"Tch."
Clicking his tongue, Long Hua activates his sword armor—fending off the incoming blade temporarily, while causing an earsplitting screech to go off.
In the same instance—
"…I see."
Recalling how the pale white weapon spirit—from the oceanic ruins, possessed a similar blade, along with a red eye, Long Hua is partially convinced of the former to be the fake's true identity.
As for why this fake had chosen to assume a face that is the same as his own, that isn't something that Long Hua would know without asking the former directly—if the individual was even capable of a conversation.
Regardless—
(Daring enough to impersonate me, this thing is courting death harder than anyone I've encountered so far.)
Narrowing his eyes, Long Hua summons a phantom maw in front of the blade, and—
*Klang! Klang! Klang!* snapping its jaws rapidly, the maw crunches forward to devour the blade!
"Uh…?"
Towards this situation, the fake Long Hua shows a hint of confusion and surprise, as it leaps back.
"…?"
Looking down at its missing left hand, the fake Long Hua tilts its head—seeing as how a portion of itself had just been devoured.
"Oh?"
Raising a subtle smile, Long Hua feels his mastery over the metal element having increased by a tiny amount—as a result of devouring a portion of this weapon spirit.
Perfect mastery of an element is only a supposed limit.
That being said, there is a higher level of mastery that is beyond it, the so-called absolute mastery.
As for what lies beyond absolute mastery, that is something that Long Hua has yet to discover.
"…"
Making an effort to regenerate the lost portions of its body, the weapon spirit manages to mend its damaged left sleeve and hood; however—
"…!"
As if only just realizing what had happened, the weapon spirit widens its eyes.
"…"
Taking this chance, Long Hua leaps forward, and closes the distance.
Reaching his right hand out, Long Hua grabs the weapon spirit by their left shoulder, and—
*Siiiiiii!!!* forcefully tears the weapon spirit's arm off by the root!
Maintaining the phantom maw behind him, Long Hua tosses the arm into it.
"…!"
"What's wrong? Are you only now realizing the meaning of fear?"
As an expression of wariness appears on the weapon spirit's face, it chooses to follow its natural instincts, which is to flee.
"Hmph."
Raising a cold snort, Long Hua chases after the weapon spirit, and rather quickly, the two vanish from sight—leaving the other weapon spirits in a daze.
Momentarily—
"That Immortal…?"
"My god, these Immortals are cannibals?"
Most of the weapon spirits recover from their daze, and are overwhelmed by a sense of dread, as they recall what had just happened.
"To them, we're just food?"
"What sort of madness is that?!"
"I-Is that why they invade our world?"
"That wouldn't make any sense when most of us are killed instead…"
"Then… Is that one just a lunatic?"
If Long Hua was still here, he would surely crush those who are making remarks of this nature towards him with a single Immortal Suppression Palm.
"…"
Walking over to Zhou Chen, Yang Ning asks—
"What do you think?"
"About what?"
"That practitioner. He's clearly…"
Unable to formulate a phrase to describe Long Hua, Yang Ning clicks his tongue, and heaves a sigh.
Similarly, Zhou Chen also heaves a sigh, as he mutters—
"My decision from all those years ago—to commission this world's creation…"
Shaking his head, Zhou Chen heaves another sigh.
In that instance, a memory flashes in his mind.
Within this memory, there is only a single person staring back at him.
This individual possesses long white hair with purple eyes, and the expression the former has on their handsome face—is one of great conflict and bitterness, as if not knowing how they should act in the face of an unreasonable demand.
An unusual trait of this individual—is the halo that looms over their head. This halo consists of a ring with six sword-like shapes protruding outwards.
"…"
Towards the expression on Zhou Chen's face, Yang Ning's expression turns to one of great irritation, as he clicks his tongue, and says—
"Quit making that stupid look of regret. You're not doing me any favors by having that face on. In fact, it looks as if you're just trying to cast off some guilt."
"…"
Parting his lips, Zhou Chen has to agree with Yang Ning's words, as he nods his head.
Recalling something, Zhou Chen asks—
"How did you managed to manipulate spirit Qi back there?"
Towards this question, Yang Ning replies—
"I could ask the same of you."
"…You mean, you didn't realize you had done that?"
"…"
"…"
Simultaneously, the two stares at the other in silence.
Eventually, Yang Ning says—
"This might be our clue to fighting back."
"…Hopefully."
...…
Further away from others—
"Need a hand?"
Hong Xuan reaches her hand out towards Xun Yu, and towards the former, the latter replies—
"Where were you?"
Lifting Xun Yu up forcefully, Hong Xuan replies—
"What's a little Sinner like me, who isn't capable of using Partial-Apotheosis supposed to do—other than to hide in fear of the big bad IML?"
Towards Hong Xuan's words, Xun Yu replies—
"Real shameless."
"…What else can I do really?"
"…"
Sensing Hong Xuan's hand shaking subtly, Xun Yu heaves a sigh, and says—
"Forget it."