Chapter 525: A Costly Move
William looked at Yuhe calmly. "Are you ready to give up yet? I've still got plenty of Mana to deal with you."
Yuhe responded by crushing five more glass balls of varying colors, opening the Domains of Ice, Lightning, Light, Wind, and Death, respectively. William's Domain of Earth was instantly overpowered. His Domain shattered moments later, leaving William to defend against the combined onslaught of ten different Elements.
This was the most Elemental Affinities William had ever seen from a single Cultivator, across his entire Cultivation journey. He had somewhat expected this from Yuhe considering earlier conversations between her and the students, but William didn't realize the situation was like this.
Unless Yuhe had some other method to create Domains, didn't this mean she had at least ten S-Rank Elemental Affinities? In the Mortal Realms, even if she was in the first stage of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, no one would be able to compete with her!
Not even peak Cultivators on the verge of Ascension!
William's awe towards Yuhe was nothing compared to the latter's towards him, however. She had spent several months storing up these Domains, yet all of them were being wasted on one guy! If she knew this would happen earlier, Yuhe would never have accepted William's challenge!
Yuhe took a careful glance at William, trying to evaluate his true condition. After a long while, Yuhe realized that the boy wasn't even relatively exhausted. He was in an incredibly relaxed position, his Mana was flowing into several Spells at once, and it looked like his Domain would recover in a few minutes if she didn't end things now.
Ten Domains slammed into William with the force of a small moon, slamming him against the back wall of the Boss Room despite his many resistances and the Ascended Fitness Talent. Unlike projectiles and sword strikes, a Domain couldn't be dodged unless there was enough room to do so.
They were currently inside of a Dungeon, on a Boss Floor nonetheless. There was hardly enough space for Ascension Realm Cultivators to maneuver, much less to dodge a Domain cast by one. Discover hidden stories at empire
William softened the blows to both his front and rear with the Ascended Plate Armor and Forcefield combo, the armor broken in an instant while the Forcefield managed to deal with everything else. He slid downward at a steady pace, regaining his footing and dodging multiple spikes before Yuhe could press the attack.
Yuhe watched William dust off his clothing with a raised eyebrow. She could have sworn that she landed a direct hit on him with the combined force of ten Domains... the impact was clear, and he even took additional damage from the back wall of the Boss Room.
...so why is he completely unharmed?!?
"You should give up before you waste all of those things you have." William half-joked.
If she really didn't want to lose the battle, it made sense that Yuhe would use everything at her disposal. It wouldn't look good on her as a member of the Slightwing Family to listen to William's commands, but most of all she hated losing to anyone.
Duels were her forte, since she'd been training her whole life in preparation for the Slightveil Competition. She should have an overwhelming advantage here!
There was one other reason why Yuhe didn't want to lose. Surprisingly, she actually wished for William to become her slave for a week. The more strength he displayed, the more his service would benefit her in the future. If she asked him to join Slightwing during that time, it would even extend their agreement and bring a genius to her Family.
Yuhe gritted her teeth, realizing that William wasn't going to run out of Mana anytime soon. She guessed that she had been playing into William's hands the entire time, and that he actually had some sort of Innate Talent related to Mana Regeneration.
There was a chance that clashing Domains with him for so long actually helped him recover! What if his Domain actually gets stronger the more time it spends open? There were too many possibilities, but all of them suggested that William was still in peak condition.
Do I really have to do it? I was saving those for the Competition... If I use them and don't win... I will lose five years of progress!
Yuhe pulled out a second Space Ring, this one clearly different from the first. It was a triple-shank ring with red and gold designs, while several small red gems adorned the shoulders. Compared to the average Space Ring, this one had to be dozens, maybe hundreds of times more expensive to craft.
Wait, why am I speculating? I can do this! William focused his vision on the Space Ring, using the Appraisal Function alongside the Sales Talent to investigate.
———
Yuhe's Space Ring (Legendary Ascended Artifact): An Artifact designed by an unknown Tier 9 Blacksmith and supported by Tier 9 Arrays. It appears to have been designed with defensive ability, storage, and internal stability as the priority.
Effects while worn: Unknown
Stored Items: Unknown
Maximum Storage: Unknown
Durability: 15000000000/15000000000
Market Value: 6500 Spirit Jade
———
William's eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw the information on Yuhe's Space Ring. This level of wealth was leaps and bounds above anything William had ever seen and spoke true volumes of the power of the Slightwing Family.
Most of all, the thing was worth a massive number of Spirit Jades! If he got his hands on the Space Ring and sold it... how many Points would he get?
A mere child of their Family has such a treasure... what is she going to do? William eyed Yuhe carefully. Anything could come out of that Space Ring, maybe even attacks equivalent to the Deity Realm.
Yuhe looked incredibly pained upon revealing the Space Ring. This was her trump card for the Competition, yet she couldn't believe she had to use it against a Commoner from the Mortal Realms.
She gritted her teeth and made a decision, "William! I acknowledge your ability, so you better not disappoint me!"
Before William had time to answer, Yuhe opened the Space Ring and produced a glittering blue ornament the size of her head. She held it in both hands, crushing it from either side while a tsunami of Water Mana poured out.
"Primary Law of Water, heed my commands and drown him!"