High in the sky.
Daoist Mingzhang blinked, staring intently at Lu Zheng, momentarily failing to react.
Master Qingsong stroked his chin. “This must be a treasure from the East Sea Dragon Palace, right?”
“It should be…” Daoist Mingzhang replied with a blank expression, feeling neither sorrow nor joy, utterly unmoved.
Master Qingsong smiled at the corners of his mouth and nodded with great satisfaction. “Not bad, not bad. Worthy of being a disciple of our White Cloud Temple.”
Daoist Mingzhang, “…”
On the ground.
Lu Zheng gripped his blade with both hands and slashed horizontally. The edge swept past Lord Nightbone’s face.
Lord Nightbone leaned back to evade, then retreated two steps. He looked at the dimmed lustre on his white bone treasure sword, feeling a pang of heartache.
“Damn it!”
“Again!”
Lu Zheng swung his long blade and grinned fiercely before pressing forward once more.
Lord Nightbone was speechless. This Taoist before him used neither spells nor talismans. He fought solely with martial arts enhanced by true qi. The martial true intent carried waves of draconic might, leaving Lord Nightbone’s limbs numb and struggling to cope.
Are you sure you are a Taoist and not a great Jing general stationed in the northern territories?
Seeing Lu Zheng step forward, Lord Nightbone narrowed his eyes, formed a sword seal, and engaged Lu Zheng in combat again.
…
Both Lu Zheng and Lord Nightbone possessed a thousand years of cultivation. In close quarters, the power of their blade and sword did not scatter. It appeared as if ordinary people were fighting, but the might was immense.
Lu Zheng blocked an incoming thrust from Lord Nightbone with his horizontal blade. True Dragon blood qi collided with the opponent’s white bone baleful qi.
“Boom!”
A dragon roar and a shrill howl sounded simultaneously. The true spirits and mind seas of everyone around shuddered.
The surrounding multitude of ghostly creatures were intimidated and paused in unison. Yuan Jing showed no mercy. She thrust her Seven Stars Sword into the chest of a ghost general, twisted the sword qi to slay it, then cast a Flowing Cloud Demon-Slaying Incantation with her left hand, sending another ghost general flying.
On this side, seeing Lu Zheng deflect his white bone sword, Lord Nightbone yielded momentarily, then countered by shooting a small white bone arrow. It carried ghost fire and a piercing wail, aimed straight at Lu Zheng’s face in an attempt to win with one strike.
However, Lu Zheng was prepared. He simply lowered his head. The white bone arrow struck the Feiyi Crown.
“Ding!”
A clear ring sounded. A dazzling light flashed across the Feiyi Crown. The white bone arrow was directly repelled, leaving not the slightest mark on the crown’s surface.
Lord Nightbone, “…”
Though Lord Nightbone dearly wished to curse him as a shameless fellow relying on weapons and armour, neither was a fool. Such meaningless words would only invite ridicule, so he could not bring himself to say them.
Thus, Lord Nightbone rallied his spirits and resolved to find another way.
During the exchange, strands of white bone baleful qi emanated from his long sword, but none breached Lu Zheng’s protective treasure armour.
Lu Zheng’s treasure armour emitted rays of five-coloured profound light. In the pitch-black Netherworld, it resembled a multicoloured lantern, expelling all yin and baleful qi. It upheld righteousness, warded off evil, and under the illumination of the five colours, it seemed as if a five-hued divine dragon had descended. The light dazzled Lord Nightbone’s eyes.
This radiance did not merely shine upon the eyes. It pierced directly into the divine soul. Closing one’s eyes offered no relief.
Lord Nightbone’s gaze shifted. Then his eyes glared. The pair of bluish-green ghost fires suddenly blazed fiercely, staring coldly at Lu Zheng.
Lu Zheng met his gaze for a moment and felt two lines of bluish-green fire cross the protective treasure light of his armour, instantly linking with his divine soul before burning towards him.
The ghost fire stretched endlessly, scorching the spirit and incinerating the soul like a maggot on the bone. Once tainted by this ghost fire, one feared that nothing short of cutting away a portion of one’s own mind sea would eradicate it.
“Ghost Fire Burns the Spirit!” Lord Nightbone’s eyes burned brightly as he fixed his stare on Lu Zheng.
Lu Zheng’s expression grew solemn. He dared not be careless.
“Golden Palace Heart Sword, sever!”
A luxurious treasure sword gleaming with golden light manifested in Lu Zheng’s mental world. It slashed down towards the two fire lines.
“Sizzle sizzle sizzle…”
Ghost fire scorched while sword qi raged.
Lord Nightbone’s face paled. He had assumed Lu Zheng would defend with cloud arts, but unexpectedly, the opponent wielded such a formidable mental secret art and countered aggressively.
Their hands did not pause. True Dragon Hidden Head Blade and White Bone Edgedless Sword flashed like the wind. Their true spirits and divine souls contended with ghost fire against heart sword.
Lord Nightbone’s cultivation was not much higher than Lu Zheng’s, but his weapons, armour, arts, and incantations were inferior.
Thus, though he could fight evenly at first, as time passed and Lu Zheng grew accustomed, the latter fought more fluidly. Blade winds howled, sword intent loomed faintly, dragon roars resounded repeatedly, forcing Lord Nightbone into continual retreat.
“Great King, this little Taoist is formidable. We subordinates cannot hold much longer.”
Misfortune never comes singly. While Lord Nightbone resisted Lu Zheng’s blade and sword, his subordinates cried for help from the side.
Lord Nightbone glanced distractedly and saw that most of his capable ghost generals were already dead. The remainder struggled to hold on while retreating step by step. The lesser ghosts dared not even approach. They only shouted while falling back.
For the first time, Lord Nightbone regretted not recruiting more powerful ghostly creatures. Otherwise, he would not collapse so utterly while entangled.
“Follow me back to the cave!”
Lord Nightbone shouted, then advanced instead of retreating. He raised his white bone sword skyward. Boundless white bone profound baleful sword qi condensed from thin air into a dozens-of-zhang-long sword-shaped phantom, locking onto Lu Zheng from afar.
He slashed down with one sword.
Lord Nightbone did not even look at the result. He turned and fled towards the cave abode gates.
His Yuanyuan Cave connected to the earth veins. He had inscribed countless restrictions. In all directions around the cave, he had buried innumerable white bones, endlessly regenerating and inexhaustible. Even if this Taoist’s cultivation were twice as strong, he could never breach the cave abode.
Lord Nightbone was very confident. However, Lu Zheng might not give him that chance.
Suddenly, wind and rain erupted.
Lord Nightbone had flown only two zhang when he saw Lu Zheng’s figure abruptly appear amid the slanting wind and fine rain ahead. Amid dragon roars, a blade light fierce as lightning slashed down from above.
“What?”
Lord Nightbone blocked horizontally with his sword, then retreated two steps under Lu Zheng’s great force.
“Think you can leave? Can you?”
Though Lord Nightbone was swift, he could not outpace Lu Zheng’s Wind and Rain Flying Immortal.
When this spell was cast, his form merged with wind and rain, nearly equivalent to teleportation.
At the same time, his aura blended completely with the wind and rain. Thus, the great sword Lord Nightbone had locked onto Lu Zheng to delay him merely wasted mana and achieved nothing.
Seeing Lu Zheng block the path back, Lord Nightbone glared. He raised his hand and tossed his white bone sword. It flew up on its own and stabbed towards Lu Zheng. Meanwhile, he transformed into a streak of flowing light and veered towards his cave abode gates.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Lu Zheng patted his gourd. A silver-feathered cyan-glow sword shot out, meeting the white bone sword head-on. The two swords duelled autonomously while Lu Zheng once again blocked Lord Nightbone’s path ahead.
