Chapter 1284: Battling Zhang Zhenshan

A sea of blood was all Bai Yunfei could see around him. Its pungent smell assaulted his eyes and left him feeling uncomfortable within it.
This had to be an area-type soul skill!
“Hmph!”
He snorted, if the enemy was using such a skill, then he’d do the same. The Core Stone and Soul Sealing Mandate had their own area-type soul skills and could easily overwhelm this one.
+12 Additional Effect of the Core Stone:
Temporarily increase the activity rate of any type of energy by 100% within an area of the owner’s choosing.
+12 Additional Effect of the Soul Sealing Mandate:
All allies within range gain a 20% increase in all attributes.
All enemies within range have a 10% decrease in all attributes.
Determination of ally or enemy is dependent on user. If unknown, then neither effects will apply.
Duration of one hour and cooldown of 24 hours.
“Step back for now, Xiao Qi, I’ll handle this!”
Given the time from when he left the Fate School to now, Bai Yunfei’s soulforce was back to normal, meaning he could fight as much as he’d ‘like’, though fighting Zhang Zhenshan didn’t really make him feel happy.
“Fine then, Zhang Zhenshan…we’ll settle our decade long hatred once in for all today!!”
Hands clapping together, Bai Yunfei began to go through a series of handseals. It was time to begin the battle!
Fighting Zhang Zhenshan as he was now would be foolhardy. If Zhang Zhenshan was in a powered-up state, then Bai Yunfei would have to do the same.
Dual Flame Artes: Berserk Mode!
And that wasn’t all—to prevent his opponent from fleeing, Bai Yunfei even called out the Interdimensional Phantasm. Upon its materialization, the sea of blood around them flickered with an iridescent light…
“Boom boom boom…”
Several strikes crashed against the surface of Bai Yunfei’s barrier moments later. Though the Cataclysmic Seal managed to persevere without breaking, Bai Yunfei did lose a substantial chunk of soulforce from the effort of maintaining it.
Being bomb-rushed like this without attacking wasn’t something Bai Yunfei enjoyed. He sprung into action the moment he entered Berserk Mode and lashed out with a left straight!
His left fist whizzed through the air past his recently-deactivated barrier, only stopping when a blood-colored claw came forward in defense of its owner.
“Boom!!”
Something gave way when the two clashed. Bai Yunfei could note the sound of something similar to a bone snapping when the two were forced apart.
“Tch! He’s strong! Does he have a demonic body too?!”
He massaged his left hand as he widened the distance between him and Zhang Zhenshan. That clash took a lot from him and did hardly anything to Zhang Zhenshan. That punch was the strongest he could muster and should’ve destroyed Zhang Zhenshan’s arm, but failed. He didn’t sense the presence of a soul armament, but the raw amount of energy and power in Zhang Zhenshan’s arm went well beyond what should’ve been possible!
“If that’s the case, take this!”
It was time for another approach. If Zhang Zhenshan was going to approach him, then Bai Yunfei wouldn’t oblige. Flying backward, he made several handseals before gathering elemental fire to both his arms.
“Roar!!”
The energy roared to life before shooting out from Bai Yunfei’s arms toward Zhang Zhenshan as two giant dragons!
The Chaotic Dual Dragon Burst!
Searing through the sea of blood like a hot knife through butter, the dragons tore through everything in its path to snap at Zhang Zhenshan!
Recognizing the danger, Zhang Zhenshan gave up his plan to attack at once and sent out a pulse of soulforce. The blood around him swirled protectively in front of him like a vertical maelstrom to protect him.
“Boom!!”
The dragons crashed into the maelstrom and was scattered apart alongside with it like water droplets on a solid surface.
The Chaotic Dual Dragon Burst was far stronger than before now that it contained the Law of Chaos with it and was composed of the Law of Fire instead of regular elemental fire. And then with Berserk Mode further boosting its power, the Chaotic Dual Dragon Burst was a move that was fully capable of killing any Late-stage Soul Emperor if it made contact.
And so Bai Yunfei was surprised to see that his Chaotic Dual Dragon Burst had failed. “He’s alive?!”
“Boom!!”
A blood-red figure shot up from the mixture of black, red, and crimson. Not only was Zhang Zhenshan alive, he was also completely unharmed!
His Chaotic Dual Dragon Burst had failed to do anything?!
He could hardly believe it, but the proof was standing right there in front of him.
“Wait!” His eyes narrowed in on something, “He’s…he’s burning up his own lifeblood!”
Escaping from the Chaotic Dual Dragon Burst completely unharmed wasn’t possible for even a Peak Late-stage Soul Emperor like Zhang Zhenshan. Though he didn’t look like he was harmed, his aura was telling a different story. By burning up his lifeblood, Zhang Zhenshan managed to erase any damage he felt!
“He’s a madman!!”
Again, Bai Yunfei was astonished. Burning up lifeblood in such a manner was completely crazy. It was basically on par with trying to commit suicide with how damaging this method was to the originseed.
It didn’t even matter if he killed Zhang Zhenshan or not in this battle anymore, the latter certainly wouldn’t be living for long after this!
A move of high price, high reward. Zhang Zhenshan’s energy was already well into the Peak Late-stage Soul Emperor level and getting close to Sainthood levels!
“Damn!!”
Cursing to himself, Bai Yunfei waved his right hand to send the Cataclysmic Seal forward!
“Bzz…”
Expanding in size as it flew, the Cataclysmic Seal was soon the size of a mountain when it was about to slam into Zhang Zhenshan.
“Roar!!”
A bloody mist obscured Zhang Zhenshan’s figure, leaving only his two eyes to be visible. When the Cataclysmic Seal approached, Zhang Zhenshan snarled once before flying upward to avoid being hit.
The Cataclysmic Seal sailed underneath Zhang Zhenshan harmlessly after that. But instead of being discouraged, Bai Yunfei activated something with a substantial amount of his soulforce!
“Bz…”
Suddenly, the entire Cataclysmic Seal began to grow in size!
“Boom!!”
Expanding in a size fast enough, the Cataclysmic Seal managed to strike at Zhang Zhenshan before it was too late and send him flying!
“Tch!” Bai Yunfei clicked his tongue. The giant ‘mountain’ disappeared at once to have the Cataclysmic Seal return to Bai Yunfei’s side. Though the power was stronger, the amount of soulforce needed to activate its effect was also much more noticeable. Bai Yunfei reckoned he didn’t even have half his soulforce right now.
It was an attack worthy of a Peak Late-stage Soul Emperor. If death wasn’t delivered, then the body would definitely be maimed.
“No way…he’s not dead?!”
The Cataclysmic Seal managed to send Zhang Zhenshan flying, but Bai Yunfei was alarmed to see that it didn’t send him far. After traveling several hundred meters, Zhang Zhenshan suddenly came to a stop!
“Roar!!”
There was another roar, but this time, Bai Yunfei felt it was coming near his ear!
Hair standing on its end, Bai Yunfei suddenly felt the most fearful need to activate the Core Stone’s +10 additional effect!
“Swoosh!”
One moment later and Bai Yunfei ‘disappeared’ from the real world. And not a moment too soon later, Zhang Zhenshan’s claws went through where his heart had been!
Zhang Zhenshan continued to fly onward after doing the ‘deed’. Coming to an eventual stop a hundred meter away, Zhang Zhenshan looked confused for a moment at the situation.
He thought he had managed to spear through Bai Yunfei’s heart. But somehow, for some reason, his hand was empty.
Thanks to Bai Yunfei’s quick-thinking, he escaped into a sealed dimension right when Zhang Zhenshan attacked. It frightened him deeply to think that Zhang Zhenshan was able to shrug off the Cataclysmic Seal so quickly and then retaliate just as rapidly.
It also frightened Bai Yunfei to see the state Zhang Zhenshan was in. His face was shriveled up almost to the bone. None of his injuries bled anymore, for some strange reason or another, but his aura was still as incredibly powerful as ever and contained the stench of death to it.
The Bloodsoul Dark Artes was an arcane arte that exchanged blood for power. With him burning his lifeblood and using the Bloodsoul Dark Artes, Zhang Zhenshan was basically a shriveled husk after stopping the Chaotic Dual Dragon Burst and the Cataclysmic Seal.
“Roar!!”
But Zhang Zhenshan wasn’t paying attention to that. Roaring again, he leaped to his feet and rushed for Bai Yunfei again!