Eternal Temptation: Awakening Sinful Desires

Soon, Arianna and Asher went inside one of the training chambers that were filled with formations to prevent any damage caused by fighting or technique experiments.

These training chambers could also be found in the homes of prominent families, clans, and sects, as it allowed their members to have more privacy compared to the large training grounds outside.

However, the training chambers of the Mystic Starry Realms were incomparable to the ones of the outside world. Although they were similar in design and function, there were no limitations on how much damage could be caused inside them.

"Let's see what you are capable of." Arianna said after they went far enough inside the room, then waved her hand to signal the start of their sparring.

As soon as she did so, an intense pressure radiated from her body, and it was accompanied by an invisible aura of death and destruction, making Asher realize that she wasn't joking around anymore. She was dead serious about seeing his capabilities and wouldn't hold back against him if necessary.

And with this realization, all of the emotions inside him vanished, leaving nothing but a cold emptiness. His eyes became emotionless as he stared at her figure before taking a step forward, and in that instant, the air around him seemed to freeze for a moment before cracking apart as if something was coming out from within the space itself.

In a split second, Asher's figure disappeared from where he was standing and appeared right before Arianna with a punch aimed directly at her face.

Yet she didn't flinch or move away from her position. Instead, she slightly shifted her head to the side, avoiding his fist by mere centimeters as it passed right beside her cheek, and then she used her one hand to grab his arm, throwing him towards one of the chamber's walls with such force that it caused a huge shockwave upon impact.

"Ughh..." A grunt escaped from Asher's mouth due to the pain in his body after crashing against the wall so hard that even blood came out from the sides of his lips.

However, before anything else could happen, he immediately got up and jumped away from the spot where he landed earlier, just in time to see a sharp finger thrust passing through the same place where he was lying only a moment ago.

'She was going to pierce a hole through my body!' Asher thought to himself as he saw Arianna standing there with one hand still raised in front of her while the other remained firmly placed behind her back, looking as graceful and elegant as ever despite what she had just done to him.

"Good reflexes. Now let's see how well you fare against this!" Arianna shouted as she moved towards him once again with incredible speed that made her seem like a blur in the air before appearing behind Asher without giving him any chance to react or defend himself against her next attack.

But just when she was about to deliver another blow onto his backside using her open palm strike, Asher's figure disappeared once more into thin air, causing her attack to miss, and then reappeared several meters away from her.

Then he used this opportunity by taking out the black sword from his spatial ring, and after channeling a massive amount of spirit essence into it, making the sword shine with a black light, he swung downwards at where she was standing, causing an enormous crescent moon-shaped arc made up of pure dark energy to fly toward her at lightning-fast speeds.

Still, Asher didn't wait to see if the attack connected or not. Instead, he rushed forward again, ready to strike her down with a powerful thrusting slash from his black sword that had already turned into a shadowy blur because of the speed with which it moved.

But even though everything seemed perfect, something felt off about the situation, as it looked like he was hitting nothing but air instead of flesh.

And that's exactly what happened, as Asher felt no resistance coming from anywhere even after he completed the thrust, which should have gone straight through her chest and out of her back if everything went well.

However, there was nothing like that happening at all, making him realize that she had somehow managed to dodge both attacks in such a way that he didn't even notice it until his blade had pierced the empty space before him.

"Good job." A voice came from behind Asher just before something struck him on the back, sending him flying across the chamber's floor with tremendous force.

The hit made Asher tumble and roll on the floor a few times before finally coming to a stop near one of the corners, where he coughed out more blood while gritting his teeth due to the pain coursing through every part of his body.

"Hey, Grandma, are you cheating by using your higher realm powers?" He asked while wiping away the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

But despite saying those words, Asher could tell that Arianna was still limiting herself to fight him, as he could see that she hadn't used any techniques yet except basic martial arts moves that didn't require much spirit essence.

And even though she had been going easy on him so far, there was no denying that her combat skills were top-notch.

However, to his surprise, Arianna nodded her head without hesitation or remorse before saying with a confident smile on her face, "Of course! Even if I am limiting my cultivation, my eyesight and experience are enough to predict your movements and how to counter you. You are still young and lack the necessary skills required to defeat someone like me who has been fighting in battles ever since I was able to hold a sword."

"I see..." Asher muttered while standing up once more before taking off his shirt because it had gotten damaged during their fight.