STNS: Chapter 541 (Patreon)

The heavenly blue lightning slammed into Xie Longshan’s back. Wu Jian did not cover his face as the powerful explosion of lightning kicked up debris. Chunks of earth were gouged from the ground and the cathedral trembled as though it was being shaken to its foundations. A cloud of dust obscured his vision of his opponent as banners and wooden fixtures caught fire from errant lightning bolts striking them. The scene of burning and smoke soon filled the air.

“Jingshu, get back for now.”

“I… very well,” Hou Jingshu said after a moment. “I know I’m no good in a fight like this right now, but you be careful.”

Wu Jian smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

At that moment, before Hou Jingshu could move, a figure burst through the cloud of dust and smoke. Xie Longshan’s clothing was burnt and frayed, but the man himself was completely uninjured, having probably used a defensive technique of some kind. Wu Jian didn’t believe this person was immune to their own techniques.

“AZURE HEAVEN SHATTERING CLAW!!!”

Xie Longshan raised his hand, compressed with wind-lightning qi to the point where a massive claw of pure energy surrounded it, and brought it down on Wu Jian and Hou Jingshu. The attack was so powerful that it tore through space as Wu Jian teleported away with Hou Jingshu in his arms. He reappeared behind the man as the attack struck the ground, exploding with so much power that it tore apart the earth, felled several columns, and then struck the wall. The cathedral rumbled and shook as the wall was blasted apart. Debris rained from the ground, but Wu Jian had no time to focus on that as Xie Longshan spun around and swung his clawed hand again.

“I AM GOING TO TEAR YOU APART!!!!”

Power erupted from the hand, and Wu Jian raised his hands, qi erupting from his palms to form a tightly packed ball of black energy that soon inverted and began sucking everything up.

“Black Hole.”

The qi that had been meant to attack Wu Jian got sucked into the black hole, disappearing soon after. Yet that did not mean he could rest. Xie Longshan had already prepared his next technique.

“Imperial Storm Ascension!!”

More qi than before erupted from Xie Longshan’s body. His aura flared wildly as the ground was split in multiple directions. A massive cyclone of pure power appeared around him, tearing the cathedral apart. Wu Jian could not defend against all the debris, but fortunately, Hou Jingshu was able to help. She had no weapons on hand, so she punched and kicked the debris away while he focused on creating spatial defensive techniques to protect them from the front.

Xie Longshan had become the eye of a massive cyclone, a living storm, and as the power he emitted increased, so too did the damage he did to their surroundings.

“Go!” Wu Jian shouted, giving Hou Jingshu a push.

He knew she wanted to fight by his side, but she hadn’t been able to cultivate while kept captive by Xie Longshan, and so she hadn’t grown stronger. It pained him to think like this, but she would just be in his way right now. He knew it. She knew it. That was why she nodded once and quickly raced out of the cathedral. Fortunately, Xie Longshan was more focused on destroying Wu Jian than he was recapturing Hou Jingshu.

“Black Hole.”

Wu Jian created another black hole, focusing even as bursts of wind and lightning tried to destroy him. He raced across the floor. Explosions buffeted his clothes and hair as heat seared his skin and the scent of burning ozone filled his nose. Bursts of light nearly blinded him as he continued to focus, packing as much qi into his technique as he could, then compressing it. The swirling ball of black energy soon inverted and transformed into a black hole. He had packed so much more qi into this one that it caused the space around it to crack.

Then he threw it.

The black hole blasted through the air, shattering the space nearby, and struck the cyclone. Black streams of energy burst from the technique, combating against the blue lightning and green wind of his enemy’s technique.

Wu Jian’s eyes bulged as spatial distortions and ripples appeared between him and Xie Longshan. The cyclone soon collapsed. The black hole imploded on itself.

When the cyclone collapsed inward, all the wind and lightning qi that Xie Longshan had accumulated became compressed and resulted in a powerful implosion. The air, debris, and energy was pulled toward the single, highly volatile point. To make matters worse, the highly volatile black hole had caused violent spatial tears and distortions that caused space to fracture. The infinite blackness of space became visible within these fractures. Both Wu Jian and Xie Longshan were forced to bend down and dig their hands into the ground to remain in place. Wu Jian further defended himself by creating a spatial lock, while Xie Longshan created a shield between himself and the two powerfully destabilized techniques.

Even with the protections put in place, Wu Jian still suffered. His insides roiled as the qi filling the air ruptured his internals. Blood spilled from his mouth, nose, and ears. He wiped the blood away, summoned several pills, and popped them into his mouth. Each pill restored something. Blood. Qi. He could feel his internal organs slowly stitch back together.

The storm eventually died down. Wu Jian stood up and gazed upon the destruction their clashing techniques had caused. The cathedral was gone. Some parts still stood, but the columns, ceiling, and much of the walls no longer existed, having been blown away. Only a few parts remained standing, and even they looked ready to crumble at any moment.

Xie Longshan stood on the opposite side of a massive crater, his eyes emitting hatred as he glared at Wu Jian like all this was his fault. They were bloodshot and filled with an intense desire to kill.

“I have severely underestimated you. I can scarcely fathom someone of your cultivation possessing so much power. You blocked my attacks despite being vastly weaker than me. The Dao of Space really is incredible.”

Wu Jian shrugged.

“Nothing to say?”

“Not really.”

He wasn’t here to trade banter.

“Fine. Then I suppose I’ve said all I need to. It’s time for you to suffer.”

“Vast Ocean Emperor Scale.”

Scales appeared on Xie Longshan’s body, hardening into glistening blue armor as though blessed by the ocean and sky. It made him look like a human-dragon hybrid. The horns on his head had even grown longer and wings now sprouted from his back, gleaming with blue lightning and wind.

“It is time for you to die,” Xie Longshan said.

“You first,” Wu Jian spat back.

With a hate-filled glare, Xie Longshan appeared before Wu Jian and unleashed a kick that tore through the space before him. Wu Jian ducked. He felt the kick pass overhead, but he paid it no mind and attempted to sweep the man’s legs out from under him. With a flap of his wings, Xie Longshan flew into the air. He held out his hand and fired several lightning bolts that Wu Jian was forced to teleport around. He went with short range teleportation, moving only enough to avoid the attacks.

“I see. I see. Teleportation must require a lot of qi, huh? Is that why you aren’t teleporting further away?”

Wu Jian said nothing as he quickly teleported directly to Xie Longshan. He grabbed the man’s left arm in a vice, then attempted to claw his eyes out with the other hand. The man tilted his head to avoid the attack, then kicked Wu Jian in the chest. It was an attack powerful enough to launch him backward. He landed on the ground and was forced to roll across it to both absorb the impact and avoid the lightning bolts Xie Longshan sent hurtling at him. Each attack caused the hairs on his neck to stand on end.

“What’s wrong? Is that all you’ve got?! Can you do nothing but dodge?!”

Xie Longshan taunted. He gathered more qi into his hands, then launched a bolt of lightning so powerful that it looked more like a beam. The attack overwhelmed Wu Jian, who disappeared within the destructive force, which tore through the ground and remaining parts of the cathedral.

“Did that get him?!”

Xie Longshan’s question was answered when Wu Jian’s foot slammed into the back of his head. He had put all of his considerable power into that attack, and the azure dragon clansmen was sent hurtling toward the ground, though he managed to flip himself around and landed on his feet. The man glared up at Wu Jian, who looked down at him from where he floated.

“Tch. I didn’t realize you were so good at masking your qi. I didn’t even sense you teleporting behind me.”

“That sounds like a skill issue,” Wu Jian said.

“Your petty insults mean nothing to me!!”

The battle continued and Wu Jian realized that Xie Longshan was actually quite intelligent, much as he hated to admit it. The man was quickly beginning to understand how his abilities worked and create suitable counters for them. He also seemed to have realized that all of Wu Jian’s abilities were very qi-intensive. Wu Jian had a lot of qi for someone at the Seeker Realm, but spatial techniques required so much qi that it basically put him at an even playing field with cultivators who had a similar cultivation base.

Wu Jian was soon forced into a defensive roll. He focused on conserving his qi and attacking only when the opportunity arose, picking out moments when Xie Longshan was distracted or overestimating him. It was a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Xie Longshan laid out traps, and Wu Jian had to be careful not to fall into them.

The longer the fight continued, the more damage they did to their surroundings. Already they had left the cathedral and were now fighting in the streets. Buildings were demolished by powerful explosions of wind and lightning. Craters formed in the earth. Fires burned as the lightning struck fabrics and wood, filling the air with smoke. It was a good thing the citizens had already been evacuated. Who knew how many people would have died simply from getting caught in the blast.

Wu Jian continued racing through the streets, using the buildings to hide before teleporting into Xie Longshan’s blind spot and attacking him. It was unfortunate, but his attacks did very little. The armor surrounding his opponent protected him from almost everything Wu Jian could throw at him. If he wanted to do any real damage, he would have to somehow break through the man’s armor.

What made it worse was that Xie Longshan was beginning to figure out where he would appear. He only had so many blindspots. Wu Jian was able to avoid being trapped by actually teleporting directly in front of Xie Longshan a few times. However, it was only a matter of time before even that became predictable.

In short, he needed to pull out the big guns.

Wu Jian ducked into a building. The building soon went up in flames and lightning,  but he had already teleported into another building and quickly masked his qi signature so Xie Longshan could not find him.

“COWARD! COME OUT! COME OUT AND MEET YOUR DEATH LIKE A MAN!”

“Body of the Celestial White Tiger.”

Wu Jian knew he would not be able to beat whatever technique this was without his ace, and so he unleashed the dormant power within him. Baihu’s blood rushed through his meridians, infusing him with the mythical power of the white tiger. An overwhelming surge of qi raced through his body, which underwent a dramatic transformation--muscles expanding and tearing apart his garments as they thickened and hardened like iron. His eyes morphed into slitted irises reminiscent of a predatory cat, exuding a primal dominance and unfettered resolve. At the same time, claws grew from his hands and feet that ripped through his boots.