The moment Qi Weisheng saw the amulet his mind went blank. It depicted a dominant image of a large oriole striking down on a cicada, an image all too familiar to him.

"H-How?" He felt his entire world spin. Suddenly, the light from the amulet condensed into a stream which shot at Qi Weisheng. The light merged into his forehead and the amulet immediately turned into ashes.

Zhao Fan observed this happen and saw that Qi Weisheng appeared to be frozen. He realized that the light might have formed a restriction which held back his enemy.

"This is our chance!" Hei Long shouted. Zhao Fan didn't need another reminder and immediately sprinted away towards the forest. He didn't know if Qi Weisheng had any qi left or if attacking him would trigger some attack from the light, so he decided to leave as soon as possible. Not only that, the battle he had just engaged in left him almost completely exhausted of both Qi and Demonic energy.

"Damn!" Zhao Fan's legs spasmed as he ran. The prolonged use of demonic energy made his whole body ache and cramp, every step he had to purposefully direct his feet to not tremble and stumble. It was as if he was a drunk man who struggled to get home after spending the night in the tavern.

"Go to the cave, NOW!" Hei Long screamed urgently. Zhao Fan turned around and saw that Qi Weisheng recovered and was closing in rapidly.

"What a sh*tty amulet, it could only hold him for a few seconds!" Zhao Fan gritted his teeth and dashed to the cave. As his enemy was closing in, he was forced to once more send a surge of demonic energy into his body.

His eyes turned bloodshot as Zhao Fan's speed increased two-fold.

"Severing Slashes!" Qi Weisheng sent out an ability while wearing a blank expression. Three sharp strands of qi escaped his sword and flew at Zhao Fan's back.

"Water Infusion!" Zhao Fan's whole body turned slightly transparent, and his skin tone turned slightly bluish. The three attacks landed on his body and caused ripples as they passed through and smashed on the ground. As he deactivated his ability, Zhao Fan let out a pitiful scream. On his back and arms, multiple wounds opened like tears on paper. A fountain of blood spurted out of them and Zhao Fan's mind was assaulted by sudden pain. Using the infusion placed a heavy burden on his soul and required full concentration, even a slight error could cause terrible mishaps. Not only that, powerful attacks were much harder to evade, and part of the damage might leak through.

"Keep it together! Once we enter the cave and the bastard gets closer, I will merge with you!" Hei Long urged Zhao Fan. The latter could only bite down as hard as possible and keep sprinting towards the cave. The dark crevice grew closer and closer but at the same time, Qi Weisheng sent three more strands of sharp qi.

RUMBLE

Zhao Fan pounced in the cave at the last second and the attacks smashed against the wall, causing dust and stones to fall. Zhao Fan's breathing turned ragged and he bent over, puking the contents of his stomach on the floor. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye he saw a lightning flash.

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"DROP DOWN" Hei Long commanded. Zhao Fan quickly threw himself on the floor which was where his vomit was.

A claw of lightning flew over his head and crashed into the wall causing the cave to shake violently. Zhao Fan quickly looked up and saw the heavily injured wolf staring at him.

"YOU MOTHERF*CKER, DIE ALREADY!" Zhao Fan roared at the top of his lungs.

"What are you doing? Quickly merge with me!" Hei Long reminded Zhao Fan of the plan. However, at this moment the latter had lost all sanity and didn't listen to a word the former said. His mind was completely taken over by the demonic energy and his primal instincts told him that if the wolf did not die then he would.

Before the wolf had a chance to attack again, Zhao Fan pointed his finger at it. A whirlpool formed around it, drawing all of the water element into it.

"WATER INCISOR!" Zhao Fan's finger exuded a peerless blue glow which lit up the whole cave. Suddenly, a needle like water bullet shot at the wolf at an incredible speed. All of this takes some time to describe but actually happened in a fraction of a second. One moment Zhao Fan pointed his finger at the wolf, and the other the wolf's brain matter was splattered all over the cave wall.

Zhao Fan's smile curved deviously, but then dropped. His eyes closed and he fell down onto the wolf powerlessly.

"You used up all your soul strength?" Hei Long despaired. Now that Zhao Fan was asleep, once Qi Weisheng came in, Hei Long could not resist him alone. He could only curse at the peacefully sleeping Zhao Fan who was currently absorbing the dead body of the wolf.

"Good, it seems like he comprehended the principles of severing. Hopefully it will help him survive until the tournament" Qi Weisheng seemed relieved. He suddenly turned around and locked on something shifting in the woods. He sent out a couple Severing Slashes in the direction of the movement.

"You rat, give me one reason not to kill you" The sharp qi cut through multiple trees producing a cloud of dust. After it settled, a youth was exposed standing amidst the stumps of trees.

"Your enmity with Zhao Fan disappeared all of a sudden and I am his friend and have helped him on multiple occasions. If you kill me then the feud between you and him will be unresolvable." The youth spoke.

"Do you have the capability to threaten me like this?" Qi Weisheng laughed.

"Fate Locking: Severing Slashes!" Three long and sharp strands of qi were sent out once again. This time however, they seemed to all point exactly at the youth's location.

"Darkwind Infusion, Midnight Arrival" The youth transformed into a dark incorporeal shadow which seemingly fused with the wind. His twin swords grew in size and his dark figure cleaved down.

The dark slash whistled as it traveled through the air at an incomprehensible speed. The two slashed quickly arrived at the three strands of qi and were torn apart by it. The youth didn't mind and cleaved up this time, sending two more dark slashes. He then swung the swords in a cross shape which didn't seem to do anything.

"Just this much skill?" Qi Weisheng disdained the youth even though the two slashes finally managed to break apart his previous ability. Before he could even finish his sentence, Qi Weisheng's eyes widened and he quickly brought his sword in front of him.

BOOM

An invisible force slammed into him and sent him tumbling backwards. Before he could even find his footing, a dark figure appeared above Qi Weisheng.

"Midnight Reaper" The youth said coldly. A sword in each hand, he stabbed down with a mighty gesture. An almost imperceptible piercing stab was sent crashing down on Qi Weisheng.

"Severing Slash" Qi Weisheng seemed to be prepared for the follow up attack and used the advantage of his high tier sword to condense an extremely powerful Severing Slash. The Midnight Reaper was instantly slashed apart and the youth who was still midair was cut into two by the slash.

"Not bad, you managed to grasp one of the fundamental laws of the dark element" Qi Weisheng brushed off the dust on his robe. The shadow which was split apart converged and turned back into the youth.

"Thank you!" The youth realized that the other party did not use severing in his attack which would do damage to him or even kill him even in his elemental form. After all, the shadow element was different from water and did not provide total immunity.

"If you speak of this to anyone, I will personally make sure you regret it" Qi Weisheng said in a harsh tone.