Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 423: The Duel.

While Kumaou’s doppelganger began to tire him out, the old man could see the changes in his fighting style.

Where they were previously evenly matched, slowly Kumaou began to predict his doppelganger’s moves and began to counter them. It became easier once he adapted to the fact that he was fighting against his own psyche.

And it happened suddenly when his doppelganger threw a punch at him from his blind spot, but he dodged it flawlessly before kneeing it in the groin.

His doppelganger was forced to crouch as he continued his onslaught, throwing one punch after another.

It didn’t take long for his doppelganger to fall without a hint of life in him.

As proof of his victory, light particles enveloped the doppelganger and they were absorbed back into the mirror.

"Impressive," the old man slowly walked in front of him, "You did even better than I thought you would. Looking at those muscles, it didn’t seem you would have excellent intellect as well."

Kumaou could only wryly smile at the old man’s strange compliments.

But he too was happy with his own results. He had an idea to use his own weaknesses against his doppelganger.

He first had to confirm if his doppelganger really fought and had the same techniques as him. After that, he just had to exploit the weak points of his own attacks.

And that too was a talent found in people far and few; not everyone could find weaknesses in their own fighting style in just a single battle.

’I don’t know which tricks that other kid used, but a duel with this one will let me finally decide...’ the old man thought while observing Kumaou’s condition.

"Although you don’t have any excessive wounds, I suggest you take a moment to rest before the next trial," he commented.

"Why? I feel like I can take on anything right now," Kumaou replied, excited to end it before anyone else.

To his surprise, the old man shook his head, "The next trial is a duel... and you are matched against someone who finished all the trials long before you."

Hearing it straight from the old man’s mouth itched at his confidence a little, but he wasn’t disappointed. On the contrary, he was even more excited to face this person. The blood surging to his head, and his rosy cheeks, were proof of his violent tendencies.

For some reason, however, the silhouette of a certain someone appeared in his mind.

Ignoring his excitement, the old man disappeared from the island along with the Mirror of Self-Reflection.

While Kumaou was given time to rest, he would give the same trial to the remaining contestants.

. . .

Ozul and Kumaou were left to their own devices on their respective islands while the old man had the others take on the trial.

There weren’t many people left to begin with. A few withdrew before the trial with the Beast while others were too exhausted to stay after that. Those who died fighting the Beast weren’t even worth mentioning.

The only people of concern who remained to challenge the Mirror of Reflection consisted of the trio and a couple of other Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.

One by one, they were put against their doppelgangers while the others waited for their turn.

When it came to this trial, people were allowed to admit defeat and the doppelganger would immediately stop. Unfortunately for the people who gave up before even trying, they weren’t aware of this fact.

The realm had no Star, yet it was illuminated throughout as if on a bright sunny day. It also meant that there were no indicators of when the night had fallen.

But the time it took for the remaining people to go through the trial felt more than enough for a complete day cycle.

As Zier, Raven, and Blaze were all learning at astonishing speed, their trial was smoother than even Kumaou’s.

After all, everyone was matched against themselves. So, it didn’t matter who was currently stronger. It all depended on one’s potential to learn and improve themselves in all types of situations.

While the old man was especially impressed by the trio, he didn’t find them as appealing as Kumaou or even Ozul. The former had the exact physique that he was looking for while the latter had mysterious tricks up his sleeve.

Finally, after what felt like weeks had passed by, the old man finished getting the last person to go through the trial.

In the end, only two other people along with the trio passed the trial.

But as he expected, the old man didn’t see anything impressive in them either.

After he was finished, he gave all of them treasures based on their performance during the trials. That included high-ranking weapons and even crystals concentrated with Spiritual Essence that could be directly absorbed by the cultivators to replenish their reserves.

It was only after he was done with everyone else did he teleport to another island, one that was ten times bigger than the others.

Once there, the old man teleported both Kumaou and Ozul. The former was in a meditative position as he was cultivating, but the latter was teleported as he was taking a nap.

Both opened their eyes and came face to face against each other.

"You two are the only ones to reach this stage," the old man announced, and added, "Among you, I will decide the one who will become my successor and receive my complete legacy."

Ozul wasn’t surprised to find Kumaou in front of him, but the latter looked almost shocked before he began laughing out loud, "Isn’t this fate?! I longed to fight you but never had the chance! But look at this, here we are!"

He wasn’t surprised because he had already felt the tremors of Spiritual Essence from the time that Kumaou was fighting his doppelganger.

"Hmm, seems like you know each other," the old man chipped in, seeing Kumaou so enthusiastic.

Ozul nodded his head before replying, "He helped me start the war, all to summon the gates to this realm."

At this, both Kumaou and the old man raised their brows.

Kumaou was a little surprised that he could deduce his reasonings for helping him by lying and framing Rose for helping the assassination of the princess, thus lighting the flame of war in the lower region of the continent.

It was indeed as Ozul had guessed. He also knew about Rose being the spy from the Steel Mountain Kingdom, and so he deduced it would act as a catalyst for war between the Blue Lion and the Steel Mountain.

And since he knew that the land required the blood sacrifice of many cultivators, he planned to start a war from the start. Only he wasn’t aware that somewhere hidden in the shadows, a person named Ember had the same plan and the resources to actually go through with it.

He didn’t know about Ozul’s intentions back then, but it helped his cause, so he didn’t bat an eye before framing that woman named Rose.

The old man was a little surprised as well, who was only informed now that to summon the teleportation gates, these people had forcefully started a war.

"So you kids started a war for my inheritance?" he asked in an amused tone, even more impressed with these two for their ruthlessness.

He looked at Ozul and asked, "Did you too find one of my belongings, guiding you to this inheritance realm?"

"Something like that..." was the lackluster reply that he received, but he was almost starting to get used to it.

"If we are the final two candidates, what happened to the others?" Ozul asked, a little concerned about the trio’s well-being.

"Those who survived till the end or even those who gave up received appropriate rewards and were teleported out of the realm. Only you two remain in this realm now," the old man explained briefly before bringing their attention back to the trial, "The last trial will be a duel.

The winner will be decided if either one of you dies, drops unconscious, or admits defeat. Keep in mind, only the winner will receive my complete inheritance."

Ozul looked at the old man without saying anything, but his mind was racing with multiple thoughts at the same time.

Since he could read the old man’s emotions, he confirmed there were no lies regarding the fate of the remaining participants.

The problem, however, was that the old man’s emotions wavered right after that.

He could only assume that the last sentence was the lie as lying about anything else didn’t seem plausible.

In any case, he knew better to trust the old man after all that he had seen. All his instincts indicated that he should stay away from him, but there wasn’t any other way to get close to his corpse.

"Do you both understand?" the old man shouted before he confirmed that both were ready and disappeared from the middle of the island only to appear at the edges a moment later.

"Show me your worth!" he shouted, marking the start of the duel.

To his satisfaction, both Ozul and Kumaou were only waiting for his signal as they both disappeared from their original spot.

Kumaou sped toward him, hoping to close the distance between each other while he retreated immediately.

A close confrontation with Kumaou was nothing but seeking death at this stage.

He slashed The Purity in long arcs multiple times at him to stop his pursuit, but Kumaou seemed persistent as he dodged them both and kept chasing after him.

"This will be interesting," the old man smirked as he observed the duel from the sidelines.