"Sh*t, this flame is powerful…." Murong Ying cried out in surprise. The [Saber of Azure Dragon] was originally his, so he understood it quite well. Not only had the giant saber required complex methods and a good three thousand pounds of Refined Iron in order to be made with such quality, but there were two formations embedded within as well. The first contained the malicious energy of the azure dragon that could be used defensively against enemies that tried to get close, and the second was for this blue flame.
This blue flame was the fire of damned spirits, and a single touch was enough to set a person ablaze with the fire burning straight into the person's flesh—vicious to the extreme. In order to activate the second formation, however, an extremely large amount of Qi was required; even Murong Ying at his sixth tier of cultivation had just barely enough to activate it. Yet Fang Xing—at tier four—was able to activate it with ease.
Murong Ying was left momentarily dumbstruck. The only thought in his mind was that he had to somehow get away.
"The Hammer of Yang is for the enemy; the Hammer of Yin is for your own protection…." It was at that moment that a cold voice rose up beside him. The much-needed guidance had come from the man in the pale-green robe, Ye Tianlong.
Murong Ying reacted by filling the smaller hammer with as much Qi as he could manage. With a few crackling sounds, the smaller hammer transformed itself into the shape of a shield and served as a barrier at his front.
"Hrm?" Fang Xing had heard the words of guidance as well and looked towards Ye Tianlong with distaste. "These hammers are yours?"
Ye Tianlong nodded with pride. "That's correct!"
Fang Xing gave a smirk. "Good. I'll destroy this hammer first before teaching you a lesson as well, bastard!"
Ye Tianlong's expression immediately changed. In all these years, no one had ever spoken such crude words to him.
"Murong Ying, I—your grandfather—am not going to play around with you anymore, so come at me for real this time." As soon as Fang Xing finished speaking, he ignored Ye Tianlong and began walking towards Murong Ying with saber in hand.
"Heh heh, you're out of tricks, ay? I doubt you have any more tricks up that sleeve of yours!" Murong Ying coldly replied while making light of Fang Xing. His left hand held the Hammer of Yang while in his right was the Hammer of Yin.
"Tricks? I've got plenty. I just don't need to use any of them against you." Fang Xing took large steps and continued with a frigid tone, "The first time you acted so arrogant in front of me was because of your foolishness. But now that you're provoking me a second time, it only means that I let you off too easily the first time. Today, I'm going to beat you until you understand once and for all!"
As Fang Xing spoke, Qi was visibly filling up the blade as he held the weapon with a single hand. He was not reserved at all this time, and his Qi was poured right into the [Saber of Azure Dragon]. In moments, one seal after another began to light up the saber, and the entire aura surrounding it changed. Along with a howl like that of a dragon's, the malicious energy of the azure dragon departed from the blade itself and coiled around Fang Xing instead. Golden flames on the back of the blade also began to materialize, and the two energies—one blue, one gold—began to dance around Fang Xing's body like two large dragons.
"How… how is this possible?" Murong Ying wanted to curse, but when the nature of what he was seeing began to dawn on him, he couldn't stop the quiver in his voice. He almost couldn't believe what he was witnessing; it was as though he was seeing a ghost in broad daylight. He knew the [Saber of Azure Dragon] well, else he wouldn't have spent such a large fortune to purchase it in the first place. However, it was precisely because he knew so much about the saber that this was so unbelievable to him.
The [Saber of Azure Dragon] was a rare high-grade spirit weapon that contained the malicious energy of an azure dragon sealed within, coupled with the formation of the golden flame. At its maximum potential, the azure dragon would be used as a type of shield for the user while the golden flame was used as an aggressive form of attack. Unleashing both at the same time could even increase the battle power of its user by threefold, allowing its user to fight against opponents of a higher cultivation level.
However, just as the person selling the saber had said, the saber contained great power but the requirements for its wielder were also rather high. At Murong Ying's cultivation level of Spirit Stage tier six, neither his Qi nor his raw strength was enough to unleash its maximum potential; he'd only be able to do so once he reached tier seven.
Yet this boy in front of him—at a mere tier four—had now released the saber's full potential?
Watching from afar, Ye Tianlong had his jaw drop as well, his look of disdain disappearing and quickly replaced with a grave expression. He could sense a measure of threat coming from Fang Xing that was far more powerful than someone merely at tier four.
As for the rest of the Duanzhen Valley disciples, they were all so astonished they had all but forgotten to breathe.
With the saber in one hand, the malicious energy of the azure dragon and the golden flame both coiled around Fang Xing's body. His appearance was akin to that of a demonic deity that had fallen from the heavens.
"Break!" Fang Xing moved thirty feet closer towards Murong Ying while releasing a loud yell. The movements were neither fancy nor superfluous as the blade was lifted for a clean strike.
BOOM
A golden flame rose up along the saber's edge, transforming itself into the shape of a giant ten-foot blade—vivid and lifelike—as it sliced straight down for Murong Ying.
"Ahh—!" Murong Ying screamed and did everything he could to pour Qi into the Hammer of Yin to have it form a shield covering his head.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
As the flame-blade fell, all of its energy was seemingly absorbed by the mystic shield formed by the hammer, and the fire fell to the sides like drops of water. Murong Ying was not harmed by the direct impact, but the extreme weight of the saber slammed into the shield like a fierce dragon, causing Murong Ying's body beneath to ache while his Qi became uncontrollably wild. At the same time, he could feel that the earth beneath his feet had softened, and he'd sank into the earth all the way up to his knees.
Even if a person could hold an umbrella beneath a waterfall to shield themselves from coming into contact with the water, the weight and force of the waterfall itself still had to be endured.
A mouthful of blood spurted out from Murong Ying as such a great force left him with internal injuries.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Fang Xing thought this was fun, and so he went for a few more strikes with his saber. Every single blow was like a giant hammer as it pounded away at Murong Ying.
TING. TING. TING.
With every pound, Murong Ying found himself pushed deeper and deeper into the earth like a nail, until everything below his chest was buried. His face was pale and blood stained the edges of his mouth, and there wasn't enough leeway for the slightest of struggle. He wasn't actually a nail, after all, and yet he had been hammered into the earth just like one; who knew just how many bones had already been broken from all this?
When it came to powerful weapons, it would still be useless without the knowledge of how to use it. Although the [Yin-Yang Hammers] was a spirit weapon on par with the [Saber of Azure Dragon], Murong Ying had only just borrowed it without even having time to familiarize himself with it. He was unable to utilize its actual power, and could only use it as a shield when faced with Fang Xing's forceful attacks. This had led to him being turned into a nail with Fang Xing hammering him into the earth.
Clang….
Since Murong Ying was so badly wounded, the Qi link between him and the [Yin-Yang Hammers] also ceased. The hammer returned back to its original shape and fell to the ground.
After seeing that the hammer hadn't suffered even the slightest amount of damage or dent after so many strikes, Fang Xing held up his saber and spoke to himself with surprise, "Heh, this thing is pretty tough. It's still intact?"
"Looks like I lent my hammers to the wrong person!" Ye Tianlong coldly laughed and slowly walked closer. "Shidi Murong, you're not familiar with these hammers of mine, so you're still no match for the boy even if you use it. It's best that you return it back to me." Although he had spoken lightly, he was in fact quite afraid. The boy was much stronger than he had anticipated, and if his paired hammers had really been destroyed, that would have been terribly bad news for him.
"You still want it back? I, your grandpa, said that I am going to destroy this weapon of yours, so I am going to destroy them." Fang Xing focused on the twin hammers and activated the [Book of Revelation] to locate a weak spot, and his gaze soon landed on the iron chain linking the two hammers together. "I see how it is, heh heh. Both hammers were crafted with bronze and Black Iron to make them extremely solid and sturdy, yet this chain has only Black Iron…."
After realizing the weak point of the [Yin-Yang Hammers], Fang Xing suddenly brandished his saber between the twin hammers, sending them flying into the air. Then, with a sudden turn of his hand and a 'TING', the edge of the blade landed on the iron chain connecting the pair. Although the hammers themselves might have been extremely durable, the iron chain was comparatively brittle; when faced with the saber's sharpness, the [Yin-Yang Hammers] were split apart.
"You…. You seriously broke my spirit weapon?" As Ye Tianlong slowly walked forward from afar, his expression suddenly changed.
He hadn't originally believed Fang Xing would be able to destroy his spirit weapon. The truth was, not even he himself knew how to destroy the weapon, let alone this boy of merely tier four. Yet when he saw Fang Xing send the twin hammers into the air, he knew something bad was going to happen. When he saw that Fang Xing had truly landed the final strike and the iron chain had been broken, his expression had changed and he'd immediately rushed forward.
Yet Ye Tianlong was still too late. The speed of Fang Xing's strike was so fast, how could he have possibly prevented it? The iron chain was cut into two before he was even within ten feet, and both hammers—one large, one small—fell separately to the ground.
"You seek death!" Ye Tianlong screamed. In a burst of fury and grief, he summoned a sword made of fire and pierced straight towards Fang Xing's back.
TING
The moment the sword of fire made contact with Fang Xing's back, its flames spread out like a fireball and engulfed Fang Xing within.
"The kid… has he been burned alive?" Ye Tianlong was actually surprised and stood dumbfounded in place; he hadn't expected that Fang Xing wouldn't evade his attack at all. He had originally intended to come and watch a show after Murong Ying invited him from outside Duanzhen Valley, and he hadn't intended to join in on any kind of fight with anyone. Of course, this was also because he didn't think the boy would actually be that strong. Fang Xing was just a young boy in Spirit Stage tier four; even if he was a bit strong for his tier, what did it ultimately matter?
It was when Ye Tianlong saw Fang Xing actually cut apart his [Yin-Yang Hammers] that he couldn't restrain himself any longer. The iron chain was the only thing keeping the two hammers connected and allowed Qi to flow freely between them, on top of also being capable of freely changing its length. It was only with this link that the [Yin-Yang Hammers] was considered a high-grade spirit weapon; with a broken chain, they would drop in quality and only be considered two spirit weapons of the mid-grade.
Ye Tianlong himself was now feeling rather apprehensive. He knew that for his dear shifu to personally invite the boy to join Duanzhen Valley meant there had to be something in Fang Xing that his shifu approved of. If he burned the boy alive today, his shifu might actually blame and punish him.
As Ye Tianlong felt all sorts of regret, a cold voice abruptly resounded out from inside the fireball, "It seems I haven't made a name for myself if even cats and dogs try to take a piece of me. Seems I'll have to set an example!"