Dual Cultivation God Returns

A droplet of rain fell on the pauldron of the Imperial Guards Captain, making a clear sound.

His eyes widened, just as the look in the eyes of his eight opponents changed when more and more droplets fell from the sky. The seven newcomers were simply confused, some of them turning their gazes up at the heavy clouds, with snakes of lightning dancing among them from time to time.

The next moment, a heavy downpour covered everything in sight.

"What the…?"

"Haha, talk about being sudden"

"No kidding!"

As these comments came from the seven, both the Imperial Guards captain and the leader of the pirates were spooked, since none of them sensed this rapid and highly unnatural change in weather coming.

"Something's not right, don't drop your guard", the pirate leader raised his voice to outshout the thunder coming from strikes of lightning in the skies.

"Hahaha, what? Are you afraid of something?", the one with the bloodied sword started laughing as he pointed at the pirate leader with the blade of his sword.

"I'm serious, you idiots! There's something-...", as the latter began shouting with growing anger and annoyance, the sound of the battle in the background that was rather monotonous until now, even after the rain started to pour, began to change, drawing his attention there.

Several beauties threw the pirates into chaos with a surprise attack.

"Hey, what's with the attitude?", while he was distracted, one of the seven with a deeper voice replied with irritation to his earlier outburst.

"Hahaha, this guy's thinking he's some kind of big shot", another one laughed, but there wasn't any friendliness or goodwill in that laughter.

"Tsk tsk, look at him loosing it over some rain, and then not even paying attention to top it off! Oy! You hear us?", one more dissatisfied voice rose among the seven.

"Well I'll be damned…", the pirate leader mumbled, completely ignoring their shouts, and looking toward the battle, too shocked by the turn of events as the 'jackpot' he was so excited about before was now turning into a serious threat right before his eyes.

The voices of the seven continued to reach his ears, but were muted by his attention being completely absorbed elsewhere, not to mention he knew it was simply more yapping that he wasn't particularly interested in listening to.

"...!", suddenly, the scene he watched before the battle flashed in his mind, 'That's right! There was…', he turned his gaze to the balcony of the top floor of the vessel, where quite a few of the beauties were still left, but the man he almost dismissed before was nowhere to be seen.

And just as alarm bells rang in his head, a lightning struck somewhere extremely close, but outside of his field of view, drowning the world in light and filling it with a deafening sound of thunder, after which the sounds from the other side that he tuned out before changed as well.

"What the?!"

"Who the f-.."

"Shit!"

As the pirate leader turned his head, he was still conscious of the Imperial Guards Captain, but it seemed as if the latter was also disoriented by the turn of events, both belatedly reacting to what was going on.

A man engulfed in streaks of lightning, floated amid the seven, six of whom drew their weapons toward him, while the last one's throat was impaled by a sword, lightning dancing on the blade as well.

"Kkh… kk!", the rounded eyes of the one whose throat was run through reflected a cold, emotionless gaze of indifference as the light of life dimmed in them. A fire that started enveloping his sword and forming several balls of flame around him, seemingly as a reflex to being attacked, was too late, and was quickly being extinguished as he lost control of his Profound Qi.

"You little shit!", one of the six shouted with fury, more out of humiliation rather than camaraderie, raising his weapon and charging at the unknown assailant.

"Wait!", another one of the seven shouted with alarm, but it was too late, a flash of bright light covered everything in sight, as they could only use Spiritual Sense to detect that the man covered in lightning turned without bothering to pull back his sword, effectively throwing the body impaled on the blade at the attack, while his free hand took the weapon slipping from the hand of the slain opponent and skillfully flipping it from reverse grip to straight grip, drove it into the side of the attacker.

By the time the flash of lightning subsided and darkness returned, the one who attacked received 24 deep and shallow cuts with both swords.

In this darkness, however, it was impossible to tell that the three that charged right after the one who attacked, were engulfed in a sphere of discoloration, which otherwise was undetectable.

Their movements slowed down as if they suddenly were plunged underwater, and a series of cuts ended their lives before they could even reach the man who appeared with the strike of lightning.

"Screw this!", one and then another of the only two left alive didn't hesitate to start fleeing, neither wishing to fight this monster.

However, both were too panicked and in a hurry, and thus felt the nooses of thin metallic wires around their necks too late, as an older-looking man pulled the strings.

"Damn it!", the pirate leader shouted as his saber clashed with the spear of the Imperial Guards Captain. He tried to attack the one who broke his plans as soon as the second of the seven died, but was quickly intercepted by his opponent. It wasn't like the latter trusted the mysterious man was definitely on his side, but at least for the time being, it seemed their goals matched.

The pirate leader quickly took out a medicinal pill and gulped it up, all signs of hesitation that he showed before no longer relevant, as the situation turned dire for him.

"Tsk", the Imperial Guards Captain clicked his tongue in frustration, having failed to prevent this outcome.

The next moment massive amounts of Profound Qi started leaking from the pirate leader, as veins popped up anywhere his skin was visible. The oppressive aura pushed the Imperial Guards Captain away a few meters.

"Essence Igniting Pill… you really know how to impress", the latter spoke with a grim expression.

"Impress?", the pirate leader almost growled in observable fury, his voice hoarse from the effects of the drug, "Impress?! You idiot! To think I had to use this precious treasure here! I'll kill you all!!!"

The next moment, the pirate leader's figure disappeared, and showed up right before the Imperial Guard Captain, the saber clashing with a sword of the man covered in lightning, that intercepted it with a screeching metallic sound.

The sword lightly trembled, and eventually gave way, but bought enough time for the Imperial Guard Captain to evade.

"Essence Igniting Pill, a priceless treasure huh?", Wu Long chuckled as his eyes that sparked with lightning watched the pirate leader, whose body was slightly swelling from the explosive power.

"Die!!!", the pirate leader shouted with rage, swinging his saber once more, while the sword disappeared from Wu Long's hand, replaced by the Blood Drinker.

The clash sent Wu Long back several meters, as did the second attack that came after.

Next, the Imperial Guards Captain watched with widening eyes, as a barrage of attacks was skillfully parried by a man who turned out to be in Mortal Transcendence Realm.

The captain himself didn't dare interfere after he was saved, as now he was severely outclassed. Each of those attacks, if he even managed to block it, was likely to numb his arms up to shoulders for the rest of the battle anyway. His eyes could not even completely keep up with the movements of the two.

And he wasn't alone in his shock.

"I-Impossible!!! How? Ho~ow?!?!" the enraged pirate leader shouted with increasing frustration and even more rage. But beneath that surface, was a rising feeling of inexplicable panic.

The utter impossibility of what was happening aside, there was something creepy in this calm and collected man. He gave off an eerie, somewhat creepy feeling of certain doom, even though he obviously was pushed back. As if it was pointless to oppose him.

A pair of pink eyes with vertical pupils watched from afar, also seemingly sensing this dreadful presence.

'Ah…, I wasn't wrong… it's still there inside him… that God of Slaughter of old is still alive', went through Fen Baihu's mind.

As the pirate leader stopped attacking, his breathing heavy, he watched with shaky, disbelieving eyes as Wu Long raised his hand holding the saber to inspect it. The hand was bloodied as the skin broke around the grip, and slightly shook, likely numb, but that was it.

"W-who are you?", the pirate leader stuttered with ever-growing fear gripping him even as he still clearly to anyone watching held superior physical strength and speed, and by his own estimates was likely to win out in endurance and reserves of Profound Qi.

However, he received no reply.

The surroundings became discolored in a giant sphere around Wu Long, while he raised the Blood Drinker further above his head.

"Hah, do you think-...", the pirate leader taunted. Even if he wouldn't fear an attack, he wasn't so stupid to just stand there and take it, but as he was saying it, he realized that while he was unleashing his barrage of attacks earlier, the rain water around him accumulated into two large walls on either side that now rapidly pushed together toward him.

"Sunken Moon Severance - 1st form - New Moon in Shallow Pond"

Wu Long's hand went down and Saber Qi drew an arc that was propelled forward, homing in on the pirate leader who hastily drew Profound Qi into his saber and struck forward in defence.

The arc clashed into the blade of his saber, and then pushed him back, his figure flying into a rock column behind him with a loud boom. Pieces of stone flew everywhere along with a cloud of dust which instantly was cleared by the rain.

"Khek!", blood spilled as the pirate leader coughed, part of an ancient-looking stone uncovered behind his back. There was a deep cut across his shoulder, since he couldn't handle the attack, only slightly shifting its trajectory. He looked with both fear and loathing, and spat blood to the side, "Pthoo, you… damn monster… where did someone like you come from?"

At the same time, there was a momentary disappointment in Wu Long's eyes, 'Still not there yet huh? ...I've aimed to at least take an arm off'

The pirate leader knew he wasn't winning this, not to mention his subordinates were almost all crushed or actively fleeing, and thus…

"Tsk, screw this!", he used the stone column he crushed into as a platform to shoot to the side.

"He's fleeing!", the Imperial Guards Captain instinctively made a move, but was no match for the speed of the pirate, while Wu Long didn't move, his calm gaze watching the pirate flee and eventually disappear from the view.