184. Blue Pearl
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Feng Lian's memories revealed why Yu Wang successfully awakened, despite Luoyin being alive...
"How clever!" Luoyin spoke. "You made me break my own Seal..."
Yu Wang had recognized Yin Xiaolong's (Luoyin's) aura during the Civil War, but had been too weak to say much.
However, in the snowy clearing, after Luoyin regained his Immortality, Yu Wang sensed an opportunity...
And rather than save Zhurong Fen in some way, he swiftly linked the Jinyu Demon Seal to her soul, knowing Luoyin had no memories of Yu Xuan's Seal.
And so when Luoyin killed Zhurong Fen, he (Yu Xuan) had unknowingly destroyed his own Seal!
This had set free the Jinyu half of Yu Wang's essence, allowing him possess Zhurong Fen and form a temperory body. And when he found the chance, he had merged with the Black Dragon, gaining enough power to break the Flower Realm Seal and awaken fully...
Yu Wang sneered at Luoyin, a wicked gleam in his crimson eyes.
"I said it already... I bear your original strength and knowledge, so you stand no chance!
"I trampled you then, and I'll trample you now! You short-lived Ground Immortal can't possibly compare to me!" With a flick of his fingers, a dense arc of his black aura shot right at Luoyin.
"Lao Bao! Laoying!" Luoyin called, and Yu Wang's attack was met with Yinying's gold bell which appeared to surround them, while Old man Bao seemlessly moved to protect the now exposed Swallows.
Yu Wang was far too powerful for Yinying and the golden bell cracked for the first time in countless years, but Yinying himself appeared, roaring and pouring massive amounts of his aura into the bell technique, ensuring it held while...
Luoyin turned to gaze down at Weiyan.
She had so many questions, and he could read them all in her eyes...
Was he now completely Yu Xuan?
Would he favour his lifetime as Yu Xuan?
Was Feng Lian back in his heart?
Could he ever let go of her...?
But Luoyin knew she wouldn't ask.
It was neither time nor place for all that, and the entire world was currently hanging at the edge of a bottomless abyss.
Luoyin took her hand.
"Yanyan, there's something I must do." He said simply.
"Umh." She nodded, linking her fingers with his.
A surge of power flared from their joined hands, and their fingers began to move as one, forming a series of combined seals.
The air was suddenly charged with Luoyin's dragon aura as rings of blue and gold light fanned out from them, making even Yu Wang stagger back a step.
Strings of gold and blue light spiralled around Luoyin and Weiyan in perfect harmony.
Luoyin lowered his head, as if for a kiss, and Weiyan met him halfway...
But neither moved.
A pulsing blue pearl suddenly flared within Weiyan's core, and it rose slowly, emerging from her lips before flowing directly into Luoyin's mouth.
The wind picked up speed threatening to blow all away, and then came a massive explosion of aura that bore down on everyone, nearly forcing them to their knees!
Brilliant blue light flared from Luoyin, shrouding his entire body before fanning outward, and the terrifying radiance swept across the skies, swiftly erasing the wraiths for good and forcing the Immortals to shield their eyes.
Yu Wang narrowed his eyes as the light gradually faded.
Luoyin stood alone before him.
In the distance, the Immortals had gathered together within Yinying's bell, while a weakened Weiyan was being held up by Old man Bao himself.
The Luoyin before them all was now at an impossible level!
His aura was so immense that it seemed he had already surpassed his previous level as Yin Xiaolong!
The Immortals were baffled....
Luoyin had clearly just reclaimed his dragon pearl from Weiyan, but this power jump was incomprehensible!
At most, shouldn't he be at his former level?!
However, Weiyan, Old man Bao, and Kai Zhen wore matching smiles of contentment...
Almost as if they could now rest easy and leave everything to Luoyin!
"How is this possible?!" Yu Wang demanded in fury. "Upon your death at Caoyang, you lost the dragon pearls of your father and brother, and even if you've recalled your memories as Yu Xuan, you should have none of his abilities!!"
Luoyin only smiled.
"I don't need Yu Xuan's powers to defeat you, only his memories, and as for those two extra dragon pearls, I did merge with them in the past, but they were never a direct source of my power...
"Using them to level up so blatantly felt like an insult to my father and brother, so I stored them away as the precious inheritance they were... reserves I could draw on if my own strength ever truly ran out." He smirked.
"I reached the 10th stage of the Eternal Tier out of sheer hatred and determination to destroy those who harmed them! And guess who is the source of all that angst and hatred?!"
A fierce wind erupted, sending his blue robes and Yu Wang's black robes billowing violently, while their yinyang-like white and black hairs whipped wildly in the storm.
Whether from half a millennia ago as Yu Xuan, to thirty thousand years ago as Yin Xiaolong, to present day as Zhang Luoyin...
Yu Wang had been a constant enemy hidden in the shadows.
His actions had ended countless lives, painting the three realms in bloodshed, grief, and misery, and his very existence threatened to upturn the entire world.
It was time to end things once and for all!
And with no serious worry for Weiyan and his friends, Luoyin's mind had reached ultra clarity...
'Yuan Jing!' He silently activated his far-seeing appraisal technique, but this time, his irises glowed with a myriad of colours.
In a matter of seconds, it was almost as if he could see ghost versions of himself carrying out different moves against Yu Wang, and how each trajectory ended.
His hand shifted in a swift and sudden arc, moving his qi to converge into a dense blue orb, and with the slightest thrust, the frightful aura crashed into Yu Wang before he could blink.
Yu Wang found himself flying back a good deal, but he was the demon King after all, and he recovered quickly...
...only to be met with Luoyin's fists.
The two went at it for a good number of seconds, brawling faster than light with palms stopping elbows, arms stopping knees, and every hit threatening to level the world around them.
To the Immortals watching, all they could see were two impossibly swift streaks of blue and black, chasing around each other and colliding, too fast for their eyes to even guess who had the upper hand...!
But within the fight itself, Yu Wang's brows had furrowed to the point of nearly meeting in their center.
"I won't accept it...!!" He yelled amidst the brawl. "You should not be so powerful!!" He swung outward, forcing Luoyin to leap back and evade his now present black sword.
Yu Wang instantly chased, but his next swing was met with Luoyin's crystal blue sword, and the clang rang for miles, sending a massive shockwave which pushed Yinying's bell and the Immortals back several hundred feet!
"A knife hidden amongst fists?" Luoyin lazily asked as he pushed away, breaking the lock. "Exactly your style!"
"Die for me!!" Yu Wang yelled, his rage beyond comprehension as his sword swept in deadly arcs.
Luoyin leaned back, his body almost parallel to the ground, then leapt away as his arms crossed into a seal.
Countless gold gingko-leaf blades erupted forth, surrounded in Luoyin's Sea-blue aura, and they crashed against the lethal sword, homing in on Yu Wang himself.
Yu Wang confidently began deflecting the blades, but found that each one possessed an immense aura!
The sheer force within these blades were enough to push him back, forcing him to endlessly defend against them!
'I won't accept this!!!' Yu Wang repeated in his own mind, his blacker-than-night sword moving swifter than the *clangs* it made from deflecting the blades...
It was impossible!
He who bore Yu Xuan's original power...
He who bore the power of millions of mortals and immortals combined for more than five hundred thousand years...
And in addition to all that, he now bore the pearl and core of Sky Realm's Royal Dragons...!
How...
How was he being pushed by this insignificant half of Yu Xuan?!
The half who had always been too weak to seize power??!!!
"Are you still wondering why?" Luoyin asked from afar.
Then in the thousandth split of a second, his sea-blue trail breezed by Yu Wang.
Everything suddenly slowed...
At first Yu Wang felt nothing, and after several seconds, only a sudden wet sensation drew his attention.
It was almost as if water was trickling down his middle, wetting his robes, and he glanced downwards....
...but that slight movement ripped open the flesh of his middle, and there was a sudden spray of his black blood.
"What...?"
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