Fast!
Extremely fast!
That was the first thought that went through Zhao Yunxiao's mind even as his knees started to buckle from the impact.
No, he must not fall over like that!
Zhao Yunxiao gritted his teeth and took a firm step, stabilising himself.
He understood that he did not have the luxury to fall over. Against an opponent as fast as this, it would be over if he were to fall into the other party's pace!
His hands moved before he could even recover from the pain, reaching out to grab onto the horse spirit, only to realise that the horse spirit was nowhere to be found.
It had not stopped when throwing its punches. Instead, it had attacked while running straight past him. By the time it actually came to a stop, there was already quite a bit of distance between them.
Zhao Yunxiao quickly spun around to face his opponent.
He had been too slow to act earlier, but it would not be the case this time!
Entering his battle stance, Zhao Yunxiao stood his ground while fixating his gaze on the horse spirit.
The difference in speed between them was clear as day.
Chasing after the other party was a meaningless endeavour. If he ever wanted to land a hit on the other party, it could only be at the moment when the other party came to him.
The instant the other party attacked – that would be his only chance of catching the other party!
But if his conjecture was correct, this would be easier than going against the rabbit spirit.
The horse spirit might be faster in terms of pure speed, but it seemed to be only capable of fully exhibiting this speed when charging straight ahead. In comparison to the nimble rabbit spirit, this was much easier to predict!
Hmph-!
With another snort, the horse spirit shot forward.
And this time, Zhao Yunxiao was ready for it.
Whoosh-!
A dagger flew out in response, carrying an explosive talisman with it as always.
With the horse spirit charging towards him at such an incredible speed, Zhao Yunxiao did not believe that it could avoid a dagger in its path!
Bang-!
Zhao Yunxiao widened his eyes in shock as the powerful punch landed on his raised arm, causing another surge of pain to course through his nerves.
It actually managed to dodge the dagger?
And it did so with such speed that Zhao Yunxiao did not even have the chance to activate the explosive talisman as it passed!
Thankfully, Zhao Yunxiao had already been mentally prepared for failure, reacting instantly by raising his arms up as a guard. Otherwise, the punch might have landed on his face instead.
The only downside was that he had no time to guard with his halberd, which meant that he had to bear the full brunt of the impact with his flesh and bones.
But the horse spirit was not done just yet.
From behind him, it charged forward once again.
Not anymore!
Zhao Yunxiao directly abandoned the plan of attacking the horse spirit mid-charge, choosing to raise his hands in front of him instead.
And this time, to the shock of all the spectators, he did not choose to block the horse spirit's punch.
Bang-!
The horse spirit's punch smashed directly against Zhao Yunxiao's chest, the powerful impact knocking the air out of him.
But at the same time, Zhao Yunxiao's hands moved.
Gritting his teeth to endure the pain in his chest, he immediately planted two tight grips onto the horse spirit's arm.
This alone did not stop the horse spirit's forward momentum.
Even after landing the punch, the horse spirit continued moving forward. But this time, Zhao Yunxiao was carried along with him, his arms latching on tightly like a parasite.
And the moment they came to a stop, Zhao Yunxiao kept one hand gripped tightly onto the horse spirit's arm while releasing the other hand that pulled out the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd.
Stab-!
The Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd pierced straight into the horse spirit's chest, marking Zhao Yunxiao's first successful counterattack on this speed star.
From below the Zodiac Tree, the spectators could not help but exchange glances.
Yes, Zhao Yunxiao might have succeeded in his attack, but it had only been done through a reckless move that traded strike for strike.
Even if others wanted to emulate this, it would be impossible to do so without absolute confidence in their physical endurance. After all, had he failed to endure the attack from the horse spirit, it would simply end up with him taking a free hit for no good reason!
Nevertheless, he succeeded. This suggested that his physical endurance might even be comparable to his mental aspect!
Bit by bit, everyone was starting to understand where Zhao Yunxiao's strength lay.
At this point, the outcome was as good as sealed.
No matter how much the horse spirit struggled, Zhao Yunxiao refused to let go. And with it no longer capable of putting distance between them, the horse spirit's phenomenal speed was rendered completely meaningless.
It did not take long before the horse spirit finally fell to the repeated stabs of the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd.
"You have done well in defeating me, child," the horse spirit said. "As a reward, you shall be granted the first blessing of acceleration."
Zhao Yunxiao subconsciously filtered out its comments, no longer paying it much mind.
What good was there in hearing about all the things that were slipping past his fingers?
As it turned into invisible matter that entered the Heaven's Descent Bowl, the avatar of the goat spirit materialised.
He did not hesitate to strike.
Bang-!
Halberd against horns, the two were quickly locked into a direct contest of strength.
But when it came to strength, the goat spirit was lacking in comparison to the ox spirit. Zhao Yunxiao quickly overpowered it even without the use of the Disperse array, throwing its stance wide open and following up with a kick to the chest.
The kick landed perfectly, but the goat spirit also retaliated at almost the exact same moment.
Despite its awkward stance, it still managed to shift its balance perfectly, throwing out a kick in response. If one did not know better, they might have even thought that it had faked its opening earlier.
But as the person experiencing it, Zhao Yunxiao understood what was going on upon receiving the goat's kick.
Each of the zodiac spirits had its own specialisation, and the avatar of the goat spirit seemed to be one that would not flinch no matter what position it was in or how much damage it received.
Perfect balance.
He could only think of two ways to deal with this.
One was to increase distance between them to stay out of reach – if the goat spirit could not physically reach him, it would not be able to counterattack regardless of whether it would flinch. But at the same time, putting distance between them would be difficult if the other party could simply shrug off all oncoming attacks during its approach.
Additionally, Zhao Yunxiao did not have many ranged attacks apart from his daggers and talismans, and those were not unlimited in supply!
Because of that, he opted for the second option.
[Immovable Shell]
The heaviest punch in the Xuanwu Fist Art, smashing into the goat spirit's abdomen.
The goat spirit did not back down, returning with a heavy punch of its own.
Just like that, what followed was nothing short of a slugfest, with the two exchanging blow for blow.
Punches were responded to with punches; kicks were returned with kicks. At the same time, more lethal attacks, such as his halberd strikes, were blocked by the goat spirit's horns and vice versa, which only caused the fight to drag on even longer.
It was a scene that caused the spectators to become speechless.
Brutal!
If Zhao Yunxiao's method of taking a free hit in exchange for catching the horse spirit was reckless earlier on, this current fighting style could be considered as the work of a mad man!
Yet Zhao Yunxiao did not falter as the two continued to trade blows, hanging on with the sheer power of his endurance. At this point, they finally understood that Zhao Yunxiao was a cultivator who specialised in being a meat shield!
So, such a method was possible as well?
Pant-! Pant-! Pant-!
By the time the goat spirit fell, Zhao Yunxiao was already rather out of breath. There were bruises and cuts all over his body, and a streak of blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth.
"You have done well in defeating me, child," the goat spirit said. "As a reward, you shall be granted the first blessing of balance."
As expected, it was balance.
Though considering the pain that he had just been through, he would not be surprised if the goat spirit had specialised in endurance either!
Again, the goat spirit turned into invisible matter that was absorbed by the Heaven's Descent Bowl.
Next was the monkey spirit, which materialised along with a halberd in hand.
Zhao Yunxiao smirked.
Mimicry, eh?
With the exception of the monkey spirit's head, it looked completely like Zhao Yunxiao. Even the clothes and halberd had no differences whatsoever.
But Zhao Yunxiao was unfazed.
What good was there in copying the form when the essence was different? They might be able to copy his physique, but the same could not be said about his techniques!
[Invisible Snap]
He charged forward, only to be shocked as he came face to face with the monkey spirit mid-way.
Just like him, his opponent had executed the Invisible Snap of the Xuanwu Movement Art, and with no less proficiency than he did!
Damn it. What a cheat-like rule.
Well then, let's see just how much it could copy!
The Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd pierced forward, mirrored perfectly by the monkey spirit's halberd.
[Explode]
This time, the result was not the same.
Boom-!
The explosion directly threw the monkey spirit into the air, sending it flying across the tree branch platform.
Heh, it seemed like the monkey spirit could not truly copy everything after all.
Then again, that was only to be expected as well.
Otherwise, how were challengers ever supposed to defeat an opponent that was capable of doing everything they could?
And now that he had managed to pinpoint exactly what the monkey spirit was incapable of copying, this fight was as good as over!