29 The Strong Leader

The five soldiers remained silent and did not reply to Shura's remark. They continued to attack Shura unceasingly. Shura knew that he wasn't in any danger, he was also curious to the extent of his and his opponent's abilities, so he continued to fight them. He remained vigilant as he continued to fight them.

The fight was very different to what he was used to. Back in the Lower Realm, there were many ways of fighting and killing. If one was strong enough, they could release their inner energy into some physical form and attack the enemies with it. This was the reason why all sorts of strange sights occurred when experts were fighting.

Giant fists appearing out of thin air to smash into people and swords releasing deadly rays of light that acted as projectiles were common sights.

There were even some who concentrated on their soul to launch soul and mental attacks that could kill without even injuring the fleshly body of their opponents.

The Higher Realm was different. Or at least it was different for him and people of similar strength. Shura believed that all of the things that he had seen in the Lower Realm were possible here as well, but one had to be of a higher level of strength. The current level of strength couldn't affect anything outside his own body at all.

At his current level of strength. One's mental awareness could not leave the body, so he couldn't launch soul or mental attacks, he couldn't even scan things with his mind. His energy also couldn't leave his body. He couldn't launch sword energy attacks or anything like that either.

It was all physical. Metal to metal, flesh to flesh. Everything was tangible. If one wanted to best and kill their opponent, only their weapon and martial arts mattered. Although his sword left red lights in the air after it, it was because of the cosmetic property of the metal that he forged. It looked fancy and marvelous, but it couldn't attack or harm anything at all. It was just a light show, one that he liked, although he was reluctant to admit it.

There was nothing wrong with looking good while fighting.

Shura wasn't used to this way of fighting at all. He either overwhelmed his enemies with superior cultivation and energy, or he didn't fight them. The specifics and details of fighting were glossed over by him in the past.

This was why Shura was willing to continue to fight these soldiers, he was doing it to become more familiar with this way of fighting and to further hone his martial arts in combat.

As the battle continued on, the five men's familiar and uniform way of fighting began to diverge. They began to employ their own unique and individual fighting techniques and stances.

With both hands wielding his sword, Shura continued to plunge into the fight over and over. He engaged in a one-on-one duel with each strike. As he was occupied with one of the soldiers, the other four on his back and sides would strike. He would then turn around and parry.

Although he was fighting five people at once, in reality he was fighting them one at a time. Since he engaged them one at a time, their numerical superiority did not overwhelm him.

The sound of metal clashing against each other resounded in the dark forest.

Shura became more and more accustomed to fighting. He felt his body and sword became one. With a thought his body moved, but so did his sword. In this world, his energy could not leave his body. He could only control his body and the weapon in his hand. Since that was the case, his body and sword would act in unison. They would act as one. And this one weapon will face innumerable foes and their weapons and triumph over them all.

Shura continued to fight. At the same time that he was fighting and becoming more and more accustomed to fighting, he was also cultivating. With every inhale and exhale, dense and powerful energy was being absorbed into his body and refined.

He was accumulating cultivation energy and fighting experience at once.

They were all cultivators, yet his opponents were tiring while he still felt fresh. Was he the odd one, or were they the odd ones?

He fought with the five until the sun rose in the morning. By then the five soldiers were all so tired they couldn't even get up anymore.

The light of the dawning sun shone on Shura. There was not even a single droplet of sweat on his body.

Although these men were unreasonable and tried to kill him, they didn't really succeed. And they did help him gain combat experience and keener insight into fighting so he didn't take their lives.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard familiar sounds approaching. The rhythmic sound he had heard earlier and throughout the night: it was the sound of armored boots moving against the ground.

The large group of soldiers were back for their companion. He wasn't sure whether they were successful in their pursuit or not now that they had come back here.

Shura knew he wouldn't be able to run away now that they were this close, so he just stayed put and waited for them to arrive.

The large group arrived. The man in the front saw the five on the ground and made a gesture. A few soldiers checked up on the five men on the ground before returning to the man in the lead and reporting to him.

"The five are exhausted, but they are still alive." the soldier reported.

"I didn't kill your men, so shouldn't we part ways amicably?" Shura asked the man in the lead who appeared to be their leader.

They all wore the same armor and had similar height and builds. If there was a distinction between them all somewhere, he couldn't see it.

The leader looked at his men sprawled out on the ground and turned back to look at Shura. Finally, after a long time of silence, he spoke:

"If you can take five of my moves, I'll let you go."

Shura's eyes widened. "Five? Don't you think that's too little, I'm feeling really good right now so how about we make it ten?"

The leader shook his head and muttered, "Courting death."

Shura unsheathed his crimson sword and raised his sword and got into a stance.

One of the soldiers in the back handed the leader a spear. The leader walked up and stood in front of Shura. They were now both ready to begin the fight.

The leader thrusted his spear toward Shura.

This thrust was very fast. In the instant that the spear shot through the air and headed for him, Shura was very impressed and became alarmed. Althogh this strike wasn't as fast as a literal lightning strike, it was very fast. This was very impressive... and dangerous!

Shura judged that he couldn't dodge this so he moved his sword up to block the strike.

A heavy force was transferred from the collision of the spear and sword. Shura felt like a mountain had just dropped onto his two hands. He lost the feeling in his hand and was thrown back ten steps.

This soldier leader's strike was both strong and quick. Blocking one strike was difficult. To have to block it ten times, it was very hard. Shura regretted mouthing off earlier.

"Good hit," Shura complimented.

"One," the leader said. "Two. Three."

When the leader said 'Two,' his second strike arrived, and when he said 'Three,' his third strike arrived.

The second and third attack came one after another. It was as fast and strong as the first. Shura was only able to block it with great difficulty. Cold sweat ran along his back as he thought that blocking those three strikes almost took everything he had.

Although he was strong, in front of a stronger foe, he was nothing.

'How many stars does this leader have?' Shura thought in his mind. Shura now realized that he was barely this man's match. This man was very powerful.

Although Shura wasn't confident in defeating this leader, that didn't mean that he couldn't run away from him.

Heck, why was he even taking on all these attacks without fighting back? This wasn't how he did things!

Shura attacked. He slashed left and then right, he then switched from horizontal to vertical slashes. His swords clashed with the leader's spear time after time. His swords never neared the leader's body. The leader's spear always kept them at length. The leader's spear skill was superb.

Shura's plan was to not remain passive and take the leader's full-powered strikes head-on. He'd force it out and dampen its power with his own strikes.

Shura breathed in deeply and concentrated his entire strength on his sword and struck.

He had never imagined that he would one day fight like this. Fighting was still simple, but this was a different way of fighting. One where an instant moment of mistake costed everything.

Only by becoming stronger and achieving a higher level of cultivation would his body and energy become stronger to offset the risks.

Only by being stronger than the opponent would he be impervious to their attacks. At least he wouldn't die in one strike. In a violent world where the strong ruled, that reason alone was already enough for countless people to pursue after a higher level of cultivation.

After more than ten exchange of blows. Shura had difficulty breathing. The breathing of the leader was still the same. This was a mark of strength. This leader was stronger than him, just as he was stronger than the five soldiers.

"I can leave right?" Shura asked with difficulty.

"You may," the leader said.

"You first," Shura replied. He found a tree a leaned on it.

The five men had now recuperated enough and were now standing. They remained silent even after watching their leader overwhelm Shura.

The leader led his soldiers and they departed the forest.

"You're on your way, but where is my way?" Shura said as he looked at the direction the soldiers left, he then looked up at the sky.

"The sky is still blue. Strength is still strength. People are still people. There is nothing to fear in this world." Shura said aloud for himself to hear.