Rayne put his blue silver sword in front of him, as he silently looked at Qian Renxue with a small smile.
He didn't initiate any offense, but waited for Qian Renxue to start the attack.
Qian Renxue furrowed her brows and stared at Rayne intently, tightly holding the sword in her hand.
Her soul power surged. But she didn't activate any of her soul skills.
Her entire self glowed with a golden radiance, and her aura had gone up a notch.
Rayne nodded at this, and even praised lightly.
"Good judgement. That's right, your soul power only gets annihilated if it comes into contact with my soul power. But if you use it to boost yourself, there is no need to worry about soul power erasure."
"..."
Qian Renxue felt her own amplified power and couldn't help but frown.
The strength gained from just boosting it with soul power alone didn't feel very significant to her.
At this moment, she really felt the lack of status boosting soul skills in her arsenal.
Among all the abilities inherited through Seraphim martial soul, only the Angellic Domain brings stat boost to her.
In fact, the soul bones of Angelic Raiment or Angel God Soul Bone Set, have the a couple of soul skills that can boost specific stats.
But unfortunately, she currently only has absorbed the head soul bone of Angelic Raiment, which gives her the disguise ability.
She grit her teeth in frustration.
She couldn't envision herself overcoming the white haired young man opposite to her, at all.
'Is this really it? Am I really going give up on this mission I spent more than ten years on? Why is this even happening?! It all happened so abruptly! Why? Why?!'
As time went by, Qian Renxue was feeling more and more upset and frustrated. Her mood was gloomy.
All sorts of negative emotions were arising in her mind, making her heart feel tight, as if being grasped by something.
Her vision was becoming darker, her breathing rapid. Her whole self felt dizzy.
"Qian Renxue!"
As her mind felt like it was about to be submerged in darkness, a firm yet familiar voice got through her, as if a ray of light piercing through the darkness.
"Don't hesitate! This is not a battle of death. Give it your all, so that you won't have any regrets later on." Rayne said softly.
Simple words as they were, it cleared up her foggy mind, clearing up her chaotic emotions.
Looking at the young man who put herself in this predicament, she felt herself becoming calmer and clear minded.
For some reason, she didn't even feel angry at him anymore. Just a feeling of helplessness and a sense of reality.
She took up her sword and charged at Rayne with fighting intent burning in her eyes.
Clang—
As the two swords clashed, a metallic sound emerged from it, but no impact force was generated. As if it was nullified.
Qian Renxue clashed with Rayne's sword again and again.
Because the Divine Tool of Angel God is a sword, the Qian family has a systematic swordsmanship suited for the Seraphim martial soul.
It is a swordsmanship that has been developed and improved for almost ten thousand years, since the creation of Spirit Hall.
So it is bound to be an exceptional swordsmanship.
Even Chen Jun, the father of Sword Douluo Chen Xin, and a level 98 Super Douluo, had challenged Qian Daoliu to a swordsmanship duel in the past in order to compare swordsmanship. Although he had ultimately perished.
So, Qian Renxue's swordsmanship wasn't some ordinary swordsmanship, but one that suited her quite well.
Even so, despite using an exceptional swordsmanship, no matter how many times she clashed swords with Rayne, she couldn't strike him even one.
No, she couldn't even make him take a step from his position.
He remained immovable!
"Why do you not utilize the extreme agility and flight of your Seraphim martial soul to your advantage? Although it wouldn't change the end result, you'll be able to fare against me much better."
Rayne said, casually blocking all the sword techniques displayed by Qian Renxue.
She is extremely straightforward in her attacks, fighting him head on.
For someone who possess Seraphim martial soul, a martial soul known as one of the fastest martial souls in the world, to not utilize it.
Rayne feels it to be a stupid way of fighting.
"Are you telling me to try sneak attacks and cowardly tactics? Our Qian family disdain such methods!"
Qian Renxue's straightforward answer wasn't unexpected by Rayne.
"Using one's own strengths to their advantage is not a cowardly method of fighting. Well, since Seraphim martial soul isn't solely an agility based martial soul, you're faring well."
Rayne shook his head, not agreeing to Qian Renxue's claim of cowardly method of fighting.
It's such a naive point of view.
"This fight has gone on for enough. It's about time we end it." Rayne muttered.
He has only stopped the time on Heaven Dou City. Not the entire world.
He'd rather not create too much chaos because of his actions.
As he had made up his mind to end this battle, if it can even be called that.
With a slight movement of his wrist, Qian Renxue was repelled with irresistible force. She couldn't hold on to her sword, as it burst out of her hands.
Her wrists felt numb from the sudden force exerted by Rayne.
When she looked up, her vision and the view she saw had changed drastically.
In her vision, Rayne raised his arm and swung the sword from high above. It seemed incredibly slow.
Her view changed. In her eyes, she seemed to see a massive star falling onto her with world crushing momentum.
A brilliant radiant star, seemed to have shattered the heavens itself, as it was descending to the mortal world, bringing down the ultimate judgement and destruction.
She felt so insignificant in front of it. Her body stiff, her back and forehead covered in cold sweat.
'Die... I will die to this!!'
In her horrified eyes, the star reached her with undeterred momentum. She involuntarily closed her eyes.
After a few seconds of silence.
The expected destruction didn't come. She slowly opened her eyes, only to see Rayne smiling at her.
The blue silver sword had vanished from his hands at some point.
She was silent for a moment.
That last sword strike utterly shattered whatever fighting spirit she had.
She couldn't understand how this white haired young man, who seems to be almost ten years younger than her, has such an unfathomable level of skill.
The sword strike far surpassed whatever she had seen from her grandfather, whom she had regarded as the strongest in swordsmanship.
After thinking for a bit, she gave up contemplating any further.
Then, even though she felt very unwilling, she still hesitantly said.
"I lost."
All her strength seem to have been exhausted when she uttered these words.
"Mn. Although this fight didn't live up to the talents you're blessed with, you didn't do too bad." Rayne nodded, then continued.
"I hope you'll follow the agreement we made before the battle."
"Of course, I won't break my promise." Qian Renxue said sadly, despite feeling down.
Rayne walked up to her, then to her shock, he started to pat and caressing her head gently and carefully.
Qian Renxue was stunned for a moment. For some reason, she was starting to feel warm, cozy and comfortable because of being patted on the head by Rayne.
After a few seconds, Qian Renxue came to her senses.
Her beautiful face turned as red as an apple, shy and shocked.
With an angry expression, she jumped back and glared at the white haired young man.
"What are you doing?!"
"Sorry, I couldn't help it. You looked so down and sad, like a sad puppy~"
"You!!" Qian Renxue was blushing furiously, unknown whether it is of shyness or anger.
...
After a few minutes.
Qian Renxue had a complicated expression, as she looked at the white haired young man in front of her, who seems to always have that carefree smile on his face.
"You... I can feel that you don't hate or dislike me. So why do you insist on making me give up on my ten years of hard work? At least tell me the reason."
Qian Renxue couldn't help but ask in a helpless tone.
Even though she had already given in and intends to keep her promise, she still desired to know the reason why Rayne wanted her to return to Spirit Hall so much.
And exactly what he actually needed from her, so much so that, he basically forced her to give up her years of hard work.
"I just want you to return to Spirit Hall, start training seriously, and start your Angel God Divine Tests as soon as possible."
"From this little scuffle of ours, it's quite evident that you haven't been able to make up much time for training, because of your undercover mission."
Rayne said.
Qian Renxue was unable to deny Rayne's words.
What he said was indeed true.
She could barely make up about two to four hours a day for her soul power cultivation, because of always maintaining the role of Crown Prince Xue Qinghe.
As for combat training, it's almost nonexistent. Most of the time, she would try to acquire some combat experience when going out to get soul rings.
But she put this matter behind her, as she focused on Rayne's earlier words.
"You want me to start the Angel God Divine Tests?!" Qian Renxue exclaimed.
"That's right." Rayne admitted generously.
"..."
Although Qian Renxue had a lot to ask, for example how he knew about the Angel God's inheritance, etc,. She held back for now.
Since this man was able to know everything about her, from her origin to the mission that is top secret, even within Spirit Hall... It didn't seem so shocking anymore.
And, she didn't want to ask anything anymore.
She felt mentally tired. Her emotions were a complete mess now.
Seeing her like this, Rayne quietly sighed.
"Qian Renxue, I don't know why you're so fixated on this undercover mission. But, just because you're giving up the disguise of Xue Qinghe and returning to Spirit Hall, doesn't mean that you can't try to take over Heaven Dou Empire later." Rayne said slowly.
"What do you mean?" Qian Renxue asked with a frown.
"In fact, your plan was full of flaws, right from the start. Unlike in Star Dou Empire, the imperial family doesn't hold absolute power and authority in Heaven Dou Empire. Even if you succeed as the Emperor, it won't be easy for Spirit Hall to covertly take over Heaven Dou Empire."
"To be honest, the right way for you to take over Heaven Dou Empire is to just conquer it with force. If Spirit Hall can't do that, then upgrade it to Spirit Empire or whatever. A strong Empire can conquer a weak Empire."
"Qian Renxue, become a God, build up more power for yourself. Then your goal of taking over Heaven Dou Empire would seem like a child's play."
"In front of absolute strength, everything else is meaningless."
"Although I personally don't follow this saying per se. Nothing is unattainable, if you're strong enough."
Rayne said in a calm tone.
Then, as if he had thought of something, he asked in a curious tone.
"Actually, I'm quite curious. Who is the great mastermind that thought of sending you, an innate soul power at level 20 and a God-level Martial Soul, to do something like an undercover task? Especially during the age period when your soul power training has the best results?"
....
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