Chapter 34 - Turning Point.

Casting a glance towards the carriages, Ryan was dumbfounded. Cristopher was just standing there, in the open, dumbfounded. Their gazes met for a second, and they could see the confusion in each other's eyes. However, since his young master was still alive, Ryan still had a chance to turn this around, and he quickly focused back on his opponent. As he saw the enemy being even less focused than himself, Ryan's eyes lit up. The spiritual energy around him slowly gathered into his large broadsword, waiting for a chance.

...

Raymond looked like he was running for his life, but in reality, he was simply hiding his strength. His plan required the opponent to underestimate him, if that didn't happen, then his plan would be doomed. As he approached the robed man in the spirit-refining realm, Raymond could see how unfocused he was on his own fight, Raymond seemed to have captured all of his attention by simply running towards them.

When Raymond was within ten meters of them, the robed man subconsciously turned towards him, preparing to make a move. It was at this moment that Ryan finally made his move. He had been accumulating power for a while now, and since his opponent showed him an opening, he had to take it! As he swung his massive sword, a compressed wave of brownish-yellow spiritual energy flew towards the robed man.

This was the reason why enemies in the spirit-refining realm were so scary, as they could emit their spiritual energy outside of their bodies and attack from a distance.

The robed man seemed to finally wake up as he sensed the sword attack travelling towards him through the air. With extreme speed, he swung his sabre, creating a blood-red wave of spiritual energy to face Ryan's attack. Although the attack was swift, it wasn't strong enough to compete with Ryan's attack. It clashed with Ryan's attack and delayed it for a split-second or so, but it was ultimately shattered in the end.

Although it had only delayed Ryan's attack for a split-second, that was enough for the robed man to reinforce his spiritual energy defences a little. Raymond was a little fascinated by the sight of the blood-red spiritual energy that coated the robed man's body, but he didn't let it distract him. Ryan's attack clashed with the robed man's defences on his chest, and after a slight struggle, it pierced through, creating a nasty gash across the robed man's chest.

Just a few meters away, Raymond's eyes flashed with a mysterious glint, before he rushed out with his fastest speed. The robed man was enraged by his injury, and all he could see in front of him was Ryan standing a short distance away. Without wasting any time, the robed man's body was once again covered in a red glow, and he dashed out to fight Ryan. The robed man's speed was way beyond Raymond's wildest imaginations, and he missed his window to attack.

With a bitter smile, he started fighting the other robed men that had been following him, but this time, he executed his footwork to the fullest, practically running in circles around them. Without committing himself fully to the fight, Raymond focused on dodging and counterattacking, whilst keeping some of his focus on the battle between Ryan and the robed man in the spirit-refining realm.

With a roar, the robed man went nuts, crazily attacking Ryan with all he had, his blood-red sword slashing at a speed invisible to the naked eye. Ryan tried his hardest to defend, but since he was using a greatsword, his speed was a lot slower than the robed man, and he was hard-pressed to just defend. Thankfully, Ryan's defence was great, and he was fine for now, but if things dragged on for too long, his defence might start cracking.

The robed man's situation was even direr, as he had a gaping hole in his chest. If the fight dragged on for too long, he would start losing strength because of blood loss; he might even bleed to death directly. Because of his dire situation, and partly because of his cultivation technique, the robed man practically went mad. The longer they fought, the crazier his attacks became. He fought as if he had nothing to lose, and his speed increased even more as a result.

Ryan's injuries started slowly accumulating, and after they had been fighting for almost 5 minutes, they were both running out of steam. Ryan was covered in blood and ghastly-looking gashes, his face showed traces of fatigue, yet his eyes were unwavering. The robed man was losing strength by the minute, but he had clearly come out on top in this fight. With a crazy look in his eyes, he was convinced that he had won, all he needed to do was finish off his exhausted and battered opponent.

Ryan wasn't just sitting around waiting for his death either. He knew that his opponent was looking to finish him off, and the next attack would decide who lived, and who died. Since that was the case, he was trying his hardest to adjust his mind to its best state, and he willed his body to move as he pleased for one final attack. The robed man started cackling as he watched Ryan struggle to put himself together for their final exchange.

As he cackled, blood-red spiritual energy kept gathering in his body, exuding a terrifying pressure. After a few seconds, the pressure disappeared, and the robed man looked like a normal man for a few seconds. As if to mock Ryan, the pressure exploded out again, but this time it was further amplified two or three times. Although what the robed man had just used was a secret technique with some scary drawbacks, he didn't care. As long as he won this fight, he would be satisfied as long as he kept his life.

In the distance, Raymond saw that the fight was about to end, and his chance had finally appeared. Without much further ado, he made short work of a few robed men and left the remaining ones in the dust as he ran off. After arriving fairly close to Ryan and the robed man, Raymond stopped in his tracks. He didn't want the robed man to notice him since that would ruin his entire plan. Instead, Raymond lifted his sword up to about his hip with the tip pointing forward, and he lowered his body to reduce his profile.

In this strange stance, Raymond just stood still, quietly and patiently. As he waited, he could feel the wind caress his skin, and he felt his heartbeat speed up. The robed men he had left behind earlier were closing in on him, but Raymond didn't feel any nervousness or anxiousness, he simply ignored them completely, and waited for the perfect opportunity. For this one moment, he had accumulated all of the sword force he could currently muster, this was all or nothing.

As he was waiting, he felt a change ahead of him; he saw his opportunity to strike! Just when one of the robed men was about to attack him, Raymond sped off again. This time he ran with a speed so swift that it looked like he almost disappeared!