Both sides unleashed their Iaido slashes.
Each had reached a terrifying realm no one had touched in hundreds of years.
Calling it the ultimate showdown between the sword saints of this age would have been no exaggeration.
The Nichirin Blade forged with the sun's power collided head-on in midair with the Demon Blade cast from flesh and blood.
Aside from the dazzling sparks that burst forth.
The expected deafening crash did not erupt at once.
Because sound itself seemed to have shattered in the clash of these ultimate slashes.
And the Sword Aura and shock waves spraying wildly in every direction.
Were like the sun crashing into the earth.
They erupted into a torrent of light visible to the naked eye.
The ground centered on their point of collision looked as though an invisible, transparent giant fist had hammered it.
It caved in instantly, forming an enormous depression.
Ripples of shock waves swept rapidly outward.
They uprooted every last remnant of the already shattered trees nearby.
Mixed with a skyful of dirt and gravel, they were violently hurled away.
The forest farther out looked as though a giant had dragged a comb through it, sending branches and leaves flying everywhere.
Had someone been able to look down from high above.
They would have seen an almost perfect circle forcibly carved into a clearing within the forest.
As for the two locked in that contest...
The one ultimately sent flying backward was Xia Xi.
Even after strengthening Dawn Breathing to a whole new level, level 7.
He still lacked some of the refinement and accumulated experience needed to face Kokushibo.
Upper Rank One, meanwhile, had suffered an enormous, gruesome gash across his body.
At that moment, however, the wound was slowly writhing and healing.
Against a monster on Upper Rank One's