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However, even the endurance enhanced by the Overlord's Art cannot compare to the innate true qi of the Nine Yin Manual. If we continue like this, Catherine will deplete her battle qi before she can thoroughly defeat me. Thus, Catherine, who had been entangled in combat, suddenly retreated and created some distance.

"Knight Xuanfeng, you are truly the most formidable opponent Catherine has ever faced. If circumstances permitted, I would genuinely wish to engage in a hundred-day battle with you to study martial arts. Alas, Catherine must decide the outcome tonight. Please forgive my underhandedness." The divine sword "Covenant" in Catherine's hand transformed once more, with runes appearing on its spine, three times longer than the previous two instances. "In honor of the spirits of freedom, let the surging ideals roar forth in unrestrained song. Totem of Wind's Roar."

Catherine is not only a Sword Grandmaster but also a High Shaman. As she invoked the totem summoning incantation, instead of a green wind totem appearing on the ground, it gathered onto her long sword. Simultaneously, several ancient halos enveloped her body.

"No way, 'Divine Weapon Totem' and 'Single-target Silent Battle Hymn.' You've actually mastered both advanced divine arts! What a genius!"

The Divine Weapon Totem is a specialized skill of High Shamans, which condenses the power that originally spreads across all directions into a divine weapon capable of bearing such force, significantly enhancing its elemental damage. Battle hymns are divine arts that can imbue various states, similar to the lunar attribute of battle qi. In fact, the Radiant Temple's halo divine arts are a knockoff of the War God Temple's battle hymn divine arts. Silent casting allows for instant buffs, while single-target buffs double the effect, both being techniques of advanced divine arts.

"Knight Xuanfeng, your 'Tiger Essence' may be powerful, but since it was formed through the White Tiger's self-destructive core crystal and forced upgrade, its power is incomplete. Without a core crystal, the divine weapon only inherited the 'Devouring Heaven and Earth' ability and lacks large-scale destructive skills, which is its greatest flaw compared to true epic-level divine weapons. Catherine cannot rely solely on strength to challenge you but must win through the advantage of weaponry, which is truly shameful."

As she spoke, vast wind energy coalesced into a green vortex, channeling the power of heaven and earth into the divine sword "Covenant," making the blade shine like a fragment of the sun.

"There's no need to say that, Your Highness. Take a closer look; who said 'Tiger Essence' doesn't have a core crystal?"

I suddenly smiled, holding the hilt of Tiger Essence up to reveal a bead-sized black crystal embedded in its center. As I infused the Nine Yin True Qi into the blade, the black crystal suddenly emitted an incredibly deep blue light. The light traveled upward, turning the entire golden transparent blade of Tiger Essence into a deep blue, with surging water energy converging from above and below, forming a tumultuous tide around me.

Catherine was stunned for a moment, then broke into a radiant smile.

"Wonderful! Although I don't know how you did it, Catherine can now fight with all her might. Prepare yourself, Wind's Roar Mark—Merge—Freedom Glory Rune, Sword of Covenant Victory!"

"The honor is mine, Ten Thousand Blades Divide the Sea—Merge—Great Dark Tide, Moonlit Sea Dragon-Slaying Blade!"

Chapter 24: Dust Settles on This Life's Promise

Tiger Essence is an incomplete divine weapon, a fact well known to the Lion Clan, who have kept it for over a thousand years and had twelve successive wielders. When I obtained Tiger Essence, I discovered the same issue. Any demonic beast possesses at least two innate abilities, such as the Hydra's "Life Spring Crystal" and "Dead Sea Great Dark Tide." However, Tiger Essence underwent incomplete evolution and died before developing new abilities. Although it retains the powers of the "Unicorn King" and "Golden Tree Demon," the gap between level nine demonic beasts and super demonic beasts renders these abilities inadequate against epic-level divine weapons.

Knowing this, even the Twelve Sages might not have a solution. However, my recent luck has been extraordinary. While using Tiger Essence to cut "Blood Essence Crystals" for the underground fortifications of Qingcheng Fortress, I discovered that when infusing the Nine Yin True Qi into the blade, the crystals it sliced lost their color and turned into gray powder. The energy within the crystals was completely absorbed by Tiger Essence without being injected into the wielder's body. With this discovery, I naturally drove Tiger Essence to absorb energy, especially after mastering the sixth level of the Muscle-Forging Chapter. The absorption speed greatly increased, and after absorbing thousands of pounds of crystals, Tiger Essence's absorption rate gradually slowed, but its efficiency in cutting crystals improved significantly, indicating an increase in hardness and sharpness.

Three days later, I was surprised to find a black crystal bead growing on Tiger Essence's hilt. Although this bead had no abilities, a chance encounter allowed Tiger Essence to absorb a Hydra's core crystal that fell onto the blade. Then, I discovered that Tiger Essence had gained the Hydra's two abilities, "Life Spring Crystal" and "Dead Sea Great Dark Tide," completely filling its deficiencies.

After upgrading, Tiger Essence's power was no longer suppressed by Catherine's divine sword "Covenant." Although demonic beast-type divine weapons have fewer abilities and less versatility than ancient-type divine weapons, as long as there are no gaps in abilities, personal cultivation can compensate. Despite lacking Catherine's divine art proficiency, with the "Twelve Star Palaces" above and the "Eight Water Arrays" below, the "Great Dark Tide" still surged powerfully, displaying myriad phenomena.

"Boom~"

The green hurricane and the deep blue tsunami collided on the rooftop of Qingcheng Fortress, causing a fierce explosion that blasted a large hole in the hard rooftop and leveled the rooftop garden, even shredding the "City Tree" into pieces. Fortunately, the fortress was built solidly, and apart from the directly damaged areas, everything else remained unaffected.

Even after the massive energy dissipated, the decisive blow between Catherine and me continued. Concentrated force breaking dispersed force, my "Ten Thousand Blades Divide the Sea" ultimately suffered from its complexity, allowing Catherine's spear-like sword momentum to penetrate layer after layer of my blade net and close in on me. Despite having exhausted her strength, the dimmed divine sword "Covenant's Oath" still slashed forward, striking my chest.