A Loss

"Whew…"

Huang Yu's face was pale as he landed on the grayish soil back on Demon Island.

Sweat poured down his forehead as he took deep breaths.

Before Huang Yu could use the King's Wisdom, a sharp pain jolted his body, indicating the recoil of Limiter Removal.

Unable to control himself, Huang Yu spat out a mouthful blood.

The mouthful of blood landing on the ground, the dead soil absorbed all of it in an instant as it quickly turned green with grass.

Seeing this, a wry smile appeared on Huang Yu's face.

That mouthful of blood contained a lot of his blood essence inside of it.

He was afraid that he would be unable to display his full battle prowess for quite a while before he recovered.

"That was a pretty neat trick. Would have worked if you hadn't used destruction as its base."

A voice from behind caused Huang Yu's body to stiffen up immediately.

Turning his head back, Huang Yu smiled wryly as he was met with the unharmed figure of Hui Mie.

In fact, his clothes seemed to not even have been ruffled despite being in the epicentre of such an explosion.

"That technique though… you're killing yourself with that."

Huang Yu scratched the back of his head as he turned his body to face Hui Mie.

"C'mon it's nothing much. It's not that exaggerated."

"You call spitting out blood of that quality 'not that much'?"

Hui Mie's face contorted into a frown as he saw the sheer callousness of Huang Yu towards his own body.

Despite only having met Huang Yu for a short while, he truly regarded him as his son.

His wife and him had wanted a child for so long, so how could he be willing to see his son hurt himself for temporary strength?

Perhaps if his Goddess of Life bloodline was fully awakened, that would be fine.

But at this moment, it was only 20% at best.

Huang Yu let out a sigh.

"It's really nothing much. Do you think that I'm the person who ruins his future for no reason?"

"You never know… there are always 'those' types of people..."

Hui Mie didn't know that Huang Yu had an amazing healing factor that he added himself, along with the King's Wisdom to help it.

Huang Yu was never a type of person who took excessive risks for the sake of strength.

Everything that he did were all things that had drawbacks that he could easily manage.

There was no way he would overdraft himself for the sake of a measly training session.

Those words left Hui Mie slightly stunned, but he recovered quickly.

Coughing drily, Hui Mie's expression returned to a cool and calm one as he placed his arms behind his back.

"That's… true. In that case, I think that this battle should end here. No matter what, you're still injured."

Hearing this, Huang Yu laughed.

"Injury? What injury? I don't see one."

"Don't pl—"

Hui Mie was shut up as Huang Yu's third eye glowed and his face quickly gained its ruddiness.

Cracking his neck, Huang Yu stood up straight against Hui Mie, his healing factor having eliminated all the sequelae from the recoil.

Summoning the Blade of Tathagata back into his hands, Huang Yu got into a basic stance.

Sighing, the God of Destruction could only create a halberd from a pillar of purple light as he slammed in onto the ground.

The two sides stared each other down at this moment.

Silence predominated the area, as both sides scanned each other, looking for an opening.

In his stance, Huang Yu gripped his sword ever slightly more tightly as a trail of sweat ran down his face.

Just from looking at Hui Mie right now, Huang Yu had already known the result of this battle.

This person in front of him…

He was a monster.

No other adjective could fit him.

Nonetheless, Huang Yu still had to try.

With the looming threat of some love debt from his bloodline, Huang Yu wasn't going to take the risk that the invaders were non-hostile.

It was better to be safe than sorry.

Hence, he had to push himself to his very limits.

The trail of sweat ran down his nose, before it fell to his cheek,

From then on, it slid to his chin before it fell.

And that was when both sides sprung.

Clang.

The sound of steel sounded through the clearing as both sides instantly engaged one another.

Thrust

Stab

Parry

Slash

That was the name of Huang Yu's game as he desperately tried to get a hit in.

However, reality was cruel.

Hui Mie was like a towering mountain, not giving in even an inch.

Each one of his blows were ferocious yet skilful as Huang Yu found himself soon on the backseat.

Finding a halberd being slammed at his side, Huang Yu was forced to raise his sword in defense.

Unfortunately for Huang Yu, that was the wrong move, as he found himself blasted away.

Inertia

Huang Yu stopped immediately just as he was about to smash into the greyish water in the sea.

Hui Mie's figure cut through the air, as he prepared to slam his halberd into Huang Yu once more.

Seeing this, Huang Yu narrowed his eyes.

He knew that he had to do something about this situation.

If not, at this rate, he would never get the initiative back.

Taking a deep breath, incomprehensible sword intent filled his blade as he summoned an indomitable will to sever.

The Blade of Tathagata seemed to respond to this will as it burst into a pillar of resentful spirits.

Relaxing all his muscles, Huang Yu let go of all his inhibitions as he let his sword do all of the work.

Swish.

The sound of a sword cutting through the air entered Hui Mie's ears as he paused his motion entirely.

As the Blade of Tathagata left a thin red line in the wake of its slash, Hui Mie instincts roared at him.

His body reflexively moved on its own, shifting itself to the side.

It was only after that did he look back.

The seas.

The mountains.

The skies.

The moon.

The neighbouring planets.

A thin line ran exactly down the middle of all of them as they slowly split apart.

Hui Mie was unable to continue to stare as his instincts roared at him once more.

Turning back, Huang Yu was already in front of him.

With his sword in the air, he swung down, intending to finish the fight.

This time however, Hui Mie didn't evade.

The light of his halberd intensified many times in an instant as it collided head on with Huang Yu's sword.

Huang Yu was blown away hundreds of metres once more.

Nonetheless, he came back, locking weapons with Hui Mei and clashing with him again.

As the two collided again and again in the skies, Huang Yu felt himself approaching a miraculous state.

His sword, he had never felt as close to it before as he was feeling now.

Clashing with a halberd, Huang Yu could feel each and every reverberation of his sword.

It seemed to communicate with him, letting him connect with the Blade of Tathagata on a deeper level.

Swing after swing.

Parry after parry.

Pierce after pierce.

A man and his sword continuously learned from one another as they became closer and closer.

It was at this moment that a voice snapped Huang Yu out of this miraculous state.

"That's enough. This battle will destroy the world if it keeps going on."

Huang Yu, eyes glazed over, was barely able to register these words.

It was then that Huang Yu felt himself locked on by a life-threatening aura, shocking him enough to truly force him out of the enlightenment he had been in.

Looking at his adversary, Huang Yu found Hui Mie without a shred of emotion on his face.

As he held the halberd by the end, his body emanated an aura of doom.

It was as if telling everything in existence that it was helpless to resist.

Destruction was an inevitable process.

To just accept your destiny.

In a smooth motion, Hui Mie swung his halberd down.

"The Heavens are Heartless."

Instantly, Hui Mie's halberd pulsed as it glowed with a bright purple light.

Transforming into the sky, it fell upon Huang Yu like the collapse of the universe.

Huang Yu felt as if he was about to be consumed by the vastness of the universe as he looked up at the attack.

It was precisely then that a sense of helplessness invaded his spirit sea, whispering for him to just give up.

However, how could Huang Yu's resistance be so weak?

With a single use of the King's Wisdom, Huang Yu nullified the effects of the mental attack.

Huang Yu was completely immune to mental attacks.

Taking a step back, the incomprehensible profundities of time surrounded him as he phased out of existence.

Journey Through Time

Seeing this, Hui Mie raised an eyebrow.

"Escaping into the past? Not a bad idea."

"Too bad that the Heavens are all-encompassing."

However, this strike seemed to truly be an inevitability.

Completely unwilling to be defeated, Huang Yu continued taking steps through time.

The past.

The present.

The future.

He stepped into all of them.

It was unfortunate that no matter how fast Huang Yu moved or how far he travelled, it remained like a guillotine floating over his head.

As Huang Yu stepped back onto the Demon Island in the present, he gritted his teeth as he finally gave up on running.

The only thing he could do now was use his trump card.

Turning back, Huang Yu raised a hand.

However, before he could do anything, he froze.

In front of his face was a halberd poised to take his life at any time.

Holding this magnificent purple halberd, was Hui Mie in all of his glory.

Realising that the battle was already over, Huang Yu let out a deep sigh.

"Alright, I give up, You win."

Huang Yu plopped to the ground as he looked up at Hui Mie, who was currently smiling.

Despite this loss, Huang Yu wasn't particularly upset.

He had gained a lot during this sparring session with Hui Mie.

Be it the King's Wisdom or his comprehension of his laws, all of them received rather stunning breakthroughs in strength.

In fact, if Huang Yu wanted to, he could break through several ranks of cultivation in a row at this moment.

"You're pretty strong."

Huang Yu was snapped out of his thoughts as Hui Mie's voice entered his ears.

Turning to the side, Huang Yu found Hui Mie sitting next to him with a smile still on his face.

Huang Yu tilted his head to the side.

"Are you… patronising me?"

Hearing this, Hui Mie laughed sheepishly.

"No really. You're strong. Much stronger than anyone at your age by a long shot, even in the Divine Realm.��

"Then what about if you compared me to the older ones?"

That sent Hui Mie into a period of silence.

After a few moments of pondering, Hui Mie spoke up.

"I'll be honest here, your skills are atrocious for your level of strength."

"Thanks, that was completely what I wanted to hear."

Faced with Huang Yu's wit, Hui Mie paused for a brief moment before he brushed it aside and continued speaking.

"Anyways, you have the brute force and some abilities that put Third-Class Gods to shame. However, you just don't have the sheer skill that a human god should have."

"For example, your swordsmanship. It's amazing among the mortals, but to Gods?"

"You're like a kid swinging a stick to them."

Hearing this, Huang Yu raised an eyebrow.

"What about my sword intent then? It's a rarity down here."

"Not really that much in the Divine Realm. Most sword users have it, though that has more to do with the learning environment more than talent."

Huang Yu nodded his head before his eyes turned serious in contemplation.

If Hui Mie's words were to be believed, then he still had a long way to go if he wanted to live uninhibited.

The mysterious woman who had called out to him back then was definitely at least from a Divine Realm.

If the Xianxia cliches were to be correct, then Huang Yu will have his work really cut out for him in the future.

Misinterpreting Huang Yu's gaze for one of discouragement, Hui Mie's expression turned a little guilty.

"Um, I'd like to add that the skill problem isn't your fault!"

"You're only sixteen years old and you've probably not had much contact with Gods at all."

"It's rather normal that you don't have any Divine-ranked techniques in your arsenal."

Seeing this frantic expression on Hui Mie's face, Huang Yu let out a snigger but chose not to correct this misconception.

Instead, he chose to change the topic into a more light-hearted one.

"You're surprisingly chill for a God King y'know. I was told that Gods at high levels were complete and utter douchebags."

"Who told you that? That is completely and utterly untrue. Only those Spirit Beasts would say such a thing."

Well, Hui Mie wasn't wrong in thinking that last part.

"We Gods are the paragons of justice that rule over the myriad planes justly. Anyone who says otherwise is lying."

Hey… why did Huang Yu find this style of speaking kinda familiar?

Shaking his head to get rid of these thoughts, Huang Yu let out a chuckle as he took his phone out of his spatial ring.

And yes, he did mean phone and not Spiritual Communicator.

Fuck that other name.

Huang Yu's third eye glowed brightly as he abused the King's Wisdom to get a signal for it.

"Hey, what's that?"

"A phone."

"A phone? It looks rather interesting. Humans in the lower planes always come up with these strange devices to make up for their shortcomings."

Ignoring that, Huang Yu made a call as he placed his phone next to his ear.

After a few rings, the call went through.

"Huang Yu? Is that you? What took so long? Did anything unforeseen happen? Are you okay? Did you suffer from any injuries?"

A barrage of questions instantly bombarded his ear as Huang Yu had to turn the volume down slightly.

A wry smile appearing on his face, Huang Yu answered.

"Relax Gu Yue. It's nothing. Cultivation just took a bit longer than expected. I'll be back soon."

Huang Yu and Gu Yue continued to converse for a while as Hui Mie sat at the side there.

For some reason, Hui Mie suddenly felt as if he was a third wheel, despite no one else being here other than the two of them.

He wasn't unhappy about this though.

From the looks of it, it seemed that his son had a girlfriend!

If he had the chance, he definitely wanted to get a good look at her!

Stuck in his thoughts, Hui Mie didn't even realise it when Huang Yu had already stood up with the call already ended.

It was only when Huang Yu spoke did Hui Mie get snapped out of his thoughts.

"Hey, you coming?"

The grin that appeared on Hui Mie's face was absolutely spectacular.