The two were only seven paces apart and had been facing each other, with neither one striking first.
Whoever struck first would surely reveal a crack first.
At the moment, they didn’t even blink their eyes, staring straight at each other.
Only seven steps away, who dared to blink?
The moment you blinked, you were already defeated!
This is the duel of masters, any small mistake can’t be made, not just comparing swords, it’s also comparing mental strength, will, and patience.
After half an hour of confrontation, they remained motionless.
Gradually, Qing Chi Bai’s eyes began to sour, and his eyelids fluttered slightly.
On the contrary, Zhang Ruochen was still as steady as Mount Taishan, without any waves in his ancient well, not moving at all.
One must know that Zhang Ruochen had opened up the eye vein, allowing him to directly input his true qi into his eyes, so naturally, he lasted longer than Qing Chibai.
“I can’t wait any longer, if I wait any longer, it will be quite unfavourable for me.” Qing Chibai’s hand that was squeezing his sword tightened slightly.
“Shoo!”
Without any sign, Qing Chi Bai violently took a step forward, his true qi entering the meridians of his legs, fuelling his speed to the fastest extent possible.
Before the crowd below could react, Qing Chi Bai’s sword had already pierced through Zhang Ruochen’s body.
However, Zhang Ruochen’s body gradually faded and finally disappeared completely.
It turned out that Qing Chi Bai had merely pierced Zhang Ruochen’s shadow, not his real body.
The moment Qing Chibai struck, Zhang Ruochen advanced and leapt up, from above, and chopped at Qing Chibai with a sword, one point faster than Qing Chibai.
As soon as Qing Chi Bai’s sword pierced the air, he immediately changed his stance and chopped upwards.
“Boom!”
The two broken swords collided together, splashing out large flames.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen’s left hand struck out with a palm, performing a move called “Flying Dragon in the Sky”, striking at Qing Chi Bai’s chest.
Only when one had cultivated their spiritual power to the 20th rank or above, could they be able to use their mind in two ways, using the sword in one hand and the palm in the other, without affecting each other.
“Collapsing Cloud Fist!”
Qing Chi Bai’s left hand also reached forward and threw a punch, and with his fist as the centre, the air shook with it.
“Boom!”
The two separated at the same time.
A split second later, the two collided together again and continued to exchange blows.
“Water Dragon Lianzhu.”
Qing Chi Bai executed a Spirit Grade Lower Grade Sword Technique, and under the impetus of his true qi, his battle sword swung rapidly, transforming into a giant dragon with a faint shadow. The surrounding air emitted the sound of tidal surges.
The sword qi gathered into a giant dragon that crashed towards Zhang Ruochen.
Qing Chi Bai followed suit and rushed out, his sword blade spinning ceaselessly, forming a sword circle that was like a dragon pearl spat out by a giant dragon.
There were eight sword circles in a row, converging together to form a masterful sword move that blended together.
Under the attack of the giant dragon of sword qi and the eight sword circles, Zhang Ruochen could only passively defend and retreat backwards step by step.
Finally, Zhang Ruochen retreated to the edge of the Battle Martial Stage, stepped on his feet, unfolded his arms, and with a body as light as a swallow, he flew backwards and landed in the pool below.
“Where to go!”
Qing Chi Bai cupped his battle sword with one hand, and with one hand behind his back, he also stepped on the edge of the Battle Martial Stage and flew out, catching up with Zhang Ruochen.
Right at this moment, Zhang Ruochen executed the Wind-Resisting Flying Dragon Shadow, and his originally descending body, after a slight pause, unexpectedly soared upwards by a height of three zhang, flying above Qing Chi Bai.
“Heart of Heaven Full Moon!”
Zhang Ruochen gripped his sword with both hands and completely injected his true qi into the sword body, condensing a bright, huge sword circle that slashed down towards Qing Chi Bai.
“Good stance!”
Qing Chi Bai shouted out a good sound, his hands shot upwards, and receiving the force of the recoil, his body fell downwards at a rapid speed, landing on the surface of the pool below the Battle Martial Stage.
If it was any other martial artist, he would definitely fall into the water at this moment.
But the moment Qing Chi Bai landed on the surface of the water, a green-coloured true qi cloud immediately appeared underneath his feet, holding his body in place.
His feet only sank slightly, and it was as if he was stepping on flat ground as he swept away into the distance.
“Boom!”
Qing Chibai had just dodged, when Zhang Ruochen chopped down with his sword, slashing at the spot where Qing Chibai had just stood, breaking the surface of the water and splashing a large amount of water.
Zhang Ruochen stepped on the water waves and travelled on the wind, his body was incomparably ethereal, like a white-clothed teenage Sword Immortal, stepping on the water surface as he hurriedly chased after Qing Chibai.
Qing Chi Bai’s “Flat Steps to Green Clouds” was indeed a very powerful martial art, but it was not as fast as “Flying Dragon’s Shadow on the Wind”, and he was quickly caught up by Zhang Ruochen.
“Heavenly Heart Tidal Wave!”
Zhang Ruochen’s body spun rapidly, head down and feet up, rolling up the water in the pool, forming a sheet of water waves, driven by the sword Qi, the water waves surged towards Qing Chi Bai.
Seeing that Qing Chibai was about to be swept into the pool by the water waves, suddenly, Qing Chibai stopped in his tracks, turned around abruptly, and slashed his sword straight down, reciting a single word out of his mouth, “Break!”
“Boom!”
A ten-metre long sword qi broke the water waves apart and chopped towards Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen’s toes tiptoed on the surface of the water like a flying dragon, soaring off to a height of more than thirty metres, landing lightly on the top of a willow by the side of the pool, stepping on the branches and leaves, his body not falling.
“Qing Chi Bai deserves to be the most outstanding heavenly pride of the Thousand Water County Kingdom in the past hundred years, when he was at the middle extreme position of the Xuan Extreme Realm, he probably wasn’t much weaker than Luo Xiu of the same realm. Although he has suppressed his realm to the middle extreme level of the Xuan Extreme Realm now, he is after all at the middle stage of the Earth Extreme Realm, and whether it is the degree of condensation of his true qi, the strength of his physique, or the subtlety of his martial skills, it is far from being comparable to a martial artist at the middle extreme level of the Xuan Extreme Realm.” Zhang Ruochen’s mind secretly thought.
In other words, although Qing Chi Bai had now suppressed his realm to the Middle Extreme Position of the Xuan Extreme Realm, with his current strength, he was able to easily defeat himself six years ago when he was at the Middle Extreme Position of the Xuan Extreme Realm.
If Zhang Ruochen really thought of him as a martial artist at the Middle Extreme Position of the Xuan Extreme Realm, he would be very wrong.
“Originally, I thought that Qing Chi Bai would have an absolute advantage and could defeat Zhang Ruochen within a few moves. Yet, I didn’t expect that there would be an even match.” Tuoba Linsu was still a bit unwilling after losing to Zhang Ruochen, but after seeing Zhang Ruochen exchanging blows with Qing Chi Bai, he was completely convinced.
Liu Xin’s face was quite grim as he said indignantly, “How could he be so strong? Qing Chi Bai has cultivated the Sword Intent Realm to the peak of the Sword Follows the Heart Realm.”
Tuoba Linsu gave a cold smile and said, “Can’t you see that Zhang Ruochen has also cultivated the Sword Intent Realm to the peak of Sword Follows Heart?”
“What?”
Liu Xin’s previous mind had been thinking about how badly Zhang Ruochen would lose, but he hadn’t watched Zhang Ruochen’s encounter with Qing Chi Bai carefully, which was why he hadn’t been able to see that Zhang Ruochen’s realm in the Sword Dao wasn’t actually lower than Qing Chi Bai’s.
Xun Guihai said, “If Zhang Ruochen hadn’t cultivated his Sword Dao realm to the peak of the Sword Follows the Heart, he would have already lost to Qing Chi Bai.”
At only seventeen years of age, and with only a cultivation of the middle extreme position of the Xuanji Realm, he had already cultivated his sword technique to the peak of Sword Follows Heart, this kind of natural talent was too shocking!
In fact, Xun Guihai was also a little jealous of Zhang Ruochen, but the purpose of his trip was for the even more beautiful, even more outstanding, even more important to the Thousand Water County King, County Lord Smoke Dust, not County Lord Thirteen, and he had no conflict with Zhang Ruochen in terms of interests, so he didn’t behave as aggressively as Liu Xin did.
“This lecherous/thief …… actually still hides his strength, he actually cultivated the Sword Intent Realm to the peak of the Sword Follows the Heart, just how much more strength has he hidden?” Huang Yichen stared with a pair of almond eyes, having an urge to personally strike and force out Zhang Ruochen’s full strength.
One must know that Huang Yichen had also only cultivated the Sword Intent Realm to the high level of Sword Follows Heart only a few days ago.
For this reason, she had been happy for a long time, and she had never expected to be struck by Zhang Ruochen once again after only a few days of happiness.
“With Qing Chibai’s strength, it should be possible to force his true strength out.” The corners of Huang Yichen’s mouth turned up slightly, revealing a row of snow-white shell teeth.
Qing Chi Bai stood smoothly on the surface of the water, the green clothes on his body were even greener than the pool water, and the long, neat hair on his head was windless.
Even if he was just standing still, an invisible sword qi appeared around his body, emitting a “swish swish” sound, if anyone dared to walk within five steps of him, they would definitely be torn apart by the invisible sword qi.
This was the peak realm of the sword following the heart!
In the eyes of ordinary people, at this moment, Qing Chi Bai was no different from the legendary Sword God.
Qing Chi Bai was a person who loved his reputation, and as a Half-Saint disciple, he had to be the best and defeat Zhang Ruochen in the shortest time possible.
Zhang Ruochen, on the other hand, did not have the same baggage as Qing Chibai, yet, Zhang Ruochen wanted to win and wanted to take advantage of the battle with Qing Chibai to impact the higher realms of the Sword Dao.
That realm was known as the “Sword Mind Understanding”.
Qing Chi Bai had only just reached the peak of the Sword Follows the Heart, and he was still a hundred thousand miles away from reaching the Sword Mind.
Zhang Ruochen was at the realm of “Sword Heart Understanding” in his previous life, so it was much easier to reach the realm of “Sword Heart Understanding” than Qing Chi Bai. Right now, Zhang Ruochen’s realm in Sword Dao was quite close to Sword Mind Passage.
It was the same realm where the sword followed the heart at its peak, but Zhang Ruochen’s realm was even higher than Qing Chibai’s.
Of course, Qing Chi Bai also had many advantages that Zhang Ruochen did not possess, which was why the two fought evenly.
“If I were to use the Space-Time Domain, then I would have an 80% chance of defeating Qing Chi Bai.”
After seriously pondering for a while, Zhang Ruochen shook his head again, it was better not to expose the power of the Temporal Domain.
Those bigwigs of the Thousand Water County Kingdom were surely secretly watching this battle as well.
All other cards could be exposed, but, the Space-Time Domain was Zhang Ruochen’s biggest card, and it absolutely could not be exposed.
“Swallow copying water! ”
After a short standoff, Qing Chibai took the lead, as if he was a swallow sweeping across the water, his green coloured battle sword was like the swallow’s tail, constantly trembling and forming a sword shadow.
A Spirit Grade mid-grade martial skill, Swallow Sword Technique.
Zhang Ruochen had not practised a Spirit Grade Intermediate Grade Sword Technique at all, so he could only continue to use the Spirit Grade Lower Grade Heavenly Heart Sword Technique against Qing Chi Bai.
“Heavenly Heart Breaking Plum!”
Zhang Ruochen flew up from the top of the willow tree and stabbed his sword, shattering all of Qing Chi Bai’s sword Qi.
Qing Chi Bai didn’t panic in the slightest and immediately changed his stance, “Swallow Returning to Nest!”
The green coloured battle sword stabbed directly at Zhang Ruochen’s heart.
Noticing the sharpness of the sword aura, Zhang Ruochen quickly retreated, but his sleeves were still shattered by the sword aura, emitting a “piercing” sound.
The white sleeves were torn into pieces by the sword qi and fell to the water surface.
Qing Chi Bai took advantage of the victory to pursue the attack, the sword in his hand was like a swallow in flight, rapidly stabbing towards Zhang Ruochen’s neck.
..…..!
