The first loss.

Yin Long's words earned him a fair bit of attention, it was certainly no easy feat for someone with no backing to earn a spot in the 4th strongest team of a territory. How difficult would it be to stand out amongst all the other cultivators at the 1st Immortal Door, all those youths that had received great tutoring and resources from their families and organizations?

Of course, the foolhardy courage he displayed also played a large part in the extra attention he garnered. He didn't care the slightest about the countless gazes and strode into an unwinnable battle with a smile, how could such staunch determination and courage not tug at the heartstring of all who saw it?

But Yin Long simply blocked out the surroundings and put his full focus on Fang Yau, the crimson leaves continuing to lazily dance around him. This wasn't the first time leaves like this had appeared around him, but he didn't know how to trigger their appearance so he wasn't planning on spending any time lingering on them right now. He slowly let out a long breath, the leaves quivering faintly as he started to slowly walk forward.

Fang Yau was observing Yin Long intently as he started his approach, the light swimming in his eyes slowly becoming more resplendent. He respected Yin Long's determination and courage, which both bordered on the insane, it was only people like him who would amount to great things in the future. But as he approached, he realized that the had to up his opinion of Yin Long even further.

When he just stood there, he gave off the same impression as a common wooden box, not the slightest fluctuation of energy or intensity. But the moment he brought out his weapon, it was as if the box opened itself to reveal a gleaming blade, it was to the point that Fang Yau felt a slight prickling on his skin just from the aura Yin Long unconsciously radiated.

And that only made him look forward to things even more. What stage could a person like that reach, how high could he bring his sword? Would there be a day where even the Netherworld and Celestial World had to evade his blade, or could he go even higher? Fang Yau didn't know, and the unknown was always extremely enticing and exciting.

And so, under the gazes of what might as well be everyone in the Starblood Province, he did something that no one would expect a great Earthen Door cultivator to do with a mere Immortal Door cultivator, he matched his actions. He started to slowly walk forward rather than wait for Yin Long to reach him, the tips of his swords scraping against the surface of the stage.

The two people reached each other after half a minute, Fang Yau standing nearly half a head over Yin Long as the two locked eyes. And then Fang Yau once again did something no one would have expected from someone of his status, he took the first move.

Both his arms flashed forward at the same time, one sword coming for Yin Long from below while the other descended from above, both in a diagonal manner. Fang Yau's arms moved incredibly fast, but it wasn't to the point that Yin Long couldn't see them move, nor was it so fast that the couldn't react to it.

He bent his knees and hopped to the side, bringing his sword upwards in an arch so that it crashed into the side of Fang Yau's descending sword. The arch of his weapon caused Fang Yau's weapon to pass over his head, Yin Long bringing his own sword down so that Fang Yau's sword was forced to follow along. He caused both of Fang Yau's weapons to collide with each other, taking advantage of them halting each other to flick his wrist.

The edge of his blade slid along Fang Yau's sword and shot towards his throat, the cold glint of the transparent crimson sword causing an excited chuckle to escape from Fang Yau's lips. He leaned his upper body backwards to dodge and exerted his physical strength, tilting both his swords to the side and sweeping them at Yin Long.

Both weapons diverged from their singular path as they got close to Yin Long's body, one arching up towards Yin Long's armpit while the other arched down towards his knee. Yin Long quickly reacted by leaning his own torso backwards and kicking off from the ground, jumping into a horizontal position just before the blades touched him.

He passed through the gap between the two weapons and quickly straightened his position, his toes barely touching the ground before he threw himself forward. He brought his sword down in a simple slash, but Fang Yau only exerted a bit more of his physical strength and reversed the direction of his weapons.

One of his swords headed directly for Yin Long's descending weapon while the other sword aimed for the opening that had appeared on Yin Long's thigh. His gaze was locked squarely on Yin Long, expectantly waiting to see how he would respond, how he would defend himself.

And Yin Long didn't disappoint, forcing his descending slash a few centimetres to the side so that it collided with Fang Yau's incoming sword a short second before the other weapon reached his thigh. He also jumped up at the same time, pulling his legs up as far as he could while flicking his wrist so that Fang Yau's sword slid along the edge of his blade and passed over him.

By the time Fang Yau's first sword reached the tip of Yin Long's weapon, the other sword reached the spot where Yin Long's thigh used to be. And Yin Long lowered his legs at the same time, stepping on the flat side of Fang Yau's second blade and flicking his wrist once more. Fang Yau's first sword was flicked into the air as it had yet to leave the tip of Yin Long's blade, creating an opening that Yin Long had no intention of ignoring.

He exerted a bit of force and stepped forward, still standing on Fang Yau's second blade, and brought his own sword down in a diagonal slash that aimed for Fang Yau's neck. They were simply too close, and Yin Long was even standing on one of his weapons, Fang Yau simply wasn't given the chance to dodge properly without Yin Long following him like a maggot on a bone. As such, Yin Long's sword reached Fang Yau's neck, and then summarily bounced off, leaving behind only a small scratch that didn't even spill a drop of blood.

Even if you didn't focus on cultivating your body, just the act of normal cultivation would enhance your body's strength to a degree. It wasn't to the point where it could be considered extreme, but the difference between Fang Yau and Yin Long wasn't just a sub-realm or two, it was over an entire great realm. As such, Yin Long's physical strength wasn't enough for him to pierce Fang Yau's skin, even with his tremendously sharp weapon.

He failed to leave a wound on his opponent so he quickly hopped back, just barely dodging Fang Yau's incoming counterattack. He might have failed to draw blood, but everyone observing the battle was still left utterly dumbfounded. Even though neither of them used any Qi, the passive strengthening to Fang Yau's body was more than enough for him to trounce people at the 1st Immortal Door, he should have been able to squash Yin Long.

But even so, he was unable to crush Yin Long, his attacks weren't even able to touch Yin Long's skin. On the contrary, it was Yin Long who had taken the upper hand and even been the first to land an attack, even if it ended up not amounting to anything. Slowly but surely, they were starting to understand just how he had secured his spot on the 4th strongest team.

Fang Yau didn't immediately chase after Yin Long, he first raised his arm and touched the spot on his neck where Yin Long's attack had landed. A single layer of skin had been broken, it would probably recover within a few minutes at the latest. But the attack had still hit him, and the location that it had hit caused the smile on his face to grow a bit wider.

"That would have passed right through the fifth cervical vertebrae, forget someone at the Earthen Door realm, even someone at the Skyborne Doors would die if a blade passed through there. Your blade wouldn't even have suffered any damage, only veins and the like to block its path in that location. You've got the heart and skills worthy of someone aiming for the peak, and you've even got the cold-bloodedness to carve your path there."

He wasn't angry at Yin Long for using an attack that could have killed him if it was successful, everyone who stepped onto this stage had to be prepared for the chance that they might die. On the contrary, him not holding back or trying to avoid any vital areas showed just how serious Yin Long took him and this fight. Fang Yau removed his hand from his neck and lowered both his weapons again, the Qi within his body starting to roil in anticipation.

"Yin Long, what a waste it is for you to just be a wanderer, what a waste it is for you to be unknown. My title was granted to me by the onlookers who witnessed my battle against the Young Matriarch of the Shizu clan, the hatefully glaring woman sitting over there, and it has stuck with me ever since, it has formed my reputation. You will lose here, but you have earned my heartfelt respect and admiration, so I'll be taking the liberty of deciding on a title for you, consider it my winner's reward."

Fang Yau grinned without a care as he spoke, the aura radiating from his body growing stronger and stronger with each passing second. He had lost when it came to sword skills, he would have already been dead if he and Yin Long had bodies that were on the same level. But that could only be considered a warm-up, now it was time for both of them to use their Qi so that Fang Yau could really force Yin Long to show his all. He spat out a short breath, his knees bending slightly as he spoke up in a voice so loud it reached every corner of the room.

"Yin Long, you stand there with your sword surrounded by dancing leaves, like a ruler admiring the autumn scenery. I don't care what others will call you in the future, you will only ever have one title in the eyes of my Fang clan. To me, you will always be the Prince of Fallen Leaves, carry that name with pride!"

Fang Yau allowed his voice to echo through the grand hall for a few seconds, he wanted everyone to engrave the title he had chosen for Yin Long into their minds. Once the last trace of his voice faded, he straightened his knees and shot forward so fast that he blurred in front of Yin Long's eyes.

Yin Long couldn't see him, but the oppressive and suffocating feeling he brought with him was enough to press down on Yin Long's chest like an anvil. And he might be able to escape Yin Long's eyes, but he couldn't fully escape Yin Long's senses, which constantly turned the surrounding space into a three-dimensional image inside his mind.

But knowing where he was and reacting to him were two different things, especially now that Fang Yau was using his Qi. He arrived in front of Yin Long practically instantly, not giving him the slightest chance to even take a step back as he lashed out with both his weapons. Fang Yau unleashed his Qi for the first time, so Yin Long would obviously do the same, otherwise, he would just lose right here and now.

His Qi instantly exploded forth, a yellow crack spreading down his forehead as he even drew upon the strange law that occupied the yellow portion of his soul. He immediately reached his strongest state and slashed out with his sword, the crimson leaves around him shooting forward at the same time. He didn't know how to trigger their appearance, but just using the leaves was easy enough, each and every one of them felt like a part of his body.

His sword collided with one of Fang Yau's weapons while all the leaves around him blocked the other sword, Fang Yau's eyes lighting up even further when he felt the blood in his body roil and almost leave his control. Yin Long tilted his sword so that Fang Yau's sword slid up along it in a way that it would pass over his head, but the other sword managed to scatter the leaves and continue forward.

Yin Long quickly flicked his wrist to push away the first sword, flicking his wrist downward right afterwards while also lowering his arm, swatting down Fang Yau's other weapon. But that didn't even buy him a second of rest, Fang Yau immediately proving how he got his title.

The deflected swords instantly changed direction without Fang Yau even having to move a muscle, it was as if his weapons had simply been moving in that direction from the start. They once again lashed out at Yin Long, who barely had the time to swat them away again. But by the time he swatted away the second sword, the first one had already changed direction again and was coming for him again.

It didn't seem to matter which direction he deflected the attack to, Fang Yau could easily change their direction as he pleased. He even managed to maintain the full momentum of the attack as he did so, the attacks even grew a little bit stronger each time. Slowly stepping back as the attacks rained down on him, Yin Long felt as if he was already trapped inside the maw of a beast, its fangs pressing down on him from all sides.

They were able to spar rather evenly at first, but that evenness was shattered the moment Fang Yau employed his Qi. And seeing that his attacks were becoming faster and stronger with each passing second, he was clearly still taking it easy on Yin Long so that he would have the chance to bring out everything he had.

Yin Long had instantly lost any initiative and been pushed into a passive defence, one that was crumbling slowly but surely, more and more openings revealing themselves. Some people felt that there was nothing to learn from a lopsided battle like this, but Yin Long felt quite the opposite, he was relishing each and every second of this.

Each opening that revealed itself showed him slight ways he could improve his defence, slight ways he was making mistakes in how he handled the incoming attacks. And above all, the main weakness that was revealed to him here was his lack of speed and versatility. He wasn't able to move fast enough to block both swords at once, nor did he have the chance or ability to launch any form of counterattack, mainly stemming from his lack of ability to block both swords at once.

His law of blood also wasn't able to properly affect Fang Yau's blood so he had quickly abandoned the idea of using it to truly stop one of the relentless attacks. But even though he was constantly being hounded by attacks and forced closer and closer to the edge of the stage, small wounds starting to spread across his entire body, he never once gave up on the idea of launching a counterattack, he never once stopped searching for a way to grow stronger.

And as his heel stepped past the edge of the stage, a sharp light flashed through his eyes. He had observed all of Fang Yau's attacks as closely as he could, how his muscles moved and how he used his fingers and wrists to subtly control his weapons. He watched and he learned, picking up anything that might be useful for him and his sword. And he had come to his decision, if one sword wasn't enough then he just had to use more of them.

He spat out a heavy breath and pushed his Qi to the utter limit, the transparent crimson sword vanishing from his grasp. A wavy blue sword appeared in his left hand, the leaves around him turning ocean-blue in colour as Yin Long blocked Fang Yau's first sword. A bit of water splashed off of the sword as he blocked the attack, dampening the impact and hampering the sword's movement.

Yin Long flicked his wrist at the same time and brought his wavy sword down upon the other incoming sword, more water splashing out and hampering the second sword. But while he blocked the second attack, the first one was already moving forward again, the water only able to impede it for a fraction of a second.

Yin Long flicked his wrist again and blocked the attack, his now-empty right hand making a grasping motion as some of the ocean-blue leaves turned silver. His silver sword formed entirely from space appeared in his right hand, Fang Yau's eyebrows rising somewhat as a faint sensation of danger emerged in his mind. And Yin Long immediately proved to him why he would feel that.

His left hand used the water-formed sword to block the incoming attacks while his right hand used the space-formed sword to lash out with his strongest attack. Space around him was split into two layers, it was still the highest number of layers he could form. He copied his sword over into the second layer and moved it around a bit, a duplicate of his silver sword appearing on the other side of Fang Yau's neck. It was exactly the first move belonging to Twin Fangs of the Wolf, Ravenous Beast.

The first silver sword passed through the small opening that appeared every time Yin Long blocked one of the attacks and assaulted Fang Yau's neck from the left. The second silver sword was much more insidious as it simply appeared out of nowhere and disregarded whether or not he had any openings, it simply appeared at the right side of his neck and bore down on him without warning.

Fang Yau's eyes gleamed brightly as he looked at the two attacks, realizing exactly which law Yin Long had used to employ such an attack. His foot flashed forward on instinct thanks to the faint sensation of danger, smashing into Yin Long's abdomen so fast that he hadn't even seen it move. The leaves dancing around him had tried to block the path of the foot, but they were blown away without being able to slow the incoming attack. He spat out a mouthful of blood as his body bent around the foot, flying backwards like a cannonball after a short second.

He smashed into the small barricade in front of the seating area, Fang Yau's kicking launching him two kilometres away. More blood poured out from his mouth as he slid down to the ground, but his gaze was firmly locked on Fang Yau, who slowly raised both arms to touch his neck.

When he lowered both his hands again, a bit of blood was present on his fingers. Two small cuts had appeared on his neck, so shallow that they only drew a few drops of blood before they quickly started to close up. But the sight of that blood only made Fang Yau's grin grow a bit wider, a boisterous laugh escaping his lips as he put away his weapons.

"Great, great, really excellent! Now that's what I'm talking about, Yin Long! Strange elemental swords, the grand law of space, eyes so sharp that they steal the enemy's skills in front of his own eyes. This battle is my win, but I'll challenge you again in the future, and I'll do it again and again until you can beat me. After that, I'll challenge you again and again until I can beat you, so I hope you won't grow sick of my mug too quickly. But until then, you just bear that title with pride and keep growing stronger, you little Prince of Fallen Leaves."