The sky lion glanced over at the oncoming arrow, and the numerous water swords floating in the air immediately split into two different groups.
Twenty of them continued to seek out Zhao Yunxiao Two, while the remaining thirty moved to intercept the arrow of energy.
Boom-! Boom-! Boom-!
The arrow of energy contained far too much power for it to be stopped by a single water sword. But what one water sword could not achieve, multiple water swords could.
It took five water swords to finally disperse the arrow of energy, with the remaining twenty five continued forward on their path, heading straight towards Nie Hanchang in the distance.
Nie Hanchang quickly released four arrows in quick succession, taking out twenty of the oncoming water swords. However, that was his limit.
With the remaining five water swords coming in fast, he no longer had the luxury of just standing there to fire off as he wished. In fact, considering the speed of the water swords, it was already amazing enough that he had been able to release four arrows before they arrived.
But just as he was about to retreat, numerous spears shot out from the trees in front of him.
Boom-! Boom-! Boom-!
It took three spears to take out a single water sword, but they stopped it nonetheless. Fifteen spears slammed into the five water swords, resulting in numerous micro explosions that reduced both sides to dust.
This was essentially the same tactic employed by the sky lion. By throwing numbers at the water swords, Zhao Yunxiao was able to stop the water swords that were individually far more powerful than the spears in his Red Devil Weapons Array.
In fact, without a good grasp on just how strong each water sword was, he had released more than just fifteen spears from the array, with the remaining spears simply falling to the ground as they pierced nothing but air.
What resulted was a successful defence, but he still could not help but feel his heart ache upon witnessing this scene. That was because the spears had been completely reduced to smithereens, making them impossible to reuse.
That was an instantaneous loss of fifteen spears!
A single such loss was still bearable, but what if he had to do this repeatedly throughout the course of the battle?
No, now was not the time to think such terrifying thoughts.
If they could take down the sky lion, the rewards that awaited them would definitely be worth far more than these spears!
Zhao Yunxiao felt his heart palpitating as he thought about the potential haul.
Failure would not be condoned!
Whoosh-!
Seeing that the final water sword had been neutralised, Nie Hanchang no longer retreated. On the contrary, he did not hesitate to launch his counterattack. Another arrow of energy flew through the air towards the sky lion, aiming straight for its head.
Zhao Yunxiao followed up immediately by releasing a flurry of daggers, concealing them behind the eye-catching arrow of energy.
The sky lion raised a front leg and stomped it down. Three huge pillars of water rose from the stream behind it, causing the corner of Zhao Yunxiao's eyebrow to twitch as he recalled some embarrassing memories.
These water pillars entwined together as they shot forward, finally stopping right in front of the sky lion to form a huge blue globe about four metres in diameter.
Boom-!
The arrow of energy slammed straight into the blue globe, causing the latter to dent and wobble from the energy fluctuations. Following which, numerous daggers struck the blue globe, resulting in an explosion with each successive hit.
The blue globe continued to tremble from the energy fluctuations, but it quickly bounced back after the explosions ended. Just like that, it had successfully neutralised both the arrow of energy and the barrage of explosive daggers.
Nie Hanchang frowned. He seemed to have underestimated the sheer might of a spirit beast at the Peak Essence Physique realm.
However, he was still not out of options just yet.
"I need time to build up to a stronger attack," Nie Hanchang said.
"Got it," Zhao Yunxiao answered solemnly.
Agreeing was easy, but actually carrying it out was not. If the sky lion were to summon another hundred water swords, he truly would not be able to say with 100% confidence that he would be able to stop them from reaching Nie Hanchang.
Unfortunately, that was his role here.
Since his offensive power was lacking in comparison, he was naturally responsible for doing the dirty work instead!
Even now, Zhao Yunxiao Two was still playing tag with the water swords that the sky lion had sent after him. That said, he was doing a relatively good job there, considering that only ten out of the initial twenty water swords were left.
Zhao Yunxiao turned his attention to the blue globe that hovered in front of the sky lion.
It might be his first time facing a sky lion, but he had a fairly good guess on what this blue globe actually was.
Be it the defensive water wall or the water swords, the sky lion's techniques appeared to rely on a water source as their origin. In that case, this blue globe was probably the sky lion's way of bringing a water source closer to itself, so that it would be able to speed up its techniques by casting them from closer proximity.
If his conjecture was correct, then from this point onwards, its techniques would no longer come from the stream behind, but from this blue globe instead!
He did not have to wait long to find out.
The blue globe started bubbling. Underneath it, dozens of water trickles started falling to the ground, forming into strange puddles of water. As water continued to trickle into them, these puddles did not spread outwards, but slowly rose to take the form of water lions.
Each of them was a translucent blue, their bodies shimmering like water. Be it shape or size, they looked no different from ordinary lions.
Roar-!
Upon their appearance, the water lions roared in unison before glaring at Nie Hanchang in the distance and charging towards him.
Tch! A summoning technique!
Zhao Yunxiao clicked his tongue in irritation.
This time, the sky lion had decided not to create water swords, but having to face these water lions might not be any better.
With more enemies to take note of, it would become increasingly difficult to manage the flow of the battle. However, it was key that he acted as a gatekeeper to prevent any and everything from passing through.
As long as just a single water lion got past him, Nie Hanchang would be forced to react, no longer able to freely build up to his attack.
How troublesome.
The most straightforward method would be to answer quantity with quantity. But even with his mental capacity, Zhao Yunxiao understood that he would not be able to simultaneously control as many earthen clones as there were water lions.
There was no other choice; he would have to overcome quantity with quality here.
Just like how a single water sword from the sky lion had been enough to take out three of his spears, he would have to make sure that each of his clones could take on more than just one water lion!
[Earthen Clone Technique]
Three clones rose from the ground beside him. Including Zhao Yunxiao Two from before, as well as his true body, it was essentially five of him against the dozens of water lions.
Or rather, it would be four of his earthen clones against the water lions.
As though the numbers were not already stacked against him, he was not intending to personally join in the battle just yet. This was not entirely because he wanted to play it safe until he fully understood the water lions, either.
He was clear that with their current numbers disadvantage, even if he were to personally join in and fight, it would still be difficult to fully prevent the dozens of water lions from reaching Nie Hanchang.
Therefore, he would have to count on other means at his disposal.
With a flick of his wrist, the Window of Tunes appeared in his hand and was swiftly raised to his lips. As the crisp tune of the flute sounded out, Zhao Yunxiao's hair and robes started fluttering with great intensity as powerful winds formed into a tornado with him at the core. The surrounding trees and plants swayed violently as they were battered by the winds, looking as though they were about to be uprooted from the ground.
A mental image of the area formed in his head, with a mix of black and white energies converging upon his position. At his will, streams of energy – both black and white – broke away from the tornado to sweep forth.
This time, the grass in the area was directly uprooted and tossed into the air, creating a battered path that led out from where Zhao Yunxiao stood.
As though they were riding upon the sudden winds, his earthen clones rushed forward without hesitation, headed straight for the water lions. That said, the winds travelled far faster than the clones, passing straight past them to reach the water lions in an instant.
The howling of the winds was hardly audible under the amplified sound of the flute, but that did not diminish just how powerful these winds were. As the torrential winds swept across the water lions, all of them were stopped dead in their tracks, unable to advance even as much as an inch under this unstoppable barrage.
No, it was not just that they were no longer able to advance any further.
In fact, the water lions had to sink their claws into the ground just to hold on, or they would have been swept away like flies!
A cold light flashed across Zhao Yunxiao's eyes as he watched this scene play out while continuing to play on the Window of Tunes.
What could be better than an area-of-effect attack when faced against a large number of opponents?
His true body would take care of the bulk of the enemies, while his clones would be responsible for getting rid of any that fell through the cracks.
This was his answer to the sky lion's water lions summoning technique!
Or at least, that was what he had planned.
However, it turned out that he had overestimated the water lions. Not a single one of them was actually capable of escaping the wind barrage from Window of Tunes. Because of that, his clones were able to charge straight past the water lions to target the sky lion itself!
Further off in the distance, Nie Hanchang widened his eyes in shock.
Not only was Zhao Yunxiao dealing with the sky lion's technique perfectly, but Nie Hanchang could even feel a light breeze embracing his body, rejuvenating his energy with every passing second.
There was no doubt about it – this had to be the work of Zhao Yunxiao as well.
Just how much had he been hiding?!
...Hah!
Nie Hanchang failed to prevent a slight chuckle from escaping his throat as his thoughts quickly transformed from shock to sheer exhilaration.
However, this only lasted for a moment before his emotions vanished from his face, his thoughts calming to a complete still. A light of resolve flashed across his eyes as he raised the Grand Annihilator, his eyes trained upon the sky lion in the distance.
Earlier, he had told Zhao Yunxiao that he needed more time to build up to a stronger attack.
So, now that Zhao Yunxiao was successfully fending off the sky lion, it was time for him to deliver on his end of the promise!