15 Ho Fei. (2/2)
Li Yang didn't give Mei Kongxu the chance to voice any complaints, stepping forward and then shooting at Ho Fei like an unleashed arrow thanks to his law of speed. He crashed into Ho Fei, who just barely managed to block Li Yang's punch by crossing his arms in front of his chest. But while he was planning on taking advantage of the fact that Li Yang was now right in front of him, an unexpected change occurred when a massive amount of force rushed into him from Li Yang's fist.
His body was violently pushed back, separating him from his lackeys while Li Yang pursued him, sticking to him like a maggot to rotten flesh. As for the lackeys, they were unable to follow after Li Yang as Mei Kongxu had reached them, a rare expression of slight dissatisfaction lingering on her face as she looked in the direction that Li Yang was moving.
Li Yang didn't bother with the soft searing sensation on his back, practically feeling Mei Kongxu's eyes digging into his guts. He pushed Ho Fei back until there was nearly half a kilometre of distance between him and his lackeys, separating himself from Ho Fei once he was pleased with the distance. Ho Fei finally got a second of peace so he clenched his fists and tensed his muscles, expelling the remaining force still lingering in them while looking solemnly at Li Yang.
”That... was a surprising amount of power, you must have cultivated more than one set of runes. Seems like you are worth at least a little bit, enough to at least look at properly. I am Ho Fei, I have carved 7 metal runes, 4 poison runes, and 2 strength runes.”
Ho Fei spoke in a grand manner, his expression making it clear that he was waiting for Li Yang to introduce himself and his runes in a respectable manner. But Li Yang simply looked at him as if he was an idiot, waving an arm in a dismissive manner.
”Yeah, come back when you're worthy, then I might actually introduce myself respectfully. The you right now, however? Yeah, not even close to worthy.”
Li Yang maintained his usual carefreeness, but his pupils had focused slightly as they swept over Ho Fei, searching for his every weakness. There were clear advantages and disadvantages to cultivating multiple sets of runes so the number of sets you went for was an important aspect for all cultivators.
Each set of rune carried with it its own Qi, so the more sets of runes you carved the more Qi you had, it also meant that you had more laws at your disposal. But cultivating multiple runes meant that you had to spend more time cultivating, as wanting to reach the next cultivation realm required you to reach the peak and breakthrough with all of your runes at the same time.
So while someone focusing on only a single set of runes broke through to the Immortal Rebirth realm, someone cultivating two or more sets might still be working on breaking through to the late or mid-stages of the Ascending Heaven realm. Achieve faster breakthroughs or acquire more Qi while cultivating slower than others who chose the first path, it was a question that cultivators had fought over for countless years already. And from his introduction, it was clear that Ho Fei had come to the same conclusion as Li Yang, one just wasn't enough.
Ho Fei's eyes narrowed sharply as Li Yang dismissed his respect, not even deeming him worthy of formally stating his name before they fought, a grave insult. He let out a long breath, a bit of Qi escaping his mouth and forming a fine white fog before it dissipated. All trace of emotions vanished from his face as he started the battle, throwing out the dart he was still holding, simultaneously swiping his interspatial ring and tossing out four more darts.
Li Yang leaned down and kicked off the ground, shooting forward at such a low angle that he almost resembled a beast pouncing forward, the five darts shooting over his back. The distance between him and Ho Fei was instantly crossed and he rose up while straightening his body, sending an uppercut straight at Ho Fei's Solar Plexus.
Ho Fei had just thrown out his darts so his hands were in a bit of an awkward position, forcing him to raise his right leg and push out his knee to block the fist. He steeled himself for the incoming force that he guessed was going to burst forth, but what overwhelmed him when the blocked the attack wasn't an immense amount of force but a feeling of weightlessness.
The sensation nearly made him lose his balance, an opening that Li Yang did not let go of as he slid his right leg into Ho Fei's left leg, the only leg he had left standing on the ground. A bit of force burst out and coupled together with the weightlessness to knock Ho Fei off his feet, pushing him into a horizontal position in the air.
And just as he reached this horizontal position, the sensation of weightlessness vanished, resulting in his body starting to descend to the earth. Even worse, Li Yang raised his knee to smash it into Ho Fei's descending waist, the arm that had just been uppercutting bending so that he could smash his elbow into Ho Fei's other waist.
But Li Yang felt five soft stings on his back just as his elbow and knee collided with Ho Fei's body, a stiff feeling starting to spread out from his back. His head rapidly snapped to the side so that he could glance at his back, his gaze landing on the five darts that Ho Fei had thrown out earlier. Looking at them from such a close distance, he was able to see that the wooden surface of one of the darts was scratched, revealing a metallic centre.
Seeing that the wooden layer was just a distraction, and realizing that he had actually fallen into Ho Fei's trap from the start, Li Yang felt like unleashing a barrage of curses. But the stiffness he felt spreading from his back got stronger and stronger, the yellow liquid was most likely a paralytic poison created by Ho Fei to rob his enemies of their mobility.
The poison quickly spread throughout Li Yang's body, even starting to affect his ears and eyes to plunge him into a world of total darkness. He was just barely able to see Ho Fei smirk as his vision started to turn dark, but before he got the chance to mentally curse both himself and his enemy, the voices assaulted him.
”Heh, even a Primordial Man is coming along this time? Well, come then, I haven't killed one of you before!”
”Come then, you fucking maggots! I haven't had my share of blood yet, and it seems like you're all more than willing to donate some!”
”Look at the lot of you, surrounding us but still shivering like a tree in a storm. Pathetic, every last one of you, pathetic losers. Well, come then, I'll show you what happens to those who touch what's mine!”
”Heh, this is what you're trying to use to kill me? What a sad sight, it's like you're not even trying. But, you're still trying nonetheless, so you'd best be prepared to leave that head here!”
The barrage of voices was different from any of the voices he had heard in the past, all of them were brimming emotion, an intense desire to butcher whatever was in front of him. It was quite a different experience from what he was used to, where the voices were either nonsensical or seemingly teaching him something while maintaining a calm and either neutral or arrogant tone.
The bloodthirsty voices actually seemed to rouse body and mind, pushing back the approaching darkness for a bit. But an overwhelming sense of tiredness assaulted him just as he was starting to think that the voices were actually helping him. Each word that was shouted out made his consciousness turn blearier and weaker, like a candle flickering in the wind. And the weaker his own consciousness got, the more golden his crimson pupils got, an all-encompassing and overwhelming thirst for blood welling forth from his body.