When he saw his opponent's body slowly forming, Lin Huang began to observe him.
He was well built and wore a grey robe, looking somewhat like the ancient Chinese people back on Earth. The material of his clothes looked average, so he did not seem wealthy. However, the sword hanging from his waist looked quite valuable indeed.
It was a broad-bladed sword with a hilt that looked like it was made of pure gold carved into beautiful patterns. The sheath was golden-red, and it looked like it was made of high-quality wood as well. There were several dozen pieces of flawless jade stones, each as large as a thumb, dotting the hilt.
"What a fine gold-engraved sword."
The sword he was holding qualified as an expert-grade god relic.
Similarly, the sword that appeared in Lin Huang's hand was of equal quality.
The broad-bladed sword was suitable for slashing, so the opponent should be especially good at slashing. The Sword Dao he emanated had a sharpness to it that proved it. His physical stature implied that he had strength as well, so he would not be bad at close-range fighting…
With just one glance, Lin Huang had a rough idea of what his opponent was like.
While Lin Huang was considering him, the well-built man opposite him was watching him as well.
"Your sword is very strong, but strength doesn't decide the victor. We'll only know after we battle."
They were both level-6 Sword Dao fighters, so the well-built man could clearly sense that Lin Huang was almost at the complete stage.
It was true that he was not as strong in terms of purely their Sword Dao, but there was no fear at all in his expression. Instead, his will to fight seemed even stronger now.
Lin Huang highly approved of the well-built man's words.
If there was not a decisive difference in power between the two sides in this battle, it would actually be quite difficult to determine the eventual winner. It was not impossible for the weak to triumph over the strong, not at all.
Seeing the opponent's rising will to fight, Lin Huang did not underestimate him in the slightest.
He could not use anything other than Sword Dao in this sword mark space, and he was facing a Sword Dao level-6 powerhouse, just like himself. He did not have any absolute advantages here. If he was not careful, he could really lose.
After the five-second preparation phase was over, the two bodies standing ten meters away shot out like lightning at almost exactly the same time. The blood-red sword and golden blade clashed together in an instant.
The instant the gold and red Divine Powers clashed, there was a burst of light that exploded into the sky.
It looked like a golden-red sun that rose in the void.
The clash of Divine Power created an energy that rippled in all directions like waves. Wherever they went, everything the waves touched was reduced to dust.
It was a clash in mid-air, but a deep and enormous crater several dozen kilometers in diameter appeared in the ground, as though a meteor had crashed there.
The high heat generated by the energy clash even pushed the ground to its boiling point. The crater was dark red inside, and all the sand had melted into a crystal that resembled charcoal. The heat contained within could be evidently felt from miles away.
In the air, the clash between swords lasted for only an instant.
A grey figure was sent flying back, crashing into the distant ground in a streak of golden light.
Lin Huang was still stronger overall. After all, he had a terrifying body that was almost as strong as a Tyrant's. In a frontal clash, even the well-built man who was good at close-range combat did not find himself at an advantage.
After a moment, the well-built man crawled out of the crater and spat out two mouthfuls of sand. He shook his right hand, which had nearly shattered, and raised his head to give Lin Huang a smile as he said, "And I thought that I was one of the physically strongest amongst sword cultivators, so a frontal close-range attack would give me an advantage. But it turns out your body is actually monstrously strong."
Lin Huang grinned. "You're no match for me in close-range combat, so why don't you show me your strongest specialty?"
After all, back when Lin Huang obtained the Tyrant Monster Card, he had also received its Robust skill. By now, the Tyrant's Robust skill had been enhanced countless times, and Lin Huang's skill had also been enhanced more times than he could count.
If he put aside the Tyrant's physical multiplier via its other skills and divine ability, Lin Huang was actually the same level as the Tyrant.
There was also the fact that Lin Huang had the Divine Power and Seraphic Speed talents, so he was exceptionally strong and fast as well. It was only natural that he was terrifying at close-range combat.
Before the level-6 stage, the sword mark space considered the fairness of the battles and suppressed Lin Huang's combat level and physical attributes completely. All of his passive buff-type skills were forbidden, so his body, strength, and speed were actually maintained at the same level as his opponents'.
After the level-6 stage was unlocked, however, his opponents' combat level had been adjusted to rank-9 virtual god-level, so all of his own boosting abilities were activated as well. The chains that had been binding Lin Huang were finally undone.
Now, only the active skills aside from Sword Dao techniques were forbidden. Lin Huang's attributes, like his physicality, strength, and speed, were all completely unleashed now. The only things that remained unavailable to him were skills such as his Seraphic Speed space flickering and his Superhuman Strength explosion.
Putting aside his Telekinesis and summoning powers, he was almost at full strength now.
The well-built man was only testing the waters earlier, and now he knew that he did not stand a chance in close-range combat. Hence, he decisively chose to give up on close-range combat.
"In that case, I'll get serious now. My biggest specialty is slashing, so it doesn't matter how strong your body is. As long as you aren't as immovable as god rule powerhouses, there's a chance I'll cleave you in half. "
"Bring it on. I wanna see just how strong your slashes can be!"
Lin Huang gripped the long sword in his hand and grew ever more serious.
The well-built man swung his sword, and a crescent-shaped golden light sprayed out of the blade, slashing toward Lin Huang.
That sword gleam was unbelievably fast, reaching Lin Huang in almost an instant.
"That's so fast!"
Lin Huang's pupils dilated somewhat. With just one slash, his opponent proved that he could walk the talk.
However, Lin Huang was not slow to react either. He held his sword and leaped up, swinging it once as well and slashing forth a blood-colored sword gleam.
Just as the golden crescent was about to slash Lin Huang's body, the blood-red sword gleam surged forth.
The golden and red crescents crashed into each other.
After a loud crash, the two crescents fell apart at almost the same time.
Lin Huang's body was sent flying several dozen meters as well.
As soon as he moved, however, almost a hundred golden crescents came raining down toward him violently.
Some of these slashes were fast while others were slow. Some came straight at him while others curved and flew at Lin Huang from different angles, surrounding him completely.
"You're not too bad!"
Lin Huang was quite pleasantly surprised, his eyes shining even brighter when he saw what his opponent could do.
He swung his long blade again and again, and suddenly it looked like his sword had split into countless shadows, flying toward the golden slashes.
Each shadow easily destroyed one of the slashing sword gleams.
When he saw what Lin Huang was doing, the well-built man was not surprised in the slightest. He held the battle sword with both his hands, staring unblinkingly at the direction Lin Huang was in.
The moment Lin Huang destroyed the final sword gleam, his body instantly disappeared from the spot.
In the air, there was a gigantic golden sword gleam that slowly approached Lin Huang's direction like the coastal line.
Lin Huang could clearly feel that this move had locked onto him. No matter how he tried to dodge, that sword gleam would come right at him and slash him in half at the waist.
The opponent had clearly used his strongest move.
Since he could not evade it, Lin Huang could not be bothered to try.
His wrist twisted abruptly and he bent his arm, holding his sword. When the horizontal sword gleam arrived before him, he finally thrust his sword forth.
The blood-colored sword tip gathered a little red light from the sky and crashed into the golden string.
The next instant, the tidal wave of golden strings simply snapped and fell apart.
At the same time, at the exact spot Lin Huang had pierced with the tip of his sword, a grey figure was forced out and sent flying with the force of that stab.
"Your slash is very powerful. You've almost completely merged with your blade to unleash the ultimate slash, but the largest flaw of this slash is your own body. I just need to attack you, and your slash will amount to nothing."
Lin Huang watched as his opponent crashed into the ground. Instead of giving chase, he simply looked in the direction of the well-built man's fall from way up high.
"Your slash is most advantageous as a mid-close-range attack, and not for fighting at close range. Otherwise, your slash would not be worth it. Don't try to pit your weakness against my strength. You'll only lose horribly like that."