Chapter 1336 - Courting Humiliation
As expected of a seventh-level constellier, Long Youyou was swift and fierce, turning into a black shadow in the blink of an eye. However, Xiaoxiao had defeated an opponent of her level who, at the very least, had been forced to use all of their cards.
The Dragonblood Desecration suddenly appeared in Xiaoxiao's hands, nine blood dragon arrows circling her as red lightning flickered.
“Fool.” The Archaionfiend hung on the Azurecloud Divine Tree with a cold smile.
“Beat her to death!”
Since her opponent had given her an opportunity, she would be letting Tianming down if she didn’t seize it. The Archaionfiend unleashed Bloodblitz Blast, spewing out blood-red lightning. Hundreds of millions of red electric snakes converged into a lightning sphere and burst forth.
The Archaionfiend and Xiaoxiao were both fierce fighters. Thousands of times bigger than Long Youyou, the red lightning sphere almost instantly appeared in front of her. This ability was extremely powerful and relentless.
Meanwhile, Long Youyou was still going easy with her attacks. She wanted to slap Xiaoxiao and send her flying, ending the battle at once. How could she have known that what she assumed was a rabbit would really be a blood-red lion? Amidst the chaos, all five of her lifebound beasts rushed out of her lifebound space and used their bodies to block the explosion. The dragons howled miserably as the red lightning struck, splitting the divine tree. All of the seniors present were stunned. Xiaoxiao released three blood arrows that seemed to disappear in the Bloodblitz Blast. It was impossible to see where they were; the arrows moved faster than the red lightning.
Long Youyou's contempt for her opponent had been a lethal mistake, but it wasn’t her fault that she’d underestimated Xiaoxiao. The latter had never been outstanding. The Voidsky Skirmish had ended not too long ago, and since then, the Archaionfiend had grown stronger by devouring caeli, which was beyond the comprehension of the people of Orderia. Not even Li Wushuang, the Tumulus Pill God, and the other elders knew anything about her.
Despite Long Youyou’s quick reflexes, the Dragonblood Desecration was faster and very precise. Xiaoxiao was very clear about one thing: taking advantage of her opponent's contempt to directly launch a fatal blow was the only opportunity for her to quickly establish an advantage.
Aside from one arrow that was blocked by Long Youyou's lifebound beasts, the others flew in through the gaps. In the face of the oncoming second blood arrow, Long Youyou used all her strength, breaking it with her crimson halberd. Part of the danger had been lifted, but she was covered in cold sweat. There was still a third arrow!
In that instant, the third arrow pierced her belly, the terrifying power of lightning pinning her to the tree. Blood-red lightning exploded. Together with the Archaionfiend’s Bloodblitz Blast, Long Youyou’s delicate skin was immediately charred. Bloodgorge Dragonmark played a deadly role as the third arrow frantically sucked her blood, and in a short period of time, Long Youyou lost nearly an eighth of her blood.
It was only the start of their duel, yet she had suffered heavy damage. Her face was pale and her lips were blue. As she miserably screamed, the desire to survive prompted her to pull out the blood arrow, finally stopping the blood loss. Otherwise, the Dragonblood Desecration would have killed her. Long Youyou tried to hold on to the arrow, but it dragged her with it, its spikes puncturing her hand.
Xiaoxiao stood on the back of the Archaionfiend, her gaze cold. Drawing the bow, she aimed the arrow at Long Youyou once more. It wasn't until that moment that Long Youyou realized what a terrifying opponent she had encountered.
"Come back!" Upon her command, the dragons that had just been separated by the explosion of lightning returned to her side, guarding her. They were fairly advanced dragons. One of them had reached six thousand stars, while the rest were five-star divine beasts. Judging by the number of lifebound beasts and the stars in their eyes, it was clear that Long Youyou’s strength far exceeded Xiaoxiao’s. Unfortunately, she was seriously injured before she could put her advantage to good use.
The evernight netherflame dragons were rather strange and terrifying. After staring for some time, Tianming finally caught a clear glimpse of them. Enveloped in green flames, the dragons had no flesh or blood, only bones. Their bodies were mere skeletons, yet they seemed even more ferocious and gloomy.
"Kill them!" She vomited black blood as she spoke. Looking down, she saw her scorched skin; it would take her at least a few months to recover. During that time, it was unlikely Li Haochen would touch her. Destroying her appearance was a deadly blow to her. The damage to her skin made her even more uncomfortable than being pierced in the abdomen. In fact, it had all happened so quickly that her mind was blank. She didn't dare look at Li Haochen for fear of seeing the disappointment in his eyes.
"What am I doing!" Long Youyou wanted to cry. She had never been such a disappointment. Although her first instinct was to get up and fight, the blood loss and weakness had had a devastating effect on her combat power. "I can't lose or I’ll be humiliated!" At this moment, she was still clearheaded and her dragons were still at their peak. Under Long Youyou’s orders, the evernight netherflame dragons surrounded Xiaoxiao and the Archaionfiend.
"Capture the ringleader and the rest will follow. Wu You, I’ll hand the little ones over to you." Xiaoxiao jumped off its back.
"How can you be so shameless!" the Archaionfiend shouted. How could these evernight netherflame dragons be considered little ones? For a beastmaster like Long Youyou, the strength of her lifebound beasts accounted for at least seventy percent of her power.
As the Archaionfiend angrily cursed, the five bone dragons charged toward it, spewing green flames. Surrounded and beaten, the Archaionfiend let out a scream. Meanwhile, one of the dragons went after Xiaoxiao.
Using the branches and leaves as cover, Xiaoxiao nimbly moved around the battlefield. It wasn’t as easy for the dragon. Countless attacks and green flames collapsed and burned the surrounding greenery, almost engulfing Xiaoxiao several times. After a while, she completely disappeared in a flicker of red lightning.
“Over here!”
Dragging her injured body, Long Youyou attempted another attack. To her surprise, Xiaoxiao turned around and intently stared at her. Hair fluttering in the wind, Xiaoxiao released three blood arrows again.
“What?” In that moment, Long Youyou understood. Xiaoxiao had separated from the Archaionfiend just to seek her out. But the realization came too late. Despite fleeing and dodging, a blood arrow pierced her thigh, bringing her to her knees. Another heart-wrenching scream split the air. Watching a delicate beauty being tortured like this had the audience close to tears.
Two other dragons turned around and chased after Xiaoxiao, their abilities leaving wounds and sharp claws digging into her flesh. She was almost roasted by the sea of fire several times, but she singlemindedly stared at Long Youyou, aiming and releasing arrow after arrow.
Long Youyou’s severe injuries had given Xiaoxiao an opportunity. Thus, the battlefield was divided into two; on one side, the Archaionfiend fought three dragons alone, and on the other side two dragons chased after Xiaoxiao while she closely followed Long Youyou, shooting arrows.
Long Youyou screamed as she bled more and more. Every hit of the Dragonblood Desecration was lethal.
Xiaoxiao's control of the Dragonblood Desecration wasn’t what it used to be. Long Youyou was pinned to the tree again. This time, the arrow pierced through her chest and two more nailed her hands to the tree, giving her no chance to even struggle.
Her shrill screams made the watchers’ scalps tingle.
"If you don't admit defeat, you’ll die." Slammed into the ground by the dragons, Xiaoxiao spat a mouthful of blood. Despite her sorry state, her words crushed Long Youyou.
“Stop! Don’t shoot! I surrender!” she cried.
The first duel had come to an end. The beginning, middle, and end was a huge contrast from what the spectators expected. Everyone blankly looked at Xiaoxiao. The entire scene was silent except for Long Youyou's tragic cries. Even Tianming was sluggish with shock. With this opening battle, Xiaoxiao had directly knocked the celestial orderians and Veildragon Palace to the ground and trampled on their faces.
"It looks like I won’t have to fight." Tianming couldn't help laughing.
Lingfeng was confident that he could defeat an eighth-level constellier, as long as they were a totemancer. Even if Li Ruoshi hadn’t belittled Lingfeng, her strength was definitely not on par with his. Therefore, two wins out of three were guaranteed; Tianming was destined to take a back seat.
……
Amid the silence, Xiaoxiao put away the Dragonblood Desecration and left with the Archaionfiend.
"My apologies. The sword is blind. Thank goodness you were only hurt, not killed. With your resources, you’ll recover soon." Xiaoxiao paused and turned to Long Youyou. "If we’re given the chance to fight again, I hope you’ll consider me a real opponent."
Xiaoxiao’s words hit Long Youyou where it hurt. The Veildragon Palace disciple had just climbed to her feet when she heard Xiaoxiao’s mockery and spat another mouthful of blood, her anger resulting in loss of consciousness. In fact, she was lucky she fainted. The five dragons looked dumbfounded. If she had taken her opponent seriously, Xiaoxiao might not have defeated her, and even if she succeeded, it would have at least been a narrowly-decided life and death battle.
Instead, the outcome was unbelievable. Almost no one spoke for several minutes. The Azuresoul Palace and their allies were naturally pleasantly surprised. They finally had an outlet for all the anger they had repressed.
"What’re you doing? Celebrate!" Yan Nuxia shouted.
The swordpupils finally responded.
"Lin Xiaoxiao!" Her name shook the earth.
That made Xiaoxiao extremely nervous and she immediately hid behind Tianming. In this situation, all he could do was burst out in laughter. The situation was the embodiment of courting humiliation. The people across from them were smoldering beneath their stony expressions.
“Does it feel good?” Tianming asked.
"Well I feel great! Every shot felt so satisfying," said Long Wanying.