As soon as Cao Yun saw Zhi Yin's eyes, he fell into the layer of water on the surface of the platform. The sensation of water filling his lungs coursed through his body. For a Mortal Warrior, this was nothing at all. He could easily breathe even through the water. In fact, Cao Yun had done so when he was still a Mortal. But this wasn't real. What Cao Yun was experiencing right now was the sensation of a mere mortal drowning.
Thanks to his mind cultivation and also to Sun Liao's teachings, Cao Yun saw through the illusion right away. Indeed, his brother had helped him master 'Lifting the Fog of a Dream'. This technique consisted in training his subconscious to always question the reality around him. As such, it was harder for Cao Yun to fall victim to illusions. If he were in one, he would be able to know it even if he could not necessarily get out of it. Of course, some were powerful enough to still affect him though. However, this one was not of that sort.
In fact, this wasn't a real illusion either. In a sense, it was Cao Yun's mind that had produced the illusion. Zhi Yin had simply induced a powerful emotional response in him. This was closer to an intimidation than to an actual illusion.
Instinctively, Cao Yun had activated his 'Dragon's Chest' so his body was safe. But at the same time, he had also activated his Chamber of Heavenly Court. His mind began to act faster and faster. Unfortunately, the illusion he was in was produced by his own mind so it did not go away.
Right now, Cao Yun was trapped in his sea of consciousness. He had taken refuge in it to purge his mind from whatever technique Zhi Yin had used. In his sea of consciousness, he could easily use the Drop of Wrath to tear apart anything. However, Cao Yun didn't want to use it. It was a golden opportunity for him to fight against some form of mind attack. Since his life was not in any danger, he had no reason to resort to the Drop of Wrath right away. Not only was his body still protected by 'Dragon's Chest', his mind was going faster, which meant that he had way more time to deal with it than Zhi Yin had to attack him in the physical world.
High in the infinite sky, the seven stars were fading as large clouds formed between them and the ocean below. Cao Yun lowered the Drop of Wrath down toward the Nine Soul Peaks so it would not interfere at all. To begin with, he did not activate his Five Agents. Instead, he tried to focus on the seven stars to pierce through the clouds, especially the Heart Star.
No matter how much he was struggling, no light was able to go through this thick layer of clouds. However, a terrifying shadow was passing over the clouds. It was also reflected in the water below. More and more powerful ripples disturbed the peaceful surface of the ocean. Dian Mo was watching what was going on without interfering either. This wasn't a threat to him at all. But he had become curious. After watching Cao Yun train, he had some form of interest in the boy now.
Most Mortal Warriors would be hard pressed to deal with such a mind attack because they could not even enter their own sea of consciousness. Alchemists and array formation masters would probably be able to resist it through clever schemes. Maybe a few cultivators, like Ren Chao, could resist that through sheer willpower. But Cao Yun wanted something else.
At any moment, he could use the Drop of Wrath and annihilate the technique completely. What he wanted to do was to use it in order to improve his martial art. This was also a way to show respect toward Zhi Yin. Unless he was forced to, he would not use the Drop of Wrath which was still an exterior help for now. He wanted to win this duel with his own strength. Until he had fully tamed the Drop of Wrath by creating his own Po inside, it was not really his.
From the water below, a giant fin emerged. Its mere presence caused a tsunami that reached even higher than the clouds. It was going to fall down on the Five Agents and the center of Cao Yun's sea of consciousness. But from the wall of water, several golden characters appeared. Cao Yun arranged them in a particular formation. They erupted from the water causing the giant wave to fall apart before it could get to his Five Agents.
The golden characters did not stop there. They reached for the sky and pierced through the clouds. Finally a tiny ray of red light appeared. It slowly ate away at the clouds as the golden characters kept on tearing apart the clouds.
Cao Yun's Shen got completely covered in flames and a pillar of fire erupted toward the heavens.
In the water, the ripples became more and more violent. Something beyond measure was moving in the depths. Even if Cao Yun's sea of consciousness seemed infinite, this entity appeared to be even larger than it was. In a sense, it was bigger than any world or any realm. And as it was moving through the water, its shadow was in the clouds at the same time. For this beast, it seemed as though the laws of any world were altered.
That being said, it was not a real creature. Thankfully, this was just the form taken by Zhi Yin's mind attack. In a sense, this was a form of hypnosis. Cao Yun would not lose against such a thing. He had cultivated his mind to a point where he would probably be able to resist a soul attack from an early Spirit Warrior. But seeing this technique, Cao Yun began to wonder about this. Right now, he had no way to attack one's mind or soul. He had been able to use 'Ashen Feather Seal' to have some influence even on seals inside someone's soul. But it might be useful to develop real mind attacks.
Although he couldn't send his soul outside of his body, the intent from the Drop of Wrath was very powerful and he could extend it outside. Thus, he might be able to produce devastating mind attacks. All techniques pertaining to minds and souls were reserved for Spirit Warriors as it was almost impossible to use for anyone under that realm. But as the Young Sect Master, he should be authorized access even to those documents.
Anyway, for now, he was only thinking about the fight. The golden characters kept gnawing away at the clouds and the few waves caused by the giant presence. In the sky, the lights from the seven stars were also attacking the clouds and shining on the water below. Those characters were the Insight Writings of Cao Yun's understanding of the art of spear. In fact, Cao Yun was quite literally fighting this technique with his understanding and mastery of 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars'.
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Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly good enough. Cao Yun was evenly matched by Zhi Yin's technique. The clouds were reforming just as fast as they were pierced through. This battle would not be won easily. And no matter how much his mind was sped up, Cao Yun had not all the time in the world. He had to end this mental attack as soon as possible. If it took too long, he could still use the Drop of Wrath, but he didn't want to. Instead, he focused on another star, the Horn Star. He had already worked on it for quite some time in an attempt to produce an entire constellation.
Such a breakthrough was still far away, but he had polished this Horn Star to an impressive level. The two stars forming this binary Horn Star span around each other faster and faster. Despite the clouds, they became very visible. There was a faint hue all around them. This was the very premise of a constellation. For now, there was no sign of any other star yet. But Cao Yun was walking on the right path toward True Success.
All of a sudden, they stopped rotating and a pillar of light erupted from them. It made a huge hole in the clouds. Then, the red light from the Heart Star used this as an opportunity. Since the clouds were reforming as fast as they were destroyed, being able to annihilate a huge chunk of them gave Cao Yun the advantage. They were not able to close that hole and more and more red light was coming out from it. When it touched the water down below, it got reflected and assaulted the clouds even more.
The entire sea of consciousness of Cao Yun was red and it wasn't due to the Drop of Wrath. At some point, Cao Yun even heard the screech of a dragon in the distance. In the sky, he could see the shape of that Azure Dragon in the stars. The closer he would be to actual constellations and then mansions, the more real this Azure Dragon would get.
Finally, Cao Yun completely got rid of the influence of Zhi Yin's technique on him.
In the physical world, his eyes were shining with the seven stars of the Azure Dragon. Just in front of him, Zhi Yin was slashing toward his head. Although they could not intentionally kill each other, the opponents had no reason to pull their punches. Besides, Cao Yun was still covered in both Wei Qi and the Qi Manifestation of 'Dragon's Chest'. His body was literally covered in dragon scales. Even with Zhi Yin's full power, she probably wouldn't be able to cut his head off. But if she could destroy his Wei Qi, the fight would be hers. Chief Elder Baishen would stop it and declare her the winner.
When Cao Yun regained control of his body, it was already too late. The sword was upon him and if he did nothing, he would probably lose. The sword was touching his Wei Qi. An intense cold was spreading from this blade to the extent that even his Wei Qi seemed to slow down and congeal. It became brittle and easier to break. Cao Yun saw only one way to get out of this situation. He let go of his 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' and focused on his blood and Qi. Pushing 'Dragon's Heart' to the limit, he sent almost all of his strength in his forearm.
With a speed that almost tore his own muscles apart, Cao Yun's forearm rose and stopped the blade right before it could touch his neck. Thanks to his blood cultivation, his physique had been further improved. When Zhi Yin's 'Shadow Over the World' collided with his flesh, he felt a biting cold but his skin was not even perforated. His muscles turned as hard as Bin Iron. Zhi Yin felt the shock in her own arm. Using Qi, she negated it easily, but it was beyond what she thought Cao Yun capable of.
The young man did not waste any time. Now that he was close to Zhi Yin, his spear was not very useful. But he could fight even without it. He got closer to her and sent a direct punch to her face. As she was trying to move away, Cao Yun's foot landed on hers almost breaking her bones. Then, his knee attacked her leg. Her kneecap almost broke as it collided with Cao Yun's.
Understanding that she would not be able to get out of it right now, she sent her own sword into her spatial ring to be sure to have it at the ready when she needed. Then, the both of them began a brutal fist fight. They were now so close that they were sending elbows and shoulders. Cao Yun was using his 'Dance of Slaughter' as well as the experience he had obtained against the blood beasts. On the other hand, Zhi Yin focused on deflecting and trying to move around. Even small punches from Cao Yun were strong enough to almost break her ribs. As such, she was using her wrists and forearms to deflect them as much as she could.
Lower, their legs were moving as fast as their arms. Cao Yun even went for a headbutt, or a shoulder attack. The fight had become much more savage and fast. Since they were so close to each other, each technique was almost instantly connecting with the opponent. Soon, they were acting on instinct alone. They had no time to think before acting. Zhi Yin was still trying to get out of this as she was clearly outmatched by Cao Yun's physical strength.
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"They're a bit too young..."
"Indeed, they've wasted too much Qi in Qi Manifestations that were not necessary. This fight was good but a too flashy for my tastes."
"They're still kids. They have plenty of time to learn how to use their Qi Manifestation properly. Chen Guo was still a Mortal almost a year ago. We shouldn't blame him for dispersing his Qi like that. Instead, it demonstrates that our teaching has been lacking."
"Indeed. But don't worry, I'll take care of it."
Chief Elder Baishen never stopped watching the fight but she had indeed some opinions on it. Although it had been enjoyable, they had used too much Qi Manifestation. Young cultivators loved using them because they created incredible and impressive phenomena but in her opinion, Spear Aura was much more valuable. Qi Manifestation should not be used on such large areas if it wasn't necessary. Since both of them had mastered a form of Martial Aura, they should have used it more while relying on Qi Manifestation less. But again, they were young. Hopefully, this fight would open their eyes.
Indeed, they finally realized that they were almost out of Qi.
An early Mortal Warrior's main reservoir of Qi was his Lower Dantian. Cao Yun could also use his blood as a source of Qi, but his blood cultivation was not very high yet. They had used too much Qi in their fight. And now they were mostly relying on their physique like Mortals.
They stayed locked in a close quarter fight for almost an hour. Each strike was powerful enough to send ripples through the air. But no one seemed to have an advantage. At some point, they would need to break up and they had only enough energy for one final assault.
In order to win, Cao Yun had no other choice than to use his full might. For that, he would need to completely open his Bai Hui to create an even more powerful Qi Manifestation. Now that he was fully engulfed by the heat of the fight, he did not even think about his previous injury. He was ready to make full use of his Five Prodigious Gates and so was Zhi Yin.
Finally, Zhi Yin was able to get a bit of distance. Immediately, she jumped backward and took her sword out.