Spirit Cultivation

"Oh?" Xuefeng raised his eyebrows in surprise when he felt the effects of Princess Shan's Domain, his Lightning Shield dimming inside the cold. He suddenly felt like all the elements he released in the air around him disappeared and were replaced with the Water Element. What surprised him more was that he couldn't use those elements either.

There was a special feeling to them as if they were already claimed by someone else even though they were not used by Princess Shan. Before he could even realise, the cold around him started increasing and his body began literally turning into a block of ice. Even when he channelled Fire Qi to warm up his body, it was being consumed too fast and it didn't help much, the coldness still stronger in power. ​​

'Heh, don't worry, even if she closed our source of Elements, we can still create a lot of Qi thanks to Fate Stones. You don't need to worry about using your Qi at all. Go crazy.' Just as he wondered what to do, Ming broke through his mind and reminded him of his advantage. What he had, but others didn't was an almost unlimited source of Qi, which upon realisation made him let out a smile.

"You still haven't given up and you're even smiling, hehe. You don't seem to understand the situation you are in. Let me show you!" Seeing his smile Princess Shan called out chuckling even though her time was limited and rushed towards him with an Ice Katana back in her hand.

She could feel Xuefeng using waves of Fire Qi to create protecting shield around him but she knew he wouldn't be able to hold on for too long as his Dantian should be empty anytime soon. What gave Princess Shan more confidence was also the fact that while Xuefeng's powers were limited, she wasn't restricted in the least, she was in fact even more powerful than normal!

With his body back to normal as Fire Qi wrapped around him, the Black Flames Slayer once again appeared in Xuefeng's hand just in time to receive Princess Shan's Katana, parrying her slanted cut. With enough Spirit and Fire Qi, the flames on his body and blade didn't lose to the power of coldness and flickered happily, enjoying the endless supply of Qi.

Ling didn't fight with Ming since they were worked together for the first time, at this time one was providing Xuefeng with Fire Qi while the other fed Spirit Stones to his Sword Artefact. After parrying Princess Shan's strike, Xuefeng didn't hesitate to counterattack with one of his own, moving swiftly to the side and slashing at her exposed side.

Slam!

Just as his sword was about to connect, without any warning, Xuefeng felt a sudden impact on the side of his stomach and his body was blown away. He didn't know where the attack came from but before he could even land on the ground another blow like a hammer hit him, this time from behind, slamming him towards the ground.

"Oh!" When everyone saw Xuefeng getting smashed into the ground they all gasped, straining their necks to look through the icy barrier with difficulty.

"Ugh…" Xuefeng spat out blood as he actually got hit really badly there. He didn't see what just happened and only Ling explained it to him as they could see it all without problems, 'Shan is materialising attacks from the distance. She controls everything inside this Domain so she can launch an attack from all sides at any time. But don't worry, her Water Qi is slowly ending. She can't sustain this Domain for long and its area is also slowly shrinking with each attack.'

Hearing the quick explanation, Xuefeng finally began to understand the whole concept and couldn't help but feel excited. What would happen if he could use such a Domain with an almost unlimited supply of Qi? Just the thought of it made him ecstatic.

Ling's regeneration already got activated as Xuefeng stood up turning his extinguished flames back on and he searched for Princess Shan, surprised that she didn't continue her attacks. He spotted her slowly walking towards him and heard her say, "I knew you wouldn't be done after this much. I guess I can be more rough with you then. I didn't want to hurt you too much."

"Well, I'm also going easy on you. But not anymore. That sneak attack did hurt." Xuefeng wiped the blood from his lips and finally decided to give her a sweet lesson.

He told himself that he wanted to have a serious battle where he would go all out, but deep down he knew the truth. If Xuefeng was fighting someone he wasn't fine killing, he couldn't use his most powerful skill combos, afraid he would kill them.

Without wasting any more time, Xuefeng suddenly waved with his sword, sending black flames all around them, not even aiming at Princess Shan but at the ground. As the ground was frozen, covered with ice, the black flames' constant burning caused the whole area to be filled with steam, hiding them both within it.

This caused quite an outrage outside the barrier, but Xuefeng didn't care that much, suddenly disappearing after leaving one last smile for her. Princess Shan knew that the black flames were too hard to extinguish so she didn't bother trying, only freezing the steam around her which quickly turned into a solid state, giving her vision.

Princess Shan was surprised that even inside her own Domain, she wasn't able to locate Xuefeng, but that didn't make her worry too much. He had to leave the invisibility at some point if he wanted to attack her.

Thinking about that, another idea also spurted in her mind which finally started making her anxious, 'Unless he plans to wait for me to use all of my Water Qi… There is no way I can defeat him without my Domain… I need to win in the next minute or it's over...'

Just as she thought about it, Xuefeng appeared behind her and immediately sent an air bomb towards her, infusing it with a bit of fate Qi before copying it mid-air. Unfortunately, Princess Shan acted immediately and before they even reached her, multiple ice chunks started appearing in their way, blowing them to bits. The ice dust from the explosion blocked her vision once again but she knew it was useless as Xuefeng already disappeared from his position.

Rotating around with her Ice Katana ready, Princess Shan contemplated if it was worth using her ultimate attack, which she worked on recently, and quickly decided after recalling what the reward for her victory was, 'I should use it... I have to bring him to the Sect with me…'

She expected Xuefeng's attack once again anytime soon so Princess Shan got ready to activate her ultimate right away when suddenly she felt a weird warmth wrapping around her body. Xuefeng didn't know but even if he disappeared, the Fire Qi on his body was still there so the moment he reached out to hug her, she immediately felt it.

It was at that moment when Xuefeng reappeared and finished his hug, catching both of her arms together so she wouldn't be able to move and asked playfully, "Are you looking for me?"

Swoosh, swoosh, Swoosh.

Before he even finished his question, hundreds of ice spikes swiftly erupted from the ground, heading straight towards them both, only to stop a few centimetres from their bodies, surrounding them. Without struggling, Princess Shan asked as well, "Who do you think won?"