Spirit Cultivation

The crowd turned quiet and gave them space. A fighting ground was formed by people standing in a circle, which was around 30 meters in diameter.

Wuying and Princess Shan stared at each other, trying to predict what the other party will do first.

"If you are not going to move, then I will start first." Princess Shan chuckled as she fixed the grip on her Icy Katana.

Xuefeng turned his sight towards her, expecting a cool move, but unfortunately for him, the moment he blinked, Princess Shan wasn't at the same spot anymore.

Princess Shan used her Movement Spirit Art to quickly close the distance and then swiftly slashed with her katana. Her whole body was covered with a thin layer of Ice Blue Qi, making her look like she was an ice goddess.

Wuying was vastly surprised by Princess Shan's disappearance, and even before she could lift up her daggers to block, a sharp blade was upon her.

The shiny blade went through Wuying's body as if the blade was slicing mud. The Ice blue Qi around the blade froze the body while the leftover Qi separated from the blade, crushing on the ground with a splat that created ice spikes. 

The Audience gasped for a moment, and even Xuefeng's heart froze. He felt as if something inside of him broke.

Princess Shan was not happy with the outcome, but suddenly her instincts told her that something was not right. She hurriedly dodged to the side right before Wuying's frozen body hit the ground.

Princess Shan's intuition turned out to be true, as, in that instance, two blood-red daggers tore through the air where Princess Shan's head was just a second ago.

Wuying didn't follow up with another attack but reached her hand out and a few strands of black hair fell on her palm.

Wuying's body finally hit the ground and broke apart. As it turned out it was just a clone, a shell made up of Spirit Qi used to confuse enemies. Wuying had used her escape art to launch a sneak attack on the princess.

If not for Princess Shan's battle intuition she would be long dead. Xuefeng sighed in relief when he saw that she was fine, but he still felt troubled.

'They're going for the kill!' Xuefeng was shocked by how fast the fight between cultivators can be. One mistake could make the difference between life and death. He knew he didn't have the skill to stop them but he had to at some point.

"You've got some quick moves." Wuying praised with a smile. Her outfit changed as a Black Spirit Armor wrapped around her body.

"You also escape pretty fast." Princess Shan answered as another layer of Ice Blue Spirit Qi appeared on her body.

They both had Armor, but one was made from their own Spirit Qi, while the other was a Spirit Artefact.

This time, it was Wuying who started another exchange. She dashed towards the other party, slashing with both daggers at the same time. Princess Shan was already prepared and parried both attacks as she retreated.

Wuying didn't stop her assault, she continued to slash from all directions, after a few more attacks, her daggers finally penetrated Princess Shan's defense and slashed her body.

The flat sound of a blade hitting a rock burst into everyone's ears and chunks of ice fragments exploded everywhere. In spite of being hit, the Princess stomped on the ground, creating a block of ice that made its way into Wuying's chest throwing her in the air.

Wuying landed gracefully ten meters away and looked at Princess Shan's Armour which was already repaired.

Her special Ice Blue Qi could turn into ice at her will. If she had enough Qi, she could continuously wrap QI around her body, giving her ultimate protection. Unless the attack was powerful enough to destroy the ice layer in one hit, her enemies would be hard-pressed to defeat her.

That's what Wuying deducted after a quick exchange. Looking down at her own Spirit Artefact, it had a few scratches, but it was still fine. After a lot of careful consideration, she decided to use the new Offensive Spirit Art she was recently practicing, "Rank 4 Blood Daggers."

Wuying slashed her palms, dripping her blood on the daggers which they greedily absorbed. The red color became even darker and turned into a pair of blood-red daggers. Normally, when using this Offensive Spirit Art, it used the blood of its enemies. Unfortunately, in this fight, the only alternative was to use her own.

Without wasting time, Wuying charged forward. And suddenly a copy of herself appeared from her shadow, running next to her real body.

Unable to recognize the real one, Princess Shan blocked one with a wall of ice and shot multiple ice bolts towards the other.

One body was quickly mutilated by sharp spikes, but it disappeared a moment later, while the one blocked by the wall of ice was the real one.

Wuying couldn't stop her momentum as she crashed into the wall, destroying it with an X shaped cut. The Blood daggers passed through it without any problems, but what awaited her past the wall was an Ice Katana slashing down from above.

Wuying quickly crossed her daggers above her head to block the strike. The attack was followed by a knee strike with an ice spike on it, crashing into Wuying's Spirit Armor with a dull sound.

It did not cause much damage to her, but the impact of the attack caused her to fall back through the hole in the ice wall.

The fallen ice chunks raised dust from the ground, blocking the vision around the wall. Afraid of a sneak attack, Princess Shan increased her distance. Her Spirit Awareness scanned the insides of the fog didn't find anyone inside it.

'The same trick again?' she smirked as she sensed a movement behind her.

Her whole back turned into an ice shield on instinct before Wuying's Blood daggers made a long horizontal cut.

"Aghhh!" Princess Shan groaned in pain.

This time, the ice couldn't withstand the attack and a faint line of blood appeared on Princess Shan's back. She turned around to counter-attack while ignoring the pain, but Wuying was already far away.

Wuying's face looked pale, but she was determined to continue the fight. The price to pay for using Blood Daggers Spirit Art was blood. After the daggers spilled Princess Shan's blood, she regained some of her strength, but it wasn't enough.

The Shadow Guard members were excited to see their leader getting the upper hand, but Xuefeng was not in the least pleased.

'You can stop the fight Xuefeng. Wuying is using an art she is still not proficient with. She will hurt her body even more before the fight ends.' Ling informed him after examining the situation.

'Yes, you are right.' Xuefeng agreed.

Princess Shan looked mad when she touched the wound on her back and saw blood on her hand. She never sustained an injury in her life. Taking advantage of the break, she froze the cut and swallowed a healing pill. She didn't want the wound to leave a scar.

Just as she was about to use her ultimate art to beat Wuying, a familiar voice resounded in her ears.

"Stop! That is enough!" Xuefeng roared.

The two of them looked at each other with complicated faces, but in the end, they both listened to Xuefeng and placed down their weapons.

The crowd was disappointed about the result, but no one dared to complain out loud.

They were also surprised to see Wuying's strength. Not many people knew she was already at this stage.

When Wuying and Princess Shan arrived by Xuefeng's side, he checked the latter's injury. He touched the surface of the wound and took a deep breath.

Although it was healing fast due to the pill, Xuefeng was sure that Princess Shan was still in pain.

Xuefeng then looked at Wuying's pale face and sighed helplessly.

"Wasn't that only a spar? Why do I see both of you injured?" Xuefeng asked with an angry expression, causing both women to lower their heads in shame.

Xuefeng looked to the crowd and said. "The party is over, you can all disperse!". he then turned to stare at Wuying and Princess Shan as he smiled wryly and said, "Let's go back."

"Since when was Young Master so cool?" Someone asked after Xuefeng left with the ladies.

"I guess, the rumors were true…" his buddy added.

...….

Although Xuefeng looked angry on the surface, that fight really helped him to roughly understand how cultivation works in this world, so he was secretly grateful. Even if you had a higher stage than your enemy, you can still be defeated if you're not careful enough.

There was a lot of training awaiting Xuefeng, but he was positive about his future. With Ling's help, he had higher chances of survival than anyone else.

'I need to get stronger…' Xuefeng thought as he again realized his new life won't be that easy and colorful.