On the third day, two young men could be seen practicing their arts simultaneously; the older one was wielding a sword while the younger one brandished a spear. Despite using different weapons, their movements exhibited many similarities. The older one's weapon was coated in a thread-thin jade sword-light, giving it a mystifying and sharp appearance. A mysterious jade aura occasionally flashed in his eyes as he wielded the sword with a close connection between his mind and weapon, infusing his attacks with spirituality and purpose.
In contrast, the younger one's weapon was covered in red-crimson spear light, exuding a destructive and murderous intention. The spear appeared bloodthirsty as he skillfully waved it around. The surrounding area they trained in was bathed in an azure color, imposing a heavy impression on those observing from the outside.
Occasionally, the two would spar. The younger one found himself at a disadvantage in terms of weapon mastery and physical strength. However, he displayed a remarkable degree of adaptability, gradually working through their significant strength difference. Using masterful control of his weapon, he directed the force of the older one's attacks to the side, parrying with precision. The older one's sword moved relentlessly yet gracefully, executing techniques at incredible speeds and accuracy.
This pattern continued for three hours straight under intense gravity. They would then take a few minutes to consolidate their improvements before practicing individually for many more hours. They repeated this cycle twice, and another day passed.
On the fourth day, Kaelen was meditating after spending about five hours practicing by himself. He reviewed his movements in his mind down to the most minute details. The scene of him swinging and thrusting his spear replayed in his mind repeatedly.
"I'm still not at the senior brother's level, which is expected. However, I sense I'm getting close to attaining spear intent. My control has significantly improved, and I can now use about eighty percent of my strength for more than three hours, whereas before, I could only use a hundred percent for a few minutes. It's like a whole new world of self-mastery that benefits not only my spear art but also how I fight in general," he mused as he assessed his current situation.
Over the last four days, he had been practicing intensely under the influence of gravity, making great progress.
"There are three days left before I have to fight the monster beasts inside the forest. Master said they should be around Elemental Resonance to Innate Spirit level monsters. I won't have a problem fighting elemental level beasts at all, but the Innate Spirit ones can be tough. I need to use all the time I have and get stronger. Within the next day, I can reach one hundred percent strength for prolonged periods from my current state. Then I will breakthrough the ninth stage of Xiantian and reach high bronze Heart Spirit level which will allow me to ge a hundred per cent boost when activating it," he mumbled to himself as he planned out the remaining days before his fighting trial.
He stood up from his meditative state and called out to his senior brother, "Senior apprentice brother, let's spar one last time. This time, use thirty percent of your sword intent."
Yu Hao, who was also meditating nearby, heard his shout and opened his eyes. While the two had sparred a few times over the last few days, Yu Hao had to restrict his sword intent since it was too advanced for the current boy. He started from ten percent and would increase by five percent every time they sparred. This seemed like an insignificant change, but Yu Hao was absolutely terrified at the speed at which his junior brother adapted to his sword intent and progressed in his weapon and power mastery. This meant that Kaelen's innate battle sense was outrageously high; he was born for battle.
"I really feel bad for junior brother's enemies in the future," Yu Hao thought, considering Kaelen's progress over the last few days. He couldn't help but pity whoever would stand in his path.
Yu Hao stood from his lotus position, grabbing the long sword resting on his knees along the way. He then walked steadily toward the center of the open space, where they had drawn a circle about fifty feet in diameter for their sparring matches.
Kaelen did the same as he moved towards the battle circle. Arriving, he stepped inside and whipped out his Blood Devouring Spear; the crimson-silver spear shone brightly under the sun's blaze.
As the two stepped into the circle, further up the mountain, a tall and valiant middle-aged man watched the scene unfold.
"It's going to be his last spar with Hao before he has to fight the monster beasts. He should aim to exhaust his abilities and aim for a breakthrough while in battle. That may be hard for other people, but he was born to fight, and it's the fastest way for him to practice," the valiant man sat cross-legged, muttering to himself on the lonely mountain peak.
Kaelen took position in the ring as he prepared his stance, now clad only in pants, exposing his young yet developed upper body. His handsome face and amber, sun-kissed skin shone under the daylight. A domineering aura emanated from him as the crimson dragon might within him flared. His reddish-brown hair tilted a bit more to the red side under this slight dragon-like state.
His face straightened as he focused to maximum capacity. A crimson light flashed in his eyes as his spear shone brightly with a thin layer of mysterious, bloodthirsty light.
On the opposite side, Yu Hao stood upright with his right foot slightly in front of his left foot, supporting his right hand which held his long sword. He wore a light black gown that covered his tall figure. Though he wasn't as handsome as Kaelen or as pretty as Raizel, he was still quite attractive, especially with his jade Horned-Dragon bloodline, exuding a beastly yet noble charm inherent to people with dragon bloodlines. A crystal-pink dragon might erupted from his figure as he activated his bloodline. His long black hair floated with the occasional wind, and his peculiar jade-red eyes shone brightly, giving him a heroic look.
The two young heroes faced each other.
"Huuuu." Exhaling slightly, Yu Hao took the first strike as his front foot stepped forward.
"Swoosh." Immediately after, his figure turned into crystal-jade light as he stabbed at Kaelen.
"Annihilating sword stab," he lightly breathed out.
Facing the coming attack, Kaelen executed a series of maneuvers to block it.
"Chaos Warding shield." A berserk crimson ring formed as he spun his spear at the attack, blocking it. He took a step back before launching forward with a sweep."Soul-devouring Serpent Sweep,
Death Reaper Whirlwind." He quickly followed his sweep with a masterful spinning slash attack, passing his spear to his left hand across his waistline, then back to his right for a full circle.
Yu Hao took a few steps back as the boy charged at him, blocking each strike with relative ease, then followed with a dozen sword stabs.
"Heaven-ending Void Strike." Shouting, he lashed out a thirty-three swords stabs in quick succession sending three dozen devastetingly sharp, jade sword-Qi blades towards his opponent.
"Shit." Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the speed of his attacks, Kaelen blocks some sword qi blades and tries to zig-zags around the ring to evade the others. However, he's pushed around as Yu Hao's Qi blades seemed to follow him everywhere he goes, eventually cornering him at the edge of the battle ring.
Seeing he's about to be pushed out of the ring, Kaelen takes the offensive.
"Origin Swallowing Cascade." Holding his weapon with one hand, he slashed diagonally in quick succession in forceful manner, imbuing his strikes with overpowering strength as his dragonic might flares out even more. His spear appeared like a crimson whip as he lashed out a dozen times. Each strike seemed to weaken Yu Hao's energy, diminishing his sword light while increasing Kaelen's spear light.
The latter was pushed back by the onslaught, taking a dozen steps while blocking, thus creating some space between them. The two paused for a moment.
On his side, Kaelen was taking deep breath, regulating his respiration as he self reflected.
"My attacks are not swift enough yet, and I need to be more precise. How can I rapidly increase my control and strength?" Kaelen asked to himself as he prepared to reengage.
"Oh right, my Heart Spirit can help me increase my spear mastery while giving me a boost in strength." A light shined in his as he remembered he could also use the heart spirit. The past few days, he hadn't been using his Heart spirit because he was too focused on his spear art, though he still benefited from the comprehension boost it brought him.
Closing his eyes, a hazy bronze light glowed in his chest as the Heart Spirit awakened. Instantly, he felt clarity in his mind, and the pressure on his body reduced slightly. An additional bronze glow coated his crimson spear, turning the spear light into a bronze-crimson mix.
"Again!" This time, he struck first as he dashed forward and leaped into the sky toward his opponent.
"Crimson Dragon's Heavenly Descent." With a spinning maneuver while in mid-air, he stabbed downward at Yu Hao with a technique he had learned when combining the Heavenly Descent skill of the foundational spear technique with his dragon might.
A crimson-bronze dragon formed around his spear as it roared toward the jade swordsman. The latter riposted with an attack of his own, slashing forward. A jade sword qi dragon flew toward the crimson dragon. The two forms clashed and exploded, forming a crimson-jade orb that surrounded Kaelen and Yu Hao.
Amidst the explosion, the sound of metal clashing resonated as the spear and the sword collided. The two engaged in a furious exchange of blades, their weapons clashing left and right, while their figures turned into flashing lights of crimson and jade.
"I can sense my control getting better as we clash. I'm not too far from a hundred percent power with total control," Kaelen rejoiced at his improvements mid-fight.
The two kept up a back-and-forth dance of attacking and defending, switching positions as they fought to their hearts' content.
"You really are a monster, junior brother," Yu Hao praised his junior while simultaneously fighting and talking.
"Ahaha. Thank you, Senior brother, but you're even stronger. You're keeping me in check while diminishing your sword intent to thirty percent strength and only using physical strength and dragon might, while I'm using my Qi, cultivation technique, might and strength. I still have a long way to go," the younger boy answered humbly, praising back his senior.
The latter only smiled at his junior.
"Soon, thirty percent won't be enough to push you back though," he thought to himself.
Stopping their chatter, they increased the tempo, unleashing all the techniques of the first three stances. Their weapon qi turned into dragon forms while they demonstrated their skills to the best of their ability. From afar, one could distinguish a gorgeous jade dragon battling a beautiful crimson dragon; the two seemingly danced as they clashed.