Attrition

Wu Tai widened his eyes when the other party confirmed his usage of Forbidden Arts.

However, this only lasted for a second before his eyes returned to their cold state.

Seeing the brief expression of shock on his opponent's face, the corner of the assassin's lips curled upward.

"You don't have to be scared. You're not my target; I'll give you a short death," the assassin confidently declared.

Wu Tai stood still, his eyes following the assassin. He was circling around Wu Tai like he was his prey.

The black mist around the man was turning more dense by the second.

Suddenly, a red mist mixed in with the black, creating a mist of both colors spinning around the assassin.

"This is... Blood energy?!"

If the black Dark energy was sinister and mysterious, then the red Blood energy was gruesome and violent.

To cultivate Blood energy, one needed to be bloodthirsty, otherwise they would get devoured by the energy itself instead of them dominating over it.

The only way one could cultivate such an energy without a strong desire for violence was through beast blood.

It was full of Blood energy, but it could contain the thirst for blood itself. However, it was even harder to dominate than Blood energy alone.

That was why most people opted for the other choice instead. It was much easier, not to mention the fact that beast blood was only ever conquered by one person throughout all of history.

"Heh, you keep having these useless epiphanies mid-battle. One of these days, you're gonna be distracted by those." The assassin sneered as he launched himself using his feet.

He headed towards Wu Tai, who calmly stood there, imitating him earlier.

"Hmm?" The assassin felt something was wrong. He retreated immediately, as he examined Wu Tai.

He stood still, glaring at him with those cold eyes. For some reason, his cold stare burned more than if it was those of fire.

However, other than that, there was nothing else peculiar about him. His danger sense tingled earlier, but he was now doubting it.

After all, nothing can truly be trusted, even if it was one's own instincts.

He rushed back, using the Blood energy mixed with the black mist to augment the dagger in his hands. The Silver Mythril turned into a scarlet red as cracks began to form on the handle.

The name carved on the wood was wiped by the cracks gradually overtaking it.

Wu Tai looked at the assassin. He furrowed his brows.

He needed to get ready!

Before he knew it though, Wu Tai was already sent flying back!

A handful of blood was spit out from his mouth. He held the wound on his torso as he focused on the location of his enemy.

"...There!" Wu Tai blocked his sword where the assassin attacked him.

The sword was no match for the augmented sharpness of the Silver Mythril, as it was cut like butter.

However, its momentum was slightly slowed, giving Wu Tai a chance to escape.

He dodged swiftly as he took out another sword from his storage ring.

It was dusty, showing how long Wu Tai had last used it.

"Aha! I never expected you to sense where I was going to come from... It seems you have some skills. However, they are not enough!" The assassin scoffed as he disappeared into thin air again.

Wu Tai sensed where he was going to come from again, and hastily used his sword to block the enemy's attack!

Ting!

This time, the attack was successfully blocked!

It left a scratch on Wu Tai's sword, but the force was just enough to shake the dust off of it.

The sheen of the sword was familiar... In fact, it was exactly the same as the dagger's.

This was the king's reward to Wu Tai as he successfully kept the secret of the ore deposit.

The assassin retreated again. He was never trained how to fight on a face-to-face battle, and kept retreating as Wu Tai kept blocking.

The battle was in a stalemate.

Wu Tai's endurance and vitality was fading, while the assassin's blood energy was draining. It was only a battle of attrition at this point.

Sensing something weird, Wu Tai tried a different strategy this time around.

He kept himself vulnerable, exposing every weakness he could think of.

The assassin was too confident, but he was clever as well. He knew enough to know that this was a trap.

"Hahaha, do you really think you could fool me with such a simple technique?" The assassin said before he faded into the desert again.

Wu Tai tracked where the voice came from, and ran towards the opposite way immediately.

The assassin reformed with a mocking smile on his face. However, his expression froze as he saw the fast approaching figure.

"Ah!"

Before he knew it, his torso was sliced into two parts.