Chapter 26: Battle

On the fighting platform, Wu Yuan and his opponent stood on opposite sides.
“Woo woo, Brother Duogang, let’s start!” Wu Yuan called out cheerfully.
The muscular man challenged by Wu Yuan was named Duogang. After exchanging names, they stepped onto the platform to fight.
“Alright, Brother Wu Yuan, you go first,” Duogang said with a smile.
Wu Yuan nodded, took out the Jiukong Staff, and moved swiftly forward, suddenly appearing in front of Duogang as he swung the staff downward.
The Jiukong Staff, now at the level of a divine weapon, generated a powerful gust of wind upon swinging, containing the principles of metal and wood. The fusion of these elements formed a long staff.
Duogang immediately sensed the immense strength of this fused spirit entity—its power equaled 600,000 spirit entities, matching his own maximum capacity.
“Brother Wu Yuan, that’s impressive! Watch this!” Duogang shouted loudly and promptly drew a large sword.
The sword was two meters long, taller than Duogang himself. He raised it and swung it upward, creating a yellow sword formed from metal and earth spirits, which collided head-on with the descending staff.
The metal-wood and metal-earth spirits clashed violently, annihilating each other.
During their first fight on the platform, neither Wu Yuan nor Duogang caused any energy surge—their spells canceled each other out perfectly.
“Woo woo, interesting! Let’s fight again!” Wu Yuan laughed, showing a fierce fighting spirit.
He then raised the Jiukong Staff and thrust it forward, aiming to pierce Duogang’s chest and knock him to the ground.
The metal-wood spirit entity shot out from the staff, aiming straight at Duogang’s chest.
“I’ll block it!” Duogang shouted, placing his sword across his chest and pushing forward forcefully to block the staff’s advance.
Wu Yuan and Duogang stood like two giant rocks on the platform, neither being pushed back by the other’s force. They exchanged glances and smiled in delight.
“Interesting, intense, and fascinating,” Duogang remarked.
Suddenly, Duogang pushed his sword upward, pushing Wu Yuan’s Jiukong Staff back, then thrust his sword forward aggressively, trying to pierce Wu Yuan’s body.
“Woo woo, trying to trick me? No way!” Wu Yuan yelled and stepped back quickly.
The sword missed its target, and Wu Yuan retreated to a corner of the platform, laughing as his Jiukong Staff trembled slightly.
“Brother Duogang, from now on, I’m going to attack wildly—be careful,” Wu Yuan said with a smile.

As soon as he spoke, before Duo Gang could react, Wu Yuan raised his Nine Heavens Rod. Moving like lightning, he appeared right in front of Duo Gang, and with illusions accompanying the rod, he swiftly struck at Duo Gang’s shoulder.

During his time in the Savage Beast Mountains, Wu Yuan had mastered a rapid attack technique called the Endless Battle Skill. Once his fighting spirit was ignited, he could keep attacking without pause until his vital energy ran out.

Duo Gang didn’t expect Wu Yuan’s speed to increase further. Unable to dodge, he could only defend. He swung his large sword rapidly in front of him, unleashing spells infused with the essence of metal and earth to barely withstand Wu Yuan’s attacks.

Bang! Bang!

With his fighting spirit ablaze, Wu Yuan’s mind was filled only with the thought of attacking. His Nine Heavens Rod swung continuously, always targeting Duo Gang’s weak points, forcing him to move awkwardly.

However, Wu Yuan couldn’t defeat Duo Gang right away.

Yet, Wu Yuan’s attacks were relentless, and his boundless fighting spirit kept growing, simultaneously increasing the power of his Nine Heavens Rod to its limits.

The path of awakening that Wu Yuan practiced involved continuous combat, all in search of a moment of enlightenment, so as to awaken a soul pearl and thus advance his cultivation.

The Nine Heavens Rod, surrounded by illusions…

The entire fighting platform was filled with Wu Yuan’s frenzied attacks, while Duo Gang’s figure was constantly suppressed by the illusions of the rod, barely managing to defend himself.

Many spectators had gathered below the fighting platform. At first, they didn’t take Duo Gang and Wu Yuan’s fight seriously, but upon seeing Wu Yuan’s ever-growing fighting spirit, they became interested and gathered to watch his attacks closely.

In Nanluo City, the purpose of setting up fighting platforms was not only to help the fighters grow but also for other spectators to learn from them. Only by learning from each other could one refine their spells and enhance their strength.

In essence, the fighting platforms established in various cities on Nan Yin Island were meant to allow all cultivators who came to the island to learn from others’ spells, thereby discovering spells suitable for themselves.

“This Wu Yuan is really fierce.”
“Yes, such a continuously rising fighting spirit is indeed terrifying. I wonder how he managed to achieve this.”
“If I get the chance, I want to fight Wu Yuan. Being under constant pressure from such a fighting spirit might lead to new insights for me.”
……

The watching cultivators kept expressing their amazement, while also feeling the desire to fight Wu Yuan themselves.

The cultivators in Nanluo City fought not just to win, but also to gain insights through the battles. The relentless combat skills displayed by Wu Yuan naturally piqued many people’s interest, and they all wanted to fight him once.

On the combat platform, Wu Yuan’s continuous attacks finally forced Duogang to the point of no resistance. Suddenly, his Jiukong Staff descended and struck Duogang’s back, knocking him flat on the platform.

“Brother Duogang, I was a bit too forceful. My apologies,” Wu Yuan said immediately, stopping his attacks and kneeling down to help Duogang up.

“Brother Wu Yuan, your fighting spirit is truly formidable. With such relentless attacks, few in Nanluo City can withstand them,” Duogang said, still showing signs of fear.

Wu Yuan patted Duogang’s shoulder before stepping down from the platform. The onlooking cultivators now surrounded Wu Yuan, each issuing challenges.

It could be said that Wu Yuan’s journey of battles would never lack opponents.

※※※

On another combat platform, Qingwugui was also fighting an opponent. His opponent was Hua Qianliu, who wielded a magnificent long sword. Tall and robust, his presence on the platform exuded an aura as if a war god had descended.

Qingwugui, without any divine weapon, watched Hua Qianliu calmly.

“Brother Hua, please begin,” Qingwugui said calmly.

Hua Qianliu was surprised. Qingwugui had arrived on the platform without even bringing out a divine weapon. Did he intend to fight bare-handed? Although it was possible to cast spells with bare hands, the speed would be much slower, and divine weapons could also cause damage when hitting the body.

However, Hua Qianliu didn’t ask Qingwugui. He assumed that Qingwugui’s divine weapon was hidden within his body and would be used only when necessary.

“Very well, I’ll start,” Hua Qianliu said with a faint smile, raising his long sword.

With a swift swing, Hua Qianliu sent a beam of sword light, along with a mass of water and wood spiritual energies, in a circular path toward Qingwugui. The intense presence of those water and wood spiritual energies numbered no less than 300,000, and hitting Qingwugui would surely cut through his body.

Qingwugui’s cultivation method focused on cutting through the laws of the universe, rendering any spells based on those laws ineffective against him.

He had already cut through the law of metal. Any spell containing the law of metal would lose much of its power when used against Qingwugui, or even become ineffective altogether.

Having come to Nanluo City, Qingwugui aimed to cut through the law of wood through continuous battles. Therefore, he chose opponents who had already grasped the law of wood.

At this moment, Qing Wu Gui merely dodged when he saw that arc of sword light approaching, without casting any spells to resist it. Meanwhile, his consciousness was constantly sensing the sword light, trying to understand the Wood element principles within that spell. As for the Water element principles, Qing Wu Gui still didn’t want to eliminate them all at once.

Hua Qian Liu was deeply puzzled—Qing Wu Gui simply dodged, had no divine weapons, and didn’t even try to defend himself. She really couldn’t figure out what he intended by coming to the fighting platform.

“Could it be that Qing Wu Gui has a masochistic tendency?” she thought.

However, she didn’t dwell on it. Since she was already on the fighting platform, she had to knock Qing Wu Gui down first before she could leave. So, when she saw him not attacking her, she was willing to use all her spells to assault him frantically.

“Brother Qing Wu Gui, be careful! I’m about to use my ultimate technique—Eight consecutive Flower Strikes,” Hua Qian Liu said with a smile.

As soon as she spoke, she picked up her long sword and began to swing it gracefully. The path of the sword resembled falling flowers, delicate and sorrowful, seemingly trying to stay yet ultimately departing.

The sword seemed slow, but at the moment it suddenly stopped, a flash of light shot out, fast as lightning.

Qing Wu Gui still adopted a passive stance, allowing others to attack. When the sword light came, he moved like a shadow, just managing to dodge it. Meanwhile, his consciousness continued to sense the Wood element principles in Hua Qian Liu’s spells.

The Wood element principles were vast in number, and it was impossible for a single spell to contain them all. Qing Wu Gui needed to keep fighting to sense each of them and eliminate them one by one.

Thus, in his battle with Hua Qian Liu, he was trying to sense the Wood element principles in her spells while looking for a way to destroy them. Eliminating a few at a time, with enough opponents, he would eventually be able to wipe out all of them.

Hua Qian Liu’s “Eight consecutive Flower Strikes” came one after another, but Qing Wu Gui easily dodged each one. He still didn’t counterattack, continuing to dodge.

The spectators below the fighting platform were all extremely confused—was Qing Wu Gui trying to improve his movement skills? Why was he only dodging and not attacking?

On the fighting platform, though puzzled, Hua Qian Liu couldn’t give up. She had to persevere and keep using all her spells.

In the end, she exhausted all her spiritual energy yet still failed to knock Qing Wu Gui down.

At that moment, when Qing Wu Gui saw Hua Qian Liu’s weak expression, a smile appeared on his lips as he said softly, “Brother Hua, you can fall now.” After saying that, he took out his divine weapon—the two-finger-long Sword of Ruthless Time. The flying sword appeared as merely a dark golden beam that struck Hua Qian Liu’s shoulder. Immediately afterward, Hua Qian Liu, with eyes wide in disbelief, fell to the ground. The spectators below the fighting platform were convinced that Qing Wu Gui’s fighting style involved draining his opponent’s spiritual energy before delivering the final blow. Qing Wu Gui helped Hua Qian Liu up, said nothing, drew out the Sword of Ruthless Time, and walked off the platform with a faint smile. After witnessing Qing Wu Gui’s fighting style, many cultivators became interested in him—after all, he was the perfect candidate for venting their anger. They would fight against him whenever they wanted to vent their frustration, since Qing Wu Gui only knew how to dodge and not attack. It could be said that both the Five Elements’ brute-force fighting style and Qing Wu Gui’s evasion-based fighting style were popular among the cultivators of Nanluo City, ensuring that neither of them would ever lack opponents in their training.