At the edge of the forest, a meeting of elders was taking place. Not all the elders previously in the palace had assembled, but the ones willing to take disciples from the new batch of outer disciples were gathered.
"Have you heard the news?"
"Right, that Long boy is having a duel with the kid from the talent test."
"Mm, I think it'd be good if they could develop a healthy rivalry."
"Right, the Long Clan might not have the same influence as us, but they are near the top of the 4 great clans. It won't be bad for us to make connections to them."
"Exactly, if the Long boy finds a rival within the sect, their clan will be much more favorable towards our disciples."
As these miscellaneous conversations took place, someone raised a concern.
"Shouldn't we be monitoring their duel? We can't have either of them getting too injured, or even worse, crippled."
"They are both top geniuses that will benefit our sect greatly, so naturally that can't be allowed. However, we don't need to worry. The Old Man is already taking care of it."
"He moved personally? I wonder which of them caught his interest."
Even though they addressed him causally, respect and adoration could be felt in the tones of these sect elders as they spoke about the old man.
Nonetheless, after learning that safety was already taken care of, the sect elders resumed their idle chatter.
***
Meanwhile, the fight between Damien and Long Chen had escalated intensely. Unlike their previous bouts, they both had serious expressions on their faces.
The lush scenery of the 50-kilometer radius around them had already been destroyed. The ground was cracked, and many of the plants in the vicinity had been charred or incinerated.
The crowd of onlookers was forced to scatter since the battle had escalated past the point where they could stand close by and watch. Some decided to eliminate their competitors during this time, so many small skirmishes were taking place in the area.
Clang!
The sound of swords impacting each other was heard once again, but this time wasn't so simple. A wave of lightning crashed into Long Chen, obliterating everything in his vicinity, while the same occurred with Damien.
As it turns out, Long Chen also had a lightning affinity, so after many hours, they had decided to compete on whose was better.
Damien's crackling black lightning contained properties of destruction, while Long Chen's gold lightning felt more pure and authoritative.
When the two waves of lightning collided, a massive explosion engulfed the entire 50 kilometers around them, pushing both of them back.
Turning his head to the side, Damien spit out a mouthful of blood. With their clash becoming more volatile, there was no way to remain uninjured.
'Well, at least it isn't as bad as the Sea Dragon.' Thinking about it, Damien got an idea. He hadn't been able to test his new trait on any opponents recently.
"Long Chen, we've already been fighting for hours without a clear winner. Let us end it in this next clash."
Long Chen was in a similar state as Damien, and while his injuries were also rapidly healing, his healing factor wasn't as pronounced as his opponents. 'Is there no way for me to win?'
Going into this fight, he had expected a challenge, but nothing like this. When comparing raw strength, Damien was above him. However, he won in terms of technique.
With each having their own specialty, their battle stayed at a standstill for this long. Every time Long Chen used his wits to land a critical hit on Damien, he would collapse space or use his odd invisible sword strike to counterattack.
'Spatial cultivators are truly terrifying.'
He was aware that if this was a life or death battle, he'd lose purely due to Damien's spatial element. After all, Damien had the ability to flee whenever he felt like it to recuperate, while Long Chen had nothing of the sort.
Even if he used the life-saving talismans his family provided, they were a finite supply, unlike Damien who only needed mana.
Looking at his opponent who was breathing heavily, but still looked in generally good shape, Long Chen checked his own condition.
'I can continue fighting for many more hours, and my mana capacity is still 3/4ths full, but we can't fight forever.'
"Very well, the next move will be the last."
Since they were finishing it here, he might as well go all out. This was Long Chen's thought. And although he didn't want to use his trump card, he felt he had the perfect attack for this confrontation.
Both fighters nodded at each other in mutual agreement before their auras flared. They gushed out mana at an incredible pace, putting everything into their final attacks.
'Only leave enough mana to protect myself.' This was the thought running through both of their minds.
Above Damien's head, the sky once again raged. Thunder boomed so loud that it could even be heard by the elders on the outskirts of the forest, and black lightning crackled through the storm clouds that began to gather.
It was like a heavenly tribulation, but much more destructive. But Damien wasn't done yet. If he was going all out, he'd truly go all out. He slowly began inhaling as a small black dot formed in his throat.
On Long Chen's side, a similarly catastrophic scene was taking place. Heaven and earth rumbled as pillars shot down from both, connecting in the middle with such force that small space cracks formed.
These pillars were entirely gold, forming an illusory golden palace around Long Chen, with him sitting on a throne of swords. The earth cracked apart and gave way for the hot lava within, which rose to create golems that guarded their king.
The sky cleared and the sun shone through the dark clouds, illuminating Long Chen's figure like a heavenly immortal descended upon the mortal world.
Damien's eyes slowly turned entirely red, while Long Chen's became vertical slits of a reptile. Looking at each other, they both yelled at the top of their lungs.
"Heavenly Dragon God's Descent!"
"Storm Dragon's Fury!"
On Damien's side, a beam of destructive black light thicker than any tree trunk shot out of his mouth and entered the storm clouds, empowering them with its strength.
Soon after, the rumbling clouds became pitch black, causing a massive hole to be opened in the space above the battleground. Through this hole, an even larger beam with the thickness of a building shot forward towards Long Chen's throne.
However, the beam was destined to be obstructed. The tens of magma golems protecting Long Chen fused, becoming a massive dragon made entirely of molten rock.
The gold beams creating the structure of the palace shifted their aim and entered the magma dragon's body, covering it in light. Finally, the shining sunlight converged to create a golden dragon hundreds of meters in length.
The dragon opened its massive maw, shooting out a golden-white beam that didn't lose out to Damien's in the slightest.
The scene of carnage could be viewed by anyone near the forest. One pitch black and the other gold, the two beams collided looking like an epic clash between good and evil.
But the destruction it caused had no morality. The world was bathed in light that swallowed everything in its path, including Damien and Long Chen.
The light incinerated everything, even the 3rd class competitors that were too close were immediately turned to ash. This was the result of a combination of Damien and Long Chen's power.
As for whether the two of them could survive it? It was entirely unknown.
