Cross Over V

In the next moment, the dust scattered by a gale of wind coming from a figure. The latter simply moved her hand to the left. She stood on the other side of the circle, crossing her arms.

With the dust vanished, it revealed his figure. He sensed a powerful aura and assumed a fighting stance. Upon seeing the enemy turned out to be a woman, he widened his eyes a bit.

He never witnessed a woman as powerful as her. It shocked him. He calmed down a bit and observed her closely with his divine senses.

"A high ranking devil. Does the Under Realm want to use the princess as a bargaining chip?" He asked.

"I don't know what you are talking about. You seem to know about the little girl. We can talk this through," she suggested with a smile.

"I don't trust the word of a devil." He shook his head and ran towards her at a breakneck speed, leaving trails of dust and afterimages.

She let out a sigh and rested her other hand on her back.

"Don't underestimate me!" His smile widened, showing his teeth. He arrived before her with fists covered in dark energy. His punches traveled at a super sonic speed his punches turned into afterimages. All of which aimed for every spot on her body.

However, he didn't feel any impact. The woman elegantly brushed off every attack like she was facing the punches of a two year old! Her stoic face was proof of that! She seemed bored!

Doubt starts to fill his heart. Are my attacks this weak to begin with? No, she's simply too powerful! Is she here to kill me? No, if she wants, I'd be dead before I realized it! Her aura alone would make the elders bow. How come I never heard of her before? She's definitely from the ancient ages, hiding in the dark! He realized and halted his attacks. He immediately retreated a few steps back.

"Are you done?" She asked while swaying her other hand, it felt a bit sore blocking millions of attacks under three seconds.

"I am called the Honored One. May I know your name, elder?"

Airi might have been imagining things, but she felt an imaginary arrow piercing her heart. She stomped her feet. The ground trembled greatly and a giant, deep crater reaching the core of the earth took form next to him.

He peeked at the hole and witnessed bright light at the end. He might survive if she tossed him into it, but it would be extremely painful.

"I'm sorry, Miss." He bowed. The hole closed slowly and returned to normal.

"My friend retrieved the little girl because she seemed to be in dire need of help. However, he has already told me the story. He misjudged the situation and figured out it's better to leave it in your hands. We don't want to be involved with you lots," she calmly explained.

Zero retrieved the lamp without thinking further. He didn't know what he caught up with and decided to return it before everything was too late.

The Honored One possessed a different line of thought, however. He assumed she and her friends were cultivators and knew who they were, what sect they belonged to from their clothes alone. Yet, her friends still attacked them, injured them with dangerous energy and stole the lamp.

Should they not return in time, they'd die agonizingly.

"I want the lamp and the daoist who hurt my friend," he demanded respectfully.

"We're not cultivators. I do not accept your request. Take that lamp and get out of my sight, or do you want to suffer pain?" Her previous identity as the last boss takes over. Her aura increased sharply. Everything, including bugs and plants kneeled, cowered in fear.

I gave you what you want yet you want more? You should be grateful that I'm willing to give you the lamp even though I'm interested in it, she said herself, eyes filled with contempt and disgust.

Before a powerful aura, his legs showed some resistance as it wanted to kneel. His legs trembled.

He bit his lip. As a smart and wise cultivator, he knew what to do. However, he was prideful, he wouldn't back down unless he got a fair fight. That said,

She's in a different league... He said to himself. In the process, he saw images of corpses stack on the side of the street. Piles of body inside the building. Blood dye the street. River of blood in the sewer system, human guts filling them.

A sickening sight. Thankfully, his mentality is not as fragile as an ordinary cultivator. He processed such information calmly, yet the image made his heart in turmoil.

Heart and the brain were never in sync. Two processes things differently.

He can tell that these images weren't illusions, but real, and she stood among these piles of corpses in the street, bathed in blood with empty, cold eyes. In this image, she slowly turned her head to him.

His body froze instantly, like a bunny before a tiger, or a weak man before a gun.

These images vanished as his mind returned to reality. He took sharp breaths continuously. The whole time, he didn't take a breath.

"Huff... Huff..." Cold sweat flowed down, touching the ground.

"Looks like I'm overdoing it." She restrained her aura, becoming no different than ordinary people now.

She received no answer after waiting a few minutes, only loud breathing as though he finished a marathon.

She pinched her chin, wondering what she should do to chase him out. She got an idea in the next moment as she knew from a glance what kind of person he was. She met with a lot of people before, after all.

"You can bring him with you if you can survive for five minutes," she abruptly raised a challenge.

He controlled his breathing and looked up. "How should I know you won't break your promise?"

He had no trust in the devil. In the cultivation world, a vampire, no matter what position they were in the vampire family, is a high rank devil. Even a Baron Vampire is still considered a high rank devil.

"Ease not, under the name of the Ancient Goddess of Astareth, I always keep my promise." Her body glowed brightly.

With a glance, he knew what was going on.

"Law of Exchange... You have to keep any promise in exchange for a powerful boost in power. Should you fail, you will die." He pinched his chin. He started to consider her words.

The Law of Exchange was no joke. Someone can exchange something in them for a tremendous boost in power. He currently didn't do any of it because it felt like selling yourself to the universe and he saw it as being weak and put his value lower than pigs.

It changed with the appearance of a powerful opponent that also did Law of Exchange. Should he start to consider doing it?

As if reading his mind, she opened her mouth, "I don't recommend you to do it. It does give your tremendous power in return, yet still, instant power given by exchanging a part of yourself brings not much fortune, only disaster."

Her words snapped his line of thought to reality. His teacher said the same thing.

"So, will you accept my challenge?" She asked for confirmation. Should this be a game, a notification with Yes and No would pop in front of his eyes.

He pinched his chin, fell into a trance.

"Alright, let's do it." He took a deep breath, circulate his qi and breathe out slowly. He looked at her with clear, shiny eyes filled with determination and focus.

"I like that look, full of energy. That's how a young man should be! I won't hold back." She smiled, "it starts now." She snapped her fingers. In an instant, her figure vanished from the spot and reappeared before him. Her fingernails turned into claws and she swung them at his vital spots.

He didn't dodge as he responded with his fists. Claws and fists clashed, she noticed something was missing.

It proved her right when he punched her right abdomen. The fist pierced the wind, making a whistle sound.

She retreated a few meters back. His attack hit her recent position. Upon impact, the ground turned into a deep ditch which extended to hundreds of meters.

Wind spread out, dust scattered throughout the field. A few moments later, it faded away, revealing a lady standing on the side of the ditch, looking at it with contemplating expression. It was unknown what kind of thought she had right now.

As though comprehending something, she turned her head to him, "You can negate the attack and damages you received and return it to the sender."

"Did you understand that from the attack alone?" He tightened his fists. Now she knew, he'll be at a disadvantage.

"No, from the way you face my attack head on. Usually, people would retreat as they fear my claws would have any poison or curses in them.

"From there, they would test a few things to make sure my claws don't have anything like that, once they do, they'd begin to fight confidently, yet you didn't, hence my conclusion." She gave him her piece of mind. At the same time, her claws shrunk, becoming ordinary fingernails.

"You said all of that with confidence, I could have some protection in me." He noticed her claws had vanished and suspicion filled his heart.

"I thought of that too, but if you have protection, would you waste it by recklessly facing the enemy head on? The enemy is stronger than you. Shouldn't you approach her carefully?

"Even if you have a protection on you and charge the enemy head on, you just kill yourself by eliminating your only defense which can save you at a critical time, and such a thing only be made by a rookie. You're not a rookie at all given your name." She slowly spewed those words, as well as not forgetting her opponent.

"So what if I can negate attacks and damages I received and return their attacks? You're not at an advantage at all!" He moved forward, his figure became after images and in the blink of an eye, he materialized behind her. He sent forward his left fist.

She moved her body to the left, avoiding his punch. She then grabbed his left wrist and tightened her hand. However, all power seemed to vanish as though an unknown power sucked them.

In a fluid and rapid motion, his wrist moved and clutched her neck. How the tables have turned!

He lifted her body to the air, her expression remained stoic and looked down at him.

"So, can you give me the daoist? You've lost." He demanded.

"I'm lost? Are you sure? The rule says to survive from my attack for five minutes, not to lay a hand on me. In fact, it is your loss, you should've played a good boy and stay where you are, yet you become confident. I wonder where that came from," she touched his wrist. His expression turned, twisted in pain.