Chapter 501: Retreat (Fourth)
Yao Tong’s sword came to a stop just a brief three inches away from Bai Yunfei’s head. The Cataclysmic Seal had stopped it!
Now that the sword was stopped, Bai Yunfei brought his right hand upwards to knock the golden sword away from his forehead. When the sword was knocked away, Bai Yunfei struck with his Fire-tipped Spear!
Yao Tong twisted to the side, evading the spear thrust with his strange foot and body movements. The spear barely managed to graze past his waist, but not enough to cause any damage.
He took advantage of the spear failing to land its mark to get closer to the spear. Taking a half step closer to Bai Yunfei, Yao Tong’s sword hand twisted a good a hundred and thirty degrees to bring his sword down onto Bai Yunfei’s neck!
In response, Bai Yunfei evaded the attack with the Flash Steps to retreat so that the sword missed his chin by just inches. Retreating another meter, Bai Yunfei stepped forward again to strike out with his spear!
His unpredictable action had caught Yao Tong off guard, but not enough to get injured. He had failed to account for Bai Yunfei being able to dodge so fast, but as the spear grew close to his chest, Yao Tong stepped back and had his left hand come up in front of his chest. In the next moment, a golden shield appeared in it, protecting his front.
This wasn’t a shield created from elemental energy, but a soul skill of his!
The golden shield looked almost real with the runes and lines on its surface. Even when the spear tip touched the shield, there was a loud metallic gong!
But the spear wasn’t an easy item to block! The tip of the spear embedded itself into the shield for a brief moment, and then….
“Boom!!”
The golden shield immediately collapsed as the explosion effect of the spear was activated, and the burst of fire trapped Yao Tong in it!
Yao Tong’s surprised stare was the first he shown since the start of the battle. The spear’s explosion effect had been tremendously large, and the shockwave was strong enough to slam into his body and bring his blood a degree hotter almost.
Because the elemental fire around him prevented him from retreating, Yao Tong knew something strange was happening. Looking up, he saw Bai Yunfei in the air with his right fist raised, and a blade of fire ten meters long coming down at him!
Alarmed, Yao Tong raised his longsword up and transmitted his soulforce into it, turning the golden light from the sword into solid form to block the Flame Winged Dagger.
“Boom!!”
Once again, Yao Tong was engulfed in a fireball, but there was a fan-shaped beam of energy that shot through the fire to try and strike down Bai Yunfei.
“It’s you!!”
Yao Tong’s surprised voice called out from the fire. From the fires, the eyes of Yao Tong stared in shock at Bai Yunfei.
The fire explosion and the Flame Winged Dagger. He remembered seeing these moves used on him before!
It was a very long time ago outside Stonegroove City, the very same person that surprised him long ago!
At that time, Bai Yunfei had only been a trifling Soul Sprite. He was nothing like the Soul Exalt standing in front of him today, thus why Yao Tong was so surprised!
But Bai Yunfei wouldn’t give him any time to reminisce about the old times. Taking advantage of his shock, Bai Yunfei threw three Burstfire Daggers at him.
Yao Tong blocked the three daggers, blocking even the explosions that accompanied them. But when he peered over his sword, Yao Tong saw a fireball twenty meters large come at him!
“Hmph!” He sneered. Chopping downwards, a golden beam of energy shot forth from the sword to cut the fireball in half, allowing the two sides to sail harmlessly by him.
But the moment the fireballs exploded on the ground, a single ‘giant stone’ came flying through at him!
The Cataclysmic Seal!
Not willing to block this one, Yao Tong moved to the side. But as if responding with his movements, the Cataclysmic Seal swelled in size as it flew towards him!
Again, Yao Tong was surprised. Narrowing his eyes, he lifted his left hand in front of him. Golden light swarmed his entire body, and then his aura….began to increase! From a late-stage Soul Exalt to a peak late-stage Soul Exalt!
A beam of golden light shot into the air--it was Yao Tong, flying into the air fast enough to dodge the Cataclysmic Seal.
Bai Yunfei sucked in a sharp breath of air--the enemy had a technique to boost his strength as well!
Watching as Yao Tong flew into the sky like a shining star, Bai Yunfei narrowed his eyes.
Biting his lip, he forced his aura to start to increase as well!
Berserk Mode!
Now as strong as a peak late-stage Soul Exalt, Bai Yunfei’s eyes burned brightly. Kicking off against the ground with such force that a crater was formed, he shot into the skies after Yao Tong!
There was a beam of golden light, and then a beam of fire as they clashed against each other in the skies!
……
On the ground, Xiao Qi and Xiao Lan were both currently hard at work fighting against the golden swift.
The golden swift was basically a never stopping beam of golden light. Flying left and right, it was impossible to see its body clearly, and even with Xiao Qi’s crowd tactics, it was unable to hit the other bird. Only with its Wind and Lightning Feathers was Xiao Qi able to keep up with the swift, and the blue-eyes wyrm was basically unable to keep up. Roaring incessantly, it flailed its tail wildly, but never once hitting the swift.
……
Now that he and Yao Tong were both fighting at levels as strong as peak late-stage Soul Exalts, the battle in the sky was far more fierce than what it was on the ground. Explosions happened one after another, and elemental energy sparked across the skies. Already, a good portion of the forest was destroyed by the fallout, and there were craters all over the ground.
Bai Yunfei could only maintain the Berserk Mode for ten minutes, but Yao Tong would surely only be able to maintain his strength for so long as well. Each combatant were attacking and defending harshly in hopes of finishing the battle quickly.
As the battle persisted, Bai Yunfei found himself growing more and more surprised. Yao Tong was stronger than he imagined, and it wasn’t at all like what a normal peak late-stage Soul Exalt should be like. The man had also a decent amount of soul armaments; that golden longsword of his was definitely a low-heaven tier soul armament at the very least, and he had also armor, wrist guards, and other accessories as soul armaments!
Likewise, Yao Tong was just as surprised as Bai Yunfei. Four minutes had already passed without him being able to harm Bai Yunfei. On the other hand, Bai Yunfei had already landed a blow onto his left shoulder.
Again, the Cataclysmic Seal flew at Yao Tong, causing him to look in brief panic at what he should do. Raising his longsword and diverting his soulforce to it, Yao Tong’s soulforce started to flow strangely as the sword started to shine.
He was getting ready yet another soul skill!
Bai Yunfei’s face grew grim as he recognized the warning signs. Taking a split-moment to think, Bai Yunfei decided then and there on his own course of action. Putting away his Fire-tipped Spear, he went through a series of hand seals to use one of his strongest moves--the Fused Dual Dragon Burst!
Yao Tong’s eyes narrowed at what Bai Yunfei was doing, his forehead sweating from behind the mask. He could sense that whatever Bai Yunfei was doing, but it was just as strong as the soul skill he was doing! No….it was stronger!
If the two hit each other, it was possible that they would both be injured almost devastatingly!
But Bai Yunfei had his Cataclysmic Seal, so Yao Tong would be the one that’d be hurt most!
Realizing how that would turn out for him, fear flickered in Yao Tong’s eyes for the very first time. Conflicted, Yao Tong argued to himself if he should stay and fight, or stop and run.
In the end, his aura dissipated, and then he….fled!
He wasn’t moving to dodge Bai Yunfei’s attack, he was simply running away!
On the other side, the golden swift had received a message from Yao Tong. Trilling once in response, it took off in the opposite direction of the two soulbeasts and quickly disappeared over the horizon.
The two chose to….abandon the fight and run!