In a cloud full of dust, the clone stood still, ready to receive a strike. Ling looked around, trying to find Xuefeng but after temporarily cutting her connection with him, she didn't even feel his presence anymore.
They were running out of time so Xuefeng decided to quickly try the fourth move before his Titan Bloodline loses its effects.
The third move was pretty similar to the second one, involving redirecting the power of enemy attack after a successful block but instead of a sneaking behind an enemy, it consisted of a powerful face-check slash.
Out of nowhere, Ling turned in one direction and saw Xuefeng coming from the sky, his sword above his head, already collapsing at the clone. She already expected it so Ling acted immediately, ordering the clone to strike back instead, seeing a clear opening in Xuefeng's chest.
To her surprise, Xuefeng didn't defend as she thought he would and proceeded forward, heading straight into her pointy sword.
"Noooo!" She cried out, trying to withdraw the clone but it was too late.
The sword pierced through Xuefeng's chest, making Ling's turn pale but then Xuefeng turned into a mist, confusing her.
Slash!
Before she knew what happened, another Xuefeng appeared in front of his clone and cut diagonally, slicing the clone in half.
Seeing Xuefeng turn around with a smile, she didn't think twice before running into his arms. "Ah! Dummy, you scared me… I thought I hurt you by accident," Ling muttered worriedly, squeezing his body as if to check if he was fine.
"Hehe, if I can trick you, I guess I can trick an enemy as well," Xuefeng muttered, pulling on her slim waist as if to reward himself with her soft body. "It was an afterimage that was meant to confuse you. Looking at your reaction I guess I succeeded."
She didn't mind his advances at all as her whole body was his to caress whenever he wished. If anything, she wanted more of him.
"Mhmm, I thought I lost you for a second. It looked so real," Ling agreed and gazed up in search of his lips.
Just as they kissed, she quickly reconnected their bodies, feeling his presence once again.
"Please don't make me cancel our connection again… I want to be with you at all times," Ling pleaded, bribing him with a passionate tongue twister, not letting go of him until the cloud of dust started to slowly die down.
Xuefeng, on the other hand, was indeed treating it as a reward, looking forward to train even more if each successful moves could win him a prize like this. His traveled down her body, exploring her bottom with force when he suddenly found himself losing his power.
The arm that held the sword suddenly shivered and in the next second, the Dragon Edge fell to the ground as he was unable to support it.
Thud.
The sheer weight of the sword created a tremor when the tip smashed into the ground, causing Ling to pull away in surprise.
"Ah, I guess our sword training time reached the end," Ling muttered, sounding as if it was quite unfortunate but her expression showed something different.
She showed a playful smile and tracing her fingers from his chest to his abs, Ling proposed sweetly, "How about we cultivate for a bit now…?"
Her proposal was really tempting and he felt she was in the mood but there was still something he wanted to try.
"Sure, but after I try the first move once again," Xuefeng suggested instead, postponing their dual cultivation for later.
"Don't you need your Titan Bloodline to lift the sword?" Ling questioned but he only smiled and assured her, "Don't worry, I don't need it this time. I have a different idea."
"Let me show you my Sky Drill," he called out while smacking her butt like a good luck charm and spawned his Golden Wings, launching himself in the sky.
It was hard to fly so he temporarily kept Dragon Edge into his dantian and ordered, "Create my clone once again and don't move it around. I just want to test how much damage I can possibly deal."
"Alright. Do you want me to use all of my defenses on it?"
"Yes, all of them. Let's test the penetration too," Xuefeng nodded.
Ling blushed from that as she pouted, "Can you stop saying all those naughty words? You only make me think about one thing…"
"Haha, I will swallow my words then," Xuefeng laughed and flew away, enjoying the look on Ling's face.
To give himself an even bigger challenge, he decided to include Tianshi in his experiment as well.
"Ah!" Both Tianshi and Lisa screamed when he landed next to them and lifted them from the ground without asking.
"Tianshi, will you help me? I need you to use your shield on the clone," Xuefeng asked mid-air, confusing her for a moment but then received a nod, "Of course."
He dropped them off next to Ling, describing his plan and finally launched to the sky, right to the peak of the Training Grounds barrier.
"There isn't a lot of space but I guess we can manage somehow," Xuefeng muttered.
'Can you tell me what are you planning? What is this Sky Drill?' Ming asked once again but Xuefeng didn't expose anything.
'Let me show you!'
Just as he called out, his wings swung aggressively and he launched himself forward, flying with great speed in a circle. He was accelerating till his vision was almost blurred and suddenly pulled out Dragon Edge, using its weight to aim himself straight into the clone's position.
Like a drill, Xuefeng started spinning, his sword shining, filled with Qi to the brim and fell straight into his target. Right when the tip touched his clone's stacked barriers, he released full power stored in the sword.
Booooom!
The sword passed through the clone's body like a knife through butter before smashing into the ground, causing a giant explosion that first blinded and then almost blasted him away through the shock wave.
"Arrrrrrgh!" Xuefeng yelled, holding onto the hilt of the sword as thousands of small rocks hit his body before dropping to the ground when the explosion ceased.
Although his body wasn't in pain, his outfit was ruined, most of it in shreds. This wasn't exactly the most surprising but the change in the surroundings was.
Half of Dragon Edge was stuck in the ground while he was at the bottom of a giant hole, almost fifty meters deep and hundred meters wide. He looked around with a dumbfounded expression, not expecting such a power behind the strike.
There was no sight of the clone, completely destroyed but that wasn't what he was most worried about.
"Are you all okay?!" Xuefeng cried out, looking at the edge of the hole and thankfully, he saw three heads pop out, replying the same back to him, "Are you okay?!"
"I'm good!" He shouted back and pulled out the sword from the ground, looking at it with admiration.
'That was stupid. You could have injured yourself if not for me shielding you,' Ming scolded. 'Next time try to aim the power forward instead of downward unless you plan to change your clothes each time you do it."
"Hehe, I will try," Xuefeng giggled, very excited about this new move of his. The only thing that didn't match anymore was the name.
"I have something cooler. From today this move will be called Nuke."