The Legendary F Rank

A shroud of red light shot from the tip of Haru's sword as he swung it towards Hanying with as much power and speed as possible in hopes that he would be able to defeat him in a single blow.

But no matter how fast Haru's cultivation had improved or how fast he learnt new techniques it couldn't stand up to raw experience and Hanying was most likely hundreds of years old and had lived his life in the upper realms before coming to earth.

Haru's sword grazed Hanying's cheek as he stepped back with a surprised look on his face. He looked at Haru, impressed with his quick and precise movements and was just about to comment before Haru followed through with another attack as he leapt forwards towards him and brought his sword down from above as he used his strength combined with his body weight to put even more power into the attack as Hanying raised his arm up to meet the sword.

A metallic clang rung for a moment as the clothing around Hanying's arm split open to reveal that the gold-coloured bracers he had strapped to his arm underneath. Haru wasn't expecting him to be wearing armour so was caught a little off guard as his sword came to a stop suddenly and the force travelled back up his arm and into his own body.

His hands shook a little as the force from the blow made his fingers numb so he jumped back to gain a defensive position but as he did so he quickly realised that it was a bad decision to give Hanying the chance to go on the offensive as Hanying rushed towards him and through a flurry of punches towards Haru's face.

Haru took a couple of steps back to avoid the first few punches before raising his sword and trying his best to counter them and still prevent himself from being hit as he could tell that the punch would have done significant damage to his body if he took one of them.

He was two stages away from Hanying after all. Although Haru's attacks could rival someone at the nascent soul stage, if he was to take a hit from a nascent soul stage cultivator at full strength it could possibly have a life-threatening outcome so he stuck to dodging as he retreated before jumping up into the air and landing on a catwalk that was circling the large metal that Hanying was trying to break into. 

Haru took a few more steps back and thought that he would have enough time to catch his breath as he didn't expect Hanying to follow him but as soon as he reached the top of the catwalk he felt something against his back before being thrown across the room as the impact on his back felt like an explosion. 

Haru looked up to see that the woman who had directed him towards Hanying was standing at the top of the Catwalk with a look of fear in her eyes as a hand was wrapped around her neck from behind as the red demon from earlier stood in the shadows holding the woman against her will.

"Look what I found boss. I know you said that I can't eat that human but surely you have nothing against me devouring this one right?" The red demon Haru had fought against asked as he looked over at Hanying who was stationary as he stared at Haru.

"Do as you wish. But stay out of this. This is my fight." Hanying said as a sudden crunch echoed out as the woman's neck was snapped under the force of the demon's hands as he squeezed his fingers together before biting a chunk of flesh out of her neck.

Bloodshot from her body as she fell limp in the demon's arms and he began to take more bites with each one squelching as if he was eating a juicy apple. But the sounds soon turned into a crunch as the demon bit into her vertebrae and continued to eat with no resistance as he devoured bone and flesh as if it was nothing.

Haru looked up at the demon, sickened by what he had just seen but he had no time to worry about what was happening to the woman as Hanying ran towards him but this time jumped up into the air and brought his foot down towards Haru as though he was trying to stop on him.

Haru rolled out of the way as he stood back up and felt a numbing sensation in his hip.

He looked down to see that his hip had been dislocated by the sneak attack the red demon had performed on him and he tried his best to activate a healing spell so he could get back into fighting condition but before he could cast his healing magic Hanying rushed towards him with an attack from a long ribbon-like weapon that seemed to squirm around like a worm as it headed towards Haru. 

'What is that?' Haru barely had time to think as it shot towards him and missed by only a couple of millimetres as his hip gave out once again causing him to fall and avoid the attack.

"I should probably warn you that if you are hit by my dragon's tongue it will drain your Qi until you are nothing but a pile of dust on the floor," Hanying said with a laugh as Haru quickly healed his leg during the time it took him to explain. 

'So I'm fine so long as it doesn't touch me? That makes things easier then.' Haru thought as he used his spiritual sense to talk to Kun.

'Kun, lend me your strength. I need you to make sure that that thing doesn't hit me. Can you put up a barrier around me with your power like you did last time?' Haru asked but it took a while for a response and Hanying had already begun to attack. 

Haru stepped to the side as the dragon tongue shot past him with a whistle before a loud clack echoed around the room as it collided with the wall behind him.

'What's with these two and their whips?' Haru thought as he remembered that the red demon also used a whip against him. But he had no time for mindless thoughts as the attack came again. 

"You're good at evading but it must be taking a lot of your energy to match this speed. I wonder how long it will last?" Hanying asked as he remained calm and standing still as he swung his arm around wildly.

'Kun, please give me a little bit of help. I can't keep dodging this. He's right my Qi will start to deplete soon and I won't be able to move as fast. If that happens then we will  both die.' Haru said as he tried to get Kun to help him again but Kun had other plans.

'No, Do it yourself. It's true what they say. If a chick never leaves the nest on its own it will never learn how to fly. If you rely on other people all the time you will never grow stronger.' Kun said as he acted as though he was an expert on cultivation all of a sudden despite the fact he had only been inside Haru's soul ocean for a few years.

Kun's attitude was always bad but he had never tried to instruct Haru before so he found it a little strange. 

'Did he evolve again?' Haru thought as Kun's sudden attempt to sound wise came out of nowhere but Haru knew that he was right. All that he had been doing so far was relying on the strength of other people to fight battles for him. 

If he was to go to the upper realm then he would meet much stronger foes to defeat. Hanying was suppressing his cultivation to the Nascent soul stage which made him a lot weaker than anyone in the upper realm. 

If Haru couldn't defeat him now then he wouldn't stand a chance in the upper realms and he knew that so instead of begging for help as he had done in the past he decided to fight on his own, using the power that he had cultivated for the last couple of years.

Instead of dodging Haru stood tall as Hanying prepared for his next attack while staring him dead in the eyes. Hanying seemed to realise that Haru was giving up on dodging and decided that he would use extra power to make sure that he hit Haru with his fell strength and began to wind his hand back before releasing it with as much strength as he could. 

Haru watched as the dragon tongue soared towards him. Time seemed to slow down all around him as he watched it getting closer before realising that it was too late to dodge. He knew his speed very well and there was no way that he would be able to dodge Hanying's attack at full power unless he used all of his too.

"No holding back. It's now or never." Haru whispered to himself as the tip of the whip pointed straight towards Haru's face as it grew closer and closer.

Haru reached his hand up to his shoulder and grabbed a hold of his jacket before pulling it off as fast as he could and throwing it forwards towards the whip as an improvised shield. 

The jacket would have done nothing to stop the power from the attack if it ripped through the fabric but luckily he had enchanted the clothes that were issued to him by the military. 

The spells that he used to enchant it were strong enough to hold up to the whip but that didn't stop it entirely and it still hit Haru in the arm as he failed to dodge it. 

Yet the drag from the jacket soaring through the sky was enough to decrease the strength of the attack to something bearable. 

Haru looked back up to see Hanying preparing for his next attack but he was quite obviously surprised to see that Haru had made it out without suffering serious damage.

Haru knew that it was the perfect time to attack so he lunged forwards with his sword aimed at Hanying's chest as he tried to catch him off guard. Haru felt slight resistance as his blade came into contact for a moment before it gave up and the sword went right through the soft fleshy target but as he looked up to see the face of the demon he had just stabbed he jumped back as a feeling of dread hit him in the stomach.