Chapter 40: False Dragon
"You've gotten sneaky."
Tianyu wiped a streak of dust from his armor where the Mountain Piercer had struck.
Then he smiled.
"But you're still you."
He slowly lowered himself into a fighting stance.
"Come on."
"Let's see how long you can hide."
Beside him, Bingya's ears twitched.
The wolf inhaled deeply.
Once.
Twice.
Then frowned.
"His scent..."
"Gone."
Someone in the audience murmured.
"He erased his smell?"
Lord Shen nodded.
"Hunting herbs."
"Yun Mie uses them."
"They confuse beasts."
Tianyu chuckled.
"You prepared for wolves."
A distorted voice drifted lazily from somewhere behind him.
"I prepared for you."
"...Still annoying."
Without another word—
Frost rolled outward.
Unlike before...
This wasn't an attack.
It was a search.
Cold mist spread across the battlefield, creeping over broken stone and shattered ice.
Visibility dropped.
Every movement disturbed the fog.
Every breath became visible.
Bingya slowly closed his eyes.
"Forget scent."
"Forget sight."
"Find his Ki."
The Frost Wolf's bloodline stirred.
His ears rotated.
His breathing slowed.
Somewhere...
Very faintly...
He felt it.
A pulse.
Not smell.
Not sound.
Ki.
The audience watched silently.
Master Liang crossed his arms.
"He found him."
Hidden behind a cluster of trees near the entrance...
Yun Che quietly exhaled.
"...As expected."
He had never truly believed herbs would fool a wolf forever.
Especially not one descended from the Heavenly Frost Wolf.
Beside him floated Mirage.
The Azure Mirage Monarch spread her translucent wings.
Ripples of distorted light wrapped around them.
From the audience...
Nothing stood there.
Only empty air.
Yun Che glanced toward the battlefield.
The puppet still stood where everyone expected him to be.
Its black dragon armor perfectly matched his own.
Ki strings connected his fingertips to the false Yun Che.
Invisible.
Thin.
Delicate.
Telekinesis handled the heavier movements.
The combination had taken months to practice.
Even so...
Sweat trickled beneath his helmet.
Too many techniques...
Too many things to control...
Not enough concentration.
He smiled anyway.
Good.
That means there's room to improve.
Far away...
Bingya suddenly opened his eyes.
"Found him."
At almost the same instant—
Yun Che released every Ki string.
The puppet stopped moving.
"He's changing plans!"
Tianyu shouted.
Yun Che exploded from behind the trees.
Armor boosters roared.
He sprinted toward the small pond near the center of the battlefield.
"There!"
Tianyu pointed.
"I knew you'd move!"
The moment both wolves committed—
The earth burst open.
CLANG!
Heavy chains erupted from beneath the arena.
Not one.
Not two.
Dozens.
They shot upward like metallic serpents.
At the same moment...
Steel wires whipped inward from every direction.
The trap closed.
Tianyu reacted instantly.
He didn't stop.
He leaped.
His foot landed...
On empty air.
Ki condensed beneath his boots.
A tiny platform.
Then another.
Then another.
He sprinted through the sky itself.
Changing direction in impossible angles.
Bingya mirrored him perfectly.
The great wolf bounded through the air as though invisible staircases existed only for him.
The crowd erupted.
"They're running on air!"
"They've become even faster!"
Chains snapped shut beneath them.
Too slow.
Wires sliced through empty space.
Too late.
Master Liang nodded approvingly.
"Excellent footwork."
Lord Shen smiled.
"No."
"Excellent trust."
Neither Tianyu nor Bingya looked at the other.
They simply...
Knew.
Above them—
Something whistled.
Danger.
Every instinct screamed.
Both froze for the briefest instant.
Then moved.
Six white lances descended from the sky.
They spun violently.
Rotation amplified their piercing power until they resembled drilling stars.
They had been waiting there all along.
Hidden high above the battlefield.
Waiting.
Waiting.
Waiting.
Until now.
Tianyu twisted sideways.
One lance grazed his shoulder.
Bingya kicked another aside.
The remaining four continued pursuing them.
"Split!"
Already moving—
The pair separated.
Running across different invisible paths in the air.
One lance chased Tianyu.
Another pursued Bingya.
The remaining four changed targets repeatedly under Yun Che's telekinetic control.
Tianyu slashed.
CLANG!
The lance spun away.
Bingya intercepted another with both armored forelegs.
Ice exploded.
The wolves answered with Frost Ki.
Blue bolts erupted from claws and jaws alike.
The sky became a storm of steel and ice.
One lance was struck directly.
Frozen solid.
Bingya's claw followed immediately.
CRACK!
The frozen lance shattered into glittering fragments.
Far away...
Yun Che clicked his tongue.
One down.
At that exact moment—
The abandoned puppet moved again.
Only one Ki string connected to it now.
Enough.
Its chest split apart.
Hidden compartments unfolded.
Thousands—
No.
Hundreds.
Tiny poisoned needles burst outward.
Like black rain.
Tianyu's eyes widened.
"Oh, come on!"
He threw himself backward.
Bingya spun rapidly beside him.
Frost Aura exploded outward.
Needles froze midair.
Many shattered before reaching them.
Others embedded harmlessly into the ground.
Still...
Several nicked Tianyu's armor.
"...He's really trying everything."
"Together."
Bingya growled once.
Both released every ounce of Frost Aura they possessed.
The world turned white.
The small pond froze instantly.
Ice raced outward across its surface.
Then—
The frozen lake erupted.
Hundreds of ice spears rose together.
The audience gasped.
"So many..."
With a single gesture from Tianyu—
The frozen pond became an arsenal.
"Go!"
The spears screamed across the battlefield.
Not toward the puppet.
Toward the trees.
Toward the real Yun Che.
Yun Che's pupils narrowed.
Too many.
He abandoned every remaining chain.
Every wire.
Every unnecessary technique.
Focus.
One thought.
Survive.
Ki strings pulled sharply.
The puppet shot backward toward him.
Its damaged body placed itself directly between Yun Che and the incoming storm.
The first spears struck.
Wood shattered.
Metal bent.
Armor cracked.
At the same time—
Telekinesis surged outward.
An invisible wall distorted the air.
Ice spears struck it.
Some deflected.
Others slowed.
Several punched through.
The puppet absorbed the rest.
When the barrage finally ended...
The puppet stood riddled with holes.
One arm hung loosely.
Its chest had partially collapsed.
Yun Che looked at it with genuine regret.
"...Sorry."
The cleaver remained lodged inside the puppet's hand.
Bent.
Cracked.
Ruined.
"...Useless now."
He shrugged.
"One last job."
With a sharp tug of telekinesis—
The massive blade spun toward Tianyu.
Tianyu caught it instinctively.
"...Seriously?"
Then his expression changed.
"...Wait."
Yun Che's voice echoed cheerfully from somewhere behind him.
"You really should stop catching things I throw."
BOOM!
The sword exploded.
Smoke.
Fire.
Shrapnel.
Snow erupted in every direction.
Tianyu disappeared inside the blast.
For one heartbeat...
Silence.
Then—
A thoroughly exasperated voice echoed from within the smoke.
"...Bloody hell."
The entire arena burst into laughter.
Even Captain Han covered his mouth to hide a grin.
Lord Shen slowly shook his head.
"...Remind me."
"When this duel is over..."
"...inspect every weapon that boy owns."
Yun Jian sighed.
"...I've been saying that for years."
Somewhere within the drifting smoke...
Tianyu started laughing too.
Because after five years of rivalry...
Only Yun Che...
Would think to turn his own broken sword into a bomb.
--------------------------------
The smoke slowly drifted away.
Everyone leaned forward.
Then...
A figure stepped out.
Tianyu.
His armor was blackened with soot.
His hair was a mess.
His expression, however, remained completely unbothered.
He brushed a piece of metal from his shoulder before looking toward the trees.
"I've learned something today."
Yun Che's voice floated lazily from somewhere overhead.
"Oh?"
"I am never..."
"...ever..."
"...catching anything you throw at me again."
The audience erupted into laughter.
Even Yun Che chuckled.
"Wise decision."
Tianyu glanced toward the battered puppet that had disappeared beneath the frozen pond.
His expression became thoughtful.
"...That was incredible."
"What was?"
"The puppet."
"I've fought swords."
"I've fought spears."
"I've fought beasts."
"I've fought you."
"But..."
"I've never fought a puppet master before."
He shook his head with genuine admiration.
"For a moment..."
"I honestly couldn't tell which one was real."
A voice answered from three different directions.
"That means it worked."
Tianyu laughed.
"It did."
Then his eyes narrowed.
"...But."
"Controlling all that..."
"The puppet."
"The wires."
"The chains."
"The lances."
"The telekinesis."
"Your boosters."
He pointed toward the hidden Yun Che.
"How much Ki do you have left?"
A brief silence followed.
Then Yun Che answered honestly.
"The puppet has its own Ki storage."
"I wasn't powering everything myself."
"Oh..."
Tianyu nodded slowly.
"So you're still fresh."
"Fresh enough."
"Good."
His smile widened.
"I didn't want excuses after I beat you."
The atmosphere changed.
No more jokes.
No more probing attacks.
Tianyu raised one claw.
"...Our turn."
Frost exploded outward.
Not merely cold.
Visibility itself vanished.
Dense white mist rolled across the battlefield.
Trees disappeared.
The pond vanished.
Even the spectators could barely make out silhouettes inside the barrier.
Only occasional flashes of blue Ki revealed movement.
Then...
The ground answered.
Ice spikes erupted everywhere.
Some burst from beneath broken stone.
Others climbed around trees.
The battlefield itself had become a weapon.
Lord Shen nodded approvingly.
"They're taking control."
Captain Han folded his arms.
"They've spent too long reacting."
Then—
BOOM!
An explosion shattered the silence.
Followed by another.
And another.
And another.
Mines.
Hidden beneath loose snow.
Hidden beside shattered stone.
Hidden beneath patches of frozen ground.
Tianyu sighed loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear.
"...Of course."
Bingya snorted.
"Did you expect anything else?"
"No."
"I was simply hoping."
Far above the battlefield...
Booster vents roared.
Yun Che shot upward.
The damaged puppet quietly sank beneath the icy pond.
Safer there.
It had already done enough.
The mist swallowed almost everything.
"...Can't see."
Yun Che frowned.
"So..."
"We'll fix that."
His remaining telekinetic lances dropped from the sky.
They spun violently.
Rotation generated powerful winds.
The thick frost mist began tearing apart.
Openings appeared.
Sunlight streamed downward.
At ground level...
Chains burst from the earth.
They wrapped around trunks.
Roots.
Broken rocks.
Creating barriers instead of traps.
Meanwhile...
Steel wires stretched between the trees.
Crossing.
Overlapping.
Interweaving.
Within moments...
The forested section of the arena resembled a giant spider's web.
One careless step...
Would mean dozens of razor-sharp wires.
Master Liang's eyebrows rose.
"...Smart."
"He isn't trying to trap Tianyu."
"He is removing his movement."
Lord Shen nodded.
"The wolves rely on momentum."
"Those wires deny it."
Then—
A howl echoed.
Not ordinary.
Not natural.
It carried Ki.
It carried bloodline power.
It carried the authority of the Heavenly Frost Wolf.
Both Tianyu and Bingya howled together.
The sound became a physical force.
The air shook.
The trees trembled.
Even spectators instinctively covered their ears.
Above them—
Yun Che suddenly lost balance.
"...What?!"
His boosters sputtered.
The sonic shock disrupted his control for a crucial instant.
He began falling.
"They've got him!"
Tianyu exploded upward.
Bingya attacked from another angle.
Master and partner moved independently.
Using condensed Ki platforms beneath their feet and paws.
Running through the sky.
Changing directions impossibly.
One attacked high.
The other low.
Perfect synchronization.
Their frost-covered claws closed in.
Yun Che reacted instantly.
"Lances!"
The remaining five white lances intercepted.
Two blocked Bingya.
Three targeted Tianyu.
The wolves weaved effortlessly between them.
One lance narrowly missed Tianyu's face.
Another was deflected aside.
The last forced Bingya to twist through the air.
Enough.
Just enough.
Booster vents erupted again.
Yun Che shot sideways.
His boots scraped through empty air.
Distance.
He needed distance.
His hand closed around the sword at his waist.
The familiar grip steadied his heartbeat.
Drawing Technique.
Ki gathered.
Compressed.
Ten percent.
Normally...
Such an amount would have been reckless.
Now...
His control was finally precise enough.
The sword flashed free.
One clean motion.
One perfect draw.
A brilliant crescent of compressed Ki roared across the battlefield.
Tianyu's eyes widened.
"...Bingya!"
"I know!"
Neither tried dodging.
Too wide.
Too fast.
Instead—
Both inhaled deeply.
Their Frost Aura condensed.
Blue-white energy merged before them.
Then erupted.
A massive frost beam surged forward.
The two attacks collided.
Light swallowed the battlefield.
The impact shook the barrier.
Snow exploded skyward.
Ice shattered.
Trees bent violently.
For several long seconds...
Neither attack advanced.
Then...
Both dispersed together.
Silence followed.
Captain Han looked toward Lord Shen.
"...They're stronger than I expected."
Lord Shen didn't answer immediately.
His eyes remained fixed upon the arena.
Finally...
He smiled.
"No."
"They're forcing each other to become stronger."
Across the battlefield...
Tianyu lowered his claws.
"...I knew it."
Yun Che stood several dozen meters away.
Breathing steadily.
Still composed.
Still ready.
Still dangerous.
Tianyu laughed.
"I don't think..."
"...we're beating you like this."
Bingya's tail swished.
"Agreed."
"Time?"
Tianyu nodded.
"Time."
He looked directly toward Yun Che.
"No complaints."
"No holding back."
"You've earned it."
A deep blue light spread across his body.
The Heavenly Frost Wolf bloodline answered his call.
Across the ruined battlefield, Yun Che watched his oldest rival become something he had never fought before.
Beneath his dragon-shaped helmet, he smiled.
"Now we're talking."