Duan Ke looked on at Lin Mu with slight apprehension in her eyes. For a moment there she had thought that it was her grandfather standing in front of her and not Lin Mu. The aura that had appeared on Lin Mu was now completely different from before.
It was as if she was seeing her grandfather back in his peak, ready to fight against a thousand enemies.
"What is he doing?…" Duan Ke whispered to herself.
Lin Mu looked at Duan Ke with a sharp gaze and it felt as if hundred of blades were dancing at this moment within it. Duan Ke finally felt the effect, her gaze went dull. The severing heart sutra was working.
'Now!' Lin Mu shouted in his heart as he threw his short sword forward.
Jing Wei too was astounded by this change and wondered what had just happened to Lin Mu.
"This change in demeanor… Is he starting to develop sword intent?" Jing Wei muttered to himself as he kept on looking, not wanting to miss a single moment.
Lin Mu's short sword kept flying toward Duan Ke and was now very close. Duan Ke felt as if she was in a daze and could not respond for a moment. She could see the short sword flying towards her but could not respond.
'That's it, just a little more…' Lin Mu thought.
Just when the short sword was about to pierce Duan Ke's shoulder,
~Clang~
Sparks flew as her spirit sword came forward to block it.
Duan Ke returned to her normal self at that moment and looked at the short sword in front of her with fear in her eyes.
"How did he… or what did he do?" She muttered to herself.
But this only lasted an instant as she quickly regained her poise. Anger appeared on her face as flames danced within her eyes.
Duan Ke was finally angry, angry that she was close to being defeated by someone that was an entire cultivation realm below her.
'Dammit!' She cursed internally while gritting her teeth.
A wave of air spread out from her as spirit qi in the hall swirled around her.
Duan Ke took hold of her spirit sword that was still blocking Lin Mu's short sword and forcefully hurled it away. She moved at a lightning speed, and her legs could only be seen as a blur. She appeared next to Lin Mu in the next second and slashed at him.
Lin Mu was currently unarmed and did not have his short sword as it had been hurled to the other side of the hall.
He was surpassed at Duan Ke's speed but did not lose his composure. Just as her spirit sword was about to cut him, he withdrew the large tower shield he had in his ring. Lin Mu had not used it for a while, and the last time was back when he defended Hei Wan and Hei Bao against the assassin's bolts.
~Dang~
An even louder sound was heard as Sparks flew.
~Crack~Crack~Crack~
The large tower shield that Lin Mu had just used to defend against Duan Ke's sword cracked. While the cut itself was blocked by the shield, the force of it still traveled through his arm and he felt pain in it.
"Oh, heaven's she is angry." Lin Mu internally spoke.
Duan Ke was unfazed at the appearance of the tower shield and swung her sword again, but this time the shield could not bear it.
~Crumble~
The tower shield broke into multiple pieces as they were spread all around the ground. This time though Lin Mu had not borne the brunt of the impact as at the very last moment he had let go of the shield and moved to the side.
The pieces of the tower shield were now scatted all around the hall, and Lin Mu was unarmed again. Duan Ke gripped her sword harder and lunged forward to strike, but suddenly her spirit sense discovered the short sword that was flying towards her from her blind spot.
Lin Mu had been controlling the Short sword this entire time and was only wanting to get close enough so that his spirit sense could connect with it.
Duan Ke twirled and dodged the incoming blade and refocused her attention on Lin Mu.
They trained their eyes on each other as Lin Mu's short sword came to float above him. Duan Ke thought that he was going to attack straightway but was a little surprised as a spear appeared in his hands. It was the very spear that he had bought from her along with the tower shield back then.
"What is he doing…" Duan Ke thought and was then interrupted by the flying short sword.
By now Lin Mu's spirit qi had been depleted by more than half, and he did not want to take any more chances.
"Let's get this over with…" Lin Mu muttered and lunged forward with the spear in his hand.
Duan Ke deflected the short sword and blocked the spear tip. But just as she blocked it the spear disappeared, making her lose her balance due to the change in momentum. Replacing the spear now was an axe. Lin Mu spun around as the Axe came creasing towards Duan Ke's waist.
She blocked the Axe forcefully making its blade break and the handle snap. She then raised her spirit sword upwards blocking the short sword that slashed from another direction.
Lin Mu threw the remnant of the Axe away and pulled out a long sword instead, using that to fight Duan Ke.
Their Battle continued in this manner as countless hits were exchanged. Lin Mu would keep on switching the weapons, while the short sword would continue to attack Duan Ke. His motive was to distract her with his normal weapons while getting an opening with the short sword.
Jing Wei was looking at the entire exchange with amusement in his eyes. By now he had realized what Lin Mu was doing and that he was using the thousand armament blade scripture.
"He has indeed grown a lot during these few months. Even the thousand armament blade Scripture that a lot of the geniuses of my clan could not learn after years is being used by him efficiently. Although there are still many flaws in his technique, there is no doubt that he is a hidden talent." Jing Wei spoke to himself in a content tone.
"STOP!" Jing Wei shouted, "the time is up, Lin Mu is the winner." He declared.
