Chapter 514: Slowly Building Coordination

If it was a contest of sheer strength, unless he unleashed all of his power and cooperated with Mei Gongzi, whom he judged to be strong enough if she went all out, they would barely even have a chance. Moreover, the possibility of both sides getting severely injured was high, and their chances of losing were not small.

In this situation, a frontal battle was obviously inadvisable. Therefore, in a flash of thought, Tang San came up with a tactic.

He leveraged the habitual thinking of all normal combatants. Generally speaking, when both sides engage in battle with roughly equal strength, getting a steady footing and making tentative attacks are very common tactics. Almost no one would go all out from the start. Thus, in complete contrast, he chose to go all out with a sacrificial strike against the opponent.

Thus, what he had told Mei Gongzi earlier was to create a spatial rift in the opponent's defense, giving him a chance to rush in.

Then he used both the Golden Roc Transformation and the Lion-Tiger Transformation to their limits, executing an all-out strike.

The Golden Wing Wind-Splitting Slash was executed without regard for the wings themselves. If they got destroyed, they got destroyed; he would simply take a while to regenerate them. Moreover, he infused the yin-yang energy he had recently cultivated and enhanced into this strike. He also fully utilized both the devouring and and the repelling powers of the Lion-Tiger Golden Force.

This strike was arguably the strongest Tang San could achieve, and that was while completely ignoring his body's limits.

In terms of pure cultivation, he was definitely not as good as the Wind Dragon expert, who had peak ninth-order cultivation of a top-tier bloodline. But when it came to a desperate fight, his strike was carefully premeditated, while the opponent had to respond hastily. Everything happened too fast.

Although the Wind Dragon and Immortal Flame Phoenix had high expectations for Tang San and Mei Gongzi, they never thought the two could truly be their match. After all, they were even favorites to win this tournament—specially selected elites of their respective clans, looking to demonstrate their strength in the doubles competition.

Wind and fire assisting each other was the core ability of their duo. It was a perfect combination with one’s wind fanning the other’s flames, and the sheer explosive power of the wind-fire force was quite literally capable of tearing space itself apart.

They had planned to unleash their wind-fire force from the very first moment, using it for wide-area defense and control, then crush their opponents in one fell swoop. The fiery tornado would give Tang San no chance to get close, while also throwing space into disarray and preventing Mei Gongzi from teleporting. With their overwhelming power and complementary abilities, they were fully confident of defeating their opponents in a short time, thus securing their position.

However, they never expected that Mei Gongzi had already mastered the Peacock Demon clan's sacred artifact. Under her power, the Celestial Plume forcibly slashed open a gap in the forming wind-fire force tornado. Using this gap, Asura fully executed his sacrificial strike, attacking despite the backlash. That instant burst of power, combined with the protection of wind-fire force dissipating and the fact that he’d been caught off guard, rendered the Wind Dragon powerless.

One for one! This was a direct exchange.

Such a development even made many nobles in the spectators' seats stand up. Those who truly understood the intricacies couldn't help but marvel, their perception of Asura clearly altered.

His initial victory had been attributed to luck and whatever other mysterious factors; yet as victories accumulated, his skill could not help but be noticed. As for this particular moment, in the eyes of many spectators, it was an absolutely thunderous demonstration of immense skill and power. The explosive power, decisiveness, and precise judgment of the situation couldn't help but move the great nobles of the demon and nymph clans.

Even the Peacock Great Demon King had a few traces of shock in his eyes. He understood all too well that if he were in Asura's place now, he couldn't have done better.

At the moment of rushing into the wind-fire force, if the spatial rift Mei Gongzi slashed lasted even a moment shorter, Asura would have been simply shredded by the terrifying force. The explosive power of the Dragon-Phoenix Pair was something even a god-level being couldn't withstand, let alone someone who had just freshly reached the ninth tier.

Yet, in spite of that, he was perfectly calm and resolute, as if everything was within his expectations.

Moreover, although the Celestial Plume was powerful, Mei Gongzi was not even at the peak of the ninth order, while the opponents were two peak experts with complementary attributes. The spatial rift she had slashed open did not reach all the way through to the other team. In other words, when Tang San rushed in, the remaining wind-fire force was broken by himself, and the impact of this could be imagined.

In the audience, the Lion-Tiger Sword Saint was also present. Though he had no partner for the doubles, he was always there to watch Tang San and Mei Gongzi’s matches. And when he saw Tang San's sacrificial strike explosion, his eyes couldn't help but shine with excitement, and he vigorously waved his fist.

In contrast with Tang San and Mei Gongzi, he had always paid much attention to his own opponent. The Wind Dragon clan contestant, who was severely injured by Tang San, was the one he would have faced in the next round in a one-on-one match. He was well aware of this contestant's strength and had no confidence in defeating him, but Tang San had now solved this problem for him.

What is strength? This is absolute strength. Not only cultivation but combat experience, awareness, and the ability to seize opportunities.

Just this move alone made Big Cat feel ashamed. It didn't believe it could do better than Tang San, and it might not even have the chance to do so against such an opponent.

With both Tang San and the Wind Dragon Clan contestant severely injured, the wind-fire force dissipated, leaving only the two female contestants supporting their partners.

The eyes of the Immortal Flame Phoenix were filled with killing intent. The Wind Dragon was extremely seriously injured; if it weren't for the dragon race's strong vitality, today’s matches might have seen yet another casualty. Even more terrifying was that there was a vague and indescribable force continuously clashing within its body. Even with the powerful bloodline of the Wind Dragon clan, it was not something he could control, and it was causing the injuries of the Wind Dragon to worsen. If not treated in time, it could genuinely threaten his life.

In truth, Tang San had planned this strike taking into consideration the Wind Dragon’s protective instinct. And even though his real target was the Wind Dragon, he actually attacked the Immortal Flame Phoenix directly, banking on the former’s instinct to protect his partner. The reason was simple: the most terrifying ability of the Immortal Flame Phoenix was its rebirth through flames. If he severely injured the Immortal Flame Phoenix, she could undergo rebirth; her cultivation would be impacted, but for the time being, she could at least restore seventy to eighty percent of her strength. And if she could still fight, his sacrifice was moot.

At this moment, with the Wind Dragon incapacitated, the scene turned into a one-on-one between Mei Gongzi and the Immortal Flame Phoenix.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Tang San had confidence in Mei Gongzi's strength. Mei Gongzi wielded the Peacock Demon clan's sacred artifact, the Celestial Plume, and also possessed another powerful first-tier bloodline, the White Tiger bloodline. With these two bloodlines and the artifact, she wouldn't be inferior to the Immortal Flame Phoenix contestant.

Moreover, Tang San knew the condition that the Wind Dragon was in.

The fighters couldn't receive treatment until the match ended, and that... depended on whether the Immortal Flame Phoenix cared about her partner's life. A Wind Dragon’s endurance couldn't compare to a Golden Mammoth’s. Without receiving an infusion of life energy one way or another, it would be at most ten minutes until he could no longer be saved. And if Mei Gongzi entangled the Immortal Flame Phoenix, what was a ten-minute delay?

"Concede and save him," Mei Gongzi said coldly to the Immortal Flame Phoenix, following Tang San's instruction. Her voice was clear and resonant, allowing all the spectators to hear her words.

A trace of struggle flashed in the eyes of the Immortal Flame Phoenix.