A day later, over the waters east of Black Kun Island, Uhtred and Leijia turned into two streaks of light, one following the other.
Above the sea, Uhtred looked at Leijia. "The Planar Teleportation Array is on the island ahead. But before we go, how about a fight at full strength?"
Uhtred raised a hand and pointed toward an island not far away, challenging Leijia to a fight.
Leijia did not refuse Uhtred's request.
After a day of talking, Leijia could roughly judge Uhtred's strength. With his current Lightning Divine Clone and Life Element Divine Clone, defeating Uhtred was simply impossible.
Perhaps, with Redding's Water Element Divine Clone added to the mix, they could gain a solid advantage over Uhtred.
Despite knowing he would lose, Leijia agreed.
The next time they met, Uhtred would very likely be the lofty Sovereign of Destruction. If Leijia could not obtain a Sovereign Spark, the gap between them would be like an impassable chasm.
So even if Uhtred had not suggested a spar, Leijia would have found a reason to fight him.
Once they had taken their positions, a gray-black spear radiating an aura of destruction appeared in Uhtred's hand.
Seeing Uhtred draw his weapon, Leijia took out his own divine artifact without hesitation: a broad-backed heavy sword crackling with electricity.
Though both were swords, unlike the light, flexible sword used by the Water Element Divine Clone, Leijia's Lightning Divine Clone specialized in the heavy sword, relying on crushing force to overpower his opponents.
Gripping the broad-backed heavy sword, Leijia sent Lightning Element Divine Power surging around him. The faint silhouette of a lightning dragon flickered into view behind him.
Boom!
Without a moment's hesitation, Leijia held his sword in one hand and twisted his waist and wrist. Using the tremendous momentum, he swung the heavy sword up from below and slashed viciously at Uhtred's face.
Swift, domineering, and explosively powerful.
With a single strike, Leijia showed Uhtred what it meant to be a Lightning Element God Level expert.
Furious arcs of electricity danced along the blade. In an instant, Leijia was already in front of Uhtred.
Leijia knew full well how far apart he and Uhtred were, so he seized the initiative without hesitation the moment the fight began.
Faced with Leijia's attack, Uhtred raised his spear. It moved as swiftly as a dragon, its tip flicking upward to strike Leijia's blade with perfect accuracy.
Trailing the power of lightning and flashing purple, the heavy sword struck the spear shaft.
Furious Lightning Element Divine Power and murderous Destruction Divine Power ate away at each other like boiling water poured into hot oil.
After that simple exchange, both men retreated.
Gripping his heavy sword, Leijia felt a fierce tearing sensation across the back of his hand, as if a sharp blade had scraped over his skin.
The Destruction Element truly lived up to its reputation for offensive power. An ordinary Highgod would likely have suffered considerable damage to his divine body from that attack.
As an Azure Dragon, a Super Divine Beast, Leijia possessed a divine body whose strength ranked among the very best of Divine Beasts.
After all these years of tempering, the hardness of Leijia's divine body alone had already approached that of a Highgod Artifact.
Uhtred had inflicted a minor injury on Leijia with a mere strike of his hand. Clearly, his attacks had tremendous penetrating power.
"Hahaha, that was exhilarating!"
Spear in hand, Uhtred spun it in a flourish, then shot over to Leijia in an instant and thrust it out fiercely.
The spear, carrying an aura of destruction, whipped out.
The tremendously powerful blow seemed as though it would pierce straight through Leijia.
As Uhtred hurled his spear, a murderous aura of destruction swept in from every direction, its sharpness seemingly intent on tearing Leijia to pieces.
Compared with the violence of Lightning Element Divine Power, Uhtred's Destruction Element Divine Power was even more domineering.
The fierce aura left Leijia nowhere to dodge. He could only take the attack head-on.
Ha!
With a shout, Leijia raised his sword, using its blade as a shield to block Uhtred's spear tip.
Spear and sword collided. The spear tip struck the back of Leijia's blade with tremendous force, instantly leaving a clear scratch on the broad-backed heavy sword.
The immense force struck the back of the blade. Bracing the heavy sword, Leijia felt as though he had been hit head-on by a heavy truck, and his chest tightened at once.
With a cold snort, Leijia sprouted fine, densely packed scales all along his arms beneath his wide sleeves. Gold glimmered deep in his eyes, and a thick dragon tail emerged from the base of his spine.
Roar!
Leijia let out a tremendous roar. With his Dragon Transformation half complete, his defense and strength soared. He exerted force through his arms, muscles bulging and veins standing out like taut bowstrings.
Leijia shoved forward with his arms. Empowered by his Dragon Transformation, he used his heavy sword to stop the spear Uhtred had thrown.
The spear spun through the air. Uhtred raised his palm and drew it back, catching the shaft firmly.
Uhtred's gaze sharpened and locked onto Leijia as the aura of destruction around him rose once more.
Whoosh!
A streak of dark light flashed past. When Uhtred's spear reappeared, it was already stabbing toward Leijia's chest.
Swift, precise, and ruthless, the fierce power unique to a Destruction Element God Level expert gathered at the spear tip. Fueled by Uhtred, it stabbed unerringly toward Leijia's chest.
The strike was extraordinarily precise, yet too fast for Leijia to block. If it landed, no matter how hard his divine body was, it would be pierced through.
In that desperate moment, Leijia could spare no thought for anything else. His eyes narrowed, and a glimmer of gold shone from their depths.
Roar!
At that moment, Leijia held nothing back. A piercing Dragon Roar burst from his chest, and a shadow behind him gradually solidified.
A five-clawed true dragon with wings on its back looked toward Uhtred and let out a Dragon Roar!
Innate Divine Ability-Dragon Roar!
With his life on the line, Leijia could not concern himself with anything else. He instantly activated his Innate Divine Ability. Uhtred's strike was overwhelming in both momentum and power.
Leijia did not dare gamble on whether Uhtred could stop himself. He still had other Divine Planes to visit, and he did not want to arrive with a broken divine body.
The piercing Dragon Roar echoed across the sky. With Leijia at its center, everything around him slowed.
Facing Leijia, Uhtred reacted the instant Leijia unleashed his Innate Divine Ability. An enormous shadow appeared behind him.
Though he had never seen it before, Leijia knew the shadow depicted Uhtred's true form, the Divine Beast Black Kun.
Its sky-obscuring body resembled a winding giant python. Black, steel-like scales covered it, and countless sharp claws and wings spread across its body. Most peculiar of all were the two eyes on its forehead: one glowed red, the other white.
Innate Divine Ability, Soul Prison!
As the shadow of Uhtred's Divine Beast form appeared, he unleashed his Innate Divine Ability at Leijia.
The instant he released his Innate Divine Ability, Uhtred panicked a little. Since his birth, he had rarely encountered an expert like Leijia, and whenever he did, they had been mortal enemies against whom he absolutely had to use every means to decide the victor.
Out of combat instinct, the instant Leijia used his Innate Divine Ability, Uhtred instinctively released his own.
In past battles, whenever Uhtred unleashed his Innate Divine Ability, the only thing awaiting his enemy was death.
But this time, his invariably successful Innate Divine Ability failed against Leijia.