Demon Immortal

Chapter 253 Battle Style

Duncan looked at the downed Envoy Ming and shook his head.

Sure enough, cultivators seemed to forget the basic martial arts training they received as mortals after being cultivators for a long period of time. Looking at Envoy Ming's bloodied form to emerge from the rubble below, he couldn't help but lament about it inwardly.

Envoy Ming emerged from the rubble with blood dyeing his robes. He had a dignified look on his face. He looked at Duncan with hatred in his eyes. But, deep in his heart he was relieved that Duncan didn't press on.

The slash from Duncan had scored a gash across his torso. But, it was the punch that hurt him the most. His sternum ached even now. Seeing Duncan looking down on him from above, Envoy Ming felt indignant in his heart.

He had never liked the prodigies that come into the cultivation world. They had no respect for the natural order. With their immense talent, they reordered things as they saw fit and left others to scramble in their wake. It was a completely insensitive way of doing things.

He had never liked them at all.

This was not how the world should work. There is a proper order of things. That order must be respected. Disrespectful behavior like entry-stage Violet Palace realm cultivators going toe to toe with a late-stage Violet Palace realm cultivator should be stamped out. This was completely unnatural and it must be eradicated by root and stem.

With fire in his eyes, Envoy Ming once again attacked Duncan. This time, he didn't close in. He gave full play to his martial technique and also used his superior cultivation to attack Duncan.

Envoy Ming's spear swished in the air and an image of a spear materialized in front of his attack. The spear sported a suppressive effect and approached Duncan in a domineering manner.

Duncan narrowed his eyes and gripped his sword tightly. With a mighty shout, he executed the new technique he had obtained after returning from the Grotto Heaven at the sect.

<Absolute Slash Sword Art!>

A large slash formed in the air and thundered towards the spear image. Even though Duncan was able to integrate his sword light into it, he was still unable to grasp the concept of the sword art completely. Even then, the attack power of this attack was relatively high.

While battling with the young talents from various sects, Duncan noticed that he had a large number of gaps when it came to combat. His attacks were monotonous. He didn't have a very good defensive technique. Even a passable one would have sufficed. If he had such a technique, he wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state in the previous fight.

Duncan had noted these things down during that fight. However, rectifying them would take some time. It wasn't as if he could cultivate new techniques whenever he wanted. Even the <Primal Bull Fist> that was tailored to mobilize physical energy took some time for him to get the hang of.

So, he wanted to see the effect of his new technique first before deciding on how to approach this fight further. Right now, he had the advantage in the fight. He could try to experiment a bit.

The sword slash landed right on the tip of the approaching spear. A screeching sound echoed in the surrounding region causing Duncan to grit his teeth. The two attacks came to a halt and dissipated causing both Duncan and Envoy Ming to be surprised.

Envoy Ming grit his teeth and started attacking Dnncan continuously. He absolutely couldn't stand the fact that Duncan was able to nullify his attack. His pride refused him to yield. He wanted to prove that even geniuses must respect natural order. Hence, he went completely mad and started attacking with abandon.

Duncan weathered the storm with a calm heart. He felt that his confidence had risen to new levels when it came to combat after his breakthrough. Duncan didn't even have an iota of doubt as he swung his sword repeatedly and negated all the attacks sent out by Envoy Ming.

Duncan felt his control of the battle had become absolute as he calmly dealt with the various attacks sent towards him by Envoy Ming. He didn't panic at the sheer madness that was inherent in his opponent's assault. He calmly withstood that burst of passion and looked for an opportunity to counterattack.

Pretty soon, such a chance presented itself when Envoy Ming left his right side open in his madness. While in the throes of passion, Envoy Ming's spear art became more and more sharp. But, the consequence of it was that his defense was compromised.

Sword cultivators are naturally proficient in attacking weak spots. Duncan wasn't an exception either. With a tilt of his wrist, Duncan's posture turned from enduring to attacking.

Like a viper, Duncan sent out a quick cut towards Envoy Ming's right side causing him to scramble to defend. Within moments, the situation changed. Duncan became the aggressor now. He didn't hold back either.

Duncan used his movement technique to attack from various angles causing Envoy Ming to scramble to defend. He pressed relentlessly and put Envoy Ming on backfoot quickly. Envoy Ming's burst of passion ended causing Duncan to once again regain offense and take control of the direction of the fight.

Duncan didn't hasten to defeat Envoy Ming. He slowly whittled away at Envoy Ming without giving him any room to counterattack. Even then, Duncan didn't attack monotonously like he usually did. He varied his attacks and infused them with sword light.

One time he attacked with Absolute Severance, and then he followed it up with an Absolute Slash. Sometimes he used basic sword moves combined with sword light. Sometimes he merely swung his sword with pure physical strength. This caused Duncan's attack to vary in strength making Envoy Ming unable to predict any pattern to Duncan's attack at all.

Even though the strength of the attacks varied, every attack of Duncan was pointed towards a vital spot causing Envoy Ming to dare not let them pass. He didn't have Duncan's confidence when it comes to tanking attacks.

So, Envoy Ming was forced to meet every attack of Duncan with his full power. Duncan's sword began to mix soft and hard attacks in an unpredictable manner. Duncan didn't bother with forcing Envoy Ming to the maximum. He just kept enough pressure causing him to dare not retaliate lest he ends up being injured in a vital spot.

As Duncan fought with Envoy Ming, his own battle style of combining movement techniques with his sword attacks began to take shape. He also began to touch on the embryonic concept of a domain without even realizing it.

A domain is a region where a cultivator has absolute command over everything. Duncan was already on the threshold of comprehending it. However, he still had some ways to reach it. Once he realizes his own domain, then his strength will multiply severalfold.

While Duncan honed his own battle style, Envoy Ming was incredibly frustrated with the turn of events. He was always on the defensive causing him to become aggrieved. He desperately wanted to break this cycle, but Duncan was relentless in his attack.

His only plan now was to tire out Duncan and then shift the tables. Unfortunately for him, his plan was doomed to fail. Normally, Duncan's way of fighting by combining his two aspects into a single entity would have consumed a lot of qi.

But, due to the legendary foundation he had established, the qi in his body was lot more robust and abundant than an ordinary cultivator's. Furthermore, his qi was also of higher quality compared to the normal cultivator.

This meant that Duncan could carry this for a while without breaking even a sweat.

As time passed, Envoy Ming began to get flustered. Seeing that Duncan was not even breathing heavily, his heart began to sink. In a desperate gamble, he tried to break through the situation by trying to exchange injury for injury.

But, Duncan had never been afraid of doing that.

In the end, Envoy Ming took a chance and attacked Duncan unmindful of the attack coming at his left elbow. He aimed his spear to pierce through Duncan's eye. His aim was simple. Either you embraced death or you took a step back allowing me to escape unscathed as well from your attack. This was the manner in which he wanted to take control of the fight back.

At the last moment, Duncan shifted his weight and leaned to the left slightly allowing the spear tip to brush past his cheek. A thin line of bloody streak appeared on Duncan's cheek where the spear passed by.

But, in exchange, Duncan's sword cut into the left elbow of Envoy Ming with ruthless precision. Duncan's sword went through the joints and elbow of Envoy Ming like a knife through butter.

Envoy Ming's left hand was chopped off cleanly at the elbow causing him to howl in pain.

Duncan didn't even glance at the chopped off hand. He directed his next attack towards Envoy Ming's throat. Envoy Ming had to hastily parry with one hand leaving his torso open. Duncan took advantage of it and used his physical strength to kick in Envoy Ming's guts.

Envoy Ming was sent flying into the distance.

Just when Duncan thought of following up on his attack, the situation at the field reversed with new arrivals on the scene.

*****

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