138 Our Battle Will Be Legendary
All outsiders had no idea about the exceptions of the no-combat rules.
The rules only applied to cultivators outside of the dryad queen's unique domain, which covered 100 square kilometers. All restrictions posted by the alchemist sect had no effect when it was overlapped with her power.
The queen's domain used to be weaker and smaller. However, as time passed, she got stronger, and her territory grew. As such, the subdimensional plane's restriction grew weaker, turning this place into a dangerous area to scavenge for rare herbs and treasures.
The Myriad Cauldron Sect couldn't help it since the pacts with the dryad queen had been formed 200 years ago. They didn't want to risk waging war with the dryads either since they still wanted free herbs from her plane. Thus, they avoided the trouble by creating entrance teleportation arrays randomly in the subdimension for the outsider participants, increasing the survival chance against the dryads.
Normally, non-disciple participants were few since the sect never publicized the event outside of the city. Only insiders, merchants, and regular guests of the Myriad Cauldron Sect were aware of it. As a result, casualties among the guests, disciples, and outsiders were almost non-existence. Only a handful of unfortunate men encountered the dryads and became their food every year.
No one complained or made a fuss about missing a few people. After all, deaths were common among the native. Even if the powerhouse clan's members died in the plane, their masters and parents couldn't do anything since the murderers were monsters in a subdimension. They couldn't blame the sect for using the subspace either.
However, this year, an unforeseen development occurred. Because of the bounty hunting for Xu Miao and Wei Yuan, there were more participants than the sect had ever had in the past. When the random teleportation sent them to the subdimension, more people were sent directly into the dryad queen's territory.
Xin Pi was aware of the increased chance of many participants running into the dryad queens with this many people. He prepared for the repercussions and informed the garden masters in advance. He also told this to Cao Mao and gave him an escape talisman, just in case the latter stumbled into the queen's domain accidentally.
Having learned of the danger and the flaws of this plane's laws, Cao Mao was in a bad mood when he ran into Xie Tian a minute later after the queen left. Both of them were obviously in her domain's influence.
Combats were possible here.
Still, seeing the conditions of the lone-wolf protagonist, Cao Mao believed this might be his greatest chance to finish the 10th tutorial quest once and for all.
Without hiding his true self with a fa?ade or tricks, Cao Mao unsheathed KQ and got ready for combat. His killing intent soared and locked on to the protagonist.
Xie Tian summoned 5 spirit pills from his stolen rings. Then, he popped them into his mouth. He recovered his lost energy and prepared for combat as well.
"Xu Miao, I've always wanted to ask you," As Xie Tian was recovering his strength, he glared at Cao Mao, "By chance, did you trick Jiang Lan? What did you do to her?"
Cao Mao sneered, roleplaying as an antagonist to mess up Xie Tian's temper, "I didn't trick her. I simply fucked her senseless, brainwashed her, and now, she's my loyal sex slave. Her purpose in life is to suck my dick. Satisfied?"
In MMA professional scenes, provocation and insult during pre-match was a part of the game plan. By playing a mind game, their opponent's performance in-ring would be influenced. Sometimes, it worked, and the victim's movements became straightforward, being easy to counter. Oftentimes, it didn't. When it didn't work, they would be humiliated as a price of arrogance.
Cao Mao intentionally provoked Xie Tian, so the latter would use his emotion instead of logic in battle. If a fight broke out, Cao Mao would have the advantage over the angry fighter.
It worked. Angered by the provocation, Xie Tian revealed one of his cards. He summoned the heaven-grade flame saber, which he had recovered from Xiong Zhenzhen.
The heaven-grade saber had been stolen by Xu Xiuying. However, she stored it in one of the locked treasure boxes on the 20th floor. After Xiong Zhenzhen looted everything, the heroine brought the boxes to Zhu Huifang as a tribute. The Zhu Clan's patriarch unlocked the treasure boxes and gave the heaven-grade saber to Xiong Zhenzhen as a commission, but the latter returned it to Xie Tian.
Xie Tian lost his personal weapon, but plot armor brought it back to him.
Cao Mao clicked his tongue when he saw the weapon. It seemed that this fight would be more difficult than he had imagined. Fortunately, Xie Tian revealed his true weapon early. Cao Mao would have had a serious problem had the protagonist kept it hidden and used it at a critical moment.
"When Jiang Lan poisoned me, was it your doing?"
Again, Xie Tian wanted to know the truth about past events.
Cao Mao laughed at Xie Tian's naivety. There was nothing to hide anymore, "It was effective, didn't it? You should have thanked Luo Cheng and Jia Shan for saving your ass. Had they not been there, you would have died already."
"WAS IT YOUR DOING!?"
"Don't you have a brain?" Cao Mao rolled his eyes and summoned a piece of a mural from his invisible ring, "Recognize this? It's from your ring. This should explain everything, no?"
Xie Tian's killing intent erupted, "Why did you do this!? What have I ever done to you!? I thought we were friends!"
The protagonist was right in a sense since he had done nothing wrong. It was Cao Mao who was being a dick.
Cao Mao squinted his eyes. He agreed with Xie Tian, but he also needed to survive. However, there was no point in revealing his system quest secret.
Moreover, Cao Mao believed that it was Xie Tian's own fault for escalating the overall situation to this extend.
"Remember our sparring match, Xie Tian?" Cao Mao put the mural piece back into his ring.
"What does that have anything to do with it?"
"Had you been a bit more careful, had we not gone all out against each other in front of those maniacs, I would have continued being your friend."
"BUT WHY!?"
"Because you're an idiot! Why the fuck did you have to reveal all your skills in that fight, especially the time-and-space magic of yours! Why the hell did you force me to fight with our full power!? We could have exchanged moves here and there as a ceremony, then, I'll let you fight Wei Feng as you wanted!"
Still angry, no word entered Xie Tian's ears anymore. He didn't think that it was the reason why Cao Mao wanted him dead. Moreover, Xie Tian believed that none of it was his fault.
"It doesn't relate to that! You're just jealous of me for having Jiang Lan's heart, isn't it!?"
"Pfft! Don't make me laugh! Jiang Lan would have dumped you without my brainwash ability. Everything started because of your time-and-space magic and our sparring match that day! Had you not forced me to use everything, Xu Xiuying wouldn't have had tried to kill me! Had you not challenged Wei Feng into a life-and-death match, you wouldn't have been ambushed and forced to use the time-reversal thingy shit-show of yours!"
"… Is that why you want me dead?"
Cao Mao found this bickering pointless and nonsense since they would fight each other in the end, judging from Xie Tian's stance, "I tried to befriend you, but you ruined my life. You ruined the relationship I built with Xu Xiuying and her sect. You forced me to become the center of attention. Now, look at me. I'm no longer the young master of the Xu Clan. See the current situation? I've escaped from Mountain Goose City and started over a new life. I'm trying to change to a new leaf. Now, you show up in front of me and threaten me."
Cao Mao paused as he pointed Killer Queen's edge toward Xie Tian's face, "In short, you're an eyesore. You're nothing but a jinx. Jiang Lan and I can only sleep soundly if you die."
Xie Tian snorted. He pointed his flame saber to Cao Mao's face, "You're just a selfish scum that steps on others to get higher. For what you did, you'll pay with your life."
"Ha! True, I'm a dick, and I deserve to be hatred. Well, enough with the soap opera. My audience is probably sick of watching men bitching at each other. If you wanna fight, fight me like a man, not swearing at me like a sissy! Come and kill me if that's what you're here for!"
"…"
Cao Mao referred to the watching eyes of the gods, but Xie Tian didn't understand who the audience was. Still, he also had enough of talking.
It was the time to talk with sword and saber.
Xie Tian slowly walked toward his opponent.
Cao Mao laughed and mocked Xie Tian as if he was the main villain in a certain anime, "Hoho? You're approaching me? Instead of using your fancy fireballs of yours, you want to fight in a closed-range?"
"I can't punch you in the face unless I come closer!"
"Wow, even your lines are ass-kicking. Well, get as close as you need to."
Two men slowly approached each other.
When they got to their sword range, they swung their blades.
Wind Slash +20
Dragon Strike
Clank
As soon as their weapons and skill collided, Xie Tian activated his body strengthening technique with dirty essence and Qi that he had absorbed from the other cultivators.
Cao Mao didn't have to use the body strengthening technique anymore as his Baby Daemon Physique already activated the technique for him 24/7. But once he circulated his Yin and Yang Essence into Killer Queen and his body, his presence grew.
BOOM
Because of the energy quality difference, Cao Mao's strength overwhelmed Xie Tian even though the latter had a superior cultivation base. He pushed the protagonist back.
Xie Tian took two steps backward before he regained his battle stance.
But that was enough gap for Cao Mao to exploit the opening.
Atomic Slash
The same move that Cao Mao had used against Wei Yuan appeared again. A hundred afterimages of sword slashes cut through Xie Tian's clothes.
But they failed to slice through Xie Tian's treasure robes and his dragon skin.
After finishing the moves, Cao Mao had to gasp for breath and circulate more essence to replenish the energy in his body. His body paused for a split second to recover his stance.
The split-second opening was enough for Xie Tian to turn the table around.
Fire Dragon Saber Style
Fire Dragon Dance
Xie Tian's flame saber enveloped in dragon yang flame. He returned the favor by slashing at Cao Mao a hundred times with the similar force and speed as Atomic Slash.
Cao Mao did not have the same natural defense as Xie Tian, but he had another trick.
The hundred flame slashes were parried before it connected to Cao Mao's vital spots. A hundred after images of katana blocked and deflected the attacks.
One of the skills that Cao Mao had learned from the 200% clones was in play.
Iron Wall Sword Fortress +20
It was a sword style that focused on defense and counterattack. With this knowledge and muscle memory, Cao Mao could square up against Jia Shan without using Qi.
Now, with Qi and Essence, blocking Xie Tian's fancy attack wasn't a problem.
After Xie Tian's continuous chain attack paused for a split second, it was Cao Mao's turn.
Qing Swordsmanship +20
Butterfly Sword Style +20
Million Rapier Dance +20
Stripper Swordsmanship
Rakshasa Swordsmanship
A mixed pattern of quick-sword combination from various schools rained upon Xie Tian, who had an incomplete battle stance. Combining the quick style with the powerful style of Qing Swordsmanship, Rakshasa Swordsmanship, and the pinpointed type, Stripper Swordsmanship, Xie Tian was pushed back.
The sky-grade robes on the protagonist were shredded to pieces. Graze wounds appeared on his arms, legs, and face. The dragon skin failed to block against the repeated attacks.
But Xie Tian had more cards to play.
Flame Sword, Fury Yang
Fiery Vital Flame
Supreme Dragon Recovery
Xie Tian's body and his saber cladded in flame. His speed increased. His wounds also healed while he was fighting in the fire.
Clank
Clank
Clank
Two men exchanged 1,000 moves within a minute. The metal clashing sound vibrated throughout the field.
The flame saber released a screeching sound while Killer Queen released a high-pitched warcry. The weapons were also competing against each other.
While Xie Tian was focused on the exchange, Cao Mao decided to finish the fight early. He stomped on Xie Tian's shadow.
Shadow Restrain +20
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