Suppressing Dylan

Although Dylan had started having second thoughts, now that Lord Beirut had spoken, he would face Fang Yun even if it meant losing.

He still didn't dare to make a fool of Lord Beirut.

Besides, he wasn't necessarily going to lose. He was only worried about the Sunset Longbow.

"Hmph!"

Dylan fixed his gaze on Fang Yun in the distance. With a cold snort, he turned into a streak of light and shot into the sky. At the same time, he slipped on a pair of clawlike weapons. They were divine artifacts he had nurtured for tens of thousands of years.

Beirut watched the two of them get ready, his little eyes narrowing with interest and a hint of amusement.

The High Priest and O'Brien also stared intently at the sky. Battles between gods were rare, especially when both combatants were Lowgods. It was a valuable experience for them, too.

Besides, the fight would give them a sense of Fang Yun and Dylan's strength, which would help them plan for the situation on the Yulan Continent.

Standing opposite Fang Yun, Dylan considered the situation.

Even if the Sunset Longbow was powerful, it was still a long-range weapon. If Fang Yun attacked from a distance, Dylan would have no choice but to defend passively. So his only chance was to close in and fight Fang Yun at close range.

His claw artifacts were also better suited to close combat. And his body was stronger than that of an ordinary Lowgod, giving him a clear advantage in melee.

With that in mind, Dylan stopped hesitating.

He suddenly opened his mouth wide. A tremendous suction force appeared, churning the seawater into towering waves hundreds of meters high.

In midair, the countless elements around Fang Yun began moving toward Dylan.

"Dylan's using his Innate Divine Ability right off the bat!"

The High Priest knew something of Dylan's strength.

His Innate Divine Ability was especially powerful. Even opponents at the same level would find it difficult to resist its pull. If they failed and were sucked into Dylan's stomach, even a somewhat stronger expert could die.

An Innate Divine Ability!

O'Brien's gaze sharpened. Dylan was a divine beast!

O'Brien was now extremely wary of Dylan. Divine beasts who became gods were incredibly powerful. Even after five thousand years as a god, O'Brien wasn't confident he could defeat one.

Dylan didn't use his Innate Divine Ability for long. He wasn't trying to suck Fang Yun into his stomach. After all, Fang Yun had the Sunset Longbow. If Fang Yun drew it, Dylan would be hit before he could pull him in.

He only wanted to restrict Fang Yun's movements and create an opening to close the distance.

He had just realized that Fang Yun was a Lowgod who cultivated the Wind Laws. Wind gods were faster than those who cultivated other laws, so Dylan couldn't give Fang Yun a chance to get away.

The instant the suction force appeared, Fang Yun's movements were restricted. Dylan immediately transformed into an elemental form of Destruction and charged at him.

"Dylan's not so foolish after all."

Beirut offered a casual assessment.

Whatever Dylan's level of cultivation, he at least had some skill at analyzing a fight.

At the same level, getting close was indeed the best choice when fighting an opponent with a bow.

Although Fang Yun was a Wind Lowgod, he wasn't afraid of close combat. But Dylan was a divine beast with a powerful body, giving him an advantage in melee. And Fang Yun's weapon was a longbow; to bring its full power to bear, he needed distance.

On top of that, Fang Yun had become a god only recently and might not be familiar with close combat, so fighting from a distance suited him better.

An Innate Divine Ability?

Fang Yun immediately sensed the tremendous pull.

He couldn't help feeling a little envious. A divine beast's Innate Divine Ability could often greatly increase its strength. Take the God-Eater Rat: once it reached High-level God, even Asura feared it. Its ability was simply unreasonable.

Dylan's Innate Divine Ability wasn't as powerful as the God-Eater Rat's, but it could still affect the outcome of a fight.

An ordinary Lowgod facing this move from Dylan would have little chance of winning.

But it wasn't enough to stop Fang Yun.

The pull was strong, but not strong enough to overwhelm him. Of course, it still restricted him considerably, greatly reducing his movement speed.

If he let his guard down even slightly, Dylan might suck him in.

"So he wants to fight at close range?"

Fang Yun still lacked a little combat experience. He had assumed Dylan was using his Innate Divine Ability to end the fight quickly. Only when Dylan suddenly transformed into an elemental form and rushed at him did he realize what Dylan was planning.

He was somewhat surprised, but not rattled.

"You want to fight up close? I won't give you the chance."

Wind Divine Power surged around Fang Yun, and countless Wind elements suddenly became solid, as if the lively elements had abruptly gone still.

Binding was one of the simplest applications of the Mysteries of Wind Space. Mastered to its limit, this move alone could bind a High-level God. Naturally, it wasn't that powerful yet.

But it was enough.

Under the force of the binding, the Destruction elements Dylan had transformed into slowed noticeably. He could barely maintain his elemental form, flickering between it and the translucent shape of his human body.

Even a Mid-level God who had comprehended ten percent of the Mysteries of Wind Space would have difficulty doing this. But Fang Yun combined the Mysteries of Wind Element with the Mysteries of Wind Space to perform the move, naturally making it more powerful.

Fang Yun had become a god too recently to have had much time to develop his techniques. He had devised this move based on the experience he'd gained while carving with his eyes closed, adapting how he had used the Mysteries of Wind Space then.

It was one of the moves he had grown relatively proficient in.

"What powerful resistance!"

Dylan's heart sank. He had never expected Fang Yun to have a move like this.

He had fought Wind Lowgods before, but none had ever created resistance beyond a Divine Domain.

This sudden resistance rendered the one or two seconds of interference from his Innate Divine Ability meaningless.

"Oh? The Mysteries of Wind Space?"

As the Wind Sovereign, Beirut was naturally very familiar with the Wind Laws Fang Yun used. His eyes brightened slightly. "There are also traces of the Mysteries of Wind Element in there. He became a god through fusing Profound Mysteries. It looks like Wind talent really is Fang Yun's greatest strength."

Becoming a god through fusing Profound Mysteries was difficult, and the Mysteries of Wind Space were among the High-level Profound Mysteries. Many Wind Mid-level Gods couldn't become High-level Gods because they couldn't comprehend the Mysteries of Wind Space.

Even among High-level Gods, the Mysteries of Wind Space were among the hardest Profound Mysteries to fuse successfully.

By contrast, comprehending the Mysteries of Dimension, another High-level Wind mystery, wasn't difficult.

Fang Yun had already begun fusing the Mysteries of Wind Element with the Mysteries of Wind Space as a Lowgod. That alone showed how talented he was.

At the same time, Fang Yun sprang back, his body streaking a hundred meters away. Wind Divine Power surged, and he drew the longbow in his hand.

As the Sunset Longbow was drawn, the space around it began to tremble, rippling with fine waves.

Countless Wind elements from the world gathered at the bow's center, growing so dense they seemed to liquefy into flowing water.

In the center of the Sunset Longbow, the liquefied blue-green elemental streams converged. A translucent blue-green arrow gradually took shape.

"I can't take that head-on!"

That was the only thought in Dylan's mind.

The instant he sensed the resistance, he sprang backward, while Destruction Divine Power surged around him and wrapped him up.

Since his initial attempt to close in had failed, he couldn't just charge straight ahead.

Fang Yun had already prepared an attack. Rushing in now would mean taking it head-on.

If it were an ordinary Lowgod Artifact, Dylan wouldn't have been afraid. But this was the Sunset Longbow. He didn't want to test its power.

"Whoosh—"

As Fang Yun released the bowstring, an arrow formed from countless Wind elements shot toward Dylan.

After flying some distance, it didn't remain an arrow. Instead, it seemed to come alive, transforming into plantlike tendrils that spread and wrapped around him.

The countless tendrils then formed a net as they closed in on Dylan, surrounding him.

Their attacks were limited in power; their main purpose was to restrain him. This was another special application of the Mysteries of Wind Space.

The Wind Laws ranked among the strongest attacking laws. But the Mysteries of Dimension offered the greatest boost to their power. Before comprehending them, even a relatively powerful attack had its limits.

Fang Yun could have ignored the cost in divine power and gathered it into a powerful attack to break through Dylan's defenses.

But he and Dylan had no deadly grudge, so there was no need to go all out.

This move was enough.

Dylan was startled when Fang Yun's arrow suddenly turned into a sky full of tendrils.

He had prepared to dodge the arrow by force, hoping to find a chance to charge at Fang Yun as he evaded it. After all, an arrow only traveled in a straight line. As long as it missed a vital spot, it wouldn't pose much of a problem.

Even if he had to expend a little more divine power, that would be fine.

But who could have guessed that the arrow would suddenly turn into countless tendrils? It completely threw off his plan.

The tendrils covered nearly every direction he could dodge toward. And once they wrapped around him, they kept tightening.

With a dark expression, Dylan had no time to evade the tendrils. He thrust out his hand, channeled divine power through his clawed gauntlet, and swiped at the thorny tendrils in front of him.

"Snap!"

There were many tendrils, but each one was weaker than the arrow had been. Several snapped under Dylan's claws.

Even after breaking some of them, Dylan didn't dare let his guard down. There were simply too many.

All around them, tendrils formed from Wind elements kept wrapping around and slicing at Dylan, while he continued to snap them apart.

"Snap!" "Snap!" "Snap!"

Cracking sounds rang out without pause.

At this rate, Dylan would have no trouble breaking free of the tendrils. It wouldn't take long for him to break through and escape.

But just as Dylan broke through the tendrils and freed himself, Fang Yun had already charged up to him. He kicked Dylan square in the chest.

The kick could easily have caved in Dylan's chest. But in addition to his clawed gauntlets, Dylan also wore protective armor, which absorbed much of the force.

He also instantly reinforced his defenses with a great deal of divine power. The kick met strong resistance and couldn't inflict a truly fatal injury.

Even so, Dylan couldn't help spitting blood. The impact sent him plunging into the sea below.

Although Fang Yun and Dylan's fight had seemed to involve many moves, it had lasted only a very short time. From Dylan's use of his Innate Divine Ability to Fang Yun's kick, only a few seconds had passed.

The High Priest and the War God were shaken to see Dylan sent flying and injured by a single kick.

Fang Yun had actually suppressed Dylan?!

Beirut smiled. It was only natural that Fang Yun had won. If he had merely comprehended the Mysteries of Wind Element to become a Lowgod, he couldn't have suppressed Dylan like this.

Dylan was powerful, and he hadn't even shown his full strength.

Still, a loss was a loss.

Besides, Fang Yun really did have the strength to defeat him.

Fang Yun had begun comprehending the Mysteries of Wind Space as a Lowgod and had even started fusing Profound Mysteries. That made his attacks far stronger than those of an ordinary Wind Lowgod.

Then there was the force of the kick he had just delivered. Injuring Dylan through a Defensive Divine Artifact showed just how powerful Fang Yun's divine body was.

With that kind of strength, Fang Yun's divine body had to have drawn divine power from a very deep region of the Elemental Ocean. Otherwise, it couldn't have been so powerful.

Finally, the Sunset Longbow had kept Dylan from using his Innate Divine Ability for long. That had also put him at a disadvantage.

If Fang Yun had lacked any one of these three things, he couldn't have defeated Dylan so "easily."

In fact, if Fang Yun had decided from the start to use the Sunset Longbow at full power, Dylan really wouldn't have been able to stop him. In that sense, Fang Yun had shown mercy.

Even if the Sunset Longbow only counted as a weapon advantage, weapons were part of one's strength. Dylan had nothing to complain about.