'So that's how things work…' the Dark Phantom would materialize when it attacked and it was his chance to kill it.

He just found how to counter the Death Reaper, but soon he noticed the Dark Phantom dissolved into black smoke. It puffed into black smoke and disappeared.

No sound could be heard and no visible movement could be seen. Tang Shaoyang was sure the Dark Phantom was not dead for sure, but it was kind of a skill this monster had.

He moved around while his eyes darted around, to the left, right, and behind. Hoping to detect the black smoke, but in such a limited light almost impossible for him to find the black smoke.

At this moment, he could do nothing about it but waited passively. The grip on the battle-ax tightened as sweat started to wet his palm. He was truly helpless facing such an opponent. Death Scythe, they still made some a very slight sound while they disappeared. However, Dark Phantom just disappeared.

He was not afraid of fighting anything head-on. But fight something you could not see, it was impossible for Tang Shaoyang to not get nervous and anxious.

—Don't get too nervous and calm your heart! If you become too anxious, you are bound to make a blunder very soon!

Zaneos' voice rang in his head. At this moment, the Demon Swordsman spirit tried to help him with his advice. Thanks to the voice, it lessened his nervousness.

—Good! Now try analyzing your opponent from the information you have. From how it attacked you and what it aimed when it attacked you!

The Dark Phantom only attacked twice. The first one attacked Kang Xue, and the second one attacked him. From the two attacks, there were things in common, Dark Phantom always attacked him from the top and the upper body was its target.

It did not take him a long time to realize where the attack would come from. He looked up, sure enough, the Dark Phantom materialized on top of him. The same as before, it targeted his upper body, the difference was the Death Reaper swung the scythe upward this time.

He stretched his battle-ax horizontally to block the incoming scythe.

Clank!

Tang Shaoyang stopped the scythe as the tip of the scythe's blade was a few centimeters away from his chin. If not for his quick realization, the scythe might tear his chin upward to his skull.

He shook the scythe away and distanced himself from the Dark Phantom. The Dark Phantom did not give a chase. It floated in the air, looking at Tang Shaoyang in confusion.

Tang Shaoyang noticed the confusion within the monster. He did not bother to think about why the monster was confused. He followed his Teacher's teaching, analyzing the Death Reaper.

'Since I blocked its attack twice from the same spot, it might change its way to attack me. It may come from the other sides but the top, but it most likely will attack me from behind this time. I need the right timing to counter it…'

He looked forward and noticed the Death Reaper was nowhere to be seen. It had vanished once again. Since he did not see or notice when it disappeared as he was preoccupied with his thoughts. Tang Shaoyang was panicked, he spun his body around while swinging the Destroyer.

Swoosh!

He predicted when it appeared but he was too early for swinging the battle-ax. The Dark Phantom appeared behind him but it was still in a state of invulnerability. The battle-ax passed through its body just like before. The Dark Phantom raised the scythe, taking this chance to attack him.

Fwoosh!

The scythe descended toward Tang Shaoyang. He tried to leap back to dodge but his reaction was too slow since he just swung his battle-ax around.

Slash!

The scythe grazed his left shoulder downward. The leather armor could not protect his body from the scythe. It was sliced open along with his flesh.

Badump! Badump! Badump!

The moment the pain transmitted to his body, his heartbeat spiked up instantly. It was so close if he leaped back a bit later, he would lose his left part of his body for sure.

He immediately distanced himself far away from the Death Reaper. But this time, the Death Reaper did not stay still. It disappeared into black smoke again.

Tang Shaoyang immediately stopped moving. He scanned the surroundings. At this moment, he could even hear his heartbeat. He tried to calm his heart down but it was to no avail. It was impossible to calm down when an invisible predator preyed on him.

'From the left!' He screamed inside his heart as he immediately rolled forward.

Bang!

The scythe pierced through the steel ground. It was the spot where he was just standing. If he did not roll forward, his skull might be destroyed just like the hard ground.

Right after the Dark Phantom missed the target, it immediately disappeared again.

'Behind!' He turned around, ready to face the Death Reaper. His prediction was spot on, the Death Reaper swung the scythe horizontally. Since he was prepared for this one, he decided to meet the scythe head-on with his Destroyer.

Clank!

He blocked the scythe, but his body was pushed back from the impact. It showed how strong the Dark Phantom was. Even though he was in the integration state with Karan, his strength could not block it perfectly.

They just clashed, but the Dark Phantom already disappeared again. It truly did not give Tang Shaoyang to take a breath.

'Behind!' He predicted the Dark Phantom would appear behind him once again. He turned around but saw nothing, but he felt a shadow hovering from his back.

Without a second thought, Tang Shaoyang lunged forward. Unfortunately, the Death Reaper was faster than him, the scythe sliced his back this time. The fortunate thing was, he reacted slightly faster this time so it was just a swallow slice on the back.

After a quick succession of attacks, this time the Dark Phantom did not chase him. As he turned around, the Dark Phantom was floating in the air, its black eyes locked on him.

"Kikikikiki…" out of sudden, the Dark Phantom let out a laugh, a mocking laugh. It was laughing at Tang Shaoyang. The monster was looking down on him

It pissed him off, if it was before, he would not hesitate to charge forward and hack the monster with his battle-ax. But this time, Tang Shaoyang decided to stay still, collecting his breath.

—You were doing good, but you are still inexperienced! If this continues, you may die.

Zaneos remarked inside his head. It did not help but he could not refute the Demon Swordsman too. What the demon spirit said was true, he would truly die if this continued like this.

—We have promised that we will not be doing integration until you gain my approval, but I will make an exception. Do you want to try?

"Huff… Huff… Huff…" Tang Shaoyang was trying to calm down with his eyes locked on the Death Reaper, "I don't have a choice, do I?" A wry smile formed on his lips.

He was not that stubborn to think he could win against the Death Reaper.

���Indeed. But based on your current condition, we can only do the integration for 20 seconds. Your body is too weak for my Demonic Magic Power. You have to kill that thing in 20 seconds!

"Then let's do it now!" With that being, Tang Shaoyang's green skin started to fade away. Slowly, the green skin was replaced with dark skin as his body also shrunk down slightly.

Aside from the dark skin, two small horns started to grow from his forehead. At the same time, his green pupils were replaced by deep red pupils.

"Huh!?" Tang Shaoyang was startled for a moment. His body felt a lot lighter and vision became extremely clear, it was as if there was a bright light illuminating the dark laboratory. He was slightly caught off guard because it was totally different compared to when he used [Spirit Integration] with Karan.

Maybe the Dark Phantom noticed his change, it stopped laughing and dissolved into the dark smoke. This time, Tang Shaoyang saw it clearly, countless black particles moving in the air. These black particles moved toward his direction passed through his body.

He immediately turned around and saw the Dark Phantom materialized. The moment he turned around, the scythe sliced toward him. However, the current Tang Shaoyang was different. He saw where it was coming and hacked the Dark Phantom with his battle-ax. His battle-ax was much faster than the scythe.

Spurt!

The Dark Phantom's head flew up as a blood fountain spurted through its neck.