Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates
Chapter 47: A Duel to the Death
Zhong Shan’s double was going to exit from one of the gates at the side, yet the white robed middle aged man suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking the way. The man moved so swiftly that the double only had a glimpse of his body before he stood right in front.
The double squinted in alarm.
The double turned his head to look at the young man who seemed to be the master of the two.
“I’m Zhong Shan. Can I know the reason why you have blocked my way out?” The double asked with his eyes fixed on the young man. He didn’t know them.
“Qingjian.” The young man only uttered one word..
Between people who practiced martial arts, the word was a challenge to a duel that the opponent would be forced to fight.
The middle aged man was obviously much stronger than the double. If they were seeking revenge on the double, the middle aged man could easily have ended it already. But, the young man used used the word qingjian, a sign of respect to his opponent. The double couldn’t figure out why the young man wanted to fight with him.
“May I know the reason?” The double asked again.
The young man put his hand on the handle of his sword on his back and looked at the double, “If you survive, I’ll tell you then.”
The young man drew a pitch black sword and slowly pointed it at the double.
The double didn’t move. He had to clarify certain things before he knew how to react.
“I don’t know you at all. Why me? Or have you seen me fighting somewhere else?” The double asked while preparing himself.
“We happened to passby when you killed a person at the Gold Core Stage.” The young man softly said.
Gold Core Stage? Miao Xianren? So he decided to fight the double after seeing the double killing Miao Xianren?
“Draw your weapon.” The young man called out.
Glancing at the middle aged man, the double quietly took out his sword, ‘Eternal.’
“You don’t have to worry about Chujiu. He won’t intervene. You can use your full might on me. You’re the same as me, at the fourth level of Xiantian.” The young man spoke.
The double felt a bit relieved after the assurance. Though this was an unexpected misfortune, at least the young man didn’t look like an insidious and brazen person.
The young man lightly frowned when he saw the double pull out a sword instead of a machete. But he didn’t bother questions it. He figured that no one would take his own life lightly, if Zhong Shan wanted to use a sword, then so be it!
The young man squinted, the sword in his hand quickly thrusted towards the double. It came so fast that it didn’t seem to have come from someone only at the fourth level of Xiantian. At the tip of the sword was a mass of energy that seemed ready to turn into Energy Swords at any moment.
The double swiftly stepped aside to avoid the incoming sword, swatting it away with his own sword.
The two swords clashed only briefly before the two quickly moved apart. The double was shocked by his opponents skill and power, his own sword had almost flown out of his hand.
Zhong Shan practiced machete forms himself, while his double practiced sword forms. His ability at fighting with a machete was equally powerful as with a sword.
The double rushed forwards, the young man lunged with his sword at the double.
It had become instinct to slash, either with the machete or ‘Eternal’, at the weakest point of the opponent’s weapon. The double’s sword stabbed at the weakest point of the young man’s sword.
Usually, the move would do wonders. But the young man seemed to have expected it, with some excitement, he titled the sword ever slightly to avoid the double’s attack while cutting sideways towards the double.
The two swords clashed again. The double rushed forwards again. The double carried Zhong Shan’s fierce personality as well. Neither ever held back. One sword was faster than the other, more accurate than the other, and more fierce than the other.
The double swung his blade just fast as the young man, every attack was precisely aimed at wounding the opponent fatally.
The young man was very skillful, managing to counterattack with ease under the double’s fierce attack. He even grew more excited as if he had finally found his match.
The double had yet to grown anxious about the situation despite the fact that he hadn’t achieve the results he had hoped for. He matched the young man blow for blow as if he was using the chance to practice his sword forms.
Gradually, the double also began to enjoy the fight. Only by fighting an opponent of equal skill could he improve his skill faster. There wasn’t any concern about hurting the opponent. There was no need to be conservative. All he needed to do was try his very best, using all his potential, and break through to the next level.
At that moment, another person entered through the gate. He was stunned to see people fighting inside, then got kicked out by Chujiu.
The person flew out of the gate backwards onto his back and stayed in daze for sometime before deciding that the other gates looked more appealing.
This person was at the Gold Core Stage and it showed how strong Chujiu was that he was tossed out of the gate before even realizing what hit him. But he could be sure that there was no formation soul inside, so he just found another gate to continue his search.
However, this incident caught the attention of many others. It didn’t seem logical that this person would fly back out of the gate, with blood coming out of the corner of his mouth, then just run to another gate.
Some curious people went in the gate to check it out, before shortly being sent flying back and turned around to look for other gates. It had created a bizarre scene around the gate, frightening the people around who had yet to venture in.
Chujiu was making sure they had an uninterrupted environment for their fight.
After a while, the young man’s sword form suddenly turning even more ferocious.
The double was surprised to see that the young man still had more power?
When the double was trying to avoid the opponent’s sword, the young man’s sword mysteriously appeared again right at the path where the double had fallen back to.
The young man didn’t just have more power. The double was startled, realizing that he was going to lose. The double gripped his teeth and paused abruptly. Both the young man and Chujiu was amazed at his sudden action.
Paused? How could it be possible? If was like an object which was falling from the sky and stopped mid air without falling anymore, or even moving upwards. It was simply not logical.
The double barely dodged the opponent’s sword. After the pause, he moved towards the opposite direction, like a ghost. It was the ability only the shadow double had. It could move just like a ghost, to stop and move at will, totally defying the laws of physics.
The young man started to slash his sword faster and faster, the double almost couldn’t bear with it, having several close calls.
The young man didn’t seem to be only at the fourth level of Xiantian.
He was too strong!
Though the double didn’t know the Demonic Body Toning Method, he had his own special abilities which made him as strong as the Zhong Shan body.
The two fought in amazement at the other. Was this Zhong Shan a man? Was it possible for a human being to move in such a way? He could even twist his arm outwards to wield his sword? His wrist looked as if it was broken, yet how could a broken wrist deftly wield a sword?
The double was able to emerge unscathed so far, but the young man’s attacks grew fiercer and fiercer.
The double couldn’t hold on anymore. He knew that the young man must have learned some special manual to improved his swordsmanship, then, what else could he do?
Was he going to lose? The double suddenly thought about an idea.
This wasn’t any normal match, it was qingjian. Losing meant death!
The double didn’t want to die. He could run away, quickly turning into a shadow and floating away. But, he didn’t want to do that since Chujiu was right next to them.
The best possible result would be if both of them were injured too badly to continue.
With determination in the double’s eyes, though he didn’t have the special power like his opponent, he had abilities that the other didn’t have.
The double widened his eyes, facing the next thrust from the young man without moving and letting the sword come directly at him.
The young man’s sword pierced through the double’s left shoulder. Blood burst out, the sword had went through the shoulder, with a sideway slash, he could lop off double’s arm.
The young man was shocked that the double didn’t try to block at all.
Eternal had also pierced into the young man’s shoulder. To die together?
A lot of blood gushed out of the wound, the young man didn’t expect the double to choose such a strategy.
The next moment, as long as both of them wielded their swords, they could chop off each other’s shoulder.