Chapter Fifty-Five: Battle of the Saint Realm
While the residents of the imperial capital were cheering and marveling over the twenty-seventh direct disciple in over five thousand years, far away in the northwestern province, Lin Lei and Saint Realm powerhouse 'McKenzie' were sharing drinks and good conversation, and tonight, they were going to fight.
Tonight, a crescent moon hung in the sky, its faint silver glow washing over the earth, as though the entire land were draped in a thin gauze veil.
On a small barren mountain path outside the provincial capital of Bazir, Lin Lei and McKenzie walked side by side. Bei Bei sat perched on Lin Lei's shoulder. No one else had come.
This battle had only one spectator: Bei Bei.
The little barren hill was desolate, with only a few sparse, stunted trees, and the summit was completely bare. When Lin Lei and McKenzie stood together at the peak, the mountain wind howled, tugging at their robes.
Lin Lei and McKenzie exchanged a glance. Both understood what the other meant.
Bei Bei obediently leapt down from Lin Lei's shoulder. Lin Lei removed his shirt and stored it directly in his spatial ring. Then his entire body began to undergo a drastic transformation. Black scales covered almost his entire body in an instant; spikes jutted out from his elbows, back, and forehead. That steel-like dragon tail lashed about, and his pupils instantly turned into an emotionless dark gold. A cyan glow lurked beneath the scales, and a powerful surge of air erupted from Lin Lei's body, sending sand and stones flying in every direction.
"Truly worthy of being the Ultimate Warrior," McKenzie said, his eyes lighting up.
"Whoosh!"
Lin Lei and McKenzie simultaneously transformed into two streaks of rainbow light, soaring into the sky above the barren hill. They hovered in midair, roughly a hundred meters apart.
McKenzie flipped his hand, and a cyan long spear materialized in his grasp. "This spear cost me nearly twenty million gold coins. I collected all manner of precious ores and ultimately forged it. Its name is 'Azure Fire.'"
Lin Lei flipped his hand as well, and a purple soft sword appeared in his palm.
"I obtained this sword from a dangerous place within the Magic Beast Mountain Range. Its name is 'Purple Blood.'"
Lin Lei had already reached the fourth level in his mastery of the Purple Blood soft sword — the 'Mysteries of the Wind' — though in terms of the Wind Mysteries themselves, he had only comprehended the first stage, 'Wind Fluctuation.'
But even so, combined with the unique properties of the Purple Blood soft sword itself, Lin Lei was confident enough to face McKenzie.
"The feeling of the Saint Realm — my entire body is filled with limitless power." Lin Lei gripped the Purple Blood divine sword, his heart brimming with confidence. "In the past, the Purple Blood soft sword couldn't harm Saint Realm powerhouses not because it wasn't sharp enough, but because my own Battle Qi and strength were far too weak."
Generally speaking, a Saint Realm powerhouse's weapon, in terms of sharpness alone, could never compare to the divine artifact 'Purple Blood.'
The sharpness of the Purple Blood soft sword was such that even without channeling Battle Qi, the weapon alone could pierce the defenses of a seventh-level magic beast. What weapon could rival such terrifying sharpness?
And once paired with Saint Realm-level Battle Qi, its sharpness reached an astonishing, fearsome degree.
"Then, let's begin!"
McKenzie's body blazed with boundless fighting spirit. The fierce wind at this altitude made his long robe snap and flutter. A hissing sound rang out as flames gradually erupted from McKenzie's body, and flames licked along his Azure Fire spear.
His entire being was completely engulfed in fire.
Wrapped entirely in flames, spear in hand, hovering in midair, McKenzie looked like a god of war.
"His Battle Qi has actually reached this level." Lin Lei's eyes lit up.
"Boom—" The Battle Qi across Lin Lei's entire body exploded outward. Dark cyan Battle Qi enveloped him completely, also flowing along the Purple Blood soft sword. With his originally dark cyan scales now shrouded in that same dark cyan energy, Lin Lei looked like a demon risen from the depths of hell.
A faint smile appeared at the corner of McKenzie's lips.
Then, abruptly—
"Whoosh!"
Lin Lei saw only an afterimage as McKenzie tore through the sky. His flame-wreathed spear seemed to lock down the very fabric of space as it thrust toward Lin Lei with overwhelming pressure.
In that instant, it was as if the entire world contained nothing but that single spear.
"Clang!"
A sinister purple glow effortlessly shattered the spatial lock. The tip of the sword met the tip of the spear head-on, and the two Saint Realm powerhouses' violent Battle Qi clashed through their weapons.
"Boom!"
A terrifying blast of air exploded outward with the two of them at its epicenter. The energy of two Saint Realm powerhouses radiated in all directions. Even the massive boulders on the hilltop below cracked and shattered as Battle Qi surged into them.
The two fighters separated at blinding speed.
"Hmm?" Lin Lei glanced at McKenzie in the distance. "His Battle Qi is still slightly stronger than mine." The Dragon Blood Warriors' innate talent was simply too powerful. Even a Dragon Blood Warrior at the initial stage of the Saint Realm possessed Battle Qi density only a hair below that of a mid-stage Saint Realm fighter.
Of the four Ultimate Warriors, the Undying Warriors had the greatest defense, the Tiger Stripe Warriors the greatest speed, the Purple Flame Warriors the greatest recovery, and the Dragon Blood Warriors the greatest offensive power.
This was no joke.
"Ha ha, exhilarating! Take another one!" McKenzie's laughter rang out as he hurtled toward Lin Lei at tremendous speed. One person somehow split into three afterimages.
"Racing me on speed?"
The corner of Lin Lei's mouth curled upward.
Lin Lei's body flickered, and three afterimages of his own burst forth as he charged toward McKenzie — illusions born of sheer velocity.
"Hyah!"
The normally refined McKenzie now radiated savage ferocity. His three figures suddenly multiplied into nine, and the nine afterimages held their spears in completely different positions.
"Whoosh!"
The spears in all nine figures' hands spun, and every last one thrust toward Lin Lei.
To Lin Lei's eyes, there had been only nine spears, but with that final, arcane 'spin' of McKenzie's, the entire world before him became filled with countless spear shadows.
Countless spear shadows, leaving Lin Lei nowhere to dodge.
"Ha ha ha!" Lin Lei laughed aloud as his body transformed into a whirlwind. Almost in the blink of an eye, Lin Lei became a living tornado, and along the outer edge of that tornado, countless flickers of sinister purple light flashed.
The countless spear shadows were blocked by an equal number of purple flashes.
McKenzie was momentarily stunned.
"Whirlwind — Break!"
Lin Lei roared, his body driving forward like a drill aimed straight at McKenzie. The Purple Blood soft sword in his hand seemed in an instant to multiply from a single blade into ten thousand.
The sword moved with an almost weightless grace, yet when McKenzie moved to block with his spear, he felt as though he had been struck by lightning.