Chapter 23: Devil's Shadow

  "Huff" "Huff"......

  Heavy gasps escaped from both of their mouths. The intense battle had left them both feeling a thread of fatigue. Their breathing also started to quicken.

  The internal energy flowed slowly and steadily, and the tense muscles throughout his body relaxed a bit.

  But this ease didn't last for even a moment.

  "Boom!"

  The two clashed again, engaging in a fierce battle!

  Their speed was simply too fast, among the crowd below the stage, although there were many masters, but most people couldn't see their movements clearly, only saw the flash of knives and swords, intersecting and entwining together.

  The atmosphere below the stage was terrifying, with everyone holding their breath. Even the two people on stage, exchanging blows in that instant, made short and rhythmic breathing sounds that were faintly audible.

  Tang An and Duoluo constantly separated and collided, with blood gushing out from their bodies at times. The blood might have been Tang An's sword slicing through Duoluo's arm, or perhaps it was Duoluo's knife slicing across Tang An's shoulder... Their swords and knives were already stained with each other's blood.

  The two were evenly matched, making the fight even more brutal. The emotions of the crowd below also fluctuated with Tang An and Duo Luo's figures intersecting, rising and falling continuously.

  Yuan Wanli stood under the stage, worried about Tang An. He had advised Tang An that if he encountered Duoluo, the best approach would be to give up. After all, Tang An was still young. Youth meant having unlimited growth potential. And now, the situation was just as he had expected - Tang An was gradually falling into a disadvantageous position. Duoluo's internal energy had already reached the state of great perfection and could enter the heavenly realm at any time. The quantity of Tang An's internal energy was far from comparable to Duoluo's thickness. A prolonged battle would be extremely unprofitable for Tang An. Although there were strange fluctuations in Tang An's internal energy, occasionally bursting out with a thread of golden special internal energy that made Duoluo suffer some losses. However, Yuan Wanli knew that this golden internal energy was limited in quantity; otherwise, Tang An could completely suppress Duoluo.

  Unfortunately, Tang An was ultimately too young... A master not only needs talent, diligence and perseverance, but sometimes the accumulation of time is also indispensable.

  But Yuan Wanli never thought that if a young eagle wants to soar high, without experiencing the impact of storms, how can it fly in the sky?

  Although Doruo was very strong, Tang An was not willing to retreat in defeat. He gritted his teeth and endured the pain of his wounds all over his body, but the sword light in his hand became more and more fierce. The Eight Styles Killing Sword had already been used by him to its limit, but he still couldn't break through Doruo's knife net defense!

  "I will never allow myself to lose here! Even if I die, I won't be defeated!"

  This battle is not just about winning or losing. If he loses, how can he face Wang Ruitu of Shushan on June 6th? Even the many Douluo under Tianjing are no match for him, what qualifications does he have to challenge the Seven Absolutes of Shushan?

  Does he deserve it?

  Not worthy!

  So he must win! Must step into the heavenly realm!

  How to step into heaven?

  Force yourself!

  Only by being ruthless to oneself can one truly understand the bumpy road of a master!

  …………

  Although Duoluo's injury was slightly lighter than Tang An's, he had never been injured when fighting with others. Such a comparison was really unbearable for the pride in his heart!

  "I actually let a young whippersnapper get stabbed by so many swords!"

  "It can't go on like this! It seems there's no choice but to use that method!"

  "I only need to obtain the Divine Heart Fruit, and the divine intent will naturally arise! Moreover, the divine intent triggered by the Divine Heart Fruit is slightly inferior to my own comprehension, but it's still better than me searching for that path with great difficulty."

  Duoluo suddenly understood in an instant, and his figure flashed out from the center of the two people's battle.

  He held a knife in his hand, and for some reason, his eyes suddenly started to fill with blood. In an instant, his eyes were swollen like blood bubbles. His face turned deathly pale, as if he had no blood at all. It seemed that all the blood in his body was rushing into his eyes. This made him look like a malevolent spirit, truly terrifying! He muttered to himself, seemingly reciting some sort of incantation.

  "The Eagle of Beichen, the Divine Secret of Wanlie, Only the Heart Remains Unmoved, the Song of Shadow and Moon..."

  "Beichen Secret Technique: Demon Shadow!"

  "Clang!"

  The curved knife in Duoluo's hand suddenly seemed to be controlled by something, and it instantly emitted a loud whirring sound.

  To an outsider, it seemed as if the sword had come to life on its own, and Dororo could no longer control the demonic sword. It was as if it wanted to dance in the air by itself!

  The knife seemed to be whistling, its sharp sound piercing everyone's eardrums. Unfortunately, the whistling sound was like it wanted to penetrate the soul, making one's heart feel cold!

  This mournful howl was so eerie that even ghosts and gods would tremble with fear upon hearing it!

  "Look! His knife has disappeared!"

  Suddenly someone shouted from under the stage. Everyone looked at Doro's hand. The knife in his hand had disappeared, no one knew when!

  Is this really a demonic sword?

  At this moment, Tang An, who was standing opposite Duoluo, suddenly felt a surge of emotions, and a strong sense of crisis filled his heart.

  Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide!

  The knife transformed into a cold light, and with a speed that was too fast to cover one's ears, it flew towards him from his side!

  It's Doron's deadly sword!

  Tang An wanted to hide, but he suddenly found that his body was as if nailed to the ground, and it seemed that an invisible hand had firmly grasped his body, making him unable to move!

  "What should I do?" Tang An's forehead suddenly broke out in a cold sweat!

  The knife is getting closer and closer!

  Yuan Wanli saw Tang An's expression and suddenly felt something in his heart. He looked at Du Luo, who was no longer human-like in the distance, and was shocked: "It's divine thought! But how is this possible? Could it be..." Yuan Wanli saw Du Luo's appearance and a flash of lightning passed through his mind. He immediately remembered a legend about the Northern Pole Pavilion in the Western Regions. The legend said that the Northern Pole Pavilion had a secret technique that could temporarily raise a high-ranking master from the fifth realm of the Heavenly Man to the Heavenly Realm. Although it couldn't produce true energy, this technique could make people produce extremely strong divine thought, which could invisibly control opponents, like a ghostly shadow. People in the Western Regions called this technique "Magic Shadow". It was called magic because its power was immense, but the cost was also too great.

  After being stimulated, this person may never understand the divine thought for his whole life, and his vitality will be greatly damaged, and he must die within ten years!

  Tang An was firmly controlled on the high platform, he couldn't think too much. Now, he was desperately urging his whole body's true energy, even the Qinglong Jin true energy contained in the three major acupoints, all of which were urged out, trying to break free from this shackle that bound him.

  The Azure Dragon's power surged, but instead of mixing with his original true energy, it began to devour the Shu Mountain True Energy in his meridians. This was also why Tang An had not used the Azure Dragon's power before. Although the Azure Dragon's power was formidable, it required devouring a large amount of his own true energy to transform into that one strand. If he let it devour everything, Tang An's internal energy would directly drop by a realm. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Tang An would never use the Azure Dragon's power. But now, with life and death hanging in the balance, who cared about such things?

  Tang An desperately urged on his true energy, but the Green Dragon Power was absorbing those true energies at a speed even faster than Tang An's urging.

  Tang An's face was ashen, but he still frantically urged on his true energy.

  "I don't care! Even if I die from backlash, it's better than dying at someone else's hands! Only I can kill myself! Apart from me, no one else can kill me!"

  Tang An had already prepared for the true energy to be completely absorbed, but just as the Qinglong Jing was about to completely absorb all the original true energy in his body, a sudden divine thought flashed into Tang An's mind.

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