He had no-fucking-way to run.
Wincing from the pain of the injuries he sustained in the past few days, Feng Li stopped escaping. His trials had come to an end. But that didn't mean he would leave without giving his all. The man was a Solid Saint Realm expert. Not a clanless one either, but someone that belonged to a Transcendent Clan. His odds of winning this battle were null. But the thought of accepting fate and dying like a fool left a bitter taste in his mouth.
If he couldn't even face a Saint Realm Expert, how was he going to face his older cousin? Someone that was far more talented than the winged chicken before him?
He reached out with his left and right hand. On his left, a bright red hammer appeared. And to his right, a small ball of flame appeared. Feng Li was a rare talent in the Myriad Realms, he was born with two different souls, doubling his strength and cultivation speed by a few levels. If he still had his Samsara Dao Bone, his talents would have only been a few levels lower than the Monster Incarnate that was Long Wei, and that said a lot.
The brilliant red hammer on his left was known as the Clear Phoenix Hammer, and the ball of flame on his right was the Samsara Flame, something he recently awakened. His next action was risky. Something he didn't want to do, but for the sake of gaining the Cosmic Bead, he would use everything he got and escape.
He breathed out. Chaotic Qi from his Mindscape, guided by his Nascent Soul slithered through the Mindscape Barrier into his meridians. Hot qi warmed his meridians and large amounts of energy flowed through him. He guided the Qi through his hands, connecting to both the flame and the hammer. Then he slammed the flame into the hammer. A burst of red light wrestled against the golden light that covered every inch of the hundred-kilometer radius.
Jinwu Xiaodan didn't stand still and wait as Feng Li summoned the entirety of his combat strength to the forefront. He clenched his fist. Golden Flame washed the entire area in splendid heat. Everything, from the mountains to the trees to the ground burned to nothing.
The sudden burst of raw combat strength aided by Feng Li's pure Phoenix Bloodline fought against the heat for a second. He used his Flaming Hammer, to slice a pathway out of the world of flames with a single strike, and followed after with a burst of speed from Flap Of The Phoenix Wing.
Jinwu Xiaodan senses Feng Li's possible escape and spreads his arms out wide. He called forth the strength of his entire cultivation base, he didn't want to waste too much time dealing with a junior. His pure Saint Realm aura confined and anchored the space within a thousand-kilometer radius, slowing down Feng Li's speed to the point where he froze.
Without wasting a second, he formed a flaming gold claw in the air Feng Li and gestured. The claw boiled the air. It singed Feng Li's red hair from a distance.
The feeling of confinement brought him back to the day he lost his Samsara Dao Bone. The emotions and panic raged within him. His chest pounded outwards, and his heart slammed against his ribcage. Blood pumped through his veins, tearing some of them to bits. The Dao Heart Trials made those memories vivid. And he couldn't remove the resemblance from his mind at all, as he waited for the claw to end his life in the trials.
A Saint Realm Expert wasn't something he could deal with. He tried getting his bellowing emotions under control, but that didn't work. Death was coming for him and his emotions were threatening to affect his foundation. He shut his eyes tightly, hoping to gain some control over the world in his last moments.
But.
That.
Moment.
Never.
Came.
He opened his eyes. The corner of a silky black robe fed itself to his eyes. Regardless of the immense heat that burned away his rags, the robe remained pristine and perfect. It was as if the golden flames didn't qualify to scorch a thread of silk on it.
The figure of a handsome young man about four years older than him stood in front of him. Long black hair danced in the flaming world, and piercing black eyes gazed with nothing but apathy at him. An olive hand stretched out above him. He followed the hand and gulped. Only a single finger pointed at the giant flaming claw above him. And the claw that threatened to roast him quieted. It didn't dare move downwards.
Jinwu Xiaodan almost had a heart attack when he felt an extremely familiar aura slice through his spatial confinement and stop his attack dead in his tracks. Most people in the lower class never had time to experience what that aura meant. But he knew clearly. It was the number one genius of the current Era, Long Wei, touted as possibly a genius of all Cycles.
He wasted little time and released his spatial confinement and removed the world of flames. He didn't have the qualifications to engage in a battle with Long Wei. Not even his Clan could protect him if Long Wei decided to pursue him outside the trials. Sweat drenched his back when he realized he might have just made a mistake of his lifetime.
The flames disappeared, revealing Long Wei standing in front of Feng Li with a small smirk across his face. Jinwu Xiaodan knew that the smirk wasn't anything friendly. He felt the Coldness of Long Wei's aura from a mile away.
"Young Man, why didn't you tell me you were friends with Brother Wei?" Jinwu Xiaodan didn't know how to smooth over the situation and tried to play ignorant.
"Friends?" The word escaped out of Feng Li's mouth with difficulty. The panic from being confined slowly faded.
Who was the man that saved him? He didn't recall having such an acquaintance.