CHAPTER 687: THE DUEL AGAINST SWORD MAIDEN

Meilan, seeing that her attack had not worked, disappeared again and once more froze time for a split second, making her vanish from Aldrian’s sight. Even so, Aldrian managed to block her next attack that came from behind him.

Aldrian swung his sword backward and blocked another strike as she continued using her time-freezing ability. Her sword was also imbued with ice energy, making it far more dangerous if touched. If he touched it, he knew it would freeze part of his body. Even the part of his sword that he used to block her strike was already frozen.

Aldrian smiled under his mask as he kept blocking her attacks. He also had to move from his position because her strikes began to vary, targeting places it would be impossible for him to defend unless he moved.

Her ability to freeze time must have been extremely energy-consuming, as this was not a normal ability or technique. It also showed that she had comprehended time laws to a certain degree, which was truly amazing. Time laws were even more difficult to comprehend, and to find someone here who had comprehended them, especially a sword cultivator genuinely amazed him.

However, unfortunately for Meilan, Aldrian had also comprehended time laws, which allowed him to instantly recognize her trick and how to counter it. His higher cultivation and deeper understanding of time laws made her attack patterns slowly become visible to him.

She kept attacking, and each time, Aldrian blocked it. Meilan knew she could not always rely on the same tricks, and in a split second, she suddenly changed her attack style.

She created a slight distance from Aldrian and slashed a few times toward him. Aldrian, watching closely, suddenly swung to his right and behind him, as if something were approaching from that direction.

Ting! Tang! Ting!

And it was exactly that—his sword struck something invisible, producing the sound of clashing steel. He could see that she continued doing this from a distance, and he instantly understood what she was doing as he blocked all of her invisible attacks.

’Now she’s using space laws.’

Her slashes were hidden within the space void, appearing around him in ways that could have caught him off guard.

’Well, too bad that space laws are one of the laws I always use and have a deeper comprehension of,’ he thought before slashing once in the midst of blocking her attacks.

Meilan saw Aldrian swing his sword to the side as if to block her spatial attack, but then her eyes widened slightly, and she immediately swung her sword behind her.

Ting!

Something struck her blade, forcing her back a few steps. He had used the same trick as hers! In that moment, her attacking momentum was broken, and her back was left vulnerable to Aldrian.

Meilan sensed that Aldrian was right behind her, seeming ready to touch her back as a sign of her defeat. But before his hand could reach her, she leapt with her flexible body, slipping past his hand and body. Her grip on her sword remained firm, and she did not forget to swing it straight toward his face.

She wanted to see the face behind that mask as proof of her victory!

Aldrian, seeing the incoming sword so close to his face, perceived it in slowed time for just a second. He tilted his head to the side, allowing his mask to narrowly avoid being slashed. The blade passed his mask by a small margin before he saw her step back, breathing slightly heavier.

He had already guessed as much. From the start, what she had shown him was high-level swordsmanship that incorporated both ice laws, time laws and space laws. She used them as if she possessed unlimited energy which meant she had been pushing herself from the very beginning.

She understood that if she did not push from the start, she would not win this duel. She looked at Aldrian with gasping breaths, knowing she had already depleted 25% of her energy quickly. Those techniques were not ones she usually used so early in a duel due to their obvious energy consumption. However, she had still done it because she wanted to see just how proficient Aldrian’s swordplay truly was.

As expected, he was truly strong, and even her freezing time and spatial sword ability did not put much pressure on him. Although he had mostly been blocking since the start, the fact that he could see each of her attacks meant he had instantly seen through her tricks.

She took a deep breath and pointed her sword at Aldrian. Suddenly, her sword intent grew stronger, carving slash marks into the ground. Aldrian could even see a manifestation of her sword intent above her. Although it was only the silhouette of a sword, it showed just how powerful her sword intent was for it to manifest visibly to anyone.

She suddenly made a circling motion in front of her with her sword, creating many sword’s afterimages. There were more than fifteen of them, and all of the afterimages abruptly pointed toward Aldrian. They became real as her sword energy infused them, turning the afterimages into solid objects.

"Go," she said, and instantly all of those swords shot toward Aldrian at incredible speed. She dashed after them, following close behind.

Aldrian, seeing the incoming attack, decided to face it head-on. The moment his sword met the first flying blade—

Crack!

Ice spread across his weapon, freezing it even more, but Aldrian did not care. He kept blocking the incoming flying swords until the entire blade of his weapon was encased in ice. The weight slowed him slightly, and the final attack came as she suddenly threw her sword toward his mask.

He tilted his head, letting the blade fly past him. She, now without a sword, coated her hand in sword intent and tried to slash at his mask. In an instant, she was right in front of him, her hand nearly reaching his face.

Aldrian prepared to evade, but instead suddenly leapt backward—dodging both her hand and the sword that came flying toward him from behind!

The weapon she had thrown earlier had actually returned to her hand. Now that she had her sword back, her presence grew sharper, her focus entirely on Aldrian, who was still in midair. This was her chance.

Aldrian, still in midair after evading her attacks, knew exactly what had happened.

’Telekinesis... and now she’s unleashing her sword will.’

While still in midair, he seemed like an ideal target, and he knew she must be thinking the same—intent on ending this duel right now. But he smiled, and suddenly unleashed his own sword intent, making Meilan’s eyes widen in shock at the sudden burst of power.

Because of the intense fight, she had forgotten that Aldrian had not used his sword intent at all until now!

His overwhelming sword intent broke her focus, and her sword will wavered. That brief moment of weakness was all Aldrian needed. He landed on the ground and dashed toward her. She, still affected by his overwhelming presence, quickly regained herself and prepared to block whatever he threw at her.

His distance was already too close for her to unleash another attack, so she shifted to defense. But—

"It’s over."

Aldrian’s voice rang out. Her eyes widened as she suddenly felt something at her neck. She glanced to the side and saw Aldrian already behind her, his sword at her throat and his other hand touching her back.

She looked forward again and saw the figure she had thought was Aldrian vanish. In that moment, she finally understood what had happened.

’An illusion,’ she thought before letting out a sigh.

"That was quite a good duel, Miss Meilan. As expected from the woman titled Sword Maiden, I am truly amazed by your proficiency in the sword," Aldrian said as he released her and stepped back. He sheathed his sword while she sighed in disappointment.

Although she had prepared herself to lose, knowing he was much stronger, it still left her feeling disappointed in herself.

However, she did not dwell on it and instead asked, "How could you have such strong sword intent? Do you have any special constitution?"

Aldrian shook his head.

"No, I don’t have anything like that. But how can I say it? I just comprehend things easily, and swordsmanship is one of my fortes," he said, which made her nod in understanding. She also knew the feeling of easily comprehending things because of her own talent, especially in swordsmanship, thanks to her physique.

But that was still nothing compared to what this masked man possessed. The sword intent he had released just moments ago was enough to give her goosebumps. She understood that her sword intent—no, not even her master could compare to this man’s sword intent.

She sensed his cultivation was at the low pseudo-immortal establishment stage, which was much, much weaker than her master’s, yet his sword intent already surpassed him.

’He is truly special,’ she thought. This was the first time she had met someone like Aldrian.

"Anyway, let’s go back. Fortunately, we fought here, if not, we would have already destroyed the pavilion and part of the mountain," Aldrian said as he looked around their surroundings.

Their clash had actually caused destruction all around them. The area within ten kilometers was covered with sword marks and shattered ground. Although the duel had not seemed too chaotic, the aftereffects had caused significant damage.

This is how battles in the immortal ascension realm are. Even a single sword swing could cause wide destruction, and it was even worse when they used their full techniques.

They then exited the secret realm as it began to crumble, signaling the end of the secret realm now that it had served its purpose.