Against The Heavens

The girl managed to show off why she had been chosen to take part in this rank-up test, she showed strength that was rather unusual for someone of her cultivation level, the late stage of the Ascending Heaven realm. Her laws were a bit strange and hard to see, but Li Yang guessed that she used the law of rotation and the law of sealing, both rather strange laws.

The law of sealing focused on just that, sealing everything up in an impenetrable prison, and the law of rotation was an off-shoot of the law of motion, focusing solely on rotating motions. It could be upgraded into the law of motion if one had enough talent or gained some inspiration, but most were stuck using the law of rotation for their entire lives.

But no matter how strange her laws were and how adept she was at using them, she had picked the wrong strategy in this fight. When faced with someone who had higher cultivation, a defensive fighting style was never the correct choice, as they would quickly drain all your strength and beat you down. You had to use swift and brutal attacks to break through their defense and catch them off-guard, preferably killing them in one strike.

She managed to last for about two minutes before the strain of having to block or divert the strong attacks of her enemy ended up draining all her energy, resulting in her being beaten unconscious and subsequently losing the right to take the second trial. Elder Su looked at the unconscious girl for a short second before snapping her finger, an elderly man in a white robe appearing next to her and taking the girl away. Elder Su then pointed at a middle-aged man who was taking on the rank-up test, beckoning for him to enter the stage.

"You, fight against her."

The man gave a solemn nod of his head and entered the stage, swiping his interspatial ring and taking out a two-handed hammer that had a sharp spike sticking out from the top. He tightly grasped the hammer, and the moment Elder Su signaled the start of the battle, the man charged forward with a loud roar, the entire stage trembling and roiling beneath his feet. The man seemed to have fused his law of water with his law of stone, as the entire stage started to act like a raging ocean, the stone occasionally turning into actual water when the man wanted to change his style of attack.

Li Yang made sure to study the battle with great care, as he had a lot to learn when it came to using and fusing more than one law, he had only ever really used the law of lightning in his past life after all. The man had touched upon the right way to clear this trial, but Li Yang found that he was a bit too enthusiastic in his attempt to clear the trial.

He was rushing at the girl with all his might, putting all his strength into every single one of his motions. But the girl had much higher cultivation than him, if she just focused on dodging or defending, there was little the man could do to have his attacks produce any effect. And the girl clearly knew this, as she continued to dodge and block until the man had wasted so much strength that she could easily beat him into unconsciousness, the white-robe elder appearing once again to pick up the unconscious man.

This time, Li Yang was able to notice a faint fluctuation in the surrounding s.p.a.ce as the white-robed elder appeared. He was clearly someone who was able to use the terrifying law of s.p.a.ce, one of the highest laws in existence, only below creation and destruction. The white-robed elder brought along the unconscious man, and Elder Su continued picking out new people to fight without pause.

As the fights continued to drag on, everyone got a chance to show off their skills and laws, clearly showing exactly why they had been picked to take part in this rank-up test. The first two people failed to clear the test, but it seemed like Elder Su had deliberately picked out the weakest people from the start, as the next 11 people were able to clear the first trial before another person failed.

What Li Yang found even more surprising was that there were two people among these 11 that were able to complete the trial by surviving for five minutes. The first one was a girl who specialized in the law of sealing and the law of hardening, fusing both together to form a defense that even Li Yang felt would be tricky to break through. The other person was a somewhat older man who managed to last the full five minutes by using his law of speed, the law of motion, and the law of lightning to constantly dodge anything that was thrown at him.

Out of the first 14 people, only three ended up failing the first trial. And it seemed the others were adamant about not increasing the number of failing people, as the next six people didn"t have a single person fail the trial. All 20 of the other disciples had taken on the test, so only Li Yang remained, calmly stepping onto the stage. Among the 21 disciples taking the rank-up test, he had the lowest cultivation but the most wide-spread reputation, resulting in the other disciples paying close attention to him once he stepped onto the stage.

The man that Li Yang was set to fight against was the crimson-haired man who had caused the third person to fail this trial, the only inner disciple here who had reached the early stage of the Primordial Rune realm. Li Yang looked at the man with a calm gaze, having already come up with a plan on how to deal with this trial.

If he used the law of destruction he would easily be able to wound this man and clear the trial. But with Elder Su, and most likely the white-robed elder, watching the battle, it would be too hard for him to explain which law he had used. So unless he wanted to attract unwanted attention, and maybe even suspicion, he would have to avoid using the law of destruction.

The crimson-haired man closely inspected Li Yang, curious about just what was special about him. He had heard about the things Li Yang had done and wanted to see for himself just what gave Li Yang such great strength. He felt a certain pressure from Li Yang"s body, so he knew that the youth in front of him was certainly not someone easy to deal with. But that realization only fired him up more, by fighting someone else strong, a cultivator would be able to learn new things far faster than if he were to just read or hear about them.

Elder Su announced the start of the battle and the crimson-haired man prepared himself for Li Yang"s a.s.sault, raising his defenses. But contrary to what he expected, Li Yang didn"t come charging at him, nor did he try to put distance between them. He simply stood still, calmly watching the crimson-haired man, he hadn"t even taken on a stance to prepare himself.

The man narrowed his eyes, uncertain what Li Yang was planning. But the man had to do something, as Li Yang would win if the man did nothing and the five minutes ended up pa.s.sing. So after observing Li Yang for a short few seconds, the man decided that he might as well just go for it, charging at Li Yang like a burning meteor, so fast that he was barely a blur.

The man arrived in front of Li Yang in the blink of an eye, throwing a punch that contained all the might of his laws. This man used a law unique to him, a law he had created after fusing several laws together. He had fused the law of fire, the law of earth, the law of gravity, and the law of speed to form something he called the law of stars, giving him supreme strength, speed, and defense.

The moment the man arrived in front of him, Li Yang burst into action. He had lightning flood into his brain, forcing it to operate far faster than normal, nearly pushing it to the point of overloading. The sole purpose of this action was to push his reaction speed to the peak, the world slowing down in front of his eyes as the man"s fist became clear.

Li Yang then activated both the Burning Hope technique taught to him but Jing Yimu as well as his own lightning based strengthening technique to push his speed and power to the peak, lightning and fire dancing around his body like golden dragons and crimson crows. He didn"t dare use his golden flames in front of the elders, so he had to settle for using his normal crimson flames.

Li Yang sent out a sideways slash with his left arm, his hand stretched out and shaped like a sword. There was no way he would be faster than the man in front of him, meaning that there was no point in approaching him or trying to run from him, having him come to Li Yang was the best option available.

The man saw Li Yang"s sideways slash and decided that it was best to not risk anything, taking half a step back to avoid the brunt of the attack. Li Yang"s fingers slid past the chest of the man, barely grazing it thanks to the man taking half a step back. The man"s punch, however, was still perfectly on track, crashing into Li Yang"s now raised right arm.

A thick layer of ice coated Li Yang"s right arm, absorbing some of the force contained in the man"s punch. But the ice was still shattered into dust, the man"s fist hitting Li Yang"s elbow and forcing Li Yang"s arm back so much that it crashed into his chest, pushing Li Yang back several steps with an aching chest and arm. The man was just about to chase after Li Yang when the voice of Elder Su rang out.

"Three wounds have been inflicted, Li Yang has cleared the trial."

The crimson-haired man couldn"t help but stop and tilt his head slightly, looking at Elder Su with a somewhat confused gaze. Elder Su didn"t give him a verbal response, pointing at the man"s chest. The man quickly checked his own chest, his eyes narrowing slightly when he saw that there were three small cuts on his chest, a few drops of blood running down his chest.

The man cast a somewhat shocked gaze onto Li Yang, not able to understand how he had been cut. But the result was undeniable, so the man cupped his fists and admitted his defeat.

"It seems like your reputation is not exaggerated, I don"t even know how you managed to wound me. It"s almost hard to believe that you are only at the early stage of the Ascending Heaven realm, I look forward to seeing how much stronger you become in the future. I am Teng Shentu, you can come look for me once you become an inner disciple, I would love to spar with you a few more times."

Li Yang cupped his hands in return, nodding his head with a light smile. Teng Shentu was far stronger than Li Yang, so sparring with him was a good way for Li Yang to become more accustomed to his various laws. Teng Shentu was also someone who had fused several laws into one, so Li Yang could learn a lot about that from him as well.

Li Yang undid his strengthening techniques and stepped down from the stone stage and joined up with the other disciples, who were looking at him with the same confused gazes as the one Teng shentu had used to look at Elder Su. Just how had he managed to wound Teng Shentu three times in that short moment?

Li Yang didn"t pay attention to their gazes, not intending on telling them how he had done it. They couldn"t see it, but how could Elder Su and the hidden white-robed elder not see what Li Yang had done?

To harm Teng Shentu, Li Yang had used his law of fire and his law of ice, using both in rather clever ways. In the short second where his fingers had grazed Teng Shentu"s chest, Li Yang had channeled as much fire as he could into his fingers, doing his best to send as much heat into Teng Shentu"s body as he could. He would be unable to wound the far stronger Teng Shentu using his fire, but his intention had never been to wound him using the fire.

The heat caused a small portion of Teng Shentu"s blood to boil and evaporate, creating a small amount of steam. Li Yang had then used his law of ice to instantly freeze this steam before Teng Shentu"s Qi could come into contact with it, turning the steam into tiny blades of ice. He then called the blades of ice back to him, causing them to cut through Teng Shentu"s veins and chest, leaving three tiny cuts as they left his chest.

The veins had been located right beneath Teng Shentu"s skin, which was the only reason Li Yang managed to have the blades of ice actually leave wounds. Had the veins been deeper in his flesh, it would have been impossible for Li Yang to give the blades enough strength to cut through Teng Shentu"s flesh.

Some would consider this a trick, but a wound was a wound, so Li Yang was considered to have pa.s.sed the first trial. And since he was the last one to attempt this first trial, it was now time to move on to the second trial, the team trial. Elder Su looked at the 18 people who were going to take on the second trial, speaking to them in a stern voice.

"The second trial will start immediately, it will follow the same order of challengers as the first one. You will receive the details of the mission you have to clear an hour before the start of the mission, so you must come up with a plan quickly. And don"t forget, even though this is a trial, you are still representing the Yuan clan during these missions, do not tarnish our reputation!"

After speaking, Elder Su took out a scroll from her interspatial ring and tossed it to the girl who was the first one to clear the first trial, allowing her to read through the details of the mission. The white-robed elder appeared next to Elder Su, Li Yang guessing that he would bring them to the locations of the missions. After casting a glance at the white-robed elder, Li Yang cast his eyes onto the brown-haired girl that was hastily reading the scroll, waiting for the orders she would give.