novelraw Chapter 179: Fuing Vs. Duskveil
Chapter 179: Fuing Vs. Duskveil
Fuing narrowed his eyes.
"Your master..."
His gaze slowly shifted toward the distant black carriage behind the undead army.
Then back toward Duskveil.
"...Whoever he is, he brought disaster upon this land."
Duskveil slowly placed one hand on the hilt of his black sword.
"My lord brings death to his enemies."
The moment his hand touched the sword, the atmosphere changed.
Fuing immediately felt it.
Danger.
Without hesitation, Fuing moved first.
BOOM!
The ground beneath him exploded apart as his body shot forward like a cannonball.
Pure physical force.
No Qi.
No energy.
Just terrifying strength and martial mastery.
His fist tore through the air straight toward Duskveil’s head.
Fast.
Fast enough that ordinary body tempering practitioners wouldn’t even react in time.
But Duskveil moved.
Shhk.
The black sword partially left its sheath.
Clang!
Fist and blade collided violently.
A shockwave exploded outward instantly.
Nearby skeleton soldiers were thrown backward while loose debris scattered across the battlefield.
Fuing’s eyes sharpened.
The sword had blocked his punch perfectly.
No struggle.
Duskveil twisted slightly.
Suddenly, the black blade fully unsheathed.
[Abyssal Draw.]
Shhhk!
A dark slash cut across the air with terrifying speed.
Fuing immediately leaned backward.
The blade barely missed his throat.
Several strands of hair drifted downward.
But before Duskveil could continue, Fuing stepped inside the sword’s range instantly.
Bang!
His elbow smashed toward Duskveil’s ribs.
Duskveil shifted his body sideways, but the strike still connected partially.
Crack.
The armored death knight slid backward several meters across the blood-covered ground.
Fuing didn’t chase recklessly.
His stance lowered carefully.
Left foot forward.
Fists raised.
Every movement disciplined and stable.
This was the martial foundation of the Clear Water Sect.
Fuing took a slow breath.
The air entering his lungs smelled of blood, smoke, and shattered stone.
Around them, the battlefield continued collapsing into madness. Skeleton soldiers climbed over broken sections of the wall while practitioners fought desperately to hold the line. The Bonecrusher Ballista fired again somewhere behind the undead army, and another explosion shook the city walls.
But none of it mattered right now.
Because standing before him...
Was a monster on the same level as himself.
Quasi-Qi Sense Stage.
Still technically body tempering.
Still unable to truly sense or manipulate Qi.
But already touching something beyond ordinary humans.
At this level, the body changed again.
Muscles became denser.
Reflexes sharper.
Instincts unnatural.
A single strike from someone at this realm could crush steel armor or cave in a man’s chest instantly.
Peak body tempering practitioners were strong.
But quasi-Qi Sense practitioners were monsters standing at the edge of another world.
Fuing slowly rolled his shoulders.
Crack. Crack.
His bones let out heavy sounds beneath his skin.
Across from him, Duskveil stood silently with the black sword lowered beside his body.
The pale-blue glow from his eye remained calm.
Cold.
Like he wasn’t facing a life-and-death battle.
Fuing’s gaze sharpened.
Then he vanished.
BOOM!
The ground exploded beneath his feet as he rushed forward with terrifying speed.
To ordinary body tempering practitioners watching nearby, both figures disappeared completely.
One second they were standing still.
The next—
BOOOOM!
A crater exploded open across the battlefield.
Several nearby soldiers were blown apart instantly from the shockwave alone.
Fuing’s fist smashed into Duskveil’s sword with enough force to bend the black blade slightly before Duskveil twisted his wrist and redirected the impact sideways.
The force tore a long trench across the ground.
Shhk!
Duskveil countered immediately.
The black sword flashed upward toward Fuing’s jaw.
Fast.
Far too fast.
Even the nearby peak body tempering practitioners could only see a black blur.
Fuing tilted his head just enough.
The blade missed his face by a hair.
Then his knee drove upward toward Duskveil’s stomach.
Bang!
The impact sounded like iron crashing together.
Duskveil slid backward several meters before stopping himself with one hand against the ground.
The stone beneath his palm cracked instantly.
Fuing didn’t stop.
At quasi-Qi Sense level, hesitation meant death.
BOOM!
He rushed forward again with terrifying momentum, fists moving like a storm.
Punch after punch exploded through the air.
Duskveil blocked with frightening precision.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Sword and fists collided repeatedly fast enough to create sparks in the darkness.
The shockwaves alone forced weaker fighters nearby to retreat.
One elder from the Clear Water Sect widened his eyes.
"...I can’t even follow them."
Another peak body tempering practitioner swallowed hard.
"This isn’t body tempering anymore..."
Technically it still was.
But everyone understood the difference now.
Peak body tempering practitioners strengthened the body.
Quasi-Qi Sense practitioners had already begun touching the next realm.
Everything had become monstrous.
Meanwhile, Fuing suddenly shifted his rhythm.
His right fist shot toward Duskveil’s chest.
A feint.
The real attack came from below.
BOOM!
His left fist slammed upward directly toward Duskveil’s chin.
Duskveil’s pale-blue eye flickered.
Too close.
Bang!
The punch connected partially.
The armored death knight was blasted backward through several undead soldiers before regaining balance.
Even then, Fuing appeared again instantly.
No pause.
No wasted movement.
The sect master pressed forward relentlessly like a veteran beast hunter trying to kill a dangerous monster before it adapted.
His fists struck with brutal precision.
Temple.
Throat.
Heart.
Joints.
Every strike aimed to cripple or kill.
Duskveil blocked three attacks in succession before Fuing suddenly stepped inside his guard completely.
His fist twisted sharply toward the death knight’s throat.
A killing blow.
BOOOOM!
The punch landed hard enough to create a violent shockwave across the battlefield.
Nearby soldiers or undeads were thrown backward while cracks spread across the stone road beneath them.
But, Fuing’s expression suddenly changed.
Something was wrong.
Duskveil hadn’t moved.
The armored death knight remained standing there with his head slightly lowered while Fuing’s fist pressed against his throat armor.
Then slowly...
The pale-blue glow in Duskveil’s eye intensified.
A heavy pressure exploded outward instantly.
[Soul Pressure.]
The nearby battlefield suddenly became quieter.
Not literally.
But mentally.
Several weaker practitioners nearby suddenly froze in fear for a brief second without understanding why. Their instincts screamed at them to run.
Even the surrounding undead became more violent.
Fuing himself felt it too.
A cold sensation crawled up his spine.
Not fear.
Warning.
Duskveil slowly lifted his head.
Then spoke calmly.
"You are strong."
The next moment...
BOOM!
Fuing’s eyes widened.
Duskveil’s fist slammed directly into his stomach with terrifying force.
The sect master’s feet left the ground instantly before he crashed through the wall several meters away.
The wall exploded apart.
Dust and debris filled the air.
Several nearby elders shouted immediately.
"Sect Master!"
But before anyone could move—
Shhk.
Duskveil vanished.
Inside the collapsed building, Fuing barely raised both arms in time.
CLAAANG!
The black sword smashed against his guard hard enough to shatter the floor beneath him.
Fuing gritted his teeth.
Stronger.
Duskveil had become stronger.
Not slightly stronger.
Much stronger.
[Death March.]
The longer the battle continued, the more terrifying the death knight became.
Fuing twisted violently and forced Duskveil’s sword aside before driving a punch toward his ribs.
Bang!
The hit connected.
But this time, Duskveil barely moved.
Fuing’s pupils shrank slightly.
Impossible.
Earlier, that same strike had blasted him backward.
Now he only shifted half a step.
Then Abyssal Draw activated again.
Shhhk!
The sword disappeared from sight completely.
Fuing reacted on instinct alone.
Too late.
A thin black line flashed across his chest.
Blood exploded outward instantly.
Fuing staggered backward heavily as pain erupted through his body.
Not just outside.
Inside too.
[Phantom Sever.]
The slash had bypassed part of his physical defense and damaged his muscles directly beneath the skin.
Fuing coughed blood immediately.
His breathing became uneven.
Across from him, Duskveil slowly lowered his sword again.
The pale-blue eye beneath the broken mask glowed brighter than before.
Cold.
Emotionless.
Like a battlefield executioner carrying out his duty.
Fuing wiped blood from his mouth while forcing himself back into stance.
His arms already felt heavier.
His muscles screamed from accumulated damage.
Meanwhile Duskveil looked completely steady.
The sect master’s expression darkened.
At quasi-Qi Sense level, even tiny differences mattered.
And right now...
Duskveil was evolving during the fight itself.
BOOM!
Fuing rushed forward again anyway.
His fist exploded toward Duskveil’s face.
Duskveil tilted slightly.
The punch grazed past his mask.
Fuing immediately followed with another strike toward the ribs.
Then another.
And another.
His martial arts flowed like water now.
Pure mastery refined through decades of battle.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several hits finally landed against Duskveil’s body hard enough to crack more of the black armor apart.
But Duskveil countered immediately.
Shhk!
The black blade sliced upward.
Fuing twisted aside narrowly, yet blood still sprayed from his shoulder.
Then Duskveil stepped forward.
Monstrously fast.
Even peak body tempering practitioners nearby couldn’t see the exchange anymore.
All they saw were shockwaves.
Explosions.
Blurred shadows tearing across the battlefield.
The two monsters crashed through ruined buildings, shattered stone walls, and split apart the streets beneath their feet.
BOOOOM!
Fuing smashed Duskveil through a broken tower.
Shhk!
Duskveil answered with a slash that split the tower completely in half.
Dust swallowed the battlefield.
One elder stared in horror.
"...This is beyond us."
Nearby, even peak body tempering experts of both sides had stopped fighting briefly just to watch.
Because they understood something terrifying.
If either of those two entered the battlefield freely...
Normal body tempering practitioners would die instantly.
Inside the dust cloud, Fuing breathed heavily.
Blood covered both arms now.
His ribs hurt.
His chest burned every time he inhaled.
Across from him, Duskveil slowly walked out from the smoke.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The black sword dragged lightly across the ground.
Screeeech.
Sparks followed behind the blade.
Then Duskveil spoke again.
"You are weaker now."