Dispelling the distracting thoughts from his mind, he sent a palm strike towards the clothed man and quickly distanced himself from the other.
As if already expecting that, the man quickly sidestepped and dodged the attack. Retrieving a long blade from his cloak that crackled with lightning, he sprinted towards old Zhan.
Looking at the blade, old Zhan's eyes lit up. He could sense that the blade wasn't ordinary and feel a sense of danger coming from it. He assumed it must be the man's trump card.
He wanted to finish this fight as soon as possible. Even if the chances of someone discovering the scene was small, one can never be too sure. In that case, he might not be able to keep the blade for himself.
Revealing a sneer, he sent his spirit sense inside the ring in his finger. As someone who was once a notorious devil cultivator, it would be surprising if he didn't have an Interspatial ring.
Hundreds of white bones flew out of it and formed a gigantic skeleton that lacked the lower body. Each of its bones was composed of tens of smaller bones. The skull itself was composed of at least a hundred skulls. The evil treasure covered the figure of Old Zhan like a protective guardian.
The cloaked man's eyes narrowed once he saw that. However, there was no fear within. Without stopping in his tracks, he made several hand signs. His cloak lightly rippled. Immediately, the space around him seem to distort and hundreds of translucent wind blades surrounded him.
The wind blades were formed from compressed wind spiritual energy. Although they weren't solid and could be easily destroyed, they could be easily controlled according to the user's will. Also, the sheer number of them made up for their lack of individual power.
BOOM!
A booming sound echoed in the cave as the skeleton punched the wall of wind blades.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Many of the blades got destroyed with every punch. However, just as many came to take their place immediately.
Old Zhan's eyes got serious for the first time. His opponent might have a weak cultivation base, but he had a powerful treasure and control over wind energy. Wind users were known for their agility and flexible combat style. No longer underestimating his opponent, he retrieved a massive blood-red cleaver.
Clang!Clang!Clang!
A loud sound of metal clashing metal reverberated as the cleaver and the blade clashed against each other.
As seconds passed by, old Zhan's originally calm face got more and more and ugly. Within a few exchange, his arms were almost numb from receiving the attacks. The sheer force behind the attacks almost made him lose his grip on the sword.
It was almost as if he was battling a Body refiner!
But it was impossible! He could clearly sense the Qi fluctuation coming from him. As for the concept of dual refining, it didn't even cross his mind.
Yes, that must be it! The man must be from some demonic race that possesses enormous strength!
But what was this sense of familiarity that he got from the man? He didn't remember having offended any powerful demon.
Old Zhan was greatly shocked. The rotating wind created so much pressure that he found it difficult to even breathe or even keep his eyes open.
From the beginning to the end, no words were spoken between them. There wasn't any need to. Since both had already made their intentions clear, further words were unnecessary.
Only the booming sound of bone grinding against wind blades and metal clashing against each other echoed in the closed chamber.
Crack!
Old Zhan's eyes widened in fright when he saw that the bones of the skeleton cracking up. The repeated assaults from the arsenal of wind blades had heavily damaged it.
His frightened expression soon turned into hatred. He had painstakingly refined the skeleton from the bones of many other cultivators.
But most importantly, it also contained his master's bones!
It was his inheritance!
Raising his blade, he slashed at his palm and chanted a strange incantation. The blood spurted out from the wound like a small fountain. It quickly turned into a mist and headed towards the skeleton.
As soon as the blood mist touched the skeleton, it was instantly absorbed. Some of its cracks began to heal up at a rapid pace and an evil air gushed out from it. Raising its fist which glowed with a sanguine light, it punched out.
BOOM!
The punch destroyed all the wind blades but it also completely drained the skeleton. The resulting explosion shook the entire room and destroyed the formation surrounding the pond.
Meanwhile, old Zhan was already near the door of the cave. Although he showed a ferocious expression before, he was always level headed. Knowing that he couldn't defeat his enemy, he decisively chose to retreat. Under the cover of the explosion, he quickly reached the door.
Once he got out, the cloaked-man wouldn't be able to attack again. Others would immediately detect the disturbance in spiritual energy.
He took out a jade slip that was different from the others. These were given to the guards and could open all the chambers.
Breathing in relief, he was about to open the door when suddenly felt a cool breeze behind him.
Standing behind him was the cloaked man looking more familiar than ever.
His eyes were like an ancient well without ripples. There wasn't a bit of killing intent coming from him, which made the scene much more terrifying.
Rip!
There was no sword attack, just a simple straight kick to the waist. Its speed was such that the wind whistled as if being torn apart.
Splash!
A mouthful of blood escaped his mouth as he was flung inside the spirit pond.
Severe pain assaulted him as he felt many of his bones broken. Grabbing the stony edges of the pond, he went into a violent coughing fit. A large amount of spirit water had entered his system.
He cut a sorry figure as he coughed blood with bits of organs in it.
The other man obviously wouldn't feel any pity for him. Picking up the jade slip which fell from Old Zhan's hands, he walked towards the injured man.
Old Zhan wasn't going to sit and wait for death. In a final desperate struggle, he quickly sent his spiritual awareness and located the skeleton which was standing still in its place.
As soon as he re-established the connection, flames seemed to light up in the eye sockets of the skeleton.
It slammed the ground with its palm and hurled itself towards the cloaked man.
The man didn't spare a glance at the injured Old Zhan and focused his whole attention towards the skeleton. Which was odd considering how the other man was on his last legs.
Taking a step forward, he vanished from his place and was directly in front of the skeleton. Tearing sounds could be heard as wind blades surrounded his body. Yet they seemed somewhat different than before. It was as if there was an additional bloody glow to them.
BOOM!
With an exquisite display of footwork, the cloaked man dodged a fist strike. Although the Skeleton was over ten feet tall and had immense power, it was far less agile.
Hundreds of afterimages surrounded the skeleton as the cloaked man continued to perform one sword stance after another.
Kacha!
With a sharp sound, the skeleton's spine shattered.
In the next moment, the man's body blurred and reached the top of the skull. Raising his blade, he stabbed towards the skull.
The blade glowed with a sharp purple glow as it stabbed towards the skull …it was as if a divine lightning bolt from the heavens had come to destroy the evil thing.
Crackle!
The violent thunder force seeped into the skeleton and started corroding it from the inside.
The skeleton convulsed and shattered into thousands of fragments. A black gas carrying hundred of laughing crying faces seeped out of the bones.
As the gas slowly seeped into the earth, the faces revealed a sense of relief.
The cloaked man observed the scene with a deep look in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Old Zhan looked at the figure with a malicious expression.
The skeleton was his life treasure. Destroying it had heavily injured his spiritual sense.
Currently, both of his eyes were bloodshot and weakened spiritual fluctuations came from his body.
Even without the skeleton, the cloaked man was stronger than him and now that he was seriously injured, he had no chance of beating him at all.
Burying the feelings of fear and hatred in his heart, old Zhan dived deeper inside the pond and started refining the spiritual energy.
No matter how powerful wind blades were in the land, they would become useless inside the water.
And if the man decided to dive inside the pond …he would just go deeper. He didn't believe the man would chase him in the territory of aquatic beasts.
Time was of the essence. Sooner or later, Li Cai would notice his absence. The longer he was absent from the scene, the better the chances.
Unfortunately, the fight had barely lasted three minutes…
Pu!
He spurted a mouthful of blood and looked around in confusion. He hadn't noticed it before but his body seemed to be getting weaker and weaker ever since he was flung inside the spirit liquid. Which should be impossible considering that it was a spirit pond.
He hastily refined more and more spirit liquid to recover his strength.
Meanwhile, the cloaked man dispelled the wind blades surrounding him.
Sheathing his blade, he walked towards the pond with steady steps.
For the first time since their exchange, old Zhan could see emotions in those apathetic eyes …it was amusement.
He hastily scanned his surrounding and saw traces of some grey pills slowly dissolving in the spirit liquid.
Before he could do anything to them, a violent spirit sense entered the pond and completely shattered the pills.