Eternal Temptation: Awakening Sinful Desires

As Asher was about to slice through Rick's neck with his sword, his opponent's eyes flickered with a hint of panic.

Without wasting any moment, Rick called out his Spirit, which materialized and attacked Asher from behind, hoping to use it as a diversion while also taking his opponent by surprise.

However, Asher reacted right away and avoided its attack by shifting his position to the side before jumping away from his position.

The next second, Asher saw the true features of the Spirit; its appearance resembled a black panther with sleek, obsidian-black fur, adorned with flickering flames of fiery orange and crimson. The air around it was hot and dry, making one feel suffocated as if standing within a furnace.

"Hahaha.... You are doomed to die now, bastard! I will devour your soul with my Shadowfire leopard." Rick said with a sinister smile on his face as he pointed at Asher, his eyes glimmering with anticipation for victory.

At that very moment, the Shadowfire Leopard Spirit pounced towards Asher at astonishing speed, its mouth wide open while baring its sharp fangs.

It seemingly disappeared in the shadows for a moment before reappearing as it closed their distance in an instant.

When it was close enough to Asher, it unleashed a powerful blast of fire breath attack, causing a wave of flame to rush towards him at point blank range.

Despite being caught off guard by its sudden charge and explosive speed, Asher still managed to avoid it by using his Shimmering Shadow Steps technique to sidestep its attack.

But just when he thought that he had dodged its attack, Asher noticed another set of fiery blasts headed straight toward him.

'It seems like this Spirit was capable of spitting out fireballs while charging towards its opponents simultaneously!' A frown appeared on Asher's face as he analyzed the situation.

After evading multiple barrages of its fiery shots, Asher decided to counterattack. He focused his energy within his Dantian and called out his own Spirit, Titanoboa.

The next moment, a large shadow loomed over them, and the surroundings turned dark for a second before revealing a black serpentine creature towering over them like a giant beast.

The moment the Spirit manifested, it released a terrifying pressure that caused Rick to be stunned, frozen in place, staring in shock at the majestic figure.

Even the Spirit attacking Asher stopped dead in its tracks upon seeing the massive form before it, and even though it also had an affinity for shadows, the moment the black serpent appeared, it felt as if it had been enveloped in a terrifying darkness that threatened to suck its very soul.

"Is... is that really a Spirit?" Rick stammered as he stared at the black serpent looming above them, his eyes wide in utter disbelief. He felt that it was as if he were staring at the very concept of Death itself.

It was not only the size of this Spirit which was bigger than his own Spirit that surprised him but also its aura and the strange sensation it gave, almost as if it were the embodiment of pure Darkness.

The mere sight of this being alone would terrify anyone into submission, let alone if it ever unleashed its full strength upon them.

Soon, his thoughts were interrupted as he saw a blur rushing towards his Spirit.

In a split second, the black snake lunged forward with blinding speed towards its prey, trying to devour it with its massive jaws, filled with razor-sharp teeth.

Its massive maw opened wide as it tried to swallow the fiery black leopard whole in one gulp; however, the Shadowfire leopard's survival instinct kicked in, and it faded into the shadows, trying to escape.

However, it was a futile attempt as the black serpent's shadowy tail whipped the leopard from below with tremendous force, slamming it with a powerful strike.

Then the gigantic black head darted towards its target at lightning fast speed, latching onto the body of the Spirit and biting down hard as if trying to crush it into pieces with its powerful jaws.

ROOOAAARRR!!!!!

The ferocious spirit struggled in pain, shrieking and hissing, struggling to free itself, but the dark spirit serpent held it in place, refusing to release it and biting deeper, its fangs digging deep into its form, trying to suck its soul essence to absorb it as its own strength.

Soon, the leopard was enveloped in dark energy and shadows, becoming trapped within them as it continued to squirm helplessly under the serpent's grasp.

Rick couldn't believe what he was seeing. His powerful Spirit which had easily dominated every time, was now struggling underneath the power of his opponent's Spirit.

It was absolutely ridiculous!

A sense of dread crept into his heart as he realized the disparity between them.

"Damn it! Damn it!" Rick screamed in anger, unable to accept the fact that he was going to lose to this bastard despite having the same cultivation stage.

However, soon he felt that something was going wrong. He felt his Spirit's connection with him start to disappear from his soul, and it brought tremendous pain to his soul.

"Ahhhh... What the hell are you doing?!?! Stop it right now!" Rick screamed in agony as he clutched his head with his hands while experiencing a horrible headache, making it difficult for him to breathe or think straight.

He tried to call back his Spirit and dematerialize it, hoping to save it while also relieving himself of the excruciating pain.

Unfortunately, nothing worked as he kept losing more and more of his Spirit's control and vitality with each passing second, causing his head to feel like it was getting ripped apart from the inside out.

It was so unbearable that he started tearing up, feeling overwhelmed by despair.

Asher also realized what was happening and dashed towards Rick to finish him off.

Just as he reached within a few feet of him, Asher saw his opponent trying to muster all of his remaining strength into one last-ditch attempt to destroy him.

"Bastard... You will... Regret... It." Rick cursed before taking out a ball that he threw towards the Titanoboa Spirit which kept devouring his Shadowfire Leopard.

Asher's eyes widened when he sensed a massive amount of Spirit Essence flowing out of that ball.

In an instant, the small ball landed near the enormous serpent, causing a massive explosion that enveloped the entire area instantly.

A giant mushroom cloud rose into the sky, along with smoke and dust, followed by a loud bang that echoed throughout the forest.

Everything turned white for a moment, blinding the surrounding areas and making it impossible to see anything.

It felt as if the whole world was shaking violently from the force of the explosion, sending tremors through the ground and causing everyone in the vicinity to lose their balance and collapse to the floor.

The intense heat emitted from the blast burned all the vegetation and left a deep hole in the earth where the explosion occurred.

At the same time, Asher was sent flying backward from the force of the blast and crashed into a nearby tree, causing it to shatter into pieces upon impact.