30 Overwhelming Migh (1/2)
As Tianli chased the 2 fleeing individuals, Hexiu and Zhuye left their seats and leapt into the arena. Without waiting for Guren to acknowledge their challenge, the two abruptly dashed forward with drawn blades with blank eyes.
The duo slashed downwards simultaneously while Guren dodged as if antic.i.p.ating this course of action. The center of the arena then cracked in such a manner that a spiderweb pattern which had formed from the impact started to spread from the center of the arena to the edges. The unaware audience cheered as they had not expected that they would see a fight between Sword Sages and highly antic.i.p.ated the skills which their figureheads would display. The opening move literally destroyed the arena so they antic.i.p.ated their trump cards to do far worse.
Before they could indulge in the spectacle though, the Sword Saint suddenly declared, ”Those below Blademaster must leave or they might not live to see tomorrow” in a stern and unyielding tone.
The audience which had intended to disregard the warning immediately became obedient and listened when Zhuye suddenly cleaved multiple boulders out of the ground and threw them towards Guren. Some of the boulders thrown had nearly crushed some Sect members and they reluctantly opted to leave with an aggrieved expression that betrayed their unwillingness. The few boulders which were on a collision path with Guren crumbled as he nonchalantly punched the obstacles. Right behind the boulder which had just crumbled, Hexiu dashed through the rubble and thrust his blade at Guren's chest. Guren deflected the thrust before stomping on Zhuye's incoming sword.
Chaos ensued as the battle between the 3 intensified. Everybody expected a clash between Sword Sages would be shocking to behold but n.o.body would be able to antic.i.p.ate the battle to be of this scale.
Disregarding the safety of the evacuating Sect members, Zhuye constantly unleashed powerful slashes which easily cleaved fissures into the ground like it was fragile gla.s.s and unintentionally generated air currents through his momentum alone. Meanwhile, Hexiu a.s.sisted Zhuye in suppressing Guren through the execution of many extremely foul strikes.
Those incapable had already left while only a few Blademasters and Yidong remained. As Blademasters, they had the ability to remain unaffected by the side effects of monsters clas.h.i.+ng and could properly take in the battle which could only shock those inferior to them or so they thought. Despite being Blademasters, they were still overwhelmed by the seemingly impossible motions executed by Guren and their overall frightening prowess.
The arena had already been completely demolished and the 3 were fighting in a deep crater formed by Zhuye through his brutal and unrelenting blows.
Once again, Zhuye drew a downwards arc. Guren blocked it but had to evade due to Hexiu's intended sideblow. As he was about to avoid both hits, incorporeal tendrils erupted from the ground and rooted him to where he stood. Hexiu smirked upon seeing his ability work while Zhuye exerted even greater strength to inhibit Guren. Hexiu's blade was less than a centimeter away from piercing Guren when the tables had turned.
Atlas thought that he was lucky that Hexiu was not possessed by a Spirit of l.u.s.t or the tendrils might've had indecent implications and actions which enacted upon those lewd implications. Then again, he also had not seen a single Spirit of l.u.s.t that was male. There was probably an exception to that rule somewhere though.
The ground began to crumble as it could not withstand Zhuye's increasing strength and the Steel Slayer started to yield due to its inferior material. Understanding that the tendrils were unaffected by normal swords such as the pathetic Steel Slayer, Atlas discretely retrieved his true sword.
Everybody including the Sword Saint who had been preparing to intervene and the 2 Sword Sages that had been previously relentless in their pursuit, froze. The Sword that had been unveiled had unleashed endless bloodl.u.s.t and even seemed to scream for genocide. After inducing so much bloodshed, its ability to maim souls began to manifest in a physical manner. Coated in an ethereal aura that exuded terror and intense apprehension, the possessed Sword Sages immediately cancelled their attacks and attempted to flee due to instinct alone.
Before Hexiu was able to retract his tendrils though, it was sliced by the blade into microscopic pieces. The possessed Hexiu then spewed what seemed like a gallon of blood before collapsing on the floor and fainting.
[3500 Points Added]
The possessed Zhuye disregarded his fallen comrade and continued fleeing at a speed which nearly rendered him one with the wind. Just as he was about to jump off a cliff to increase the distance between him and Guren, the Sword Saint appeared and swung his blade. Zhuye barely blocked it and was about to use brute strength to push the old Sword Saint down with him but collapsed after Guren withdrew Dark Revelation from his chest cavity.
[4000 Points Added]
”Did you kill him?”, Longzhan asked with raised eyebrows and in a tone that betrayed his foul mood.
”No, I merely removed the parasite latching onto his soul”
”Is this the reason you have been feigning weakness?”
”No, I discovered them recently”, Guren responded slightly annoyed as he was still irritated by the Key to Purgatory.
”Then why did you set up this tournament?”
”To a.s.sess the strength of the Sect, of course. Also, would you consider a duel with me?”, Atlas asked as he definitely would not give up the jackpot in front of him.
”If you want to a.s.sess the strength of the Sect then go fight Nanling. She's stronger than me... Or does she go easy on you?”, Longzhan jested.
”If nearly killing me whenever I even breath around her counts as going easy then yes, she is restraining herself very well”, Guren responded using memories given by the System.
Based on what he knew, Nanling was a very aggressive tsundere. However unlike those trashy tsunderes, she was not useless as she had considerable strength that made her different from those female characters which could only ever beat the pathetic male characters due to plot armor. Then again, those male characters usually only existed due to their plot armor and often lacked a substantial amount of intelligence required for survival, let alone thought.
”Youth these days”, Longzhan muttered with an audible sigh.
”Says the geezer without biological progeny”, Guren said as he knew Longzhan had no qualifications to reminisce about romance.
”I have to warn you, I am in a terrible mood today”, Longzhan stated with a fake smile.
”Then try me”
___
”Why is a Swordwielder like Yidong allowed to stay while I have to leave?”
”That's because Yidong is Guren's disciple”
”What about other Sword Sage disciples then?”
”Tianli doesn't have any disciples while Hexiu's disciples are all Blademasters”
”Zhuye's disciples are all on journeys”
”This is unfair, I wanted to see the epic fight between Sword Sages”
”Yeah, who would have expected Guren to be pretending to be a snake to devour the dragon”
”I knew someone as handsome as Guren would be incredible”
”I wonder if Guren would accept me as his lover”