The valley’s ambient sounds continued without knowing the magnitude of what was about to transpire in a few seconds. Two mammoth forces gathered before one another and committed to war.Hu Rong relied on his instincts and moved first, hoping to end this battle before it could start. He could not hesitate against a foe so dastardly as Zi Zhen. The ancient Heavenly Demon had a thousand tricks and plots within his sleeves that could consume a stronger foe with ease if they were not careful. The boy form transformed into the spirit of spiraling blades and death incarnate. Charging the monster before him. Dozens of blades that carried sharpened blade Qi that carried enough spirit energy to bisect five hundred yards of trees around him coalesced into a single point, refined by merely existing in the vicinity of the Hu Patriarch. Each one hummed at frequencies that made the stone beneath them fracture in spiderweb patterns radiating outward from his position.He isn’t dodging?Was his last thought before he crashed with full force into the waiting form of the Patriarch of Dark Gate Palace.Zi Zhen had done nothing but raise a single hand and the dark Qi that had been seeping across the valley floor surged upward in a wall of black so dense it became a physical solid thing. Rong's slammed into the wall–Only to be stopped dead in their tracks. Rong’s form shaking with visible effort. All his Qi blades embedded in darkness that gripped them like tar. Their humming died. The frequencies that had been shaking the ground and loose pebbles went silent one by one, each blade's voice choked out as the dark Qi crawled across their surfaces and consumed the spirit energy that gave them form.Hu Rong's eyes widened and mind struggled to understand what had happened.He yanked them back. The blades tore free with a sound like ripping cloth, trailing streamers of black corruption that clung (...)