*BOOM**BANG**BOOM**CRASH*
*ROAR**BOOM**Sizzle*
"Ugh!"
"YOU BITCH!"
"Damn it! How did they find us?" Ming muttered after he fired his light-based breath attack at the black-haired immortal dragonewt.
About fifteen minutes earlier, he was trying to keep his wife from running off to the training grounds to disturb Ning while she was practicing with Nox's disciples. Unfortunately, one of those disciples happened to be a short cute looking purple haired girl which had become Ai's latest fixation.
Aiko is rather short for her age, being just barely around the size where Ai would usually start to lose interest in someone, but unfortunately, her face was cute enough to tip the scales and Ming was tasked with trying to block her from leaving the house, so she didn't go hug her to death.
"Come on! I just want to give her a little cuddle! Is that so bad?"
"Last time you cuddled her, her ribs broke and punctured her lungs!"
"BUT-! HM!"
*Swoosh*
*BOOM*
Sensing the sudden danger approaching them, Ai grabbed Ming to protect him from the ensuing darkness that swallowed the mansion. When the darkness retracted, the entire estate was gone, and they found themselves inside a barrier of pure darkness. That is when they spotted a familiar face. She was a dragonewt, similar in looks to Nox and Xing in terms of her awakened human form. Her scales were black, covering parts of her arms and legs, as well as her neck while decorating the sides of her face, but unlike the antlers more common amongst the Yang bloodline, she had two crooked black horns wrapped around the sides of her head. This was Yin Mei, the heiress to the Yin clan, one of the nine dragon clans and a newly ascended earth immortal.
"Ugh! You bitch! HOW DARE YOU LAY A HAND ON ME, PEASANT!"
*BANG*
"HOW DARE I? YOU'RE THE RUDE BASTARD WHO PICKED THIS FIGHT, SO STOP WHINING LIKE A BABY WHEN SOMEONE HITS YOU BACK!"
*BOOM*
"YOU UNCULTURED BARBARIAN!"
"HAHA! THAT'S FUNNY COMING FROM THE BITCH WHO JUST DESTROYED MY HOUSE CUZ SHE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO USE A DOOR LIKE A CIVILIZED PERSON!"
*BANG*
"UGH! I'LL KILL YOU!"
While Ai and Mei are both earth immortals, there is a clear gap in power between them. On top of the fact Ai is at the peak of the earth immortal stage while Mei has newly ascended to that state, there is a clear difference in skill and experience. Unlike Mei who spent most of her life cultivating and training within the safety of her own clan, Ai was a traveling cultivator from the 1st martial continent of no notable status or lineage who reached the 3rd martial continent through her own talent and power, leading to a qualitative difference in terms of skill and experience. However, this gap could still be bridged.
*ROAR*
"Oh, shit!"
*BOOM*
Just like Ming and Xing, Mei is one of the few dragonnewts who have learned dragon transformation. While most bloodline abilities tend to become less relevant or in some cases it might even disappear completely upon becoming an immortal with a semi-physical body, the dragon transformation is amongst those that tend to be unaffected by the transition. It grants a boost in physical aspects while also giving them access to the signature attack of their draconic ancestry, 'Dragon's Breath'. What makes this attack so terrifying is that unlike most qi techniques which tend to have limitations on power or usage, often resulting in them becoming less useful as one rise in cultivation, this breath attack is compatible with all elements and has seemingly no upper limit to its power output. Meaning, it is incredibly powerful as it allows one to wield the full might of their power regardless of cultivation level. However, there is a weakness to this attack.
"Tsk!"
*ROAR*
*BOOM*
"Ugh! HEY, STOP SPAMMING THE DRAGON BREATH!" Ai shouted, as her body was beginning to show cracks.
*Roar*
*ROAR*
*Boom*
*Sizzle*
Just as Mei was about to release another dragon's breath, Ming, who had been hiding himself behind light-based illusions, released a breath attack of his own, aimed at her head or more specifically at her jaw, shutting her mouth.
The weakness of 'Dragon's Breath' is that if for whatever reason the mouth is close shut during the massive release of energy, the breath attack will have nowhere to go and start going wild inside the body, dealing massive internal damage. As a nascent soul, even with his own dragon transformation, Ming has very limited ways of affecting this battle, so he had been focusing on hiding his presence while waiting for an opening such as this.
"Hmph!"
"Ugh!"
Unfortunately, as soon as her eyes turned to Ming, Mei intentionally increased her qi pressure in his direction to try and crush him under it.
*BANG**BANG**BANG*
*Gasp*
Fortunately for Ming, she soon had to turn her attention elsewhere as Ai fired a barrage of fist-shaped rocks at Mei moving at supersonic speeds.
With the damage Mai sustained from the failed dragon's breath, the battle was slowly swaying more and more in Ai's favor as time went on. Once Mei was no longer able to maintain her darkness barrier the victory was more or less settled.
*Sigh*
"That's much better! Now I have more room to kick your ass!"
Many of Ai's techniques relies on having access to vast amounts of dirt and rock, rather than straight up throwing her qi at her opponent directly. The reason why Mei had wasted energy on creating that barrier was to prevent her from manipulating the ground outside, limiting her ammunition to put her at a disadvantage.
*Rumble*
"Hmph! You are a fool, but what else did I expect from a thickheaded brute like you!" Mei spoke as the ground began to shake.
"Oh, so you're not gonna shit your panties and run like last time!"
"You hooligan! Did you really believe I came alone! I had merely tried to show you some mercy by letting you die at my hands rather than the dishonorable way of perishing to a filthy magician."
*Rumble*
"Uh-huh, and where are these magicians at?"
"The sages are off slaughtering your children as we speak, if they have not finished doing so already, but now that my barrier is down, they will arrive here any moment to finish you off!"
"Achoo! Sorry, but we got some bad news for ye, aunty Mei!" Ning spoke as she came flying up to them followed by Nox's disciples.
Soon after, Takeru and Xing arrived as well. Thanks to the efforts of the experts present, along with the frankly excessive amounts of turrets Nox had secretly installed around the estate, the sages had all given up and retreated for now.
"…! How are you here! No this is a trick! YOU THINK YO-!"
*Swish*
Just then, the mad mage teleported above Mei, swinging his scythe down at her, but missed her neck by a hair's breadth.
*Smash*
*BANG*
Ning had used her earth arms to grab on to Mei, but they shattered almost instantly, however it had held her in place for just long enough, giving Kenji the time he needed to transform and charge straight into her. The impact from Kenji's tackle sent her flying towards the tsunami of dirt and golem turrets which Ai had raised. Luckily for Mei, one of the golems, suddenly glowing in a gold hue, malfunctioned and shot her with a fireball that exploded in her face. The reason why this was fortunate is because the impact of the explosion had slowed her momentum just enough for her to get out of the way from the wave threatening to bury her alive.
*BOOM*
*THUD*
Unfortunately, before Mei could escape, Takeru was already on top of her, delivering a devastating punch that sent her crashing to the ground below. Before she could get back up, he came dropping down on top of her, sword in hand as he ran her through, pinning her to the ground with his blade. Meanwhile, Alex showed up in front of her, placing his scythe at her neck.
"Now who's the fool! You could have even gotten a grave of your own had you let that wave of dirt bury you, but now you're about to die at the hands of a filthy magician." Alex spoke, as he prepared to behead the immortal with his necrosis scythe covered in plague fire.
"Y-YOU WOULDN'T DARE! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU VERMIN!"
"Nobody asked for your forgiveness!"
*Pop*
*BANG**BANG*
Just as Alex was about to finish off the black dragonewt, the sage of the arcane teleported onto the scene and fired two pillars of solid ice at high speeds towards the elf and cultivator, pushing them both back, as they hurried to block the projectiles with their weapons. Upon coming into contact with the ice, while Alexs's necrosis scythe was unaffected, Takeru's sword ended up freezing over and snapping in half.
"Apologies! It would seem I forgot this one! I'll be taking her back now, if you do not mind!" The elderly man spoke.
"MIND THIS!" Ai spoke as she created spikes from the ground beneath their feet, intending to impale them both.
*Pop*
*Swoosh*
Unfortunately, the sage's teleportation spell was quicker and the two escaped.