Against The Heavens

"Oh, it seems you were expecting me?"

He had made sure that Xun Qiu or her group had been unable to send any messages, and he could not think of anyone else that might have sent a message about his presence. There was also the matter of what Fan Long called him, Golden Dragon Prince. Was he confusing him with someone else? Fan Long stood up, his body like an iron tower as he looked at Li Yang with a calm and composed gaze, slowly starting to talk.

"A little over a day ago, I got a short message from one of the group leaders, a male youth who went by the name of Cai Xuegang. Nice kid, always followed his elder sisters advice. The message was very short, only containing a quick description of a person, as well as the words "Unknown enemy". That was the last we heard of him and his group. Half a day later, we suddenly lost contact with the group of Xun Qiu."

Li Yang had no idea who Cai Xuegang was, but thanks to the timing, he could guess that he was most likely the leader of the group that contained a member of the Abyss Eye race. Seems like he had managed to send a message immediately after surviving Li Yang"s first attack, truly commendable reflexes. Fan Long continued to talk calmly, slowly walking forwards, dropping down from the scaffolding.

"Losing contact with two of my groups within half a day, I would be a fool if I didn"t realize that something was wrong. Using the description given by Cai Xuegang, I could easily guess at your ident.i.ty. And since you dealt with two of our groups, I figured that there was a good chance you would come to look for me, as it would be easier to finish off all of us like that."

Li Yang listened with a rather interested expression. The description Cai Xuegang sent was most likely of how Li Yang looked when he had fused with Jinwu and Shenlong, could it be that there was someone rather famous that closely resembled that look? Fan Long swiped his interspatial ring, a thick iron pole appearing in his hand. His expression sunk as he pointed it at Li Yang, his voice growing sharp.

"I don"t know why someone like you left the depths of the Cloud Wilderness, but as it was my duty as commander to make sure that all the members of the sect made it back home, I cannot forgive you for your actions. Even if you are the youngest son of the Demon Emperor, I must seek vengeance for those lost disciples."

Li Yang finally understood. it seemed like the youngest son of the Demon Emperor, the true ruler of the Cloud Wilderness, was someone who looked a lot like Li Yang after he fused with his Demonic beasts. Li Yang could not be bothered to clear up the misunderstanding, so he merely shrugged his shoulders and stated his stance.

"I really don"t care about any of that, I just came here to ask who the current leader of your sect is."

Li Yang just wanted to know if the current leader of Heaven"s Gate was someone that he knew, he could not be bothered with Fan Long"s sense of duty. But it seemed like Fan Long had no interest in answering, his lips curling into a slightly mocking smile.

"Oh, so the Golden Dragon Prince is interested in the Sect Leader? And here I thought you had nearly no interest in the outside world. But it matters not, I will not answer the questions of a monster like you."

It was a well-known fact that the royal family of the Cloud Wilderness had barely any interest in the outside world. Had it not been for the fact that they did a fair amount of trading with the clans and sects, it was likely that they would cut off all contact with the outside world. While Fan Long was a bit curious about why Li Yang was asking about their sect leader, he was not in the mood to respond.

Li Yang wanted to say more, but Fan Long did not even wait for him to open his mouth again, dashing forward. The earth shook as he dashed, cracking and rising up, forming sharp fragments. Fan Long was not so heavy that his weight would result in such destruction, so it was clear that he cultivated in the laws of earth or stone.

Li Yang was calm, but not overconfident. Fan Long had a cultivation at the early stage of the Ascending Foundation realm, quite a bit higher than Li Yang"s. The moment Fan Long started dashing, Li Yang activated both of his other strengthening techniques, his own lightning technique to increase his speed, and Jing Yimu"s fire technique to increase his strength.

Fan Long raised his staff and smashed it down at Li Yang"s head, attempting to smash it like an overripe melon. Li Yang was not so foolish that he would block it with his own body, as it clearly contained a great amount of force. The sword he bought in Cloud"s End appeared in his hand, his body taking half a step forward.

He raised the sword, slashing at the side of the staff, diverting its course enough that it would miss him. At the same time, his other hand sent out a punch, aiming for the pit of Fan Long"s stomach. He also kept an eye on the other disciples that were waiting on the scaffolding, but it seemed like they had been given an order to not interfere, as neither of them moved. Just like he thought, Fan Long had given the others the order to not interfere, as he feared that they would simply die a pointless death if they did so.

Li Yang"s punch approached Fan Long"s stomach, lightning crackling around it as he prepared to knock out Fan Long. But as it got closer, the staff that he had deflected started to wriggle and change. The part of the staff that was in contact with his sword turned soft, coiling around the weapon, while the rest of the staff grew long and thin spikes that sought to pierce Li Yang.

Li Yang raised an eyebrow in surprise, letting go of his weapon and aborting his attack, taking a step to the side to dodge the spikes. But as he moved, the wind at his side suddenly grew sharp, turning into blades that flew at him. The earth beneath him also changed, turning soft and muddy, his feet sinking into it and slowing his movements.

Fan Long had changed his attack fast, but Li Yang reacted just as fast. Ice gathered at his feet, freezing the earth and preventing his feet from sinking into it and ending up trapped. With his feet not in danger of being trapped, he flapped the wings on his back and took off, soaring up above the blades of wind. But they were clearly under the complete control of Fan Long, so they quickly curved and followed after him.

Fan Long also launched more attacks, kicking up fragments of earth and hitting them with his staff, launching them at Li Yang. Golden flames appeared around Li Yang, melting the shards of earth that Fan Long launched at him. His right arm pointed out, misty ice gathering around the blades of wind, freezing the Qi that was used to sustain them, resulting in the blades of wind turning solid and falling to the ground, shattering. Li Yang gave a short nod of his head and could not help but comment.

"You are able to control the laws of earth, metal, and wind. Even if you have high talent, to be able to do that at such a young age, you can be considered to be highly skilled. With some more grooming, you will be able to achieve great things."

Fan Long looked like he was only in his twenties, to be able to smoothly control three elements at that age was amazing. Not even Li Yang had been able to do that in his past life, only having had an affinity for the laws of lightning, and then later the laws of destruction. But to Fan Long, Li Yang"s praise only seemed like mockery, as he had dodged all his surprise attacks so easily.

Fan Long grabbed onto Li Yang"s sword, holding it in his left hand, his metal staff in his right. The staff shrunk slightly, turning into a more manageable size. After preparing both weapons, Fan Long"s body actually started to rise up from the ground, wind gathering around him and lifting him up, allowing him to soar up to the same height as Li Yang. Once again, Li Yang could not help but comment.

"You can even use the wind to simulate flight? Not only is your talent enviable, but it seems that you have worked very hard on your training. No wonder you were made the captain of the groups that came here."

It was one thing to control wind to attack, using it to fly was a completely different thing, it could not be done without extensive training. But no matter how talented he was, he was currently an enemy, so Li Yang would beat him. His wings flapped, lightning dancing around him as his body turned into a blur and shot at Fan Long, spears of fire, ice, and lightning appearing in the air all around the area, shooting at Fan Long.

But even with Li Yang"s blurring speed, Fan Long was able to react, reading his direction thanks to the wind he produced. Fan Long released the wind around him, rapidly dropping down to the ground. The earth trembled and rose into waves when his feet touched it, large waves of dense earth rising up around him and blocking the myriad of spears. Whenever the waves froze or melted under the spears, Fan Long would raise up more and more waves of earth to take the place of the ruined waves.

He also didn"t neglect his attacks, wind gathering into a tornado around Li Yang, not only blocking his vision but also draining all the air from around him, slowly suffocating him. At the same time, he flung out his staff and Li Yang"s sword, the staff splitting apart and turning into several smaller spears that aimed for the currently blind Li Yang.

Fan Long put up a valiant effort and truly showed off his strength and laws, but there was after all quite a difference in experience. A blast of golden flames exploded out from Li Yang"s body, tearing apart the tornado around him. It would be a shame to lose the sword he had just bought, so he used his ice to freeze the weapons, causing them to whizz past him, Fan Long no longer able to control them since the Qi within them was frozen.

Fan Long wanted to launch more attacks but suddenly felt his feet grow extremely cold. He quickly lowered his head, seeing a layer of ice covering his feet and freezing him to the ground. Chains of lightning shot out from the earth, coiling around him and robbing him of his control over his body. Without knowing what had truly happened, the ice around his feet vanished, his body falling powerlessly forward and onto the ground. Li Yang slowly landed on the ground in front of him, calmly speaking.

"It"s not enough to just control the laws and elements, you have to feel them, sense them as if they were a part of you. Had you done that, you would have quickly noticed that my ice and lightning had already infiltrated the earth around us the moment the battle started."

Earth itself did not conduct electricity that well, but as long as Li Yang mixed his ice into the earth first, it would do a good enough job of conducting his lightning. Li Yang stepped forward, sitting down on Fan Long"s back as he spoke up.

"Now, are you going to answer my earlier question?"

Fan Long regained a bit of control over his body, just enough to allow him to talk. He felt humiliated at Li Yang sitting on his back, but as he was weaker, there was nothing he could do. He let out a weak chuckle, his expression dignified as he tried to hold onto a small shred of pride.

"I guess you really are the son of the Demon Emperor, you absolute monster. Kill me, I have already lost."

Fan Long could not imagine how Li Yang was so powerful. He looked quite a bit younger but could control fire, ice, and lightning to such an extent. He had also heard that the Golden Dragon Prince was famous for having a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon as a companion beast, but he had not even brought it out during this battle. Hearing his reply, Li Yang could only let out a sigh and shake his head.

"If I wanted to kill you, I would have already done so. Just answer my question and stop wasting my time."

Was it so hard to answer a simple question, was there really a need to waste so much time? But Fan Long completely ignored Li Yang, looking at him with determined eyes as he showed his stance, death before submission. Li Yang could only sigh and shake his head again, his gaze landing on the six other disciples that remained on the scaffolding.

"Fine, if that is how you want to be."

The six other disciples were trembling as they looked at the scene in front of them. Their leader had been defeated that easily, unable to even put a scratch on his enemy? Li Yang raised his arm and pointed at them, chains of golden lightning shooting out from his finger and tying them up. Once they were unable to move, spears of golden flames sp.a.w.ned above them, slowly moving closer. Seeing the scene, Fan Long could only let out a loud shout.

"STOP! They have nothing to do with this!"

Fan Long had lost the battle, so he was fine with paying for it with his life, but the other disciples had done nothing. He was hoping that Li Yang would be satisfied with taking his life, sparing the other disciples. Li Yang stopped the spears, glancing at Fan Long as he spoke, his voice cold and merciless.

"You said you were responsible for bringing them all home, didn"t you? Every ten seconds you spend in silence, not answering my question, I will kill one. I will turn their bodies to ash, leaving behind nothing to be buried."

After he spoke, his eyes returned to the six disciples, one of the spears starting to slowly approach the throat of a female disciple. Seeing Li Yang"s actions, Fan Long could not help but let out a curse.

"You moterhfuc...!"

Li Yang cut Fan Long"s curse short, his calm voice counting down as if he was doing something as normal as picking out groceries at the market.

"Five seconds have pa.s.sed."

Fan Long"s entire face paled, his body shivering. He did not doubt for a single second that Li Yang would do as he said, if he hesitated further, there truly would be nothing left to bury of that young disciple.

"I"LL TALK! I"ll talk, just please leave them be. The current leader of our sect is Fang Xiulan, but most people just call her the Ice Phoenix Queen!"

Fan Long was talented, but he was still only a very junior disciple, the amount of things he knew about someone like their sect leader was very limited. But the golden spear stopped, pulling back and vanishing into thin air. While he was wondering what he was going to do now, Li Yang"s rather surprised voice rang out.

"Xiulan is the sect leader? What about Fang Yazhu?"

Li Yang"s eyebrows were furrowed somewhat as he questioned. If it was just the one name and t.i.tle, it might be a coincidence, but if it turned out that both were there, he refused to believe it to be a coincidence. Fan Long raced to search his memories, digging up anything he might know about someone called Fang Yazhu.

"I don"t know if it"s the same person, but the sect leader of the Roaring Soul sect is known as Fang Yazhu, also t.i.tled as the Fire Phoenix queen. Heaven"s Gate doesn"t have the best relationship with the Roaring Soul sect, so that is all I know."

The relationship between the two sect leaders was not the best, but there was no one that actually knew why they had a bad relationship. Li Yang fell into a short silence after hearing the response. With both names and both t.i.tles, he refused to believe that it was a coincidence, a soft sigh escaping his lips.

"Those little crybabies have really grown up, huh?"

Li Yang"s gaze was a bit distant as memories of the past flooded into his mind. A forest filled with colorful leaves, the slight chill that showed that winter was approaching, that small and rundown hut. He quickly shook his head, throwing the memories to the back of his mind. He stood up from Fan Long, returning control over his body to him.

"Alright, I won"t kill you, you can take your soldiers and leave the Cloud Wilderness. Xun Qiu should probably have already left."

Li Yang had gotten the information he wanted, so there was no longer a need for him to stay here, he still had to deal with the groups from the other clans as well. But now it seemed like he couldn"t freely kill the people of Heaven"s Gate and the Roaring Soul sect. Once again able to control his body, Fan Long could not help but let out a confused voice.

"We...can leave?"

He had already prepared himself for death, certain that he would die without a burial here. But now he was told that they could just leave? and Xun Qiu was still alive? Li Yang simply shrugged his shoulders as he responded.

"Yeah, if do anything to you, Little Lan will yell at me until I feel like I am going deaf. But I don"t want to see you or your people set foot inside the Cloud Wilderness ever again."

Despite shrugging his shoulders, Li Yang"s eyes grew sharp as he finished his sentence, letting Fan Long know that he would not tolerate their return. Fan Long did not hesitate, quickly sending out a retreat message to the remaining groups of Heaven"s Gate. As they were leaving the village, Li Yang seemed to remember something, as he called out to Fan Long.

"Right, you can also send a message to your sect leader. Tell her that I still remember those crying children who were too picky to eat their mushrooms. Also, tell her that this is my territory, she will know that none of her people should ever come here again."

Fan Long did not understand the meaning of the message, but Li Yang was certain that Fang Xiulan would understand the meaning of the message. The reason he didn"t want people from Heaven"s Gate to return to the Cloud Wilderness was simply because of the corpse of Jinwu"s mother. Fan Long quickly noted down the message and promised Li Yang that he would do his best to deliver the message, before quickly fleeing with the other disciples. As they left, Li Yang could not help but let out a light chuckle, a rare soft and gentle smile on his face.

"The times have really changed, huh? Even those two brats have reached such a position, just makes me feel old, honestly. But I am glad, at least some of my old friends are still alive and easy to find."

Li Yang almost lost himself in his memories again, so he quickly shook his head. Now the groups from Heaven"s Gate were likely going to leave the Cloud Wilderness, but there were still several more groups that Li Yang had to deal with.