12 A Familiar Situation
A curtain of light had quickly covered the sky. The light blue sky and clouds could still be seen, but it was no longer clear. A membrane of light of had come between it and the actual space outside the arena.
The space around the battle arena was sealed. Many flying swords floated ominously around the stage. They all were pointing at Shura. The Spirit King had sealed his route of escape and was about to continue his attacks at any moment. The young woman merely watched on. She didn't think it was necessary for her to do anything now.
Shura had now calmed down. He could only scold himself in his mind for his childish behavior earlier. The road of cultivation was long. He didn't believe that the difference between the lowest Spirit Warrior and a Spirit Saint was a simple matter of power or how long they could live. One also had to have a mature and cultivated mind.
So what if one cultivated and could live a little while longer? They would still die one day unless they had truly reached an unfathomable height. And so what if instead of killing a man in one strike they were instead able to flatten a mountain, or even destroy a whole world with one palm strike?
If their mentality was subject to influences, of anger, sorrow, and hatred, and other extreme emotions, then they were still ultimately bound and controlled by these things. If a truly powerful being was still bound in that way, would their power and longevity truly have any meaning?
Mindset was important. One could already determine who would win or lose in a fight by comparing mindsets.
The best option for Shura would be to escape. He was not affiliated with any groups and had no backings of his own. If he started confronting strong people with backgrounds out in the open, then he wouldn't live long.
He was standing in front of two strong opponents and danger both seen and unseen surrounded him on all sides. Yet Shura felt like it was all very distant from him.
Would he have to do something drastic again? He would rather die than keep taking steps backward though.
Although this fight had started because he had been careless, he had truly wanted to see it to the end. It was a shame that he wouldn't have the opportunity today. His opponents were too powerful for the current him and he was in a disadvantaged position.
Shura began to run away. He didn't look back and kept running. He wouldn't last for long if he was trapped here. Shura cast an enhancement spell on his sword to further reinforce it as he ran and stored up his energy in it.
He soon reached the edge of the arena. He slashed his sword at the curtain of light that had isolated the arena from the outside world. A long red line ran across the light curtain and it shook for a moment. The damage on the light curtain quickly recovered and it returned to its normal appearance.
Shura felt a sinking feeling in his heart. He could feel the two behind him getting very near. He gritted his teeth, there was a crazy look in his burning red eyes as he turned around to look at his enemies.
Would he be confined to a prison? No, the middle-aged Spirit King was intent on killing him here and now.
All of his life living in the world, even during the struggle for survival against demons or other survivors, he had never felt such a ridiculous feeling while fighting either to survive or kill.
He couldn't find any right reason this Spirit King had to take his life. He had no moving motive. The Spirit King wasn't doing it for survival or vengeance, but only because of his ideal. What was wrong? What was right? Was it only a matter of strength and status?
As cultivators lived more and fought more, such a question would inevitably come up.
His carelessness had killed some innocent spectators. For that, the Spirit King wanted his life.
Shura looked deeply at the Spirit King. There wasn't a speck of dust or dirt on his white robe. He looked aloof from the suffering of mortal existence. He then looked at the young woman, Silis. She didn't have an expression on her face. Perhaps she thought what there was nothing wrong with what she saw.
The flying swords instantly shot toward him.
Shura instantly moved as well. He deflected a few flying swords but one had made a hole in his lower abdomen. He coughed out blood and was thrown back. Although a Spirit Grandmaster had a tenacious life force and Shura's body was as strong as a Spirit Lord's, a wound from a flying sword of a Spirit King was not something he could just shrug off casually.
Shura felt his mind turn very cold, and he became incomparably calm. Shura retreated back and waved his hand. Many symbols of light instantly appeared, combined into a ball of green light and shot into his wound. The wound instantly regenerated at a visible rate. Soon the wound had disappeared. It was like he had never been injured before.
The Spirit King frowned at the sight and there was a trace of surprise in his eyes.
"I hope the two of you don't regret the choice you made here today, not that you would even be able to regret," Shura said and spat his blood on the ground.
A murderous and crazy aura shot out from Shura's body. The Wrathfire in his body had turned abnormal. They were cycling from his core to his meridians and back in reverse.
Wrathfire poured into his fabricated demonic sword. The sword glowed very redly. A familiar shrieking sounds came out of the sword.
He wouldn't overdo it this time. It'd be too much if he had to restart his cultivation. But he was at least willing to spend a few months in bed, and regressing a few sublevels or even a level wasn't out of consideration.
Shura lunged at the Spirit King. The flying swords grazed his body lightly as he shot through the air with his sword thrusted at the Spirit King's chest.
He didn't want to think too much at this moment, but thoughts swirled in his mind. Aside from being stronger in every physical area and possessing mental awareness, and essence shielding,
Spirit Kings were not so different from Spirit Grandmasters.
The wrathfire had erupted in an insane manner inside Shura's body, strengthening him out of proportion. The disparity between his Spirit Grandmaster strength and the other's Spirit King strength disappeared. Mental awareness allowed one to see 360 degrees to a certain range and inspect things in fine detail with the mind. But even if a Spirit King saw an attack approaching, he might not be able to do anything about it.
Essence shielding was the innate ability of the Spirit King level to automatically send spirit energy outside of the body to cover the skin for extra protection. This was an ability that prevented attacks from beings below the Spirit King level from harming a Spirit King.
The question in his mind was only if he was able to pierce through this Spirit King's essence shield or not. If he could, this Spirit King was good as dead if he could reach him.
Although all these thoughts occurred in Shura's mind, it all happened in an instant.
The bloody demon sword pierced through an invisible barrier projected outward from the Spirit King's body. Shura instantly heard a cracking sound. Just as his sword began to pierce inside the Spirit King's body, a blue flying sword had grazed him on the shoulder, causing his sword to miss the Spirit King's heart.
His sword pierced through the Spirit King's chest, but his heart was intact. Shura instantly sneered. The wrathfire energy in his sword instantly erupted into Spirit King body, wreaking havoc on his internal organs. This wrathfire was many times more domineering and powerful than his previous wrathfire that was frozen by the young woman's frost spirit energy. It was his all-out attack, not even the spirit energy of this Spirit King would be able to withstand it. The area surrounding the Spirit King soon became blurry from heat.
Shura took out his sword and stepped back.
The Spirit King's body heated up and his body bulged out uncontrollably. He then exploded. Blood mist splashed out everywhere, but even the blood didn't remain. The high temperature soon caused the blood to instantly evaporate. All signs of the Spirit King except his flying swords which were now on the ground had disappeared.
A blue flying sword flew back into the hand of Silis. She stared at the spot where the Spirit King had been only moments before. An almost imperceptible frown appeared on her face. The change was only for an instant, but Shura saw it.
"That's it? Your 'teacher' didn't even have a corpse left to be buried, and that's the only reaction you have?" Shura mocked.
By now the curtain of light that caused the sky to seem slightly blurry had long disappeared with the Spirit King's death. Shura could leave anytime he wanted.
