103 Once again, that sword. (2/2)
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Li Yang opened his eyes and put a temporary halt to his cultivation, standing up from the bed and stretching his body. A week had passed since he entered this room, and in that week these breaks were a common occurrence. He didn't take the breaks because he needed them, he took them so that he could check how many people had arrived, he didn't want to be snubbed out of his chance to use the array after all.
He sent out his Qi and Vital Essence, mixing them with his various laws so that he could get a clear view of the floors of this tower as well as the various rooms. As the first floor was already full when he first arrived, he started his counting from the higher floors and made his way down. Now that a week had passed, the previous 48 waiting people had grown to 67 people waiting, only 33 left before they could head up.
After counting the new arrivals, he did a cursory sweep of the first floor, just a casual check to see if anyone new was currently arriving. The previous seven times he had checked the first floor revealed nothing new, but as he checked it this time, his breath caught in his throat. The door to the room with the array was slightly open, and thanks to that he was able to just barely catch a glimpse of a tuft of silvery-white hair and an exceedingly familiar aura that struck directly at his heart. But just as he noticed her, the array fully activated and she was sent away, up to the Cloud God's Garden.
There was no way he would mistake that aura for anyone else, he was completely certain of that. She had been here just a few seconds ago, in the same building as him. Had he done his usual sweep a bit earlier, or just done it a bit faster, he would have noticed her before the array activated, he could have notified her of his presence, they could have instantly met up.
A thunderous sound rang out and the door to Li Yang's room exploded outwards, turning into tiny fragments that dissolved into dust in the process. An indistinguishable blur shot out from his room while the door was exploding outwards, instantly descending the spiral staircase and arriving in front of the two guards. The two guards tightly grasped their halberds, shouting out as their Qi started to billow forth from their bodies.
”Halt! If you try to take another step forward, we will attack with the intent to kill!”
Li Yang stopped in front of the two guards, his eyes firmly locked on the door behind them. He could still chase after her if he used the array behind that door, it was unlikely that she had managed to get far away on such short notice. Li Yang cast a slight glance at the two guards that were currently inspecting him, somewhat curious why he was so agitated.
”I'll only say this once, let me pass. If you don't, I won't show you any mercy.”
He wanted to see her. More than anything else, he wanted to see her again, to hold her. All other thoughts had been tossed to the back of his mind, everything else forgotten. The only thing that remained was an intense desire and an unyielding determination to fulfill his desire. The two guards didn't respond, simply tightening their grasp on the halberds and pointing the tips at Li Yang. Their actions spoke more than words, Li Yang's eyes narrowing as a result.
”So be it.”
The moment after he spoke, Li Yang unleashed his full strength, even drawing out what little golden lightning and golden fire he could use.. The right side of his body started to crackle with golden lightning while golden flames started to gather around the left side of his body, the ground beneath his feet freezing and cracking. Tiny droplets of ice started to appear in the air within the room, dropping to the ground and shattering. These droplets weren't frozen water, they were a result of Li Yang's strange ice element freezing even the Qi within the room. Once he grew strong enough, a simple wave of his hand might be enough to freeze all the Qi on an entire planet, rendering most cultivators powerless.
A violet-golden light flashed in his right palm, a simple sword appearing in his grasp. The hilt of the sword was bound in black leather that had thin violet veins running through it, the blade itself was deep golden in color, a violet wavy pattern running along the back of the blade. As the golden lightning his body unleashed sank into it, the blade unleashed a joyous screeching sound, the air around it distorting as the power the sword unleashed grew frenzied. For the second time since he acquired it, Li Yang brought out his actual sword.
He didn't care that they saw his golden flames or golden lightning, he didn't even care that they saw his sword. Right now he just wanted to rush to Fang Ying's side at his fastest speed, everything else could be dealt with afterward.
The previously confident guards faltered slightly when they saw Li Yang's state, their hearts clenching slightly. They were filled with a sense of dread when they looked at him and the elements he unleashed, something that shouldn't be possible given the difference in their cultivation. They further tightened their grasps on the halberds, stepping forward to face Li Yang.
But just as they took their step, Li Yang made his move. Whether it was his golden flames and lightning, or his actual sword, neither were things he could use for too long. If he let this drag out for too long, it would not end well for him. So his plan was to end it all in one attack, he would carve open a path with a single swipe of his sword.
All his laws, his Qi, his Vital Essence, and his Dark Star Essence all gathered in his right arm, sinking into his sword and forming a tiny pitch-black dot at the tip of the blade. His law of fire was about to start fighting with his law of ice and law of lightning when they came into contact, but thanks to his law of destruction he was able to force the other laws to quiet down and obey in silence.
He swung his sword in a sideways slash, the tip of his blade tracing a thin black line in the air. And as he slashed out, all sound within the tower vanished, drowned out by a screeching sound that seemed to pierce into one's mind. The frozen ground in the hall completely shattered and sank down, as if a meteor had crashed into it. Every door on the first floor of the tower disintegrated under the force of the attack, the screeching sound leaking into the city through the now open entrance.
When the screeching sound died down, the two guards had been sent flying into the walls of the hall. The weaker one had both his arms and several of his ribs shattered, a deep gash on his chest bleeding profusely, several smaller cuts on his body drenching him in blood. The wounds were slowly growing, the law of fire and the law of destruction causing them to get worse and worse as time passed.
The stronger of the two guards was better off, he was covered in his own blood, but his bones weren't broken and his cuts weren't as deep. But his legs were trembling fiercely, nearly unable to support his body as he looked at the ruined floor and the cultivators who were looking at the room with curiosity and shock.
He turned his head slightly and saw that Li Yang was already standing in the room with the array, using several Spirit Stones to power it up. The array wasn't unscatched after being so close to the attack he launched using all his might. Several cracks were spreading through the room, causing the array to be somewhat unstable. But even if it could no longer send him to the same place as it had sent Fang Ying, it was not so damaged that it would send him too far away from that location.
Li Yang's face was rather pale after putting all his might into that one attack, but he didn't let it stop him from feeding several Spirit Stones to the array, not even casting a glance at the onlooking people as the array activated and sent him away in a flash of white light.
He could feel the array fold space around him into a cocoon that shielded him as he was sent through space. The cocoon was rather unsteady, the ride far from comfortable as he felt like he was being tossed around in stormy waters. After what felt like several minutes, the unstable cocoon around Li Yang dissipated, allowing him to see that he was currently standing in the midst of a dense forest. He could see clouds not far above him so he knew that he had reached the Cloud God's Garden, now he just had to quickly find the place that Fang Ying had been sent.