A Battle with a Lizard’s Ghost
Seeing her sword shatter on the lizard's body, Li Xiang couldn't help but feel a little heartbreak. That sword had been formed with a third of her meagre divine essence reserves during the torment of which her Heaven Core was restricted, and thus was weak, having been a miracle lasting this far.
Though rather flimsy for a weapon made of divine essence, and a sword at that, Li Xiang had accumulated sentimental feelings for the sword. It had remained with her during her harshest times, after all.
The sword had shattered after striking between the scales, not even able to penetrate the fleshly body of the lizard. Li Xiang didn't wish to think about the defensive abilities of the scales on the lizard, for the lizard was nearly completely covered in them.
If her other attacks couldn't pierce through, then she could only fold the cards immediately and save herself additional suffering.
The lizard, upon feeling her attack, released a muffled snort of surprise. However, that surprise morphed into astonishment at the strike barely counting as a tickle, which caused it to firmly plant its limbs onto the ground.
Arching its head back towards Li Xiang, the lizard released a full look of disdain before huffing, refusing to even deal with the deadbeat immortal incapable of landing a decent strike. It even disregarded Li Xiang to the extend that the lizard relaxed its body into comfortable position, and soon, deep breathing noises reverberated throughout the entire isolated region.
Li Xiang felt relief that the lizard hadn't attacked her defenseless self in retaliation, then reddened with shame at the thought of the lizard sleeping to display its disregard. Finding a stable scale to rest her tired body, both the lizard and immortal entered a temporary ceasefire, causing the invisible spectator to remain agape. He didn't train the lizard to be so peaceful, what was going on?
Hours later, Li Xiang woke to find that nothing had changed. The rhythmic breathing of the lizard still rumbled throughout the region, and she hadn't fallen off from her scale. Clenching her hand, she willed her Heaven Core to rotate, condensing divine essence into her palm. Gradually, a thin longsword was grasped in her fist, and she waved it around experimentally.
The sword was of a pure crystalline material a meter and half in length, and no more than a centimeter wide. Emitting a pure, refreshing aura, the blade seemed to be severed from all worldly toils; the crystalline sword seemed to be guarded against all contamination.
There were no engravings nor inscriptions on the blade, but the plainness and simplicity resounded with Li Xiang. Casually lifting the blade, she swung it towards the nearest scale, following through with the invocation of what the figure had named,
A beam of moonlight burst from the dark sky into the sword, causing the crystalline blade to emit a brilliant silvery glow. Reversing her grip on the sword, Li Xiang held the blade with both hands as she stabbed towards the flesh unprotected by the scaly armor. To her surprise and delight, the blade easily slid into the flesh, and soon, only the hilt could be seen.
The lizard's body trembled and it awoke, gazing at Li Xiang with a hint of surprise before an intent for battle submerged its glaring red eyes. With a his, both the sword and Li Xiang were ejected from its back, and the lizard rushed at her with an increased agility. Midair, Li Xiang coalesced divine essence into a thicker shield in the form of a hemispherical, illusory form.
When the lizard rammed into it, the impulse was safely directed along the convex surface to the sides of Li Xiang, leaving her relatively unharmed but winded. Dashing towards her sword, Li Xiang quickly leaped into the air, forming temporary surfaces under her feet to maneuver above the lizard, just out of reach. Darting in and out like a flitting sparrow, the lizard was covered in a multitude of wounds, yet not a single one had yet to draw blood.
The lizard gazed at her, an unknown light flashing in its red eyes. Then, two massive wings erupted from its shoulders, stretching over a hundred meters before Li Xiang's shocked eyes. Gloating at the puny immortal before its eyes, the lizard deeply inhaled before a stream of fire swallowed the convex shield.
The shield disintegrated the instant the fire landed on it, and Li Xiang could only gaze at the now flying lizard, trepidation lacing her heart. All of that work, and now she was back to square one. Gritting her teeth, she could only increase the rotation of the Heaven Core, and within moments, a large pool of liquefied divine essence emerged from under her feet.
Ignoring the increasing heat within her chest, Li Xiang raised her hand towards the skies, divine essence coiling around her arm like dragons dancing around a pearl. Above her hand was a tiny orb of coalesced divine essence, shrouding her entire body in a silvery glow. As the lizard rushed towards her once again, the shroud of light expanded to intercept.
Bang!
With a massive collision and a resounding sonar shockwave shaking the entire region, the lizard was sent flying in the opposite direction at great speed, blood dripping from its wide forehead. Other than stepping back a few steps, Li Xiang was relatively unscathed compared to earlier incidents, at the same time dealing the first major injury to the lizard.
Hissing loudly, the lizard spun in a half circle, sweeping its tail towards Li Xiang and the shroud. As the enormous tail continued to smash into the repelling shroud of light, the light emitted from the pearl began to dim, and Li Xiang's eyes displayed alarm.
Abandoning the shroud's safety, she grasped her sword and dashed towards the lizard after it had completed a sweep with its tail, slicing at the extended appendage with the
In response, the lizard furiously clawed at Li Xiang, the wind displaced by the razor-sharp claws gouging deep wounds in her abdomen, sending her careening towards the right. Amusement and playfulness no longer existed within the lizard's red eyes, replaced by a menacing killing intent. In response, Li Xiang lifted the sword once more, before hacking down towards the right foreleg.
The lizard scoffed at Li Xiang's act of swinging a blade from afar, believing it to be a feint. Not long, however, it gaped at its right foreleg in surprise, for the claws had been severed from the leg, and the exposed wound was festering rapidly. As the lizard attempted to regenerate its partially destroyed limb, moonlight shone on the wound, instantly cauterizing it and preventing any further regeneration.
With an enraged hiss, the lizard rose into the air with its powerful wings, sending a torrent of fire at Li Xiang. Without much hope, she hastily condensed a shield of divine essence in the form of overlapping panels before dashing towards a safer region.
Unfortunately, the flames easily tore through the shield and grazed Li Xiang's right calf, instantly bringing her to her knees. Patting out the fire and doing her best to ignore the searing heat and charred flesh, Li Xiang blinked tears from her eyes before looking up, only to see a massive shadow fall in her direction from directly above.
Dragging her wounded leg, Li Xiang channeled massive amounts of divine essence into her sword, causing the crystal blade to emit a blinding light. Ignoring the searing heat emitting from the hilt, Li Xiang slashed at the lizard's falling body, commanding the divine essence to spread out like to cover the entire body before imploding.
As the net struck the lizard at an angle directed towards the other side of the disk, the implosion sent the lizard careening in the air and hurtle into the ground with a deafening boom. When it had risen on its remaining limbs, Li Xiang noticed that a wing and another limb was missing.
Although the lumps of flesh around the wounded regions of the lizard twitched, it seemed to be unable to recover. Hissing loudly, the lizard pounced towards Li Xiang, only to be rebuffed once more. Its eyes glared fiercely at her slumped figure, before opening its massive mouth to discharge another blast of fire.
Shua!
Face blanching, Li Xiang could only force herself to leap out of the flame's path, landing on her injured leg, exacerbating the wound even further. Hissing with pain, she fiercely waved her hand, forming duplicates of the crystal sword held loosely within her grasp.
Within a span of seconds, six identical crystalline swords were hovering around Li Xiang, their translucent frames guarding her protectively. Clutching her leg to her chest, Li Xiang waved her free hand at the lizard, of which three of the swords instantly formed streaks of light as they sped towards its body.
Thud!
As the crystal blades embedded themselves the lizard's back, the lizard released a silent scream of agony, arching its head and tail to dislodge the swords. Partially summoning her divine soul's encasement, Li Xiang's multicolored irises focused on the crystalline swords, detecting six threads of divine essence leader from her to the floating swords.
Quickly grasping these threads and transferring her will, the swords embedded in the lizard's back extricated themselves before piercing different sections of the lizard. With each stab, she paid extra attention on targeting the acupuncture points strictly related to pain control, prohibiting them from circulating and alleviating the pain.
Such knowledge was literally embedded in her body after all, for her grandfather took his liberties to properly 'teach' her the similarities in the acupuncture compositions and structures of various animals. Where to treat, torture, or kill, she knew best.
Gradually, the lizard's hisses grew weaker until it could no longer remain standing on its remaining limbs. Lying limp on the floor, the lizard's red eyes were suffused with scathing anger as they attempted to bore holes into Li Xiang.
As the creature's intelligent mind spun in determining the best method of eliminating this pesky and now hateful female immortal, it reached a ruthless decision as the lizard's razor-sharp teeth bit fiercely onto its own tongue, forcing itself to eject a large globule of dark crimson blood. When the invisible spectator saw the crimson blood, he stiffened in surprise then in worry.
"Poor little creature, will it continue to survive after this?" He mused. Suddenly, his gaze riveted onto Li Xiang, shock and fear lacing his aged complexion.
Upon seeing the globule of crimson blood ejected from the lizard, Li Xiang's pupils constricted before a deeply rooted rage began to smolder. Within the blood, she could easily spot an immortal's construct extremely familiar to her; it was the very same as the countless of wraiths and ghosts she had fought in the chamber.
Unable to control herself, Li Xiang found her vision turning dark as her Heaven Core fiercely shook with a never seen intensity. Forcing the girl into unconsciousness, the black sword within gently trembled, a purple light blinking from within the core of the blade conjoining with the hilt.
Without warning, Li Xiang's body suddenly sprang into a relaxed sitting position, lazily opening her eyes. Instead of the dull azure irises, her eyes were dark violet with specks of gold within, flashing with a cold but gentle light.
The globule of blood vibrated for several moments before reforming into a blood colored lizard, many times smaller than before. Glaring harshly at the unusually leisurely Li Xiang, the blood lizard hesitated before deciding to dart at her, igniting its body with an eerie blue flame.
Before it could even get close, the girl gently raised her hand towards the approaching blood lizard. The words spoken by her delicate mouth caused the invisible spectator's blood to flow in reverse from the sheer terror.
"I call upon thee, the Cry of the Forsaken Goddess, Caladbolg!"