The site of those corpses was repelling and a gut-wrenching eerie feeling struck Ryu instantly. He couldn’t pinpoint what but something gave him the goose bumps. A dark shadow suddenly flashed over Ryu before he could investigate further. A dominant snow cyclone slammed towards him.

Emperor Domain beast! Ryu instantly sensed an overwhelming hostile Qi source circling around in the sky. The beast made a piercing dive at Ryu’s unprotected back after seeing his calm demeanor.

Right now, with his strength capped at the peak of King Domain, Ryu was unable to use any of the Qi powered by his essences. However, the beast right now was only an entry Emperor Domain monster. To an ordinary cultivator it might be a hopeless situation. The difference between Emperor Domain and King Domain was like heaven and earth. Ryu on the other hand can cover that gap easily.

The air around Ryu swirled around as if a violent tempest was forming around him and his aura skyrocketed. The predator beast which turned out to be an ice-like phoenix couldn’t even react to Ryu’s change in aura and got beheaded before it could comprehend what happened. The moment it got beheaded, its ice-covered body dispersed into hundreds of ice shards and ten tokens appeared.

This was the Transcendent Knight Spirit’s final milestone – reinforcing the body and Soul Weapon and pushing oneself completely beyond the limits. It was similar to the concept of One with the Sword or One with the World that Ryu have learnt in the past. Since the Eni sword was not a real Soul Weapon, Ryu had yet to find the right improvisation to bring out the full potential of the Transcendent Knight Spirit skill but one could say he mastered it more or less.

“What a good sword. It’ll go great with my collection.” A cold voice rang out from behind Ryu as a blurry figure reached out for the tokens. The voice was conceited and sounded like the sword already belongs to him.

Where did he come from? Ryu was shocked, he was usually extremely perceptive about his surroundings. His senses were heightened even more when he perceived something was wrong about this particular place earlier. Yet some strange person managed to get close enough to Ryu and even snatch his tokens away.

A dark blast filled with malicious Qi came thundering towards Ryu. The black robed man that seemingly appeared out of nowhere scoffed as it smashed against Ryu’s sword and its dark aura swarmed around to devour him. Ryu’s attempt at deflecting it failed and was covered completely by the invading dark Qi.

The man approached Ryu casually since his dark Qi had already engulfed him. As he reached within two meters of Ryu, a blinding flash of light slashed outwards from the dark ball of Qi. The thin slash happened too fast for the unknown man to block completely. The black Qi attempting to consume Ryu disintegrated and Ryu charged out like a flash of lightning.

“Son of a-” The man who got away with a shallow cut across his chest couldn’t even finish swearing before Ryu sent another terrifying chop that could split a mountain. The dark robed man hastily dodged to the right but one of his feet was caught in the slash. Ryu’s blade Qi instantly disintegrated the foot.

Usually Ryu doesn’t go all out in a fight right from the start but this time he was holding nothing back. The ball of black Qi earlier was enough to instill fear into him and make this a life-or-death situation. If it wasn’t for the diamond armor that his blade had provided, he would have been seriously injured by that surprise attack. Nevertheless, what surprised him most wasn’t that. It was because the dark ball of Qi was a technique he had seen when he was younger. From a man who tried to use him but ended up perishing. It was the same black Qi technique that Alexis used!

This had put Ryu into super high alert. Without giving the black robed person time to rest, Ryu kept launching powerful Qi blades that could split the sky without restraint. Each of his strikes were lengthened to the point where the Qi blades were longer than a kilometer wide.

The black robed man didn’t even have time to finish one swear word as the endless barrage of attacks keep coming. Although Ryu had come a long way since he met Alexis, he would still be crushed like a bug in a second if Alexis were still alive and facing him. If this black robed guy was related to Alexis in anyway then it’ll be a world of trouble for Ryu if he can’t subdue him now. Thankfully in this qualification round, divine Enchantments are in place to suppress all the contestants’ cultivation to the King Domain.

One cut. Two cuts. Three cuts. Slowly more and more earth splitting slashes were landing on the black robed man.

The black robed man kept on retreating but Ryu’s ruthless attacks followed him everywhere. No matter how Ryu sees it, he couldn’t help but see an uncanny resemblance between his opponent and his childhood kidnaper. If wasn’t for the heavenly god-like Fairy Lady who came to stop the notorious Alexis, Ryu wouldn’t be the man he is today.

Boom! A golden fist the size of a large boulder congealed out of thin air and slammed against into the black robed man from above. Then another golden fist formed below and punched his body once again, this time aiming him towards Ryu. The defensive profound energy that was protecting the robed man started to break down, much of it had been shaved off slowly over time.

“That bastard, if I get hit with that I might seriously die.” The black robed man said as he realized Ryu was secretly charging up the sword with an abundance of Qi within the sword to unleash a big attack while sending projected Qi blades at him. However with that much Qi condensed, Ryu would have to hit him directly with the sword. The power will be greatly reduced if the charged-up Qi were to leave the sword.

Instantly the black robed man turned around to escape, he spat out a mouthful of black blood which acted as a cushion and stopped his body from approaching Ryu. This was when he saw dozens of blue blurs aiming for him in all directions. A sea of brilliant blue arcs, each with terrifying destructive powers, were coming at him like tidal waves.

“This is…” He was speechless. These were all the Qi blades that Ryu had attacked him with earlier. He assumed the Qi blades that missed would have just dissipated into thin air like regular attacks but he was very wrong. They were all boomeranging back at him with twice the speed!

The stunning scene caused a moment of distraction and that was all Ryu needed to appear behind him and slash downwards with the diamond blade filled with a monstrous amount of Qi. This was a strike that would kill any ordinary cultivators but against someone who resembles Alexis, Ryu took no chances. He had seen what Alexis was capable of firsthand and knows that such an attack would never mortally wound this person.

Choosing between the lesser of two evils, the black robed man leaned towards the west and charged towards the Qi blades instead. He wasn’t able to escape the close ranged attack completely though, a wet chop could be heard as his left arm flew off as Ryu swung his brimming blade down. A pool of blood flowed out of his shoulder and congealed into a ball of blood that slammed into Ryu like a cannon ball. The only thing he could do now was clutch his left shoulder where the arm was cut off from with his right hand before the Qi blades slammed into his dwindling body one by one.

However just as Ryu dispersed the ball of blood that was pushing him back, he saw a sinister smirk on the person’s face before he got drowned by the rain of Qi blades. Like a bombardment of slaps, echoing sounds of the Qi blades banging against his body could be heard. Then an enormous explosion detonated, making a huge crater below on the ground. After all that, almost everyone would assume the fight is over. Even if the dark robed man is not dead, he would be crippled. This was not the case through, Ryu’s special vision lets him see that that the fight was far from over. He could see an endless amount of dark Qi within the smoke.

After the dust settled, only a torso and a head of a man remained. The previously dark robed man must have concentrated all his Qi into protecting the vital parts of his body.

“Sadistic Pain activate!” The man whose eyes were completely black at this point shouted. Suddenly his limbs that were blown off grew back almost instantly. Not only that, he grew green arms and legs that were thicker and more muscular than before. He looked like a doll with the wrong parts attached. Suddenly the man’s aura skyrocketed. Ryu didn’t wait to find out what the black robed man was plotting so he charged at him as fast as he could.

“You’ll pay for this…” The black robed man growled as he reached out with his right hand. A gigantic dark purple scythe that was identical to the one Ryu inherited from Alexis’s possessions appeared. Now Ryu had no doubt that this person was one of Alexis’s associates now. The Qi technique, re-growing limbs skill and the scythe weapon were all the same!

Peng! The diamond blade clashed against the purple scythe and a vacuum of air was instantly generated between the two. It was as if the environment around them couldn’t handle the powerful blow and was collapsing. A split second afterwards they exchanged another earth rendering blow that blew them apart.

“You… you… what are you doing? Are you trying to kill me? I’m only as strong as you are, that weapon is too much!” Eni’s frantic voice shouted out as the diamond armor on Ryu disappeared. Then after a brief internal struggle the blade also slipped out of his hand. It was still there but it was intangible to him.

Ryu frowned as the childish blade ditched him right in the middle of a dire battle. Ryu knew the scythe was a Sovereign Domain weapon with an essence since he has the same one Alexis’s owned. He couldn’t blame Eni too much since her strength correlates to his, having her clash against a Sovereign Domain weapon turned out to be too unreasonable.

“Ha so it was a Soul Weapon I see… of course it can’t compare to my Sovereign Domain weapon!” The man sneered. He assumed the fact that Ryu’s sword dispersing was due to the fact that the Soul Weapon couldn’t sustain itself against his weapon. The deadly scythe whirled around him like a hurricane. His cultivation was now growing infinitely closer to that of an Emperor Domain. Endless strength fueled him as each second passed. This was because he had activated his speciation – Sadistic Pain. The more damage you take, the more your strength will be increased temporary. Just now he was at the doorsteps to hell. His body literally took as much damage as it could without dying. In doing so, he was granted near invincible abilities for a short duration.

Ryu quickly deployed Riding the Eight Dragons, Qi tracks formed around him and he quickly dodged to the left. Coupled with the Vanishing White Flash which allows him to run at a phantom-like speed, Ryu shot backwards like lightning.

“Going somewhere?” The man jeered once again and followed Ryu perfectly just by flying. Ryu was shocked, it was the first time someone in the same domain had caught up to him in speed. The man didn’t even seem like he was trying.

A mammoth Qi apparition of a grey paw appeared above Ryu and swiped forward viciously. The large paw with five piercing claws mauled down brutally at the figure closing in on Ryu. As it descended, the frosty air around the petrifying claw made crumbling sounds as it couldn’t contain the terrifying force.

The seemingly frail scythe slashed upwards against the outwardly unstoppable incoming attack and result was shocking. The dark scythe with a simple swing was able to smash the powerful Qi apparition into pieces. The moment the grey claws shattered, a black and red molten ball appeared right behind it and smashed towards the black robed man. Its size was just slightly bigger than a fist but it was as bright as the sun and was hotter than lava.

“Too weak!” The black robed man laughed out loud. The scythe made an arc and the molten ball of Qi was sliced in half. As the two halves fell onto the ground, two pillars of blazing flames blew apart the ice below and raged towards the sky. The mutated man had no idea how Ryu had so much Qi in reserve but his interest in Ryu kept climbing as the battle progressed. He quickly bit down on his lips and drips of black blood came out. Using the blood, he drew a few incantations and suddenly he flashed forward like a beam of light.

Ryu had just used the penetrating Baleful White Claw and the destructive Phoenix Holocaust in succession, hoping it’ll deal some damage this perilous being. He would never have guessed that it barely deterred him. The two skills were profound moves from the Merciless Tiger and the Eternal Phoenix! Each of them was meant to create devastating damage over large area.

Gritting his teeth Ryu suddenly stopped running and charged toward his pursuer instead. He had long realized he had to treat this enemy like it was Alexis and not play it safe. Attacking while fleeing was just a pretense, his real goal was to get close enough to grab the man.

Has he lost his mind? The grotesque disproportionate man snickered in his mind. He watched in amusement as Ryu came towards him. Ryu on the other hand of course came prepared.

Time Dilation! The time slowed down around the incongruous man who was more monster than man at the moment. With this specialization, Ryu could selectively control the small area between him and the man. To any bystanders, nothing seemed out of place. Even so, to the mutated man, he felt his movements slowing down while Ryu’s movements increasing. Time was slowed down in the area but Ryu was exempt from it.

One of Ryu’s hand grabbed the wrist of the monster while his other hand was placed directly over his heart. To Ryu’s surprise, the man’s skin is now as tough as an indestructible armor. If he wanted to injure him now, it would be hard. Thankfully he didn’t have to penetrate this durable exterior, Ryu employed his Destiny Defiance skill to the max and attempted to drain his opponent of all his Qi to end the fight once and for all.

“Don’t underestimate the Sovereign Domain kid.” The transfigured man said with a smile.

The flow of Qi that was flowing into Ryu suddenly stopped and he felt a resilient recoil force that forced him to cough up blood uncontrollably. Ryu’s concentration broke the Time Dilation skill failed. A cold naked blade belonging to the dark scythe rested against his neck in a blink of an eye.