Against The Heavens 80 Third In Command, Second In Command.

At the center of the cut-off part, a large circle had been dug into the mountain, several sets of stone stairs leading into the hole. About 100 meters down this hole was where the arena was actually located, a square stone stage that was about 2 kilometers in every direction. Surrounding this stage was an elevated seating area that had been dug into the side of the hole, rather thick metal chairs covered in a soft yellow fabric lined up in a neat fashion.

Li Yang used one of the flights of stairs to enter the audience area, sweeping his head to scan the entire area. There were currently two women battling in the arena, while the audience seating was nearly completely filled. Li Yang opened his mouth, his voice reaching everyone in the arena.

"Is Kong Lingxin or someone who can get in contact with him here?"

Li Yang didn't actually know how Kong Lingxin looked, so he could only rely on someone else to tell him whether or not he was here. The spectators cast a few glances at Li Yang, a middle-aged man with slicked-back brown hair nodding his head at Li Yang.

"Senior Brother Lingxin isn't here right now, but I can get in contact with him. Who is calling for him?"

This arena was mostly frequented by outer disciples, with the inner disciples more focused on cultivation or completing missions. Because of this, almost everyone here knew who Kong Lingxin was, as it wasn't easy to become the third in command of one of the top outer disciples. Li Yang's eyes landed on the middle-aged man, giving a slight nod of his head.

"Perfect, send him a message and tell him that Li Yang is awaiting him in the arena."

A few surprised exclamations sounded out among the audience. Someone was actually calling out Kong Lingxin? The middle-aged man took out an orb of jade, inserting some of his Qi and whispering a few words to it. Once Li Yang saw that the man had sent the message, he headed down to the stage and sat down on one of the stone chairs that surrounded the edge of the stage, calmly waiting with closed eyes.

Li Yang continued to quietly sit at the side of the stage, the hours quickly slipping by. Only after a little over half a day pa.s.sed did some sounds come from the audience, Li Yang's eyes opening and landing on the man who had come down to the stage, looking directly back at him.

"You're Kong Lingxin? Took you a bit of time to get here."

The man who came was almost two meters tall but strangely slim, almost malnourished. He looked to be approaching his thirties, but his hair had already turned gray, hanging loosely down to his shoulders. Had it not been for his green eyes which were filled with vitality and strength, he might be mistaken for someone sickly.

Another point that Li Yang found strange was the fact that Kong Lingxin was only at the early stage of the Ascending Heaven realm. But since he had managed to become the third in command with that cultivation, Li Yang guessed that he likely had some special techniques or skills. Kong Lingxin smiled politely at Li Yang, cupping his hands in greeting.

"You'll have to forgive me, I was in the middle of some cultivation and was at a rather vital point. I don't imagine you have called me here because you wish to pay the tax you owe?"

Kong Lingxin's words were mostly spoken as a formality, as Li Yang wouldn't have called him to the arena if he wished to pay the tax. And just like he guessed, Li Yang stood up and shook his head, pointing at the now empty stage with his thumb.

"Nope. My wife has often told me that I need to take good care of those who work for me, so since you have beaten up my men, I am now going to beat you down."

The two entered the stage, leaving a good bit of distance between each other. Li Yang couldn't see or sense any judges keeping an eye on the stage, but he was certain that the clan had an elder hidden away, keeping watch on the stage and making sure that no disciples were killed. Li Yang was about to start the fight, but Kong Lingxin raised his hand, interrupting him.

"Tell me, Junior Brother Yang, do you know why we have these taxes in place?"

Li Yang stopped in his tracks, curiously c.o.c.king his head to the side. He hadn't expected the question, but he still gave his honest response.

"Because it is an efficient way to acquire more resources without doing much."

He didn't see any other reason as to why they would have a tax in place. It was to make the strong stronger and force the weak to stay weak, making sure that there was no compet.i.tion. After hearing Li Yang's response, Kong Lingxin actually shook his head, clicking his tongue a few times as he waggled his finger.

"Wrong. The reason we have taxes in place is to make clear the hierarchy of the outer disciples. As long as there is a hierarchy in place, the people below will see how good those above them are living, causing them to strive to reach that height. This makes it so that the weaker disciples are encouraged to work harder on their cultivation, in hopes of reaching the higher ranks. If we allow people to not follow this hierarchy, others will start to believe that there is no need for it, losing their drive to push forward, forever content with staying at the bottom."

Kong Lingxin wore a righteous expression as he spoke, seemingly fully believing his words to be right. He wanted Li Yang to understand why the taxes were important and why he should just pay, but the only response he got was a sneer.

"What a joke, don't underestimate people like that. Even without a hierarchy, cultivators will always strive for greater heights, it is in our nature. Don't bother coming up with excuses to justify yourself, just be honest and say that you wanted more resources."

Cultivators had been around long before Li Yang was born, and if he were to die, they would continue to be around long after his death, and they would always try to climb the mountain that was cultivation. It was in the nature of cultivators to always strive for higher peaks, reaching further than before. If anyone called themselves a cultivator but didn't think like this, they were nothing more than liars, a mockery of actual cultivators.

Kong Lingxin's expression didn't change after hearing Li Yang's statement, giving a shake of his head and preparing a counter-argument.

"You aren-"

But before he got to finish whatever counter-argument he had prepared, the calm, if slightly impatient voice of Li Yang interrupted him.

"Enough words. As I said, I called you here to beat you down, not to listen to your flimsy excuses."

Li Yang wanted to return to his cultivation, and every moment he spent here was a moment where he wasn't properly raising his strength. Kong Lingxin seemed a bit annoyed at getting interrupted, but he nodded his head, his eyes narrowing as he prepared for battle.

"Very well. Then allow me to educate you on the strength of Senior Sister Yijun's third in command."

Kong Lingxin swiped his interspatial ring and brought out his weapon, a long and thick gray ruler that was almost two meters long and one meter wide. Looking at the energy fluctuations of the weapon, Li Yang guessed that it was likely a weapon that had reached the early stage of the Spiritual grade, quite a bit better than any of the weapons he could currently use.

Li Yang didn't pull out a weapon, but as he took his stance, crimson flames suddenly shot out from all his pores, his strength increasing drastically. The flames that shot out from his pores thanks to the Burning Hope technique were crimson in color, but that was only a cover-up that Li Yang had prepared. The actual flames he used to activate the technique were some golden flames he had borrowed from Jinwu.

This Burning Hope technique that Jing Yimu had taught him increased the strength of the user based on the strength of the flames used, so there were very few flames better than the Golden Crow flames. Li Yang did not make it a habit to underestimate his enemies when he fought them in an actual battle, so he used almost all his strength when fighting Kong Lingxin.

Li Yang took the first move, stepping forward, the sound of rumbling thunder resounding across the arena as he shot forward, his body turning into a blur. He quickly arrived at Kong Lingxin's side, punching out with a fist covered in fire and lightning.

But Kong Lingxin seemed to be able to keep up with Li Yang's speed, as he swung his heavy ruler, sending a diagonal slash at Li Yang's chest. Li Yang's eyes narrowed slightly when he saw that Kong Lingxin didn't intend to block his attack. He glanced at the attack but didn't feel confident in taking it with his body, so he chose to dodge it.

He kicked off from the ground and jumped up, his feet landing on the ruler as it swung beneath him. He crouched his body, his left hand gently brushing past the bottom of the ruler, close to where Kong Lingxin was holding it. While his left hand was brushing past the bottom of the ruler, his right arm shot out, looking to grab onto Kong Lingxin's throat.

But as his hand got closer, the flesh on Kong Lingxin's throat started to wriggle, turning into a b.l.o.o.d.y spike that pierced towards Li Yang's hand. Li Yang clenched his hand, turning his grab into a fist and slightly altering its course. Now, rather than aiming to grab at his throat, his punch was angled slightly upwards, clashing with the spike of flesh.

When he hit the spike, he felt like his hand clashed with a block of solid iron, sending a slight amount of pain jolting up his arm. Li Yang quickly pulled back his arm and kicked off from the ruler, jumping back and putting some distance between them again. He looked at his own hand, as well as the spike of flesh that was sinking back into Kong Lingxin's body, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

Kong Lingxin clearly cultivated the law of flesh, granting him superb control over his own flesh and the flesh of those weaker than him. But even if he cultivated the law of flesh, it didn't make his body that much stronger. So for that spike of flesh to be that hard, it was clear that Kong Lingxin had trained the toughness of his body to a rather high level, even stronger than Li Yang's own body.

Li Yang was quite interested in how Kong Lingxin had trained his body to such a level, was it normal training or did he use a body cultivation technique? But now was not the time to ask such a question, so he threw it to the back of his mind.

He once again stepped forward, turning into a blur as he shot forward. Kong Lingxin didn't seem interested in letting Li Yang get too close, the ground beneath Li Yang suddenly turning to sand, causing him to almost lose his balance as he sunk into the sand.

Kong Lingxin took advantage of this opportunity, dashing forward and swinging his ruler sideways, once again aiming at Li Yang's chest. But this time, as he swung his ruler, Li Yang snapped his fingers. The snap seemed to be a signal, as ice suddenly appeared on the ruler, at the spot where Li Yang's hand had brushed past not long ago.

The ice spread to Kong Lingxin's hands, causing the handle of the ruler to become so slippery that the weapon slipped out of Kong Lingxin's hands, shooting into the distance because of the force he had put into his attack. With his weapon suddenly slipping out of his hands, Kong Lingxin was, of course, a bit caught off guard.

Li Yang took advance of this moment, the sand around his feet melting as he poured his flames into it. The sand quickly melted, so Li Yang kicked out with his feet, sending molten sand flying at Kong Lingxin. At the same time, he pointed at Kong Lingxin, a small and thin bolt of azure lightning shotting out from his fingertip, shooting at Kong Lingxin's chest.

Kong Lingxin's expression turned solemn as he stretched out his arm, the ruler suddenly flying back into his grasp. With the ruler back in his hand, he moved it in front of his body to block the molten sand and lightning.

The lightning was the first to hit the ruler, the sheer force behind it actually pushing Kong Lingxin back two steps, leaving behind a mark on his prided ruler. The next to arrive in front of his ruler was the molten sand, but just as it was about to hit the ruler, a strange icy mist surrounded the droplets, freezing them and turning them into gla.s.s droplets.

The droplets. .h.i.t the ruler and shattered, showering Kong Lingxin in sharp shards of gla.s.s, leaving behind b.l.o.o.d.y streaks on the parts of his body that were hit. Even though his body was as tough as iron, these shards of gla.s.s contained a bit of Li Yang's law of ice, as well as a bit of his law of lightning.

Kong Lingxin once again took several steps backward, putting distance between him and Li Yang again. His expression was solemn as he looked at Li Yang, who was calmly stepping out from the pit of molten sand he had created. Kong Lingxin tightly grasped his ruler, nodding at Li Yang.

"I must admit, you are strong, very strong! I thought I could beat you like this, but it seems like I must show you how I got the t.i.tle of Iron Bull!"

Right after he spoke, Kong Lingxin's body suddenly grew even taller, approaching three meters. His skin also changed, turning rigid and gray in color, releasing a faint glow as the energy he radiated grew a bit. Li Yang looked on in interest, slightly c.o.c.king his head.

"Oh, what sort of technique is this?"

The technique not only made him grow taller and increased his strength, it even seemed to change his entire body. The now completely gray Kong Lingxin stepped forward, his steps cracking the stage beneath him as he gave Li Yang a warning.

"This is my body cultivation technique, the Iron Peak King technique. Once activated, I can turn every part of my body in metal, greatly strengthening my defense, attack, even my StarG.o.d Essence! Watch out Junior Brother Yang, it is a bit hard to control my strength like this!"

Li Yang didn't know what this StarG.o.d Essence was, could it be something unique to the technique, or was it something only body cultivators had? He looked at the strengthened Kong Lingxin, fondling his chin slightly before he nodded his head.

"A body turned to metal, huh? All right then, since you wish to make it so easy for me, let's end this."

Kong Lingxin didn't understand the meaning behind Li Yang's words, nor did he understand what Li Yang was planning when he suddenly lowered his defenses. Kong Lingxin narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but he still stepped forward. But just as he took another step, something suddenly hit the back of his head, sending a jolt of pain through his body.

He quickly turned around, but there was nothing behind him. He then grabbed at the back of his head, noticing that one of the thick metal chairs was stuck to the back of his head. And just as he noticed the chair, he saw that more and more chairs were suddenly flying at him from the spectator stands, causing him to let out a shocked cry.

"This?! What is this?!"

He tried to dodge the chairs, but they seemed to follow him as he moved, crashing into his body at high speeds. And as more and more chairs started to crash into him, forcing him to the ground, he saw Li Yang start to calmly walk toward him, an indifferent expression in his eyes. It didn't take too much thinking to realize that this was Li Yang's doing, so he quickly called out, seeking an answer to his confusion.

"What are you doing?!"

There was no reply from Li Yang, who simply continued to calmly walk towards Kong Lingxin, who was still being bombarded by chairs. But as Li Yang reached Kong Lingxin's front, the chairs stopped flying at him, the chairs that were sticking to his body suddenly dropping to the ground.

Kong Lingxin thought that he got a chance to turn the tide, but the moment the thought struck him, his own hands smacked him in the face, breaking his nose. Kong Lingxin was now completely aghast, but Li Yang still only looked at him with that calm and indifferent expression. He realized that the battle was lost, so he tried to quickly call out, surrendering and ending the battle.

"Stop, I su-!"

But he never got to finish his sentence, Li Yang kicking him in the mouth and shattering two of his teeth, stopping his words. Kong Lingxin's eyes contained a mixture of shock and fear as he looked at Li Yang, who simply placed his finger in front of his mouth, shushing Kong Lingxin as if he was a noisy child.

"Be quiet."

What Li Yang had done was surprisingly simple, it was a way to use the law of lightning. He used his lightning to form an electric current, which would allow him to use a piece of metal as a conduit to create a magnetic field. And in this situation, Kong Lingxin's metallic body had become this conduit, becoming one big electromagnet that Li Yang could control by changing the strength of the electric current.

After silencing Kong Lingxin, Li Yang raised his foot, delivering a heavy kick to Kong Lingxin's chest. His kick sent a stream of ice into Kong Lingxin's energy, freezing and breaking a few of his ribs. Li Yang then raised his foot again, aiming at Kong Lingxin's right arm, when a loud and furious shout suddenly rang out.

"Stop!"

Li Yang glanced at the person who called out, an elegant woman with raven black hair, a buxom figure, deep brown eyes, and cherry red lips. She was quite beautiful, bit Li Yang simply ignored her and stomped down on Kong Lingxin's wrist, shattering it. Being ignored like this, the elegant woman couldn't help but shout out, her voice booming out like furious lightning.

"Did you not hear me?!"

The woman's chest heaved up and down in agitation, the two mounds on her chest bouncing in an enticing manner. But Li Yang simply gave her a calm and indifferent stare.

"With your shrieking, how could I not hear it? But why the f.u.c.k should I listen to you?"

Not only the woman but even the other people in the audience, who had come to watch the fun, felt the corners of their mouths twitch when they heard Li Yang's words. Even if one ignored the fact that she was a beautiful woman, very few people dared curse at this woman, mainly because of her other status. The woman quickly took a deep breath to calm herself down, introducing herself in an attempt to threaten Li Yang.

"I am Yuan Ruogang, the right hand of Senior Sister Yijun!"

She wanted to threaten and intimidate Li Yang, but even after hearing her status, his expression didn't change. He simply gave her a slight nod and then turned away, his eyes once again landing on Kong Lingxin.

"Oh, the second in command huh? Well, you can just wait over there while I finish up here."

He was already savagely beating the third in command, so what if he ignored the words of the second in command? He continued to beat Kong Lingxin, returning all the pain he had inflicted on Blackstone and the two others, as well as taking revenge for the shattered buildings.

Only after shattering Kong Lingxin's right wrist, five of his ribs, his left shin, as well as his right shoulder, did Li Yang stop the beating. He picked up the beaten Kong Lingxin, throwing him at Yuan Ruogang and once again warning the people of Yuan Yijun to leave him alone.

"There, now you can take him back with you. Tell that stupid leader of yours that I have no interest in ruining her game, but if she keeps messing with me, I won't mind tearing her down from her throne."