BANG
The young man flew away and smashed into the wall at the other end. His body folded in half as he gasped for his breath. There was a sword cut running horizontally across his stomach and from it came green blood that was much darker in color.
Duncan's arms trembled from the impact, but he withstood the impact by gritting his teeth. He lowered his eyes and saw a reddish hue emanating from his sword. The sight of it aroused the bloodlust in him more.
Duncan calmly walked towards the young man. His pace was neither fast nor slow. He walked as if he was taking a leisurely stroll across the countryside. The sword in his hand glowed red from the hue and it created a macabre sight.
The dull and dark cave, the destroyed surroundings, the bloody earth formed by the death of the previous cannibal, and the wheezing sounds of the young man, made Duncan's leisurely stroll a scene out of nightmares. It was only accentuated when Duncan stepped atop the dead cannibal's head and crunched it into cinders on his way toward the young man.
The young man rose, gasping for breath. There was fear and incomprehension in his eyes. He couldn't believe that the prey he had been toying with so far could actually injure him now. It scared him, to be honest.
Looking over, he saw his prey walking towards him calmly. The impact of that sight on his mind was something unbearable. He couldn't believe that such a weak prey could injure him. He felt ashamed that he felt fear when facing this prey. The shame made him angry and all reason within the young man snapped.
The young man roared at the ceiling angrily to express his anger and rage. The two front teeth in his mouth enlarged into something akin to fangs as he snarled at the approaching figure.
The next moment, the young man vanished from his place with a bang. The floor under his shattered a little from the impact and formed some cracks. The young man became a blur and appeared before Duncan within a moment.
Duncan welcomed the attack with a snarl of his own. He didn't back down. He didn't use any kind of fancy technique. He merely circulated his <Absolute Cut Sword Arts> and delivered a vicious hack in retaliation without defending.
BANG!
Duncan's body trembled from impact and he had to take a few steps back to stabilize his footing. The young man wasn't in any better shape either. He had attacked Duncan with his claw. The impact caused his entire arm to tremble and he too staggered back a few steps.
They both recovered at the same time and looked at each other. Unwilling to give in to each other, they both snarled once more. Once more they mobilized all their energy and clashed. Neither came out as a victor in that clash too. Thus, they started clashing again and again.
*****
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtLiang Tianye appeared in front of the cave entrance with Feng Feixuan in tow. The moment the guards saw her, they started to tremble deep in their hearts. They prayed that whatever had caused her to come would end soon and this devil would leave this place soon.
"Vice-Sect Master, do you think your disciple is still alive?" Feng Feixuan asked curiously as she looked at the entrance of the cave.
Liang Tianye flipped his hand and a small token appeared in his hand. Looking down, he saw that the token was still glowing. While the light wasn't strong, it was giving off a weak glow.
"He is still alive," Liang Tianye said simply.
"How naughty of you Vice-Sect Master?" Feng Feixuan giggled. "You actually made your disciple insert a strand of his soul into this Soul Token."
"He didn't, I did," Liang Tianye said nonchalantly.
"Ah, then you are definitely naughty," Feng Feixuan giggled further. "Does your disciple know?"
"It is none of his business," Liang Tianye replied with a smirk. "I am his master. He should be honored that I even deigned to make a soul token for him."
"But, it isn't the only reason a soul token is made for is it?" Feng Feixuan said with a mysterious smile. "With this, you can always track your disciple wherever he goes. He can never escape your clutches."
"Moreover, our sect has several arts that can be used in combination with a soul strand. A powerful cultivator like yourself can even make someone weak like your disciple as their slave with it. Does the Sect Master know about this?"
"The Sect Master has given that brat to be trained under me. I see no reason to inform him of each and every bit of my actions," Liang Tianye smiled back at Feng Feixuan.
"I am sure, what the Sect Master doesn't know wouldn't hurt him much," Feng Feixuan smiled sweetly in return.
"Indeed," Liang Tianye chuckled while his hand was on Feng Feixuan's ass and squeezing it.
Feng Feixuan merely giggled at his actions as if he had heard him speak something dirty. While the guards weren't privy to the conversation, they were sweating buckets seeing the devil giggle. According to them, anything that excited this mad woman wasn't anything good.
"It's been seven days, there are only a few hours left for the appointed time. Let's hope the brat doesn't disappoint me," Liang Tianye said looking at the gates eagerly.
*****
Duncan fell back once more unable to bear the impact of the young man's blow. They have been going at it for a few hours now. Neither he nor the young man was able to make a difference. Their power currently canceled out each other. Thus this battle became a thing of endurance.
There were currently several scratches all over Duncan's body. The young man's claw had injured him several times during these clashes. There was black smoke wafting out of these injuries currently, but Duncan paid no attention to it.
The young man wasn't in better shape either. Duncan's sword had injured him in several places as well. However, neither was able to land a decisive blow on the other that could determine the outcome of this match.
The ground around them was littered with both green blood and red blood creating an eerie look. The duo panted looking at each other as if they wanted to tear each other apart.
Duncan felt as if he was back in the Grasslands when he fought against the demonic beast. The situation looked similar to how he was unable to injure the demonic beast back then. He knew that he was missing something.
The last time he had been in this situation, he had been able to exert a burst of great strength and kill the demonic beast in one blow. However, no matter what he tried, he wasn't able to produce that burst of strength right now.
It bothered him a bit to know that he had more power, yet was unable to unleash it. Duncan cleared his mind of these miscellaneous thoughts and once more concentrated as the young man attacked him.
There was no time for him to dwell on such things in the midst of the battle.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
They went at it once again. Duncan didn't want his efforts till now to be wasted. So, he pushed away everything that might disturb his state of mind and solely focused on cutting the opponent in front of him into two.
As time passed, Duncan entered a mysterious state. He forgot about the hunger pangs he was experiencing. He forgot about the deadline to return to the gate. He forgot about his worries and frustrations. His entire consciousness was focused on destroying his opponent.
The moment Duncan entered that mysterious state of mind, he felt a strange power flowing within him. It was as if his body had gained a second wind and his blows became more powerful than they were before.
Until now, the duo had been equally matched. But, the moment Duncan entered that mysterious state, he began to push back the young man slowly. The young man became more and more furious with each step Duncan gained. His heart began to get flustered and there was panic in his eyes.
However, Duncan was oblivious to all these changes in his opponent. His mind contained only his sword and his opponent. He wanted to cleave his opponent into two with his sword.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmDuncan's body subconsciously started to operate <Absolute Cut Sword Arts> and began to exert more pressure on his opponent. The martial arts technique executed in that mysterious state gave Duncan a new feeling.
The hazy fog that was covering Duncan's mind cleared a bit and he began to understand the martial arts technique more and more intuitively. He began to feel the marvel that was contained within the sword art he was executing.
It wasn't him guiding the martial arts technique anymore. It was the martial arts technique that was guiding his body. His mind was like a blank sheet of paper that only contained a single line within it.
The single line was like a cut from a sword. The more Duncan concentrated on it, the more clear it became. Duncan felt as if he was reaching a new state with his sword. This was something he hadn't felt before while executing his sword arts.
The single line began to turn from an illusion in his mind to a reality that was slowly coming into existence. The clearer it grew, the firmer it was entrenched in Duncan's mind.
Raising his arms without any hesitation, Duncan unleashed a cut in accordance with the line in his mind and roared out.
In the outside world, the young man's eyes were trembling in panic. He didn't feel like a predator anymore. Something has changed within his prey and his prey had turned into the predator that was coming after him.
His heart was flustered and he was barely able to take on the power of blows that were coming from his opponent. Just when he felt totally exhausted and utterly defeated, he felt an unprecedented amount of danger emanating from his opponent.
His body trembled. The hair on its body stood up. An extreme feeling of danger rose up in his heart. His instincts screamed at him to run.
Before he could comprehend what was going on, a dazzling light came from his opponent's sword causing his eyes to widen. He didn't even have time to process what was going on.
The next moment, he felt faint as if something integral to him was lost. His thoughts became muddy. He wanted to shout out in fear and confusion. But, before he could do that, he felt as if he was sliding down a slippery slope. His eyes grew dark.
The last thing his eyes registered before his consciousness turned dark was a body without a head stumbling around. Strangely enough, the body looked very similar to his. Before he could understand what his eyes saw, he fell into darkness and knew no more.
*****
A/N: Hey folks!
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