Chapter 797: Equally Matched?!
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom…”
One after another, explosions rocked the pocket Bai Yunfei was in with enough intensity to make even the ground quake. The Fire-tipped Spear was in Bai Yunfei’s left hand now as he used his right hand to fire fireball after fireball from his Ardent Sun Glove. With each fireball that flew towards his enemy, another crater and explosion were made when they missed.
This ‘relentless’ barrage of attacks wasn’t meant to kill the opponent, but to tire them out.
It wasn’t for another dozen seconds and another hill to be obliterated before Bai Yunfei retreated a few meters to stop.
To keep going on would be to use up more soulforce than necessary. He didn’t want to be too excessive with his soulforce usage, so Bai Yunfei decided to stop for the meanwhile and think of a second plan. Since visibility was at a low due to all the dust, Bai Yunfei was using his soulsense to scan for anything out of the ordinary.
“Whoosh!!”
A squall of wind blew towards Bai Yunfei the moment he stopped his attacks. The dust in the air was blown violently out of the way as the squall progressed forward, leaving behind a trail of misplaced stone on the ground.
At the front of the squall was the black-robed man, calm and collected as ever!
The wind around the young man disappeared when he waved his left hand. He looked up at Bai Yunfei, revealing that he was completely unharmed!!
“The glove on his left hand, is it a heaven-tier soul armament? Maybe a mid-heaven tier soul armament…” The young man muttered to himself. “And that glove on his right hand is also heaven-tier…he has plenty of precious items on him…”
Though he was up against a person who seemed to be decked out in heaven-tier soul armaments, the black-robed man didn’t seem intimidated at all. A crimson-red sword materialized out from thin air for him to grab onto with his right hand.
On the other side, Bai Yunfei was very much surprised by the relative intactness of his opponent. None of his attacks had left even a scratch onto him! It didn’t even seem like the man was at all afflicted by the destruction of his low-heaven tier shield earlier.
“A wind-type soul cultivator? With fire-type soul armaments?”
The man had clearly used elemental wind a while ago, meaning he should be a wind-type soul cultivator. But the sword he was using was a fire-type, which was a strange thing to use considering his affinity.
“Eh?!” As Bai Yunfei was thinking about the difference in elements, something from the corner of his eye caught his attention and had him leaping towards the left!
“Whoosh!!”
Practically a second after he leaped towards the side, a black streak of light flew through where his head used to be!
Bai Yunfei tumbled into a roll and waved his right hand. The Cataclysmic Seal flew back to Bai Yunfei and then slammed into the black needle when it flew around to attack again.
Like last time, the needle was slammed away by the Cataclysmic Seal, allowing Bai Yunfei to sigh in relief. But then before he could get too comfortable, he was forced to raise his right hand up and wave it in front of himself!
“Clank!!”
There was a clanging sound as the tip of a crimson-red sword suddenly appeared not even three inches away from his throat!
“When did he ev—”
Bai Yunfei was shocked. The black-robed man had been more than a hundred meters away from him before, so how did he suddenly turn up right in front of him?!
On the other side, Bai Yunfei’s opponent was equally surprised. He hadn’t expected to see Bai Yunfei grab hold of his sword bare-handedly. But still, he yanked at the sword with his right hand and lashed out with a left straight towards Bai Yunfei’s chest!
Feeling the force of the sword being yanked, Bai Yunfei heard the sound of metal scraping against metal as the sword tried to pull itself out. Already, two scratch marks were forming from where the gloves were grabbing hold onto the sword!
Were it an earth-type soul armament, the blade would’ve been most likely broken or the tip destroyed when Bai Yunfei grabbed hold of the blade with his glove. But somehow, this crimson-red blade was still completely intact and powerful enough to leave marks on his Ardent Sun Glove.
That meant this was a heaven-tier soul armament as well!
Already, the left fist of the other person was nearly at his chest. Making use of his right arm being pulled away from him, Bai Yunfei angled himself so that the dark-light glowing fist would hit the bracer on his right arm!
The fist made contact with his arm, eliciting a loud clang and an electrifying jolt up his arm, but he was still unharmed. The force of the blow had caused him to be thrust backward to fly into a pile of rock a good dozen meters away!
Cratered into the pile of rock, Bai Yunfei’s entire body shook slightly before he leaped back up to his feet to re-engage the enemy!
“Clang! Clang! Clang…”
“Bang! Bang…”
One after another, fist met fist and leg met leg as the two fought. Their blurry figures traveled non-stop from place to place, leaving behind only just a crater whenever the two clashed with one another before disappearing again.
What Bai Yunfei planned on doing was to engage in a series of close-combat exchanges with his enemy and eventually drive him into a corner. But the more Bai Yunfei fought, the more Bai Yunfei came to the realization that he wasn’t gaining the advantage at all!!
Even with all his equipment aiding his speed and physical strength, the enemy he was fighting wasn’t any weaker than him!
Actually…it seemed like the enemy was even stronger than he was!
“Clang…” Once again, Bai Yunfei’s Fire-tipped Spear met with the enemy’s longsword for a metallic clang. The two exchanged blows with their left fists again. Bai Yunfei was using the Eighty-one Fold Fist Force to beat the opponent back, but without the additional effect of the Critical Glove, the punches were only causing his opponent to have a slight stagger to his step while he himself was forced to retreat several steps!
To make matters even worse, there was a stabbing pain in his left shoulder like if it was dislocated! And his opponent was unharmed still!
“How is he so strong? This shouldn’t be what a Late-stage Soul Exalt should even be capable of! I might not be able to win as I am right now…”
Bai Yunfei stared down his opponent with a grim expression. Raising his left hand, he swiped at the Cataclysmic Seal and grabbed at the fire within it to put into his body.
Dual Flame Artes: ‘Coil’ Form!
“Oh? A powerboosting soul skill?”
Realizing that Bai Yunfei was powering himself up to the limits of what a Peak Late-stage Soul Exalt could achieve, the black-robed man raised an eyebrow. He smirked however and raised his left hand to swipe a finger across his forehead...
A series of runic scripts started to appear in between his eyebrows. Flashing with light, the runes pulsated for a brief moment before they disappeared back underneath his skin.
But after that, his soulforce started to spike drastically in strength!
In a short few seconds, the black-robed man was doing the exact same thing as Bai Yunfei. They were both powering themselves up!
He had a mocking grin on his face when he saw the look of shock on Bai Yunfei’s face. His foot stepped forward, scattering the stones beneath his feet as he dashed towards Bai Yunfei to strike first!
“Bang bang bang…”
Every so often, two shadows would come to a stop just slow enough to see a flicker whenever they clashed.
Even in his ‘coil’ form, Bai Yunfei came to the realization that he was still fighting on equal grounds with the enemy!
“Just…just how strong is this guy?!”
Bai Yunfei couldn’t even hide his shock from his eyes. Using the Flash Step, he swung his spear in the direction of his enemy, deflecting his sword away from him. Before he could lash out with an attack, a beam of black light shot at him again!
The black needle had been shot out from his enemy’s hand to strike at Bai Yunfei again!
There was no way Bai Yunfei wanted to be hit by the black needle, but there was hardly any distance between him and the black needle. To do anything with haste now would be to leave himself wide open. Concentrating as hard as he could, Bai Yunfei gripped the Fire-tipped Spear tightly and immediately split into three people!
The +12 additional effect of the Fire-tipped Spear: Doppelganger!
He’d normally use this effect to land a surprise attack onto his opponent, but now, he was using it to dodge the black needle.
“Pcht…”
The sound of metal penetrating flesh could be heard as the black needle went through the forehead of one of the Bai Yunfeis!