“Master, do you mind doing me a favor?” Damien asked tentatively. He wanted to see something. Or rather, he wanted a reminder that he was still weak.
Tian Yang raised his brow in intrigue. “We won’t know until you ask.”
“Then, can you release your full aura? I want to feel the true power of a Law Sea realm expert.”
Tian Yang hesitated slightly but nodded his head nonetheless. “Very well. If I released my entire aura, it wouldn’t be a surprise for you to sustain critical injury or even die, so I will release just the amount that I feel you can handle.”
He then turned to Xue Ruyue and beckoned her over. “You come too. It’ll be a good learning experience.”
Although she didn’t understand why, she still walked over as she was told. With both of his disciples in front of him, Tian Yang’s face became serious.
“When it feels like your body can’t handle it, release your own aura. At that point, I will be able to gauge your upper limit.”
Without another word, Tian Yang shifted his entire presence. Rather than the teacher and old man he was previously, he now gave off a domineering light like an emperor.
Before either Damien or Xue Ruyue understood what was happening, everything in their vision became black.
The murky darkness filled the entire room, and it seemed to be emanating from a single spot, Tian Yang.
As he exerted more and more of his aura, the blackness thickened, and the pressure the two felt increased steadily. It reached the point where neither of them were able to confidently stand on their feet anymore.
Thump-!
The sound of knees impacting the ground could be heard as the aura suppression continued to climb. Damien still wasn’t using his aura to alleviate any of the burden, so his knees could no longer hold on.
Space began to crack purely due to the weight of the aura. The sturdy interior of the house that didn’t even show signs of damage when Damien and Tian Yang sparred earlier began creaking like it was rusty and decrepit.
And then, the aura flared.
Damien felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was to the point where he almost forgot the feeling entirely. It filled his being, it froze his body, his mind went blank, and he began sweating profusely. It was the most basic instinct of a human
It was a primal fear that prevailed when all hope was lost.
‘What is this?’ Damien could no longer think straight. The idea of using his aura to counter the suppression didn’t even enter his mind. He was utterly terrified.
Xue Ruyue wasn’t any better. She was also on the ground, shivering as if her body was submerged in the coldest of temperatures.
As a member of the Xue clan, one of the 4 great clans, she was someone who was always surrounded by powerful people. She had seen more Law Connection and Law Sea realm beings than she could count on her hands.
Yet, she had never seen them exert all their strength. There had never been an altercation that forced them to do so.
There was a treaty in place by the 4 great clans that she never understood until today. It only had one clause.
“Law Sea realm experts are not to be mobilized unless a clan is facing threat of extinction. Conflict between 4th class members must take place in an area secluded from civilization.”
But she understood it now. If this kind of power was ever mobilized as an attack near a city…that city would be demolished in seconds.
Watching his two disciples, Tian Yang began to slowly walk forward.
‘Escape. I need to escape.’ Damien’s mind revolved trying to think of a way to escape the scenario, but his rational thinking was impaired. His skin began to crack and blood leaked out of his pores.
Without his conscious thought, his aura began to release itself. But it wasn’t the usual amethyst color. It was blood red like the time he fought the sea dragon.
His irises began swirling, the two colors contained within them battling for supremacy. The scene was like ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail.
But the red color was winning. His cross-shaped pupils spun wildly before elongating into a reptilian slit, his irises becoming completely blood red.
His emotions were forced into the Mind Prison subconsciously, as he couldn’t handle the strain they had on his brain anymore.
All the while, the pressure kept increasing. Xue Ruyue had already tapped out, using the last of her sanity to forfeit, so all the pressure in the room was being directed towards Damien with pinpoint accuracy.
Xue Ruyue watched from the side with lingering fear evident in her eyes. Even if the pressure wasn’t directed at her, she could still feel its immense might.
Damien felt like an entire cosmos was dropped on his back. He felt like he was carrying the sky itself. But now that his emotions were locked away, his rational mind was able to regain control.
Or at least, it should have been. But the blood-red aura around Damien indicated something different.
His teeth and nails elongated into fangs and claws, the muscles in his legs pulsated with power, two protrusions were trying their best to make their way out of his skull, and the same was happening on his back. Pitch black scales appeared and disappeared beneath his skin.
Tian Yang was of the mind to stop releasing his aura a long time ago, but seeing the changes happening within Damien, he continued to press him. He wanted to see where this led.
But fate had different plans.
“AARRGH!”
Damien let out a howl of pain. His eyes began bleeding, and with the other changes taking place in his body, it made him look like a demonic being.
His muscles spasmed as his body continued attempting to change, but something was holding it back. If Damien was sane, he’d immediately know what it was. His bloodline simply wasn’t completed yet.
‘Interesting.’ Tian Yang thought to himself. ‘A beast that even the Void Heart Scriptures cannot contain. The boy has been cultivating it within him all this time.’
Feeling that it was enough, Tian Yang began lowering the pressure he exerted. This gave the bestial Damien a chance to rage.
“ROOOAAARRR!”
With a guttural roar, he charged at Tian Yang. There was no use of elements nor techniques, just pure physical strength.
However, just this was enough to cause spiderweb cracks to form in the ground beneath him.
His speeds reached an entirely new height that almost rivaled teleportation, appearing in front of his opponent in a flash.
But his opponent this time wasn’t someone he could mess with.
“Sleep.”
Tian Yang’s hand looked like it only made a slight movement, but in the next instant, Damien was pounded into the floor.
The motion was so abrupt that the velocity he gained from his charge contributed to the strength of his fall, breaking through the sturdy floors of the house and causing him to directly fall unconscious.
Looking at Damien, whose figure was returning to normal now that he was asleep, Tian Yang let out a slight chuckle.
“I wonder what other secrets this boy is hiding.”