CHAPTER 183: DEATH THROES

Lu Daomeng took a deep breathe to focus himself.

“It’s quite a cowardly way that you are fighting, Miss Lou Shan!” he said. “Ducking and diving in the woods. Hiding. Attacking from shadows. You’rea coward.”

Lu Daomeng could feel the blood pooling in his mouth and his vision blurred. He took another deep breath as he increased the pressure on is wound, the pain focusing him. He spat a wad of blood.

“And what’s even worse,” he continued, “You have the guile to cut down these trees. These lives! That have stood in the forest for longer than you have been alive! I could create a 100 Ki Grass Blades and cut down every tree here, revealing you where you are. But that is not my philosophy. This doesn’t only make you a coward but a pathetic coward!”

Lou Shan looked at Lu Daomeng from her hiding place. She was totally unaffected by his insults. He was currently gathering her energy for her next assault on the man. She then felt heat at the back of her neck and turned around in time to see the stream of fire that Shibi sent at him.

She used her air to block it but her hand was burned. She cried in pain as she looked at a masked Zen who thrust his sword at her.

She dodged the first slash but the second caught her across the shoulder. She hopped back to get a breather and then summoned a vortex.

“You masked your power so you could sneak up on me!” Lou Shan shouted. “You’ll pay with your life for that, Boy!”

Zen stabbed his sword into the ground to anchor himself, so that he was not swept off his feet. He grabbed Shibi out of the air and held him.

“Light her up, Shibi!” Zen said.

Shibi threw out another stream of fire that rushed towards Lou Shan because of the wind vortex. She dispersed the vortex along with the fire. She was already ready with her next attack.

“Focused Air Slash!” she said as her hand arced down to cut Zen in half.

Ki Grass Blades burst from the ground and met her arm partway, cutting into it and severeing her hand. She cried out as she leapt back, blood trailing from her stump.

“Shifu!” Zen said in excitement as he joined his side.

“You got my message.” Lu Daomeng said.

“So you were shouting those things for me.” Zen smiled. “I was wondering why you were being so talkative.”

“When I could make out you energy from Miss Lou Shan’s, I knew you had entered the forest.” Lu Daomeng said. “And I also knew you were the best hope of finding Lou Shan while I keep her eyes firmly on me.”

“Thank you for your trust, Shifu but…” Zen looked at Lou Shan, “it looks like she is going mad.”

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Lou Shan was trembling, her pupils dilated to the maximum and her mouth was foaming. She grasped her stump, blood marking her hands and clothes.

“You’ll pay. You’ll pay. You’llpayyou’llpayyou’llpay. YOU’LL PAY!”

Air began gathering around her.

“This is not good.” Lu Daomeng said.

“What’s gong on?” Zen had to stab his blade in the ground to not get swept up. The killing intent she radiated was also overwhelming.

“She’s entering Death Throes.” Lu Daomeng said above the howl of the wind.

“Death Throes?”

“You’ve felt the power you get when you’re in a life and death battle?” Lu Daomeng said. “You’ve felt how your senses sharpen, how your body becomes stronger and even the amount of mana you draw in increases?”

“Yes!” Zen said. “I’ve even broken into the next rank using that!”

“Death Throes is similar but 3 fold!” Lu Daomeng shouted over the wind. “The mind snaps and the body releases all of its limits now that its close to death!”

“Death?” Zen said. “All you did was cut off her arm! She’ll survive!”

“Seems her mind has snapped, which has led her body to believe so.” Lu Daomeng said.

“But still… she’ll survive!” he said. “You’ll survive!” he said to her.

“Nice try,” Lu Daomeng said. “Well, we can take comfort in the fact that she might not survive Death Throes when she’s done killing us.”

“Shifu, that’s not comforting!” Zen said.

Lou Shan raised her hand. Blood squirted of her stump even more than usual.

“She’s doing that thing again.” Zen said.

“Hold your breath!” Lu Daomeng raised his arm and a massive amount of water engulfed them.

Lou Shan swiped her hand down. The air pressure intensified. Nearly obliterating their protective sphere. Lu Daomeng had to summon more water to make sure they were properly protected.

She raised her hand up again and slammed it down. The air pressure intensified again, the water being dispersed up to their waists. Zen could feel the blood of his body rushing to his feet and he and Lu Daomeng began bleeding from their noses, eyes ears and mouth.

Lu Daomeng rebuilt the sphere, covering the up. The pressure eased and the blood washed away.

She began to raise her hand again.

A small hole opened up in the sphere.

“She’s not going survive this attack! She’s playing for keeps!” Lu Daomeng said. “If she completesher next attack, we’ll be dead along with her!”

“What do we do?”

“We need to kill her before she completes her next attack” he said. “But an attack like that will need me to focus on my ki. I can’t do that and keep this sphere up.”

“So we’re dead.”

“I have an idea, I’ll summon more water but yo will have to keep it together.”

“How? I’m not a water elementalist!”

“No, but I will rotate the sphere.” He said. “Keep the sphere rotated.”

“Swirling Swath,” Zen realised.

Lu Daomeng smirked. “I hope you have been practicing but if not,” he shruggued, “we won’t live long enough to regret it.”

Lu Daomeng stuck his sword into the ground and raised his arms. More water appeared and the sphered grew wider and higher, the it began to swirl around, faster and faster, though Zen, Shibi and Lu Daomeng remained in the centre unaffected.

“Now!” Lu Daomeng’s disrypted voice said.

Zen took a breath and performed a swirling swath. Then another. Then another. The time between swirling swaths decreased until they blending into one, his cream whit ki creating a vortex that fused with the motion of the water.

The water sphere was already losing its form with each second. Zen guessed there was 8 more seconds he could hold the sphere against air pressure before it vanished and they were crushed.

He hoped it was enough,

Lu Daomeng’s sword glowed even brighter.

Lou Shan’s hand had reached the top, the power collected in the environment around them. She glared at the rotating sphere which was now even smaller, barely covering the fringes of the two men and Scorch Ape inside. She was prepared to drop her hand and end them when Lu Daomeng’s shining sword impossibly grew in length and pierced out of the sphere to swing round at her .

Her eyes followed as the giant blade completed its arcing motion, drawinga semi circle in the air before stopping.

The wind stopped.

Lou Shan’s eyes rolled to the back of her head then her upper body fell away from her lower body.

Then there was silence.