“Bring it on! Again!” Jared shouted, his voice fierce, his grin wild. He became pure sword-light, streaking forward like a golden meteor. The three silhouettes exchanged a glance, muttering in unison, “Insane…”
Then they noticed the dense web of cracks now marring their magic swords, damage inflicted by Jared’s Dragonslayer Sword in the last clash. These were no ordinary blades, yet a single encounter had left them scarred.
Still, none of the three backed down. Even with Dragonslayer Sword and the Power of Dragons boosting Jared, they were confident they could defeat him.
The three shot into the sky together, colliding with Jared again in a storm of sparks. Blow after blow pushed him backward, yet his eyes never faltered. There was no fear, only unstoppable determination.
Boom! With a deafening crash, every sword-light in the void shattered. Jared’s body flew like a falling leaf, tumbling a few kilometers before he finally landed.
The three silhouettes stumbled back three hundred meters. Though uninjured, their blood boiled, and some of their auras wavered.
“This is amazing! Even if I can’t win today, I’ll at least leave you covered in my snot!” Jared spat blood from the corner of his mouth and charged forward again.
The three shadows frowned, their eyes instinctively flicking to Oakley, who had lost his arm.
Fighting like this was not about strength or tricks, it was about facing someone who did not fear death.
“Stop staring! If the three of us can’t take him down, none of us go home!” The leading silhouette bellowed in fury.
At his command, the other three lunged forward, clashing with Jared until their movements blurred into a whirlwind of steel and sparks. But the more they fought, the stronger Jared became. He showed no sign of tiring, only an ever-growing, fierce momentum.
Just as the trio’s attention wavered, the Dragonslayer in Jared’s hand let out a low, resonant dragon’s roar.
The three silhouettes instinctively lifted their swords to block. But this time, even their combined effort barely slowed Jared’s light.
Before they could react, another figure had silently appeared behind them. One decisive swing sent the three silhouettes skyward in shock. Even so, the sword energy grazed their arms, leaving deep crimson gashes.
Though not fatal, the injuries were a humiliating mark. For cultivators at the Top Level Human Immortal Realm Level Nine, being hurt by a Level Three cultivator was a disgrace beyond words.
“Master, did I do okay?” Zelda asked, walking toward Jared with a smile.
That strike just now had been an illusion. It was Jared’s clever trick to draw their attention. It let the sword spirit, Zelda, slip from Dragonslayer Sword and strike unexpectedly.
The blow was not lethal, but wounding an opponent like that was still worth celebrating.
The leader’s eyes gleamed with greed at the sudden appearance of Zelda.
Spirit swords were common in the celestial realm, but one whose spirit could leave the blade and fight independently—that was extremely rare. Especially a sword spirit with its own mind, thinking and acting like a human.
“Useless vermin!” a roar of rage thundered from the sky, followed immediately by a streak of black light hurtling straight at Jared.
Jared’s eyes narrowed.
“Return to the blade, Zelda,” he ordered.
The Dragonslayer Sword could unleash its full power only when Zelda’s spirit resided within it, and Jared relied on every ounce of that strength now.
A black streak like a meteor slammed toward him at impossible speed. He swung Dragonslayer Sword to block.
Boom!
The sword trembled violently. The black light shattered into fragments, but the force still hurled Jared across the clearing. He crashed onto the ground with a heavy thud and lay there for several long moments, unable to rise.
“Damn them! Ganging up on you like that… If my body were restored, I’d wipe them off the map,” the Vermilion Demon Lord growled, fury radiating from every word.
Jared did not respond, only coughing up blood, so much that he nearly expelled his own organs.
“Mr. Vermilion, do you recognize them?” he asked, wiping his mouth with a trembling hand.
After the prolonged fight, Jared realized these opponents did not resemble the people from the Malevolent Path Hall at all. But in level nine, aside from the Malevolent Path Hall trying to catch him, he had never encountered any other sect.
“I’m not sure,” the Vermilion Demon Lord replied, shaking his head. “I’ve been away from Level Nine far too long…”
