Arriving on stage, the judge stared at Yasha, completely lost in thought. How is that even possible? That nameless boy really did it… He beat Areth. But how?

  Not only the judge, similar thoughts appeared in the minds of countless spectators, while the scenes of the previous battle were played over and over in their heads. But no matter how often they saw the same scenes again and again, nobody grasped what happened.

  Yasha was the same. He stared intently at Areth that laid lifelessly on the ground. The expected positive feelings after having achieved revenge did not appear. Instead, a strong sense of disbelief and shock overshadowed everything else. The pain of the countless self inflicted wounds and the fact that he finally suppressed his berserk state and regained complete control were also overshadowed.

  After devouring the strange force that entered Yasha’s body, the Asura blood seemed to enter a brief slumber, retracting its influence for the time being.

  Still trying to grasp how he beat Areth, Yasha continued to stare at Areth. What happened in the last confrontation? I thought the Asura blood was suppressed by that weird force after it entered my body, but it seems more like it planned everything to… devour the strange force?

  Suddenly, Yasha felt a shiver running down his spine. If that really was true, if the Asura blood really planned to play the pig to eat the tiger, then the Asura blood was more than a lifeless being, it would be sentient. But this should be impossible, right?

  Shaking his head, Yasha turned away from Areth to look at the judge. During this simple movement, a sharp pain spread through his whole body, making him realize only now that he finally was himself again.

  That Asura blood really is too scary. Its power is too much for me handle and its so damn difficult to keep a cool head, but at the same time, I managed beat the crap out of Areth.

  In the end, he still swore to try to suppress the Asura blood as much as possible, although Yasha also had to admit that he would never have come so far without it. But at what price? His body was in shambles and he was tired, the constant inner fight against the negative emotions and the Asura blood taking its toll. The physical pain was not that problematic, as his body was quickly recovering, but the mental part was not something Yasha had any solution for at the moment. Thus, he was not willing to pay this price in the future, instead striving to get stronger to control his own destiny, not influenced by the Asura blood or others.

  A few more minutes passed, until the judge finally regained his composure. With a raspy voice he said, “Yasha emerges victorious and will fight against Levi next to decide who wins this years tournament!”

  Without having to say anything else, Levi already arrived on stage. It was only then that the spectators also returned to their senses and began to cheer loud.

  Yasha immediately turned to Levi and carefully examined the proud figure standing on the opposite end of the stage. His red pupils were fixed on the neat and handsome face of this young man clad in a luxurious azure robe. Three dragons coiled around his body like enormous pillars that seemed to hold up the very heavens. Yasha could not help but feel pressured by the calm and collected bearing of Levi, who appeared otherworldly.

  The short moment of calmness was broken when Levi started moving forward. Every step exhibited the presence of dragons closing in on Yasha, causing sweat to pour down his face. He clearly felt the invisible shackles that the Azure Dragon bloodline put on him.

  It was the typical pressure only those with a bloodline possessed. Levi stopped five meters in front of Yasha, his right hand always on the slender sword hanging on his waist, “I did not expect to meet you in the the last battle of all the possible opponents. You really surprised me. The Hunlua Clan truly did a splendid job hiding a jewel like you.”

  While he said these words, he directed his gaze to the VIP section. There was clearly much more to his words. Dyetz, who already wanted to bury his head into the ground on many occasions, naturally felt this gaze and grew paler and paler.

  Hey hey, what is with this gaze? I have nothing to do with this kid. We did not do anything, I swear by the heavens! I only know as much about this boy as you. Dyetz really wanted to cry these last days. He was pressured from many sides and powerful sects that wanted to find out more about Yasha and his secrets, as he clearly did not practice any techniques related to the Hunlua Clan like Lentz.

  Yasha was a completely different figure. He fought with a huge black sword, nearly reached the embryonic stage of sword intent, possessed an immensely powerful sword technique and had ample combat experience that equaled that of veterans.

  Not to forget his demonic looks, that could be described as outrageously beautiful. But the most important of all was his strange outbreaks during his previous battles. In these cases he appeared as a completely different person, exhibiting a stifling pressure that even affected Dantian grade experts, which shocked quite a bit people.

  Yasha was an unfathomable mystery to all the experts present. All in all, he simply did not look like a Hunlua Clan member at all, which piqued the interest of many parties.

  In response to Levi's words, Yasha simply shrugged his shoulders, which was no surprise to anyone, as everyone realized that Yasha was a man of few words, only speaking if there was no other way.

  “Haha, I guess there really is no need to exchange formalities. Let's get to fighting.” Levi was not angered by the indifference shown by Yasha, as he was a proud person. He always maintained his gentleman like behavior, no matter the situation and he did not put a puny boy like Yasha in his eyes. There was only one possible outcome: an easy and clean victory.

  The judge followed the events and inwardly praised Levi. He truly is a leading figure in the younger generation of the Azure Dragon Sect. With him as a leader, there is no need for the Azure Dragon Kingdom to fear the other kingdoms. At least he a lot better than that Yasha boy, who seems a bit… unstable.

  This was a truly high praise for someone of the younger generation, but Levi possessed the right for this appraisal. He was only 15 years old and was already half a step in the Energy Overflow Stage. In addition to his natural talent, he possessed the rare Azure Dragon Body which was a testament to the purity and density of Azure Dragon blood in his veins. With enough time, Levi was destined to soar into the sky. After he collected his thoughts one last time, the judge then announced the start of the final.

  Without even moving one centimeter or waiting for Yasha to make his move, Levi immediately unleashed his Azure Dragon bloodline. Accompanied by roaring dragons, his aura rose sharply, releasing waves of frantic spiritual energy and bloodline powers that already surpassed common Energy Tempering cultivators. He then readied his sword and took his sword stance to initiate the signature sword technique of the Azure Dragon Sect, Five Phases of the Azure Dragon.

  The crowd roared excitedly and cheered loudly. This was the Levi they hoped to witness the whole tournament long: a peerless genius and dragon ready to soar into the sky, unchallenged by any other competitors.

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  After unleashing the might of the Azure Dragon Blood, the crowd was left shaking. Even though Levi focused the pressure on Yasha, there was no way he could control his blood completely. That’s why his pressure spread out and reached the spectators. This was a power that passed through the barrier that was built around the final stage to protect the visitors. Not caring if Yasha was affected by his bloodline suppression, Levi immediately blinked forward, leaving behind shadows on his way forward. His sword left its scabbard the time he reached Yasha.

  The crowd could only see a bright flash of blue light reaching for the sky. This was the first phase of the Five Phases of the Azure Dragon, Dragon diving into the Sea.

  Tired and exhausted, Yasha never expected Levi to unleash the Azure Dragon bloodline right from the get go. The moment he was enveloped by the might of the proud Azure Dragon immediately triggered a reaction of the Asura blood.

  Feeling the provoked Asura blood, Yasha immediately focused on suppressing it again, not wanting to let it get any advantage. Because of this short moment of distraction, Yasha could not defend in time with Destiny Devourer and Levi’s blade left a vertical slash on his upper body, which cut through the black robe with ease.

  Yasha could only react after the first move was over, as he stumbled backwards, nearly falling to the ground. He looked to be in quite the sorry state.

  Blood splattered on the ground, as Yasha clutched the enormous scar on his torso.

  This goddamn Asura blood, I can’t focus on the battle before me, because it's wreaking havoc inside my body. If you want me to fight all the time, then you could at least be quiet and let me do the deed. Curses.

  Yasha cursed to himself as he grasped Destiny Devourer tightly with both hands. He tried to expect where the next move of Levi would come from, but the proud boy was already nowhere to be seen.

  The situation became even graver as Levi chained two more phases into his attacks, always sheathing his sword after one phase was finished. After the first phase, came the second phase, Dragon rising above the Sea, quickly followed by the third phase, Dragon ascending the Heavens. It was a deadly series of attacks that built upon each other, using the momentum from the previous to unleash an even greater force.

  Although Levi was only able to chain up three phases, this was already an immense feat that only accomplished elders of the Azure Dragon Sect could achieve. Many genius disciples were ruined by this technique.

  A series of blue light flashes cut through the space in front of Yasha, who could barely react in time to fend off the second phase, after which he was mercilessly struck by the third phase, adding up more wounds on his body. By now he not only accumulated external wounds, Levi’s raging spiritual energy entered his body and caused the Aura Blood to get even more berserk.

  Yasha paled even more in response, not because of the blood loss, but because he found it increasingly more difficult to contain the raging desire of the Asura blood. His blood nearly boiled and his mental barriers were brittle, seemingly on the verge of falling apart. They were already fragile before the fight, but the huge wound on his torso and the pressure of the Azure Dragon blood only increased the pressure the Asura blood exerted on Yasha from the inside. Right now, Yasha was fighting on two fronts and because of that he was loosing on both sides: he could not concentrate on the fight against Levi and this caused the Asura blood to get more agitated.

  Seeing Yasha in such a sorry state, Levi could not help but comment on what was happening, “I am gonna be honest, I expected more from you Yasha. You are disappointing me.” As he said that, he continued to attack, switching flawlessly between the three phases, slashing at Yasha like a punching bag.

  More and more wounds added up on his already bruised body. This is bad, this is really bad… Yasha looked down at his body and he noticed that his blood became increasingly darker, which was like an omen that he would fall into a frenzy soon.

  Trying to collect his thoughts, Yasha desperately raised Destiny Devourer in an attempt to parry the blue lights that rained upon him, but he noticed that defending became increasingly more difficult, as more and more wounds accumulated on his already bruised body. Levi on the other hand was mercilessly slashing at Yasha.

  In the blink of an eye, they had already exchanged more than a hundred moves, or to be more precise, Yasha already took more than a hundred ‘punches’.

  Yasha looked at the incoming blue bolts and sighed heavily. He did not want to give in, after he came so far. He was not resigned to give up after all his hard work. All the progress he had with the Asura blood and his state of mind, he did not want to let it all go down the drain. But there was no way for him to hold down the raging inferno in his body. He already surpassed his limits countless times during this and the previous battles, but at this point, he could not surpass it anymore.

  His body was in shambles, with gashing wounds all over it, his spiritual energy was also nearly completely drained and his mind was the worst, with only a threat of his consciousness enduring. Without this threat of clarity, he would have already lost his reasoning after the first wounds. It was already a miracle that he held on until now. Contrary to the berserk state he was in during his battle against Areth, where he was partly in control, Yasha had the notion that this time would be like his loss of control against Alice. This was not nothing he wanted to see.

  On the other side, although Levi looked like he was completely at ease, the continuous consumption of spiritual energy was something that even someone like him could not ignore. As a result, some sweat gradually appeared on his face, which caused him to frown. He thought for a moment before stopping his relentless assault, which gave Yasha a short break. Just how can he still defend himself? He should already be completely drained, judging from his pathetic performance earlier. How strange.

  He stared at the bloodied figure in front of him. For some reason, an uncomfortable feeling emerged in his heart the longer he looked at the young boy, who struggled to stand on his feet. Yasha’s head was tilted forward so Levi could not see Yasha’s frighteningly pale expression.

  Accompanied by the uncomfortable feeling, Levi also noticed that the Azure Dragon blood grew restless, as if it was about to face a formidable opponent. Was it fear? This emotion was something that Levi had not felt after his Azure Dragon bloodline awakened. He inherited the blood of one of the four Sacred Beasts. What bloodline could possibly content against its divinity?

  He was still thinking about his next move, when his pupils suddenly constricted and his expression turned grim. At that moment he watched Yasha slowly raise his head. With his black robe in tatters, Yasha’s snow white hair was completely exposed. But the most striking feature was his pair of scarlet eyes that stared at him with a glowing scarlet light. Levi knew that the real fight was about to begin now.

  Yasha’s aura rose and his spiritual energy covered his body with thin black threads. An astounding pressure spread out and covered the arena at the same time. Yasha naturally noticed his spiritual energy spiraling out of control, but he was powerless to change anything at this point. Hating himself for being too weak to suppress the Asura blood.

  He knew that he lost against the Asura blood again. Even then, Yasha somehow managed to preserve the last speck of clarity in his mind. It was not devoured by the pitch black darkness in his soul yet. He then closed his eyes, knowing what would happen next.

  The Asura blood sprinted through his veins and filled every pore of his body with unimaginable strength. He threw his head backwards and exhaled sharply, an intoxicated smile unfolding on his blood stained face. Now that he gave in to his murderous nature, he was like an addict that finally indulged in his favorite drug after a month of abstinence.

  However, that last threat of clarity allowed Yasha to experience his transformation from a completely different point of view. The last time he was not even a bystander, but now he could barely follow the small details happening in his body. But this hope was crushed into pieces, when Levi increased his bloodline pressure to soothe the restless feeling emerging from deep inside of him.

  Yasha tried to grasp the opportunity in front of him, only to find the darkness in his soul recklessly spreading in an attempt to plunge his last threat of clarity into oblivion. Fueled by a hatred that Yasha had not even felt while he faced off against Alice, it expanded, covering his whole consciousness, leaving everything in a pitch black darkness.

  With that looming darkness, the last feeling of control was gone. Yasha could only hope that the Asura blood stopped in time, or was weakened enough, so that he could wrestle back control over his body. He hated his incompetence, but the Asura Blood was simply too strong.

  In response to the increased bloodline pressure of Levi, Yasha suddenly began to maniacally laugh. Intense hatred, hostility and aversion exploded from deep inside of Yasha. Black and scarlet spiritual energy spread out and wrapped around Yasha like a vicious flame. Fueled by Yasha’s negative emotions and blood, they continuously got stronger, fluctuating from time to time, in an attempt to grow and expand even more.

  Levi paled in response to the awakening demon, shivers running down his spine. The scene unfolding in front of him shocked him immensely. He watched, as the sky suddenly lost its splendor with dark clouds hovering above the sun, plunging the world into an eerie silence. Only the sizzling of Yasha’s blood could be heard, when it was devoured by the flames.