Needing no further prompting, Wu Ling first threw his talisman. Since becoming a middle-stage Aesthete the complexity of characters he was able to empower had increased. At the moment, eight strokes was about his limit but those eight strokes allowed him to attempt something new. His first talismans had focused on simple elemental forces but this time he opted for something more primal and fundamental to all living creatures.
The word he'd chosen to open this duel with was 'Fear.' As the talisman flew through the air the inky black strokes of the character took on a life of their own, flowing off the parchment-like dark black smoke and swirling around Xiong Dahuo's saber to penetrate directly into his chest.
Instantly, Xiong Dahuo's eyes went wide and his heart began to beat furiously. Sweat beaded on his brow and his muscles tensed, panic consuming his mind as his body cried out to flee before… before what? His overwhelmed mind didn't have to wait long for an answer as dozens of black V-shaped birds leaped off the canvas and swarmed toward him like a surging tide of doom.
To the onlookers, Xiong Dahuo had become an unmoving statue after Wu Ling's strange talisman penetrated his chest but the instant the birds came to life from the painting they all understood that Wu Ling's opening move wasn't simple at all! Still, the sharp-eyed cultivators like Chu Dieyi could tell that each of those birds was an incredibly weak and fragile construct that should be easily destroyed by Xiong Dahuo.
'Should be,' however, seemed to be the key phrase. While everyone expected Xiong Dahuo to summon his martial energy to swat aside the flock of painted birds he instead swung wildly with his heavy nine-ringed saber. Like a man possessed, Xiong Dahuo thrashed about as though he were swatting away a swarm of insects but while his saber destroyed several of the painted birds, most of them streaked past his clumsy defense to inflict merciless cuts to his arms, legs, and torso.
Only Su Xiang in the audience knew that Wu Ling had held back with none of the birds plunging into the powerful Brawler's flesh the way they'd attacked the bandits on the mountain. Still, the effect of so many simultaneous strikes was still overwhelming to the minds of the audience who had never seen an Artist produce such a vicious technique!
For Xiong Dahuo the situation was even worse. The 'Fear' talisman had sent his mind spiraling out of control and what had been slightly over two dozen small birds in reality had loomed in his mind like an unending swarm of darkness and sharp blades. The more cuts he endured, the more fear's icy claws squeezed his heart and drove rational thought from his mind.
Wu Ling wasn't finished in his relentless assault either. Immediately after the birds had taken flight from the canvas, Hou launched himself into the air hurling a ball of flame at Xiong Dahuo. Much like the first time Wu Ling had employed this trick against Su Xiang, Hou wasn't truly aiming at the powerful Brawler. Rather he aimed at the ground directly in front of the other man. The burst of flame and heat proved to be an overwhelming combination to Xiong Dahuo's fear-addled mind, sending him tumbling to the ground to land heavily on his butt while his heavy nine-ringed saber clattered to the ground beside him.
Across the banquet hall, both sides of the audience froze in their seats, some with morsels of food forgotten in their chopsticks halfway to their mouths. Xiong Dahuo had given Wu Ling the chance to make an opening move but no one expected that move to be so overwhelming, least of all Xiong Dahuo himself!
Even Fang Muchen, who had lived several decades longer than the young cultivators in the room, had never seen an Artist with this kind of capability. As a rule of thumb, if an Artist fought someone on the Martial path, they needed to have a cultivation level at least two small realms above the trained fighter. Anything less was asking for… well, asking for a defeat like the one Wu Ling had just delivered to Xiong Dahuo!
Zhang Buyan was the first to move, clapping loudly at Wu Ling's stunning move. "Brother Wu! I take back my words. When next I go on an expedition, I want you to paint like that! Together we'll be unstoppable!"
Both Yu Jinqi and Fang Lin stared at the results of Wu Ling's attack with slack jaws, turning to look at their fellow scholar with the same questioning gaze. Since when were Artists this powerful? No wonder Wu Ling had thought they would be capable of going on one of Zhang Buyan or Xiong Dahuo's expeditions into the mountains. For an artist to be so capable, he must have thought that scholars could be just as deadly!
"Now I see why Brawler Su Xiang was so sure Aesthete Wu wouldn't lose," Zheng Qingye said in tones of awe. "Brawler Xiong never had a chance!"
"Never had a chance?" Xiong Dahuo said, reaching out to grip the hilt of his saber tightly. Blood trickled from over a dozen minor wounds but he'd hardly call any of his injuries serious. Rage had blossomed in his heart along with humiliation that had to be expunged! The potent combination of those feelings had purged the fear from Wu Ling's talisman and returned a measure of clarity to his mind. Wu Ling's opening move had indeed taken him by surprise and in a humiliating fashion but that hardly meant he was defeated!
Drawing deep on his martial energy, Xiong Dahuo used the pain and blood of his injuries to stimulate his strength pouring additional power into his battle-hardened body and surrounding himself with a thick bloody aura. Power like this came with a price and he'd be as weak as a kitten when the technique ended but for now, he had more than enough time and all the power in the world to show this upstart Artist that the power of the Sanguine Saber Sect wasn't to be mocked!
With a mighty roar, Xiong Dahuo surged to his feat, charging directly at Wu Ling! "I'll show you who NEVER HAD A CHANCE!"