It was only after hundreds of exchanges that they separated themselves and jumped back a few meters. They landed in a stance, completely unharmed. As they gazed at each other, complex emotions appeared in their hearts. Respect and appreciation made their entrance. Jin had seen very few sword masters with such martial arts capabilities. Most cultivators he met relied on superior cultivation and techniques related to those instead of martial arts as a way to fight. After all, it seemed sound to consider a fireball being more dangerous than a fist to the face. But was it so? From the very start, Jin kept believing in his arts that he worked on for decades. What he called techniques wasn't even named so in this world. Hook? Jab? Sidesteps? Those were movements, not techniques! To Jin, however, they were techniques. No, they were art. Only by mastering such basic movements could one ever hope to reach the pinnacle of battle.

For a fist strong enough can blow up a fireball and strike the face of the one who sent it in one swing.

And he was delightfully surprised right now. That was because his opponent was someone who trained in the basics of the sword seriously. A diligent practitioner of martial arts.

Corruption had been extremely powerful and dangerous. And Jin respected it as a worthy opponent. However, he hadn't respected it as a martial artist. That corruption had its strength coming from something that wasn't related to techniques. It was simply different.

This old man, however, deserved to be acknowledged and respected as a fellow martial artist. His basics were flawless and Jin hadn't pinpointed a single weakness during their exchange. He couldn't see any gaps within the many intricate slashes of that blade. He admired his opponent and didn't want praising him.

He was glad to have the opportunity to fight such a strong being.

As he was prepared to burst for further, the old man changed his stance and began to revolve his spiritual energy before expanding it. He was creating his Domain.

Jin wondered why while keeping his guard up. A Domain could be used to send multidirectional attacks from all over and was perfect for surprise attacks. But it required a high consumption of spiritual energy to expand it. In a battle between weapon experts like them, it wasn't the best idea. They had the ability to react to this kind of surprise attacks and defend themselves from it. It was better to be the one on the defensive in such a situation in fact. The Domain would slowly but surely exhaust the opponent as it required to be maintained.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Then, something unexpected and unexplainable happened. Jin saw the Domain retracting upon itself and covering the old man's sword. It seemed to fuse with it for an instant before a huge wave of energy exploded all over the place. Right after that moment, a giant hazy sword appeared behind the old man. It was a simple sword with brown handle and grey blade and no decorations yet it exuded grace and... danger?

The old man slowly spoke: "Domain Manifestation: Iron Sword"

After his words, the sword behind him started to glow. An instant later, it was the sword in his hand that glowed. He took a stance and stared at Jin. Jin smirked. This old man was sincere indeed. He was ready to go all-out so soon after their warm-up. Jin decided to answer in kind as ten spiritual spears infused with his will appeared around himself.

The old man frowned before he spoke once more: "Manifestation: Shape"

Ten swords identical to the one in his hand appeared around him out of thin air. Jin could see that they were solely formed from his will. Yet, they had colors and textures to them. It was the same as the spears he had in his soul sea except that those couldn't be taken out. So, that was the second level, the manifestation of shape... It meant taking out the soul sea spears directly and materializing them outside.

Jin kept this thought in mind as he rushed forward.

He never encountered those techniques but was told quite a bit about them by Sarina. He pestered her so much to teach him that she ended giving in slightly by telling him some things about them. She had refused to teach him how to use them but she did tell him what they were and what would happen from their use.

The manifestation of shape was just as he expected. It took the images created from the shape of will outside the soul sea to make use of them in the reality. He was very curious about their worth. His ten spears were made from spiritual energy infused with his 'will' while the opponent's swords were made from his 'will' and coated with spiritual energy. He wondered which was stronger. No, he wanted to know.

Both of them rushed at one another and collided into the other. The sword was slashed downwards heavily with great momentum while the spear was pushed forward with stability and strength. They both collided mid-way into each other. At the same time, the twenty flying weapons collided in the air.

There was a loud shock of explosion as the ground under them cracked. It was now depicting a web randomly constructed thanks to the many fractures upon it.

As for the two opponents, it seemed like of the twenty weapons, none prevailed. They all exploded when colliding with another. The strength had been similar.

However, that wasn't the case for their physical weapons. Jin was sent backwards against his will by the shock. He flew off dozens of meters before hitting the ground. He tried to land on his feet to stabilize himself without success as the sheer might of the push forced him further back. He ended up with no choice but to go for a back roll to deplete the momentum.

As he got up and returned into a stance, he saw that the old man hadn't followed and looked at him with pity. He stated: "If that is all you have, there is no longer a need to warm-up"