Two figures clashed in the sky, causing nearby clouds to retreat towards the horizon.
"Keep this up for another hundred years, demon, and I may need to stop for a quick rest."
"I won't fall for your provocations, woman. If I'm failing to entertain you, please feel free to show me your back and leave."
The demon assumed a wide stance and his scarred body grew into an even more twisted form. A thunderous boom signaled his move as he instantly appeared in front of the woman. She seemed to exist in two places at once as she deflected each blow from the creature's claw-like hands while remaining rooted firmly in place. The ferocity of his assault increased until one particularly heavy attack sent both combatants recoiling backwards. The demon reverted his form and stared at the woman.
"You truly are shameless. Forcing your Nascent Soul to fight when it has already informed you that victory is impossible."
"I don't need to consult my Immortal Purpose for guidance in dealing with an ant like you."
"To be so blind to the scale of things in front of you, your eyes must reside on a distant world, so..." The demon inhaled sharply before speaking with a loud and distorted voice. "...allow me to escort your body off this world as well!"
Bloody mist erupted from the demon's body, then condensed into streams of liquid that looped back, encircling him with twenty-seven red halos.
"Soul Refinement: Dao-Aligning Soul Cascade"
The woman's eyes widened and her cool demeanor broke.
"Foolish demon! If you wish to die, then die alone!" A spectral mirror image of the woman emerged from her body, then they both raised an arm in unison. Suddenly, a massive illusory hand comprised of wood and vines emerged from the ground far below. It shot upwards at incredible speed, but three halos absorbed into the demons body and imbued it with the agility necessary to avoid the massive attack. After making distance, he focused his attention on the woman again. Six more halos absorbed, and his skin turned deep red. The demon inhaled, then became a black streak across the sky.
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The woman dodged the charge, but its shockwaves were enough to cancel the manifestation of her Nascent Soul. She turned to see the demon crashing into the landscape with a massive crater. Quickly, her Spirit Sense crawled through the earth to locate her enemy amongst the debris. At first trace, she immediately conjured a humongous prison of roots and vines to latch onto everything in the area. The demon's voice resounded from the dust-obscured crash site.
"You will be the only one who dies here today!" The sky turned bloody as the demon absorbed the remaining eighteen halos, then light disappeared from the world below.
The woman took in the nightmarish scene of red and black. She could not accept that such a deplorable creature was about to reach peak Soul Refinement and acquire the Fate of Immortal Body!
"When all paths are blocked, the Great Dao persists." She placed her hand over her chest. "I am Jiang Nanhua, Chosen of the Deep Well Society. I bare my heart to seize this opportunity!"
Her hand sank into her body, then she drew it out. A radiant golden spear materialized in her grip. In seconds, her hair whitened, her skin grayed, and her eyes dulled. She was like a corpse wielding the light of day in one hand.
The darkness below shifted and became like a turbulent sea, then surged upward towards Jiang Nanhua. Her body moved like it was being pulled by strings, and she swung her spear. The attacks collided and a dazzling flash of light briefly showed the world as it was previously. They collided again, then again, then a dozen more times. Each strike causing the light to remain longer.
The demon let out a frustrated roar as he slowly lost the upper hand, but then his Spirit Sense fell on Jiang Nanhua and detected that her body was on the verge destruction. He steeled his resolve and concentrated the remaining dark sea into three airborne rivers. They, along with his main body, flew towards his opponent in an encircling maneuver. The spear swung in a wide arc and managed to intercept all three dark tides, but the demon himself was unimpeded and managed to impale his hand straight through Jiang Nanhua's midsection.
The spear fell from the crumbling corpse's grasp, and the demon thought that he was victorious, but as soon as the spear touched the ground, the massive illusory hand from before was conjured back into existence. He tried to move but found himself snared. He looked at Jiang Nanhua's body and saw a vine wrapped around the arm he stabbed her with, connected to the ground by a path drawn out by the falling spear. Before his struggling could produce any results, the large hand had already completely enclosed him.
Trying to fight his way out, it dawned on him that this was not simply a Nascent Soul technique, nor the result of a concealed Astral Visitor grade treasure. It was the enlisted help of a spirit that had cultivated all the way to the Heavenly Denizen level! He thought back to Jiang Nanhua's Final Declaration. She mentioned something called the Deep Well Society, but that thought used up all the time he had left. The demon was returned to nature.