The battle of spiritual power leaves no room for tricks; the life and death of the loser are at the mercy of a single thought of the opponent. In this regard, Li Xu has already shown mercy, otherwise, the so-called fourth and fifth ranking experts might have to be replaced by now.
Even so, the loser could at the very least end up with severe psychological scars, or in serious cases, be left with indelible marks of failure in their consciousness, or even plant a Heart Demon, leading to their spiritual power never advancing another step. If that were the case, being a Contractor essentially translates to a death sentence.
Because a contest of spiritual power is so dangerous, once it starts, there is no turning back, nor any possibility of escape, which is why such situations rarely occur later on. No matter how great the enmity, there are other methods to resolve it, so why would one risk their most core and precious asset in a head-on clash?
