2020 Skill and Power
Тар.
Ryu took a second step back.
Tap.
Then a third.
Finally, he stabilized himself, but the rattling in his bones echoed like cracks of thunder.
And yet, he grinned. It was a wild, fiendish grin, and it was the kind of maddened smile that made Darkness Rising's pupils constrict in the far-off distance.
"Are you angry you shed a little blood?" Ryu asked, his voice sounding like a deep abyssal hell and his own aura beginning to grow in towering waves. "What a worthless excuse of a cultivator."
BOOM!
Falling Snow's body accelerated as he slashed out again.
A battle erupted between the two as their howls cut through the skies.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Space rippled and then forcefully reformed around them; falling meteors nearby crumbled from the reverberating impact alone, and the Heavens seemed to whine beneath their might, not liking the fact they were forcefully making the world withstand their power.
The truth was that the Heavens breaking apart and space shattering was part of a world protecting itself and letting pressure disperse. The use of Lord Control to keep a world forcefully contained was like making a vehicle too sturdy. There was no way to disperse the impact through the crumple, so the Heavens had to take on all the
burden.
Ironically enough, Lord Control was often more dangerous to a world than God Control because it had the power to keep a world intact to an extent, but not enough to truly take on all the pressure alone.
Yet, these weren't things that these two men cared to think about.
With every clash, Falling Snow's power seemed to increase as though he had touched upon a valve that was endlessly pouring power into his body.
His dullness was nowhere to be seen, and in fact, it seemed like he was using Ryu as a whetstone to strengthen himself again and again.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Ryu slashed out with his great swordstaff to block one saber and took a half spin to slip out of the way of a second.
Every time he calculated the next path Falling Snow would take, the man would improve again and make his previous calculations worthless.
It was almost comical the speed at which the man was improving, and likewise, the pressure on Ryu was only increasing as well.
And yet, Ryu's fiendish grin hadn't faded. If anything, the excitement in his eyes was growing.
He went from only putting about 20% of his attention into this battle to 30%... and then from 30% to 50%... and then from 50% to 90%.
All of a sudden, his full attention was on the battle at hand, and he seemed to have forgotten about everything else.
His blade flowed with a mastery that Falling Snow still couldn't match, but the combination of Falling Snow's powerful body and Qi Realm cultivation was like a tempest that fused and collided with one another, raising his power to another tier. BOOM!
Falling Snow's aura broke through, shattering the ceiling of the Lower Lord Realm and entering the Middle.
Ryu's great swordstaff was almost blown out of his hands as he was sent flying backward.
The reverberating, booming cacophony of their battle sent devastation all across the
land.
But this time...
Ryu's arm displayed a flexibility that was unmatched. The strength of his foundation wasn't something that Falling Snow could compare to.
The level of dexterity that Ryu had in dual-wielding weapons wasn't something that Falling Snow could compare to.
It was the very reason he had chosen this path in the first place. And while Falling Snow had a great deal of skill, he placed strength and power first and foremost. Comparatively speaking... Ryu had a great deal of both, and he didn't have to choose. The only reason Falling Snow could even compare to his body was that he had yet to
complete his Body Realm cultivation method.
And as for skill...
He couldn't compare at all.
Ryu's strikes suddenly went from heavy to light again. As though he were wielding a thin sword, his wrist lightly flickered, undercutting Falling Snow's blade and parrying
it upward. SHIIIIIIIIINIG!
The grating sound of two blades grinding against one another echoed, and the chips that Ryu's blade had caused in Falling Snow's were never more obvious than now. Falling Snow twisted to the side, thinking that Ryu would use this parry opportunity to
pierce him right through the chest.
But instead...
Ryu's wrist forcefully bowed downward. At that moment, the polearm of his dark great
swordstaff displayed a flexibility it never had before, curving like the arc of a bow.
The polearm bent downward, but the tip of the blade shot up, snagging a chip in Falling Snow's saber.
Falling Snow's eyes widened, but it was already too late.
CRACK.
His saber shattered.
Ryu had forged his great swordstaffs with the aid of a Dao God and two False
Shrines...
How could Falling Snow's blades compare to his own?
Falling Snow managed to block Ryu's light great swordstaff with his second saber, but
he had no answer for the follow-up of the dark great swordstaff other than to dodge.
Unfortunately, what good was that?
Ryu's blade cut across Falling Snow's body.
Falling Snow barely managed to pull back, but his body was still half cut into.
A slice extended from his shoulder to his opposite hip, his collarbone, his lungs, and
his heart all being cut in two.