Jaxus arrived before Ji'Han in the blink of an eye, his arrival like that of a god of fire. His saber exploded with Yang Qi, so hot and powerful that it seemed as though it could burn all of creation. His saber slashed out from the side, cleaving towards Ji'Han's waist with the power of exploding stars.
Ji'Han slashed his sword out towards the attack, a beam of sword-light slashing out and meeting the attack.
Boom!
The arena exploded into a sea of fire as saber met sword-image. Jaxus followed up his attack with another, weaving his saber attacks seamlessly, giving Ji'Han zero openings. Some of his attacks were explosive and powerful, like that of stars, while others were quick and unpredictable, like the movement of flames.
Jaxus' saber arts continued to transform during his assault, each attack different from the last. In response, Ji'Han activated a movement art to speed around the arena, unleashing simple sword attacks in response. The two soared through the air like twin comets of light, one white and one fiery red.
The land broke and crumbled wherever they appeared, while the sky rumbled from their might.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Thousands of attacks blasted out in the arena, with Jaxus on the attack the entire time, his combat style like that of overwhelming and unpredictable flames.
"Wow! Jaxus has utilized two of his signature arts! His Nineform Yang Saber, which has nine different fighting styles, and his Pure-Yang Lotus Wings movement art, which increases his speed to heaven-defying levels!" the announcer exclaimed excitedly. "How will Ji'Han react to this combination? Wait, what's this! Another lotus star has appeared in the sky above the arena!"
While their battle, with each attack as powerful as the full out attack of a Dao Transformation genius raged on, Jaxus unleashed another Blooming Lotus, Falling Star. The starburst into existence above the two of them, bathing the arena with a fiery glow.
"Heh, let's see you seal this again while having to deal with me!" Jaxus sneered, not letting up on his ceaseless barrage of attacks for a moment.
While defending against his attacks, Ji'Han glanced upwards towards the star, which had taken the shape of a lotus and was almost ready to be unleashed.
"Your attack will land on both of us," Ji'Han replied, returning his gaze to his opponent.
"Heh, I can withstand the power of my Yang Qi," Jaxus sneered. "So let's test it out. What will resist my yang star better? My Yang-Attribute Body, or your Flame Attribute Body and Emperor-Grade Variant Body?"
Ji'Han frowned, the first time he had shown any sort of emotion thus far. While he was confident in his body's ability to withstand the lotus star explosion, he knew he would lose out in that battle of attrition against Jaxus.
Jaxus had already shown he was capable of reabsorbing his Yang Qi to heal himself, which gave Jaxus the advantage in this situation.
"I'd rather not find out," Ji'Han replied as he slashed his sword out towards Jaxus, giving him some space. He then activated his sealing art, as seven swords appeared in the sky around him and began to move the same as they had done before.
"As if I'll let you," Jaxus roared, slashing his saber out hundreds of times sending saber images of pure Yang energy towards the seven floating swords, attempting to destroy them before they could activate."
"Infinite Sword Domain!" a soft whisper came from Ji'Han's mouth as he steadied his non-sword wielding hand before his chest, hand flat and upright like that of a monk in prayer.
A moment later, ten swords of Qi, each brimming with the might of World Expansion grade weapons appeared in the sky around Ji'Han. The ten swords split into two, creating twenty, which split again, and again, and again.
In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of swords flashed into existence around Ji'Han, like a storm of swords surrounding him. The swords moved about freely, surging like waves of swords towards the approaching Yang saber images.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Yang and Sword collided in the air, like the collision of two opposing forces of nature. The sky instantly turned into a battle of sword and fire, a mesmerizing spectacle unlike anything else. As the same time, the lotus star finally formed and began to fall towards Ji'Han, while the seven sword seals flashed out and into existence, appearing around the falling lotus star.
The sword-seals then began to grow and create their spatial seals, intending to seal away the lotus star in the chaos of the spatial void.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Jaxus unleashed a torrent of yang saber attacks at the sword seals, each attack more powerful than the last. Thousands of floating swords slashed towards the yang saber images, meeting them in the air and slicing them apart before they could reach the seals.
"Tch, fine then!" Jaxus sneered, quickly making a hand seal with his left hand. "Yang-Lotus! Explode!"
BOOM!
Activating his yang lotus early, Jaxus exploded it in the sky above them before the sword-seals could seal it away. The lotus star exploded with the might of a thousand Dao Transformation battle arts, bathing the arena in ruinous yang power that instantly washed over both geniuses.
The arena rumbled like nothing before, almost as if the stadium would shake loose of its foundations and crumble to the ground. The defensive formation screen flared to life, containing the battle art before it could harm any in the stadium.
After stabilizing themselves, millions in the stands hastily stood up, feeling pure shock and awe. They peered into the yang energy roiling within the arena, hoping to see the outcome of the calamitously powerful yang star exploding.
Even John waited with bated breath, his impression of both youths growing by the second. That yang lotus of Jaxus was so strong that John would need to use the full might of his Dragon-God Shift to defend against, and maybe even his Asura Transformation Art.
While part of that was due to Jaxus' cultivation being in the Half-World Expansion Realm, part of it was due to the profundity and sheer power of the Blooming Lotus, Falling Star battle art.
After what felt like an eternity to many, the yang explosions finally faded away, revealing the outcome. Lying in a pool of magma a distance away was Jaxus, whose body was wounded and charred in places, revealing he had taken damage in the explosion.
A quick glance to the formation screens revealed he had sustained thirty percent damage to his health, although that number quickly began to rise as the fading yang energy swirled towards Jaxus as he used his Life-Yang Restoration Art, quickly returning his health above ninety percent.
After glancing at Jaxus' metrics, John gave Ji'Han's a quick glance. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the health metric, which was still at one hundred percent. In that explosion of ruinous power, Ji'Han had not sustained a single ounce of damage.
However, his Qi reserves had finally dropped a bit, although only by less than ten percent. As Jaxus absorbed the last of his yang energy, Ji'Han finally came into view, or more aptly, his sword domain was visible instead.
Using the countless swords from his Infinite Sword Domain, Ji'Han formed a cocoon of sword's dozens of yards thick, which enveloped him tightly within. The swords on the outside of the cocoon shattered into misty Qi, their power depleted from within standing the ruinous explosion.
After the last remnants of the explosion faded, the cocoon of swords churned, the swords moving with haste back into the air all around Ji'Han, revealing him once more, completely unharmed. He still wore the same calm and arrogant look on his face, as if nothing Jaxus could do would have any effect.
An angered look on Jaxus' face, who stood up and took to the sky, his eyes glowing with the light of stars. He opened his mouth and roared, a deep glow coming from within his mouth.
"I'll wipe that arrogant look off your face once and for all!" he roared, his aura exploding outwards like that of a volcano. Behind him, a point of light appeared, only an inch across. However, the point of light was beyond powerful, made of condensed yang Qi.
The point of light exploded to life, forming the shape of a lotus, although its leaves were curled up, making it look more like a ball than a lotus. The lotus of yang was roughly a foot across, and hovered directly above Jaxus' head. A second later, five of the lotus petals unfurled, splaying to the side.
The instant that happened, every inch of sky and land of the arena turned fiery red, like everything had been stained with the power of yang. Ji'Han looked all around him, seeing only the tempestuous power of pure yang, so powerful that it incinerated everything to ashy nothingness, the magma in the arena included.
While Ji'Han could only see the tempest of Yang swirling all around him like an apocalyptic storm trying to destroy everything, John and the rest of the crowd could see the true form of the ability Jaxus had unleashed.
Stretching from edge to edge of the arena was a massive lotus made of pure yang. Five of its petals had unfurled to the side, while the rest still clung to the center, the exact same as the small lotus of yang hovering directly above Jaxus' head.
John's gaze narrowed as he stared at the battle art used by Jaxus. While he was not inside it, he could feel the extraordinary power and heat contained within. A power that would push him to using his Asura Transformation Art to withstand its power.
"Nine-Petal Hell Domain!" Jaxus roared, as a sixth petal unfurled, increasing the power of the domain once more. The crowd gasped at the sheer might of the domain, and many in the crowd had a thought appear in their mind for the first time in the battle.
"Was Ji'Han able to deal with this incredible domain art, or would it be the end of the line for the most famous genius of the Nine-Dao World?"
