Shooting Blood Dancing Armor!
Since the surprise effect had already failed, Baotian decided to just rely on his killer move.
'It's the scenario I wanted to avoid, depending on a single move, but there's no other choice!'
Once again, Baotian was reminded of how lacking his means were compared to more powerful opponents.
But this time, even with this, he was still overwhelmed, barely holding on. Ye Mu was simply stronger in every way, and didn't seem to have any weakness. Baotian rolled on the ground to avoid more leaf blades, crossed his arms in front of his face to block a paw strike, rolled between the fox's legs to avoid getting bitten and used the Golden Owl Bow to put distance, which was immediately covered by his opponent.
He once again tried to evade, but Ye Mu kept flying after him, turning the fight into a chase. Baotian could vaguely hear snickers from outside the ring, but did not care in the slightest as he kept gliding in the air. An advantage of the Blood Burial Mantra was that its flying technique was actually less close to 'flying' than 'gliding in the air', which allowed more mobility. And thus, after a full two minutes of chasing around, he bent his knees, applying pressure, and did a violent u-turn in a way that would let him go just beside Ye Mu, who had kept pursuing him. At the same time, he twisted his waist while bending his bow. The result of his maneuver was that he now had his bow right against the fox's head, ready to fire.
'I won!' he thought.
However, right at the moment where he was going to fire, he felt sharp pain in his hands and forearms, and his hands stopped responding as the bow fell down:
"ARGH!"
Baotian shouted and fell down, rolling across the battle area as his hands and forearms bled profusely, cut in multiple spots by leaf blades.
'He… couldn't have reacted this fast… how?' Baotian thought, clenching his teeth under the pain.
There was only one explanation: he had anticipated Baotian's trap!
"It was a nice attempt, fellow cultivator Zhang" Ye Mu said. "But you shouldn't forget that other cultivators too are able to use tricks"
Baotian clenched his teeth, harshly reminded that his opponent wasn't any less competent or experienced than himself.
"Fuck! Why can't all my opponents be as dumb as these bastards from the Divine Storm Sect!" he swore.
As he said that, the referee's face seemed to contort, but Baotian didn't care. At the present, he had a bigger problem: Ye Mu, with a sweep of his paw, sent his bow flying outside of the fighting arena, leaving him unarmed!
"It is your last chance to get away" the fox said. "If you do not, I will be contrived to use my killer move, and you may end up permanently crippled, even with your armor"
"It's forbidden to exit the ring on one's own, it makes me eligible for sanction" Baotian replied, very much conscious of what kind of 'sanction' the king would inflict on him the moment the contract became invalid.
"Take off your armor and let yourself be hit, then, I read the spirit contract carefully and nothing forbids such a thing. I swear on my honor, and the honor of the fox tribe, that I will not kill or cripple you, but merely knock you unconscious"
Baotian hesitated. Ye Mu did not seem to lie, and in fact, seemed pretty trustable. His Qi Cube had already spun more than enough to accelerate his cultivation to the late stage, so there were not many benefits to continuing the fight besides the rewards the kingdom would grant him. Were those worth risking his life?
'Definitely not' Baotian decided.
He tried to dispel the Shooting Blood Dancing Armor… but it did not work?
'Uh?'
He kept trying, but it did not work.
'Ah? Eh? Oh?'
He tried to raise his hands to signal he agreed, or directly say it, but was unable to. Baotian could feel some form of 'wind' invading his mind, preventing him from performing any action that would 'go against the continuation of the match'. Ye Mu, seeing that his armor was staying on, naturally did not realize what was happening, and sighed again:
"Very well, fellow Zhang" he said. "Then let me show you my killer move"
Baotian, powerless to say anything, could just watch and prepare himself as he watched the fox's killer move: the latter reoriented the leaves toward himself. One by one, he let each of them inflict small cuts all over himself, each absorbing a bit of blood and growing stronger with it. As their speed increased, the fox used a basic wind spell, turning the dozens of leaves into a hurricane of deadly blades
'If this hits me… I might actually be crippled for life even with the armor, assuming I even survive!'
Adding more defense was useless against this, there was only one option left. Breathing loudly, Baotian took off a large quantity of blood essence, and split it into roughly made orbs. If compared to Bai Zisheng's creations, it was like a child's work, not worth mentioning. Even then, Baotian had to do with it, as he infused his spiritual energy in each of these separately, his breath irregular and his mind close to shutting down.
'Now… I have… to finish it… and wait for… the right moment'
As he rearranged the position of his blood orbs, his brain multitasking to its limit, Ye Mu launched his killer move:
"Deadly Autumn Leaves Storm!"
The hurricane of red leaves rushed at the human cultivator, completely unavoidable.
'Now is the time… Blood Net Assimilation!'
This spell, normally, was originally meant to use blood essence to reinforce or strengthen material, either for attacks or defense. However, through his improvised, imperfect formation, Baotian evolved its effect and, for a moment, changed the nature of the spell: at this moment, it wouldn't simply strengthen simple weapons or material.
"Formation killer move: Blood Red Flame Torrent!"
A fire spell, a simple, basic one. That was it, that was the extent of Baotian's capabilities while using formation moves at this point. WHen compared to Bai Zisheng, when compared to Liu Zhenyun, it was simply pathetic. But even then…
'It's… the product of my efforts!'
And so, it would be enough! It had to be!
As the spell touched the formation, its color deepened, burning into a shade of blood-red. In an instant, its power surged, amplified dozens..no, hundreds—of times!
And as the two killer moves collided, the effect was immediate: the leaves were all mercilessly burned to ashes and, as it mixed with the wind spell accompanying them, it turned into a powerful, gigantic explosion!
"Argh!"
Baotian, in the range of the explosion, was almost knocked out of the fighting ground, but managed to hold on. Ye Mu, closer to the deflagration and without any solid defense, didn't have such luck, and was promptly thrown out of the ring, falling unconscious.
And so, when the smoke of the explosion dissipated, only Baotian was left.
"Winner of the first round: Zhang Baotian!"
The voice of the referee was shaky, but Baotian didn't care. Staggering, he got off the fighting stage, painfully walked toward the betting table, and examined the bet:
"Hah, would you look at that… nobody else bet on me" he said, smirking. "Then I guess all these pretty spirit stones are mine, hehehe"
Under the other cultivators' eyes, he ripped the fifteen thousand or so spirit stones on the table. Most of them clenched their teeth but, under the suffocating presence of the king, none dared to protest. Baotian, struggling to remain conscious, bowed to the king, and then gave a smaller, but more sincere bow to Ye Mu, who was lying unconscious.
He then returned to his residence, took a good dozen pills to heal himself, and collapsed in his bed, his body aching, and his mind about to explode:
"I did it… I won"
His Qi Cube, too, had spun more than he thought possible in a single fight, making him feel like his cultivation speed would be sped up by over ten percent until he reached the late stage with just this fight. According to the spirit contract the king signed, he would also be rewarded for his performance.
Just to try, he focused on his middle dantian and tried to make his Qi Cube stand on its corner. He managed to make it stand for six seconds before it fell back down to its initial position.
"So much progress left before reaching the next step, and so much steps left after this one"
But for now, he had done well enough. And thus, Baotian closed his eyes and fell into sleep.