Chapter 1396 - Chosen of the Malefic Viper vs the Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord (2)

One Chosen stood covered in burn wounds with blood dripping on the icy ground beneath him, while the other had several large arrow holes in her body, all of them radiating dark green veins from the powerful toxin they’d been soaked in.

Both of them regarded each other for a moment before both moved at the same time. The Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord was clearly tired after pulling off her combo, making her stick to simplistic attacks, and fortunately for her, Jake wasn’t exactly in top form either, making him also take a more relaxed approach as he summoned a potion into his mouth to restore some vital energy.

He had wanted to wait to consume a potion, as he’d honestly expected to need one for stamina, but that last attack from the other Chosen had done some serious damage, and Jake needed the immediate rush of restorative energy to heal his body more quickly, as in its current state, it was impeding his combat power.

The health potion’s energy flooded his body in an instant, and with the help of Blood of the Malefic Viper empowering its restorative effect further, his body started healing rapidly. Muscles were rebuilt and repaired, skin regrew, bones were mended, and within only a few seconds, he looked almost presentable again. Well, besides the broken armor, minor signs of frostbite, and cuts from the Sword Palace disciple that hadn’t been entirely healed. Jake also hadn’t gotten fully rid of the energy Azal had inflicted on him, though he was working on it, and the potion had helped.

To his surprise, he saw that the Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord also took out an item to consume it. Rather than a potion, though, she took out a pill that she quickly popped, and based on its effects, it seemed to have a similar effect to a rejuvenation potion, restoring all her resources.

Focusing on liquids or pills were two entirely valid and equal Paths of alchemy, and Jake knew that while the Order of the Malefic Viper specialized in liquids, the Dao Sect primarily made pills. Generally, they tended to share effects and cooldowns, and it was simply a choice of which one preferred, though pills did tend to be superior when it came to mass production, while potions were considered slightly easier to make.

Poisons rarely came in pill form, though, at least not when they were meant to be used for combat. They certainly existed, but given the Viper’s Path and that venom was pretty much always a liquid, the Order and thus Jake definitely preferred potions and poisons as liquids rather than solids.

Tangent aside, the pill consumed by the Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord had definitely been potent, and Jake believed it had even helped with her mental exhaustion, likely having some soul-calming properties. A good pill for sure, but compared to the extreme effect of Jake’s health potion, it was clearly still far behind.

It was enough, though, as it allowed her to keep up even as Jake’s mostly recovered body let him increase the tempo. He wanted to avoid losing momentum again, as he’d just experienced firsthand what could happen if she was allowed to let loose and unleash combo attacks.

Admittedly, Jake had also fucked up royally. How stupid had he been to not remember that water was the enemy and that it always sucked whenever the two concepts of water and combat ever got intertwined?

He didn’t plan to repeat such mistakes; in fact, ideally, he wouldn’t allow her to unleash any major attacks again, at least not without truly committing significant resources. It was clear that the combo attack before had taken quite a toll, even if it had definitely been more than worth it from her perspective. Jake wanted her to at least commit that level of resources if she wanted to even attempt to do any serious damage.

Thus, he kept a high tempo as he bombarded her with arrows from all directions while defending himself against her half-hearted attacks either by dodging or using freeform arcane magic to shoot down her attacks or deflect them with barriers.

She was instantly on the back foot due to the sheer pressure Jake applied, his speed advantage remaining overwhelming. His attack method was also, perhaps a bit surprisingly, far simpler than hers. One would think that simply imagining an attack would be the fastest method, but even that required thought.

Jake didn’t have to think while shooting, but could rely entirely on instinct and muscle memory as he entered a flow state where several arrows were released every second without even having to commit Rapid Fire, which would have required him to stand still.

Their exchange of attacks continued for a while longer, Jake having a definite advantage throughout as he landed a few solid arrows on the other Chosen, though he didn’t end up doing that much damage. She seemed to be taking the time to recover somewhat while also getting used to Jake’s tempo, which helped her adapt better. She truly was a genius with how fast she learned to read Jake, but unfortunately for her, Jake was no worse than her in that area.

As she adapted, so did Jake, changing his attack patterns on the fly when one became ineffective, and his arrows kept curving and flying in novel patterns, keeping them unpredictable even as the fight stretched on. Jake also started to get a better read of his opponent, and while she tried to also change things up, it was clear she had a lot of mental bias towards doing certain things, which allowed Jake to take advantage.

He definitely had the upper hand, yet Jake didn’t try to push further than he currently was. Several skills were purposefully held in reserve, and he’d avoided using skills that had limited uses even during his fight with Azal and Xiurong, as he knew he’d likely need them later on. That he’d need whatever he could get.

Because while he had the advantage right now, he knew that she was still massively holding out on him. Heartsoul Cultivators were scary for their Words of Power and their ability to bend the world around them with their will, yes, but that wasn’t when they were at their scariest.

Jake was more or less just waiting, wanting to force her to finally go all out and use her strongest skill. Of course, if she didn’t, he was fine with turning her into a rotting pincushion, but he had a strong feeling she wouldn’t want that to happen. Didn’t even need Bloodline-empowered intuition for that one.

However, she seemed reluctant to use her ability quite yet, perhaps because she wanted to force Jake into revealing more. As far as he knew, using it would also put her on a timer of sorts, since keeping it running would be massively energy-intensive. Even so, shouldn’t she have used it already if she could...

Wait...

Did Caleb perhaps force her to use it? The thought hadn’t even occurred to Jake at first, but wasn’t it possible he’d managed to make her use it on him to beat him? While his little brother was far weaker than Jake and not truly a threat, that was largely because of who Jake was. The pressure from the Dark Heavens wasn’t even that bad in Jake’s opinion, and while the black lightning was fast, with near precognitive abilities, it wasn’t that hard to dodge.

The Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord was very different, though, and wasn’t there a good chance the Dark Heavens would be especially effective on her? She relied on her mental energy, and while she certainly had a stupidly powerful soul – something his Primal Gaze had already confirmed as it really sucked to use on her – resisting the Dark Heavens wasn’t as simple as merely having a strong soul. In fact, it could make it worse.

From what Caleb had told Jake, the Dark Heavens were essentially a limitless concept that by definition would always be capable of overcoming anything beneath it. It existed both as a concept and kind of physically within the Shadow Realm, though Jake didn’t entirely understand how it worked. All he did know was that its pressure could get stronger the more powerful someone’s soul was, so even if Caleb himself hadn’t been powerful enough to deal serious damage to the Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord, it was entirely possible the invoked Dark Heavens could.

Assuming that, she would have needed a way to get rid of it, and the best way to get rid of a power relying on a domain – the Shadow Realm in this case – was with another, even more powerful domain of her own.

It was exactly the domain Jake was waiting for, and he was pretty sure she was getting close to unleashing it. Jake’s advantage was only growing, and she’d been struck by several arrows with none of her attempts to fight back or develop countermeasures working. In fact, things only got worse the more things dragged on, something she definitely realized.

After barely dealing with another barrage of arrows, as the explosions from an Arrow Storm had yet to even subside, she spoke, releasing what most feared from Heartsoul Cultivators.

Jake felt her gaze on him, and for a moment, her eyes were all he saw as two syllables echoed throughout the entire antechamber.

“Homebound.”

A word with two meanings in this context. To her, it meant the journey to the place she truly called home, while to Jake, it meant being bound to that home. Of being unable to escape the place she called home.

And what a home it was.

With that one word, the entire world had changed, and Jake had been brought somewhere entirely different. He found himself standing on a naturally occurring stack of stone, with the Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord standing on her own small tower not too far ahead of him.

Beneath them, a vast valley with two rivers and countless plants flourished, and above, the sky was endless and blue. It all looked like a little paradise, and most people brought there so suddenly would probably believe it to be an illusion, as no edges to the domain could be seen in any direction, as the land simply stretched on, but Jake knew it was all real.

His Sphere of Perception also confirmed it. This was a true world, as real to his senses as any other. Perhaps because of the simulated reality they were also inside, this domain seemed even more real than the antechamber.

Jake looked around and nodded. “It’s a nice place. Would build a little cottage or lodge, though. Would make it cozier.”

He had barely finished his words, as beneath in the valley, what looked like a fishing cottage appeared next to the river, looking as if it had always been there. There was no warning of its appearance, no movements of energy, no nothing. It simply came to be because the woman in front of him had willed it to be, and so it was.

“See? Much nicer,” Jake smiled, taking in the nice atmosphere that was definitely way more pleasant than the antechamber, which was filled with dust and whatnot from all the broken stuff there.

“Would almost be a shame to ruin it,” he continued, knowing that wasn’t really an option, and he was just buying a bit of time, as despite not discovering anything yet, he was busily trying to understand the domain he found himself within. However, he was interrupted when something utterly surprising happened.

“It’s okay... I’ll restore it later,” the Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord surprisingly answered him, leaving Jake staring. He wasn’t going to lie; the second he heard her voice, he jumped a little, as he’d expected a Word of Power, not for her to, you know, just talk.

She was surprisingly quiet despite her voice still carrying such innate power, and it was quite clear she wasn’t used to talking. Either way, it appeared his understanding of her being unable to speak had been slightly off.

“So you can talk without unwillingly unleashing Words of Power?” Jake asked. “No, wait... only in here, perhaps?”

The other Chosen smiled and nodded, seemingly still not used to that entire speaking thing. She probably didn’t get many opportunities for conversation if she had to drag the person she wanted to talk to into her domain every time.

“I see,” Jake nodded, looking to the sky again before letting out a sigh and throwing her a look as he raised an eyebrow. “Why is the sun getting closer?”

She just smiled as Jake’s already tattered armor started smoking, and beneath, the river evaporated rapidly as all the plants withered and the lodge caught fire. An extreme heat that made the desert of the Central Domain seem like a well-air-conditioned office building where half the employees complained it was too cold.

Jake’s scales were shimmering with energy as they absorbed the heat as best they could, with Primal Spirit of Man also doing work as Jake knew the time for talking was over.

Being unable to escape from the sun itself, Jake whipped out his bow and decided to go on the offensive. He’d barely taken out his weapon when his danger sense warned him, making Jake dodge to the side right as a spear pierced past him, wielded by the Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord.

The move had been instant, and Jake didn’t hesitate to step down to teleport, only to appear in the exact same spot as a spear pierced toward him again, forcing Jake to block with the body of his bow.

At least he tried to, but the spear turned into a snake-like creature that penetrated his shoulder before he could properly react. The blow sent Jake stumbling back as he tried to stabilize and create distance, but space seemed to compress as a powerful force struck him from above, sending him flying downwards.

Mid-descent, Jake twisted his body and shot an arrow towards his opponent, but it completely missed, curving weirdly despite Jake intending for it to go straight. At the same time, the ground beneath him started rising up as it formed a forest of sharp spikes that were rapidly coming towards him.

Spinning in the air while shooting out a blast of arcane energy, Jake managed to launch himself to the side, but the area of rising ground was far too large for him to get all the way out of it, forcing him to summon a dozen exploding arcane orbs to blow off some of the sharp ends of the spikes.

He managed to do so, but it didn’t particularly help his situation, as, within his sphere, he saw everything beneath him warp as the ground began to wrap around him, forming a sphere with spikes on the inside.

Twisting his body again, Jake started charging an Arcane Powershot, and just as the massive sphere was about to close around him, he managed to blow a hole through it and barely escape before the entire thing imploded, forming a basketball-sized sphere of hyper-condensed soil and rock.

A sphere that proceeded to shoot after Jake, and without directly testing it, he already knew destroying it would be a tall order. Dodging, the world around him warped as space was clearly being messed with, resulting in him getting struck on the side by the ball, feeling the impact all the way down to his bones.

The orb that had just smashed into him pivoted in the air before shooting back at him, while at the same time space warped and the other Chosen threw a spear, all while the scorching heat was slowly draining away at his resources. He managed to avoid the orb this time by barely adapting to the warping space at the very last second, but it still led to Jake getting strafed by the spear, leaving a nasty laceration down his back.

Jake tried to stabilize as he realized that the sky above him was suddenly full of spears, with the Chosen floating there, fully aware Jake had no good way to strike her within her own world.

Momentum was an important factor in battle, and needless to say, Jake really needed to do something to regain it as all the spears fell like rain, the steam from the evaporated rivers rose and formed a dragon-like creature, and space condensed around him, limiting his ability to dodge.