“How…?” Feng Jian didn’t even realise he wrinkled his nose.
“Nice, nice,” commented A-Ji.
“Enough with the jokes… How is he standing there?!”
Tang Ye lunged up to Yi Wangyou and brought Flame Emperor down diagonally using Flame Emperor Swordplay. Despite Tang Ye demonstrating fluidity that would take years to achieve. Yi Wangyou drew his sword and yelled as he intercepted Tang Ye head on. With his large sword, Yi Wangyou effortlessly whipped Tang Ye back so fast that the latter had to use his sword as an apparatus to decelerate. Had the ring been smaller, Tang Ye would’ve already lost.
In the two subsequent engagements, Yi Wangyou overwhelmed Tang Ye.
“This is impossible,” Feng Jian verbalised. “Shizun personally opened his meridians, and Poison King used his Binary Poison Style to upgrade Tang Ye’s internal energy. His imitation of Scorching Sun Spirit is second only to Luo Yan. How can he be losing to an injured man after we invested so much into him?”
“What do you mean it’s impossible? If we can cheat, so can they. If their cheats are better than ours, it checks out,” disputed A-Ji, casting his gaze over to Ming Feizhen.
Tang Ye: I lost the first time due to our difference in level. I caught up and drew with him the second time after Poison king helped with my internal energy. How can I be losing now that I’m even stronger, not to mention he is injured?
“If we’re going to fight… Let’s see who’s stronger between us after I risked my life for this power.” Tang Ye took in a big belly of air and raised Flame Emperor, dousing it in enough heat to cover the entire perimeter of the ring.
Yi Wangyou didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. To the contrary, he appeared bored. He sheathed his sword in the floor again, waiting to knock Tang Ye off whenever the latter attacked. Though Yi Wangyou had yet to use any specific style in the match, the discrepancy between him and Tang Ye didn’t require an explanation.
Tang Ye charged in with anger gushing up to his skull. Yi Wangyou drew his sword out of the ring to engage once again. After a hard shove from both of them, they scraped off to the opposite side of the other, neither winning the internal strength contest. Due to the difference in sword quality, though, Yi Wangyou’s sword chipped and was displaced off centre further than Tang Ye’s, affording Tang Ye the head start upon restarting.
Tang Ye brought Flame Emperor around one hundred and eighty degrees to find Yi Wangyou and opted to stab, reducing the window Yi Wangyou had to react even more. Yi Wangyou, however, let Tang Ye close in until Flame Emperor couldn’t gain another inch of ground.
“Not even one of the Supreme Ten Saints’ true qi armour should be able to block one of the Seven Dynasty-Founding Blades! What is this?!”
Yi Wangyou finger speared Tang Ye’s right arm, short circuiting the latter’s true qi flow, then secured Flame Emperor for himself. Tang Ye directed his true qi to his left hand immediately to sting Yi Wangyou on the chest. Yi Wangyou traded with a left of his own. Contrary to what Tang Ye expected, the heat didn’t burn Yi Wangyou. Instead, Yi Wangyou exhaled a short breath, sending Tang Ye reeling out of the ring.
Hong Jiu: “Isn’t he on the cusp of death? Jeepers creepers, he just stomped…”
Ming Feizhen set his teacup down smugly: “His Sacred Armour has been modified using Demon Sect’s guardian Blood Demon’s Blood Demon Armour. Since it can maintain one’s qi and blood balance, the only way you’ll beat the wearer is if you kill them.”
“How did he withstand Flame Emperor?”
“I wove the undergarment of Blood Demon Armour using celestial spider silk. You couldn’t dent it with Flame Emperor and Siming Sword together.”
“What about the sword?”
Ming Feizhen flicked a thumb up: “It’s Wudang’s Prodigy Sword. Yeah, it’s inferior to Flame Emperor, but it’s good enough to get him through this match.”
“How did he take the heat of Tang Ye’s last palm strike?”
“The glove he has on is woven from snow spirit spider silk. The cold poison on it is the bane of Yang Realm internal energy users, so only twenty percent of the heat got through. As for his boots, I stuffed our sect’s Leaping Fragrance in, so he could cover over fifteen metres in one jump.”
“… Is he supposed to be the terminator? He could take on an army with that gear. Still, Tang Ye shouldn’t be that far behind.”
Ming Feizhen shrugged: “I also fed him my secret resurrection pill, so his internal strength will be double his usual for two hours.”
Ming Feizhen’s gear gave Yi Wangyou a massive power up, but it didn’t grant him his normal mobility. If Desolate Sword Dance wasn’t rooted in strength and, instead, relied on mobility, he wouldn’t have been able to use it. Stuffing Leaping Fragrance into his boots, therefore, was an insurance policy.
“… Did you need to be so harsh on Tangy?”
“The Tang Ye we knew wouldn’t have lost. Besides being able to swing his sword around, Yi Wangyou can’t do anything else for the meantime. If it was the Tang Ye we knew, he’d have used his head instead of trying to outmuscle Yi Wangyou.” Ming Feizhen got up to walk off and added, “What Tang Ye acquired is the equivalent of what I gave Yi Wangyou. Since he couldn’t understand something so simple, I gave him a live demo.”
Hong Jiu looked over to the superman gear on Yi Wangyou: “Leader, you sure racked your brains, huh?”
“Less talk, thanks. I’m out. You’re in charge here.”
Su Xiao scurried over to query, “Where are you going, Big Brother Ming?”
“We’ve been to Wudang, so we now need to visit the other sects. You should also go help Boss. We’re about to have our hands full.”
