89 Perfect attack (1/2)
With Yuan Yijun's proclamation, the entire arena started to seethe with excitement. Some of the more attentive people had already sent out news the moment Li Yang launched his attack against Yuan Yijun, letting all their friends know that one of the top five outer disciples would likely be fighting now. With how rare it was for one of the top outer disciples to actually partake in a battle, there was no way any of the outer disciples would wish to miss the spectacle that was about to take place.
While the arena was seething with excitement, there were quite a few varying opinions about Li Yang going around. Some found him brave for challenging Yuan Yijun, some found him arrogant for how he went about challenging her, some were awed at the strength he had shown, and some of the women in the audience were charmed by how he fought against Yuan Yijun for what she had said about his wife.
Li Yang completely ignored the surrounding audience, his gaze firmly locked on Yuan Yijun, who was likewise looking at Li Yang with a solemn gaze. Her gaze occasionally flickered to the blood Yuan Ruogang, who was receiving care at the side of the stage. Yuan Ruogang was one of her lovers, so with how Li Yang had trashed Yuan Ruogang, how could Yuan Yijun not be furious?
When he had first challenged her, she wanted to accept, but she felt that her odds of victory weren't above 70%. Because of this, she wanted to postpone the battle for a few months, giving her the chance to focus on her next breakthrough, allowing her to drastically increase her chance of winning. But since Li Yang had ended up using such a straight forward method to force her to fight him, she could only go with the flow and pull out all her power.
Li Yang swiped his interspatial ring, a standard Jian sword appearing in his grasp. Despite fusing with the blood of Jinwu and Shenlong, he was still not able to actually use his prided sword for longer than 10 seconds. He also didn't intend to bring out the sword in a place where people could see it, if the news that the current him carried such a high-grade weapon spread out, there was no telling how many people would come after him in an attempt to steal the weapon.
Not only Yuan Yijun's expression changed, but the expressions of Kong Lingxin and some of the other people in the audience also changed after Li Yang pulled out his sword. When Li Yang fought Kong Lingxin and Yuan Ruogang, he had never used a weapon, he had brutalized them using only his fists.
Not even Xiang Wuying and the others who had joined Li Yang in the mission to eradicate the Ghost Banner sect knew that Li Yang used a sword as his weapon. They couldn't help but wonder, he was already strong enough to savagely beat Yuan Ruogang when he was using just his hands, just how much stronger would he be when he actually used a weapon?
While Yuan Yijun was narrowing her eyes, Li Yang took a step forward, lightning shrouding his body as he turned into a faint blur that cut through the air. He instantly arrived in front of Yuan Yijun, the stage shattering beneath his feet from the sheer force of his movement. He slashed upwards with his sword, the blade of the weapon covered in a minute layer of flames, the air warping due to the heat.
Yuan Yijun swiftly reacted, taking three steps backward and one to the left, pushing her right palm outwards and to the right. A strange force suddenly acted upon Li Yang's sword as it approached Yuan Yijun, forcibly diverting its course away from Yuan Yijun. The sword was pushed away, but it was already too late to stop the attack.
The minute flames around the edge of the blade were unleashed, greedily devouring any Qi and air they came in contact with, using them to propagate into a blazing inferno. The flames formed a blazing fire that was only the width of a fist but stretched out for over two kilometers, stretching into the audience seating area.
Accompanying the flames was the sharp slash of Li Yang's sword, which was connected to the flames using Li Yang's Qi. A deep scar was left in the stage and the parts of the audience area where the flames had reached, the edges of the scar still burning with flames so hot that they melted the surrounding stone. Not only were the flames still hot enough to melt the surrounding stone, but they were also still slowly growing, increasing the size of the scar.
This was something Li Yang had gained insight into after gaining the blood of Jinwu, ever-growing flames. The Golden Crow was famed for having the most destructive flames, fire that could destroy anything it touched. The golden flames would then use the energy that was a result of this destruction process to grow themselves, turning stronger and stronger the more they destroyed, a true scourge upon creation, and a perfect fit for Li Yang, who had insight into the law of destruction.
The spectators who were seated in the area where the flames struck swiftly retreated, the stronger ones gathering together to deal with the growing flames.
Right after diverting the course of Li Yang's attack, Yuan Yijun launched her own counterattack. She moved her right arm, which was already very close to Li Yang's right arm, tapping her finger on Li Yang's sword. While her right hand was tapping on the flat side of the sword, she also used her left foot to softly tap the stone stage.
Two strange scenes occurred as she did these actions, the first was that Li Yang's sword suddenly started to twist and turn, the blade folding up into a small square. The second was that the parts of the stage that were between Yuan Yijun and Li Yang suddenly shifted, the portions beneath his feet moving in opposite directions, trying to force him down into a split.