With a casual swing of his sword, Draven beheaded the last Praying Mantis and flicked the green blood from his blade.
All of his avatars slowly dissipated, leaving only Draven standing among the corpses of one hundred beasts. As the Asura avatars vanished, he felt a great burden lift from his spirit. Clearly, sustaining six avatars at once placed a significant strain on him; otherwise, this skill combined with his seemingly inexhaustible vital chi would be truly heaven-defying.
"Brother Draven, you can absorb those Asura avatars back into your body. This will help you recover your vital chi," Alexandria said, having watched him disperse the avatars without reclaiming the energy within them.
Draven turned and shook his head with a light smile. "No need. My vital chi cultivation technique is a little special. It automatically refills the vital qi I spent in creating the avatars."
The old man's mouth twitched upon hearing this. He felt that all his years of practice were a waste of time compared to this young man, who mastered techniques as easily as eating plain rice. To be given a technique and achieve perfection in it after just some meditation? What an absurd joke. He, once praised as the strongest weapon cultivator in the world, was utterly speechless.
"Cough..." He cleared his throat lightly to get their attention, then fixed his eyes on Alexandria. "Your man's evaluation is over. As his companion, you cannot always sit back and watch him fight. I will give you some time to prepare. After that, you will face the next two trials alone. Of course, this elder will not make things too difficult for you. Just face two enemies in the first round and four in the second." With that, the old man left, and the bodies of the mantises vanished with him, leaving Draven and Alexandria alone on the grassland.
After hearing the old man's words, Draven looked at Alexandria. Her face was pale as she clutched her golden bow tightly. Clearly, she was not confident about facing the beasts alone.
Without warning, Draven turned to her and said coldly, "Kill me, or I will kill you."
Alexandria was taken aback by the sudden shift in his attitude. "What are you saying, Brother Draven?" she asked in horror, stepping back from him.
Draven didn't speak. He directly threw one of his swords towards her.
"Ding!" A crisp sound rang out as the sword collided with her armor, knocking her back several steps.
"Oh, your armor is tough. Let's aim for your head next," Draven said with a frown and raised his other sword, ready to throw it.
Alexandria stabilized herself and drew her bow to a full moon. An arrow made of blue lightning materialized on the string, which she pointed at him threateningly. "Don't force me, Brother Draven. I will shoot," she said through clenched teeth.
"As if I am afraid of a mere brat," Draven sneered mockingly and threw his second sword with all his might.
The young lady released her arrow in a panic.
"Swoosh!"
Draven's sword whistled past her head without touching a single strand of her hair. As for her arrow, it flew straight for Draven's face, but with a casual wave of his hand, he swatted it away as if it were a fly.
"You are strong. Just make sure to keep some distance between yourself and your opponent. With the strength of the arrow intent you possess, beasts at the tenth stage of the mortal realm can hardly withstand your attacks," Draven said to her with a light smile. Then, ignoring Alexandria, who was still standing with another arrow nocked, he walked to his white shirt and began putting it on.
It took Alexandria a moment to calm her racing heart. Seeing that Draven had no intention of harming her, she relaxed her bowstring and the arrow vanished. Wiping the cold sweat from her forehead, she pointed a finger at him angrily. "Brother Draven, don't play such jokes in the future. One of us might have died if your sword or my arrow had hit its mark."
Draven buttoned his shirt and looked at her strangely. "First of all, if I don't want to kill, my sword won't kill. That is the confidence of a grandmaster-level hunter. As for your arrow, I survived a direct attack from the Ascendant Realm Jade-Horned Tiger King. Do you really think your arrows are stronger than that?"
Alexandria blushed. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and said softly, "Sorry, I thought you were trying to kill me. That's why I attacked you."
Draven waved his hand. "I was the one who attacked first. You don't need to feel sorry for that, Sister Alexandria."
Alexandria bit her lip and spoke after a moment's internal struggle. "Brother Draven, you can call me Lexa. That's what people close to me call me."
Draven didn't think much of it and nodded. He then sat down leisurely on the grass.
"My full name is Alexandria Phynic. In my family, there are three types of phoenix bloodlines, and the one I awakened is the lightning phoenix bloodline. But because of my family's influence, I have been practicing light element techniques since I was young. Except for a lightning arrow skill, I don't know any other lightning type spells," Alexandria explained as she sat down beside him.
Draven looked at her golden eyes, his head full of questions. "If you have a lightning bloodline, why are your eyes golden? Perhaps you have a dual bloodline, one lightning and one light?"
Alexandria chuckled lightly. Using her finger, she gently removed the thin contact lens from one of her eyes, revealing a beautiful blue eye with a mesmerizing glow.
Draven stared for a moment and then sighed. "Let me guess. Your parents have a powerful light-type bloodline and they saw your lightning bloodline as a disgrace. So they forced you to wear these golden contacts to deceive others, right?"
Alexandria looked at him with wide eyes. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Seeing her reaction, Draven smirked. "Looks like I am spot on."
Alexandria nodded slowly with a dejected look.
"You have beautiful eyes. Don't cover them from the world just to please some people. This will only make you despise yourself as you grow older," Draven said earnestly. After all, he had lived different lives in his dream and knew well the weight of regret once you realize it later in life.
Alexandria looked at him in a daze.
"You're blushing," Draven pointed out with a light smile.
Alexandria came back to her senses and slapped her reddened cheeks lightly to hide her embarrassment. "I... It's just that no one has ever complimented my eyes before. According to my parents, my eyes are so ugly that they don't even like seeing me."
"My cultivation talent is also mediocre. Even after cultivating all these years, I am still in the mortal realm without much progress. Meanwhile, all my siblings were born with high-level talent and comprehension, like you."
Draven shook his head with a bitter smile. "Hey, don't compare me to geniuses. I am just a cripple with not much room for improvement. Unless a miracle happens, the mortal realm is my limit."
"Why is that? You've already reached the very top of the mortal realm and have high comprehension of techniques. How could your cultivation be limited?" Alexandria asked suspiciously.
"Elemental body forging arts are much easier than vital chi body forging arts. Still, I chose the vital chi path. Do you know why?"
"Isn't it because you want to challenge your own limits and achieve what most call impossible?"
Draven's mouth twitched. "I don't have such lofty aspirations. My reason is much simpler. When I was little, I had an accident and my inner world crumbled, leaving me a cripple for life. With no elemental core, vital chi cultivation was the only path forward for me. But to break through to the Ascendant Realm, my soul must undergo its first metamorphosis, which can only be achieved through elemental cultivation." He let out a short, bitter sigh. "That makes it practically impossible for me to step into the Ascendant Realm in this life."
The first soul metamorphosis happens when elemental cultivators break through to the Ascendant Realm, increasing the soul's strength tenfold and making it capable of supporting a cultivator's ascendant-level body. This was not a secret, and Draven didn't mind telling the young lady, especially since she had trusted him with her life during the trial.