Dominating Heaven Blade instantly turned livid with anger. He was the leader of Gods of Destruction and a hero in the gaming world, but Candlelight Shadow didn’t give him any face at all. He had shut him down arrogantly like he was talking to a child.

"Don’t you think that’s a bit too much, Fang Zhuo?"

Dominating Heaven Blade glared at Candlelight Shadow and gritted his teeth angrily. If he didn’t get back some face, he wouldn’t be able to show himself in Floating Ice City any longer.

"Heh!"

The corner of Candlelight Shadow’s curled into a disdainful smile. "And what are you going to do about it? Declare war on Candle Dragon? Do it then!"

"You!"

Dominating Heaven Blade gritted his teeth even harder, but he didn’t dare to blow his top. Candle Dragon was powerful, and he had neither the power nor the courage to challenge them.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, he looked like he wanted to find a hole on the ground to hide in.

……

I walked straight toward Candlelight Shadow and stared at him with cool eyes. Smiling a little, I said, "Dominating Heaven Blade, you’re a busy man, aren’t you? You should organize your men and prepare for the next assault!"

"Er, o… okay!"

Dominating Heaven Blade immediately turned around and left after I gave him a way out.

Meanwhile, Candlelight Shadow sneered at me disdainfully, "Level 86 and the Purgatory Sword in less than half a year’s time. You’ve truly given me a pleasant surprise, Falling Dust!"

I pointed my sword at him and smiled. "This is just the beginning of a string of pleasant surprises, Candlelight Shadow!"

"Hmph!"

……

The air beneath Skull Castle was thick with the cold of autumn and well-concealed killing intent. On one side stood the so-called strongest player of China, the Martial God Candlelight Shadow. On the other side stood one of the best CGL Hall of Famers in Spirit of Grief, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. The grudge that lasted since the Spirit of Grief era all the way to Heavenblessed was about to erupt in full force!

"Lu Chen…"

Lin Yixin called out to me from a distance. She looked like she wanted to say something.

Candlelight Shadow raised his sword and shouted, "Candle Dragon, this is a fight between me and Lu Chen! No one is to interfere with this fight, you hear me!?"

"Yes, leader!" Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, and everyone else replied in unison.

I also raised my Purgatory Sword and growled, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, do not interfere with this fight! I won’t forgive anyone who does!"

He Yi stared at us, her face half hope and half worry as she gripped Murong Mingyue’s hands tightly. Murong Mingyue herself was staring at me and Candlelight Shadow with deep worry.

……

"Come!"

Candlelight Shadow shook his flaming sword lightly before saying, "Before we start, I must remind you that my Blade of Divine Flame is a Level 80 Purple Gold–grade weapon with a maximum Attack of 505! Do not disappoint me, Falling Dust! If you are one-shot, I will flatten Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls again!"

"Flatten? Are you sure you have the power to do that?"

I growled and charged toward Candlelight Shadow like a ghost, but I was running normally instead of using Charge like I would normally do. It was because the skill was only really effective against first-rate experts or below. A peak expert like Candlelight Shadow would know how to counter it perfectly, not to mention that he could exploit the time it took to charge the skill up and put me at a severe disadvantage.

Swhoosh!

Ice appeared around my blade as I thrust my weapon at his chest.

Expression changing, he lifted his sword upward and somehow parried my offensive skill! As a result, he only took 54 damage. His Defense must be very high, not to mention that he was surrounded by some sort of light-based armor. It was clearly a defensive skill.

"Heh, eat this!"

The counterattack was swift and fiery. I gritted my teeth, shifted to the right like lightning and parried the attack perfectly. I took 71 damage as my body shook slightly from the impact. As I thought, Candlelight Shadow’s Attack was really scary!

"Damn you! Die!"

He snarled as the Blade of Divine Flame suddenly jumped toward me like a venomous snake, sharp rocks shooting out of his weapon!

I bent my body backward and somehow pulled off a Guard despite the near-impossible timing!

Ding!

This time, my arm was numb, and my entire body was shaking—

Combat Log: Player "Candlelight Shadow" used "Rock Thrust”. You successfully guarded and took 478 damage!

……

It was an unthinkable amount of damage considering that I had guarded successfully. I would’ve lost at least 1000 damage otherwise!

Expression darkening, Candlelight Shadow followed up with a lightning-quick Crushing Blow!

But I was faster than him, and I was able to cancel my Guard, bend down a little and launch a Desperate Gambit! The Purgatory Sword glowed bright red as it sailed toward its target!

"Heh!"

Candlelight Shadow jumped two steps backward and guarded successfully!

457!

He lost almost 500 HP from the attack just like me, but the real threat was the Crushing Blow that I executed right after Desperate Gambit! It was a premeditated move, of course. I predicted that he would Guard my Desperate Gambit, so I immediately switched to Crushing Blow the second my weapon connected! It all happened in less than 0.2 seconds!

But Candlelight Shadow was able to react just as swiftly and cancel his Guard. Both of us praised each other’s skill in our heads when the Crushing Blow hit air, and the text "MISS" appeared above Candlelight Shadow’s head. Now this is what you call true PvP!

Meanwhile, everyone was watching the legendary battle with bated breaths and feeling like they had been introduced to a whole new world. Some had also turned on their recorders so that the momentous moment wouldn’t be remembered in memory only!

……

"Break!"

1347!

1411!

Candlelight Shadow and I scored a basic attack as we passed by each other. So far, besides the very first exchange, neither of us were able to find a real opportunity to use our skills because of how fast the battle was going. Most skills took time to cast, and even physical attack skills had a short casting time between 0.1 to 0.4 second. That was already too long for players like us.

I took 1347 damage, and Candlelight Shadow 1411 damage during that exchange. In a sense, one could say that my skills and my equipment were slightly better than his. However, the advantage was so miniscule that it might as well not exist.

I was still withholding my Pardon because I had no confidence that I could one-shot the bastard. In the case where your opponent was a top-tier expert, it was best to save your most powerful skill for the best opportunity. Otherwise, you were just opening yourself to an all-out attack during that period while your key skill was still in cooldown.

Candlelight Shadow shared my thoughts as well. If he couldn’t guarantee a one-shot, he would rather save the skill until my HP dropped sufficiently!

I did have another ace up my sleeves, namely Purple Dragon Howl, but it took way too long to cast and it could be interrupted by any attack. Moreover, Candlelight Shadow was probably saving his Charge for this exact moment. It would be suicide to use it in a situation like this!

It was at this moment the players of Candle Dragon including Tempest Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and so on raised their weapons into the air and shouted, "Martial God! Martial God! Martial God!"

Candlelight Shadow smiled arrogantly and said, "It looks like you’re the only one who’s worth a challenge in this entire city, Falling Dust!"

I smiled back. "Man, you’re such a chatterbox. Can we get back to fighting already? I still have a quest to complete!"

"Tch!"

Candlelight Shadow let out a growl and buffed his Attack and critical rate slightly with War Roar. At the same time, a beautiful bard walked out of Candle Dragon’s troops and applied Forge, Divine Valor, Death Match, and more on him!

My own buffs hadn’t run out yet, but Beauty Pure Love still walked up to me to refresh them and add the rest of the buffs that I was missing. It was so that I could face the Martial God at my absolute best!

……

"Let’s end this!"

Candlelight Shadow shouted with murder in his eyes as we both charged. Right before we were going to run into each other, both of us backed away, changed direction and zigzagged past each other at the exact same time. We both lost some HP as our blades struck the other person’s armor!

"Die!"

There was very little time to think in a fight as intense as this!

Candlelight Shadow and I had been running in half-circles or zigzag patterns in hopes of maneuvering to the enemy’s back and dealing a fatal blow from there, but neither of us were successful due to the other party’s cautiousness and skill. Our movement and grasp of combat rhythm especially were world-class!

Pu pu...

We exchanged blows again, and I lost another 1457 HP. The moment my HP dropped to 1784, Candlelight Shadow immediately charged me with murder in his eyes!

I hurriedly moved backward and lifted a hand into the air. A column of bloody light surrounded me as I used Tenacity of the Dead!

+1265!

I didn’t stop there. Rank 8 Health Potion!

+2500!

By the time I had restored myself to full health, Candlelight Shadow’s killer move had also arrived. When the Blade of Divine Flame burned brightly and swept across my shoulders three times in a row, I actually felt like I was about to be one-shot!

Beep!

Combat Log: Player "Candlelight Shadow" used "Blazing Purgatory Slash" and hit you 3 times!

1462!

1389!

1441!

The triple strike deleted almost all of my HP in one go!

That wasn’t the end of it. Candlelight Shadow followed up with another killer move that he had been holding back until now and swung his sword downward in an overhead strike. The energy on his blade suddenly split into a fan of flames and shattered even the ground beneath my feet. It was his AoE skill!

Earth Shattering Slash!

I only had a moment to react. I immediately raised my sword in front of me and used Guard!

245!

Thankfully, the Guard was almost perfect. Somehow I managed to survive his killer combo!

Candlelight Shadow burst through the smoke and charged toward me, a sinister smile etched on his handsome face. "You may have gotten stronger, Falling Dust, but you are still going to die!"

But an instant later, he was surprised to see a smile on my face. It was the smile of a predator who caught his prey in a bind!

"What?"

Before he could react, I unleashed Desperate Gambit and swung the Purgatory Sword at his neck, a weak spot!

2987!

The attack deleted 60% of his HP immediately. I then rode on the momentum and followed up with a basic attack!

1439!

Now Candlelight Shadow was low on HP. Finally, I backed about seven to eight steps away from him and raised my sword into the air!

Thousand Mirage Slash!

Boom!

Dust flew all over the place as Candlelight Shadow backed away and downed an HP potion to heal himself. Unfortunately, not only did he fail to escape out of Thousand Mirage Slash’s range, my sword handle turned cold at the best possible moment! Purgatory Slash!

Boom!

It was an attack that should’ve taken his life, but Candlelight Shadow was able to surround himself with energy and assume a Guard stance!

2453!

His eyes were bloodshot from the powerful blow, but he still didn’t die!

……

Both of us stood at opposite ends of the smoking battlefield as moonlight surrounded us. Both our health bars were almost completely empty, but a winner still hadn’t been decided yet.

Not far away, God’s Dance shuddered before exchanging a glance with Tempest Shadow. She muttered, "Are they… really human?"