Ascending Dragon Mountain,
Raizel and Thorin were both sparring in their open training field, although not together. Raizel sparred with Xue Qing, the beautiful cousin of the young prince Tang Hao. The two engaged in a beautiful sword dance-like battle. Rai wielded his two blades to perfection, his movements like a leopard, swinging his two blades around masterfully. He seemed to have reached the initial mastery of the blade, which was the same as the spear, wielding a weapon as if it were an extension of one's hand. Although he wielded two weapons, the difficulty was only slightly higher, and the mastery was shared between his two hands. He always wielded two blades, not one, so his progress would not only happen in his dominant hand.
He used the purple Leopard maneuver to move about. His body bent forward as if a leopard about to pounce at its prey, and he would turn into a gorgeous purple flash that cut towards the young maiden.
Xue Qing, on the other hand, wielded a beautiful black and blue long sword. The sword had a snowflake-like design on the lower part of its blade that descended around its edges from below the hilt.
She used her own movement skill to evade and attack forward, like a divine peng soaring across the ancient world. Every step of hers would be accompanied by a flurry of yellow plumes, painting a beautiful picture.
"Hah."
The beautiful maiden leaped forward with a bell-like shout, stabbing the boy towards the purple shadow below her. Despite her beautiful appearance and serene demeanor, it was clear that she had a very war-like personality; there was no hint of hesitation as she struck at her opponent. She used her sword with an equal degree of mastery as her rival and perhaps greater mastery; her sword had a faint icy blue light coating its blade. The light emanated a frostbite-inducing sword intent that sharply increased the might of her strikes. An additional icy silver aura surrounded her form, creating a mix of ice shard storm with the golden peng feathers.
While able to coat her sword with both intent and elemental attribute, the young maiden showed that her cultivation was already in the top stages of Elemental Resonance. The first three stages allowed one to use elemental qi, the middle three stages allowed one to mix elemental qi with their weapon to form an elemental weapon qi, and the last three stages allowed one to wield the element in the air and form elemental weapons, gadgets, or any form of their choosing into attacks of great destructive ability. It was not surprising that she was already in the upper three stages, since she is very talented and entered the sect a year earlier than the three new talents.
Raizel, on the other hand, was still in the Xiantian stage. Although he and Thor had already broken through the 12th extreme stage not long ago, soon stepping into the third foundational realm as well, those two extreme stages don't bring much of a strength increase. Eye refinement increases vision, while brain refinement increases one's innate mental strength or spiritual Qi and improves perception and comprehension ability. Stiil, They both gained a strength boost from their bloodlines of around twenty thousand for Rai and thirty for Thor. Their current strength being around the low three hundred thousand for Rai and mid three hundred thousand for Thor.
Regardless, the boy faced the powerful maiden without fear. Seeing the skin-piercing, icy sword intent coming his way, Rai kept running in a chaotic pattern to evade the coming ice shards. His lightning-fast legs moved through the training ground as he waited for an opening.
He cross-slashed at the coming stab from Xue Qing, imbuing a slight golden and purple thunder and bronze-like aura on his blades. The three-color blade aura clashed with the frostbite sword tip, forming a silver-purple and gold elemental storm that spread out dozen of meters around them, hitting trees, rocks, etc. Some of the small boulders that were hit by the element storm were shredded to pieces, showcasing the power of elemental storm.
Not far away, Thorin was sparring with a tall sixteen-year-old boy. The two faced each other as they both wielded great blades. Their heights were similar, though Thorin seemed slightly taller, but the other was significantly more muscular. He also had an additional earthen yellow aura covering his body, giving it a sense of heaviness that surpasses what muscles could give. He had an above-average face and could be considered good-looking, but what truly made him stand out were his thick, blade-like eyebrows and the resolute expression on his face.
He took a large step forward with his left foot, bending it to a degree. He then placed his giant curved blade on his right-hip side; its blade pointed towards the ground.
"Great Demonic Bear Six Slashes; Earth-cleaving Slash."
He mumbled while he bent slightly forward, a yellow blade aura covered his weapon; seemingly increasing its might and weight. He disappeared from his position and reappeared next to Thor, slashing up diagonally at him.
In response, Thorin took a large step back, his ruby eyes shone with a crystal luster as he predicted the trajectory of the blade and lifted his bronze-colored great blade for an overhead strike.
"Soaring mountain step. Tyrannical Great blade; Hegemonic Rend."
He then dashed forward with his newly learned movement art with explosiveness and momentum. He wielded his weapon with great might, his lean yet ripped arms bulging through the effort. A dark rose qi covered his Red Moon Great Blade as he struck at the coming attack.
"Clang!"
A heavy collision resounded, as the ground below them immediately caved massively, unable to bear the combined strength of the two. A yellow and ruby column of light clashed in the air as their aura battled it out. The two were pushed a few steps back by the other's momentum, and almost instantly attacked again.
"Clang!"
Another heavy collision reverberated, as the sound of two heavy blades clashing made the air vibrate at high speed. The two clashed again and again, each time with great strength and control. Ruby and yellow sparks erupting with each collision.
High up in the sky of the purple mountain, two middle-aged men were watching the battles happening below them. One of them happened to be Tang Feihu, the Sundering Tiger general. The other was a stoic blue-haired middle-aged man with sword-like eyebrows and a peculiar lightning insignia in the middle of his brows. Occasional blue flashes of lightning would wander about his hair, giving him a thunder deity appearance.
"Brother Tang, are those the boys you took a liking to? Indeed, they're truly monsters in human cloths; the two can battle two top Southern lands geniuses while separated by more than half a realm. Especially that Raizel boy who is clashing with the daughter of the Icy moon Sword sovereign of the Xue Clan. That girl is at the top of the top in the southern lands when it comes to talent; at fifteen, she already grasped sword intent and reached the 8th stage of Elemental Resonance, yet that boy is fighting evenly with her while still in Xiantian." The blue-haired elder said.
"Yes, it is truly shocking. Brother Zhu, did you notice, those two boys seemed to have refined their eyes; they both shine like crystals which is a telling sign of successful eye refinement. Do you think they also refined their brains?" Tang Feihu nodded in admiration while he remarked at a surprising discovery.
"You're right, I did notice. Though I can't say for certain that they did, I believe to match top talents while separated by so many levels, they would have to be able to reach the Xiantian 12th extreme." The man named Zhu nodded as he commented.
"That Raizel boy seems to have a lightning attributed bloodline and divine might, and that boy Thorin I can't tell which bloodline he is from, but he gives me an unusual aura, as if he's not completely human, but is of a race similar to humans in appearance." He added, looking pensive while he studied the tall, black-haired boy.
"Yes, I think he is from a type of giant race that's extremely rare, I remember that I've seen a similar-eyed giant race in wall engravings when I traveled deep into the abyssal void back in the day, though he gives me a slightly different vibe." Tang Feihu speculated.
"I want to take him as a disciple today, as well as Hei Kiang, the disciple he is battling; the two match my style quite closely." He added.
"Oh. I'm quite interested in that Raizel boy; his lightning attributed bloodline seems to be of extremely high-grade so he would easily learn my techniques. I do want to take him in. Where's that other boy you said was stronger than the other two?" Noticing one of the three wasn't there, the man named Zhu asked.
"He was taken in by Long Aotian." Tang Feihu responded, a mysterious glint flashing in his eyes as he said.
"Long Aotian? That means that boy must have a…" Surprised, the man named Zhu loses his stoic countenance slightly.
"Yes, I also noticed it when he was doing my strength game. He exudes a tyrannical draconic might that only brother Long and his other disciple have. Not only that, his seems to be much stronger than them both." Taking a deep breath, Tang Feihu added.
"A stronger dragon might than Long Aotian? What type of monster did we find this time." The man named Zhu exhaled loudly.
"So, are you planning on taking Raizel today?" Tang Feihu asked the blue-haired man.
"Since I'm already here, I might as well. Besides, if his two friends both have teachers before him won't he feel left out?" A slight smile surfaced on the latter's face as he answered.
"Alright, let's go then." The two figures descended from the sky towards the sparring teens.