Chapter 1656 - Cherry Blossom Disaster
"Ugh!" Ying lashed out with her Azure Swordriver Storm, tearing the black roots apart. Though Evernight Curse and Trisoul Fiendsong didn't seem to be that effective, they weren't completely without effect. While she hadn't suffered much damage after being slammed around by Tianming's lifebound beasts, she was still badly annoyed. She charged out and immediately homed in on Tianming. However, the lightning-fast black cat buzzed around in front of her without panicking, eluding her every strike.
"Bleergh!" Meow Meow even blew a raspberry with its pink tongue. She didn't know how to react, shocked by a sudden infusion of affection for cuteness that instantly wiped away her sense of annoyance. Right that instant, danger approached.
"Huh?!" She looked up and saw a sea of swords all pointing at her. In the middle of them was Tianming with the black Grand-Orient Sword, his hair fluttering in the wind. Then, all of them came bearing down. The sharp sound of swords piercing the air gave her a great shock; Tianming had used his lifebound beasts to draw her attention away from him. She had just come to understand that his totems were even more terrifying. Yet his lifebound beasts' attacks weren’t letting up! Ying had lost the opportunity to break out of the group attack and suffered quite a bit from the relentless bombardment from all directions.
In battles such as these, it would be better to snap one finger rather than wound ten. Had she chosen to deal with Lan Huang and Xian Xian first, both of whom were far larger and easier targets to hit, she might have fared better. But now, facing the barrage of swords, she was forced to rise up into the air and push her astralforce and sacrosun to full power. She manifested an illusion around a thousand meters tall. It was one of her abilities.
"Try taking this strike." She used an eighth-realm divine art, Cherry Blossom Disaster. Among her peers, she was the only one to have practiced an eighth-realm divine art, which were often called sovereign divine arts as only those at the sovereign level of power could use them to their full potential. However, even being able to learn a small part of it was enough. It was clear from her execution of the move that the level of power the move could express far outstripped a seventh-realm divine art. For manna, battle arts, and lifebound beasts, any that were grade eight or above were completely different.
Even though it was only a single sword strike, it turned into a sea of cherry blossoms. The gigantic illusion looked similar to the nova source giant that Tianming brought out of the Primodragon Cave, being formed by the sword ki of the sword strike. It went charging toward Tianming's sea of swords and there was only one word to describe it: beautiful! Though Ying had neither face nor hair, she looked like a flower goddess, perfectly blending in with the sword intent of her divine art. The fog parted as the sword strike was unleashed, scattering pollen all over the place.
Using Cherry Blossom Disaster with brute strength, Ying clashed with Tianming's Myriadsword Providence in the air. The two of them were surrounded by sword formations as the totems clashed with the cherry blossoms, with neither gaining the edge. Not even Tianming's six-in-one fusion strike was able to take down Ying's attack! As the clash unfolded, the smaller versions of the many decapath era godswords flowed like beautiful rivers.
The stalemate lasted until Tianming's lifebound beasts rejoined the fray. Ying Huo and Meow Meow came to his side where Meow Meow wrapped its lightning abilities around Tianming's totems and used its abilities for sneak attacks. His sovereign beast, Ying Huo, was even more troublesome; it charged in with more bravado than Lan Huang, using its formidable store of energy to take the brunt of her cherry blossom giant.
"Agh!" Ying furrowed her brows, clearly frustrated. Though she wanted a fair fight with Tianming and his totems, she also knew that lifebound beasts were a legitimate part of his arsenal. Xian Xian then launched its Bloodrain Swords and Demise Greenloti at her, disrupting her ability and attack even further!
"You're cheating! How can you have lifebound beasts and totems?!" She was about to puke. Being a specter, she always felt like she was being ganged up on when fighting beastmasters or totemancers. However, she was used to it, and she had the advantage of being the single strongest fighting unit in a group fight. Usually, she was able to break through any group attack with a heavy blow and fighting in the wondersky realm was even more advantageous for her. Yet now, running into a 'dual cultivator' had made it hard for her to employ her usual strategies. If Ying Huo and Meow Meow weren't so agile, she might still stand a chance. However, she wasn't able to capture Meow Meow even with her specter vigor.
Eventually, the cherry blossom giant was rammed to the ground by Lan Huang and bound with Radiant Vines. That created a huge problem for her. Ying Huo and Meow Meow didn't let up on their attacks, either, and were driving her insane. "Aaaagh, this is getting annoying!"
The giant slammed Lan Huang away and tore off the Radiant Vines, regaining some freedom. However, Tianming's barrage of swords came striking at both of its flanks once more. Using his combat experience, Tianming showed the spectators for the very first time how a dual cultivator truly fought. It was likely that only Tianming, Qingyu, and Li Wudi were able to pull off such techniques in the entire universe. Totems had better synergy with the user than lifebound beasts, which only enhanced Tianming's capabilities as a beastmaster even further.
"So long, Ying!" He didn't hold back in the slightest, attacking with his four beasts and nine totems. Lan Huang roared, suppressing the giant again as he used his fusion strike with Ying Huo and Meow Meow, raining blows down on the giant and piercing through Ying's sacrosun countless times, tearing away at her defenses one by one.
"How powerful...." This was Ying's heartfelt thought. Tianming's position kept rising in her mind to the point of being able to shake her soul. As the gold Grand-Orient Sword had been shattered, Tianming didn't dare to strike her sword, the Skycloud Soul, with his only remaining black sword. Even so, his totems tore through her Cherry Blossom Disaster, raining down devastation with the full force of the Frozen Glasstree. It pierced through the Azure Swordriver Storm sword ki and froze Ying's left arm, then the black frost spread throughout her body before turning into flames.
"Aagh!" she cried in pain, though her strong will kicked in as she cut off her arm with her sword. Many in the Mysterium Cluster fell silent as they watched her amputate her own limb.