"You are without a doubt foolish. In fact, you should be the king of fools… haha!" Saburo continued his mockery.
Nero sneered in disdain, "You might think that my reason is foolish and shallow, but if I dare to stay this long, doesn't it mean that I might have the strength to at least subdue you?"
Saburo abruptly cut his laughter. After hearing Nero's reason for coming here, Saburo thought that Nero was some village fool who came all that way here to die. But after hearing Nero's follow-up sentence, Saburo sank into deep thoughts. Nero's words were undeniably true. If he wanted to commit suicide, there were many ways to do so in the comfort of their homes. But if he bravely came here, did that mean that Nero's strength could compare to his?
Saburo sized up Nero again, and this time around, he couldn't hide his worry. His eyes filled with confusion as he thought to himself, "Just who is this person?"
"I have no business with the lady. My only business here is to get back my five petal blazing flower. Not that I don't know how to find it if I wanted to, but I don't like the idea of people stealing from me and thinking they can get away with it. That said, will you give it back, or do I have to force you?" As Nero spoke, his aura shot up like a spear piercing the heavens.
Seeing this, Saburo could no longer sit still; he had to act or this fellow would do as he liked without facing the consequences. Saburo stood up from his stone chair while his body made popping sounds. His height stretched till about 7 feet and his build was bigger than it looked when he sat down. With eyes filled with killing intent, Saburo glared at Nero like he wanted to swallow him whole.
The wind howled and churned violently curling around Saburo like snakes, forming a thick Qi essence veil.
"Is that… Grand cultivation Realm!?" Nero said to himself, a bit surprised.
The scene that occurred in front of Nero's eyes was a phenomenon known as Spirit Qi manifestation… a sign of stepping into the Grand cultivation Realm. In the path of cultivation, martial artists can cultivate only one Qi essence nature. Fire, water, ice, thunder, earth, wind, light, darkness, metal, and wood are different Qi essence natures. From the Qi essence gathering Realm, one's Qi essence nature slowly manifests itself and grows as one advances further in their cultivation. From this, Nero was able to deduce that Saburo was a wind Qi essence user.
Saburo casually stroked the ring on his finger. Nero narrowed his eyes to the ring on Saburo's finger.
"A spatial ring?"
A spatial ring is an item that stores about anything within an enclosed space. Anything kept within this ring remains the same even after many years of safekeeping. The enclosed space within a spatial ring can last for many years, depending on it's grade. From the looks of it, the ring on Saburo's finger was of a low grade so it wasn't worth anything to Nero. What Nero was much more interested in was the contents being pulled out from the spatial ring.
A bright fiery red flower and a giant double-sided battle axe appeared from the ring. The flower was the five petal blazing flower while the axe might be Saburo's main weapon.
Holding the flower in one hand and the axe in the other, Saburo sneered mockingly, "You have proven to be a dog who follows the scent of meat. Since you followed this flower all the way here, then I might as well reward your effort. I do hope you'll entertain me a little, it's been a while since I fought seriously."
Dog?
Who is the dog?
Me??
Nero's veins popped from his head when Saburo called him a dog. The sound of his knuckles cracking loudly echoed in the cave. Nero's aura shot up again! This time around, the killing intent was completely exposed.
"I will kill you, obtain my flower, and as a bonus, I will eradicate your base. If you want to stop this dog, then you'll have to kill it!" Nero said, slowly stressing every word. An imposing aura abruptly surged forth from Nero.
Nero put his game face on and unleashed his power; this time around, he meant business. Saburo watched as Nero's aura shot up once more.
"Are his abilities limitless? How can he summon such power?"
In the path of cultivation, there are endless limitations a martial artist encounters as they advance. This comes as a form of their cultivation Realms. If they are able to conquer those limitations, they automatically advance to the next stage or realm. In other words, as one advance in their path of cultivation, they unleash more potential.
This is also where Saburo realized something crucial… he couldn't see through Nero's cultivation!
"How is this possible!? It can't possibly mean that…" Saburo grimaced when he realized that something was off with Nero.
The fact that he couldn't see through Nero's cultivation could only be a result of two reasons. It was either Nero had a special item that could hide his cultivation, or, Nero was naturally stronger than him! And from the way Nero talked, there was a possibility that it was the latter.
This thought boggled Saburo's mind. He stared with widened eyes try so hard to see through Nero, but it was like Nero was covered with a thick veil preventing the slightest perception from touching him. Saburo and Nero stood 200 feet apart, both circulating their Qi to the utmost. Their auras clashed creating a pressure that violently shook the mountain.
"Shall we begin!?" Nero shouted.
In that instant, the air around Nero seemed to shift creating a vacuum that spread out from within Nero. Saburo clenched his axe and charged towards Nero. Nero reacted and launched forward, striking out with his fist.