It didn't happen so often for Noah to suffer injuries against cultivators on his same level. His body usually protected him from their most basic attacks due to its natural defenses.
However, Peaceful Storm's talisman had managed to restrain him for a short period and even pierce his skin at the same time. It seemed that the cultivator wasn't only specialized in defense but had a series of effective offensive methods too.
'It's not surprising for such old existences to be so resourceful.' Noah thought as he kept his eyes on his opponent.
Peaceful Storm's aura had condensed around him in a protective stance after the last exchange of attacks. That time, Noah could see how the cultivator's "Breath" affected the air and space around him and was ready to deflect or redirect any form of offensive.
His opponent had finally become serious, and Noah couldn't wait to see how far his power had grown.
Noah charged ahead again, uncaring of the injury on his leg. The resilience of his body couldn't be compared to the human standards, so he was sure that he would win as long as he traded blows in that way.
As for eating to increase his healing speed, that was something that wasn't possible anymore now that his body had reached such heights.
The requirements in terms of energy were simply too high now that he was in the middle tier of the fifth rank. Even if he were to eat a rank 5 magical beast now, it would still take a day for his skin to heal and that only due to the improved healing abilities inherited by the Yin Body.
That was the reason why he had stopped eating during a battle unless his condition was critical, and he had abandoned the idea of creating a suitable secret technique. Taking a few bites would only reveal an opening to his opponents, and he wasn't sure he had enough powerful corpses to make up for the consumption of primary energy that a secret technique in the fifth rank would require.
It would be different if he somehow managed to condense an entire creature in the middle tier of the fifth rank into a pill, but he didn't know any alchemist able to succeed in that task. Also, the product would be a proper rank 5 drug, which was something that cultivators couldn't just produce at will, not in the quantity required by Noah at least.
Peaceful Storm could only decide to contain the corrosive smoke in his body for the time being when he saw Noah launching a series of those threatening black lines as he shot toward him. His expression froze at that sight. He found it unreal that Noah could repeatedly attack with such might without even taking time to prepare his slashes.
The truth was that Noah's martial art had reached a higher level now that the Demonic Sword worked together with him. It was as if Peaceful Storm had to fight against two magical beasts in the fifth rank at the same time!
A series of talismans came out of his ring before the lines clashed with the distorted air that surrounded him. They floated in front of him and created a series of arrows that shot at high speed toward Noah, ignoring his attacks.
Noah's eyes widened when he saw that he couldn't follow the arrows with his eyes. They were so fast that they appeared able to teleport!
However, he didn't back down and ignored the dangerous feeling sensed by his mind as he activated the complete Demonic Form.
Both Noah and Peaceful Storm were confident in their defensive abilities and didn't let the opponent take control of the flow of the battle. The black lines crashed on the area filled with distorted air and morphed, taking the form of dozens of claws that tried to reach for the injured cultivator at its center.
Yet, their trajectory was entirely off, and Noah had to decide to make the claws explode hit the cultivator with his corrosive smoke.
On the other hand, the arrows landed on Noah's body as soon as the armor of black smoke started to form. They pierced the spell and stabbed his skin, reaching even for the dense layers of muscles beneath.
Noah had protected his vital organs with his arms and let go of the Demonic Sword to help him defending from the attacks. However, some arrows still managed to create deep wounds before they depleted their power and returned to be simple air.
'I understand,' Noah thought as the broken armor started to reform. 'These attacks carry his aura, which means that he creates his talismans! He probably focuses all the power of his centers of power to defend himself, while he uses the talismans to attack.'
Noah wasn't worried about his wounds in the slightest and continued to analyze his opponent's power. He had to admit that it was quite a troublesome enemy. He could very well imagine how Peaceful Storm had spent decades honing his skill in the creation of talismans, which meant that his stash of prepared attacks could be endless.
Nevertheless, even if he focused only on defending himself, Noah's darkness fueled his offensive and made them incredibly destructive.
The cloud of smoke inside the area of distorted space vanished at some point and revealed a Peaceful Storm filled with small wounds and red marks. His defensive spell couldn't stop the advance of Noah's corrosive smoke completely, which ended on his body and made a mess of his skin.
Peaceful Storm though didn't seem beaten and heaved a deep sigh as he raised his head to stare at his opponent. Whiffs of black smoke came out of his back when he breathed out. Without that foreign substance in his body, he could express his full power again.
Yet, his expression froze when he saw the form that Noah had taken after the activation of the Demonic Form.
That spell wasn't unknown in the cultivation world. Noah had made it quite famous since it was on the first abilities noted down on his wanted poster. However, what was in front of Peaceful Storm was a completely different shape compared to what the records reported.
Noah was covered with a thick layer of gaseous scales that swayed in the wind as they released trails of corrosive smoke. The scales seemed to have metallic properties as they took the shape of an armor.
His helmet had the shape of a dragon head that had two straight horns coming out from its temples, and a thick tail came out from the bottom of his back.
All in all, the new shape of the complete Demonic Form was humanoid, but it featured many details that only a dragon-type magical beast could have. Also, the corrosive smoke had changed when Noah used his darkness to create it. It was now denser and less chaotic, which allowed it to unleash more precise destruction.
Looking at that monstrous figure, Peaceful Storm accepted that he had to go all out in that battle.