บท 150: Sowing a seed.
Yan Ling was curiously observing the puppet in front of her, somewhat in awe at the strength it contained, wondering how it was created. It was a bit larger than a normal Fiendgod, standing at almost five-meters tall, each of its four arms a little over two meters in length. At the start of the battle, she thought that it would be simple to defeat it, it was just a puppet after all, but she quickly realized how wrong she was as the battle started to drag on.
The puppet wasn't able to use any laws, it only had extreme physical strength and regeneration. But both of these aspects had been brought up to a ludicrous stage, it could regrow an entire arm in a single second, other wounds healed much faster. And due to its extreme strength, it moved so fast that it was hard for Yan Ling to even see it at times, making it incredibly hard to dodge its attacks at times. And considering that each of its hits would be able to inflict a large amount of damage to her, blocking the attacks wasn't an option. She could only cast a glance at Liang Chen, who had just started engaging Liao Cui and his clones, cursing quietly at the puppet.
"You cheap bastard, once I find whoever is controlling you I'll make sure to slap them completely silly."
When the two first started battling, the movements of the puppet had been somewhat stiff and it hadn't been using its speed properly, allowing Yan Ling to tie it down by using superior speed and flexibility in movement. But the moment Liao Cui split into nine and focused all his efforts onto Liang Chen, a time where the puppet should have gotten even duller after its controller stopped paying attention to it, the puppet actually became much more proficient in using its advantages.
It now properly utilized its vast strength to move so fast that Yan Ling could barely keep up with it, it utilized its rapid regeneration as bait, allowing attacks to hit it so that it could get a chance to attack Yan Ling. But worst of all, it seemed to become far smarter, as if it had been possessed by a cultivator skilled in close combat. Yan Ling wasn't a fool, it quickly became clear to her that someone else was controlling the puppet now.
A cracking sound from behind her caused all the warning bells in her head to go off so she quickly crouched down, a fist just barely missing her head. But just as the fist missed her head, it changed trajectory, slamming down towards her head. Yan Ling quickly rolled to the side to dodge the fist and then threw herself forward to dodge the foot that was now coming for her waist.
She had moved a bit too slow, causing the tip of the foot to crash into her waist and knock all the air out of her lungs and send her flying to the side. She rolled on the stage for a bit before quickly rising into a kneeling position and involuntarily vomiting a bit of blood and breakfast. She quickly wiped the side of her mouth, glaring at the puppet.
"Geh, don't you know its bad manners to make a girl vomit in front of her man?"
Yan Ling cast a sideways glance at Liang Chen, just in time to see him get swarmed by Liao Cui's attacks and get drenched in his own blood. Yan Ling suddenly laid down flat on the stage, kick going over where her head had just been. The kick quickly changed trajectory, turning into a stomp that aimed to shatter Yan Ling's spine.
Yan Ling quickly reacted by rolling to the side and sending herself flying into the air using a strong gust of wind, ending up in a horizontal position right next to the head of the puppet. She spun her body around and used her wind to drastically increase the speed of her spins, drawing out her sword and delivering a downward slash to the puppet's left shoulder.
The blade cleaved directly through the two left arms of the puppet, severing them and giving Yan Ling at least a second of room to act. She quickly stopped her own spinning and created a platform of hardened air beneath her feet, kicking off of it to launch herself forward and deliver a sideways slice to the neck of the puppet as she flew past it.
The head was severed from the body, but the puppet simply regrew its arms and immediately picked up the head, placing it back on its neck and causing it to reattach itself. Yan Ling gnashed her teeth a bit continuing to curse at the puppet in front of her while casting sideways glances at Liang Chen.
"Really, why must you be built in such a stupidly durable way? Would it kill your creator to cut it back a bit next time?"
Yan Ling had to keep herself talking, she had to keep making jokes, that was the only way she was able to keep herself calm and focused in situations like this. It was her way of staving off the nervousness that stemmed from seeing Liang Chen get swarmed by attacks, as well as seeing her own attacks barely do anything.
The puppet ignored all of her cursings, continuing to charge at her without saying a single word. The puppet appeared directly in front of her and punched out with all four arms, one aiming for her head, one for her abdomen, and the two other for her shoulders.
Yan Ling took a step forward and twisted her body, causing the punches to all just barely miss her body while also putting herself directly in the bosom of the puppet. She slashed upwards with her sword, severing the left leg that now came to shatter her knee from the side. She didn't stop her attack there, her eyes blazing as she continued to draw the blade upwards, her law of slicing and crushing flooding into the blade as it tore directly through the torso of the puppet.
Its entire torso collapsed in on itself from the crushing pressure, all its organs and its spine liquefying in the wake of the blade. But even so, the puppet continued to attack her while it was falling to the ground, two of its fist slamming into her left shoulder and the side of her head, knocking her to the side and causing a gash to appear on her head.
The gash quickly healed thanks to her body cultivation and bloodline, but some blood still got into her eye and temporarily blinded her left eye, forcing her to close it. The puppet took advantage of this chance, all its wounds almost immediately restoring itself and allowing it to charge forward like a blur, appearing on Yan Ling's left side. The puppet punched out with two of its arms, aiming for her head and waist.
But despite the fact that it was attacking from her current blindspot, Yan Ling moved her entire body back half a step, further moving her head back to dodge the punch that came for her head. The fist flew past her face, but the one aiming for her abdomen halfway hit her, causing the taste of blood and vomit to flood her mouth. But Yan Ling simply grit her teeth and used the force of the punch to give her entire body a spin, sliding along the arm of the puppet and slashing out with her sword, once again decapitating the puppet.
She didn't stop her attack there, changing the trajectory of her sword immediately after decapitating the puppet, her sword cleaving diagonally downwards through its body before exiting through its waist, completely removing the top left half of the puppet's body. Yan Ling took this chance to quickly pull back and cast a sideways glance at Liang Chen, spitting out some blood in the process.
Liang Chen was still getting swarmed by attacks, but it wasn't as bad as before. On the contrary, he was starting to get faster and faster with each attack of his spear. His eyes were somewhat distant, as if they weren't even looking at Liao Cui, but his mouth still wore that confident smile that had drawn in Yan Ling, that confident smile that could ease any fear and worry. Her own lips curved up slightly as she turned her gaze back onto the puppet, spitting out some more blood and giving her lips a quick lick.
"Well, I can't really allow myself to lag behind if he's doing so well."
In truth, Yan Ling currently wanted to laugh at herself. Her cultivation was higher and she had more diverse laws at her disposal, yet she could still only look at Liang Chen's back while he took on what was basically nine opponents at once. She, on the other hand, was struggling with just the one in front of her, it was utterly laughable.
She couldn't even blame it on her bloodline being dormant any longer, he had helped her improve it and fully awakened it already. That meant that there could only be two reasons for her to be lagging behind like this, either she didn't put in enough effort, or his law of time was simply too strong. Whatever the reason was, Yan Ling knew that she had to continue improving, and she had to do it faster than she had in the past. If she didn't, she would end up being unable to do nothing but follow behind Liang Chen, being a hindrance all the while.
Yan Ling charged forward, being the one to take the initiative this time. The puppet punched out with all four arms to block Yan Ling's approach, but she simply gave her body a slight twist to dodge two of the fists, allowing the other two to strike her abdomen and right shoulder. She then quickly slashed out with her sword, severing the two hands that had hit her. She immediately slashed out again, severing the two other hands and stepping directly into the bosom of the puppet.
She gathered all her laws in her sword and slashed out, cutting the puppet in two at the waist and causing its chest to collapse in on itself, tiny holes filling its lower body. There was only one advantage she had over Liang Chen, one she knew that she had to fully utilize if she wanted to catch up to him, her superior talent.
She was far from as talented as her little brother had been, but she was still an exceedingly talented person. She could only use her talent to forcibly fuse her laws, especially crushing, slicing, pressure, and piercing, together far earlier than usual, creating a law that was strong enough to rival Liang Chen's law of time. But fusing laws was far easier said than done, she had no idea where to even begin. As such, she decided to use the puppet in front of her, testing out any idea she could come up with.
She knew that it was practically impossible to fuse her laws in just a day, but just getting a starting point, just an image of what the starting point should look like, would be good enough for her. So she continued to attack, her blade cutting up the puppet each time it regenerated, each attack producing a slightly different effect.
She continued to attack, as if in a mad frenzy, the regeneration of the puppet slowing down slightly after she had sliced at it for almost two entire minutes. It only slowed down slightly, but it was enough to show her that the puppet could be beaten if she just continued to tear it apart and force it to regenerate. As such, she continued to attack, constantly trying to fuse her four offensive laws together into a single seamless whole.
Of course, the puppet would not just allow her to wail on it like this as she pleased, it would launch attacks of its own whenever it had the chance. A kick here, a punch there, a headbutt there, slowly adding wounds to her body, causing it to scream out in pain. Her body cultivation and bloodline allowed her to quickly heal, but just like with Liang Chen, it had its limits, and it didn't change the fact that it was painful.
And ever so slowly, Yan Ling felt like she was getting a clearer picture of the starting point she was looking for. More and more attacks landed on her, but her own attacks got faster and sharper, the puppet slowly losing the ability to keep up with her blade. And then, a bright crimson light appeared behind Yan Ling, like a majestic sun dawning on the world and blotting out all else. Listening to the thunderous roar that followed, Yan Ling knew that Liang Chen was finishing his fight, so it was about time for her to do the same.
She swung her sword one last time, deciding to test out the starting point that she had in mind. The puppet just barely saw her blade coming for its neck, calculating that it would have the time to punch out with all four of its arms before the blade hit it.
It put all its strength into its arms, and then the blade suddenly sliced through its neck, and for the first time since the start of the battle, the puppet put on an expression of confusion and surprise. The one controlling the puppet knew, they knew that even if Yan Ling managed to drastically increase her speed in that short instant, the attack should not, would not, hit it before it managed to attack.
So how had it happened, how had the blade suddenly reached it, apparently defying all notions of speed? The controller of the puppet did not know, and not even Yan Ling truly knew what she had just achieved, she had no idea which seed she had just planted in her laws, nor what it would become once she completed the fusion of her laws and realized her goal.
Yan Ling changed the direction of her blade immediately after decapitating the puppet, slicing off its left arms and then once again changing the direction of her sword, cutting off its left leg. The puppet quickly regrew its arms and legs, but they moved a bit slower and stiffer than before.
Yan Ling proceeded to launch as many stabs as she could, the tip of her blade piercing into the joints of the puppet, forcing it to quickly regenerate the wounded areas. But each time it regenerated, it realized that it got slower and stiffer, its body not moving as it wished. Before long, each of its joints had been stabbed several tens of times, the puppet falling to the ground, its body refusing to move. And for the first time since the start of the battle, the puppet opened its mouth and spoke.
"I see, you targeted my joints and inserted a tiny amount of water with each hit, causing this body to regenerate the wounds and regrowing flesh and bone over the water, slowly clogging the joints until they became unable to move. You took advantage of the fact that this body feels no pain, putting me in a state where I can no longer fight back, allowing you to attack the other parts of this body until it is no longer able to heal. Clever."
Yan Ling didn't bother answering the controller of the puppet, breathing heavily while dripping with blood. She looked at her sword, her mind drifting back to the final time she decapitated the puppet. She knew that it was that attack that was her starting point, it was what would allow her to keep following at Liang Chen's side as an equal, she only had to properly grasp it and understand it. The puppet let out a little laugh when it saw that it wouldn't get an answer, turning its head slightly to look at Liang Chen, who was sitting in the spot where he had killed Liao Cui, observing the stage with narrowed eyes filled with a dangerous light.
"Heh, Scourge King, Wolf Queen, is it? This puppet has lost here, but this is not the end. This glorious tower is not a place for the likes of you. We will meet again."
The puppet suddenly exploded into a rain of blood and flesh after finishing its words, the controller clearly unwilling to let them gain any sort of benefit from the puppet. Yan Ling let out a deep breath, swiping her interspatial ring and wiping away the blood from her face, her necklace, and her earring, she couldn't let the jewelry that matched with Liang Chen stay dirty for too long. She then put away her sword and turned to Liang Chen, sending him a cheeky grin.
"Hehe, did you see that? You better watch out or I'm gonna end up overtaking you completely."
Liang Chen let out a light chuckle, standing up from his seated position and walking over to Yan Ling. The two turned to face the judge, who wore a somewhat strange expression for a short second before announcing their victory, their battle firmly cementing their position on the fifth floor.
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ShiranuiShukumei
ShiranuiShukumei Right, so two things. 1: Yes, i know that the chapter is delayed. I was doing a trial run of work at a new restaurant the last two days, causing my normal schedule to take a nosedive. (Yay, got the job btw.)
2: Yes, I am also aware that this can be considered the same as the previous chapter, just from a different perspective, but I wanted to show these things, rather than just say, 'oh yeah, that happened'.
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