The most basic of the Eight Inner Gates, the first three gates, were buffs Li Xi always activated before a fight. His body, strengthened time and again, meant opening the third gate was no longer a challenge. His blood boiled, his skin flushed red, and veins bulged at the corners of his Sharingan eyes like wriggling worms beneath the skin. The overwhelming aura he exuded crushed the sparse lightning strikes that came his way, dissipating them within an inch of his body.
"This is it, this is it! I've finally seen your unique skill!" Adrian roared with laughter from within the clouds. He didn't let Li Xi's burst of power go unanswered. With a roll, he transformed into a golden giant dragon nearly fifty meters long, complete with two heads, appearing above the clouds.
Indeed, it was a two-headed golden giant dragon. Golden dragons could evolve multiple heads, and Adrian's shimmering golden scales exuded an air of noble mystery. The two heads didn't look strange or ugly; instead, they gave him an even more majestic and imposing presence. Especially the small bumps protruding between the two heads, which inspired awe and deep respect in all who saw them. This was the location for Adrian's third head. Once this bump grew into a full head like the other two, Adrian would advance to become an eighth-level powerhouse.
Each head of a golden dragon possessed independent thought and combat capabilities. This meant that while Li Xi appeared to be facing one opponent, he was actually facing two.
Facing the lightning that continued to intensify its assault, Li Xi's eyes widened. After opening the third gate, his body's capabilities reached astonishing levels. He turned, used the Body Flicker Technique, and vanished. All the concentrated lightning struck empty air.
Adrian's four massive dragon eyes scanned every inch of the space below like satellites, scanning up, down, left, and right. His four eyes allowed him to cover every corner without blind spots.
Li Xi knew better than anyone how good dragon eyes were, especially those of Adrian, a seventh-level golden dragon with two heads and four all-seeing eyes.
"I see you."
Before Li Xi's body even materialized, one of Adrian's heads took a deep breath and exhaled a beam of concentrated lightning, like a laser, towards a specific point in the space ahead. The power was immense, tens of times greater than the breath attacks of other dragons Li Xi had seen before.
As the laser-like lightning beam struck, Li Xi's body also appeared. It turned out that Li Xi, using the Flying Nimbus Scroll combined with the monstrous capabilities boosted by the third gate and the Body Flicker Technique, had halved the distance between himself and Adrian. Li Xi's combat strategy remained close-quarters combat.
Unfortunately, Li Xi's plan didn't succeed; he was detected by Adrian before he could even fully emerge. The surgical precision of the dragon's breath instantly aimed to smash Li Xi down from mid-air.
Li Xi had no time to dodge or disappear. He thrust out his hand and yelled,
"Rasengan!"
A large ball of swirling chakra, over a meter in diameter, met the lightning breath head-on. The powerful collision of their ultimate techniques illuminated the night. The mutual opposition of energies churned the air, like a hurricane awakening and sweeping through the cold atmosphere. Clouds scattered, electricity crackled and hissed, leaving countless spectators awestruck, feeling their journey had been worthwhile.
On the ground, the mercenaries felt the immense energy conflict from above, momentarily dazed. Compared to these powerhouses who could alter their surroundings at will, their own battles, reliant on skill and chakra augmentation, felt laughably like playing house.
"As expected of you, to even block my breath head-on. Then let me add another one," Adrian said with admiration. The other head inhaled deeply and exhaled another scorching beam of lightning, hitting Li Xi accurately.
This attack sent Li Xi, who had barely managed to block the first one, plummeting rapidly. He was about to be driven back to the ground by Adrian.
"Hahaha, Your Highness the Grand Princess, look! This is the unfair advantage of the dragon race. Their inherent conditions are too superior. Once they gain aerial superiority, attacking from above grants them at least a thirty percent advantage. Li Xi's flying ability is clearly inferior to Adrian's, making aerial combat extremely disadvantageous," reported the Sultan's Novel Network.
"Hmm."
A single word was Princess Fimmer's acknowledgment of Adeler's analysis. Even the princess, who wasn't skilled in combat, could see Li Xi was clearly at a disadvantage.
"If Li Xi cannot engage Adrian in close combat, then this battle is Li Xi's loss," Adeler stated with his seasoned and sharp gaze.
"So what if he loses? Li Xi is still so young, and that dragon is so old! If Li Xi truly loses, I'll go out there and burn all these villains who offended the princess to death! Let's see who dares to offend the princess again!" Kellychia's domineering declaration left Adeler speechless. If this old woman were to intervene, even a god in their saintly form would flee in disarray.
He could only mutter in a low voice, "It's just a spat between children. It wouldn't be right for you to get involved."
Adeler's complaint was met only by a cold snort from Kellychia. After that, Adeler dared not speak further, clearly intimidated by Kellychia.
.........
"This guy's strength is comparable to our Bijuu. Jinchuriki, do you have confidence?" The two Tailed Beasts, rarely seeing Li Xi struggle head-on, began to worry about him.
Li Xi barely managed to block Adrian's lightning breath with alternating Rasengans, making his movements sluggish and defensive in the air.
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
Li Xi then abandoned the Rasengan, freeing his hands. He used his Tailed Beast Cloak and his arms to shield himself, and then allowed himself to be directly slammed into the ground by the lightning breath.
"Run!"
The two factions fighting below, who had been constantly observing the situation above, saw Li Xi plummeting from the sky, landing on his backside. They immediately stopped fighting and scrambled to escape. Li Xi falling was one thing, but two powerful dragon breaths were following him. Li Xi could withstand them, but what about them? Anyone they touched would die, even a graze would be fatal.
"Boom!"
In the center of the crater that spiderwebbed across the ground, the lightning breath continued. The Tailed Beast Cloak had been blasted to shreds, and a faint aroma of cooked meat wafted from Li Xi's scorched arms.
"Hahaha, my breath isn't bad, is it?"
Maintaining the breath attack for so long had strained Adrian considerably, but driving Li Xi back to the ground was worth any effort.
Li Xi gritted his teeth, his hands emitting a pale green light as he healed his arm injuries. He formed hand seals.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Bang, bang, bang!"
A continuous stream of white smoke erupted, and the scene was immediately filled with hundreds of identical Li Xis. Their movements were synchronized, their clothing the same, and even their auras were identical.
Adrian's four dragon eyes widened. His excellent vision was utterly useless in distinguishing Li Xi's true body. In his observation, all these Li Xis appeared to be real, identical.
The hundred shadow clones paired up, two by two. One shadow clone would then hurl another, performing a 3600-degree spin, projecting Li Xi with all their might towards Adrian. Fifty Li Xis instantly appeared in the sky.
These fifty Li Xis, faster than birds, immediately pulled out their Fūma Shuriken, aiming them at Adrian.
"Here goes!"
"Hahaha, are you really using such a move? A mere parlor trick," Adrian sneered. His body erupted with energy, and countless bolts of lightning appeared on each of his scales. The originally golden dragon transformed into a silver dragon wreathed in lightning. The spectacle of a thousand trees blooming with silver flowers reappeared in the thick clouds. The entire space was filled. The fifty Li Xis, without even time to resist, were disintegrated into white smoke by the dense lightning, vanishing into the air.
Seeing no sign of Li Xi among the fifty, Adrian turned his gaze to the remaining fifty Li Xis on the ground. As for the Fūma Shuriken that had been hurled at him, Adrian didn't even bother to look. Such insignificant trinkets couldn't even break a single dragon scale of his if he stood still and let them hit him.
Seeing the look in Adrian's eyes, the other mercenaries understood what he was about to do. After so many years, they knew better than to be in the way. With a whoosh, they cleared the area where Li Xi was located.
As expected, in the next second, countless bolts of lightning, like a thunderous inferno, rained down from the sky. Amidst the dazzling lightning, the area where the fifty Li Xis were, along with even the smallest stones, was pulverized into dust, and the ground sank by two feet.
When the dust kicked up by the explosion settled, and everyone's gaze returned to where Li Xi had been, they found the area empty. There was no sign of Li Xi.
"Where are you looking?"
Li Xi's voice came from behind. Adrian didn't turn to look, nor did he ponder how Li Xi had suddenly appeared behind him. Instead, he flapped his dragon wings, spinning in the air like a colossal cyclone. The sharp scales on his wing edges were like rows of blades slicing through the air, protecting Adrian's body.
It had to be said that Adrian's decisive timing was excellent. Li Xi hadn't even landed on Adrian yet and was almost grazed by the spinning dragon wings. At this point, if Adrian had shown even a moment's lapse or a slight delay, Li Xi could have struck him.
"Earth Style: Earth Falling Bowl!"
A colossal cauldron lid, like a cat beckoning for fortune, descended from above, intended to smash Adrian to the ground and avenge Li Xi's previous embarrassment.
As soon as the cauldron lid neared Adrian, a dragon tail, like a battering ram, swept across. It was a simple yet effective move. Upon hitting the cauldron lid, it vanished with a 'bang' and turned into white smoke.
Adrian's attack power had exceeded the structural integrity of the cauldron lid.
Li Xi's initial plan was to use the weight of the Demonic Stone Lotus, similar to how he controlled the ancient bone dragon last time, to crush Adrian to the ground and immobilize him. However, Adrian's combat experience was clearly far superior to that of the ancient bone dragon. Li Xi had no opportunity to get close to Adrian in the air. Instead, every time he tried to approach, he was met with the spinning, blade-like dragon wings, forcing him to evade their sharpness.
"Water Style: Water Severing Wave!"
A high-pressure, high-speed stream of water formed a water blade that slashed towards Adrian's body. Adrian's massive physique could not completely evade the water blade's attack, and he was instantly struck.
Although it hit, the result left Li Xi somewhat dumbfounded. The Water Severing Wave seemed to have struck diamond; it couldn't shatter Adrian's dragon scales.
"I don't believe it!"
Li Xi took out the Executioner's Blade from his spatial ring and went into a frenzied attack, hacking at any part of Adrian he could reach.
This time, empowered by Li Xi's superhuman strength, it finally had an effect. With a single strike, half of the blade sunk into Adrian's body. The sharp, knife-like edges of the dragon scales were neatly cut, and pale golden dragon blood splattered across the sky.
"Roar!"
Adrian cried out in pain, and two scorching lightning breaths surged towards Li Xi. This time, Li Xi was fully prepared. His eyes seized the opportunity instantly, focusing on Adrian's eyes. The six small tomoe in his Sharingan began to spin. One of Adrian's heads instantly became like a vacant idiot, its killing intent completely gone. The breath attack it was about to exhale sputtered out.
But in the next second, the head controlled by the Sharingan's genjutsu unexpectedly regained clarity. Adrian looked at Li Xi with profound fear. "What a powerful and insidious technique! I almost fell for your trick."
The Sharingan genjutsu had failed. Li Xi dodged the other head's breath attack and then suddenly realized where he had gone wrong. The counter to genjutsu was simple: disrupt the body's energy flow. Usually, this required external intervention, but Adrian clearly didn't need it. Because he had two heads, Li Xi could only cast genjutsu on one head at a time. An enemy with two heads like this was the bane of genjutsu.
"Do you dare to come down to the ground and fight me?" Li Xi, feeling restricted in the air, challenged Adrian in the same way he had. He was at a significant disadvantage without his dragon wings.
To his surprise, Adrian flatly shook his head, showing no sign of valuing victory over life like a typical powerhouse. He candidly admitted, "I dare not. If I went down, I would surely lose. In the air, I still have some chance."
Li Xi felt like spitting blood. He feared not a ruffian skilled in martial arts, but a martial artist who played dirty. Li Xi gritted his teeth, "Then don't blame me."
He took a deep breath, his chakra surging like a raging flood, breaking through a restrictive dam within his body.
"Gate of Pain, Open!"
This was the fourth gate of the Eight Inner Gates. From here on, the Eight Inner Gates entered truly dangerous territory. Of course, this was dangerous for others. Li Xi's powerful physique allowed him to handle the aftereffects of opening the fourth gate with ease. Li Xi's aura surged several times.
Before the newly boosted aura could stabilize, Li Xi continued to stir his chakra, which raged as heat steamed and cells cheered. The next limit was broken.
"Gate of Joy, Open!"
The fifth gate of the Eight Inner Gates. Here, Li Xi's strength and speed reached their personal limits. From this point on, Li Xi would experience certain side effects after using the technique, which even his current powerful physique could not avoid.
These two gates of the Eight Inner Gates were obtained by two shadow clones after they leveled up and extracted them from the 'Body' category. Since the shadow clones began undertaking missions, they had saved Li Xi a lot of trouble and had acquired many valuable items, as well as useless ones. These two gates of the Eight Inner Gates were the most precious ninjutsu those two shadow clones had drawn.