Paragon of Sin

Separated by over 100,000 miles, two Earthly Saints stood in opposition, and the air between them was outright terrifying to witness. The entire arena faintly distorted; remnant traces of their probing clash left the common air, light, and heat in slight disarray. At this point, the environment had been thoroughly adjusted; Mystic Intent forcefully integrated into all three of these environmental aspects. 

If those at the Soul of Mysticism Phase were to breathe this air, bathe in this light, and feel this heat, they would experience a wave of refreshing sensations; their Mystic Souls might howl with excitement. 

The actions of powerful cultivators could either generate a horrifying world of lingering death and destruction or endless promise and boundless benefits. With the broken, shattered and split bits of Mystic Runes scattered about, it leaned towards the latter. This was unlike Wu Yu's fight, a one-sided display of overwhelming power and unrealized potential strength.

"..." 

There was a heart-palpitating silence; the tension in the air continued to brew. The spectators couldn't help but find it challenging to make sense of it. The two hadn't done much; they hadn't taken a single step after the official declaration, yet it felt as if war was on the horizon, and they were firmly placed on the frontlines. 

Baffling, surreal, however you call it, they all felt involved. The spectators hadn't noticed faint wisps of stimulating power were integrating with their Spiritual Sense. While it wasn't harmful, even helpful to some, it certainly focused their every attention and drove their interest to the maximum. A sly tactic by Sheng Jizi. Sly but effective.

"It's starting," Wu Yu's eyes lit with a fiery light, his spiritual sense driven to its strongest state, focused entirely within his eyes. He wasn't the only one; as if seeing the upcoming event, the eyes of every Ascended being illuminated with spiritual light. Their actions…were like a 'go' signal in overdrive! 

The first to act was Faye Liying. She lifted her hands; her fingers stretched to their utmost limits. Those fingers began to move, dancing upon the empty air, elegant and mysterious as a grand puppeteer performing a show. At her fingertips, soft watery light manifested. With every motion, watery ripples emerged all around her, as if the air had suddenly become a water's surface. 

She was inundated with watery ripples. It was as if she was the water's surface.

Plop. Plop. Plop.

The sound of water droplets touching a surface of water endlessly resounded. It strangely brought a sense of calmness to the minds of mortals, but true experts could feel the intent of violence concealed within. Their hearts throbbed in their chests.

Yang Chaoyue acted almost immediately after, a mere few milliseconds behind. Unlike Faye Liying, Yang Chaoyue grasped empty space with aggression; her movement was so forceful that fixed space distorted from the sheer strength within her hand, enough to crush a tiny planet. 

When she yanked her hand back, as if pulling something out of space itself, she held an eight-inch-sized light-green hourglass in her hand. The hourglass lacked any sand. Instead, there were two little tornados inside the top and bottom glass, their lower ends connected through the hourglass's center. 

As the hourglass emerged, turbulent winds surged. As if stimulated by its presence, the ordinary wind of this realm began to circulate around Yang Chaoyue. They grew visible to the naked eye, tainted by a faint light-green glow. 

"The Infinite Wind Hourglass!" Yangzi Yanshi exclaimed. A unique armament that had stayed with Yang Chaoyue since her reputation grew all those years ago. It had been refined for thousands of years, the careful investment of time and energy of an elite such as Yang Chaoyue—her life's greatest treasure!

For her to bring it out today, she was serious beyond belief! 

Faye Liying saw Yang Chaoyue's Infinite Wind Hourglass, and despite her eyes maintaining their calmness, a wisp of apprehension emerged in her heart. She now realized that Yang Chaoyue was genuinely giving it her all. She didn't hesitate to reply in kind; her breathing became long and drawn-out.

A droplet of water, resembling a tear, crystallized and glimmering with watery light manifested at her glabella. Then, her eyes became drenched in light blue color. This color painted her white sclera, her pure black pupils, and her irises, engulfing both eyeballs.

"Tear of the Rising Seas…" Sheng Jizi's words were softly spoken, yet it caused Yangzi Yanshi to be completely baffled. Both of these Earthly Saints were bringing out the items that helped establish their legends, a sign that they weren't holding back! 

Yang Chaoyue threw the hourglass into the air, and then with a fierce, explosive kick-off, she darted towards Faye Liying. She traversed tens of thousands of miles with every blink of a mortal's eye. She closed in with exceedingly swift momentum.

Faye Liying's hands moved, rapidly forming afterimages as she flicked her fingertips in every direction. A water droplet was expelled from her Tear of the Rising Seas, hovering in front of her, pure and untainted by the turbidity of the world. It was composed of the densest, purest, richest, and freshest liquid imaginable. Yet it was still water.

Then, from it, another was extracted.

Then, from them, another.

Until one became two, two became four, four became eight, and so on. In less than the time it takes for a mortal to actually blink their eye, hundreds of thousands of perfectly identical droplets of water eventually came into being, each separated by an inch of distance, perfectly calculated to exactness. 

They all contained endless water energies. They all surrounded Faye Liying as if declaring to the world to guard their queen with their liquid lives forever. They were all inversely shaped as if gravity originated from the skies. They were subtly rising! 

However, Yang Chaoyue's mad dash could not be ignored. She was swift, incomparably so, as she descended upon Faye Liying like a raging storm. Yet Faye Liying remained steady. She lifted her hands and calmly pushed outward. 

The hundreds of thousands of rising water droplets shook slightly, releasing their watery power for tens of thousands of miles. Endless ripples erupted, cascading together to explode towards Yang Chaoyue. 

「Rippling Shackles of the Rising Seas」

Yang Chaoyue's eyes narrowed as her Mystic Ward defended against the incoming surges of power. She held her ground, her momentum coming to a forceful, wind-screeching stop a mere thousand miles away from Faye Liying. She tried to push forward, a heavy step signaling her intentions, yet the droplets only released more power that stifled her movements. 

Her body felt incomparably heavy. It wasn't that her weight had changed, but the entire world was saturated with Faye Liying's unique water-attributed mystic power. To her, it was as if she was trudging underneath the sea. The pressure was intense, and the resistance was unimaginable. An ordinary Soul of Mysticism cultivator would've been turned into paste, crushed to death within a second of facing this art.

Yet she was unfazed. While her steps were hindered, she lifted her legs forcefully and pushed onward, one step at a time, relying on her physique to do so! An insane degree of physical strength was needed to accomplish this feat, far beyond the norm of an Earthly Saint, and even Faye Liying's eyes glinted with shock. 

Yang Chaoyue's expression contained a slight smile as she drew upon her physique's terrifying strength, pushing onward despite Faye Liying's art. With each step, she traversed dozens of miles, approaching closer and closer. 

Faye Liying knew of Yang Chaoyue's fighting style, tactics, and means from her famous days. She hadn't changed much, and her tactic was to launch a fierce offensive in close-range. However, she still paid very close attention to the Infinite Wind Hourglass that had been tossed into the air, floating far away. 

With Yang Chaoyue boggled down by her mystic art, Faye Liying didn't stop her preparations. Her fingers kept dancing about, glints and bursts of watery light at her fingertips. The droplets began to form strings of light together, constructed entirely of spiritual power—a mixture of spiritual energy and mystic power.

If Wei Wuyin were to witness this, he would be awed! A Multi-Link Spiritual Array! She was using each inverse droplet as a formation, much like how each Dragon of Origin of his was interconnected. This was a tactic that very, very few could employ due to the tremendous reserves of energies and spiritual strength required!

However, she was attempting to connect hundreds of thousands together into a single force. Moreover, if one inspected each inverse droplet, they would discover sufficient water energies to formulate tiny planets entirely composed of water. It was gargantuan! 

In a way, she was going to link hundreds of thousands of tiny planets into a profound array using her own strength. 

Yang Chaoyue's eyes narrowed instantly as she realized Faye Liying's tactic; a heart-pounding sensation of deadly crisis overwhelmed her senses. If this array was completed, she wouldn't be facing a vast tsunami but a concentrated, pressurized jet of water.

Unwilling to see this realized, Yang Chaoyue raised her left hand to the sky! The Infinite Wind Hourglass began to release a vibrant radiance, resembling a light-green Solar Star, and she slammed her left hand towards the ground!

The Infinite Wind Hourglass began to descend, falling like a meteorite towards the floor. It hurled violently towards the ground without any sign of stopping.

Faye Liying's eyes widened slightly as she bolstered her Mystic Ward, exerting a little bit more energy to her Rippling Shackles of the Rising Seas Art and concentrating on connecting each inverse droplet through a network of spiritual threads. However, when she saw the Infinite Wind Hourglass continue to descend straight downward, not towards her, she was sent spiraling into uncertainty.

SHATTER!

The Infinite Wind Hourglass smashed against the ground, releasing a world-shattering sound. The Infinite Wind Hourglass was destroyed! When this happened, not only Faye Liying but Ma Zheng, Sun Li, Sheng Jizi, essentially every Earthly Saint and Ascended being aware of the Infinite Wind Hourglass' power was stunned speechless! None of them expected this!

HOWL!

A cataclysmic howl of wind erupted!