Within his spiritual sea, clouds of black fog surged down from the endless void above. It was a tremendous amount of spiritual energy that consumed him in an instant; filling every corner of his body with a sensational yet familiar power. His weariness disappeared and he was once again filled with strength. And on top of it all, he finally felt it, what he couldn’t all these years.

The power of darkness and space!

The power of darkness was the bane of every element. It was capable of absorbing and negating all other elements. It was the quintessence of pure destruction.

The power of space was the power of the heavens. It was unfathomable. It was capable of splitting apart the fabric of the world with a mere thought.

The demon’s sword was only a hair’s width away from piercing when it happened. A familiar black mist surrounded him and Alisha with the power of space. The air around them shimmered as they blurred out of existence and reappeared the next instant, having shifted a small distance to the side.

He knew what to do as if by instinct. He couldn't quite explain it but he felt the visceral connection between his eyes and the black energy swirling inside his body. He only had to think about what he wanted to do and he could already feel it starting to happen.

Woosh!

The sword tip grazed the side of his neck, close enough to nick his skin.

“What? How did you…” The demon spluttered.

Gray took advantage of his opponent’s momentary lapse. He let go of Alisha as well as his pickaxe and grabbed the base of the sword with both hands. His fingers and palms were covered with the power of darkness which rapidly ate away at the layer of spiritual energy on the weapon’s surface. Without its protection, he was then easily able to snap the blade in half.

The demon threw away the broken hilt in disgust and raised his arms into a fancy-looking martial pose. “Do you think you’ve won just by breaking my worthless weapon?”

He twirled his arms and spun his body around as he rapidly advanced. He looked more like a dancer than a fighter as he launched palm strikes towards Gray’s chest.

Pa!

The demon howled and retreated, clutching his right hand. One of the fingers was bent back oddly.

Gray rubbed the culprit, the top of the heavy gold pickaxe, and smirked, “You forgot that I still have mine!”

He was filled with a kind of confidence he didn't have before. This was different from the Tome of Glorious Fortune and the Golden Body of the Bodhi. His eyes were his true power. Darkness and space were his true power. There was no way he could lose.

The demon made another series of obnoxious moves to show off his martial skill but Gray ignored them. He focused on himself and especially on the spatial energy within his right hand. If the power of space could shift his body as well as Alisha a small distance, then it could also shift his hand and the heavy gold pickaxe a small distance.

The next flashy palm attack arrived but this time, Gray ducked out of the way and swung the pickaxe.

The demon saw the sharp point of the pick come at him horizontally and preemptively dodged, scooting his hips back so that the swing would miss and pass in front of his stomach.

But… the pickaxe hit his upper arm instead!

“Ahhhh!” The demon screamed and jerked backward.

The sharp pick which had been embedded to the depth of half a finger was ripped out, tearing a jagged line down his arm and causing an even bigger wound.

“How…” The demon clutching his arm, his face a mask of shock and pain.

Gray smiled mockingly. He had successfully changed the position of the attack in an instant using spatial energy. He had aimed for the lower torso at first but went for the extended and unprotected arm at the last moment.

To the demon, it was inexplicable how the pickaxe could disappear and reappear in another place. It was as if he was seeing things, as if he was under an illusion ability.

The demon's ample spiritual energy swept out wildly. He was trying to blow away any wayward strands of spiritual energy around him that could be causing his hallucinations. He didn’t know that this was hopelessly futile and a waste of energy.

Now confident that the anomaly was dealt with, the demon attacked with another palm strike. Gray stepped to the side and aimed for the legs this time.

The demon jumped as expected so the pickaxe flashed upward and sank into his ankle, crushing bones and severing tendons. It was just like what had happened with the first demon. The power of earth within heavy gold was capable of crushing the spiritual aura of a Control Realm cultivator with sheer power and weight. Without that layer of protection, they were just as vulnerable to physical attacks as anyone in the Strengthening Realm.

The second demon was far worse off. He was only at the first level of the Control Realm. It was not a level that could contend with Grandpa Kapoor’s creation, a spiritual treasure intended for Control Realm cultivators to fight other Control Realm cultivators.

Gray left Alisha on the ground went on the offensive for the first time. He clutched his prized spiritual weapon with both hands and swung mightily. His attacks were simple and predictable but unstoppable.

The demon fought back with all kinds of elaborate martial skills and secret arts but they were all useless. Nothing in his arsenal could stop Gray’s attacks that seemed to drift in and out of existence on a whim. He could not comprehend what was happening. He could not figure out that the power of space was the culprit. And that was his undoing.

“Ahhh!” The demon howled in agony as he tumbled to the ground.

He was a bloody mess. His limbs were full of punctures and so was his body. He tried to get back up but was no longer able to. He tried to crawl along on the ground in a futile attempt to escape but that was stopped by a well-placed kick across the head.

He rolled a few times and landed on his back, gasping for air.

“Human scum…” He looked up with hatred in his eyes, “Torture me, kill me, it doesn’t matter! I know nothing. All I know is that your kind will soon be wiped out completely. When the Pill King returns, it will be the day of your doom! Hahaha!”

Gray raised the heavy gold pickaxe one final time and smashed it down on the demon’s head.

“So noisy!”