Although Sect Leader Fu left, nobody started talking again. Akata turned his head to Peizhi Xiuying and Huihe Ji, he could see that sweat drenched their bodies and fear dwelled within their eyes. Clearly, Sect Leader Fu also had some words for them as well.

“How about we just spar to increase our combat awareness?” Akata made a suggestion to the group. Even though the Sect Leader left, the oppressive feeling she gave off still lingered. Only by clearing their minds would the oppressive feeling go away gradually.

“That’s a great idea! While knowing each other’s secrets brings us together on a bonding level, only by fighting will we really know what level we’re at.” Huihe Ji spoke out. He was embarrassed that he made the suggestion to reveal each other secrets and now he wanted to relieve himself of the pressure.

“Mn. I agree with that too.” Peizhi Xiuying obviously wouldn’t go against this idea. She knew she was the weakest of the group and therefore wanted to become stronger faster than Akata and Huihe Ji.

After the three agreed they got into their defensive postures. Their auras started to change. A strong sword-intent emanated from Huihe Ji, A cold detached yin energy radiated from Peizhi Xiuying, while a calm might effused from Akata.

Swish! Peizhi Xiuying waved her hand in the air. A strong gust of wind filled with divine energy came through. Not only was the wind filled with divine energy, it also contained elemental energy; energy from the Inner Element of Night.

The wind encompassed a vast area. Both Akata and Huihe Ji were within this area. Whoosh! Akata used his Shadowlight movement skill. But, instead of escaping, he advanced toward Peizhi Xiuying.

Huihe Ji was even more dominating as he directly waved his hand and scattered the divine wind that surrounded him. With a tap of his foot, he advanced forward. Each step resulted in an afterimage coming into view. As he moved, more and more afterimages appeared. This was a grand movement technique called the Multiple Figure Mirage. It’s might was being displayed perfectly in the hands of Huihe Ji. It’s speed was no less inferior than Akata’s Shadowlight skill.

Both Akata and Huihe Ji appeared in front of Peizhi Xiuying in a flash. Akata raised his hand and swiped it down. Although it was a simple movement, it contained grand might. It was actually a technique, the Guillotine Slice. Huihe Ji didn’t lose out in might either as he punched out. His fist seemed to fill the world with his pride. Just looking upon it made one feel as if they had no chance to escape. This was also a grand skill, the Purgatory Fists.

Seeing the two incoming attacks, Peizhi Xiuying could feel their might. But she didn’t back away. Instead, she shot her palms forward in front of her chest as divine energy gathered upon them. “Divine Night Field!” She yelled out.

Whoosh! A black screen gathered in front of her palms as if planning to block the attacks.

Boom boom! The hand slice and fist strike landed on the screen and instantly shattered it. But upon looking at the other side, Peizhi Xiuying was no longer in sight.

Whoosh! Before the two could even look for her, two incomparably hard metallic spears shot towards them from the below the ground. Sensing the spears, the two instantly reacted and jumped back. Just as they jumped, however, the spears suddenly bent towards them. It was as if the spears in front of them were snakes with exceptional agility. But, upon closer inspection, they were clearly vines.

Akata reacted immediately upon seeing this. He waved his hand as a black flame with crimson tips surged forth with boundless might. This flame seemed to possess the howling of ghosts and the cries of demons. The energy that it gave off was one of pure evil. This was precisely Akata’s demonic hellfire.

Although he hadn’t had the chance to strengthen the flames purity, its aura became crueler and much more imposing through his cold-hearted killing intent. Of course, with the increase of his cultivation and battle power, its might had leapt by leaps and bounds since the first time he used it.

After Akata became able to use magic and contemplated on the fire element, his comprehension of the Searing Heat of the Underworld increased as well. There were a total of six levels to the technique. Previously, Akata was at the first level, Scorching Sand. But now, he had advanced to the second level, Melting Earth. Thus, he gained more control over devilish flames and its might and heat increased exponentially.

The hellfire and the vine that was chasing after him collided together. There was no resounding boom like one would expect, but instead a deathly silence. The frightening vines that were as imposing as a celestial being were instantly being devoured by the hellfire. There was no room to resist as in the blink of an eye, the whole vine had been burned to nothingness, even the ashes weren’t saved.

This scene made Huihe Ji wary of Akata. It also brought along a new level of respect to his strength. But, he didn’t have the time to think about all these things as the other vine was rapidly closing down on him as well. His speed was even faster than Akata’s and so he created much more distance. With that distance, he stopped retreating and then clenched his hand to form another fist, which he shot out right after.

This fist strike was much stronger than the previous one and much more domineering. The space around the fist strike lightly twisted and seemed to want to cave in on itself. The surrounding air became filled with its might. Its imposing aura wasn’t filled with pride as the previous one was, instead, it was as if this fist was really slow and weak. Yet, as one gazed at it, it would fill one with a sense of terror.

Although it appeared slow and weak, this fist was capable of crushing hills with its might. This was the second strike of the Purgatory Fists. The Purgatory Fists had a total of eight levels to it. The first fist was the Imposing Pride Fist while this second one was the Lifeless Sloth Fist. Each successive strike would lead to a much more powerful might. The might of the second fist was already double that of the first one.

While Akata’s devilish hellfire burned the vines away in utter silence, Huihe Ji’s fist strike was the complete opposite. A large resounding boom was made as the fist struck the vine head-on. The vine crumbled under the impact and disintegrated in an instant. However, the force of the strike was too much as, even after it broke apart the vine, its might continued on. This was precisely what Huihe Ji had planned. He wanted to find the location Peizhi Xiuying hid in.

Bang! The ground broke apart under the terrifying force of the fist strike. Sand and debris shot into the air creating a smoke cloud. Out of that smoke cloud a figure quickly shot out. It was none other than Peizhi Xiuying.

Although she was facing two fearsome opponents she wasn’t the slightest bit scared. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying this moment. This was the fight that she wanted to happen. She intentionally attacked Akata and Huihe Ji together so they both would fight her at the same time. Only with this kind of pressure could she rapidly strengthen herself.

Obviously, Akata and Huihe Ji saw through her intentions and didn’t go against it. They knew she was the weakest amongst the three of them and therefore they didn’t have a problem fighting her at the same time. It wasn’t as if it was a life and death battle anyways. With their help, she would grow much stronger. Therefore, they didn’t hold back in their attacks.

After Peizhi Xiuying shot out from the ground, she made dozens of hand gestures and then raised her hand in the air. Instantly a black light gathered above her head. It resembled a black moon yet the pressure it gave off weighed down on the divine energy in the area. The black moon lit up with a black light and then tens of small black lights sprang up around it. The small black lights looked as if they were black stars.

“Demonic Night: Darkarrows!” With a wave of her hand, Peizhi Xiuying pointed at the location Akata and Huihe Ji were standing at. With that motion, the black stars seemed to listen to her command. All of the black stars lit up and each one made a sound akin to a demonic warrior. With a flash, tens of beams of dark lights shot out. Each of the beams of light were fast and imposing.

Akata and Huihe Ji looked at the incoming storm of lights. From their point of view, it was as if an army of demons had shot out many arrows at once to enclose them within the space they were in. There was simply no room for escape. But it wasn’t like they were planning to escape anyways.

Akata and Huihe Ji faced the barrage of arrows head on without any fear in their eyes. It wasn’t that the attack didn’t pose a threat to them, it was just that they wouldn’t run away from a fight. They had to face this head on, otherwise it would hurt their own pride.

Akata held up a single hand as a small spark appeared on top of his palm. The spark was about the size of a fingernail but it soon increased in size. The spark became the size of a palm then the size of a head. As it increased in size and might, it started to resemble fire more and more. This was precisely Akata’s demonic hellfire. With a wave of his hand the hellfire was sent into an arc in front of him. But the arc of flames didn’t shoot out. Instead it hovered in front of Akata like a protective snake. Then, spikes started to appear within the arc of fire. The spikes increased in numbers rapidly until they were so numerous the fire didn’t look like flames anymore.

Clap! Huihe Ji clapped his palms together with a ferocious force. He slowly separated the two palms as a fearsome intent gathered within. This was his peerless sword intent. Under the guidance of his sword intent, an illusory sword started forming within his two spreading palms. Finally, his palms stopped spreading and he grabbed the sword that formed. It was misty and illusory, like how his former sword was. This was a spirit sword.

In actuality, Huihe Ji’s Bloodblade Sword was also a spirit sword formed from his intent. At Huihe Ji’s level, he could form multiple spirit swords but only one could match the might of his Bloodblade Sword. The newly formed spirit sword was held in his hand. All of a sudden he threw it in the air where it floated. After some hand gestures he pointed at the sword. “Multiply.” He gave a command. The spirit sword in the air suddenly trembled as light burst forth. Then the sword became two then four then eight. In the end, tens of swords were formed, not inferior to the first spirit sword in might.

Although this took time to explain, it all happened in a mere few breaths of time. Akata and Huihe Ji pointed at the sky, that was filled with arrows, at the same time.

Si! Si! Si! Si! Si! The tens of spirit swords shot out toward the arrows in a shocking fashion. It brought along the might and intent of a pure sword cultivator. Not only did the swords fly out, but the spikes made of Akata’s demonic hellfire shot out as well. They were equally numerous and didn’t lose out at all to the arrows or the swords.

Bang bang bang! The collision between the arrows, swords, and spikes brought along a wave of destruction that swept through the area. All that remained afterwards was… utter silence.