She'd expected to maintain a balanced offense without tapping into her bloodline's tail power, yet it beca clear that her standard techniques might fall short if he continued pushing like this.
The elders observing from the sidelines nodded to one another, their expressions grave but intrigued. They knew well enough that Yaoyun was far from helpless, but they also recognized Wushuang's fierce natural gifts.
"Is that all your foxfire can do?" Wushuang teased, although there was no malice in his tone. It was more an observation of her reluctance to escalate. His stance remained confident, and his aura of blazing energy crackled with promise.
Yaoyun responded with a faint smirk, refusing to be baited. She inhaled, steadying her heartbeat.
"Why would I reveal everything so soon?" she retorted, flicking her fingers to conjure another spark of foxfire.
This ti, she shaped the fla into a slender whip, tendrils of mystical energy snaking across the courtyard floor. With a swift lunge, she snapped the whip toward Wushuang's ankles, seeking to bind or trip him.
He sprang backward, but not quite fast enough as the whip's tip coiled around his leg, its ethereal fla scorching through the fabric of his pants. Wushuang hissed in surprise, his calm deanor shaken for an instant.
Sensing an opportunity, Yaoyun tightened the flaming whip, hoping to draw him off balance. Yet, in a show of brute force, Wushuang simply flared his dragon aura, igniting his body in a fierce, searing burst. His leg lit up in a swirl of molten energy, burning through the foxfire whip.
A crackle of energy and the whip vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Wushuang only a little singed. He scowled in mild irritation, glancing at the scorched patch on his pants.
"Not bad," he repeated, but this ti his voice carried a sharper edge.
Yaoyun moved in again, aiming a series of rapid, asured strikes with both palms blazing in foxfire. Each blow left behind trails of violet-blue energy that traced arcs in the air.
She weaved gracefully, blending martial technique with the inherent trickiness of fox magic. It was a dance of fla and footwork, her slender figure pivoting and spinning in a srizing display.
Still, Wushuang's defenses held firm. Whenever Yaoyun's blazing strikes got too close, he t them head-on with his own flaming fists or forced her back with abrupt bursts of heat.
The courtyard was quickly suffused with scorching currents of power, each collision sending faint tremors through the ground. Onlookers shielded their eyes from the brightness of clashing flas.
Sweat began to bead on Yaoyun's forehead. She was controlling her breathing as best she could, and her own foxfire was potent, yet every exchange revealed Wushuang's physical supremacy.
His reflexes were sharper, and his raw strength allowed him to brush aside many of her attempts. She felt her muscles tighten with fatigue each ti she blocked or parried. More than once, she had to leap away to avoid a direct strike that could have knocked her flat.
The fight slowed for a mont as both opponents paused, only a few paces apart, chest heaving. Yaoyun could sense her own stamina flagging.
'He's testing , she thought. And I'm testing him.' Despite Wushuang's advantage, he hadn't fully unleashed his draconic powers yet—no wings, no partial transformation, just a steady infusion of fla.
Similarly, she had yet to unleash her tails. But her pride wrestled with her logical side: activating her bloodline now might be the only way to bridge this gap.
Looking across the courtyard, Yaoyun spotted Old Lao and Old Yao watching carefully, their eyes glinting with expectation. She also saw several Dragon clan elders, arms folded as they evaluated every movent.
She recognized that continuing this purely physical, low-level magical exchange would drain her energy while allowing Wushuang to keep the upper hand. Her foxfire alone, without enhancent, wasn't enough to subdue a scion of the Fire Dragon line.
Wushuang cracked his knuckles, sending tiny sparks skittering across the stone.
"You've lasted longer than I thought," he said. His voice rumbled with a faint challenge, and the corners of his mouth curled in satisfaction. "Most would have backed down or resorted to their bloodline by now."
Yaoyun chuckled under her breath, determined not to show weakness. "I don't give up that easily," she answered, though inside she knew she was nearing her limit if she kept holding back. Another wave of heat radiated off Wushuang, buffeting her like a sweltering wind.
Gripping her fists tight, she steadied herself for the next exchange. Her foxfire glowed at her fingertips, more intense than before. Yet deep within her core, there was another power—latent, pulsing, waiting.
She had hoped to reserve her tails for the next stage of the duel, but it seed she had no choice. Her pride would not allow her to remain outmatched for long.
She inhaled, slowly, letting the tension settle in her limbs. Wushuang's eyes narrowed, sensing a shift in her stance. The courtyard fell silent once more, as though anticipating a turning point.
Flas still flickered in the air around them, shimring with leftover energy. Yaoyun exhaled, and the ground beneath her feet seed to vibrate. A swirling flicker of foxfire ford at her back with tentative, spectral, yet unmistakable in shape.
A swirl of shimring energy coalesced around Yaoyun's lower back, and she exhaled a slow, asured breath. From that radiant swirl of foxfire, a distinct shape erged—a spectral fox's tail, glowing with violet-blue fla.
It curled and flickered as though alive, casting dancing shadows across the courtyard floor. The onlookers stirred in excitent, sensing the surge of power that flowed through Yaoyun.
Imdiately, a tangible change swept across her body. Her posture straightened, her eyes brightened, and a faint aura of foxfire crackled around her limbs. Doubling her stats with the release of her first tail ant she was now faster, stronger, and more resilient than before.
Even her presence felt different whereas she had seed rely skilled monts ago, now she radiated a confidence that ca from genuine, enhanced power.
Wushuang recognized the shift at once. The heat that coursed through his veins flickered in response, as if challenging this new threat. He observed her carefully, noting the foxfire tail that swayed behind her.
"So you've finally decided to show a glimpse of that nine-tailed heritage," he said, voice low, the tension humming in his words. "Let's see what it can do."
Yaoyun smiled. "I hope you won't disappoint ."
Without warning, she launched forward. This ti, her speed caught Wushuang off-guard. One mont she stood a dozen paces away, the next she was right in front of him, delivering a quick palm strike enveloped in foxfire.
The blow connected with a burst of shimring fla, forcing him to block with both arms. Even so, he slid back several feet, his feet carving shallow grooves into the stone.
A murmur rippled among the onlookers. Monts earlier, Wushuang had seed to hold the advantage, but now Yaoyun was driving him back. She pressed in, her attacks coming in swift combinations as palm strikes, low kicks, arcs of foxfire conjured between each movent. She wove her fla into elongated shapes that lashed out unpredictably, sotis forming serpentine coils or sharp-edged ribbons of azure light.
Wushuang grunted as one of her foxfire whips snagged his forearm. The ethereal flas left a heated scorch against his skin.
Though he managed to break free by flaring his own dragonfire, he realized she had beco far more formidable in the span of a single breath. Her agility in particular was daunting; any montary lapse in his defense risked letting her slip past him.
"Amazing," one of the younger Dragon clan disciples whispered from the crowd, eyes wide. "She's changed the entire pace of the fight."
However, Wushuang was no ordinary opponent. Even if Yaoyun's first tail had doubled her power, his base strength was still formidable as he was known as one of the most talented heirs of the Fire Dragon lineage.
Sparking embers danced along his arms, and he used short bursts of fla to intercept Yaoyun's near-invisible assaults. Here and there, he mustered enough force to deflect her whips of foxfire, the clashing energies creating dazzling flashes of purple and red.
Sparks rained down on the courtyard, and the heat level soared. The stone underfoot grew dangerously hot, and a few onlookers backed away to escape the intensifying temperature.
Yaoyun and Wushuang now circled each other with lethal grace, each step asured, eyes locked in silent calculation.
Yaoyun's foxfire tail flicked once, then she lunged in with a powerful thrust of her palm. A scorching, concentrated beam of fla shot toward Wushuang's chest. He crossed his arms in front of him to block; the impact rattled him, and he felt the stone shift under his feet.
Even so, his gaze remained steady. He recognized that if he continued in this half-asure, Yaoyun might eventually overwhelm him with her renewed stamina and sharper speed.
"He won't be able to keep up much longer," muttered one of the Fox clan elders, a note of satisfaction in his voice.
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