Prime Originator

"I'm going to have fun dismembering your limbs and parade your head around the city after I'm done, but don't take it too personally, kid. You only have yourself to blame for being born into the wrong family and kingdom." 

"Less nonsense and just fight!"

Leon was not interested in listening. Any place would have its own struggles and hardship.

"You are too insolent, kid! Since you are in a hurry to reincarnate, let me send you off!"

Balthazar growled as a malevolent aura gushed out his body like a tidal wave with pulsating pressure. After drawing his sword and slicing his own body, his flesh split open, and blackish-red blood oozed out of his fresh wounds like goo. 

The blackish-red blood was incredibly thick and evil. It spread like boiling bubbles and contained thousands of human faces that appeared like their very souls were trapped within. 

It was uncertain how much lives were taken to reach such a sickening state of blood refinement that emanated a pungent and putrid stench of iron and death.

After covering Balthazar's entire body, sword included, the blood hardened into a black armor with crimson sheen. 

[Blood Armament]

Balthazar locked onto Leon's figure with sharp eyes, and his billowing malevolent aura surged with sharpness as they start to converge on the tip of his sword.

Whether it was bravery or foolishness, Balthazar had no intention of going easy on Leon just because of his superior cultivation level.

"Eat my sword!"

Balthazar hacked out with a vertical sword slash, and an energy wave of bloody aura swept towards Leon in the form of a crescent moon!

Crimson Moon Slash!

Realm of Sword Spirit! Infusing spirit into one's attack!

"So, you are also a Swordsman!"

Leon dodged to the side without any intention of changing his weapon as the bloody aura narrowly missed and cleaved the earthen wall behind apart. Since he had taken out the 'L' shaped black spear, he will use it!

The bloody aura did not stop and continued to strike the old buildings of Lost Isle Alley, but Leon did not turn to check the damage. He could not afford to divide his attention in the middle of battle.

The ring of grey energy within the black vortex of his sea of consciousness was set ablaze and transformed into a ring of fire. 

Leon tightened the grip on the black spear and channeled the fiery energy into his spear along with his infused indomitable spirit before sweeping out with an attack of his own!

However!

Due to his spear's shape, the fiery energy was discharged oddly like an ill coiling dragon learning how to be a frog. As it headed towards Balthazar, it seared the ground with each bounce.

"Hmph! What a joke!"

Balthazar snorted. 

Such an attack was a complete embarrassment!

The fiery coiling dragon attack lost half its momentum and power by the time it reached Balthazar and was directly slapped away with ease. No burns were suffered due to the protection of Balthazar's Blood Armament.

"Old bastard, help me straighten out my spear!"

Right then, a forceful spear blow dropped down from above Balthazar's head as the flames of the fiery dragon attack disperse from the slap. After his first attack, Leon had not been idle and had followed close behind the fiery dragon like he chasing the dragon's tail before leaping in the air with a downward swing.

"Hmph! Want to compete in physical strength? You're not—" 

Balthazar snorted and received Leon's blow with confidence, but his expression drastically changed when the sword and spear were contacted.

"What!"

Boom!

It was like Balthazar had been struck five times in the span of one attack, as Leon struck with the force of five echoes, a fivefold increase in his physical strength. Under the augmentation of Divine Will, his attack received a further 50% boost in physical strength.

Balthazar's hands trembled greatly and cracked the ground beneath his feet with the first wave, while the subsequent waves forced Balthazar down on one knee as he suffered the brunt force of Leon's almost 70,000 jin spear strike.

If not for the Blood Armament reinforcing Balthazar's defense, he would have been crushed into the ground. What kind of strength was this?!

Balthazar flushed with rage after losing to Leon in a contest of brute strength. Was this little bastard actually a beast in human skin?!

A 9-star Ranked Awakener only had 9000 jin of physical strength, while a Transcendent's physical strength was 10,000 jins!

"Haaa!"

With an intimidating shout, Balthazar empowered himself with surging blood energy and struck out forcefully as he stood up. 

The force not only push Leon back, it also sent him flying! Leon slammed into the earthen wall behind him. He grunted from the impact but did not suffer substantial damage. 

"Good fucking job, little bastard. You certainly outdid yourself this time! I've underestimated you! But don't think I am the same as that useless brother of mine who fell under your mother's blade!"

Balthazar spat and glared at Leon with a vicious gleam.

Unaffected by Balthazar's glare, Leon glanced at the glowing red spear that he had been feeding with his fiery energy before shouting, "Again!"

Leon launched himself forward from the wall and sent out a flurry of attacks in quick succession, while Balthazar received them calmly. 

Cling! Cling! Clang!

In a short instance, the two exchanged over two dozen blows as their weapons clashed. Each time Leon's fiery spear and Balthazar's blood sword contacted, Leon would get blown away, but he would shoot straight back like an infallible cockroach.

Any other human in Leon's shoes would have already suffered numerous bone fractures and become disabled from fighting. However, thanks to his incredible physique and stage one of [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard], he was quite durable and only suffered bruising.

"Haha! Old bastard, your strikes are pretty weak! Eat another one of my spear strikes!" 

Leon raised his strength to six echoes. Coupled with Divine Will augmentation, the force of his spear reached 81 thousand jins, but still 19 thousand jin shy of Balthazar's casual strikes.

Peng!

Leon flew back again. This time, he did not crash into the earthen wall or any buildings but slid along the ground after landing.

Six echoes were Leon's current limit. 

This is due to him having yet to master the execution of seven echoes and not because his body could not endure the stress of seven echoes. [9 Echo Oscillating Fist] was just a foundational technique for body forging practitioners. 

After reaching stage one in [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard], tempering his meridians and possessing the Five Element Body physique, his body could endure the strain of seven echoes. Anything beyond that, Leon was not confident unless he tempers his bones.

"Again!" 

"Again!"

"Again!"

Leon and Balthazar exchanged another five dozen blows, but Leon did not show any signs of tiring. After reaching six dozen clashes, Leon retreated some distance and laughed, "Haha! Many thanks for helping me straighten out my spear, Old bastard!"

"What!? You dare treat me like a tempering hammer?!" 

Balthazar almost coughed blood from anger.

He found it strange that the 'L' shaped spear got straighter with each clash. He initially thought it was a coincidence due to his great strength, but it turns out that the little bastard was not kidding when he asked him to help straighten his spear!

"Hahaha! Now I can fight seriously!" Leon laughed.

If not for Leon focusing on heating his spear and making it more malleable, it would not have been possible for Balthazar to strike a Tier 3 weapon back into shape so easily. 

Balthazar was a little startled with Leon's outrageous claims and asked with suppressed anger, "Are you telling me, you have been holding back all this time?" 

"Did you think it was so easy to straighten a weapon enchanted with Tier 3 runes back into shape with just your strength alone?" Leon looked at Balthazar with a mocking smile. 

Balthazar was stunned. What the hell are Tier 3 runes?

It was unheard of for a 9-star Ranked Awakener to be this powerful, and yet this 9-star Ranked Awakener could still become stronger? Wouldn't that mean that the little bastard possessed the strength to rival Transcendents without reaching Transcendence?

Seeing Balthazar's incomprehensible look, Leon shook his head. "Never mind. An uncultured person like you would not know what runes are."

Balthazar was immediately enraged.

To think that someone like him, the Sect Master of the Bloodfiend Sect, was forced to go all out against someone who had not even stepped into the Transcendent realm.

"Little bastard, you are far too insolent! So what if you the power to rival Transcendents? Even among Transcendent of the same level, there is a great difference in strength! I'm going to make sure you die a painful death!"

After those words were spoken, Balthazar's eyes turned completely bloodshot. Along with his increased heart rate, his body temperature rose sharply with skin turning red, and veins protruded all over his body.

Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum!

After sensing the dangerous transformation taking place within Balthazar, Leon became solemn.