Absolute Choice
chapter-442

"Goodbye forever, Shi Xiaobai."

The voice that sounded like heavenly bells chiming in the sky echoed. Dawn's figure had already transformed into a flash as she charged at Shi Xiaobai. The Lucifer's Sword in her hand was clenched tightly as it shimmered with a resplendent golden light.

It was as though the first light of dawn had torn through the night sky.

The killing intent that appeared made it a killing move the moment it was produced. The strike was as shockingly fast as before. Not long ago, the young girl, who had used unknown means to disguise herself as a blond youth, had used this strike to behead the giant.

The gigantic head that fell to the ground and the spewing of blood like an erupting volcano was still fresh on the minds of everyone. The thirty-thousand-strong audience felt that it stifling, as if their throats were being clenched. This time, the girl had said the farewell with the words, 'goodbye forever'. It could be considered a warning, but the instant she attacked still caught people off guard because it was too sudden and fast. The audience could not react in time, and their minds were blank.

Would the Infernal King be killed with a single strike like the newly ascended Transcendent King?

The answer was obviously no.

That was because when the girl tore through the darkness like the dawn, Shi Xiaobai had moved as well. He held the sword in his right hand. A pure blackness and flawless whiteness twirled around the blade. A faint blood-red color emerged that seemed like a blooming red lotus in the black and white world. Golden beads of light began to emerge from the ground that swirled around him, as he ran, like they were testy pixies.

Shi Xiaobai charged at the girl with sword in hand. He pushed Crab Steps at the Crest of Perfection level to its fullest and was in no way slower than her. The golden beads of light that came out of the ground augmented the sword and moved along with it. Looking from high up, it was like a shooting star that tore through the night sky.

The resplendent dawn and the shimmering stars did not do anything else but rush straight at each other. Finally, they encountered one another at a particular node of fate.

"Boom!"

This was the first time Lucifer's Sword and the black-and-white sword clashed. There were no sparks, but a clanging explosion.

This was the first time the young boy and girl looked at each other at such a close distance. At the moment that the swords collided, their figures came to an abrupt stop. They were only a meter apart.

At that instant, they spontaneously looked into each others eyes and took a step forward. It was not to send each other retreating at a faster speed, but to see their figures reflected in the respective black and ice-blue irises.

But that instant lasted only a fleeting moment. The clash of power did not reach a balanced standstill. In order to withstand the impact, they needed to once again separate from each other.

Shi Xiaobai retreated a kilometer before before he managed to stop the backwards momentum of that strike.

Dawn did not have that much of an advantage either. She similarly retreated eight hundred meters.

Sunless and company in the distance finally heaved a sigh of relief. Shi Xiaobai had not only withstood that strike which was like a sudden clap of thunder which left no time for one to cover one's ears, he was also able to strike back. Although the final outcome looked as though Dawn held the advantage, it was a negligible advantage.

Dawn quickly retreated before finally coming to a stable stop. For some reason, she had a baffling sense of loss. She suddenly felt that the instant of them looking into each other eyes seemed too short. She failed to see what color she was in his eyes.

She hurriedly puffed and exhaled the baffling feeling out of chest before she looked up to gaze at the black-haired youth eighteen hundred meters from her. At that very moment, golden light that seemed like pixies surrounded him and that black-and-white sword. Even in the day, he was still as blinding as ever.

What color was he in her eyes?

This baffling thought flashed in her mind as her heart began to beat slightly faster than normal. The girl finally frowned.

Why would it be like that?

Why did she care so much about that pair of black eyes?

Why did she wish to see her own figure reflected in those black irises ?

"Is that your Sword Truth?"

The girl asked a question she already knew the answer to before she forcefully repressed the strange feelings and the weird questions in her mind.

Shi Xiaobai nodded.

The golden halo around him was naturally his Sword Truth power, 'Excalibur'. This power came from his insights into the sword. It was one of the ways of converting one's mental energy into physical strength. The moment the Sword Truth was activated, his mental energy would begin depleting. Typically, the power of Sword Truth would only be activated at a critical juncture in battle. As for Shi Xiaobai, he had activated the power of his Sword Truth from the very beginning. It showed how serious he was about the situation.

In fact, from Shi Xiaobai's point of view, Dawn's success in beheading the giant in one strike was not because Dawn's strength overwhelmed the giant. It was not because the fast-as-lightning strike was impossible to defend against. It was only because the giant had overestimated his physical defense. He had stupidly used his neck to withstand the strike that combined speed and strength. Although Dawn was very powerful, she would not have easily defeated Speechless if not for the power of her Sword Soul. Therefore, Shi Xiaobai was not afraid when facing her attack.

In the eyes of the common people, Dawn's speed was so fast that they would not be able to react to it. However, Shi Xiaobai possessed an extremely acute sense of danger as well as the powerful ability of capturing motion. The moment Dawn moved her feet, Shi Xiaobai had already reacted and had noticed how she was moving. He did not choose to dodge or stand in his spot to defend. Instead, he charged straight ahead to clash with her head on.

However, Shi Xiaobai did not risk it. He had directly activated his Sword Truth because he could sense a threat. His sense of danger had never fooled him.

Indeed, even with his Sword Truth activated, the outcome of the clash of strikes had him at a disadvantage. Although it wasn't that great of a disadvantage, the truth was that he had already activated the power of his Sword Truth, while Dawn had only used a sword strike that was augmented by Sword Intent.

Sword Intent, Sword Truth, Sword Soul, Sword Domain. These were the four unique powers in the realm of sword techniques. It represented the degree to one's comprehension of the sword. Most swordsmen only managed to comprehend Sword Intent, and a tiny portion of geniuses gained insights into Sword Truth. And the number of people who could use a Sword Soul was an extremely small number even across history. Sword Domain was a power that only existed in legends.

Therefore, differences between the four powers were not steps of a ladder, but the differences between flat plains and mountains.

To put it bluntly, Sword Intent meant injecting one's will and intent into the sword techniques. Sword Truth was the full focus of one's mental energies so as to convert one's insights in the sword into a tangible power. The two of them were at completely different levels of existences.

Dawn was only using the power of Sword Intent, while he was using the power of Sword Truth. However, he was still at a disadvantage.

The power of their sword techniques was not the only factor that affected the power of the move because it was influenced by many other factors, such as the difference in level of the sword move, or the proficiency level of the sword move, or any external power outside of the sword technique system that were mixed in.

But regardless of the case, the clash had indeed left Shi Xiaobai at an absolute disadvantage.

"Indeed, you are very strong."

A smile suffused across Shi Xiaobai's lips. After confirming once again that the girl, who was an imitation of the Hero King, was an opponent not to be underestimated, even stronger fighting spirit burned in Shi Xiaobai's eyes.

Such an opponent was very rarely encountered. If he missed this battle, he would definitely regret it for life. Therefore, he would not shrink back, regardless of the outcome or the price! IChooseDogLeading (我选择狗带) when read in Chinese sounds like I Choose Go Die. It was a meme that resulted from a former member of famous Korean boygroup, EXO, TAO (Huang Zitao). At a concert, there was a part in a rap that where he said "", but due to a mispronunciation, it sounded like he will not easily choose to be led by dogs. This phrase now means 'I'd rather die/I choose death'.