Spirit Cultivation

"It's starting!" Liena called out excitedly when she saw that the battle was about to start. If she could, she would jump like a little kid getting his favourite ice-cream but they were hovering in the air which made it impossible. 

"I think he will begin slowly, trying to feel what are Pio's abilities before finally showing his true colours." The golden-robed youth thought out loud as he watched the black flames reaching Pio but then they saw them doubling and tripling until the whole area was filled with flames. 

At the same time, Xuefeng momentarily disappeared from the spot he was standing at and only the youth could see him after using his Fate Perception but Xuefeng completely vanished from Liena's radar. 

They both looked at each other and exclaimed, "He has Thousand Blades abilities!" 

Pio's body was quickly covered by black flames but just as they expected, nothing serious happened to him after a second look. When the flames vanished, Pio's skin was burned black but there was still a smile on his face. 

At that very second, fragments of Pio's skin which were still burning with black flames started falling to the ground, showing clear skin without any injuries underneath. Surprisingly, the burned fragments began turning into bright, star-shaped lights upon touching the ground before quickly joining the rest which was still bravely flying around Pio's body. 

Liena looked at the spot where Xuefeng was just a moment and commented with a realisation, "So he was the one who killed him… Ah, we should pay more attention to such matters. I guess Thousand Blades accepted a mission to kill Xuefeng and died in the process. This whole situation could have been avoided if we just accepted the help from the Trade Union…" 

Liena already got a proposition to work closer with them but she didn't think there was a need. This would expose many secrets of her Fate Organization to the public which she didn't want to do. 

As Pio looked around, not able to find the hidden Xuefeng, he waved with his hands and all his stars spread all around the area, trying to feel out Xuefeng's position. With his sword prepared, Pio pretended to act relaxed and shouted, "Are you going to hide like a coward in front of everyone or fight me like a man!?" 

His spread stars couldn't seem to locate Xuefeng even after it reached every corner which only left Pio with one choice and that was a provocation. At first, he thought it wouldn't be that hard of a fight but seeing Xuefeng spamming his abilities without care for Fate Qi made him quite anxious. 

He could already spot one main disadvantage he had despite having a really strong assault ability. Xuefeng's ability pool was just bigger and more diversified which forced Pio to be careful despite having the same cultivation stage as him. Fortunately, there was one thing Pio was sure he was stronger with. His swordsmanship!

As if an answer to Pio's provocation, Xuefeng voice sounded at one spot of the area as he laughed, "Haha, even if I show myself, you can't beat me!" Before the last word was even spoken, Pio's body suddenly burst into stardust, his sword disappearing together with him and he reformed himself right behind the spot where the voice was coming from, slashing with his sword across the place without any warning. 

Clang!

Two swords clashed against one another as Xuefeng's body left the void, the Black Flames Slayer burning as strong as ever but that didn't help as Pio's sword moved quickly, not losing its momentum as it cut in another spot, this time aiming at Xuefeng's waist. 

Xiao Wen wasn't worried much, having faith in Xuefeng's swordsmanship but then her heart sank, seeing three-star blades appearing from each side of Xuefeng's body out of nowhere and passing right through his Lightning Armour. 

Even Liena eyes widened as her mind froze, not expecting Xuefeng to die this fast but then she found something was off. She didn't need to wait too long to confirm her thought as another Xuefeng appeared right behind Pio, his sword cutting him in half with one clean slice before Pio could even react. 

To make it worse for Pio, the edges of his cut belly with star fragments sipping out of it quickly started dimming and losing their l.u.s.tre as if the power was sucked out of them. The moment Pio's body tried to reconnect, the blackened elements this time didn't listen to him as if there was no one controlling them. 

Pio didn't wait for what comes next as he immediately exploded his body, a curse coming out from his lips at the same time, "F.u.c.k." It turned out to be a good decision as both wings with feathered like blades pierced through the body right after, consuming as many Star fragments as possible. 

'Hahaha! So yummy! Little star, little star, come to papa!' Drakos laughed after getting a huge chunk of Fate Qi as a present from Pio. Xuefeng shamelessly expected for this Fate Qi to go into his resources but even when that didn't happen, with Drakos keeping everything for himself, Xuefeng didn't complain. Having such an ability was really handy. 

Thanks to Ling and Little Ming, Xuefeng could burn Fate Qi as he wished so he wasn't worried about his stock like Pio would. Xuefeng already figured out that Pio didn't lose a lot of Fate Qi during battles as his ability it worked similarly to his Air Qi Wings. The only way to waste it for him was by simply absorbing it with Drakos help. 

Pio didn't display any other abilities so far which could indicate that the amount of Fate Qi in his possession wasn't that enormous. He did earn a lot of Fate Stones with his first arena battle but most of them were not yet consumed by him. He didn't have a space similar to Ling's where she could store all the Fate Stones and use them whenever she wanted so everything had to be done manually by him. 

With Pio disappearing, the fake clone which Xuefeng used to trick Pio was absorbed back by him, making everyone outside the barrier sigh in relief. Even Xiao Feng was impressed seeing the power Xuefeng displayed, forcing him to evaluate his future son-in-law's strength. 

Xuefeng didn't wait for too long, immediately sending burning flames towards the place Pio tried to reform himself. This time, Xuefeng didn't hesitate and filled the whole barrier with his flames, multiplying them without break. As the flames didn't work on him, the whole space was soon black, no one being able to see anything from the outside. 

When the golden-robed youth saw what was going on and how big of a trashing Pio was receiving, he couldn't help but want to stop it, turning to the side to advise his Milady. Unfortunately, his enthusiasm quickly faltered when he saw how excited Liena was, smiling from ear to ear while her hair flipped from one side to another as she moved around, trying to get the best angle to watch. 

He still called out with a warning, "Milady… Xuefeng is stronger than we thought… How about we stop the battle here and play it safe?" He already expected a certain answer but it was always better to give it a try. 

Just as he thought, Liena didn't seem to even think about it as she replied, not liking that idea at all, "What do you mean? Pio still didn't use his darkness attribute. Don't worry, he can still put up a fight. Xuefeng's passion to kill Pio will allow us to learn much more about him. I want to know how will he fight against Pio's second form, we can't just stop them now." 

"Milady… The more they fight, the bigger the hatred against one another. We need them to work together in the future…" The youth still tried to convince her but Liena shut him off, saying without leaving him any space for discussion, "Don't say anything anymore. The more they hate each other, the bigger the motivation to increase their strength. They are boys after they battle for a while, they will quickly forget their previous issues." 

Even if the golden-robed youth wanted to continue, he couldn't gather his words as Pio finally had enough of it. Xuefeng was flying all around, absorbing Pio's Fate Qi whenever he met with any grouped Star fragments and his only option was to fight back fully. 

The flames for some reason lost their l.u.s.tre as the already black area turned even darker and suddenly all flames began disappearing, all darkness being absorbed by Pio before finally exploding it outward. 

Bang!