By the time Jian Shen who fell asleep woke up, Meirong who was supposed to be inside his embrace was no longer there causing him to shake his head with a smile.
The next few days went by peacefully with Xifeng and Luli visiting him at different times and telling him to be careful during the fight and not let himself get hurt too much.
Like this, after the few days of peace the day for Jian Shen to fight against Xu Long arrived.
...
Against Jian Shen's expectations, the fight between him and Xu Long was on a very small scale.
It was only a fighting ring arranged inside the confines of the palace area for him and Xu Long to fight while the spectators were Xifeng, Luli, the blonde-haired woman who was having an affair and He Xing.
For some reason however Jian Shen felt a little relieved that there wouldn't be a huge crowd.
Getting on the round fighting ring which was a few hundred feet in diameter and looked to be made of a special rock which could withstand huge amounts of damage and not break, Jian Shen was sure that this hadn't been made for just this occasion and existed even before that.
At the same time, he looked towards Xu Long who stepped on the stage with a surprised and disappointed expression.
The reason behind this was because Xu Long's cultivation which was in the Nascent Soul Realm when he last met him was now in the Soul Splitting Realm.
While this showed that all the talks of him being a genius in cultivation weren't false. It also went to show that he was an idiot who prioritized a single woman over his future potential.
After all, making two consecutive breakthroughs in such a short time definitely wasn't possible when using ordinary methods.
And no matter how good the method Xu Long used was, it was impossible for there to be no impact on his potential.
Considering that Luli herself didn't like him, Jian Shen felt that it was an act of pure stupid on the side of Xu Long who was so desperate to win.
"You fool, you should know when to stop."
"Just fight and die!"
Shaking his head at how Xu Long looked like a gambler who didn't know when to quit despite losing his entire fortune, Jian Shen felt that he should just finish this fight quickly and make sure that he never again has thoughts of trying to marry Luli.
To do this, Jian Shen would be forced to reveal a portion of his true strength and the techniques which he kept hidden until now, but when the result would allow him to win peace for both himself and Luli, it didn't seem like a bad trade-off.
Not using a single sword like he originally intended to due to wanting to go easy on Xu Long, Jian Shen in a way was forced to use both of his swords not just to achieve his new goal but to even fight against Xu Long whose cultivation was in the Soul Splitting Realm.
Holding the Sword of Despair in one hand and the Myriad God Sword in the other, Jian Shen turned completely alert as the fight came close to being started.
Xu Long Similarly brought out his weapon which despite still being a spear was not the same one he used against Jian Shen the last time.
The spear seemed to have gone through an upgrade as the shaft itself looked more strong and flexible while the spear tip looked deadly.
Narrowing his eyes, Jian Shen smiled a little from sensing the aura of a dragon radiating around the spear.
'What did they use for the spear tip? A dragon's fang?'
"Yes. The entire spear seems to have been made using parts of a dragon. The bones of the dragon for the shaft, scales around it, its fang for the tip and tendons to connect the shaft to the tip."
'Wow. They really went all out to help him win as much as possible.'
"Yes. It doesn't really matter though because the two of us aren't a pair of weak swords who'll get suppressed by the remnants of a dead animal."
Chuckling at the prideful remarks of Qingyu and Juewang, Jian Shen took the proper posture as the fight finally started with no more remarks from either side.
Clang!
Rushing to the centre of the stage at the same time, Jian Shen used the Sword of Despair to deflect the spear which was travelling towards him and then quickly used the Myriad Sword God to try and cut Xu Long into two pieces near his waist.
Though Xu Long quickly used the shaft of his spear to defend against it, the physical force behind it couldn't be stopped by Xu Long due to which he was pushed back across the stage.
Stabbing the spear into the stage so that he wouldn't end up falling out of the stage, Xu Long despite being pushed back had a smile on his face.
"You seem very eager to end the fight as soon as possible. Why? Is your soul stinging?"
Laughing out loud and running back near Jian Shen, Xu Long who figured out the way to win didn't prioritize in using his strength or any fancy techniques and only on attacking Jian Shen as many times as possible.
When two cultivators who cultivate their Middle Dantians fight against each other, the one who possessed a weaker soul would feel pain regardless of who was stronger on the physical level.
Due to this, no matter how well Jian Shen defended against Xu Long's attacks, as long as something he was in contact with touched something that was in contact with Xu Long, he'd feel a piercing sensation as if his soul was being split.