A Fight In The Skies

"You are worth fighting, after all!" said Yan Peng, before starting to remove his shirt. As his chest was revealed, so where intricate green markings, which traveled all across his body.

At the same time, a sharp aura erupted from Yan Peng, and the green markings began to move, forming an image that Li Zhu recognized far too well.

'He's really serious now!' thought Li Zhu, "Those markings... they are forming the image of a Roc!"

The Roc was a divine beast similar to dragons and phoenixes, and Li Zhu had heard many myths about this particular beast, which resembled an eagle of enormous proportions. The only thing he could not understand was why Yan Peng would have markings of a divine beast on his body, since according to his knowledge, there was no technique in which such markings could provide the user with power.

"Do you recognize this beast? Of course you don't!" said Yan Peng, before stating, "No one before you has seen the effect that my inheritance has on my body, so I am sorry to tell you, but death is the only possible outcome for you at this point!"

Hearing this, Li Zhu started understanding a bit more the strange markings, as he thought, 'Apparently they are from an inheritance that he previously received, so it makes sense that I would not have known much about it!'

After all, if Yan Peng had received an inheritance from a master in Crouching Tiger Kingdom, it made sense that even Li Zhu did not recognize the technique used by it, since he did not know the history of every past master in the continent.

Interrupting Li Zhu from his thoughts, Yang Peng jumped in the air, wind rushing to him from miles away. Even Li Zhu felt himself being pulled towards Yang Peng, while the latter's markings began to shine brightly.

'What is he doing?' wondered Li Zhu, who was more curious about the technique being used than he was scared. After all, it was not often that he saw a technique which he had never seen any variations of before.

Just as the sharp aura being emitted from Yan Peng reached its peak, the shining markings actually began to separate from his body, before flowing around him, and fusing with his aura.

What happened then left Li Zhu flabbergasted, as Yan Peng vanished, replaced by a massive Roc, formed solely by energy and wind.

Yan Peng did not give any time for Li Zhu to think about a strategy either since, immediately after taking his new form, he swept towards Li Zhu, swinging his claws.

Each time that he swung his claws, a barrage of wind blades would be formed, forcing Li Zhu to enter shadow lurk, while trying to understand how he could fight Yan Peng in his current form.

At that moment, though, something surprising occurred; a lightning bolt flashed from the sky, hitting Li Zhu before he could even move. The strike did not harm him in any way, but he was forced out of shadow lurk, a booming voice filling his head, "That skill is prohibited from now on!"

As he heard these words, a panicked expression appeared on Li Zhu's face, since he understood that Yan Peng had nothing to do with the lightning bolt, which had actually been sent down from the sky by whatever controlled these inheritance trials.

Although shadow lurk was a very powerful skill, Li Zhu had not expected this turn of events, with whatever controlled the trials having decided that it was unfair for him to fight other participants with the advantage of always being able to dodge their strikes. Even though shadow lurk was in no way a form of cheating, it was clear that the trial itself wanted the person who received the inheritance to be able to fight, not just dodge.

'What am I going to do now?' wondered Li Zhu, while running away from the wind blades, occasionally launching a few of his own blades, in the form of shadow claws.

Just as he was jumping around the trees, though, the Roc screeched, a sound which was as loud as it was unbearable to listen to. What followed was a spectacle which interrupted even Yun Mei and Bo Ai from their fierce fight, since a massive vortex of wind formed on the tree where Li Zhu had been standing, before gradually evolving into a full on tornado, pulling everything towards it.

As Li Zhu tried to run away, many trees and bushes were uprooted by the tornado and launched into the sky, where the sharp wind cut them to bits.

Fortunately for Yun Mei and Bo Ai, they were far enough that the pulling force of the tornado was weak enough for them to escape. Li Zhu, though, had no such luck, and when he ran at full speed, he was still gradually pulled towards the tornado.

Suddenly, as Li Zhu struggled against the force pulling him backwards, a blue flash of light came out of his spirit ring. Blue had for some reason come out of the spirit ring, and was holding a long soul crystal in its claws, with which it then flew all the way to a tree top, far from the tornado.

'Is it trying to save a soul crystal from the tornado?' wondered Li Zhu, confused.

What happened next only brought more confusion, though, as Blue began biting on the crystal, which was about the same size as its head. Slowly but steadily, the entire crystal was swallowed by the small bird, who then flew into the sky, while a chilling aura formed around it.

Although Li Zhu felt pain at the fact that the soul crystal Blue had eaten would not count for the trial, he also was extremely shocked at the current phenomenon that the bird was going through... bloodline strengthening!

Li Zhu did not know anything about Blue's origin, which also meant he did not know what treasures it needed to strengthen its bloodline. Fortunately, it would seem as though Blue could find the treasures by itself, as it had done with the soul crystal.

During a bloodline strengthening, spirit beasts always took a more powerful form, such as Buddy when he grew from a dog into a fierce Demonic Shadow Wolf. The only difference with Buddy was that he always changed back, something which never occurred in other spirit beasts. Blue was the same as all other beasts, though, and as the chilling aura being released by it increased, so did its size, which was doubled in the span of a few seconds.

As Blue grew, its features changed drastically, with its wings taking on the shape of hundreds of ice crystals, almost transparent. The transformations were not limited to this, though, and by the time the bloodline strengthening had finished, Blue seemed like a completely different spirit beast.

'Will it gain any new skills?' wondered Li Zhu, but it seemed as though he would have to wait after the fight to find out, since Blue did not return towards him, rather choosing to face the Roc, who was more than three times its size, by itself.

Blue was as fast as lightning, reaching the tornado in a split second, before opening its beak, and releasing a breath of frost qi. While releasing its attack, Blue circled the tornado, slowly but steadily freezing the wind itself, and leaving a massive ice sculpture behind.

'That could be the new skill!' exclaimed Li Zhu, while admiring the beauty which was the tornado being slowly frozen.

Yan Peng would not allow Blue to do as it pleased, though, and as fast as he could, he charged towards it.

Rocs were the king of the skies, and with the complete control of wind that he had, Yan Peng, managed to strike Blue and retreat, over and over again.

What followed was something which Li Zhu could only spectate, as the two birds, both powerful in their own right, began clashing in a flurry of strikes, which was just a blur for everyone else.

'I can only hope that Blue wins this exchange!' thought Li Zhu, realizing that neither he or Buddy had the speed required to participate in the current fight, and all they could do was wait for a better opportunity to strike, if it ever came.

Blue had a slight disadvantage in speed, since the Roc could move at the speed of the wind, but it made that up with its ice breathing skill, which allowed it to slow down the Roc, not to mention keeping it at a safe distance.

While the two birds fought in the sky, Yun Mei and Bo Ai were battling it out in their minds, with most of the fighting being between their souls, something which they had both practiced since they were children.

Every once in a while, Yun Mei would strike out with her water skills, which would force Bo Ai to jump onto a different tree top. Overall, though, the two were in what could only be described as a stalemate, something that Li Zhu quickly realized when he glanced at the them, while helplessly standing on the sidelines of his own fight.

'I should help out Bo Ai, and once we defeat Yun Mei, she can strike the soul of the Roc, helping Blue!' thought Li Zhu, understanding that it was the only way he could currently be of help in this fight.

Fighting two against one was not the most honorable thing, but this was a trial of strength and especially team work, so as he prepared to charge forward, Li Zhu understood that fighting this way was being strategic, something which was encouraged in the inheritance trials.