The Grand Defiler swung his long sword from his lower right position to upper left in an attempt to break Jianmen’s guard open, and Jianmen had to stomp the ground extra hard and leapt back to avoid his guandao shaft being hit from below. Then as the Grand Defiler was retrieving his long sword, Jianmen rotated the guandao around his neck and swiped at the Grand Defiler’s right shoulder.

“Ting!” The Grand Defiler extended his left hand over his right shoulder and blocked the guandao’s blade with his palm - a sound of metal clash came from the contact, the Grand Defiler’s hand was pushed back slightly, the metal plate on his palm was sliced through and the edge created a slashing wound on both his palm and his shoulder.

“Ha!” Jianmen backed off once again, pressing and sliding his guandao along to make the wound deeper: “What happened, big guy? You only landed five strikes on me before I landed this one, so is it me or are you getting tired?”

“Maybe I just want to make this more interesting for you so you can keep going.” The Grand Defiler shook his head, yet his face remained emotionless: “I want to see what kind of reaction from me would make you want to stop this meaningless process.”

“Hey, I already told you, multiple times, I can do this for a long time.” Jianmen spun his guandao in the air and said: “Come at me again, I think I’m starting to figure you out.”

“And I you.” The Grand Defiler suddenly smiled: “Jianmen Yu, dormant contender and presumed holder of the Godhood of Hospitality and Welcoming. You are not willing to offer your name to the Will, that is why you stayed a dormant contender, even though the godhood is right there for your taking. Oh how the differential treatment of beings by the Will makes me laugh, there are some that are willing to slay their friends and loved ones to hold godhood, and there’s you, whom the Will basically begs of your acceptance of this very godhood.”

“Something like that, and it’s a bit more complicated.” Jianmen chuckled, taking the time to catch his breath: “And I think I can tell you this - the business with my name is a bit complicated - it’s just not entirely mine to give anymore.”

“That’s - impossible.” The Grand Defiler appeared confused for the first time: “I have knowledge of all the names of the gods and the prominent contenders for existing godhoods - your name has never been conceded or traded.”

“Ha, that’s good to know.” Jianmen shrugged and laughed out loud: “Boy, if only there was a place to check if my name is held by someone, right?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Still, very interesting that you mention that.” The Grand Defiler ran his left hand along the back of his long sword’s blade, enchanting it with some more of his power: “That means, you were indeed a god before you came to this universe, weren’t you?”

“Busted. But that’s not gonna help you much.” Jianmen did the same with his guandao, though in stark contrast with his opponent’s steady move, his hand and arm were shaking in pain and weariness while his blood dripped onto the blade: “Maybe help you take this fight more seriously, huh? ”

“Maybe, maybe not.” The Grand Defiler lunged at Jianmen and unleashed two slashes in quick succession, one was barely dodged by Jianmen and the other was blocked by Jianmen’s guandao shaft. After many rounds of back and forth, there were already many chips and cracks on this guandao’s shaft and blade, yet with Jianmen’s limited amount of Xuanli in this room infused inside, it was still able to hold on for now.

“Boom!” Jianmen kicked the Grand Defiler in the leg right below the knee, but the Grand Defiler was completely unfazed by it. And the next moment, the Grand Defiler turned his left hand and landed a palm strike on Jianmen’s right chest.

This strike almost made Jianmen see stars, he had to take almost a dozen steps and had his back against the wall in order to shed the impact. He could taste the bitterness and sweetness of his own blood in his mouth, but this time there was no time for him to gather himself, as the dark and curved longsword was swung over aiming at his head.

“Clank!” The blade of the long sword made contact with the wall behind Jianmen as Jianmen lowered his body and thrust the shaft of his guandao forward. The Grand Defiler raised his knee and blocked this attack, but without him noticing it, Jianmen’s left hand let go of the shaft and grabbed his shirt. The next moment, Jianmen pulled back his guandao and rammed his forehead into the Grand Defiler’s nose. While the Grand Defiler was pushed back by this sudden attack, Jianmen jumped up and kicked the Grand Defiler in the groin with full force.

The Grand Defiler swung his longsword at Jianmen’s left waist, just in time and place to strike at the guandao shaft at a position with a big chip and some deep cracks. The shaft was sliced into two and the blade continued its way on Jianmen’s left upper arm and his left waist. But unlike the rounds before, Jianmen just ignored this attack on him and continued swinging the front end of the guandao at the defiler.

The sound of blade cutting into flesh and bones resounded in the room, Jianmen’s guandao blade cut through the Grand Defiler’s left shoulder, his collar bones, his rib bones and right to the position in his left chest where his heart would be if he had one; on the other hand, the Grand Defiler’s long sword sliced through Jianmen’s left upper arm and into his left chest, just mere inches away from his heart.

“Thud” Jianmen’s left arm fell on the floor. The Grand Defiler swung his longsword horizontally across Jianmen’s face, blinding his left eye, then he unleashed a kick onto Jianmen’s chest.

Jianmen’s body was thrown at the wall once again, this time he had almost no power left in him - he could barely stand up if he wanted to.

The Grand Defiler, with a low grunt, pulled out the guandao blade embedded in his body. His body gradually healed as more of his blood dropped on the ground. He walked up to Jianmen with his right hand in a claw shape, knelt down, then thrust his right hand through Jianmen’s left chest.

When the Grand Defiler pulled his hand out, he had a small jade medallion with a golden frame in his hand.

“Remnant of godhood, guess with all your facade of not caring about the power of godhood, you still can’t let go.”