Down in the depths of a certain unassuming library, in a desolate room that looked like it was carved from a single piece of stone, a fierce battle was in full swing.
Crash!
Bang!
Bright flashes of silver flickered into existence ti and ti again as two gladiators clashed, sending blood, flesh and life rippling through the stale breeze of the dark expanse.
Whoosh!
One of them seed to be sporting a few more injuries than the other, but his unfeeling eyes didn’t reflect anything. No pain, no anxiety, not even the usual excited thrill one would normally derive from such an uphill battle.
His gaze was unsympathetic, and his expression was stalwart—like an unmoving pillar of stone.
And despite the wounds of his body growing in harrowing progression, he appeared completely unperturbed by it all.
Clang!
The older warrior, on the other hand, showcased far greater skill. Far greater technique, finesse and experience. Exploiting even the most casual of openings in the opposition’s attacks.... However, the later remained unresponsive.
Like a machine, he was subtle, calm, and lethally calculative in his every strike.... His two blades flashed with murderous intent as he hacked, slashed and even kicked his way through the battle.
Barely two minutes had passed since the fight started.
Sat away from the storm’s eye was a Xian Shan, clad in white robes. The dishevelled brunette hair and saucer-sized eyes spoke volus of her current ntal state.
’H-how?!... ’ She thought,
’Just how is that person fighting on the sa level as Qing Lo? Yes, he might be in a weakened stage, but still... His power and experience should be more than enough to put a re Body Tempering Stage fledgling down... So, why is this fight dragging out so much?!’
Indeed, Qing Lo possessed the skill to defeat even an expert on the final 9th Realm of Body Tempering Stage, perhaps he could even handle a few minor talents at the Interdiate Realms of its succeeding Foundation Establishnt Stage...
But if that was the case, then how...? Just how was Ying even still alive?
He should have gotten one tapped by the first strike, no?
Faced with such an uncanny dilemma, Xian Shan squinted her eyes in pensive observation. She could barely follow the tempo of the unfolding battle, and even then, the more she looked, the less she saw...
’...Heavens... Just what in the Nine Heavens is going on here?!’
The Young Lady nearly yelped as blessed realization ca over her. Only in this case, it couldn’t really be such a blessed thing now could it?
Perhaps she had made a mistake... Or maybe it was all a fignt of her imagination?
Either way, she could not shake off this discordant feeling that accompanied Ying’s actions. She couldn’t explain why, but it felt...
Wrong.
Like it was a strange sort of sin against the very laws of nature themselves, she fretted. For the first ti, the possibility of Qing Lo failing beca morbidly clear to her. So clear, in fact, that she could even picture it.
Her skin crawled in dark foreboding.
Whoosh!
In any case, Xian Shan was very right to be worried. The problem did not lie in Ying’s actual battle prowess, no, even with the Title, he still shouldn’t be able to compare to Qing Lo. The problem itself lied with his... Err, unique, battle style.
At tis he would be grounded and text book, and at tis he would rush forth with concise, yet ferocious strikes, reminiscent of maddened elite driven by desperation....
At tis, he would beco wild and rabid like a beast, and at tis he would rely on brute force, augnted by his Sword Dance technique.
Neither Xian Shan, nor Qing Lo himself could quite grasp this ever-changing sequence of attack. It didn’t feel like there was much logic behind it, as it lacked basic concordance. It felt spontaneous and sudden. To the untrained eye, it might have even been considered amateurish.
Yet despite this, his attacks still connected, and his movents flowed together in a rough but impressive manner. This kept Qing Lo on his toes, forcing him to defend.
Ying led the battle.
Slice!
As Qing Lo’s blade spun, Ying’s mind—cold as code—absorbed the pattern. Couter moves manifested, as he weaponize the combat styles of his past opponents.....
From the Mud Fang to Captain the rcenary, he weaved all their techniques into reality.
Of course, there were a lot of gaps in his form here and there, which were, ruthlessly exploited by Qing Lo. But all things considered, Ying was doing quite well.
Boom!
A huge amount of dust kicked up as the two blades crashed. They held up against one another for a while before mutually deciding to disengage, jumping backwards and away from one another.
Qing Lo, who was panting heavily, took a good look as his indifferent but battered opponent. His sharp gaze not leaving the other’s sleek fra even once. He sighed, and then opened his mouth,
"Sigh.... as much as I would have liked to hold this out for a little longer, I’m afraid I simply cannot afford to waste any more ti here. You understand that, don’t you?"
Qing Lo harrumphed with confidence.
Even though he was not even fighting to kill, to think he was still holding back all this ti. It was a statent that would have sent shivers down the ordinary Ying’s spine...
...But of course, that Ying was currently locked away in a desolate ntal prison. He hadn’t fully figured out his abilities yet, so he had no choice but to adapt.
"....!!"
"Hmm, no answer? And here I was thinking that you were a more chatty type. Well then, I’ll simply take that as a yes.... Humph!" Qing Lo unleashed his killing intent once more, briefly stunning Ying.
Whoosh!
Like a blur, he disappeared from his original location and reappeared right before the latter, his blade already moving with blinding speed.... Sohow, Ying managed to block just in ti, but the impact he was forced to absorb was unprecedented.
Ying staggered.
His mind did not register any unnecessary sensations, but his body didn’t suddenly beco invincible.
They still retained their superhuman limits.
Qing Lo side-stepped a defensive slash and threw his blade forward once more, but this ti... Sothing was different.
This ti, Qing Lo’s blade did not only shoot forward with unbelievable speed.
No.
Instead, it sohow rotated violently in his hand, before reaching for Ying’s form.
He took a step back, but the spinning cyclone of silver still chased after him, aiming to eviscerate him. He tried to block, tried to defend, but all that proved useless.
In the end, the sword soared through his shoulders.
Blinding pain flooded his mind for less than a split second, before disappearing like it never existed. Soon afterwards, a mighty kick to his abdon would turn his innards upside down.
BAM!
Ying coughed blood as his body crashed into a stone wall, sending splinters of grey rocks flying in every direction.
It took a second, but he sohow got back up on his feet. Just in ti to et yet another one of Qing Lo’s rotational attacks, this ti it pierced his side. Ying spat blood.
He summoned a weapon from his inventory, all the while using Flowing Wave Sword Dance to try and create a few opportunities for himself.
He failed, obviously, and was sent flying right back to the wall. He tried again, sa outco, this ti even leaving a jagged outline of his body in it.
Nevertheless, he still got back up and prepared himself for Qing Lo’s charge. By that ti, his weapon had fully manifested into reality.
It was a spear.
Montarily shocked, Qing Lo’s body lagged. A rookie mistake, one he paid for dearly!
’Uack-!’
Spat Qing Lo as he recoiled from a long pole arm impaling his thigh. Ying had aid for his chest, but that only went to show how low his talent for the spear was.
In an instant, he discarded the lengthy weapon and retrieved one of his swords. Then ducking through the slashes, he t Qing head on.
Swoosh!
Ying recalled how Captain’s sword had sohow managed to slimily evade and damage him. He recalled the way certain muscles of his bulged slightly underneath his dark robes, the way his wrist spun flexibly like a brutal viper....
Sothing clicked in him.
"...!!"
That was how, not even knowing the na of the Technique, Ying used a Skill.
Slash!
A faint, almost invisible, red hue appeared on his blade. Perhaps it was so sort of strange internal power?
Or maybe it was just Qing Lo’s blood?
Either way, he struck true sohow. Qing Lo bled out.
Not wanting to lose this advantage, Ying once again rushed forth. This ti, his strikes were nacing and overbearing, like that of a savage beast. Dodging a few strikes with a text book sort of accuracy, he lashed out a frantic flurry of blades once more.
Qing Lo groaned as the tide of battle quickly started turning away from his favour, more and more wounds spawning on his wrinkled skin by the seconds.
Slash!
Stab!
Clang!
More attacks... more wounds.... More blood. And the ex-expert was on the receiving end of all of it. He moaned, hurting.
It would seem that Ying had already won this fight, the way his brutal attacks connected continuously told a tale of closing curtains.
This fight was going to end very soon, and Ying appeared to be the most likely or in this case, unlikely, victor.
...That is until, Qing Lo used a technique.
"Humph!" With a strained gesture, Qing Lo sohow repositioned himself underneath the wild barrage of strikes and suddenly lunged with his torso. Once again, the blade in his hand assud a rotational state, but sothing was different.
This ti, instead of a single blade spinning wilding with devastating force, nearly a dozen such attacks materialized before Ying’s very eyes. It seed that Qing Lo was moving so fast that he was leaving after images of himself!
Ying didn’t fret and simply protected his neck and chest.
’Don’t dodge, it’s just a mirage. Only one of those strikes is real, so if I can just protect my vital point –!’
"Uack-!"
Unfortunately, he turned out to be wrong. Very, very wrong.
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