Against The Heavens 125 Versus The Hydra.

The short and bald Yuan Peng, with the tattoo of a crimson eagle covering his left face, took out a nearly three-meter long spear that had a handle made from a strange cyan wood and a spear tip that Li Yang could tell was made from a rather special type of ice, even the Qi in the air around it freezing as Qi started to fill it. The brown-haired and green-eyed Cui Xiuying took out a crescent moon-shaped blade with a handle placed on top of one of the ends of the blade, allowing her to freely spin it around while holding it like a baton.

The black-haired and white-stubbled Xiong Xieren brought out a gray trident, a faint and transparent mist lingering around the three sharp tips, the air around them distorting slightly. The emerald-haired and brown-eyed Tian Zheng put on gloves made from minuscule brown scales, a faint smolder visible between the scales. The hydra swept the six of them with narrowed eyes, the crimson, silver, and the dark brown heads letting out high-pitched and screeching roars.

The roars shook the entire cavern, the faintly red earth starting to toss and turn as if it was water. Thick pillars of magma burst out from all around the cave, invisible blades of wind flying about and carving up anything they came in contact with. The other disciples currently in the room didn't even stand a chance, they were either cut apart or turned to ash before they even got a chance to defend themselves, the difference in strength was simply too great.

Xiong Xieren's wrist twitched slightly, four humanoid puppets appearing around him, each of them clad in armor and carrying a mixture of spears, sabers, and swords. Back when he first fought Tian Zheng before the opening of this Ocean G.o.d's Graveyard, two of his main puppets had been out on a separate mission, but now he had all four at his side and could unleash all his strength.

One of the puppets grabbed its spear and stabbed it into the roiling ground, causing the earth in the entire cave to calm down and lay flat again, a second puppet grabbed its saber and started to slash apart the pillars of lava that came for Xiong Xieren while a third puppet took out a large shield and blocked all the blades of wind. The fourth puppet didn't move yet, its hand resting on the sword at its waist as it looked at the hydra with dead eyes, patiently waiting.

Yuan Peng swept his spear out once, the pillars of lava coming for him freezing and shattering into small fragments of ice that gathered around Yuan Peng, dancing in a breeze that hadn't been present previously. Cui Xiuying had a rather strange way of dealing with the attacks around her, she opened a pouch that hung on her waist and brought out a palm-sized chameleon with six eyes and light blue scales. The chameleon climbed onto her shoulder and then suddenly vanished, Cui Xiyuing vanishing alongside it, all the attacks aiming for her hitting empty air.

Tian Zheng also dealt with the attacks in a very simple manner, he simply held out his right arm and opened his right hand. All the pillars of lava that came for him changed course and gathered in his palm, forming an apple-sized orb that soared up and hovered above his head. The orb looked like a miniature sun and released enough heat to directly burn away all the blades of wind that came for him.

Li Yang didn't even bother putting up any defenses against the attacks, he simply turned his head to look at Fang Ying and held out his right hand. Fang Ying took hold of the hand and the both of them vanished into a ripple in s.p.a.ce, appearing directly behind the hydra. The hydra quickly reacted, the earth beneath Fang Ying bursting open as a thick wave of lava shot up and aimed to swallow her.

Li Yang looked at the wave of lava, the air around him turning frigid as a nearly transparent mist seeped out of his skin. The lava hardened and froze under the mist, forming a foothold that the two could step on and kick off from. Li Yang shot directly towards the crimson head of the hydra while Fang Ying stabbed her red-veined sword downwards towards the spine of the hydra, blood appearing around her blade and spinning around it.

The turquoise head turned around and roared at Li Yang, the frozen lava turning into water that formed several spiraling streams that pierced towards him from behind. The light brown head and the crimson head turned towards Fang Ying, unleashing loud roars that caused orbs of fire to appear around her sword and thick roots to shoot up from the earth beneath the hydra, the roots rapidly shooting towards Fang Ying and seeking to tie her up while the fire scorched away the blood around her blade.

Tian Zheng and the others were also being attacked by the same time, the dark brown head controlling the earth, the blue head unleashing torrents of lightning while the silver head controlled all the air and wind in the cave, the only head that had yet to act was the green one. Li Yang glanced back at the spiraling streams of water and then turned to look at the open maw of the hydra, a light smile creeping up on his lips.

He slashed out with his sword, golden fire and lightning dancing around the blade as his attack headed for the eyes of the hydra. Water suddenly gathered in the maw of the hydra, quickly forming a bubble that was spat out and flew towards Li Yang in a non-threatening manner. But just as the bubble and the streams of water were about to touch his body, Li Yang vanished, s.p.a.ce around him rippling as Fang Ying appeared where he had just been.

Fang Ying moved her arms and changed her downward stab into a forward stab, aiming for the eyes of the hydra just like Li Yang had. s.p.a.ce around Fang Ying rippled slightly, the streams of water and the bubble entering the rippling s.p.a.ce and vanishing, reappearing directly in front of the hydra, where the seven heads connected to the body. The spiraling streams pierced through its own scales and dug a bit into its body before the hydra got to stop them, the bubble made contact with its scales and then popped, the scales touched by the bubble quickly cracking and then falling apart into fragments so tiny they resembled dust.

The flesh of the hydra beneath the shattered scales quickly turned red as blood gathered within it, it seemed like the bubble did more than just superficial damage. Without the bubble to block it, Fang Ying's sword was able to reach its mark, stabbing into the left eye of the turquoise head. The veins around the eye immediately started to protrude and explode, half the veins in the head of the hydra exploding under Fang Ying's law of blood. She also used her law of poison at the same time, the other half of the veins in the turquoise head turning a light pink as the flesh around them started to sag, simply sliding off the bones after a short moment.

While Fang Ying was taking care of the turquoise head, Li Yang was dealing with the orbs of fire as well as the wooden roots that had come for Fang Ying before they switched position. Both were dealt with easily by his golden flames, the roots turning to ash while the fire was swallowed and absorbed, adding to the golden flames and increasing their intensity. Li Yang could simply continue his slash, the edge of his blade touching the multicolored scales of the hydra.

A horrid cold was unleashed by his blade the moment it touched the scales, freezing them enough to weaken them so that his fire and lightning could shatter them and tear them apart. His attack ripped away several meters of scales from the hydra's back, revealing its slightly pulsating flesh, as well as the veins filled with the blood that Li Yang was aiming for. He was going to stab his sword into the now open-back of the hydra when the entire hydra was suddenly flung back, a ripple in s.p.a.ce quickly picking up Li Yang and Fang Ying before they could be flung away alongside the hydra.

Cui Xiuying had appeared in the position where the hydra had just been, her right fist fully extended after having thrown out a punch that was so violent it flung the entire hydra back. The hydra crashed into the wall on the other side of the cave, tearing out a large chunk of it and causing it to come crashing down around it. The earth threw up a vast amount of dust when it came crashing down, temporarily obscuring the hydra. They could hear the hydra stand up, crushing the chunks of earth beneath it as it did so, its guttural voice causing the walls of the cave to resonate.

"Not only are you more vigilant than I first expected, but you're also stronger, quite a bit stronger. You must be the geniuses of your generation."

Yuan Peng flicked his finger, the dust around the hydra blowing away so that they could properly see it. The eyes of the green head were glowing slightly, all the wounds on the hydra healing so quickly that they were completely gone in less than a second, even the mostly ruined turquoise head went back to normal. Looking at the fully healed hydra, Li Yang felt like letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Of course it couldn't be this easy, it never gets to just be easy."

Fang Ying let out a light giggle when she heard his m.u.f.fled complaint, covering her mouth with her hand. The hydra swept them all with narrowed eyes, even casting a quick glance at the new arrivals that were starting to flood into the cave, its guttural voice ringing out once more and even causing the knees of some of the new arrivals to go weak.

"Very well, let me give you all the respect of holding nothing back, let us see who it is that shall remain standing in the end!"

The earth started to tremble violently after the hydra finished its words, the gravity well at the center of the cave starting to unleash a tremendous amount of energy, all of which flooded directly into the seven-headed hydra, which quickly grew stronger and stronger under the gazes of everyone present.