The deafening roar finally subsided. The blood-red and pitch-black sphere of energy that had swallowed a vast expanse had blasted shocking cracks through the earth.
Tang Qiying's face was so dark it seemed ready to drip. He stared hard at Xiao Yan, who had also steadied himself amid the turbulent currents of energy. He was far from satisfied with the outcome!
He was now a genuine Mid-Stage One-Star Dou Saint. With the aid of Huo Xuan's Dou Di Clan Mark, he had crossed the chasm countless experts dreamed of surmounting. Xiao Yan, meanwhile, was merely a Half-Saint who had forced his strength higher through a secret technique.
What was more, Tang Qiying had used the Flame Clan's carefully chosen, generations-old inheritance: the intermediate Heaven Class Dou Technique, Blazing Sun Divine Light Palm, together with the Eight Wastelands Destruction Flame, ranked sixth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking! By his reckoning, even if that strike failed to kill Xiao Yan outright, it should at least have dealt him a grievous blow. How could they have ended up evenly matched?
"That bastard would rather risk injury than show his full strength!" Tang Qiying soon understood. Xiao Yan could disregard his wounds, which made him exceptionally daring in a clash. He might even have started laying his plans outside the Heavenly Tomb. The Ninefold Crimson Tide he had unleashed then had shown none of the force it now possessed, approaching that of an intermediate Heaven Class technique.
Xiao Yan, meanwhile, dared not waste a moment. Forcing a Heaven Class Dou Technique into a head-on clash with a Dou Sheng had consumed a terrifying amount of energy. He drove his Devouring Power to its limit, continuously absorbing the wild, mixed currents of Dou Qi and doing everything he could to replenish what he had spent.