The smaller bone hands, not bigger than a few feet, flew towards Lord Shou from every possible direction. They numbered tens, but as soon as one was destroyed by the still-raging whirlpool of water formed from qi, a new one would appear close by. In truth, it would not be an exageration to call them out as limitless.

The worst of all was that while Lord Shou's Royal Technique required him to spend both qi and soul power, the bony hands that appeared from the Bonejade's produced aura had no cost. Regretfully for the fighters, Gate Elder Deng and Lord Shou, as well as the observers, Bai Qi and Shou Ming, this fact wasn't so apparent.

Indeed, the Bonejade had not called any technique or skill, but he could not create something from nothing, right? He still had to spend something? Such thoughts flowed through the minds of the four, but they were wrong. And this would be a mistake that probably would determine the combat.

"He's busy maintaining the bone hands, this is my chance!" Deng Guiying thought as he saw how six hands, or maybe claws were destroyed by the whirlpool and another six appeared to replace them. His aura was maintaining an even front and albeit the Bonejade's one had been strengthened, it still could not overpower his own after truly committing his entire soul power to maintain it. Granted, committing all could be bad, especially as he lost the ability to strengthen martial skills or defend himself with qi outside the currently controlled zone, but at least it allowed him to concentrate most of his qi and the entirety of his consciousness - mind power - on other things, and Deng Guiying considered it a fair trade.

No duel between cultivators of their level would use aura-dependant martial skills in any case, and he wasn't planning to leave his aura zone at all. Following such line of thought, and now that the Bonejade was occupied, Deng Guying felt that he had a chance to attack!

"Thunder Crash!" While casting a spell, one that was just a slightly modified version of the most basic 'Lightning' that all cultivators would discover naturally at the Sage Realm, Deng Guiying gathered his qi to release a Royal Technique.

Hundreds and thousands are the ways for a Cultivator's attack to be called or categorized. But if one went down to the very roots, it would all be explained in four terms.

Physical - Be it either martial arts, weapons, or even the most basic tackle. Only the body, which is reinforced or not with qi is used.

Techniques - One's inner qi surges from the dantian and is used to create and fuel the form of the attack. Normally cultivators tend to call it the 'cost'. In more advanced cultivators, the aura can assume the same element or change in other ways as a way to add power.

Skills - Not enough with the inner qi, one's soul power surges via the aura to gather more qi from the surroundings. Albeit the qi spending for it can be sometimes lower than techniques, the spending of Soul Power - which requires qi and time to be replenished, evens the overall 'cost'.

Spells - Materialized into being by Mind Power, they are fully dependant on the latter and require time to be prepared.

Although some cultivators argue that the Aura itself is a separate method of attack, the most accepted version is that it's not. Aura can be used for many things, including attacking, but keeping it extended requires the spending of Soul power and enough qi to supplement it - which makes it a natural skill.

Each different method of attack has its pros and cons, but like anything under the heavens, they have their own counter in the shape of defensive methods. Normally categorized in the same way as the attack ones, they can also be resumed in the same way.

Physical - Be it a block or even the qi cover than any cultivator after the Spirit Realm has naturally, it is basically nothing else than bracing oneself against the attack.

Techniques - In the same way as attack ones, defensive techniques are created exclusively by using one's inner qi.

Aura - No defensive skills per se exist, as any gathering of surrounding qi would enter the aura, and so the most and only known way to use it is to compress the aura around oneself. The more compressed it is, the more qi it contains and so, the damage it can resist is increased.

Spells - Defensive spells are usually called wards, and albeit several differently named ones do exist, the term is used for any spell that centers mind power around one's body or another target - as to prevent it from being damaged by an attack.

Of common knowledge is that anything containing qi, be it aura or technique is better to counter similar attacking methods while spells are best countered by spells. Obviously, exceptions exist, with every true cultivator attempting to create his own way to resist damage while inflicting it, like the disruption path that tries to destroy any defense in front.

Still, only spells are indeed effective against spells, while aura and techniques are the best counter to 99 of a hundred qi attacks.

Spells were rarely used in duels because of the requirement to always recite their mantra and imagine their effect, something that no matter your skill or mastery would go away. And Deng Guiying's mind power hardly reached what should be considered the average, so it was a fact that he never used them at all.

But right now, with an opponent that seemed to have an almost unlimited amount of soul power fueling his aura and total control of it. To the point that there had been not even the slightest shivering so usual for any aura, Deng Guiying was sure that none of his long-range attacks would reach the Bonejade or its demon-like human.

Experience would say to close range, but he could not because he was the only one capable of keeping the enemy in check, and counter any skills or techniques.

And so, he decided to resort to what was called static combat. Normally used for destroying formations or fortifications, it was a combination of different attacks, following one after another. And by changing the type of the following one, no defensive measure could be able to resist. Or at least that was the theory, one that Deng Guiying was about to try now.

'Thunder Crash' was sent out as soon as it was possible, forming an enormous bolt of lightning and quickly flying forwards.

"Ferocious God of Wind, Sweeping Blades!" And it was followed right away by a Royal Technique.

***

Was it the shell of a man or the Bonejade who controlled the body? Who knew, but the visible fact was that as soon as Deng Guiying's attack started, a hand was raised...

"It's all futile" Words were pronounced.

And dozens of bony hands, similar to the ones surrounding Lord Shou appeared in the path of the lightning bolt, forming a multi-layered shield.

*BOOM*

A thundering sound resounded as the bolt crashed against the shield formed by the interconnected bones. It easily tore through a layer, then another, and another, only stopping when it hit the 4th, and last of the layers that the Bonejade aura had birthed.

"Futile? Let's see if it is so!" Deng Guiying could not help but grin. He was indeed provoked by the fact that the opponent in front was absolutely holding everyone in contempt, but at the same time, he knew better than to allow himself to be affected by it.

As for his grin, it was simply because from what it appeared, the being in front had simply not noticed the two blades of wind that were following the lightning bolt.

Which only revealed themselves as the bolt dispersed, and with ease tore through the last defensive layer.

"Petty tricks... A cultivator should sense what is happening in their aura, shouldn't he?" The Bonejade voice asked apathetically, and just with a slight motion of his hand, two shields made of bones appeared from thin air.

*Swoosh*

Two ten feet long blades of wind crashed against the bone shields, which in close looked like a ribcage.

*Screech*

And did not manage to pass at all, spending all of the qi infused into them without leaving anything more than a small cut on the bones.

Deng Guiying could have infused more qi into the blades, and probably he could have broken through. But there was a reason why he did not - simply put, he would only use up his qi for no result.

"It is not a technique or skill, he is using his pure aura to fight. The bones and all that we see are just a form, a condensed form of his aura, like a Martial Soul!" It appeared to be crazy, but as his technique touched the shields, Deng Guiying understood. No technique or skill would reach such an opponent, after all, unless one was spent of Soul Power, one could create any amount of such constructs inside his aura by simply condensing enough of it into a form. It was truly futile like it said.

This meant that their only chance was to fight physically, after all, the Bonejade could not do so. Deng Guiying immediately transmitted the information to Lord Shou, indicating that the latter should wait for a bit, and then follow his lead.

***

Bai Qi had been observing all of the developments while lying immobile on the ground. He could not say if it was pure luck or a premeditated movement from the sides, but even though powers that could easily destroy him, especially undefended like now, clashed... None of them had even reached him!

With no ability to use his full senses with the auras clashing overhead, he could only judge from what he saw and heard. And sincerely, he did not like what he did.

Deng Guiying was strong, but the Bonejade was by far stronger. In fact, Bai Qi was forced to reevaluate his understanding of it. He thought of it as a demonic item, at least initially. After he considered it a separate entity that lacked a body. But now, he saw that neither of that was true. The Bonejade was an entity in its own right, indeed, but it was restricted to only using its aura. Basically, it wasn't anything more than a support for the one who used it, or for the one that was being used by it. Without an extremely capable cultivator, one that could fight for it, the Bonejade was nothing more than an extremely strong aura with its own intellect!

"I think the Elder thinks the same and is planning to enter the close range. The question is, does the crazed man that is acting as the Bonejade body a good fighter? And what is his true cultivation? By now the Even Field effect has passed, but I can not sense anything except the Bonejade nearby"

***

Deng Guiying slowly began retracting his aura, forming a tight circular area around him. During this process, which he controlled finely as to don't allow the stalemate to break - thus allowing the Bonejade's aura to center on Lord Shou and the others, he sent a qi transmission to Shou Ming and a single message talisman.

The first one was an instruction - "I will attack directly and force him away, as soon as he recalls his aura, sweep into"

As for the second, it was directed to the City Lord, and it was a short description of what was happening here, as well as two requests. For the formations around the district to be activated, and for reinforcements...