After seeing Shui resist the heat he released with just his body, Rizer was sure that he made it out of Blue Mist Gorge with his own power and decided to stop holding back.
"I made the mistake of letting you live three years ago, but that won't happen this time."
Rizer clasped his hands and a scene similar to when Matt used his fan artifact, but on a much grander scale appeared. Swords, spears, sabres and other bladed weapons made of orange flames shot at Shui without any mercy from Rizer. Shui knew he couldn't waste time hoping that he would enter the Still Heart state, he had to push himself to the limit from the beginning. Even though a single weapon would be strong enough to break through his barrier and seriously wound him, Shui didn't even use a barrier and stood to face it.
'Focus focus focus.'
After entering it a few times, Shui understood what Emily meant when she said to focus on a single task. If he wanted to enter the Still Heart state, then he needed to focus everything he had on this battle. It was a reckless method that normally didn't fit him, but it was the only way he could beat Rizer without adequate preparation. Maybe if he had a few more days, he would be able to build an array that could restrict all the Earth Realm experts and kill Rizer, but not in one night.
As five fire weapons were right in front of his face, Shui tried to stare incoming death in the face but just as the heat became unbearable, his body twitched and he dodged them by the skin of his teeth.
'Damn it!'
He wanted to push himself but it was hard to stop his instincts from reacting to danger. After this mistake, Shui tried to find another opportunity but the onslaught made it hard for him to focus again and forced him back, especially now that the ground near his feet was starting to melt from the heat. He couldn't dodge forever, but if he wanted to fight back then he had to stop dodging.
When the distance between them had grown to five cales, Shui finally made the decision to force himself to stop. Normal cutlery wouldn't work so he took out a knife made from the bone of a beast spirit and stabbed it into the thigh of his right leg.
"What is he doing?"
No one watching could understand why he would make this suicidal decision, but they were sure of what the result of this choice would be. About a second later, the air above Shui was completely covered with weapons made of flames. With his leg injured, there was no way he could evade so he focused on guarding instead. The weapons slammed down with ferocity that quickly wore him down, but he refused to give up.
It didn't take long before his skin burnt and all he could smell was his own roasted flesh, but he continued to endure while keeping his enemy in his eyesight. As his injuries got worse, so did his sight. Soon all he could see was the silhouette of his enemy, and that was enough.
In the face of death, his breathing, his pain and his own beating heart became much clearer. Forgetting himself and even his anger, all that was left was his desire to fight.
"Ha..."
With expression wiped from his face, Shui activated harmonic trinity with an emphasis on his soul and dispersed the fire weapons with mental control. Before Rizer could react, he also equipped the bone greatsword.
'Burst.'
A sudden explosion created smoke that hid Shui's figure along with the rest of Rizer's surrounding. Breaking through the smoke towards Rizer was the figure of an bloodied Shui. However his appearance provided no shock to Rizer who cast a massive fireball spell that engulfed him.
But just as Rizer felt confident in his victory, an attack hit his barrier from behind. The Shui that he had burnt, turned out to be his sword, while the real Shui attacked him but was blocked by his barrier. By mentally drawing 'Mimic' and 'Copy', Shui gave his sword his image and then circled behind Rizer, but unlike what Rizer thought, Shui was well-prepared to be stopped by this barrier.
'Amplify. Vibrate.'
Since he didn't see it coming, Shui was able to disrupt the energy making up the barrier, shattering it and allowing him the chance to land an attack. Rizer was bewildered but he quickly reacted by forming a mudra with one hand and then attacking with his other hand which suddenly seemed to be made of fire. Shui narrowly dodged this fist and then got away by using 'Burst' at his feet and dragging his sword to his hands with mental control. By using 'Burst', Shui could move even faster than usual without as much stress on his legs. This adept use of inscriptions was out of Shui's usual ability, but in his current state there was nothing he couldn't do with inscriptions.
After nearly being hit by Shui, Rizer hurriedly built back his barrier and rapidly sent fiery weapons at Shui without rest. This time, instead of dodging Shui deflected every weapon with his sword by covering it in nature energy, and using 'Mimic' to have it match the aura of the spell. He made it clear that he was no longer as helpless while taking steady steps towards Rizer.
The fight that the mayor, headmaster and the other deputy headmaster witnessed was no longer one with an obvious result, but a fierce battle. With each step Shui took, Rizer felt the pressure on him increase.
"No, how could I lose to some brat!!! Yellow Ashes!"
Rizer stopped casting his fire arsenal spell and converged his energy into a single ball of yellow fire. Before he even released it, the heat from the attack caused the surrounding buildings to melt and Shui could sense the edges of his clothes about to catch fire.
Right before Rizer released his spell, Shui threw five knives made from the bones of beast spirits, including the one that was in his thigh. Rizer could sense no danger from the knives but he was wary of them since he knew he couldn't underestimate Shui. He wanted to strengthen his barrier but then he would have to stop focusing on the spell he was casting.
'Tch, I have no choice. There's no way he can use that strange technique to break my barrier without at least touching it.'
While assuming that Shui's attack was just a bluff, Rizer was one step away from finishing his spell and burning Shui to ash, when the knives finally made contact with his barrier. There was no damage at first, so Rizer was internally relieved and returned all of his focus on the spell, but that was exactly what Shui wanted. Before the knives fell to the ground, he manipulated them to surround and stick to the barrier before drawing two symbols in his mind.
'Amplify. Vibrate.'
Right as the barrier broke again, a giant fireball was hurtling towards Shui, melting all obstacles in its path. The spell was powerful but also slow. If he was any other Soul Realm cultivator he wouldn't be able to escape a burning death, but he was different, especially in this state. Shui mentally drew 'Burst' at his feet to launch himself into the air and used it once more to get closer to Rizer. Rizer still couldn't understand how Shui was able to break his barrier, but he regained his wits once he sensed him coming down from the sky. Without enough time to guess how he was able to do it, Rizer quickly formed five mudras in sequence before a red palm that was the same size as his body appeared in front of Shui.
Shui aimed his sword at Rizer and drew 'Burst' three times mentally right before he threw it. The sword pierced through the palm and almost went through Rizer as well in less than an instant. He barely managed to block in time but was still being pushed back. Without missing a beat, Shui used his perfectly fluid motion after mentally drawing 'Fly', to slide behind Rizer.
However, Rizer wasn't caught off guard this time. Rizer turned to look at Shui while his eyes seemed to be covered in blue fire. This was a soul technique that worked as Rizer's trump card. He felt ashamed that he had to go this far against a mere child, but it would be even worse if he lost. Rizer was confident that no matter how much of a monster Shui was, he wouldn't be able to compare to someone in the Earth Realm like him since this realm was where one began building their soul palace and strengthen the power of their soul. But Rizer didn't know that he was still underestimating Shui.
Unlike what he expected, when he looked into Shui's eyes and tried to destroy his soul, his soul was the one that took damage.
'Impossible!!! I lost in a battle of-'
Before he could fully dive into this feeling of astonishment, his concentration weakened enough for Shui's sword to pierce through his guard and push out through his back. Since this was the perfect opportunity, Shui was about to finish him off but then he suddenly backed off. With distance between them, there was a strange silence. Rizer seemed to have lost consciousness while standing up but Shui could sense the energy that was rising inside him.
Now that he was drawn this close to defeat, Rizer lost the reason that held him back.
"Ahhhhh!!!!!"
A field of intense heat spread from Rizer and across Cyrus. If it wasn't for the mayor, many citizens would have lost their lives in this attack but Rizer had long stopped thinking about such consequences; all he wanted to do was win.
Shui stretched out his hand and his sword came out of Rizer and flew back to his palm. Although he was on the brink of losing to this heat, there was no worry inside Shui. In his eyes, this battle was already over.
'Assemble.'
The sword split up into multiple pieces and then covered Shui like an exoskeleton. This was something Shui hadn't thought about before, but since he was able to control the mutation caused by nature energy, his own form wasn't the only thing he could change. Although it was only at a surface-level, he was able to re-arrange the composition of any material substance.
With the bony exoskeleton on, Shui mentally drew 'Lightning' three times and used the effects on his own body while absorbing it with the World Assimilation Art. As if he was the incarnation of heavenly punishment, Shui glowed with gold and blue sparks wrapped around his body. One moment he was watching Rizer's tantrum, and the next he had already punched Rizer ten times and knocked him into the sky.
Shui then pointed upwards and focused on the string he had connected to Rizer. No matter how overpowered he was, beating Rizer in a straight fight was impossible so from the moment he broke his barrier the first time, he had tied a string made from the fur of spirit beasts to Rizer and used that connection to slowly drain Rizer's essence while he recklessly used his nature energy. This trick could be used because barriers only blocked attacks with energy and ones that the user recognized, otherwise one could only use a barrier for as long as they had air to breathe.
For his final attack, Shui converted all of the essence he took from Rizer into power and mentally drew 'Thunder' five times. After a sudden clap of thunder that came from the heavens, Rizer was a burnt corpse and Shui dropped to the ground. He had accomplished everything he had to and had used up all of his energy. Whether he passed the trial or not, was no longer in his hands.