Chapter 62: Darkness vs Shadow (1)
Old man Lao chuckled as the shadows cleared up, and the black wolf manifested in the sky before him, unharmed, a barrier of darkness slowly fading in front of it.
His first attack was unsuccessful, and it was not a shame to admit, for he could list several reasons why it was so; he, however, would rather not.
"So you can block?"
He whispered slightly, and his black sabre slowly pointed at the enemy, just at the middle of its chest, where that core the boy told him about should be located.
"Let's see how strong that shield of yours."
The sabre slashed, and several shadows joined that slash, flying toward the black-wolf.
However, there was no explosion this time. When the black shield appeared, it absorbed the slash soundlessly.
"Not bad, but what about speed?"
Suddenly the sabre moved once more, however, nothing happened at all. The blade simple cut through the air. It wasn't even particularly fast.
The wolf remained still until the next second his own shadow moved at him from the ground. It was many times faster than any previous attack.
The beast crossed its hand and tried to make a shield, but this time it was unstable and wavering.
Strangely, the slash passed right through him, completely dissipating.
Miraculous silence followed, the old man was smiling lightly, the black wolf looking straight at him, the darkness in his eyes emotionless.
And that silence lasted. Both the old man and the wolf froze. All the stares below were directed at them; however, neither he nor it could be bothered by them.
It was clear from the beginning that something was strange with that fight, however, only two observers out of many thousands could point out what exactly.
Li Song wasn't included in that duo; however, he was a part of the trio that knew who that old man was.
"Shit."
He said, looking at the black wall around that still was as strong, even though all the undead as if froze once the battle in the sky began.
"Who I should cheer for?.."
He scratched his head.
…
Meanwhile, the silence in the sky was once again interrupted.
"You are waiting for something, right?"
Asked the old man, a smile on his face, and the wolf answered with the same expressionless face.
"Hum, not answering is a bad tone, brat. Were you my disciple I would have given you a good beating for that."
Before he could finish his words, another shadow flew at the wolf, however now the old man was completely unmoving; then like a wave tremble spread across the battlefield, and all sabres that were lying, or inserted into flesh or bones suddenly turned and flew at the wolf from all directions.
Like countless needles, the stilled for a second, and then "Boom!", shot directly at him so fast that blur followed half of them, and half of them not, for the speed was different and changing.
The next second, before the wolf could make his barrier, the large sabre wielded by the old man appeared to the right of his face.
"Die."
Sounded as lightly as the wind, and the old man appeared himself, another sabre in his hand to the left.
"Boom!"
This time there was an explosion, so strong that Xin almost lost his footing and had to really on his Qi to keep his legs steady, just as Ying Zheng taught him. After getting his balance straight, he clenched the trunk of the tree the old man put him on. Then, feeling it won't be sufficient, he thought some more and inserted his sabre into it, tightly clenching the hilt.
And it wasn't that "sabre" but the real one. The old man finally returned it to him, cheers! Still, aside from feeling happy the boy couldn't help but imagine how it would have been thrusting a twig into the trunk instead.
He shook his head getting this kind of thoughts out and concentrated on the battle. That what that old man told him to do; however, as of now it was only making his head hurt.
The explosion cleared up, just like after the first, sneak attack of the old man, and the results were just like after that attack. The old man in the air, the wolf opposite of him. Nothing changed.
Silence followed.
Watching this battle was strange, as if watching a dream on a repeat, soundless and bizarre. What else to say, he had time to think all these analogies while these two beings of Heavenly Synchronization Realm were fighting.
Not how he imagined it, that is for sure.
And while similar thoughts were in minds of many other observers of this struggle, still, only two people had a different opinion. One of them was Old Man Lao.
In fact, his thoughts were running very fast.
"You bastard" was the most frequent of them, aside from the swearing.
For this one attack, even though his smile tried to mask it like one, wasn't just an illusion, no. That one time he went full out, but now all hundred sabres he managed to gather were falling from the sky as if their strings were cut.
His smile went wider, while the soul colder as he stared at the enemy, that motionless black wolf.
He treated him too lightly, that is for sure. Blundering the first attack, not questioning the boy enough… He just went with what he thought would be more flashy to impress the army below.
However, now the plan to deceive the opponent with many fake attacks and bring the real after one has failed.
What to do?
No more he was playing with that thing, rather than that, like an actor he had no choice but to continue that act, to pretend that this attack was also faulty.
And to discover why the hell it didn't work.
Because that "Demon" will surely attack himself once given a chance, or confidence.
The air froze.
Both fighters were standing before a mystery.