Watching the two fight, provoke each other, and trade trash talk, Lin Xing could not help marveling. Between them, they were over two hundred years old, yet when they fought, they were still so... well, hard to describe.
In short, old friends were old friends.
Lin Xing watched with relish, especially how Chen Xin used Intent in battle. That fine control was beyond what he could currently match.
Only...
With control that precise, quality and quantity that terrifying, and Sword Intent of that caliber, Chen Xin should have been perfectly capable of forming a domain at his level of strength.
Yet Lin Xing did not seem to remember ever seeing Chen Xin use one.
But one moment he was thinking that, and the next, the battle suddenly changed.
"Seventh Soul Skill, Seven Kill Avatar!"
Lin Xing nearly lost his balance and fell off the sword. Had they actually gotten fired up?
Surely not?
Lin Xing was still puzzled, but Chen Xin's movements did not pause at all. Soul Power surged around him as Sword Intent ran rampant.
"The phoenix cried bleakly, ten thousand miles lay empty..."
"Seven Kill rose into the wind, through empty mountains a song rang out!"
In the middle of the fight, Chen Xin suddenly pulled this, and then Lin Xing felt a sudden sting on the back of his hand.
Looking down, he found that numerous tiny cuts had appeared there without him noticing.
The Seven Kill Sword's Sword Intent suddenly soared, carving a massive blue slash through space.
"Seven Kill Domain: Ten Thousand Rivers Return to the Sword Realm!"
Six enormous Seven Kill Swords fell from high above, planting themselves at six corners of the battlefield. Sword Intent and Soul Power intertwined into an airtight net of Sword Intent, sweeping up even Lin Xing, who had been watching the show.
"Well, well, Old Sword Man! I was wondering why you kept provoking me today. Turns out you wanted to use me as a punching bag to develop a new Soul Skill!"
Gu Rong laughed in anger. Even if Old Sword Man had simply asked, he would have agreed, but Old Sword Man just loved keeping things under wraps, always looking to catch him out at a crucial moment.
"So that's how you want to play..."
Gu Rong's face twitched as Soul Power surged wildly within him.
"Seventh Soul Skill, Bone Dragon True Body!"
An enormous bone dragon rose into the air, wrapped in tremendous Soul Power.
"Fifth Soul Skill, Bone Dragon Phantom!"
"Sixth Soul Skill, Black Dragon Dark Nether Suppression!"
This time was different from last time. Gu Rong was at full strength, bringing out his capabilities in their entirety, and he had also activated his Martial Soul Avatar.
The power of these two moves was certainly incomparable to before.
"Wait!"
Lin Xing jolted upright in alarm.
If those two attacks really collided, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's rear mountain might be gone, and other places might be caught in the fallout too.
Clearly, the two had realized this as well, so almost in unison, they intended to hold back.
But Lin Xing did not want this collision of the century to vanish before his eyes.
"Domain Expansion: Court of Surging Conviction!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Xing decisively merged the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale into his domain and forcibly expanded an enlarged Court of Surging Conviction, dragging both Titled Douluo inside.
Noticing the change in their surroundings, both men looked at Lin Xing.
Once they met Lin Xing's gaze, both understood instantly, then began putting in more strength in unison.
The enormous Seven Kill Sword collided with Gu Rong's spatial beam. Fortunately, Lin Xing had not been overconfident and had brought out the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale right away. On his own, he absolutely could not have withstood the full outburst of two Titled Douluo.
Boom!
The moment the attacks collided, the two still held back a little.
But even Lin Xing could tell that Chen Xin had clearly gained the upper hand this time.
Previously, although Chen Xin had Sword Intent and his Soul Power was one level above Gu Rong's, Gu Rong was too unusual. His defense was truly absurd, and as long as they did not get genuinely fired up, the two were actually evenly matched.
Even if they did get fired up, Gu Rong's overwhelmingly powerful defense could bridge the gap brought about by that one level of Soul Power.
In their previous sparring matches and fights, they had gone no further than their Martial Soul Avatars at most. Even when they occasionally got genuinely fired up, they merely added an Eighth Soul Skill.
Now, Chen Xin had suddenly gained enlightenment mid-fight and used a skill he had never used before. Bolstered by the Seven Kill Avatar, this move absolutely surpassed an ordinary Titled Douluo's Eighth Soul Skill and might even have brushed the threshold of a Ninth Soul Skill.
All that could be said was that Gu Rong had really gotten the short end of the stick this time.
The battle ended, and the Court of Surging Conviction vanished along with it. Lin Xing sat on the ground, panting heavily.
Now he roughly understood how great the gap between him and a Titled Douluo was.
Still, he was not discouraged. Geniuses always needed time to grow. It had not even been a week since he had obtained his power. Give him five years-no, make that three.
Given three years, he could absolutely string Chen Xin up and thrash him.
But that was how he imagined it. How reality would turn out still depended on future developments.
"Old Bone, you lost this time."
Chen Xin stood with his hands behind his back, the hem of his clothes slightly dirty.
Gu Rong, by contrast, looked rather bedraggled. His gray-black robe had been torn in quite a few places, and two cuts left by the Seven Kill Sword had appeared on the back of his hand.
"You Old Sword Man! With a move like that, you don't use it on Soul Beasts or opponents-you fucking use it to fight your old friend, huh!"
"Ah, I only figured this move out recently myself."
"It was that brat's repeated actions that gave me inspiration. After I went back last night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep, so I simply started researching this move."
"Fortunately, my talent is considerably better than yours, Old Bone, and I already had a foundation, so after one night, I worked out a rudimentary form."
"As it happened, you suffered a loss at that brat's hands yesterday, Old Bone, so you must have had some pent-up frustration. And as it happened, I needed a punching... ahem, an opponent. So I provoked you a little. I never expected you to actually jump right in."
Gu Rong glared at Chen Xin through gritted teeth. After going away and coming back, this Old Sword Man really was getting more and more deserving of a beating.
Just then, Lin Xing flew down from above as well. An Oceanid appeared and healed the two men's injuries.
However, Fufu was not with him, so the healing was a little slow.
"Teacher, if you put the literary flair you use when making your moves into cultivation instead, perhaps you'd already be a Level 99 Titled Douluo."
Lin Xing had realized it: Chen Xin really was flashy.
Everyone else honestly called out their Soul Skills when they fought, then unleashed them. But not him-he had to recite a poem first.
What was it again...
The phoenix cried bleakly, ten thousand miles lay empty...
Seven Kill rose into the wind, through empty mountains a song rang out!
As expected of the cultured Douluo-Sword Dao Chen Xin, the most cultured among Titled Douluo, a swordsman, and the foremost on the continent in killing power.
When it came to showing off, he truly had his own unique insights.
Lin Xing was even considering whether he should learn from Chen Xin, reciting a poem before attacking and then finishing his opponent in a single move. Would that make him look particularly suave?
"You little brat, now you're teasing your own teacher."