Cultivation Through Artifacts

With an explosion that shook the surroundings to some extent, Logan believed it was his attack that erupted into Khal but the next second his belief was shattered like a thin glass and his eyes widened in surprise.

The raging black flames that should have erupted into Khal's body sending him far away with scorched body was instead flung away by hundreds of wind blades by Khal's fan.

"I forget about this power of his." thought Logan in his heart but he was not nervous at all; instead smiled and bent his legs a bit.

*Crack!*

*BAM!*

With a single leap that left a huge and deep pit on the ground, Logan flashed above Khal's still floating body and raised his leg.

"!?" Khal noticed this and crossed his arms before his body, but this didn't save him from being kicked down like a football with a power similar to a hammer slam.

*BOOM!*

Shattering the ground and creating a thick dust cloud in the air, Khal's body crashed into the solid ground below unknown if he was fine or not.

*tap-tap*

Elegantly landing on the grass with two gentle taps, Logan walked toward Khal and smiled, "It seems I won. You have the power to fight against almost everyone on solid ground but when it comes to battle in the sky, you are inexperienced; you are as vulnerable as a child."

"..."

Logan talked with confidence but suddenly his steps halted and squinted his eyes. The dust cloud slowly dissipated revealing a huge hole filled with debris but strangely Khal's figure was nowhere to be seen; it was like his body was swallowed by the earth vanishing into thin air.

"Where did he g-." 

"HA!"

"!?"

As the voice came from above, Logan raised his head and watched as Khal descended upon him with a straightened leg that was about to smash his skull with extreme power.

"Interesting." Logan was surprised by Khal. Not only did he defended against his kick that could knock anyone unconscious even though he was also on the Second Cultivation Stage, but he also used the smokescreen to his advantage to appear above him. Khal knew that he would concentrate on the spot where he fell, so used it as an opportunity to appear at his blind spot. 

Simply put, he not only thought about defense, but also thought a step ahead and used the small mistakes to his advantage.

*BAM!*

Jumping to the side and barely avoiding Khal's heel that came at him from above like an iron hammer, Logan watched as the leg crashed down sending huge chunks of rocks and debris around the green field like projectiles.

"His kick became stronger?" thought with surprise Logan as he squinted his eyes. The first time Khal used his new Secret Art his feet only left a small pit, but now it created such a huge and deep pit in the ground that it was hard to believe it was only Khal's physical strength that caused all this.

And what Logan noticed was true. It was not Khal's physical strength that magically became strong but his Secret Art's First Form showed its potential. The moment Khal jumped up he accelerated his Essence flow inside his feet to the absolute limit he could currently bear resulting in piercing pain arising in his leg.

But because the discomfort was not unbearable, Khal was able to use the collected strength to appear above Logan in a split second; the dust cloud just helped to disguise his attempt so it was only an extra.

And that was the very moment Khal realized that the Crimson Snake Dance main purpose was not to boost his speed but to accumulate strength into his legs through the continuous Essence cyclin.

As the Essence flowed in a continuous cycle it worked as a vortex, sucking the air around his feet and using it as an accumulated source of power to increase both his speed and strength; simply, the faster the Essence moved the bigger the accumulated power will be. 

"I still can't understand how could such a powerful Secret Art be considered as a Moderate Level Art. Did they not try to use it before giving it a Level or what?" thought Khal as he slowly retracted his feet from the debris.

The Dance of The Celestial Serpent was such a strange Art that it made Khal wonder even until this moment. It was easy to understand like any Secret Arts on the Moderate Level but had concepts like Essence acceleration that could be found from the Expert Level and even had 7 forms that only Cultivator Level Secret Arts had!

Khal turned to face Logan and started into his eyes in deep silence. It seemed he was unable to injure him and Logan couldn't knock him out, so now they were back to square one; everything began once again from the beginning.

Logan watched Khal's tranquil complexion and a profound light swirled inside his eyes while an unnoticeable curve formed on his mouth.

"This will be harder than I have thought."

-

-

-

When they started their sparring session the sun was still high above the sky but after hours of fighting and exchanging blows, the moon has already emerged from the east, shining the vault of heavens with its glow.

*BOOM!*

The previously glorious grassland now turned into a vast wasteland filled with cracks, deep pits, and craters while not a single strand of grass was visible because of the uncountable debris and stones on the scorched ground.

The whole place became so chaotic that if one suddenly appeared and looked at this scenery, they would believe it was a battlefield where several individuals fought until their very last breath.

*BOOM!*

And just here on this badland, Khal and Logan were still fighting against each other, exchanging blows after blows without caring about the surroundings at all.

"It seems you are finally at your limit," exclaimed Logan with a wry grin as glanced at the heavily breathing Khal before him, but it was also apparent he was in the same shoes as him. Fighting against Khal put a greater burden on him especially because he needed to keep his strength on the Second Cultivation Stage without using any of his powerful abilities either.

"I... can still go." declared Khal as he wiped his sweat away from his forehead. Ever since they started to fight, Khal didn't stop circulating the Essence inside his feet and now his whole leg became numb to the point he hardly felt them.

But at least it was worth it because the longer he used the First Form the more he could push his limit out and the more power he could accumulate around his feet. But naturally, the pain he needed to bear became bigger too.

"Compared from the start, I definitely improved my skills, but I'm still inferior to him. Just how can he be so much stronger than me even though he is on the same Stage as me?" thought Khal as he calculated his odds to win.

He used all kinds of tricks against Logan but none of them helped him. He tried to fight him head-on, but it failed. He tried to attack him from distance with the help of his fan but it also failed. He attempted to push his Crimson Snake Dance potential to the utmost limit he could sustain currently, but that too ceased to function properly against Logan.

Every single time he attacked his teacher, he would defend against him like an iron wall and do a counterattack that was hard to fend against; if it wasn't for his Diamond Skin, Khal was pretty sure he would have been knocked out hours ago.

As silence filled the air because both men tried to calm their breathing down, Logan inhaled a mouthful of fresh air and sighed deeply.

At that very moment, he did that, his whole complexion turned soothing once again while his body relaxed; suddenly his whole being leaked a kind of presence that told Khal the end game was near.

Slowly, Logan lowered his stance while the ground below him cracked and the air started to tremble slightly around his feet.

"Don't tell me!" mumbled Khal with a stunned expression, but soon enough Logan opened his mouth and grinned.

"Dance of The Celestial Serpent; Crimson Snake Dance!"

*BOOM!*