1109 Animosity
The Blue Phoenix Empress activated her [Awakening], which manifested in a blue armor that perfectly accentuated her well-developed body and two blue-black wings attached to her back. The interesting part about this armor was the small science fiction, making it resemble a mech instead of an ancient battle armor.
Blue Phoenix rushed to her opponent, using her long nails as a weapon. Hong Wa, also in her [Awakened] form, which gave her a red marking around her eyes and chains attached to her weapons, easily blocked this attack with one of her swords. However, her eyes immediately squinted.
"Feel it, don't you?" sneered Blue Phoenix. "Your weapon can no longer suppress me."
"Did the Commerce Hub give you something?" asked Hong Wa; powerful shockwaves destroyed the surroundings as their weapons clashed.
"What do you think?" The Commerce Hub offered Blue Phoenix a talisman that would make her completely immune to the suppression of those two swords. So, she did not hesitate to take this opportunity to get her revenge.
"So, that's why an arrogant woman like yourself chooses to become someone else's lap dog. "
"You think your words can influence my mind? You're wrong," sneered Blue Phoenix. "Once I'm done with you, I will kill every human in your world and build a trophy room with all their heads."
Hong Wa's body released a terrifying aura full of anger, rage, and killing intention.
"Angry? Hahaha, don't worry. I'll leave you a little bit of consciousness to experience with your eyes as I kill every single one of them," sneered Blue Phoenix in an aggravating tone.
Hong Wa's eyes turned red.
[Pure Yang Flame Slash]
She released a red cross-shaped slash with her weapon. The heat from the slash burned off the chaotic time energy in the void. However, Blue Phoenix easily dodged the attack, not even bothering to freeze it. She turned into a blue light, traveling with such immense speed that she appeared to have teleported.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtHong Wa moved her head to dodge the claw attack, but a small cut appeared across her beautiful face. Then, an intense cold emanated from the cut, so she had to use her Pure Yang Dao to resist.
Boom!
Hong Wa raised her sword to block the kick, but the force pushed her a few thousand meters, skidding in the void like solid ground.
[Heavenly Sun Annihilation]
She created a sun so red that it became dark before exploding in a large-scale area attack. The Blue Phoenix Empress surrounded herself in a domain of ice or cold energy to protect herself before rushing into her opponent.
[Yin-Yang Unbalance]
Blue Phoenix's body released a blue light, which resonated with a red light from Hong Wa's body. Then, the Demon Suppression Emperor's body started to fall apart. Firstly, her right arm rapidly turned into a gooey liquid, as if all the bones had vanished. Then, the left side of her body also began to liquefy.
"Wake up."
The redness in Hong Wa's eyes rapidly dissipated. "Lord Wang Wei?"
"Don't let anger overwhelm your mind."
After these words, she felt the clarity of her mind and immediately acted. The opponent's technique used the fact that she cultivated Pure Yang Dao while the other cultivated Ice-Yin Dao to create a Yin-Yang Resonance between their bodies; then, she destroyed the balance inside her body.
Had she been of sound mind, this process would not have been so easy due to her superior control over her body and Dao. So, after re-establishing the balance, Hong Wa's body returned to normal, but her expression was slightly pale.
'How did she wake up so easily?' thought Blue Phoenix. She used a powerful yin/soul technique to affect her opponent's mind and soul, and adding the fact that she targeted the latter's flaw, it should not be so easy for Hong Wa to wake up.
'Did someone interfere? But why didn't I sense something?' She can only assume her opponent had another way to protect her soul. Blue Phoenix raised her hand to summon an Ice Trident.
[Frozen Time]
A deep blue ice chill encapsulated the surrounding void, and the River of Time stopped flowing. Hong Wa's body could not move as it froze in time, and she could not move. As she watched her opponent rush forward with the obvious intention to impale her, she reacted.
[Burning Time]
Hong Wa's body released a terrifying flame that burned the frozen time. She parried the trident with one sword while immediately countering with the second. Blue Phoenix blocked with the other end of her trident. She opened her mouth to release a terrifying blizzard breath, but Hong Wa responded in kind with a fiery breath.
[Pure Yang Slash]
Hong Wa released a pure white slash with no flame energy or power, yet this was a pure yang-based technique. Why is that? It's because in Taoism, Pure Yang is the purest form of vitality or energy in the universe, and her attack is based on this idea.
Blue Phoenix's face changed. The sudden shift was unexpected. In her mind, Hong Wa's attack should have been more flame-focused, like most Pure Yang Dao cultivators. She manifested a towering ice wall larger than thousands of galaxy clusters to defend herself. However, the white slash cut through them like a heated knife cutting through butter. Such an act bought her enough time to gather strength to confront the slash with her trident directly; she did not try to evade it as she detected the speed of this thing and the fact it locked into her aura.
Bang!
Blue Phoenix stopped the attack, but it left countless cuts on her body, which healed instantly due to her Ice Phoenix Bloodline. As a subspecies of Phoenix, they were still a resilient Innate Demon despite not reaching the same level as Flame Phoenixes in the healing department.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The two clashed constantly, using countless techniques. Anyone approaching their area would freeze to death or experience spontaneous combustion. However, their strength was relative, making the outcome difficult to decide.
Suddenly, the two separated while glancing at each other. They knew they could not continue as such, so they must use their best technique to end this fight as swiftly as possible.
"Can I ask you something?" said Hong Wa.
"I don't mind listening to your last words."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Why do you hate me so much?" asked Hong Wa. "At first, I thought it was because of what I did to the demon race in my world. But after so many encounters, I can tell this animosity is personal."
"Because you killed the love of my life."
"Who exactly are you talking about?" She had killed too many demons to remember.
"His name was Ye Tuzhi, and he was my everything," said Blue Phoenix, her eyes full of love, reminiscence, hatred, and hope. However, Hong Wa frowned, not remembering anyone with this name. In fairness, she did not know the names of most of the demons she killed.
"Before my bloodline awakened, I was only a regular Ice Swan, which made my family treat me like the biggest disgrace in the world." The Heavenly Ice Swan clan is powerful and respected in the Desolate Demon World, but she was a regular Ice Swan despite being born in such a clan and the patriarch lineage.
"I met him when he came to our clan for a rare resource to temper his body. He did not care for my status, blood, or future potential. He treated me kindly, even granting me my first gift. From that day on, I swore I would prove the Dao so I could be worthy of him."
Blue Phoenix gritted her teeth. "So, imagine my surprise when I learned that something had happened to his world, and when I rushed over, you had killed all the demons in that world." The killing aura on her body increased.
"No matter what, I must kill all of you humans to avenge him and get my hands on his imprint from your world to revive him."
Hong Wa was speechless. She had spent enough time with Xin, the Dream World's Dao Heart Spirit, to understand this woman had developed an obsession with whoever Ye Tuzhi was because the latter was the only person ever kind to her. The worst part is she did not even remember who the person she supposedly killed was.
'She's obviously crazy, but it's best not to say anything.' She did not want to emotionally rile up this woman and give her a power-up. Although such a tactic might affect her mind, it's more likely that she entered a calming rage state.
"Let's end this once and for all."
"No problem with me," sneered Blue Phoenix.
[Pure Yang State]
Hong Wa released a blinding white light, and once it abated, she had pure white armor with a skirt and pants perfectly accentuating each other. Even her weapons and chains had become pure white, granting her a pure, noble, and holy aura.
Blue Phoenix immediately furrowed her brows.
'This is unexpected,' she thought.