Akata’s face tightened at the near death he just about experienced. Peizhi Xiuying was every bit an equal of his. And she was only at the 8th Grade! She wasn’t like him who had multiple cultivation bases but just an 8th Grade cultivator.

Akata’s face filled with a smile and he started to laugh. It had been far too long since he had enjoyed a battle with a friend. Laughing he held his scythe up and slashed down. This simply movement was filled with his insights and cut off three other branches that were headed his way from afar. Akata turned into a black light and disappeared off into the distance.

When he reappeared he was surrounded by a black ring of scythe-light. This was the fourth stance of the World Omen, Dark Intent Ring. Numerous branches, vines, and leaves shot at him but they were shredded once they came into contact with the black ring.

Akata spread his nature sense out. It filled the entire beach area and he quickly located Peizhi Xiuying in the distance. He flashed with a black light and was soon in front of her. He swiped with his fastest blow, Guillotine Slice. The scythe seemed to tear through space itself to get to Peizhi Xiuying. The black mist that was everywhere split ways and made a path straight to Peizhi Xiuying.

Peizhi Xiuying’s eyes went wide with shock and confusion. ‘How was he able to locate me? And his skill with the scythe is too incredible.’ She made a grasping motion and a nearby black plant appeared in her hands. “Five Elements: Metal.” A white bud appeared on the black plant. It bloomed and soon one would notice that it was a white rose. The white rose quickly turned metallic and so did the rest of the black plant in her hands.

The scythe and the now black metal plant collided and sent Peizhi Xiuying flying back. After being thrown back a few meters she stabilized herself. With a wave of her hand giant leaves came and wrapped around her body. They formed a sort of leaf robe. White buds began to appear over the leaf robe and bloomed into roses. They too turned metallic and made the robe metal.

‘How is she able to use the Five Elements Rose like this? Wasn’t it absorbed by her Grand Life Vine? Unless her Grand Life Vine is out it shouldn’t be possible for her to use it. Even if her Grand Life Vine is out she shouldn’t be able to use the Five Elements Rose on other plants.’ Akata’s knowledge of plants had grown tremendously thanks to Noluck. It could be said that even out of the whole Divine Crystal Continent, he was one of the most knowledgeable people. But this was baffling him right now.

Pressing his attack, Akata’s figure enlarged and he was soon five meters tall. His Blacksoul Scythe also increased in size to fit him. His skill in the Red Cloud Formation had reached the core stages and he was able to change everything about his own body. That included everything that he felt to be a part of his body. The scythe had a special crimson mark on it that let Akata have a special connection to it. This was what allowed him to make the scythe any size he wanted.

Akata strode forward and was upon Peizhi Xiuying in an instant. She was barely a quarter of his height and when he looked down it was like looking at a mere child. But then Peizhi Xiuying’s body grew to a size just under Akata. She had actually fully comprehended the Red Cloud Formation technique as well.

Peizhi Xiuying held out her other hand and another black plant came flying over which she made metallic as well. The plants would shoot out vines and branches that were as tough as metal which made them hard to deal with.

She used these plants to attack. They would pierce, entangle, whip. and shield her. These plants were versatile which made her a strong opponent. She held the plants up and used them as a shield to guard from Akata’s scythe attack.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Each clash would result in sparks appearing from the metal colliding. Akata would use various moves and attacks to bypass Peizhi Xiuying’s defense but nothing seemed to work. And every time he did manage to get past her plant weapons, her metallic armor would bypass the damage.

“Hehe.” Akata’s eyes showed with golden light. Peizhi Xiuying noticed this and instantly sought to create some distance between them. As soon as she backed away, Akata held out his hand. “Accendat flammam hoc meum.” A golden light began to shine atop his palm. The ground beneath his feet trembled and broke apart. Pieces of earth gathered in his palm and began to turn into a sphere. Atop that sphere could be seen a flicker of a flame.

Akata floated into the air and the pressure coming from his Astral Obliteration weighed down on everything. Golden light shone on everything and began to push down the black mist itself. Akata looked like a transcendent being the way he floated in the air shining with golden light. He looked down at Peizhi Xiuying and tossed his Astral Obliteration down toward her.

It was only a toss but it sped down toward her with a blazingly fast speed. As it fell it grew in size and gathered the energy of heaven and earth to increase its speed and strength. The pressure it created grew increasingly potent as well. Not only that but it was actually covered in fire! So it brought an intense heat with it.

Peizhi Xiuying felt crushed by the pressure and felt as if she could barely breathe. She flashed an incantation gesture and pointed at the incoming fire-bathed meteor. “Grand Life Vine!” Peizhi Xiuying took in a deep breath as… her arm transformed into a black tendril! That tendril snaked out and soon bloomed with many different white flowers. There were roses, lilies, poppies, lotuses, tulips, dandelions, etc. It was hard to imagine how many different kind of flowers there were that riddled this tendril.

“Five Elements Rose: Water and Air.” Instantly, some of the black plants around her bloomed with white roses. Some of the roses turned blue while the others turned yellow. The plants either turned into water or air and shot up to block the incoming meteor. It looked as if a giant geyser had exploded, sending out a large amount of water at once.

“Blessed Night Tulip: Dark Healing Heaven.” Some plants below sprouted white tulips that soon turned dark and emitted an aqua glow. These plants formed a shield around Peizhi Xiuying’s figure. The inside of the shield constantly healed her while the outside emitted dark corrosive properties.

“Illusory Phoenix Lily: Boundless Life.” White lilies sprang up everywhere around Peizhi Xiuying’s body and turned into a bright orange color with a hint of aqua in it. A bountiful life energy sprang up around Peizhi Xiuying and fed into her.

“Demonic Spirit Poppy: Illusions Field.” Poppy plants appeared on the other plants. They had dark petals with with purple centers. Waves and waves of illusions undulated in the air and rocked forth toward the incoming meteor.

Peizhi Xiuying’s whole body turned black and her eyes became green slits as she looked at the incoming meteor. “Break!” She yelled icily. This all seemed to take a long time to do but it actually took a short breath of time.

The blast of water and air came into contact with the fire-meteor. The fire was quickly extinguished from the meteor and the blast was so strong that it actually slowed the rock down a bit. But soon the meteor kept advancing as it was still gaining energy.

The dark corrosive energy attack of the Blessed Night Tulip soon arrived and the top layer of the meteor was instantly shaved off. It weakened quite a bit and was slowed even more. The corrosive energy constantly ate at the meteor while the blast of water and air kept pushing against it.

Finally, illusion after illusion came crashing into the meteor. It might not seem like illusions could do anything, but there were so many illusions that the energy from the attack actually pierced through the meteor. Peizhi Xiuying actually used mere illusions to attack! This coupled with the previous attacks greatly weakened the meteor. But even after all of that, the meteor still crashed onto the ground.

Boom!

The resulting smash blasted away any black mist that was left in the area. All of the black plants that were on the ground were destroyed in an instant. If it wasn’t for Peizhi Xiuying greatly weakening the meteor she would have lost right then and there.

She stood there looking at Akata as he descended back down. The life force and shield protecting her, along with her metal armor made it so that she wasn’t injured in the slightest, and was actually recovering some of her strength.

As soon as the meteor blasted down she sprang into action. Her vine arm stretched out and soon circled around Akata’s body. The vine detached and at the end of it her hand held on. Her whole body was completely black and her eyes looked even colder now that they were green slits.

Akata looked thoughtfully at her and she looked at him as well. “This is my second form that I call Yinbloom after the lady who made the legacy that I have learned from. You are the only person that knows about it. Now witness its strength-”

“There’s no need. You won’t be able to beat me like that.” Akata said calmly while smiling faintly.