Back in the game

With each stroke of his blade, he became ecstatic as he felt that he was overpowering his opponent. The clone had been on the defensive mode as its attacks were easily deflected by Bai Hua and it started retreating. While every strike of Bai Hua became more and more powerful.

Bai Hua felt like a veteran gamer who had stayed away from a keyboard and a mouse for too long and came back to the gaming scene awkwardly but gradually revealed its pro moves and felt one with the keyboard and the mouse again.

He felt exactly like that! He felt like the body was never anyone else's, to begin with, but it was his from the beginning. The body and the soul were in total sync!!

He twisted his body and jumped as he slashed his blade at the clone full of mirth in his eyes. It was a killing move. The clone blocked it with her sword and thought scornfully that it had thwarted his killing move.

If he had his spiritual powers a normal person would have been killed as this move was like a spinning top that was filled with spiritual powers that would bore a hole through a person. But even without his powers, it would produce enough damage.

The condition was to just wound the clone. And he had achieved exactly that.

As the clone was staring at him scornfully it realized that its blade was trembling and so was her hands and slowly cracks started forming on her blade. And it did not stop there but her whole body was trembling and cracks started appearing on her face and they were spreading everywhere on her body...

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Outside the red space, a woman was lazily drinking wine from a porcelain jar under the moonlight as she laid beneath the Holy Tree. She indeed looked like an ageless immortal fairy that can never age. She was not interested in the worldly affairs and so she never appeared outside the sacred grounds. If not many women in the kingdom would be spinsters as all the men in the kingdom would have chased after her.

She slowly opened her eyes and stared at the moon and continued to sip her wine.

And then she finally whispered in an unbelieving tone, "Impossible...."

After she said that Bai Hua appeared.

It all happened even quicker than the normal time allocated. This was unprecedented even in the history of initiation rituals. He was without spiritual power, it would have taken much longer than this.

But he came out looking happy as a child that had received its master's praises. And there was not even a sign of battle scars or even a wound! The kid was not even exhausted!! And that was her clone after all.

She was incensed. Wasn't this like a slap to her face? Wasn't this a stain on her reputation? Wasn't this a downright challenge to herself? And the kid had the audacity to come out without even breaking a sweat!

The jar of wine in her hand disappeared and she stood up elegantly with daggers in her eyes.

She gave him a smile that did not reach her eyes and said emotionlessly, "You have passed. I will send a message to your father and the Head shaman."

And before she turned to leave, he blurted honestly, "It was like a game. I had fun."

He had forgotten all his earlier grimaces and his thirst to make this woman kneel one day. The thrill of the game had wiped away all his frustrations.

" A game?" she asked evilly and flicked her hand and the next moment he was out cold. He dropped to the ground while the sword was nowhere to be seen. But the anklet he was wearing earlier had reappeared again on his ankles.

She left him like that and disappeared. Anyone who saw this would have realized that although the woman looked like an angel that could not harm anyone, she was actually as cold as the moon.