Zhang Ruochen was almost defeated by Qing Chibai, but suddenly, he burst out the power of Blood Meridian. Wisps of red Spiritual Blood surged out, forming a thick flake of blood cloud.
It was Animal Spirits Fixing Beasts.
“Howl!”
A low roar of the divine dragon and brute elephant came through the blood fog.
Behind Zhang Ruochen, wisps of Spiritual Blood tangled together forming two bloody shadows of a dragon and an elephant.
The bloody dragon was over 10 meters long with seven claws and towering horns. The outlines of its scales, horns, and claws could be seen clearer and clearer. The shadow of the Blood Elephant was magnificent and miraculous like a mountain that propped up heaven and earth.
Supported by the power of Blood Meridian, Zhang Ruochen’s physical power grew stronger although he was still weaker than Qing Chibai in the Earth Realm.
“Boom!”
At the last moment, Zhang Ruochen blocked Qing Chibai’s exquisite sword movement.
With the power of Blood Meridian, Zhang Ruochen started to strike back.
“Sacred Wind and Rain Sword!”
It looked as if Zhang Ruochen became one with the dragon and the elephant. Waving his combat sword and stepping footwork, he presented nine shadows in a row.
A huge vortex of sword breath showed up around his body forming a fierce sword wind.
Qing Chibai also burst out the power of Blood Meridian, and an illusory image of a Peacock Blood Beast appeared behind him. The Peacock Blood Beast was over six meters long with each of the blood feathers seen clearly. It was just like the incarnation of the Mahamayuri, the god of savage beasts in the ancient times.
Resorting to the power of Blood Meridian, Qing Chibai performed the strongest movement of Swallow Sword Technique.
“Swallow No Tear!”
With his Medium State power within the Black Realm, Qing Chibai couldn’t have performed this movement. However, with the power of Blood Meridian, he forced himself to perform it.
“Boom!”
Two swords clashed again, making a deafening metal sound.
The young geniuses in the distance could hardly see Zhang Ruochen and Qing Chibai’s figures at all. What they could see was only a strong clash between the illusory images of the Blood Beasts and the Peacock Blood Beast. Waves were forming on the lake.
A sharp moan of the peacock was heard piercing everyone’s eardrum.
Fortunately, all the audience here were young masters. If there were warriors with weaker cultivation, they may have already been fainted by the sound wave.
Qing Chibai’s sword technique was in the mid-class of the Spiritual Stage. With stronger power and more exquisite change, it had an edge over Zhang Ruochen’s. Zhang Ruochen had a higher level in the realm, and his Blood Beasts had stronger power.
Neither of them was in an advantageous position in that clash.
Zhang Ruochen’s illusory image of the Blood Beasts nearly tore up Qing Chibai’s illusory image of the Peacock Blood Beast.
In Jinfeng Court, a voice cried in surprise, “Oh my! Their Blood Beasts are so miraculous! Ordinary young geniuses can’t even block one movement from them!”
“It’s not a secret in Qianshui Commandery that Qing Chibai could burst out a Peacock Blood Beast. It almost shocked the whole commandery at that time. According to his master, he has the talent to become a saint.”
“But Zhang Ruochen’s Blood Beast is even more miraculous! Both the divine dragon and the brute elephant are overlords on the land. What’s more, he burst the two Blood Beasts out at the same time. I’m afraid his power of Blood Meridian is stronger than Qing Chibai’s.”
“They both have the talent to become saints,” said Tuoba Linsu.
Liu Xin hummed coldly and said, “It’s too early to say so! Many geniuses were outstanding at the very beginning. Others thought they could become saints one day, but they became weak later on. Some failed to break through a certain bottleneck in their whole lives, and some went slower and slower in their practice and eventually stopped. There are too many of them.”
Some around him nodded. Liu Xin was correct. It was too early to predict their future now.
After the clash, Zhang Ruochen landed again on the top of the willow beside the lake, standing there without effort as if he was floating.
He picked up his broken sword and looked at it carefully. He found that there were many cracks in it. It looked like the sword might break into pieces anytime.
Qing Chibai’s broken sword faced the same problem as Zhang Ruochen’s.
The clash was so powerful that the combat swords were almost shaken into pieces!
Qing Chibai found himself in the hardest battle since he debuted.
He stared at the blood shadows of the dragon and elephant behind Zhang Ruochen without any fear. Instead, he had a strong sense of war intent.
“Waaa!”
Standing on the surface of the lake, he held his hand up to the same height and released his Genuine Qi and Sword Comprehension.
The water in the lake started to surge.
Drops of water flow from the lake were around Qing Chibai. These hundreds of drops kept rotating.
“Condense!”
Qing Chibai’s Genuine Qi had the nature of Icing cold. After saying the word, hundreds of drops condensed into a white ice sword immediately. Each of them was about an inch long, completely parceled by Genuine Qi.
Seeing this, many young geniuses were astonished into speechlessness.
Only warriors with high cultivation could understand that when one reached the Peak of Sword Following the Heart, even a flower, a blade of grass, or a drop of water could condense into a sword.
At the same time, as Zhang Ruochen on the willow top raised his arms, all the green leaves on the tree fell down and flew around his body making the sharp metal sounds of swords.
“Phhhf!”
Zhang Ruochen waved his broken sword and pointed it towards Qing Chibai. The countless green leaves, covered in Genuine Qi, flew to Qing Chibai like a shower of green sword rain.
“Clap! Clap!”
At the same time, Qing Chibai ordered the small Icing cold swords to fly towards Zhang Ruochen. The icing cold swords clashed with the willow leaves swords.
After several rounds of clashes, the small Icing cold swords and the willow leaves swords disappeared at the same time.
“Chop!”
Zhang Ruochen flew behind the willow leaves swords, standing on the leaves. When the leaves disappeared, he condensed all of his Genuine Qi and slashed fiercely.
Qing Chibai, slightly astonished, stepped back immediately.
Crash!
The front of Qing Chibai’s robe was torn open. The blue robe turned into a cardigan.
Fortunately, he stepped back in time, or Zhang Ruochen would hurt him badly.
Zhang Ruochen continued his victorious pursuit, leaving no rest for Qing Chibai.
“Sacred Breaking Plum Sword!”
“Sacred Plenilune Sword!”
“Sacred Wind and Rain Sword!”
…
Zhang Ruochen performed eighteen techniques in a row, looking like eighteen shadows. The whole process was smooth in movement and superior in Sword Comprehension. The sword light almost covered Qing Chibai completely.
Each sword technique was followed by the next without any pause endangering Qing Chibai many times.
Four more cuts appeared on his robe.
One of these cuts injured his skin, leaving a clear blood stain on his body.
Qing Chibai was in an embarrassing position now. He gave a serious look and cried, “Song of the Forever Coldness!”
Song of the Forever coldness, the sword technique in the superior class of the Spiritual Stage.
Qing Chibai had been practicing for three years, but he could only reach the level of small success.
With his cultivation in the Medium State of the Black Realm, he couldn’t have performed the power of Song of the Forever coldness. However, supported by the power of Blood Meridian and the peak realm of Sword Following the Heart, Qing Chibai performed thirty percent of its power.
Even thirty percent of its power blocked Zhang Ruochen’s attack easily. What’s more, it left a cut on Zhang Ruochen’s arm.
After blocking Zhang Ruochen’s attack, Qing Chibai turned around and leaped backward. He bounced with his tiptoe on the lake and landed on the battle stage again.
The battle stage was a higher place, while the lake was a lower place.
People on the higher place could easily block the attack from the lower place.
In other words, occupying the battle stage was equal to win the battle. No matter how Zhang Ruochen attacked him from the lower place, Qing Chibai could easily block it.
As the old Chinese motto said, one must win with good timing, good geographical convenience, and good human relations.
Now, Qing Chibai had good geographical convenience. He could both defend and attack. It seemed that the success belonged to him without a doubt.
“Now, it’s hard for Zhang Ruochen to win! But it’s good enough to force Qing Chibai to go back to the higher place for defense.”
“No matter Zhang Ruochen wins or not today, he will definitely be famous and become a top genius that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Qing Chibai.”
Liu Xin stared at Zhang Ruochen and sneered. “Now, what can you do next?”
…
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen suddenly moved!
Zhang Ruochen didn’t attack Qing Chibai on the battle stage. Instead, he performed Shadow of the Royal Wind Dragon. He stepped into the void space and flew to Jinfeng Court in the distance.
Tuoba Linsu figured out Zhang Ruochen’s intention. He said, “The battle stage is 18 meters high, but Jinfeng Court is 83 meters high, four times higher than the battle stage. If Zhang Ruochen can land on the third floor of Jinfeng Court, he will be the one who can occupy the higher place.”
For other warriors, it was almost impossible to get on the Jinfeng Court, but for Zhang Ruochen, who had practiced Shadow of the Royal Wind Dragon, it was not that hard.
Realizing Zhang Ruochen’s intention, Qing Chibai performed Meteoric Rise and flew towards the top of Jinfeng Court hurriedly when Zhang Ruochen took the third step.
After the ninth step, Zhang Ruochen landed on the rooftop of Jinfeng Court. He stepped on the glazed tiles as if he were a young Sword Fairy from heaven.
Qing Chibai was one step later to land on the rooftop. Zhang Ruochen waved his arm, and a bunch of sword light of seven meters long slashed towards Qing Chibai’s legs.
Qing Chibai stayed calm. He chose not to counter with Zhang Ruochen directly. He sank his body and landed on the fourth floor of Jinfeng Court.
After a moment, a loud boom came from the top of the court. Qing Chibai dashed through the glazed tiles and flew into the 10-meter air. He held the sword in his hands and slashed for 13 times.
Zhang Ruochen standing steadily on the rooftop, slashed 13 times as well. He shook Qing Chibai’s Sword breath into pieces completely.
“Crash!”
Piles of glazed tiles were broken by the Sword Breath and fell off the roof.
They both stood on the rooftop of over 80 meters high. The shadows crossed and the swords clashed, keeping making ear-piercing sounds.
“Are they going to have a decisive battle on the top of Yunwu City?”
Young geniuses below all upturned their necks and looked upward.
Not only them but also the warriors in the whole place could see the battle on the rooftop. The battle caused a big sensation.
“Boom!”
The swords in their hands clashed again.
The two broken swords crashed into pieces at the same time, turning into iron pieces and flying towards all directions.
Seeing iron pieces flying towards himself, Qing Chibai quickly threw away his bare sword handles and moved backward immediately to escape them.