"This is pretty destructive," I said as I gazed at my fists that had steam rising from them.
"Yes, but it comes at an annoying cost," the sect master said.
I had a feeling that I was about to either suffer terrible exhaustion or some sort of painful experience.
I took a few moments, and then tilted my head, "What cost?" I asked.
"Wait, you're not feeling it?" the sect master asked.
"Feel what?" I dumbly asked back.
The sect master hurried up and grabbed my wrist, sending divine sense through my meridians.
"By the gods, what is this Soul Power," the sect master immediately released his hand.
"I saw that dragon the last time, but this soul power is far too much, not even the imperial regime has something of this sort…Ling Cao, what in the world had you turned to?" he spoke a question, mostly rhetorical.
"I have no idea, but from your words, I suppose this art uses Soul Power," I asked.
"Yes, instead of Qi, it heavily absorbs a person's Soul power, usually after three of those moves, even I start feeling mild headache. But you, with this reserve of soul power… I can't see the limit to your potential!" the Sect Master jubilantly spoke.
"Let's keep going, I have many other things to show you, start with the Titan's Stomp, it goes like this," he said and began showing me how to use the additional arts of the Fist of Roaring Ki.
"Most of the basic moves of the Fist of Roaring Ki can be considered pure martial arts. As for these, they're what I call the Esoteric Skills, they're extreme skills that channel the full potential of the Fist of Roaring Ki, the God's Eternal Fist and the Titan's Stomp are two of them. There is also another, which is my favorite of the five skills," he said.
The sect master took a few steps back and then hunched down. A surge of Saint Qi manifested around him.
The Qi then was absorbed back into the Sect Master's tucked fist then he shot a punch forward.
The face of a giant tiger of fire and light shot forward like a bullet train that seemed to rip through the ground as if it was a hot knife through butter. And that wasn't it, the sect master sent a right jab, then a left, and more tiger faces manifested from every one of his thrown punches, causing more tiger faces to surge forward arcing their way and following the first tiger. The faster the sect master punched the more tigers would emerge and surge forward every one of these tigers would roar coming to the high heavens.
The constant punches of the sect master were so fast that his hands began to blur, but the wide smile on his face never disappeared as more and more tiger faces shot forward.
Then soon the first of the tigers seemed to have reached its destination, while hundreds upon hundreds of other tigers were following after it.
Explosion after an ungodly loud explosion seemed to echo out from the point of impact. The power of the explosions was so great that the ground shook and shook continuously that I had to grab onto something to balance me from the sheer power.
"Fist of the Roaring Tiger!" the sect master sent in his final shout and final punch, calling the last tiger face who was easily ten times the size of the other ones, this one shot like a cannonball, roaring and raging through its passing as it razed the ground from dirt stone and trees alike as if they weren't even fit to stub or slow it down.
Once the final tiger arrived to its destination, it seemed as if it had dipped, then it blew upwards into a rising tiger that seemed to want to consume the heavens themselves.
The sect master's smile was so wide that he couldn't help but turn laughing as sweat slowly dribbled down his forehead "What do you think!"
"You're a monster…" I said.
"Thank you for the compliment," he smiled back.
"How much Qi do you need to have to do something like this…" I asked as I looked at the result of such destruction. Myriads of mountains and high hills were all turned to dust from one skill, and the sect master looked tired but not completely exhausted.
"Well, I have about enough to do all of the Esoteric Skills… well, not the fifth one, that one, even I don't like using it," He said.
"I suppose the fifth one is some sort of taboo skill?" I asked.
"More like, if I were to use it, then I will die. It's more of a vengeance skill than something to rely on in a fight, nothing good will come from teaching you that skill," he said.
"Fair enough," I said.
"Right, now that you can use the skills, the most important part is how and when to use them, we'll start by polishing your fighting experience," he said.
"Didn't we do that, with the puppets," I asked.
"Yes, but that was before I realized that you were actually capable of using the full power of the Fist of Roaring Ki, now," he said as he removed his robes, revealing a set of well-chiseled muscles.
He took a stance, and said, "You're up against the real deal, you'll be surprised how many people would die to get a chance to do a one-on-one sparring session against me, don't disappoint me, kid," he said as his smile grew wide.
"Am I allowed to only use the Fist of Roaring Ki?" I asked.
"Of course not, this is a spar where I'll be holding back a lot, but that shouldn't be the case for you," he said.
"Right then," I said then took a step forward, enabling the ancient step. And immediately appeared in front of the sect master, "Domain of Delusions, Fake and Real!" I muttered and tendrils of law shot up trapping us both in a darker than black sphere.
"A domain already, impressive!" spoke the sect master and as I was sending a right hook his way, he tried to block it, only for his left hand to rise up and block nothing.
My fist dug into the sect master's jaw and sent him sprawling all over the place. Unable to understand what was happening.
I shot forward before he would realize the truth of my domain and sent a barrage of attacks where the majority lander besides the few where he decided to dodge instinctively.
The ability for me to move freely while having the opponent completely lose the ability to recognize general direction was impeccable in a close-quarters fight. I was able to let loose while the opponent was confused about how to deal with blows that didn't seem to come from the 'correct' positions.
The sect master sent a shocking amount of divine sense around him, hoping to disperse the 'illusion' I made.
However, it wouldn't work, because it is not an illusion, it is a fact, a domain that forcibly switches all locations and without the ability to immediately adapt…
My fists struck right into the sect master's lower abdomen causing him to slide back.
"Interesting domain, this would give you the edge over anyone in the same realm as you, however!" he said as he roared.
"Gigantomachia! World of Titans and Giants!" the sect master spoke as law lines seemed to surge out from within him trying to eat up my own domain in the process.
As soon as the first tendril of his domain touched me, I saw a world where I looked like nothing but a small ant, while the sect master looked like a giant of epic proportions.
"Checkmate," I muttered.
The sect master seemed to have heard that and smiled.
"But it's not for me," I grinned and immediately closed and opened my eyes, causing the sect master's whole body to jerk back to reality, the reality being him back into my own domain of Delusion. And before the surprise on his face could even finish taking place.
The sect master's nose and mouth shot forward huge amounts of blood from the sudden backlash of having his own domain forced out of existence.
I didn't want to give the sect master any time to recuperate as I dove my open palm into his chest, "White Palm of Plagues!"
The impact of my palm print on his chest wasn't something to write home about, however, the deathly aura that began surging into the sect master was enough to cause a grown man's hair to turn white.
Black fog shot into the sect master as his literal longevity was being burnt.
However I couldn't keep this up for long, as I was constantly sucking away his own lifespan, and that would be harmful to him in the long term, and at the same time, absorbing his own Qi into myself.
I pulled my hand immediately before I could have my veins rupture from the copious amount of Qi I was absorbing.
And before I was to self implode, I channeled the stolen Qi, in this case, Saint Qi, before I could even digest it, and shot it out my own mouth with a mix of my own Poison Qi, the Veridian Heart flame, and the Grizzly Spider poison.
The mix was enough to have the sect master's eyes widen before he dodged to the right, completely forgetting that he was still in my domain of Delusion, and only ended up with him getting doused in the mix.
I didn't have the slightest intention of letting him take a single second to think or breathe, as I followed after the sect master's flung body to try and upkeep the tempo.
But, old age and battle experience seemed to be on his side.
As he was flying back, he seemed to do a backflip and imploded a destructive wave of Qi that surged outwards.
"Delusional Inception!" I chanted and the two of us were forcibly sub-surfaced to a second level of the same domain.
The assault that the sect master had created didn't seem to have a single effect on our new subspace as we were in a domain within a domain.
"How… how are you able to make a second domain within the first, this is unheard off," the sect master's surprise was clear on his face.
"It's not possible normally," I said. "But I could make it possible since we're in a world of Delusions," I smirked. The whole aura of the sect master seemed to disperse.
"I never thought I'd be bested by a youngling, it seems that I'll have to play a little rough," he said.
Suddenly, the sect master's body began glowing in a golden light, and he began to expand.
"Oh…" were the only words I could speak as the sect master's size began growing to absurd levels, this wasn't a domain where he could play as a titan, no, his body was literally transforming to a titan.
And my domain, though it's pretty big, seemed to be completely unable to suppress the sect master as his sudden growth seemed to reach my domain's ceiling and with a single push, the sect master fractured then shattered the domain like a chick leaving its egg.
The domain's foundation broke and shattered as the laws that were making it were forcibly torn.
Something warm seemed to touch my lips and as I touched my mouth I found my hand bloody.
It seems that even if I have incredible soul power, I still suffer damage from having my own domain broken, though it's not nearly to the extent of the damage I cause other cultivators when I forcibly shatter their domain by simply willing myself to exist outside it.
Now that I stand here, looking at the sect master whose size seemed to dwarf mountains.
I pointed my finger at the giant and said, "Oi, that's cheating."