Against The Heavens 43 Terrifying Ability.

Li Yang knew quite a bit about the fire laws from his last life, but he had to admit that even when he was at his peak, he knew less about the fire laws than Jing Yimu did. With the chance to learn more about the fire laws presented to him, Li Yang acted the part of a diligent disciple and absorbed all of Jing Yimu's knowledge, intently listening to all his words.

Seeing Li Yang studying so diligently under him, and seeing how quickly he managed to digest the information about the fire laws, even implementing them at times, his face could not help but crack into a wide grin. The more Li Yang learned, the more Jing Yimu taught him.

"Little Yang, you must never, not even for a split second, forget about those talismans. If you for even a single second feel that your mind is about to be absorbed by your heart demons, crush a talisman If you feel that the wind is getting a bit sharp, immediately crush a talisman! Caution sails a s.h.i.+p for a thousand years!"

Li Yang and Jing Yimu stood at the edge of a valley so large that it looked like a scar on the world, so deep that Li Yang was unable to see the bottom. The walls of the valley were almost completely straight and smooth as if the entire valley had been carved out by a single slash. Li Yang knew that the valley did not only look like that, it had in fact been created by a single slash of a sword, a single slash by Ye Ning. Ye Ning was the only person Li Yang knew who could unleash such a terrifying slash. Looking at the serious Jing Yimu, Li Yang could only rapidly nod his head.

"Don't worry, Master Yimu, I won't be foolish. I will make sure to flee the moment I suspect or feel that things might go wrong!"

Jing Yimu continued to look at Li Yang for a few moments, his gaze stern and solemn. If it was up to him, he would not let Li Yang enter the trial grounds. After all, Li Yang was the first disciple he had taken in. They had traveled together for a while already, and the more time he spent with Li Yang, the more satisfied and closer he felt with him. When he looked at Li Yang, he felt like he saw a younger version of himself. But seeing the determined expression on Li Yang's face, he could only give an unwilling nod of his head.

"Good. Make sure you remember to do just that."

Restricting someone to keep them safe would also restrict their growth. Jing Yimu feared that if he did not allow Li Yang to take some risks, he would easily stagnate in his cultivation, never reaching a higher stage. Jing Yimu grabbed Li Yang and jumped down into the valley, towards the entrance of the third trial.

The inside of the valley, while blanketed by a sharp wind that felt like tiny blades on Li Yang's skin, was surprisingly lush and flouris.h.i.+ng. There were various flowers growing out from the lower part of the valley walls, and the ground was covered in swaying green gra.s.s that went all the way up to Li Yang's knees. The moment they entered the valley, Jing Yimu entered a highly alert state, das.h.i.+ng at full speed towards the entrance of the trial.

While Jing Yimu was highly alert and das.h.i.+ng at full speed, Li Yang had closed his eyes and taken a few deep breaths. The wind was slowly getting more ferocious, even starting to slice small wounds into Li Yang's skin. But the wind brought with it a familiar feeling and scent, the scent of a carefree swordsman who liked to drink wine and leisurely wander the world with his spear-wielding wife.

After Jing Yimu reached a certain spot within the valley, the wind around them suddenly grew so strong that it even obscured their vision. Li Yang felt Jing Yimu's grip on him loosening, quickly vanis.h.i.+ng completely as the wind around them started to grow calmer again.

Once the wind had completely calmed down again, turning into nothing more than a gentle breeze, Li Yang found himself standing at the bottom of the valley, with only Jinwu remaining around him. Li Yang swept the surroundings with his eyes, a carefree look in his eyes. Not seeing any signs of Jing Yimu, he opened his mouth and spoke out.

"You seem to have grown nicely, Zizai. When Ning picked you up, you weren't even the size of my eye, the winds you summoned not even enough to sway my sleeves."

After Li Yang's voice sounded out, the gentle breeze around him seemed to tremble for a short moment. The wind picked up strength again, turning into a small tornado that spun around in front of Li Yang. After spinning in front of Li Yang for a short while, the tornado turned into a large cyan colored bird that was almost 20 meters in length. The bird looked at Li Yang with eyes that contained a mixture of shock and joy.

"Thunder Monarch, it really is you! I suspected it might be you when I first noticed you enter the valley, but seeing you travel with that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Yimu, I couldn't be sure."

The voice that came from the bird sounded a bit immature as if it had yet to become an adult. This bird was not a normal type of Demonic beast, it was a Wind Elemental. A Wind Elemental was wind that had gathered enough Qi to become a new life. Most people who found such a Wind Elemental would absorb it to strengthen their own wind element, but Ye Ning had taken it in and decided to raise it. Li Yang stretched out an arm and pat Zizai on the head, speaking with a slight smile.

"It is good to see you, Zizai. I am currently traveling with Jing Yimu because of a certain reason, but I hope to be able to kill him once we take on Yawen's trial. Could you take me to the location of the trial and tell me what I have to do to complete it?"

Zizai rapidly nodded his head at Li Yang's words, landing on the ground and turning into human shape. Zizai's human shape was in the form of a youth that only looked a bit older than Li Yang, seemingly around 15 or 16 years old. He had pale and smooth skin, short green hair, and cyan eyes. Once he took human form, he grabbed Li Yang's sleeves and started pulling him deeper into the valley.

"The test that Big Brother Ning set up is very simple, you have to enter an array and have your body undergo an illusion that will drag out your heart demons. If you manage to resist or overcome your heart demons, you will have completed the trial. Failing to resist them or being devoured by your heart demons will result in failure, and most often either going insane or dying from exploding. But since it is you who is going to undertake it, I doubt anything is going to happen. Good luck!"

Zizai spoke rapidly, not even stopping to breathe as his words flooded out. Despite living for countless years, Zizai was still considered a child Wind Elemental. He also had an easily excitable personality, which was one of the reasons Ye Ning had first decided to take him in and raise him. Zizai only dragged Li Yang for a short distance before letting go of his sleeves. Once Zizai let go of his sleeves, a ferocious wind once more appeared around Li Yang, clouding his vision.

When the wind vanished, Li Yang did not find himself at the bottom of the valley again. He instead found himself standing on a patch of cracked earth, surrounded by streams of emerald lava. The air was filled with not only the faint smell of sulfur but also the smell of burnt wood and the sweet scent of poison. Upon noticing the scenery around him, Li Yang's expression quickly changed, becoming so calm that it even seemed icy.

Jinwu immediately noticed the change in Li Yang, brus.h.i.+ng himself against Li Yang's neck to calm him down. Li Yang took several deep breaths, patting Jinwu on the hand, putting on a forced smile as he spoke in a low voice.

"Sorry. I figured I might end up seeing this, but it seems I wasn't as prepared for it as I thought I was."

Li Yang closed his eyes for a few seconds, once he opened them again, they were like two black holes, not allowing anyone to discern what he was thinking or feeling. He slowly started to walk, following a familiar path that was ingrained in his bones. A strong wind started to blow over the area as he walked, causing his azure hair to sway strongly in the wind, the smell of sulfur and poison growing stronger.

Li Yang continued to walk until he reached the bottom of a small hill, stopping to take a few more deep breaths at the bottom of the hill. Once he had taken several deep breaths, he continued to walk forwards, ascending up the hill. Upon reaching the top of the hill, he saw the scenery he had expected to see here.

A little distance away stood a ruined wooden cottage, the small garden at the back of the cottage burning with purple flames. Standing in the air around the cottage were people clad in the robes of several different sects that Li Yang recognized from his previous life. And standing in front of the ruined cottage and facing the group of people, were a wounded Fang Ying and Fang Xue'er.

Fang Ying was holding the bleeding Fang Xue'er closely, her eyes sweeping the people surrounding them, a vicious light glowing in her eyes. Standing on top of the hill a short distance away, Li Yang could see that Fang Xue'er had already lost an arm and a leg, while Fang Ying had a large hole in her waist. If things went like they did in the past, Fang Xue'er would die after two more attacks, one sent by a man known as Jing Jianru, and one sent by a woman known as Xue Senzhou.

Li Yang continued to look at the scenery, his eyes and expression frightfully calm. But his face was pale, sweat dripping from his forehead as he continuously took deep breaths as if he was trying to gulp down as much air as possible. Li Yang saw the attack sent by Jing Jianru land on Fang Ying and Fang Xue'er, blowing away a chunk of flesh from Fang Xue'er's hips.

Upon seeing this scene, he suddenly stopped taking deep breaths. Seeing Li Yang like this, Jinwu hurriedly flapped his wings and started flying in front of Li Yang's face, loudly cawing as he talked to Li Yang. Li Yang looked at Jinwu, his lips turning into a heartbroken smile.

"I know. Fighting will mean that I fail the trial. I also know that the two of them are not my Ying'er and my Xue'er, they are merely illusions created to taunt and test me, even if I fight, nothing will change. But even if they are not mine, I can't stand seeing them hurt like this. So what if I fail this trial? I can just take it again as many times as I have to. Even if it is pointless and will achieve nothing, right now I want to fight. Jinwu...Please."

To Li Yang, it was far easier to walk away from a happy illusion than it was to walk away from a painful illusion. No matter if they were real or not, he could not bear seeing Fang Ying and Fang Xue'er hurt in any way. Jinwu continued to fly in front of Li Yang's face, but upon seeing the look on his face, it could only lower its head in a nod.

Jinwu landed on Li Yang's shoulder, but just as Li Yang was about to charge forward and tear apart the illusions in front of him, a blinding golden light was released from Jinwu's body. Jinwu's body turned into a stream of golden energy that completely covered and sank into Li Yang.

With the golden energy covering and sinking into his body, information started flowing into his mind. This was the ability Jinwu had gained after growing stronger while Li Yang undertook the first trial, an ability that the two of them could use because Jinwu was born from the blood Li Yang dropped onto his egg. It was an ability to fuse together, greatly strengthening the other and allowing him to use the power of the other. A man who was an overlord in his previous life and a Divine Beast fusing together, how terrifying would such a fusion be?

When the golden light had completely sunk into Li Yang's body, his entire body felt like it was filled with overwhelming power. The robes he had been wearing earlier had changed, turning into a flowing golden robe decorated with images of blazing Golden Crows. His once pitch black eyes had turned a magnificent golden, and two wings covered in icy blue feathers sprouted from his back.

Li Yang only gave the changes to his body a quick glance, as he had already been informed by Jinwu that the changes would revert once the two of them stopped using the fusion ability. He looked at the wings for a bit longer, a pleasantly surprised light flas.h.i.+ng past his eyes.

If he wanted to fly normally, he would first have to reach the Primordial Rune realm. But with these wings now available, traveling would be much easier. Li Yang glanced at his left shoulder, but Jinwu had already fused with him, so there was no one there. A gentle light flashed in his eyes as he muttered out in a low voice.

"Thank you, Jinwu."

After saying his thanks, Li Yang's eyes landed on the group in the distance. He felt like a bit of time had pa.s.sed, but it seemed that Xue Senzhou had not sent her attack yet, so he knew that only a few seconds had pa.s.sed. His eyes seemed to glow with golden flames as he glared at the group and took a step forward, the earth cracking as he dashed forwards. His right arm became covered with golden flames, while a terrifyingly cold mist started coiling around his left arm. These were the two elements of Jinwu, the golden flames and an unknown type of ice.