The Peerless Emperor

Xu Mengqing's face alternated between shades of green and white, especially when he saw the demon speak with such seriousness, an inexplicable anger surged within him. "You're really underestimating me."

As soon as his words fell, Xu Mengqing rushed toward the demon in front of him, his body suffused with green Soul Power, clearly exhibiting the Wind Attribute.

Therefore, as he charged at the demon, Xu Mengqing's speed was swift, and in an instant, he was already upon him, raising the longsword in his hand and stabbing towards the other.

Bang!

The demon's body shook, and a pale yellow Huaxia attributed Soul Power burst forth, consolidating around his body.

At that moment, the tip of Xu Mengqing's longsword had already pierced the demon's Soul Power.

The moment the tip touched the pale yellow Huaxia attributed Soul Power, the swirling green aura on the blade suddenly started spinning wildly, continually breaking through the demon's Soul Power.

Pfft!

The sound of flesh being pierced echoed as Xu Mengqing's sword tip completely broke through the pale yellow Huaxia attributed Soul Power.

However, at the last moment, the demon shifted his body slightly, and Xu Mengqing's longsword did not pierce his heart, but instead, it pierced through his shoulder.

Xu Mengqing's Martial Soul specialty was Soul-shattering, which had a better effect on breaking Soul Power.

At least in Xu Mengqing's view, his Martial Soul specialty had greatly helped him, and with a single strike, it had already broken through the demon's Soul Power.

Although his aim was the demon's heart, Xu Mengqing also believed that his strike could not possibly hit such a vital point.

How could someone who is held in such high regard and pride by Lin Qian fail to dodge this lethal blow?

A victorious smile emerged on Xu Mengqing's face, "It looks like I am going to win."

"Really?" Despite having his shoulder pierced, the demon seemed to feel nothing and instead flashed a grin, revealing a row of white teeth, "Don't celebrate too early."

Seeing the demon smile like that, Xu Mengqing instinctively sensed something amiss and with a sudden force in his right hand holding the sword, he attempted to pull out his Elemental Weapon.

But at that moment, the demon's muscles tensed, and his internal Huaxia attributed Soul Power burst forth, firmly clamping onto Xu Mengqing's Elemental Weapon.

No matter how hard Xu Mengqing tried, his Elemental Weapon longsword seemed to have taken root inside the demon, not budging at all.

Whoosh!

The howling of the sword wind resounded as the demon's battle sword shimmered with a chilling, moonlit sheen, swinging full circle and slashing towards Xu Mengqing.

The massive blade instantly dispelled the Soul Power on Xu Mengqing's body, the edge aiming for his neck.

Just as the graying blade appeared poised to sever Xu Mengqing's head, the blade suddenly stopped. Even though the demon's Cold Moon battle sword didn't strike his body, the wind stirred up by the blade left a trail of blood on his neck.

In a flash, the demon flicked his hand, and his Cold Moon battle sword disappeared, immediately followed by him grabbing the hilt of the longsword, pulling it out directly from his body and planting it in front of Xu Mengqing, "You lost!"

Xu Mengqing stood frozen in place, drenched in sweat as if he had just been fished out of the water. In that moment before, he felt as though he was engulfed by death.

The feeling of having survived a calamity surged through him, causing his body to go limp, his concentrated Soul Power completely scattered, and the Elemental Weapon Armament he maintained was deactivated, breaking down into the Elemental Artifact Heart and Elemental Components.

At this moment, he suddenly noticed that the wound, running through the body of the demon in front of him, was healing at a visible rate, hissing as if seared by flames.

In the blink of an eye, the shoulder wound he had pierced with his long blade had completely healed, leaving Xu Mengqing staring in disbelief, questioning whether he was hallucinating.

When the demon swung his blade, Xu Wuwei's heart leaped to his throat, genuinely fearing that the former might accidentally kill Xu Mengqing in the heat of the moment.

Fortunately, this warrior, referred to by Lin Qian, still knew this was only a sparring match and had not truly delivered a killing blow.

However, from this exchange, they could clearly see the gap between Xu Mengqing and this warrior, and fully understand why Lin Qian was so confident in him.

Recalling what the demon had said earlier, several people nodded in agreement. Had that strike gone through, Xu Mengqing might have indeed been killed.

"I'm thoroughly convinced of my defeat," Xu Mengqing said, putting away his Elemental Artifact Heart and Components. The despair from his defeat vanished in an instant.

In Xu Mengqing's eyes, however, confidence reigned supreme again, "But in the future, I will become stronger and then defeat you."

"Is that so? Then I will wait for that day to come," the demon responded with a hearty laugh, followed by a solemn nod.

Lin Qian silently observed this scene, a smile spreading across his face as he continued, "You've seen the strength of an Empire's warrior now. I won't make bold claims about the future, but at least for now, you are inferior to him."

The others present nodded silently, having witnessed the encounter between Xu Mengqing and the demon-like warrior themselves.

Though the outcome had been determined in a split second, and the speed had been incredibly fast, it was precisely because of this that they truly realized the formidable strength of the demon.

They didn't know that when the demon had initially attacked, he was not even at his full strength.

Before the fight, Lin Qian had already advised the demon to hold back, not to strike too fiercely and accidentally incapacitate his opponent.

That's why Xu Mengqing's blade was able to pierce the demon's shoulder!

If the demon had used his full power, Xu Mengqing wouldn't have been able to breach his defense, let alone pierce his shoulder.

In a life-and-death battle, with one swing of his great blade, the demon could have struck Xu Mengqing down effortlessly.

"This matter is thus decided. For the war against Black Corner Country, aside from the four elders, no one else needs to intervene. Focus on resolving the Human Clan's Spirit Transformation Fruit poison and recovering from the damage caused by the Spirit Transformation Fruits," Lin Qian concluded, then waved to the others, "Yue Liqun, stay behind; the rest of you may leave."

"Demon, you guard the courtyard gate. Without my command, do not leave."

"Yes!" The demon nodded in response, then turned and left the courtyard, standing guard at the entrance.

As for the others, they naturally took their leave from Lin Qian, departing the courtyard, leaving only him and Yue Liqun.

At this moment, Yue Liqun cautiously took out an octagonal crystalline plaque that Lin Qian had previously given him, looking to the latter, "Your Majesty, what is this?"

"This thing, I don't know what the consequences of using it will be," Lin Qian said with a peculiar expression, looking at the item in Yue Liqun's hand. "It's called a Reset Crystal, originally meant for resetting attributes; who knows what will happen if you use it now."