"Fight you?"
Xing Hao was stunned. This was simply a sparring partner. What made Xing Hao feel humiliated was that Li Xuan, who could kill him with a single sword, wanted him to spar?
The damage was not high, but the insult was extreme!
"Your Excellency, I admit I am no match for you. Although we came here to find you, we never made the first move. Now that I concede, why must you humiliate me like this!" Xing Hao felt wronged. It would have been better if he had been killed with one sword.
Li Xuan was taken aback. Did this guy really not fear death?
"Since you are unwilling, then forget it." Li Xuan shook his head, and the heavy sword in front of Xing Hao trembled slightly.
"Wait a moment!" Xing Hao's pupils contracted sharply as he hurriedly said, "I am willing!"
Xing Hao clearly felt the surging sword energy from the heavy sword. Facing death, Xing Hao finally chose to submit. After all, Li Xuan had said earlier that he could let him leave, and it didn't matter if he was humiliated. In any case, he was the only one left present.
"Very well," Li Xuan nodded and said, "I won't use my sword. You can attack with all your might."
Xing Hao was overjoyed. If Li Xuan didn't use his sword, there was a real chance he could win. After all, his prior understanding of Li Xuan almost confirmed that he was a sword cultivator. What threat would a sword cultivator pose without a sword?
Furthermore, Xing Hao had also cultivated his physical body, and he was confident in his physical prowess. Now that Li Xuan wasn't using his spiritual sword, Xing Hao was quite confident.
"Good!" Xing Hao nodded with full confidence.
"Attack," Li Xuan said with a smile.
Xing Hao moved his mind, and his figure instantly lunged towards Li Xuan. Xing Hao clenched his left fist, his body radiating spiritual light like a god of war.
Li Xuan's eyes narrowed, and he also clenched his left fist and struck out.
Bang!
The two fists collided, and a terrifying shockwave rippled outward. However, neither of them retreated. Instead, they both continued to punch.
Bang, bang, bang!
After more than ten punches, the terrifying fist wind dissipated all the malevolent energy within a radius of tens of meters. Li Xuan and Xing Hao both retreated. Even with their strength, they could hardly withstand the immense recoil from such a head-on collision.
"Li Xuan's physical body is so formidable!" Xing Hao looked at Li Xuan, whose battle spirit was high, and felt a pang of fear in his heart. It was one thing for sword cultivators to be powerful, but their physical bodies were also so strong? And he had even thought of killing such a person. The thought made Xing Hao wish he could personally kill Xing Long and the others.
Xing Long: ...
"Continue!"
Li Xuan swung his arm, and then his figure rushed towards Xing Hao again.
Xing Hao groaned inwardly but could only gather his spirits to meet the onslaught.
A quarter of an hour later, Xing Hao could only defend. Facing Li Xuan, who grew stronger with each passing moment, Xing Hao had almost no opportunity to attack. Even his defenses were merely parries. Soon, after another five minutes, Xing Hao spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed.
"Your Excellency, I concede," Xing Hao said, his face pale, after spitting out several mouthfuls of blood.
Li Xuan nodded helplessly. "Fine, you may leave."
Li Xuan clearly saw Xing Hao pound his chest several times the moment he fell, otherwise, where would all that blood have come from? Since that was the case, Li Xuan saw no need to keep Xing Hao for further practice.
"Thank you for your mercy, Your Excellency," Xing Hao's eyes flashed with surprise. He then cupped his fists in a salute and hurriedly turned to leave.
"Wait a moment, how did you find me?" Li Xuan suddenly called out to Xing Hao.
Xing Hao's tense heart finally relaxed, and he said, "This is a Spirit Seeking Disk, obtained from Luo Yexue. As long as you store the residual aura of someone you've met in it, you can use this disk to find that person. However, if the distance is too great, it becomes ineffective."
"Spirit Seeking Disk... Leave this thing behind," Li Xuan said, somewhat surprised. Such a spiritual artifact was quite useful. Moreover, his aura was on it, so Li Xuan would naturally not let Xing Hao take it away.
"Your Excellency, can I leave now?" Xing Hao asked, throwing the Spirit Seeking Disk to Li Xuan. After all, he had obtained this item from Luo Yexue.
"Go," Li Xuan said, weighing the Spirit Seeking Disk in his hand.
Xing Hao breathed a sigh of relief and then hurriedly turned to leave. His speed was so great that even Li Xuan was somewhat astonished.
"Young master, now, apart from peak Saint-level spirit masters, other spirit masters pose no threat to you," the Heavenly Dao Brush's voice sounded.
Li Xuan nodded slightly. Achieving such strength at the advanced stage of the Martial God realm was partly due to being a sword cultivator and partly due to the power of his sword techniques. After all, techniques like "One Sword Breaks All Laws" and "Three Sword Slashes the Heavens" were not of low grade.
"Little Brush, how far is it to the location of that divine sword?" Li Xuan asked.
"If the path is clear, we should reach it in another day," the Heavenly Dao Brush replied.
"Then let's continue our advance," Li Xuan nodded slightly. He then collected the spatial rings from Zi Meng and Cang Li and turned to leave.
Time passed quickly. Two days later, Xing Hao had exited the core region. At the boundary, Xing Hao stopped, looked back, then let out a sigh of relief and vanished.
At the same time, Li Xuan stopped in front of a tall mountain peak. Although he hadn't seen the appearance of the divine sword the Heavenly Dao Brush had mentioned, Li Xuan could already feel a terrifying sword intent. Sensing this, Li Xuan moved towards the summit.
"What is this..." As Li Xuan reached the mountainside, he saw several skeletons, including some belonging to powerful beings. Even their skeletons emitted a golden light, indicating that their physical cultivation had reached the Golden Bone realm.
"It seems this place has been explored before, but it appears they perished before reaching the summit," Li Xuan mused for a moment.
"Young master, you are fortunate to be a sword cultivator. Otherwise, the sword intent here is not something ordinary people can withstand. Even Saints would likely only reach this mountainside. As for the summit, even a Spirit Master of the Primordial Origin realm would find it difficult to bear. Young master, the path ahead will be difficult," the Heavenly Dao Brush said.
Li Xuan was surprised. So he was taking advantage of being a sword cultivator. However, Li Xuan did indeed feel the sword intent that the Heavenly Dao Brush mentioned. The pressure from such sword intent was not strong for him. But if it increased, it would truly be as the Heavenly Dao Brush said, and reaching the summit would be difficult.
"So be it. I'll see if I can withstand this sword intent!" Li Xuan's gaze gradually became firm. If he gave up even on a divine sword that was delivered to him, how could he improve!
With this thought, Li Xuan took another step towards the summit.