gui Bei tried several times to redirect his attack. Damn, he even sent his second weight with the same attack. But his 'Karma Fruits' could not touch Huang Cixi. She stayed almost at the same spot while dodging the weights hurtling toward her. This really was some kind of dance and the weapon of her opponent were her partners. It was as though Huang Cixi was unaffected by the fruits of her own karma and merely danced pleasantly with them.
Of course, that pissed off Gui Bei who changed his tactic. Staying within his three-storied dark pagoda, he spun his chains around. 'Ninefold Naraka'. From many doors of the pagoda, new chains appeared and flew toward Huang Cixi. The two weights who were already close to her started to form whirlwind in the air. She still tried to dodge but she also felt a force sucking her in. Clearly, she was in a bad situation now. The shockwave of the mere movements from the weights was enough to tell her that if she were to touch them her body would be broken. Both weights were spinning so fast that they could break the bones of an early Mortal Warrior while Huang Cixi was only a late Mortal. Thanks to her recent stay in the sacred grounds, she had reached the 9th-grade Mortal but this wasn't enough to protect her.
'Scorched Earth'. From 'Dance to the Burning World', one of the three forms of her martial art, Huang Cixi chose another move. Her dance changed suddenly and the flames from her iron fans spread all around her as a kind of protection. The flames got trapped in the swirling air. As the air was getting hotter and hotter, the form of Huang Cixi slowly disappeared. The flames became so powerful that the chains themselves started to redden. Gradually, the heat traveled along the metal and reached Gui Bei's hands. Of course, the discomfort he had to bear was nothing compared to the searing heat the weights were experiencing. Gui Bei soon realized that his chains were about to literally melt.
The boy didn't catch on it, but the entire Huang family was in uproar. What Huang Cixi had just done was incredibly close to a Qi Manifestation. She had not produced the flames herself from her Qi, but her Qi had increased the flames produced by her weapons and kept them alive. That was also the kind of thing Zhi Yin had done. Even though Huang Cixi could not control her Qi outside of her body, if she injected it in her flames, she only had to control her flames to manipulate her Qi. And within the 'Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel', there were many ways to do so by moving the air around thanks to the iron fans. Someone who didn't know the 'Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel' would not see that something wasn't right. But everyone from the Huang family caught on it. What she was doing was almost Qi Manifestation although she was still a Mortal.
The Qi manifested metal that was coiled around the meteor hammer literally started to melt away under the scorching heat. Even Gui Bei's hands were now feeling the bite of Huang Cixi's flames. Full of rage, Gui Bei brought both weights back to him.
He didn't leave any time to Huang Cixi. Changing his grip on the weapon, Gui Bei grabbed the chain just above one of the weights. Thus, he had the full length of the chain to hurl the other one. And he did. 'Samsara Calamity'. This time, he did not increase the weight of his weapon with manifested chains. Instead, the weight was covered in a layer of black energy that was spinning it. The weight that was just a massive orb of metal now looked like the head of a spear. With the black energy surrounding the chain, its speed got increase, and without the increase in mass, it became way faster than before.
Huang Cixi was surprised when the weight went through her flames. At the very last moment, she fully opened her right iron fan. 'Bright Dawn Wheel'. As it opened, it almost produced a small explosion. This reduced the impact of the weight. Huang Cixi still had to take a few steps back. However, this wasn't over. Even faster than before, the weight came back. And again, and again, it was relentless. Each time, it was faster and more powerful. Huang Cixi was using all her strength just to hold on her iron fan. By closing and opening it up again, she created small detonations to try and reduce the impact of the weapon each time.
After eight attacks, the ninth one was so powerful that Huang Cixi was sent flying backward. But, by focusing all her Qi in her hand, she was able to keep her iron fan.
In the audience, everyone was silent. Huang Lü was probably the most excited in the crowd, but even she didn't dare disturb the silence. On the other hand, Huang Si was conflicted. Her junior sister was indeed very strong. Strength alone wasn't the decisive factor to become matriarch but it still played a role. The best outcome for her would be for Huang Cixi to lose. However, she didn't like the idea of a woman from the Huang family losing to that man. In the worst case scenario, she could maybe take over after her junior sister, but fighting him after his victory would be a bit too petty. Huang Si sincerely couldn't choose what outcome she truly desired.
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Among the elders, there was not much worry. Thanks to their spiritual senses, they could see that Huang Cixi had not used all her means. And she was still fine. The most calm of all was Matriarch Huang Yufeng. With her insane spiritual senses, she was waiting for this junior girl to amaze everyone.
"What's the problem? I don't know why but I imagined that the Huang family would be better than that... I did not even warm up yet! Here, let me show you what I am truly capable of."
'Heavenly Pagoda Ascension'. Gui Bei rose within the dark pagoda. Usually a Mortal Warrior could not fly, not even levitate. However, Gui Bei was using the Qi Manifestation of this dark pagoda to maintain himself in the air. He found himself in the finial, the highest part of the pagoda. That finial was surrounding him as a second skin. Now in the sky, he kept manipulating his meteor hammer.
Suddenly, he sent each weight onto the ground. Huang Cixi rolled quickly and dodged the first one. In a swift motion, she stood up and danced around the weights falling from the sky. Black energy surrounded the weights and they almost looked like small meteorites falling from the sky. 'Inferno Blows the Feather Away'. Once again, Huang Cixi used her dance to dodge all the attacks, but they increased in both numbers and frequency. From atop the pagoda, Gui Bei was only controlling one chain but several Qi manifested chains were now coiled around it. And more than a dozen meteors were now chained together with the real ones.
Huang Cixi had only activated one True Fiery Drop for now. Seeing that this wasn't enough against her opponent, she activated a second one. All the blood in her body began to burn. But this was different from when she had refined the third True Fiery Drop. This fire in her blood was pleasant, it was a part of her. The Qi in her blood also started to move faster than before and she increased her speed. 'Inferno Choking Claws'. Moving just before a meteor hit her, Huang Cixi used the blades along her iron fan to slice away the chain linking this meteor.
As it was only a Qi Manifestation, the meteor disappeared, taking away a bit of Gui Bei's energy. Enraged, he tried to increase his attacks but Huang Cixi was way faster than before and easily cut off other chains.
'Nine Life Pagoda Destruction'. Up in the sky, one of his meteors turned into a small two-storied pagoda. When he sent this celestial pagoda toward the ground, thunder echoed in the East Hall. This single attack was three times faster than the other meteors and they still didn't stop falling during the attack, to try and hinder Huang Cixi's movements. The meteors all fell around Huang Cixi to trap her in the zone of impact of this small pagoda.
Sensing the danger, Huang Cixi activated her two True Fiery Drops to the maximum but still didn't use the third one, the one engraved with two wings.
'Blazing Beak Strike'. With her closed 'Heaven Climbing Wheel' iron fans, Huang Cixi struck toward the sky. The tip of her iron fans collided with the falling pagoda. Smiling, Gui Bei was expecting the girl to be crushed beneath his Qi Manifestation. As a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, his Qi Manifestation could not be pierce through by a Mortal, no matter how powerful the Mortal was. In fact, Cao Yun would have probably been able to do so by using all of his strength, but then he would have been unable to keep fighting. Unless his opponent was using Qi Manifestation herself, Gui Bei was sure of his victory now.
All the young members of the Huang family were also utterly convinced of the result. Even with her ingenious use of Qi, Huang Cixi could not stop this attack without manifesting her Qi. In the end, her cultivation was too weak. Her martial arts were clearly outmatching that bastard, but the gap in cultivation was just too big. Between a 9th-grade Mortal and a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, the difference was already great, but he was even two more grades beyond.
Some elders also got worried and looked at Matriarch Huang Yufeng who was composed as though it didn't involve her at all.
Suddenly, everyone got shocked. The shriek of a fenghuang burst out from Huang Cixi's iron fans. As she struck the incoming pagoda, the shape of a burning bird erupted around her and soared vertically in the skies. The dark pagoda was completely pierced through and through. The Qi Manifestation of Gui Bei exploded in the air and he just couldn't believe what was going on.
"Qi Manifestation?!"
Huang Lü could not contain her excitement anymore. After a small pause, all the young members of the Huang family erupted except for Huang Si. Among the elders, strange glares were exchanged. They were clearly talking through telepathy as they couldn't comprehend what was going on.
"This isn't Qi Manifestation." The voice of the matriarch calmly echoed in the courtyard. She had infused her Qi in her words and even though she was talking low, everyone heard her. "Huang Cixi used the power of her bloodline to manifest this fenghuang. This isn't Qi Manifestation per se. In fact, it is closer to what demonic beasts use."
Everyone instinctively looked inside their own heart. And they did sense that their blood was resonating with this red bird that was fading in the sky. Qi Manifestation was the control of Qi outside of one's body to materialize it in various shapes depending on the cultivator's martial arts and techniques. In order to achieve that, one had to necessarily be a Mortal Warrior. That was literally the definition of being a Mortal Warrior, someone capable of manifesting his Qi. But the demonic beasts were different. They did not use martial arts and yet when they had enough cores, they could still manifest strange phenomena around them.
Some called it Blood Manifestation. Indeed, the demonic beasts were using their blood and the Qi within it to manifest those phenomena. They were completely instinctive and they relied on the power and purity of their bloodline. As such, someone from the Huang family could theoretically achieve such a result thanks to the blood essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang in them. But to do so, they had to have an extremely pure blood essence and a few condensed True Fiery Drops.
As Huang Cixi had the highest bloodline of all her generation, she had discovered that she could manifest her blood. That was one of the reasons why she did not fear challenging Gui Bei. Even if he became a Mortal Warrior, she could fight off his Qi Manifestation. Moreover, even though his cultivation had increased fast, his martial art and his fighting skills were not impressive at all to the young woman. Only his physical feats were a threat to her. But as long as he couldn't touch her, they were as though they didn't exist.
Using the shock and surprise to her advantage, Huang Cixi opened both her iron fans and sent them through the sky. 'Heavenly Hell Wheel'. As they left her hands, they turned into two large peacock wheels. Their feathers were as sharp as razor blades. They sliced through the chains surrounding Huang Cixi just as easily as if they hadn't been there and flew toward Gui Bei, ready to cut him into pieces.
*1 mu = 666 m²