Yin Long held his murky crimson sword with a somewhat low and loose grip, angling the tip at the throat of the twin-blade-wielding youth standing in front of him. The atmosphere seemed to solidify slightly as he drew in a calm breath, the sensation of power pouring into him from the sword sending a tingling up his arm.

When was the last time he had felt this sensation, the last time he actually fought someone else in this manner? Thinking back, he realized that it was actually all the way back before he left the Lang clan. It was all the way back when he fought against Tao Enlai and came into contact with the Netherworld for the first time, a battle that felt like it had taken place ages ago.

The black-eyed youth standing in front of Yin Long spat out a quick breath to blow away some of the curled blonde hair that had fallen in front of his eyes, his pupils flicking to the side. Seeing that there were no traces of the four people that were supposed to be dealing with Yin Long, the youth couldn't help but question sharply.

"Where did my Junior Brothers go, what did you do to them?"

He saw a few faint splatters of blood scattered throughout the area where they fought, he also saw the weapons of his Junior Brothers strewn around the ground, but no corpses. There also wasn't enough blood to make it seem like they had been killed, nor were there any loud screams or shouts, so he wasn't able to immediately determine what might have happened. But Yin Long didn't have any interest in explaining things, simply shrugging his shoulders.

"Dunno, maybe they ran away?"

Yin Long slid his foot back slightly and used his heel to tap Lan Yun's left heel five times, the two not exchanging a single word before Yin Long charged forward. His action served as the signal flare that started up the battles that had stopped due to the strange disappearance of the four weakest disciples from the Crag's Howl sect. Of course, it was actually only Lan Yun and Jin Wang's battles that had been stopped, Xue Qiuling didn't give Fang Houye or his helper a moment's rest even with the strange sight she and him had witnessed.

The twin-blade wielding youth's expression couldn't help but turn somewhat wary when he saw Yin Long take the lead in attacking. There was a significant difference in their cultivation, yet Yin Long dared to take the offensive, meaning that he was either foolish or stronger than he looked. And thinking about the weight behind the slash he had just blocked, the black-eyed youth was more than willing to bet on the second option.

The youth, Shui Long, raised one end of his twin-blade and blocked the descending slash that Yin Long aimed at his face. But his brows ticked up the moment the two weapons collided, he saw that Yin Long tilted his blade so that it would slide down the edge of his own weapon and come diagonally at his chest. But Shui Long wasn't without experience so he quickly reacted with a counterattack.

He took advantage of his weapon's uniqueness and lowered the blade that had blocked Yin Long's attack, spinning his twin-blade so that the other end of his weapon spun to the top. The blade blocking Yin Long's attack was lowered until it pointed at the ground, resulting in Yin Long's own sword being pointed at the ground while the other end of Shui Long's twin-blade came down upon his head.

But Yin Long surprised Shui Long by tilting his sword to the left and slashing out with it, letting go of the hilt and tossing the sword over to his left hand. He started to move his left arm in a circular upwards motion before he even caught the sword, retaining as much moment as possible from the slash. The circular motion of his arm raised the sword so that the blade clashed with the side of the incoming twin-blade, pushing it aside and guiding it so that it cut down at Yin Long's right side.

And the moment the attack cleared his head, Yin Long tilted his sword again and slid it down along the edge of Shui Long's weapon, once again aiming at his chest. Shui Long tensed all the muscles in his arms, his veins bulging as he unleashed every ounce of physical power his body could unleash. He forcibly raised his weapon to throw off Yin Long's sliding sword, bellowing violently.

"It won't be that ea...Grug!"

His loud bellowing was interrupted by a pained grunt, his body quickly taking several steps back to put some distance between him and Yin Long. He lowered his eyes for a second, his gaze landing upon the white sword Yin Long had pulled out from his interspatial ring and stabbed into Shui Long's waist. The edge of the blade was no longer in his waist since he had stepped back, but there was still blood dripping from it, as if it was taunting him.

Shui Long exhaled a long breath while tensing his entire body, blood gushing forth from the wound on the left side of his waist. He took one hand off of his weapon and placed it over the wound, the sound of a muffled explosion coming from his palm. He removed his hand from the wound, revealing that the flesh around it had been charred and burnt, the wound cauterized in a haphazard manner so that it would stop bleeding. This wasn't the best way to deal with a wound like this, it would certainly leave behind repercussions, but this was the best Shui Long could afford right now, cursing quietly.

"You fucking monster."

Shui Long slashed out with his twin-blade as he spoke, the distance between him and Yin Long so wide that he wasn't even close to hitting him with the attack. But Yin Long's pupils still shrank sharply as he quickly spun his sword into a backhanded grip and stabbed it into the ground while crouching down and letting go of the handle, storing his normal sword back into his interspatial ring.

The murky crimson sword suddenly expanded rapidly, quickly growing into a greatsword so large that it looked like it should be wielded by a small giant. The weapon perfectly shielded Yin Long's body, a thunderous explosion spawning into existence right in front of the massive sword, tongues of lightly orange flame shooting out and writhing along the ground.

Yin Long and his weapon were pushed back several steps, dragging a thick trench into the earth while he pushed his shoulder against the sword to stabilize it. The force of the explosion was finally dispelled after Yin Long was pushed back nearly seven metres, his expression remaining solemn as he quickly straightened up his body.

The massive greatsword shrank again and Yin Long grabbed onto it, not sparing a second to bother with the flames that still danced on both the blade and the earth around him. He drew the weapon from the earth and swung it upwards, just barely blocking the stab that Shui Long had launched at him under the cover of the explosion.

He lowered his sword and twisted his grip on the sword into a backhanded grip the moment he blocked the stab, pushing his arm to the left so that the stab slid past his waist. His arm shook tremendously as he diverted the attack, a strong explosive force moving from the twin-blade and through his own weapon, the force coupling together with the weapon itself to press Yin Long's right arm against his own chest.

The shaking caused the edge of the twin-blade to leave a small gash in his waist, but Yin Long still took advantage of how close he was to the twin-blade. His right arm was pressed against his own chest, his sword holding back the twin-blade so that it couldn't slice sideways through his waist, but he still had his other arm.

He took a step forward and rolled his body along the twin-blade, his left arm lashing out the moment his back was adjacent to the handle-section of the twin-blade. Shui Long frowned slightly at the sight, Yin Long's interspatial ring was on his other hand so it shouldn't be possible for him to bring out his other sword and transfer it to his left hand.

But he still acted prudent, abandoning the notion of using his twin-blade to slice through Yin Long's waist and removed one of his hands from the handle. He raised his right hand up to his face and pulled a dagger out from his interspatial ring to block Yin Long's incoming fist. And then, he saw what Yin Long had been planning, as a transparent sword covered in barely visible markings resembling scaled leaves appeared in his left hand.

Shui Long had no idea where this sword came from, but he was glad that he used a dagger to block the incoming attack rather than his bare hand. The dagger blocked the sword, but Shui Long noticed that the power behind the transparent sword was far weaker than the power behind the crimson sword. He didn't spend too long pondering over the difference in power, his foot kicking out just as he blocked the sword.

The tip of his right foot made contact with Yin Long's left shin, which was facing Shui Long thanks to his current position. And as the foot touched Yin Long's shin, it unleashed a violent explosive force that scattered more flames throughout the area. Yin Long hurriedly raised his leg and spun his body to the left, allowing his entire left leg to move along with the explosive force so that it didn't injure him too grievously.

As a result, he made nearly a full circle in less than a second, his raised leg smashing towards Shui Long's waist. Shui Long quickly threw away his dagger and grabbed onto his twin-blade with both hands, lowering it just in time for Yin Long's heel to crash into the handle-section of the weapon. A good portion of the explosive force was transferred over to his body from the collision, forcing Shui Long to take a few steps to the side to dispel the force.

Yin Long lowered his leg again after getting rid of the force, a scorching pain running up his leg as blood started to seep through the white fabric of his pants. Shui Long spat out a heavy breath, the cauterized wound on his waist opening slightly thanks to the attack he had just endured. But it hadn't opened enough for him to cauterize it again, his feet kicking off the ground and unleashing muffled explosions as he shot forward and slashed diagonally upwards at Yin Long's side.

And as Shui Long approached, Yin Long's own eyes narrowed sharply, his senses unfurling to check up on his current position. He dissipated the transparent sword he held in his left hand and swept his hand towards the incoming attack, Shui Long's pupils shrinking drastically as a strange scene took place.

All the flames that still danced around on the earth were suddenly sucked up and gathered in Yin Long's palm, forming an orange sword that collided with Shui Long's incoming twin-blade. Sparks shot through the air as the two weapons collided, Yin Long tilting his blade so that the twin-blade's edge slid up along his own sword. And just as the twin-blade was about to reach the hilt of his sword, he flicked his wrist upwards and unleashed all the explosive force gathered within the flames that Shui Long had created.

The sword exploded into small motes of flame that danced around Yin Long like falling leaves, Shui Long's own attack getting pushed far above Yin Long's head. And it was then that Shui Long saw that the corners of Yin Long's lips were turned up slightly, a horrible sense of unease starting to flood his mind.

And that sense of unease was quickly proven correct when the earth beneath his right foot started to move, sliding to the side and bringing his foot with it, destabilizing his position. His gaze drifted past Yin Long and landed on Lan Yun, who he had seen use the law of earth earlier. She wasn't looking at him, but he could tell that the corners of her mouth were also curved up faintly.

And just like with him, the earth beneath the feet of the two people facing her had started to slide out, pushing one of their feet out of position and destabilizing their stances. And once she ruined their stances, she hurriedly ducked down, Shui Long and Fang Houye noticing that Yin Long's gaze was actually focused on the two people Lan Yun and Jin Wang had been fighting. Both came to the same realization, hurriedly shouting out.

"GET DOWN!"

"Hit the ground!"

But both of their shouts came too late, there was nothing the two men could do straight away with their destabilized stances. And so, Yin Long struck out, giving his body half a spin to face the two people and stabbing out with his crimson sword. The weapon changed as he stabbed out, morphing into a thin rapier that extended drastically as he gave it a strong twist.

The spinning tip of the rapier easily pierced through the chest of the youth that had been facing Lan Yun, piercing cleanly through his heart and robbing him of his life. But the strange situation only got weirder, as the youth's body started to twist in tune with the rapier, liquefying and seemingly merging with the weapon. The bloody scent and aura of the weapon got even stronger after the dead youth merged with it, Yin Long flicking his wrist to the side.

The rapier morphed once more, returning to the appearance of a normal sword, if a greatly extended one. And the edge of the murky crimson blade left a line in the air as it swept to the side, separating the other youth's head from his body. And once again, the strange scene repeated itself as the now-dead youth liquefied and merged with the sword, further increasing the bloody aura it radiated.

Shui Long had been helpless to stop the attack, the explosion that heavily diverted his attack, as well as the sliding of the earth, had destabilized his position for a mere two seconds, two seconds that Yin Long took ample advantage of. It was also then that a guess formed in Shui Long's mind. Taken advantage of? Had he taken advantage of the situation, or had he been working towards it from the very start, aiming to reduce their numbers?

He didn't expect Yin Long to answer the question even if he asked so he didn't even bother to voice it, but seeing his faintly curved up lips made him confident that he had already gotten his answer.