34 Duel

Ling Tian's Ice Sword Rivers slashed at the Devil Avatar from every direction, their movements caused great cold winds to shake the Forest.

The Avatar roared alongside its conjurer as it created a fire shield and blocked to its front, the impacts sent terrifying shockwaves that devastated the Forest around them, all the trees were uprooted or crushed for miles around them.

Mo Hui cried out as his Dark Qi moved to his hands, "You bastard... I will crush you, puny ant!" he shouted in anger as dozens of black fire swords appeared above the Avatar, each one bigger than the Avatar. The entire Forest or what remained of it turned charred black.

They began falling toward Ling Tian from above. He turned grim as he controlled the sword rivers and slashed at the coming swords.

A massive explosion happened above him and blew him back, he felt his Qi under the impact as coughed blood in his hand. 'So this is a Devil Cultivator? I need to think of something, I can't beat him as I am now...'

Sword Rivers thrust at the feet of the Avatar, the avatar stomped its shield on the ground and blocked them. Ling Tian retreated a little as he analyzed the situation, 'He conjured a shield for absolute defense and summoned swords from above to hit me... It's strong in both offense and defense... I don't have defensive techniques. To breakthrough, I need to do all-out attacks without regard for anything else, need distance.'

He realized a flaw of his as he flew further back. Mo Hui smirked in ridicule, 'Distance won't save you. How will you deal with the Imperial Devil Evil spear?'

When Ling Tian saw the avatar not chasing he realized that Mo Hui was confident in his ability to attack at long range, he was truly under pressure, 'He is great at everything! He was better in close combat, has powerful defense techniques, has offensive techniques of all ranges, his Cultivation technique must also be amazing since he seemingly has endless dark Qi, he must have trump cards as well and he is not lacking in treasures...'

Ling Tian felt what it meant to face a truly powerful enemy in combat. It was both frustrating, grim, and exciting. Everything was unclear, he did not know what was going to happen the next moment in the battle. Trump cards unknown, techniques unknown, thoughts unknown, truly unpredictable.

Facing a human on par with him had so many more aspects to it than facing weaker enemies or demons. Being thrust into such a battle made him feel both afraid and excited.

His heart began beating rapidly, pumping Qi to all his body as his blood hungered for battle, his heart filled with the desire to emerge victories in such odds not just for survival, but also for his own confidence.

He smiled as adrenaline began to fill his veins, 'I must win... no I shall.' He let go of the Sith blade as the sword returned to normal, he figured it was not a proper attack technique for this battle.

He pushed his limits as he channeled as much Qi as could, he felt his body burning yet he didn't care, "HAAAAA!" he let out a battle cry; The sword rivers stood still as they pointed at the head of the Avatar, each one seemed to charge up in a red glow and suddenly, they disappeared.

Mo Hui had been using his Qi to create a long sinister spear in his hand, he aimed at Ling Tian with malice as he threw it with tremendous force while roaring in rage, his hands covered in blood showing just how much power he had put into it. The spear changed size as it traveled and before reaching mid-way, it had become half a mile long.

The Sword Rivers shot toward the Avatar at such speeds that the naked eye could not perceive, accompanying their sudden movement were loud booms as they reached mid-way.

From afar, it seemed as if a black spear was going to meet a rain of glowing blood.

The Imperial Devil Evil Spear exploded as it touched the Rain of Blood Ice Swords; It was as if a nuclear explosion had gone off, this part of the dungeon grew bright as day for a moment as all sound vanished. A strange calm descended for a moment and then...

The explosion expanded in every direction and destroyed all that was on its path, Lian RuXue who was calm this whole time looked with fear at the explosion as she commanded their group to fall back as fast as possible.

Ling Tian saw the coming destructive shockwave and hurriedly retreated, he was not fast enough as it engulfed him.

Mo Hui's pupils contracted as he put the Avatar's shield to his front, the explosions also engulfed him.

Ling Tian felt his body burning everywhere as he let out a loud cry of pain, the Qi in his blood rapidly vanished as it healed him. He was extremely disoriented as he tried to open his eyes, only to see white light everywhere, a loud buzz was all he could hear.

Mo Hui was in no better condition, but he wasn't as injured due to his defensive technique, He looked at his burnt hands and legs, they slowly healed due to his Body cultivation, with a grim expression, "He must be a Dao scion of the Dao Empire or a Holy scion of the Holy Empire, no one could have blocked the Evil spear but one... I need to kill him."

A minute passed as the wave traveled and completely destroyed the once lush mystical Forest, only ash remained. The wave grew smaller toward the end and dissipated.

Ling Tian felt better as he managed to stand up, his robes were mostly gone as they were burnt off, only his lower body was covered, His upper body was exposed. He quickly bought another Sword identical to the previous one from the system and held it in his hand; He had let go of it due to the pain and it was nowhere to be seen.

He felt a presence and through the dust and ash in the air, he saw a barefoot Mo Hui who lacked clothes on his hands and legs approach.

They both tried summoning their Qi only to feel empty, it was the same in Body as well. Their Qi was exhausted. Their physical body was fine but they couldn't summon supernatural power...

The abilities and powers they were displaying were far above the Inner Heaven Realm, those powers were on par with Moon-forming Heavenly Awakening Cultivators, which meant in the middle of the realm. The Heavenly Awakening realm had 3 sub realms, Star-Forming, Moon-Forming, and Sun-Forming.

Mo Hui weighed the choices as Ling Tian pointed the Blood Bringer sword at him with a stance from Heart Slaying sword art, ready for a duel to the death, 'If I meet other enemies in this state it will be very bad, but if I let him go and grow, it will also be very bad...'

Mo Hui was stuck to choose between bad and bad, neither was good.

While he was thinking, Ling Tian suddenly attacked! 'This guy thinks I am at his mercy and expects me to wait and receive my sentence?!' Ling Tian was angered by the way Mo Hui acted.

Mo Hui did not expect the sudden attack but he instantly reacted and blocked with his sword.

It was a traditional duel to the death. Sword met sword as red eyes black.

Mo Hui's reason vanished as he was engulfed in anger in his situation. His arrogance refused to accept equals thus he felt humiliated and let out a battle cry of rage as he retreated then slashed with all his might.

Ling Tian shouted in anger as he parried the attack and felt his hand go numb due to the force yet he didn't care as the other party looking down at him triggered his own wrath.

Despite the anger in their eyes, they were perfectly calm as they began fighting; Each seeking to mercilessly slaughter the other. Killing Intent mixed with Sword intent was heavy around them.

Ling Tian's Heartless Slaughtering sword intent met Mo Hui's Life Eating Devil sword intent.

Ash and dust slowly rained from the air as the two were engaged in the deadly dance of the sword. The only sound in the surroundings was of sword meeting sword.

One parried as the other slashed, one swung as the other dodged, one kicked as the other evaded...

Ling Tian's mind was razor-sharp as he coldly calculated everything, his body however was slowly growing tired...

Mo Hui was the same, however, within his mind was chaos. The two seemed equal and he somehow knew that they would both perish if they continued fighting. His instincts had never failed him.

Mo Hui wasn't afraid of death, but he was afraid of not getting revenge before dying. His mother and sister had been brutally raped and murdered right in front of his eyes as he had hid behind bushes.

He was merely 8 as he had watched the soldiers of the Holy Empire due unspeakable things to his family, and yet due to his fear and powerlessness, he couldn't do anything. He had ran away without even burying the remains of his family out of fear, an eternal mark of shame on his soul.

The only thing he could do was to get revenge but against who? Some nameless soldiers?! He knew it would not be enough so he decided to destroy the Holy Empire...

The only way was to become a Devil and slaughter everyone then burn all that was named Holy. He remembered how his hatred and desire for revenge gave him Dark Qi that caused him to find his way into the path of Devil Cultivation and led him to become a Devil scion.

Thinking of the past, he was unwilling to die, he would not fall. He had yet to get revenge... The face of his despairing sister and mother was all he needed to move on.

Ling Tian could feel the hatred and rage of his enemy in each attack; He found a rhythm at last and in a swift move, countered and slashed his sword arm off.

Mo Hui felt shocked as his heart froze, he had no Qi remaining in his blood to heal his arm. He felt the touch of the reaper as he barely managed to dodge.

He roared with all he had, within his roar one could hear intense hatred and rage but most of all hidden pain...

He jumped and grabbed hold of his sword with his remaining hand, barely making it in time to block Ling Tian. Blood rushing out of his severed hand like a fountain.

"I won't die here... NOT YET!!" He shouted in Ling Tian's face as he headbutted him without care for himself. The edge of Ling Tian's sword made a small cut on Mo Hui's face as a result.

Ling Tian who was not expecting it was taken by surprise, he staggered back and quickly tried to defend only to be a step too late. He moved to the side at the last moment and managed to avoid a fatal injury yet Mo Hui's sword had cut his chest quite deeply, blood rushed forth.

Ling Tian who had come close to death, roared as he swung with all he had. Mo Hui barely managed to block but he had lost too much blood and had grown weak thus he couldn't take all the force and the sword was knocked out of his hand.

Ling Tian felt extreme pain in his chest as he moved and more blood rushed out so he stopped moving, death was close.

Mo Hui fell down as tears formed in his eyes, "My revenge... I am sorry... sister, mother..." There was only pain and sorrow in his voice.

Ling Tian heard his voice and was taken aback by the sudden change but he had to focus on the cut on his chest, he couldn't move at all as he stood like a frozen statue, afraid of losing blood faster for moving.

Mo Hui said to Ling Tian with hatred, "It's because of people like you... I must kill you..." Mo Hui's voice stopped mid-way. He passed out due to blood loss.

Ling Tian also felt light-headed as he grew sleepy. He realized he couldn't do anything in his situation, he was exhausted physically and the wound was proving to be lethal. There was no Qi to heal it...

"Is this the end? How pathetic..." He murmured to himself and passed out. His body fell to the ground.

The wind blew away the dust and ash, a desolate feeling in the air; The body of swordsmen on the ground, hearts lamenting their fate in despair.