Whilst Ad Linley were talkiween themselves, the crowd, most of whom had fotten to breathe throughout the whole of the earlier exge, were n to their minds around what they had just seen.

  Eve, an expert who stands near or at the apex of deities throughout the universe, felt his heart turn turbulent.

  “Whilst fighting,” Beirut began to mutter to himself, not g who heard him. “Linley seemed to bee the embodiment of water – gentle, fluid, yet stant. Oher hand, Ace’s givesmanship seemed to bee the embodiment of fire – wild, urained, and explosive…

  her were utilising the profound mysteries, yet the increase in power they saw whilst fighting, it was as though they had been…

  How is this possible?”

  Beirut suddenly turo Aiden. Although he barely intervened iters of the ti, he still kept up to date with what was going on.

  He had heard about Aiden killing Byrius O’Brien aing Fain. He had even heard about how impressive his Givesmanship was.

  At first, he had been shocked beyond measure. A mortal defeating not o two prime saints should have been impossible.

  With his level of power, he didn’t even have to leave the forts of his own home to find Aiden with his divine sense. As such, he was instantly able to sehe man’s soul had reached that of a Demi-God, and although shog, Beirut had seen more than his fair share of incredible treasures which could achieve such effects, some even more impressive. As such, he didn’t think much more of it.

  But now, after seeing the dispy of Ad Linley, he couldn’t help but think back to the words being used to describe Aiden’s own givesmanship. Like Ad Linley, apparently, Aiden’s fighting style allowed him to bee an embodiment of the wind.

  Feeling the iy of Beirut’s gaze, not even Aiden was able to keep from feeling unfortable. Still, with a deep breath, he was able to calm his nerves, at least on the surface.

  “As you guessed, it was me who taught those two brats about this style of fighting,” Aiden sighed, knowing in front of an expert like Beirut, lying or keepis was futile. “I call it the art of [cepts].”

  “cepts… cepts… cepts,” Beirut repeated. “Hot.”

  “The method of cultivating it is fairly straightforward,” Aiden expined as though he hadn’t noticed the surrounding experts – saints aies alike – listening in. “But I would prefer to keep it a secret from others for now.”

  Hearing that, whether it was Dylin, Catherine, or the other saints, everyone bar those in or ected to the Pavilion all cursed in their heads.

  Had Aidehe oo spread his Divine Seo keep others from listening in, although the saints and mortals would’ve been helpless, both Catherine and Dylin would’ve still been able to listen in.

  “Haha, of course, of course,” Beirut nodded happily as he spread his own divine seo cover only him and Aiden.

  With the power of Beirut’s soul, every expert on the ti could fet about eavesdropping.

  Watg Aiden reveal the secrets of this new method left Catherine deeply frustrated. After watg Ad Linley, she realised that by utilising these so-called [cepts], both young men had the power to oppose peak saints.

  She had already assessed that between their respective current levels of prehension and their bloodlines, both could, at most, match a mid-staged saint. For something that these boys had only spent a few months learning to be able to increase their strengths by so much…

  How could she not want to get her hands on such a profouhod? Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do. Fetting the differen the powers of their souls, even if she had a way to sneakily bypass the divine sense of the lord of the forest of darkness, she still wouldn’t dare. Offending him would only end in her death!

  What made it worse was that as Aiden was still a mortal with the power of an unparalleled saint, because of the rules created by Beirut, she couldn’t target him, especially as any of the saints that served her and O’Brieoo weak to pose a threat to him.

  Worse still was that even if she did have a way to find Aiden without Beirut knowing, with Aiden and Arianna tending to be together at most times, she would still have to get past the mohat was Arianna Qingya.

  Simir thoughts were going through the heads of all the other experts. Unfortunately, Aiden had no idea, nor would he care, even if he did.

  “Incredible, incredible indeed,” Beirut sighed in amazement as he looked at the unassuming mortal in front of him. “To think that such a simple cept had been sitting uhe noses of all of our universe’s leading experts without any being any the wiser…

  Truly incredible!

  Virtually every deity knows to nurture their own ons over time. Still, because being oh your on is one of the most basic levels of prehension and is something that everyone learns very early on, it’s no wohat none would think to uh all its potential.

  If they had, with their insights into the ws of nature, how could they not have realised that by being oh the on whose spirit they had been the oo awaken, they could utilise the cepts of their elements.”

  Beirut once again sighed in amazement. Till now, although he reciative of those in the Pavilion, that was all it was. Aside from Ace, whose bloodline and natural talent allowed him to stand above most beings he had seen or even heard of, he didn’t think much of the others, but now…

  He had to admit that Aiden’s talent was han his disciple’s. In fact, for the simple fact that he had created this path himself, even after all the struggles and adversity he had faced, i’s eyes, Aiden’s worth had surpassed that of even Ace’s.

  “Bey emissary,” Beirut said, uo tain his excitement.

  Visible shock could be seen on the face of the drunkard.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” Beirut chuckled. “I’m not f you; you are free to say no, and you have my word; I will not hold it against you. I just think, as you are now, your talents are wasting away. If you bey emissary, not only will I fix your dantian and heal your soul, I’ll also introduce you to a world you never dreamed existed.

  Don’t answer me now; just think about it,” Beirut smiled appreciatively as he dispersed his divine sense. “You give me your a a ter date.

  For now, let’s just enjoy the rest of the show.”

  At that moment, curiosity was the oion everyone shared. Even his wife and disciple were no different.

  Still, as his master didn’t appear to be in danger, Ace was able to put it to one side for now and focus oask at hand.

  “Sorry about that,” Ace said, refog on Linley. “Where were we?”

  “We were just about t this show to an end,” Linley replied as he re-entered his bat stance, an unpreted look of focus on his draian face.

  “Right,” Aodded with a smile. “It’s about time.”

  Sparks seemed to fly as the eyes of the two geniuses met once more. Then, as if prepnned, both Linley and Ace took off simultaneously. Both youurned into streamers as they charged at one another.

  Everyone expected them to csh once more, once again showing off their skilled use of ‘cepts’, but just before entering the range of Ace’s give, Linley began elling elemental power as he gracefully swung his Jian swords across his body, causing a wave of bone-chilling ess to radiate outward, sweeping towards Ace.

  “[Serenity Sword Art: Frost Wave]!” Litered lightly.

  Ace felt an icy grip tighten around his body, and for a moment, it was as if his very blood had turo ice. He gasped for breath as his movements slowed, and his skin paled in respoo the intense cold.

  Desperation welled up within Ace as he felt his body freezing from the i. In a desperate bid to survive, he summoned all the fiery mageforce from within, allowing him to transform his body into peared to be a bzing inferno.

  Fmes erupted from his skin, and with a burst of seari, he mao break free of his oppo’s ultimate teique – [Frost Wave]!

  Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough to pletely dodge the attack. Linley’s twin swords left a rge sword-shaped scar across Ace’s chest just as he leapt back.

  Ace staggered backwards, clutg his chest, his fiery aura flickering as he fought to melt the remnants of Linley’s frosty energy and regain full trol over his body.

  Linley, still in his graceful and elegant stance, didn’t try to follow up with atack; he merely watched Ace with a mix of respect, steely resolve, and a hint of excitement. The battle was far from over, but for the first time sihey met, Linley had finally nded an atta this incredible rival of his

  Looking down at the wound across his chest, Ace raised his index and middle fingers, coating them in an intense fme, allowing him to burn the bloody wound shut before looking back up at his rival., a devilish grin on his face.

  “You kept that quiet.” Ace grinned devilishly. “I didn’t know you’d begun prehending a profound mystery.”

  “After studying the forbidden spell [Absolute Zero], I was finally able to gain insight into the Profound Mystery of Freezing,” Linley admitted before smirking back. “I was hoping to use it to defeat you in one go.”

  [Frost Wave] was a teique Linley had developed after finally gaining insight into the Laws of Water’s Profound Mystery of Freezing. When using it, it enabled him to freeze water with a mere swing of his sword, and as the human body is predominantly made up of water, it articurly effective on other humans.

  “You almost had me there,” Aodded, the grin on his face widening as he readjusted his grip on his give. “Too bad you lost your ce.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Linley roared as he charged towards Ace again.

  Once more, he summoned his elemental esseo utilise his ultimate teique – [Frost Wave].

  With a calm swing of his swords, his dense elemental essence began freezing the air around them. That all too familiar bone-chilling ess radiated outward as the moisture in the air turo ice. Linley wasted no time in unleashing his frigid onsught toward Ace, determio freeze him once more.

  But Ace, ever the resilient warrior, was ready. With frighteningly explosive speed that seemed almost like teleportatiooo shot forward. In the blink of an eye, he appeared right on top of Linley, his give poised for a devastating strike.

  Linley’s [Frost Wave] was already upon him, and Ace felt the icy grip tightening around his body once more, but this time, he was ready.

  Despite Linley’s best efforts, the temperature around Ace’s body soared as the skin-tight crimson aura around his body bzed hotter than ever before.

  Haviralised Linley’s teique, Ao longer hesitated, unleashing his ultimate teique – [Myriad Point vergence]!

  In an instant, he struck three times with blinding speed, each thrust hitting the exact same point on Linley’s chest. The strikes appeared to verge into one, and as they hit their mark simultaneously, each released a devastating explosion of fiery energy simultaneously. The bined force created a colossal explosion that engulfed them both.

  Linley was caught off guard by the sudden and explosive assault. Despite the freezing effects of his own teique successfully slowing Ace down – albeit only barely – he still couldn’t rea time.

  The force of Ace’s [Myriad Point vergence] sent him hurtling backwards; his body was engulfed in the fiery explosion as he crashed into the ground with tremendous force, creating a massive crater in what could now only be called a desote wastend.

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