257 Chapter 256: The Dark Sage (2/2)

”Deluded!”

An aggressive wave of qi washed over me, causing my legs to buckle. Even though I could feel a tremendous pressure from an ocean of qi weighing down on me, I refused to fall. Gritting my teeth, I fought to stay in an upright posture.

”You killed my subordinates, you wiped out my Black Venom Cult, and you still have the cheek to offer an alliance?”

Sha Chen was roaring in fury now.

”Hey, they tried to kill me first,” I pointed out reasonably. ”And they were murdering innocent villagers and civilians. You think I'm going to just stand there and let your subordinates kill me?”

”…I'll concede that point, but the fact that you killed them does not change. I cannot simply forgive someone who killed my subordinates and work with him. Moreover…” his qi pressure amplified, and I almost toppled over. My feet were certainly sinking into the softening ground, which was breaking up under the immense qi pressure. ”You're just a greenhorn brat who's still wet behind your ears. You are not worthy of being my ally.”

Sadly, he was probably right about that. I was being overwhelmed by his qi pressure alone. The guy had no need of me to help him fight the Martial Arts Alliance. To him, I was nothing more than ant, an insect that lacked any ability to sway the battle in his favor.

”You want me to accept your proposal of alliance?” Sha Chen raised his arm in a threatening manner. ”Prove that you're worthy then. Let me test how strong you are.”

Whoosh…

The ground around Sha Chen caved in under his feet, turning into a crater. A hurricane of qi whipped up around him. To my qi sense, it was as if the sun had been completely blotted out, consumed by an overwhelming darkness.

”…”

I could see furious wisps of qi blazing from him, wreathing him in an inferno-like image. The guy resembled a demon. Tensing, I unconsciously took a steo back as the inferno of qi spread out from him to consume the entire space. The overpowering qi seemed to expand outward almost limitlessly, curling around me and suffocating me.

This old man…he's on par with Master…no, even greater!? I've never seen anyone with such intense qi and aggressive spirit before!

A bead of cold perspiration rolled down my cheek as I froze from irrepressible fear. Every instinct in my body was screaming for me to run away. That if I continued to stand there like an idiot, I would definitely die.

”...”

Sha Chen also seemed to regard me as an idiot. He stared at me, his expression almost serene, despite his white hair whipping about in the hurricane of qi that blew around him.

”What are you waiting for?” there was no trace of impatience in his tone. It sounded as if he was mocking me.

And then…in a split second, everything changed.

”Are you perhaps waiting for me to make the first move?”

His face twisted into a demonic visage, and the ground around him cracked, the hurricane of qi intensifying from his rage.

Raising his hand, he swung it in my direction, unleashing yet another ferocious blast of qi that arced toward me, razing the already devastated ground. I couldn't use my damaged Snow Aegis, and my swords were lying some distance away.

”Damn it!”

I dove to the side and grabbed Azure Lotus Sword, which was the one lying closer to me. Despite my attempts to evade, the arcing qi blast actually switched its trajectory, curling toward me with a vengeance. I barely managed to get to my feet in time to parry the blow.

Bam!

I was almost overwhelmed by the blast of qi. Gritting my teeth, I cleaved the tremendous qi blast into two. The grayish-white qi of destruction was split into twin waves that separated on either side of me and continued to devastate the wasteland.

”Huff…huff…”

Panting, I struggled to stand, my arms trembling violently from attempting to parry the blow. I tightened my grip on Azure Lotus Sword, the Spirit Weapon almost falling from my shaking hands. I realized that my whole body was in fact shuddering from the immense impact, and my fingers and hands were scorched from the blast even though I had sliced it apart with my sword.

”Cough!”

Again, some blood leaked from my mouth.

Swoosh!

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to assess the slight damage I took from the blow. Sha Chen had swooped behind me, striking fearsomely from my blind spot. Moving at supersonic speeds, Sha Chen burst to the fore at the front of a series of sonic booms, his red cloak billowing behind him. Almost a blur, half-shrouded by his monstrous qi, and half-invisible from his speed, he lashed out.

I almost didn't see his attack. Despite whirling around to keep my eyes on him, I ended up relying more on my Heavenly Flow and Earthly Steps to track his movements and reacted based on what I read from the flow of his qi.

That was fine. That was exactly what Heavenly Flow and Earthly Steps were designed for. For me to combat an opponent much stronger than me – to read the flow of his qi, and react accordingly, to halt his attacks before he could fully execute them.

The problem was that Sha Chen was on a level where he could completely overwhelm my reactions with brute force and sheer speed.

Even so, I was able to parry his strike, my right hand snaking out to deflect his arm strike. Then I slashed down with the Azure Lotus Sword that I was clutching with that same hand, hoping to cut off my opponent's arm.

”!”

Wham!

Sha Chen anticipated my move, and before I could fully bring my Azure Lotus Sword down, he swung his hand and unleashed a violent surge of qi that blasted me off my feet and sent me skidding several meters back. The ground crumbled beneath the combined weight of Sha Chen's attacks and my momentum.

Bending down, I stabbed my sword into the ground and gripped the hilt with both hands to arrest my backward slide. Skidding to a stop, I coughed and glanced up.

”Ugh…”

But Sha Chen didn't even give me any time to rest. He was already flying toward me like a hawk, ready to tear my throat out with his claws…no, fingers.

Bam!

Raising my Azure Lotus Sword, I parried his palm strike as best as I could, but I felt my right arm cracking, almost dislocating at the shoulder. Bloody hell…if I was unarmed, parrying that strike bare-handed would have shattered all the bones in my right arm.

”Argh…”

Even so, it was still quite the painful experience. Gritting my teeth, I slashed at the suspended Sha Chen in a vicious counterattack with the intention of eviscerating him.

However, the old man ducked with a grace and speed that belied his advanced age and dropped to the ground, diving out of the path of my sword. While I was still clumsily correcting my stance after that missed swing, Sha Chen kicked off the ground and lunged at me from below, while my guard was still down.

Spreading his fingers, he glared at me scornfully before striking out with a powerful punch. With my sword still raised stupidly in the air after that failed swing, I could only respond by bring my right elbow and left arm down to deflect his punch.

Boom!

Despite my best efforts, the powerful blow sent me flying high into the air. The immense impact almost shuddered my sword out of my grip. While I hurtled through the air, I tightened my grip on my sword and mustered whatever qi I could into my body. Spinning in midair to lessen the effects of the powerful blow, I flipped myself right side up to land on my feet with a crash.

What a formidable opponent…

Huffing, I turned around, getting ready to face my enemy once again. My body was still trembling from the fierce blows, but I was using Heaven and Earth Formula to replenish my qi and strengthen my constitution.

Slowly, but surely, I was getting used to the Dark Sage's attacks.

DooM.

Drawing as much natural qi from the environment, I desperately gathered it to my dantian and began purifying as much qi as I could. Against an opponent of this caliber, who possessed more qi than I did, I would need to achieve purer qi to even stand a chance of surviving against him.

”...!”

Sha Chen narrowed his eyes when he realized what I was doing. I spun around, half-expecting him to attack, but he was just glaring at me in disbelief.

”...”

I blinked, wondering what he was so surprised about. Why wasn't he closing in to deliver the finishing blow and just standing there, scowling at me?

”Huh?” Sha Chen growled, cocking his head to the side. Veins bulged in his temple from fury. ”Are you…attempting to purify your qi in the middle of a battle?”

”Uh…yeah?”

I was breathing heavily and almost dropped into a crouch, but I defiantly held up my Azure Lotus Sword, preparing for another attack. What? Was my technique that strange?

”You are either underestimating me…or you're an idiot who thinks that I'll just wait for you to purify your qi before attacking.”

”You know I'm no match for you,” I replied with a shrug. ”So why wouldn't you wait for me to purify my qi? You're so powerful that you'll find more amusement in allowing me this little hope in thinking there's a possibility to defeat you, and then cruelly crushing it with raw power to prove me wrong.”

Just like every arrogant villain out there. Always thinking there was nothing the poor protagonist could do to defeat him, and giving him the time and chance he needed to overturn the situation. I was gambling on the Dark Sage being the same kind of character.

After all, just look at his name. It was the typical villainous name, wasn't it? It made sense that he would act according to his role.

If I could just make use of that.

”Sure. I'll wait for you. It doesn't matter how pure your qi is, you'll never be able to defeat me. I'll teach you how the vast gulf between our strengths.”

I knew it! I might just have a chance here!

”…did you really think I would say that?”

…huh?

Sha Chen narrowed his eyes at me, his expression dripping with scorn.

”Naïve fool. You think your opponents will wait for you to finish your technique in a real battlefield? I'll teach you reality.”

Then maybe you should shut up and teach me through actions instead of talking so much. What was it with all these villains and their verbal diarrhea? They just loved to talk endlessly. Hell, wasn't Sha Chen rambling about his tragic past, being used and discarded by the Martial Arts Alliance, earlier? I mean, that did make him a more realistic character rather than the poor one-dimensional, nameless Black Venom Cultists I had been slaughtering this entire time. Still, that was a lot of show and not tell, but obviously the weakness of this first-person narrative was that I couldn't switch to Sha Chen's perspective and begin a long arc on his origins.

So I had to take his word for it and treat him like a true character. It was pretty refreshing, though. Most of the Black Venom Cultists (and other villains) I had met before, such as Darkon, were one-dimensional cardboard characters spouting bullshit about strength being the only thing that mattered and thus doing whatever they liked. You know, like the typial xianxia antagonists.

…therefore Sha Chen's tragic past seemed a bit more refreshing.

Unfortunately, right now he was an enemy who was trying to kill me.

Whoo…!

An inferno of incendiary qi blasted out from Sha Chen's body, incinerating his surroundings and engulfing the entire devastated marsh in a sea of fire. I watched in horror as the flames expanded rapidly from his body as the core, carving a scorched crater into the former swamp and rushing outward to swallow me.

”That's…Fire Breaker?!”

I recognized that technique from the Incendiary Ifrit Sect. Was Sha Chen from the Incendiary Ifrit Sect before he was expelled?

Sha Chen's flaming technique expanded rapidly, engulfing the entire swamp and reaching toward the trees and parts of the swamp that still weren't destroyed by our previous battles. Was the bastard intending to reshape the geological terrain of the Toxic Marsh?!

”Bloody hell, are you trying to destroy everything?!”

Stupid question. He obviously was.

I gave up on purifying my qi. Right now there was no place for me to escape. The expanding ring of fire was moving too rapidly for me to run away. Even with my advanced footwork techniques, it would catch up and overwhelm me before I could get to a safe distance.

Nope, I had to make my stand here.

Gripping my Azuure Lotus Sword with both hands, I faced down the rapidly expanding conflagration, perspiration pouring down my face from both the intense heat and the cold fear that gripped my heart at such a terrifying sight. Within the core of the colossal inferno, I caught sight of the Dark Sage, Sha Chen.

He had literally transformed into a demon. His figure was enveloped in flames, his silvery eyes shining even more brilliantly than the crimson and orange flames around him. It was as if he was the avatar of a fire god, having descended from the heavens to destroy the mortal world in apocalyptic fury.

What a horrifying sight…

However, I refused to falter. Gritting my teeth, I steeled my resolve and raised my sword. Even as the colossal conalgration advanced toward me, I gathered all my qi into my sword and swung it as forcefully as I could.

Heavenly Draconic Meteor Strike!

My azure blade screeched as it slammed into the surface of the expanding inferno. The flames continued to wash around me, but I succeeded in carving a small dent into the colossal conflagration. Yelling, I continued cleaving the small section of the inferno apart with all my might, trying my best to neutralize the hellish flames.

And then my vision vanished in an explosive blast that roared over me and engulfed my figure in superheated plasma.