Yet the gap remained.
His spear intent had only just taken shape, while Lin Jin's sword intent had long since been honed to its utmost through countless life-and-death battles. Their purity was on entirely different levels.
Their stalemate lasted only three breaths before Zhao Ming felt his spear intent begin to crack under the crushing pressure of the sword intent.
It was not that his will lacked resolve, but that his spear intent contained too many other things: his clan's expectations, his ancestor's instructions, and his sense of responsibility as the Zhao Clan's heir.
These should have been sources of strength, yet in a clash of intents, they became impurities.
Lin Jin's sword intent, meanwhile, held only the will to cleave through everything, leaving nothing uncut, without a single distracting thought.
Zhao Ming was driven back by a single slash. He stumbled more than ten steps across the ground before barely steadying himself.
The webbing between his thumb and forefinger had split, and blood dripped down the spear shaft onto the rocks. But rather than lower his head to look at the wound, he raised his head, a flicker of resolve crossing his eyes.
"I lost the clash of intents," he said slowly, his voice hoarse yet exceptionally calm. "But this battle isn't over."
He planted Thunder Abyss in the ground, his hands shifting through different hand seals.
A deeper power erupted from within him. The silver lightning no longer flared wildly as before, instead turning into countless fine lightning markings that covered his entire body, as though a complete lightning totem had been carved into his skin.
That was the form his bloodline power took when fully unleashed.
Domain!
Thunderclap Spear Domain, activate!
Silver lightning spread outward from him, instantly enveloping a radius of several dozen meters.
Within the