Two forces clashed.
A massive mud dragon versus the power of blizzard, sandstorm, among other natural disasters.
As the fight begins the mud dragon is rapidly pushed backwards, alongside it.
Le Tu's body also stumbled several steps.
Even in the very first instant he was rapidly overwhelmed.
He gritted his teeth; he felt like a mere ant trying to collide directly against a dinosaur.
Even Qin Jiji shouted.
"Is that all? As a Grandmaster is this the limit of your strength?"
But Le Tu merely sighed inwardly.
While his Dao Marks were clearly inferior, there was another reason of why he lost ground so rapidly.
His pupils trembled.
A sharp pain reached his stomach.
His organs were tainted by grey; he almost fell to his knees but he resisted the urge.
He could not allow himself to fall here.
He also could not reveal a clue, victory or defeat depended in whether he could conceal this aspect.
While this happened.
Qiao Yun expression changed.
"The pain is actually receding?" He wondered inwardly, still observing Qin Jiji.
Then, his gaze turned towards Le Tu himself.
And saw that same aura being emitted from his body, that when he fought against Uru Hong Jing.
"Did he activate The ground bears the weight of every footstep at such point? Why? Why would he do this?" But then his pupils shrank.
He turned his gaze towards Qin Jiji who even now was strangling him.
Realization dawned upon his face.
"So that is your plan? Le Tu." Qiao Yun remained silent, in his current position using a powerful Killer Move would do him no good.
Furthermore, whilst the damage was slowly receding it was still there.
Understanding this, he silently activated the Gu's with the most silent aura he had, to suppress the fluctuations within, all while he activated a couple of Mortal Healing Gu's.
In the outside, not much was happening but within it was an spectacle of lights, as the damage within his body slowly got repaired.
And Qin Jiji was none the wiser.
But where she was unable to find anything, Shung Mia Yin's eyes shone like pearls, her excitement reached her peak.
"Those two…They truly know each too well, without saying a single word. They already know what the other's going to do."
Even Jing Sheng Yang, the flame stopped on its tracks.
"Those two, if they actually do win my plans will be affected greatly!"
If it could the flames, would have frowned.
"If the situation turns as I fear, what do I do. Do I change my plans and choose Le Tu instead?"
But the flame shook its own body.
"No, no, I cannot do that. Heavenly Court would never accept a half-breed."
The flame grew resolute.
"Even if I have to sacrifice this aperture temporarily, the other plans cannot be affected."
…
Le Tu let out a soft groan.
His mind and body were reaching their limits, the gap between their strengths was too great.
Yet. Even though he was reaching his limits, his expression was of pure ectasis.
For he had managed to hold on!
With his remaining strength, he lifted his palm.
Moving towards the second phase of his Killer Move.
Suddenly, the force driving his body tripled.
Qin Jiji who was easily overwhelming him, raised her eyebrows in surprise.
Before chuckling.
"I knew you were hiding something. A second Killer Move? Well, as if that will change a-" Her expression rapidly changed into one of horror.
Qiao Yun raised his middle and index finger, and from them a powerful ray was rapidly shoot.
Instinctively she activated a defensive Killer Move to barely keep herself alive, even so, her expression rapidly changed.
"How? How are you able to move after receiving my Killer Move? With a dose so high, driving enough Immortal Essence to even activate a simple Mortal Killer Move should be impossible!" The expression in her face turned incredibly ugly.
Using that chance, he managed to get himself away from the grasp of her hands.
Qiao Yun however did not reply.
During the past minutes, Le Tu had in simple terms slowly taken the burden of the Killer Move through his own body and flesh.
He had done so steadily and silently, at just the right dose so his body could handle it, whilst silently treating himself of those same wounds he inflicted to himself.
Of course, his strength was affected.
Which was why he lost the initiative this quickly.
But whilst his move made him lose his initiative, it also brought him a powerful ally.
At this final conjecture, in the very end of the battle.
There was a hanging piece.
Qiao Yun kept pressing his fingertips shining with deadly aura, if Qin Jiji dared even stop for a fraction of a second, her neck would be severed and she would die.
Of course, Qin Jiji tried to retaliate, with a free hand she tried to summon her powers to strike, but Qiao Yun merely retreated backwards.
Whilst this happened, the tides of Le Tu's might resonated from the side.
Qin Jiji's expression changed.
Why did the situation change all of a sudden?
What had happened?
What miscalculation had she made?
Just how could he heal so quickly?
A myriad of questions entered into her brain, but they were all pushed away.
She screamed intensively, trying to push her aura to its highest point, and yet-
For a fraction of a second, she stared ahead.
A massive wildfire was sprouting out behind Le Tu.
While generally she would have paid no heed, especially not in her current circumstances.
There was an invisible force that drove her to watch, and as she did.
Her mind turned completely blank.
She opened her eyes.
Her lack of consciousness was for less than a hundredth of a second, yet her wavering force, whilst sustaining those Killer Moves brought a lapse to her defenses.
The cut in her neck growing deeper, so much so that it forced her to neglect the other side.
And that is when things reached their breaking point.
The two forces overwhelmed, it seemed that in a matter of seconds she would cease to be.
But before that could happen, from the flames themselves Shung Mia Yin materialized from thin air.
Upon seeing her Qiao Yun finally took a deep breath.
Whilst the adrenaline, danger and especially usage of Gu Worms had enabled him to persist for so long, his mind and body had been utterly drained.
He allowed himself to fall unconscious, and his flow of energy stopped.
Similarly, Le Tu stopped inputting his force, but unlike his friend he could not stop completely just yet.
Even so Shung Mia Yin did not seem bothered by this.
With a simple gesture aided by Immortal Gu power and tremendous Heavenly Energy, she deflected effortlessly his move.
Afterwards she stared at the wildfire ahead of her, with a peculiar frown.
"Huh? Why did a wildfire come out?" She muttered to herself.
With a simply gesture that wildfire was settled too.
After doing this, she turned her gaze towards the gravely wounded Qin Jiji and thought regretfully.
"She was strong, and her chances of winning despite everything were still high. What a shame that she failed her Killer Move at that conjecture. Then again, she could not endure the pressure so I guess she was not worthy to be my master."
Upon thinking of this, she began to heal her.
Perhaps she was not 'worthy' to be her master, but her value to the Qin Clan was still considerable.
If she were to die, her future master would be in deep trouble.
Speaking of which.
She turned her body towards Le Tu, and bowed herself deeply.
"Le Tu, through this whole journey I've been deeply in awe towards you.
Not only is your strength mighty despite your shallow Cultivation, but you remain stead and firm in your principles, a quality is that seldomly seen in the Immortal World.
Please allow me to serve you forever."
Le Tu however stood there with a puzzled expression, even now he could not believe he had won so easily.
Even though he seemed at his wit's end, he still had a couple of trump cards he had yet to use, and Qin Jiji too seemed to be the same.
Yet.
Her focus wavered.
But how could that be?
He felt something fishy had just happened, but he could not discern what.
He frowned deeply, trying to find an answer.
Before shaking his head.
"Whatever the reason, I am just glad this is over…"
Meanwhile.
Kao Dao Ji stood there amidst the skies, with his arms crossed he observed with a tiny smile in his face.
Ahead of him lied, a white sphere which seemed to be made of thick metal, such as silver or aluminum.
Yet in truth it still belonged to Cloud Path, still the usage of Gu's to harden, to rough up, to refine its edges and so on, made it almost completely unrecognizable.
In a way that he could disfigure a cloud so greatly, was a proof of mastery on its own.
Regardless, while it looked neat and beautiful like a pearl from outside, within it was a completely different story.
Kao Dao Ji's eyes shone to reveal its insides.
Unlike the solid-steel like surface, this one looked far messier instead.
Hundreds upon hundreds of distinct folds were stacked on top of each other, they were continuously flowing and moving.
Their overall shape somewhat uncannily resembled the human brain.
And just like the human brain employed this method to increase the surface area, of the brain matter without creating an overly bloated massive brain.
The purpose of those stacked-clouds, was too to compress several layers on top of each other, in the minimum amount of space as possible.
And why was this done?
Well.
Across the 'brain.'
There were several scattered thunder rocks.
But that was not all.
As if this structure was an amalgamate entity of the brain and the human heart, it was continuously throbbing and beating.
As this happened, some of the thunder rocks shattered into countless of pieces under the pressure.
And as this happened, white and blue lighting surged through shining vibrantly, so shining in fact that it could be seen through even from the outside.
From another angle, that white spherical construct, looked like a white skull which from time to time, was illuminated by eerily blue pale lights.
Regardless.
Those folds not only destroyed those thunder rocks into smaller chunks, but they also contained the lighting source after those rocks were destroyed.
Still.
That did not meant the job was done.
After all, the lighting was as dangerous and difficult to handle as ever.
At most, he had changed the container of an earth path material into something that was easier to handle.
A lot of future steps needed to be done to turn that energy into something safe, still there was some progress.
Whilst Kao Dao Ji was immersed into those thoughts.
Suddenly.
His eyebrows were raised, as he said.
"Le Tu finally replied to my letter?"