Chapter 228 - Lian vs. Long Tian
“Hei! How do you feel?" Hei's comrades asked together, rushing towards him as soon as he returned to the section dedicated to fighters.
"He is fine. The injuries aren’t life-threatening. The most serious problem is his severe state of dehydration. Haruno, can you make some soup quickly? Hei needs to drink lots of fluids." Lilian informed everyone.
'Big Brother!' Ye and Xing yelled, diving into their big brother's chest to make sure he was actually okay.
“I'm fine, really. It is as Lilian says. You don't have to worry." Hei got ready to reassure his companions before turning to Lian, who was watching him silently. “Lian, don't be worried. Everything will be fine. Now, you should focus on the battle in front of you. Don't let your guard down even for a moment, and give your all. Whatever happens, we will be here waiting for you."
“The next fight will see the Imperial Prince Long Tian vs. Lian. I ask the two fighters to go on stage." Song Yazhu's voice rang through the stadium, calling for the next two fighters.
"Go," Hei said to Lian as he nodded toward her to let her know that he trusted her.
"Alright. I go and come back." Lian answered and reciprocated Hei's nod. She then exited the fighters section while receiving encouragement from her comrades.
"How's Hei?" Long Tian asked as he too began to make his way toward the stage.
"Hei is fine. He has no serious injuries. With a little rest, he will recover completely." Lian answered briefly.
"Good. It’s better this way." Long Tian said nothing more, and together they took the stage in silence.
"Let the fight begin!" Song Yazhu gave the go-ahead soon after.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The instant the fight was kicked off, the ribbons wrapped around Lian's body were released. The two silvery-white silk ribbons revealed themselves to the audience and moved at full speed towards Long Tian.
Boom!
One of the ribbons crashed like a whip to the floor where Long Tian had been before. The Imperial Prince was unimpressed by the sight of the ribbons and dodged the attack while pulling out his two hooked swords at the same time. His actions were so fluid that it seemed to be all one movement.
Boom!
The second ribbon went on the attack soon after the first, taking advantage of the fact that Long Tian was still moving.
The timing between attacks was nothing short of perfect. But that still wasn't enough to worry Long Tian.
"Repel."
Pointing one of his swords at the approaching ribbon, Long Tian activated his familiar repulsion technique. In doing so, the ribbon appeared to be pushed back by an invisible hand, thus losing the opportunity to hit Long Tian.
But just as Long Tian wasn't impressed by the sight of the ribbons, Lian was also not upset that her attack was repulsed. Both were now familiar with the other's attack patterns. After all, they had witnessed each other's matches, not to mention the various incidents that had occurred over the course of the year.
To put it simply, they both knew their opponent wasn't someone to take it easy on. The problem was how accurate their analysis of the opponent's strength and what their opponent kept hidden as a secret card.
Whoosh!
The instant the second ribbon was repelled, Lian quickly redirected the first one so she could attack while Long Tian was still engaged in his repulsion technique. It all happened so quickly as if she had planned it from the start.
When Long Tian saw the first ribbon return to the attack, he smiled. Then, in a moment, he canceled the repulsion effect on the second ribbon so he could dodge the first.
'He doesn't need to repel the attack for meters and meters. Just pushing it away by a little is more than enough to dodge and prepare his next move. By doing so, Long Tian can also retain more spirit power and minimize waste.' Lian thought as her opponent dodged the first ribbon.
Seeing this, Lian also called the second ribbon to attack. A strange chase followed, where Lian would attack with her ribbons, paying particular attention to their timing. Each of her attacks was insidious because they always aimed at moments when Long Tian was engaged in action so as not to give him breath and reduce his chances of dodging or blocking.
'The timing of her attacks is exceptional. Maneuvering two weapons like that at the same time and with such mastery requires incredible concentration and analysis. Yet from her unperturbed gaze, it seems as easy as breathing.' analyzed Long Tian as he thought about how to get out of this passive situation.
However, it wasn't Long Tian but Lian who made the next move. In fact, the young woman directed her ribbons while Long Tian was moving so that they attacked at the same time. So far, she had alternated her attacks perfectly, but she was attacking two different points from two different directions this time.
"Earth Law, Double Repulsion."
Peng!
Long Tian spread his arms sideways, directing the tips of his swords towards the two approaching ribbons. Immediately, the two ribbons seemed to collide with something hard and were thrown back.
Long Tian wasn't done yet, however: now that both ribbons had been rejected in unison, he had a limited window of time to carry out his counterattack.
Whoosh!
Long Tian shot forward at full speed towards Lian without worrying about the movement of the ribbons behind him. Thanks to the repulsion technique, he had gained precious seconds, which were enough to bring down his attack.
"Wood Law, Flower Petals."
Stolen novel; please report.
Lian waved her hand, and a handful of petals was thrown at Long Tian. These petals weren't ordinary flower petals but were created with the spirit power of Lian through the Wood Law. Therefore, although they appeared light as they floated in the wind, they were heavy as rocks, not to mention their impact damage.
"Intent of the Double Swords."
Long Tian concentrated the spirit power in his two hooked swords, and with a series of cuts, he easily ripped apart the handful of petals in front of him. Such a move was nothing more than a vain attempt for Lian to buy time. Or so the public believed.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Lian let go of the ends of her ribbons attached to her arms. These, along with the two extremities that usually went on the attack, focused their attacks on Long Tian using a pincer tactic.
Seeing this, the audience was amazed. From the way things had gone, it felt like everything had been planned from the start to create that scene. After all, Long Tian was under attack from four different directions. As strong as his repulsion was, the maximum he had repelled was two attacks together.
"Multiple Repulsion."
Long Tian halted his advance and pointed one sword in front of him while the other was pointed at his back. When he did this, the four ribbons stopped once again and were thrown backward, leaving the audience in disbelief that they didn't believe Long Tian could fend off four targets at a time.
"Attract."
Long Tian immediately concentrated his spirit power on the sword before him and activated his second technique: Attraction. This technique was the opposite of Repulsion and called selected targets toward the user rather than repelling them. And the target selected was none other than Lian.
In fact, Lian had left the two extremities gone, which she usually kept as her last defense. Therefore, it could clearly be said that she was fully exposed, and her ribbons wouldn't have the time to shield her. Especially not now that she was under the influence of Attraction.
Bam!
Incredibly, the audience was left speechless again. Lian, who was being drawn to Long Tian's hook sword, punched straight into the face of the Imperial Prince. The latter was so confused that he forgot to react, allowing Lian even to land a kick in his face.
Nonetheless, as surprised as he was, Long Tian was still Long Tian. As soon as he also received the kick to the head, the astonishment abruptly subsided. Then, he directed his hooked swords towards Lian.
However, the young woman wasn't naïve and didn't let herself be carried away by the heat of the moment. After landing the kick, Lian had already planned to back off. So she smoothly dodged Long Tian's sword attacks.
"Attract."
Long Tian, however, had no intention of giving her an easy life. As soon as he noticed Lian backing away, he again used the Attraction technique to lure her toward himself. His hands were ready to strike as soon as Lian was within range of his swords.
Slash!
The hooked swords cut the air. Lian had lowered herself at the last second, despite the effect of Attraction. Then, in a twisting motion, she swept her legs, targeting Long Tian's feet.
Bam!
Long Tian felt his foot being hit and his balance destabilized. Normally, the first instinct that one would have in front of something like this would be to find the balance, even with sprawling movements immediately. Instead, however, Long Tian let Lian's sweep destabilize him. In doing so, his body fell to the ground on its side but didn't touch the ground.
Long Tian, in fact, opened a hand to pivot on the floor and made a cartwheel. In this way, he could distance himself from Lian just enough to avoid the arrival of the ribbon that hit the floor hard. Unfortunately for him, however, there were two ribbons.
"Repel."
Long Tian resorted to his Repulsion technique, but like the Attraction technique, something didn't work as it should. The ribbon continued its advance as if nothing had happened, and Long Tian could only place his hooked swords in front of him to lessen the damage.
Peng!
The ribbon violently collided with Long Tian's hooked swords, pushing the Imperial Prince for several meters. His speed of reaction had allowed him to avoid taking direct damage. But even so, this was only the beginning of his problems.
Lian came up behind him. Then, taking advantage of Long Tian's confused state, Lian immediately went on the attack to strike while the iron was hot.
"Water Law, Flowing Vibrating Palm!"
Bam!
Lian's palm landed on Long Tian's back. The impact damage of the technique wasn't such that it could affect Long Tian's defensive layer of spirit power; however, the Imperial Prince was still injured.
'This attack uses the flowing property of the Water Law. With this, Lian can let her spirit power flow through the opponent's body, partially ignoring the target's defensive layer. What a problematic move.' analyzed Long Tian as he felt Lian's spirit power penetrate his body.
Slash!
Long Tian promptly responded with another swipe of the sword that struck the air once more. Lian aimed only at a single attack; as soon as she landed it, she quickly retreated.
'The damage dealt is negligible. Since I aim for a hit-and-run tactic, I can only infuse a certain amount of spirit power before backing off. Therefore, even if I landed other attacks, they wouldn't affect Long Tian's movement range. But if he suffers too many, even if I don't have a penetration technique like Hei's, I could still cause him serious damage.'
'Attraction and Repulsion don't work. It's probably due to a formation. If I'm guessing correctly, it has to be engraved on her ribbons. Yet even Lian is affected even when she isn’t directly connected to her ribbons. I need to understand what formation it is and what it is capable of specifically. Only then will I be able to evaluate how to act.'
Lian and Long Tian briefly analyzed the situation before returning to fight. After Lian's palm hit Long Tian, Long Tian returned her ribbons to the attack. The difference, however, was that she, too, would actively participate in the attack. Therefore Long Tian had to face as many as 5 attackers: the ends of the ribbons, for a total of four, and Lian.
“Incredible. I've never seen Lian fight like that before." Mia said in amazement, unable to take her eyes off the figure of Lian.
The same was true for the others. Everyone was staring at the battle stage with disbelief. Lian usually fought with grace and elegance, making the ribbons float in the air with such skill that the viewer would believe they were at a dance show. However, although this elegance and grace were still present, there was an additional component: ferocity.
"It's normal. Lian usually fights from a support position, using her ribbons as her primary weapon. However, the one she is using now is Lian's Full Combat Mode instead. She completely ignores the defense, separating herself from her ribbons to focus on the attack. Thus her attack rate increases at an astonishing rate, and it is complicated to defend yourself against this technique.
However, even though I said it ignores the defense, this isn’t entirely correct. As she attacks with the four ends of her two ribbons, Lian is also complicated to hit. Her ribbon control ability is such that she can manipulate the ribbons to intercept or dodge attacks while still attacking. It only requires a great deal of concentration and greater consumption of spirit power." Hei explained to his companions.
Of those present, only he, Ye, and Xing weren't surprised. As much as they had bonded with their companions, there were things only the four of them knew as they were a family.
“Actually, this is the first time Lian has used it in a real fight. While it may seem strong, and it is, it still presents an extreme danger as Lian is virtually devoid of her usual ribbon defense.
But with an opponent like Long Tian, her usual attack patterns are useless. So we can only hope that Lian can finish Long Tian before he can compose himself."
"One thing I don't understand, though, is why Long Tian's techniques don't work anymore." He Fen asked.
“It has to be a formation. Like the one that Lian did for Leon." Lang suggested.
“Yes, it's a formation. Although it's is a different type from Leon's." Hei answered.
Meanwhile, on the fighting stage, Long Tian was smashing his swords violently against the ends of Lian's ribbons. Since Attraction and Repulsion were out of the question, when he couldn't dodge, he could only use brute force to fend off the ribbons.
"Full Combat Mode, Bubble Ribbon."
At Lian's command, the ribbons quickly arranged themselves around Long Tian, creating a sort of invisible circle. Long Tian tried to escape from this bubble but suddenly found in front of himself Lian who attacked him.
Peng!
Lian's palm hit the flat part of Long Tian's sword, knocking him back into the center of the bubble.
“It seems the only way out of here is through brute force. All right, then let me see how strong your technique is." Long Tian exclaimed, appearing not at all worried about finding himself at the mercy of Lian's technique.