The killing intent excluded by the demonic cultivator was far denser and more terrifying compared to what he had released before, causing everyone outside of Xuan Hao to shiver in fear as they looked over at the demonic cultivator.
Xuan Hao only raised his eyebrows slightly upon feeling the killing intent of the demonic cultivator. Not really giving off the reaction that the demonic cultivator desired to have.
"Hmph, seems like I will have to deal with you first then!" Not dragging it off for any longer, the demonic cultivator rushed over towards Xuan Hao as he prepared to swing down one of his demonic claws, a blood red light engulfing it as a bloodthirsty aura could be felt by the 5 spectators.
"Misty Rain!"
Xuan Hao used the Misty Rain sword as a bright blue light erupted out from his sword and formed a thin transparent blue barrier in front of him to block the giant demonic claw heading directly towards him.
The demonic cultivator arrived in front of Xuan Hao just as he finished using the Misty Rain Sword Move and his claw came crashing down towards Xuan Hao. Drawing an eerie red line as it moved down towards Xuan Hao.
BOOM!
The red claw of the demonic cultivator made contact with the blue barrier of Xuan Hao as a loud explosion erupted.
"You are stronger than expected…" Retreating rapidly after the first exchange as he looked even more cautiously at Xuan Hao who was completely unscratched from the earlier exchange.
Xuan Hao did not say anything and struck out with his sword.
The demonic cultivator suddenly felt something and looked over to see the sword attack of Xuan Hao heading over towards him.
The strength contained in this simple attack by Xuan Hao was nothing to scoff at as it had combined together with his domain and sword intent to create an indescribably terrifying attack.𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
This was not something that someone not even at the half step Domain Lord Realm like the demonic cultivator should be able to survive!
"Wha- What is that!?" Sensing the terrifying might behind the incoming sword attack, the demonic cultivator immediately tried to dodge but found out that he could not escape as the attack seemed to follow after him no matter where he went.
Whoosh~
Flapping his bat like wings, the demonic cultivator tried to escape into the air, but this was to no avail as the sword attack soon appeared directly behind him.
Without being able to escape from the simple sword attack, the demonic cultivator could only try to defend against it as he was floating mid-air.
Boom!
"That should be it…" Glancing over at where the small explosion occurred. Not believing that the demonic cultivator would be able to survive it.
Whoosh!
"Hm?" Just as Xuan Hao was about to go over and check the corpse of the demonic cultivator, a small black flame in the shape of a ball flew out of the explosion and headed straight for him as Xuan Hao immediately sensed the terrifying might hidden inside of it as he immediately set up a defensive barrier.
Fwoosh!
The small black flame hit Xuan Hao's barrier and immediately engulfed his barrier for a short moment before disappearing.
"What was that…" Not really understanding what the small black flame was, Xuan Hao clearly felt that the might of the small black flame was way above something that the demonic cultivator should be able to use at his current level, so with that in mind, Xuan Hao cautiously looked over towards the place in the air above where the explosion slowly began receding.
Revealing the demonic cultivator still fine without any visible injuries on his body, as he gently flapped his wings while remaining floating in the air above the ancient trees.
Xuan Hao did not really care much about this as he had instead focused on a small black ball like object firmly held in the right claw of the demonic cultivator as he was floating in the air above.
Earlier, Xuan Hao had seen him use that ball once, but just thought it was a demonic defensive artifact of some sort used to block the attack of the trio from the Flowing Cloud Sect before he could transform…
But from the looks of things, it seemed like there was more to the demonic artifact than he had first thought as the strength behind the earlier black flame clearly reached the level comparable to the demon ape from earlier.
Half a Step into the Domain Lord Realm!
With the demonic artifact in hand, the demonic cultivator had surpassed the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm and reached the transitional realm known as Half a Step into the Domain Lord Realm!
…
"W-what is happening?! Is this still a fight at the Nascent Soul Realm!?" As Xuan Hao and the demonic cultivator began fighting each other, the young lady from the Flowing Cloud Sect could not help but exclaim in shock as she observed Xuan Hao and the demonic cultivator exchanging moves. One more devasting than the other as the surrounding environment slowly began to change according to the direction of the fight.
"Young lady, I think we should escape before we get caught up in it as well or become a distraction for Lord Bright Sword!" Addressing Xuan Hao with the honorary title of lord, the old lady from the Flowing Cloud Sect reminded her that they should not be staying here for any longer and risk getting dragged into the fight between the two of them.
"Indeed, my lady, I think we should leave now that an opportunity has presented itself!" Backing up the suggestion of the old lady, Old Ji wanted nothing more than to leave the area as he watched the surroundings slowly be burned down under the weird black flame that the demonic cultivator had suddenly taken out.
"Fine… But we must remember to convey our thanks to Lord Bright Sword in the future… Maybe we can do it through the Explorer Union? After all, he did say he was an explorer…" Agreeing to leave with a bit of reluctance in her voice, the young lady of the Flowing Cloud Sect seemed to remember that Xuan Hao had mentioned that he was from the Explorer Union and found a way to convey her thanks in the future.
The group of three did not stay around for much longer and soon left the battlefield. Leaving behind only the two underlings of the former bandit leader. Now demonic cultivator.
"Brother… What should we do now…?" One of the two helplessly asked as he knew very well that the Fire Blood Gangs days were numbered with their leader gone.
"That person said he was from the Explorer Union… Why don't we try joining them and make a living there? I heard that they also explore different ruins filled with all kinds of treasures and ancient artifacts from time to time…" Answering his brother, the other former underling's eyes shone briefly as he envisioned himself becoming as strong as that Bright Sword person currently fighting their former leader.
"True! I also heard that we could join the core of the Explorer Union and get to train at their headquarters at the Ewaria Continent if we worked hard enough! By that point we might even be able to reach the Domain Lord Realm!" Feeling that joining the Explorer Union would be a good idea, both of the former underlings agreed to join the Explorer Union after leaving the secret realm.
Like this, only Xuan Hao and the demonic cultivator was left facing each other as countless black flame surrounded the demonic cultivator floating in the air together with Xuan Hao, who had by now jumped up on one of his own swords to match the demonic cultivator in the air above the ancient forest.
"Hah… H-how come you can fly as well!? Is that sort a flying artifact of some sort? Why?! Why can you fly as well while not being at the Domain Lord Realm!?" Letting out an exhausted breath, the demonic cultivator screamed loudly as he looked over at Xuan Hao quietly floating in front of him with a cold look in his eyes.
After finding out how strong Xuan Hao was earlier, he had planned to just fly above him and rain down the black flames until he was exhausted and died or retreat by flying away in case he held on against the black flames.
But this did not happen as Xuan Hao flew up to meet him the moment that he began throwing down the flaming black balls constructed by his demonic artifact.
Resulting in them clashing with each other several times mid-air, as the demonic cultivator was left on the defensive and forced to block the constant flow of attacks by Xuan Hao. Only able to launch an attack when he sacrificed some of his defences.
The small black ball in his right hand had not been perfectly fine from the past few clashes with Xuan Hao, as several cracks had already begun spreading across the surface of it.
Blocking the terrifying sword attacks of Xuan Hao had clearly taken a toll on the demonic artifact and the demonic cultivator knew very well that he would not be able to keep up for long if things continued like this.
This had in turn resulted in his earlier loud screaming at Xuan Hao…
To be honest, it was more like him letting some of his pent-up frustration with the current direction of the fight, as he tried to calm down in the face of Xuan Hao's continued attacks.