"What do you want anyway? Did you just come here to stand and stare?" Bai Yegui asked with a frown.

Li Ling closed his eyes and breathed out, calming his turbulent emotions as he came to stand before the table. "Do you have a daoist art called the Tai Xu Mysterious Method?"

Bai Yegui pondered for a bit before checking through his things, finding a piece of rare Purple Jade that seemed to exist in the folds of reality. Just looking at it, Li Ling could feel the extraordinariness of this method, and that it was not something 'cheap' like what he had been dealing with up until now.

This daoist art, even from afar, seemed like it was on par with his unique immortal arts created by the system, giving Li Ling great hope.

Bai Yegui glanced at the jade slip with interest. "Hey, what do you know, I did have it. I tried learning this thing, but the talent required to get started is terrifying. I couldn't even push through an inch of the entry stage."

He then sized Li Ling up and sneered. "But you definitely cannot afford this thing. I doubt you have anything worth this art, so what exactly gave you the confidence to stand before me?"

Li Ling simply took out the Fourth Grade Void Breaking Talisman and placed it down on the table, allowing Bai Yegui to take and inspect it. Once he did, his face changed greatly, and his coldness dissipated as he sized Li Ling up again.

"The talisman covers about 80% of the cost, and I don't need mere spirit stones. Rather, I want us to have a spar in the Outpost Dueling Ring, because I still don't believe that you can threaten me." Bai Yegui offered with a weird smile.

Li Ling nodded. "Let's go."

Bai Yegui packed up his stall materials into his various void rings and traveled with Li Ling out of the market area to the nearby dueling and entertainment zone. After all, this was a war front, and everyone knew that fighters needed some amenities to relax themselves, especially demonic sect disciples who all had malevolent personalities on top of terrifying backlashes from their cultivation methods.

The moment they entered the entertainment district, Li Ling was almost left speechless to see that the Boundless Joy Sect had established a brothel here with their low-level disciples dispatched to provide services at a premium fee, with other demonic sects also offering various services.

The Blighted Netherworld Sect was even offering to use their main technique, which involved utilizing illusions to befuddle the spirit, as a platform for various 'VR'-like services. The sheer variety was enough to cover many scopes of interest, and the opportunity to indulge in some of the worst vices was freely advertised by the roadside.

While Li Ling looked around with interest as usual, Bai Yegui wore a cold frown that made him unapproachable. Coupled with his earlier aura that gave others a feeling of extreme suffocation, none dared to even look at him too much.

When they eventually reached the dueling ring, they saw it was occupied by two Asura Blood disciples at the Mortal Flesh level who were fiercely going at it, trying to overpower the other to determine victory. Li Ling watched their moves and found that indeed, they utilized basic martial arts that were quite refined to enhance their fighting power but did not use weapons.

"How boring." Bai Yegui was obviously not moved, which left Li Ling speechless.

Soon, a Qi Refinement True Human Path disciple rushed over, handling their duel procedures quickly.

"Two Path Lords, since your cultivation is higher than mine and we have to bear responsibility for accidents on the stage, please wait until a Deva Overseer arrives to act as the referee." The fellow said with trepidation after knowing that the two of them were peak second-realm powerhouses in both cultivation paths.

Li Ling nodded while Bai Yegui snorted coldly and folded his arms, moving to stand below their chosen ring, which was far larger and more decorated than the one for Mortal Flesh disciples. To protect against the exponentially intensive power of second-realm cultivators, it even had a Grade 3 Spirit Isolation Formation, which could lock down the power of the fighters within if it became too much.

It didn't take long before a Deva Path Lord was arranged to come over, wearing the familiar white and gold of the sect, yet they had an air of nobility and loftiness in their brow that was unmistakable. It was a young man with flowing black hair with white highlights tied into a young master-style ponytail, his sharp brows and pursed lips showing his displeasure at being disturbed.

However, when he scanned the two Path Lords with his spirit sense, his face changed greatly as he recognized the immense feeling of threat they gave him. As such, his attitude became slightly better, going from being irritated at having his time wasted to mildly interested to see where this would go.

"Path Lord Li and Path Lord Bai, I hope you two know the rules? This is not a life-and-death match, so stop before things get fatal, or I will be forced to stop you." The Deva Path Lord said as a form of greeting, immediately knowing the names of the two from the registered data for the match.

"Sure, whatever." Bai Yegui responded arrogantly, making the fellow's lips twitch, while Li Ling did not even bother to look at a weakling like him.

Miffed and exasperated, the Deva Path Lord exited the stage and moved to the side. "You may begin at any time!"

"Right, so no weapons or any consumables, okay? The sense of danger you give me lies in your raw ability, and I want to experience it for myself." Bai Yegui said, his face breaking out into a smile finally.

Li Ling chuckled. "Fine by me. I'll make the first move then."

WHOOSH!

Li Ling's Blood Aura surged crazily, sweeping over the rather large stage that was the size of half a football field, easily covering the area where Bai Yegui was. Yet the young man also radiated an aura of Yin Evil that swept through the area, easily clashing with the Blood Aura and causing an intense sizzling sound where they met.

Both men stood still without moving, smiling confidently as their auras clashed ferociously, with neither giving even an inch. Li Ling couldn't help but exclaim internally that indeed, this fellow was a mini-protagonist because such pure Yin Evil power was on par with his female transformation, though that was Yin Cold.

Li Ling knew how he got such potent Blood Aura compared to the rest, due to the Infinite Slaughter System affecting breakthroughs as well as his cultivation at 100% efficiency and quality, sometimes even inadvertently pushing beyond the norms due to the perfection of it all.

To be able to match him like this, it seemed Bai Yegui's blessing from the mistake of fate was not small, which doubly reaffirmed Li Ling's need to untangle himself from the fellow's tribulation because it was going to be utterly brutal.

Just from feeling the aura clash, the Deva Path Lord by the side became extremely grim, feeling that these two could likely give him a rough time with just their auras—barely 10% of their power—whereas he would need to use 50% just to resist it!

Where the hell did these two freaks come from, and how long had they been hiding in the sect?

The clash here also attracted attention all over the entertainment district, as the power fluctuations were too strong, even bordering on Core Formation level. Many stopped what they were doing to come and take a look at which notable names were testing their mettle, only to be puzzled when they saw two unfamiliar fellows poising on a stage.

However, like the Deva Path Lord, their expressions became grim when they felt the power of those clashing auras, instinctively measuring themselves up to it and finding that, were they the ones on the stage, they might have been defeated already!

Most of those who came were first-realm Path Walkers, as they made the bulk of the force in every War of Annihilation at this level, but there were more than a few Path Lords in attendance as well. When they saw the duel that had just started, they immediately rushed to the 'forums' of the sect and began posting about it, causing more attention to fall here.

In truth, the large majority of spectators just called their friends to rush over and take a look, because this was free entertainment and a chance to witness the birth of new household names before they were well known.

"Hm, this is about enough." Li Ling muttered, taking a step forward and disappearing, his silhouette somehow lingering at the area he had previously been.

However, he had already approached the striking range of his foe, who seemed not to be surprised by this.

"Thank you for walking into my domain." Bai Yegui uttered with a sneer, folding his arms as his Hungry Ghost avatar manifested a hand from behind him, curling over his back and throwing a punch towards Li Ling.

Raising an eyebrow, Li Ling did not utilize any martial arts as he threw a punch back, which caused the condensed auras to explode with waves of Yin Evil and Blood Aura that surged to the edge of the stage, almost spilling out on spectators were it not for the formation protecting them.

KRAKOOM!

The audience were protected from the malevolent energies and the raw shockwave force, which could have caused the skin of some first-realm Path Walkers to fly off their bones, but they had no defenses against the thunderous sound, which rattled their eardrums and caused many to go deaf on the spot, their ears bleeding profusely.

"Hoh? Not bad." Bai Yegui praised with a smirk, clearly barely exerting any power.

Li Ling was not moved by that punch at all, still retaining his posture of poise. "Agreed. Now that we've done a casual strike, let's test our attack rushes."

The young man did not wait for his opponent to agree, taking a single step forward that covered the newly opened distance between them, throwing a flurry of strikes that were so fast that the untrained eye could barely follow.

Bai Yegui maintained his casual posture as two extremely solid arms that had an ethereal quality yet seemed to be as real as anything else in the world used them to trade blows with Li Ling no matter how many he threw.

WHOMP! PENG! WHOMP! PENG!

The audience had already been shocked by the results of that single probing strike, and now, they were treated to a serving of multiple such strikes within a short period of time. Even those who could resist the thunderous sounds were struggling to cope, yet their bloodshot eyes never left the stage, wondering how two people could have such strength at this level.

Li Ling kept striking, feeling his muscles begin to warm up in a way that no other fight before this had allowed, feeling his body and brain activate. The instincts and countless years of practice from perfecting his daoist arts that the Infinite Slaughter System inputted into his mind were coming awake, causing his dark blue eyes to brighten like a lamp with growing intensity.

Meanwhile, Bai Yegui's relaxed smile began to fade slowly as he struggled to keep up with Li Ling's nonsensical speed, his arms going from meeting Li Ling's blows head-on to having to block and defend occasionally, put on the defensive.

Then again, it was his own fault and hubris that made him dare to challenge Li Ling in his specialty, which was direct hand-to-hand combat. Even if the Hungry Ghost avatar was strong, it was more of a versatile adaptation of the Six Paths Yin Power, not the be-all and end-all of the Hungry Ghost Path.

Rather, what stood out about it was its defensive ability, giving the Hungry Ghost cultivator time to cast their Yin Evil Daoist arts, which were extremely heavy in terms of offensive power at the detriment of their defensive power.

"Tsk, enough!" Bai Yegui roared, expending a significant amount of aura that pushed Li Ling backward, regardless of how he tried to resist it.

Bai Yegui's face became sinister, his patience gone after suffering that small loss in the previous exchange, clearly going to start taking things slightly seriously. As such, he immediately widened his eyes and made a hand sign, which was of the Five Thunder Seal, something Li Ling recognized.

"Try and survive this! Yin Thunder Wave!" Bai Yegui shouted out as his body began to surge with whitish lightning that had black splotches within, giving it a gloomy and malevolent feel.

Li Ling took a step and tried to dodge, but he noticed he was locked onto by Bai Yegui's Spirit Sense, which was actually slightly stronger than his own, as Li Ling did not cultivate any method to enhance spirit sense potency, only its range.

ZHI-BOOM!

With a sinister sound like a badly launched firecracker, the Yin Thunder surged towards Li Ling in the form of a bolt, striking him accurately in the chest and sending him flying backward for a few meters. When onlookers checked his state, they saw to their shock that his Blood Aura had not only been breached, but Li Ling's white and gold sect robe was actually torn open, revealing a patch of his chest that was blackened.

But this black patch on his flesh was not a result of heat nor burns, but rather decay, as the area around the wound began to flake and fall off like dead rotting flesh.

The crowd gasped at the sight, feeling a chill in their hearts. Yin Thunder was a very common daoist art in the demonic sects of Tian Ming Continent, used to deal with elemental cultivators.

Apart from those who practiced Yang-related methods that countered them, most cultivators were easily waylaid by the sinister nature of this art.

Ironically, demonic sect disciples were the most susceptible to such methods due to the various flaws in their minds and the malicious nature of their techniques.

That was one of the reasons why the so far overpowered Blood Energy of the Blood Asura Descent was easily broken through this time.

The other reason though…

"Holy shit!! Is that a Perfection stage daoist art?!"

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