Chapter 82 - Are Beasts Afraid Of Fire? (2/2)
Because the attack had connected, there was a brief moment of latency before the whip would leave his reach and that was exactly what he wanted.
Ignoring the charred smell of his skin against the flames that ran along the whip, Daoju Kai firmly held the tip of the weapon inside his claws.
Tai Bu was speechless. Did-did he just catch it with his b.a.r.e hands?!
He couldn't let his mind even try to comprehend his opponent's action before the latter suddenly tugged at the whip. Tai Bu was propelled forward, too late in letting the whip go.
Had his favorite weapon not been stolen by Shin Sumi so easily before, the young man would probably have let go of it, but unconsciously Tai Bu couldn't bear to part with the Flaming Whip again.
Once he was in the air, Daoju Kai released the whip, shaking the smoke and the smell of burnt flesh from his injured hand. Slamming the ground with the other, he leaped in a twist of his upper body, claws first.
Daoju Kai's body was a weapon in itself and his reinforced claws were similar to knives. Without being able to suppress his momentum in mid-air, Tai Bu was right in the Beast's trajectory of attack.
”It is not over yet” shouted Tai Bu!
In a last ditch effort, Tai Bu slapped his bag of holding, producing a short dagger in his left hand. Much like the Flaming Whip, the dagger instantly caught fire in contact with Tai Bu's Shinsoo.
Both fighters were three meters above the ground when they collided in a muffled and hard sound.
A shower of blood erupted from the middle as the two fell in a straight line.
Using his inhuman reflexes, Daoju Kai kicked down as he was touching the ground and proceeded to roll over and absorb the impact from the fall. He then stood there, looking at Tai Bu.
Tai Bu's shoulder had been pierced by Daoju Kai's Beast claws and bone was sticking out of the open wound. With a single glance at him it was obvious the fight was over for him. In truth, he couldn't even get up. His body was completely drained of energy and the last drops of Shinsoo he possessed were currently used in order to stop his bleeding.
And yet his eyes still had a gleam of defiance in them.
”Puuah! You bastard...” Daoju Kai held the handle of a dagger between his fingers, plunged deeply into his lung. His claws had disappeared, revealing normal hands underneath. In fact he seemed to have momentarily stopped his Beast Style.
”Brother Daoju, leave the arena and get treatment. I will step in your stead!” A cultivator from the Light-Breaker Pavilion was motioning him to go back to their bench.
”Are you kidding me? We have already used four people, counting me. The other two Pavilion have only used two so far, there is no way I can leave so early! JUST WATCH ME!”
With the willpower of a thousand soldiers, Daoju Kai put both hands on the dagger's handle and pulled.
Very little blood spilled from the deep wound that had pierced his lung in two different places, but it was only because Tai Bu's flames had burned a large portion of his insides before extinguishing.
The dagger dropped to the ground, its sound heard by the entire silent arena.
”Oh oh? This boy is determined. A little bit stupid but I can't take away his determination” Grand Elder Chu Xuanba chuckled, talking to Master Breaker.
”He's a beast after all” was the only response the large burly man could give, ”Master Furnace, if you would please prepare to receive my boy...”
The woman at the end of the Pavilion Master's row nodded, her eyes firmly planted on Daoju Kai's wound, ”Breaker, you should really teach your disciples to hold their lives in a higher regard. Lei Shon, Kang Yumei, as soon as Daoju Kai steps out of the arena I want you to take him in. He may refuse to follow you but use force if necessary.”
The two disciples that had appeared upon having their names called, one male and one female, bowed and disappeared in direction of the Light-Breaker's bench.
Daoju Kai was standing in the middle of the arena, having drawn the eyes of everybody around. His face was drained of blood but his eyes still burned with will to fight.
Drawing from the deep well of his Shinsoo Sea, Daoju Kai f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y closed up his wounds and reinforced his damaged lung.
”I'm not done yet! Who else is here to fight?!”
”That would be me” a delicate voice answered from almost a hundred steps away.
Daoju Kai turned to face the origin of the voice when his feet suddenly started glowing. No, it was the ground underneath his feet that had started to emit a greenish light.
Without any other tell that a technique had been activated, vines suddenly appeared, wrapping around the Beast's legs, torso and arms.
”Did you forget this is a three-way fight?” the young woman inquired as she leisurely stepped closer to him. ”My technique, unfortunately, takes quite a bit of time to prepare. Unlike you I wouldn't have been able to face Tai Bu straight on so I decided to step back for a while. I hope you don't mind that.”
The girl was dressed in dark red robes. She wore a touch of makeup that made her green eyes look like two emeralds shining in the middle of her pretty face.
Shin Sumi inhaled slowly, back in the Star-Sword Pavilion corner, ”Rai Linxi. She is dangerous. Her presence is almost non-existent. Next to Tai Bu and Daoju Kai nobody even noticed her. I have never seen her use that technique before, maybe because it wasn't suited for the Cloud-Formation Pavilion's tournament.”
Shin Sumi was about to advise her teammates to be careful but she remembered at the last second that she wasn't supposed to have that information. From what she knew, though, she was certain Sui Lin was the best fit to fight against her, especially since Daoju Kai was still standing too.
”Erm... Maybe you should go, Sist-”
”I'm going next.” Bai Fulong's attempt to strategize was cut short by a cold but delicate voice, ”I want to see more of this Daoju Kai. I'll deal with the girl too.”
Unexpectedly, it was Sui Lin herself who had taken a step forward. Shin Sumi sighed, ”I guess that works too...”
In the middle of the arena, Daoju Kai seemed struggling to tear apart the vines that imprisoned him while Rai Linxi was forming spirit formation incantation signs with her hands.
”I was sent instead of other stronger disciples in order to drain your energy faster. I don't have much Shinsoo myself so there's always the risk of running out before you, but look at yourself! You're already looking like a living corpse!”
Not about to commit the same mistake Daoju Kai had made by not paying attention to her, Rai Linxi made sure to look around frequently. Although she looked very confident in appearance, she was trembling inside, constantly wondering who the Star-Sword Pavilion would send against her.
Daoju Kai growled like an animal when his pupils expanded suddenly and his growl turned into a scream.
”Ah, yes. The vines that currently hold you are my precious Lost Guardian Vines. They just activated their second ability, Shinsoo Sinkers.”
The luxurious green vines now bore short red thorns, piercing Daoju Kai's skin all over his body.
”The more Shinsoo the Sinkers get from you, the stronger they will be, the faster you will be drained, the stronger they will be, and so on” Rai Linxi smiled.
Her face was already pale, an indication that her technique indubitably consumed a lot of her Shinsoo too, but at least Daoju Kai was done for.
Her eyes constantly darted from Daoju Kai's vine prison to the white figure approaching in the distance, ”Heh, so they sent Sui Lin. I need to restrict her too before anything else. A soon as she steps in my range, I'll trap her under the Lost Guardian Vines too.”
Sui Lin's face was completely expressionless. She was walking slowly, her large paintbrush in one hand, until she looked at an invisible spot on the ground and suddenly stopped.
”The air is the canvas. The blood is the link. The energy is the ink.”
A droplet of blood left Sui Lin's thumb to fall onto the paintbrush.
”Character Formation, Hole.”