Chapter 39: Kid, You’re Trying to Outwit Me

Huaiyou and Yongchuan flew in the depths of the abyss, clashing swords as enemies.
“Huaiyou, you’re the master instructor of the Xianyun Sect, and I’m the master instructor of the Huoyue Sect. Our duel can showcase the strength of our two factions,” Yongchuan said with a smile as he channeled his vital energy into his Huolin Sword.
“Yongchuan, our fight is just between us—don’t drag our factions into it. Use whatever ultimate move you have,” Huaiyou replied calmly.

As soon as he spoke, Yongchuan suddenly raised his Huolin Sword and swung it twice in succession. Two fiery qilins emerged from the abyss and flew together toward Huaiyou. These qilins radiated intense flames, their mouths wide as if ready to swallow the world, their bodies ablaze as if to burn everything in their path.
“Hehe, taste my Qilin Fire—let’s see how you handle this,” Yongchuan added triumphantly.

It turned out that the Huolin Sword contained a Qilin Fire Formation. By channeling vital energy, flames could be summoned as qilins; with more energy, nine such qilins could be unleashed at once.

Seeing that Yongchuan intended to kill him with his first move, Huaiyou was filled with rage.
“What’s so great about that? Let me show you how to break this move!” he shouted.

Immediately, Huaiyou swung his Yumoku Sword, drawing two circles in the air. From the sword tips, two circles filled with wood-elemental vital energy appeared, trapping the two fierce qilins. As the qilins entered the circles, their flames burned more fiercely. Soon, both were left with only red, burning bodies. They struggled to break free before disappearing.

“Well, Yongchuan? The qilins are trapped—can’t show off anymore, right?” Huaiyou declared arrogantly.
“Impressive! Using such a method, even leveraging one’s own wood-elemental vital energy to fuel the flames—interesting indeed,” Yongchuan remarked in awe.

While the two were fighting, in the abyss five miles away, an Abyss Iron Crow at the mid-stage of the Foundation Establishment phase was flying swiftly toward them. The crow was five meters long. Though its appearance couldn’t be seen clearly in the abyss, the wind it created as it flew made it clear that it was moving at great speed.

Unfazed by his first move failing, Yongchuan quickly raised his Huolin Sword again. He swung it four times in a row, and four qilins emerged from the blade’s edge, charging at Huaiyou.
“Hehe, this time it’s four qilins—let’s see how you defend against them,” Yongchuan said with a laugh.

“How embarrassing! Can’t you try something new? Do you want to compete with me in terms of true energy strength?” Huaiyou called out, half laughing and half crying in frustration.
Immediately afterward, Huaiyou swung his Yumi Sword, drawing four circles, and soon four rings appeared, each enclosing one of the flaming qilins. As expected, the two wasted their true energy for nothing again.
The Binhai Iron Crow rushed over quickly—only two li away. It seemed that if Yongchuan and Huaiyou fought one more round, the Abyssal Iron Crow would arrive.
Yongchuan activated the Qilin Fire Formation twice in a row, seemingly just to warm up. In response to Huaiyou’s mockery, he merely smiled faintly.
“Huaiyou, that was just warming up, getting my muscles moving. Now, I’ll show you what I’m really capable of,” Yongchuan said coldly and fiercely.
“So talkative. Come on!” Huaiyou replied seriously, staring at him intently.
Suddenly, Yongchuan leaped forward and closed in on Huaiyou, then swung his Fire Scaled Blade, slashing at him rapidly.
It turned out Yongchuan intended to fight close up with Huaiyou. Remote true energy attacks only led to a competition of true energy strength, with little real danger. But now, in close combat, every swing could be fatal.
“Great!” Huaiyou exclaimed excitedly.
Then Huaiyou stepped forward as well, engaging Yongchuan in close combat mid-air. Both the Yumi Sword and the Fire Scaled Blade were lower-grade treasures of similar quality, so their clashes wouldn’t cause them to break instantly.
The two moved swiftly through the air, rising and falling at incredible speeds. When their swords collided, it was also the moment their wood-type and metal-type true energies clashed violently. At the point of contact, green light mixed with golden light, along with bursts of flame, illuminated the bottom of the abyss, making the muddy ground below clearly visible.
“Huaiyou, your movement skills are quite good. The reason I wanted to fight close up is because my metal-type true energy counters yours, the wood type. I didn’t expect you to have such skilled movements that can offset that disadvantage,” Yongchuan said after dozens of exchanges.
“If you’re going to fight, just do it. Why all the talk?” Huaiyou snapped.
In the darkness, an unreadable fierce look flashed in Yongchuan’s eyes, and he swung his Fire Scaled Blade even faster.
“Is that so, Huaiyou? Do you think my movement skills are just that? My metal-based techniques not only counter yours but also make my movements superior to yours,” Yongchuan declared arrogantly.
Sure enough, as he spoke, his body moved even faster, doubling its previous speed.

The two had similar cultivation levels, but his speed was twice as fast, giving him a decisive advantage.
Huai You immediately panicked, feeling immense pressure. Not only was it difficult for him to resist, but even escaping seemed extremely hard.
The situation was urgent!
The Abyssal Iron Crow had already flown above the muddy land, only a hundred meters away from where Huai You and Yong Chuan were fighting. It seemed to sense the strength of their vital energy and stopped in mid-air out of fear. Yet, instead of flying away, it remained there as if watching their battle.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, Huai You let out a scream before his body was flung forward, crashing straight at the Abyssal Iron Crow.
It turned out that during their fight earlier, Yong Chuan had finally managed to strike Huai You, who then took advantage of the situation to get out of his range.
“Yong Chuan, you’re ruthless! I’ll definitely get even for this cut today,” Huai You said, using his vital energy to heal himself while quickly flying away, not forgetting to throw out a threatening remark.
“Hehe, Huai You, you’ve already been struck by me—do you still think you can leave alive?” Yong Chuan sneered and immediately chased after him.
Yong Chuan’s Golden Flow vital energy allowed him to fly much faster than Huai You, which was why he was confident he could catch up and kill him in one strike.
Panicked, Huai You accelerated his flight. Just after passing the Abyssal Iron Crow, he wondered what was going on with it—why had it appeared suddenly?
Yong Chuan, chasing closely behind, arrived beside the Abyssal Iron Crow and frowned. He immediately raised his Fire Scaled Blade, ready to strike, probably because he thought the crow was blocking his path or hadn’t done enough to stop Huai You.
Suddenly, Qu Yi appeared on the back of the Abyssal Iron Crow, and the Hidden Dust Formation was also removed.
While Yong Chuan was shocked, Qu Yi activated the four prepared formation disks at once.
“Wind Bind, Wild Fire, Golden Thorns, Storm Sand—all four formations, activate!”
On the back of the iron crow, Qu Yi had already set up the four formation disks and placed lower-grade spirit stones inside, activating them instantly.
In an instant, a whirlwind enveloped Yong Chuan, while the Wild Fire Formation spewed scorching flames to burn him relentlessly. The Golden Thorns Formation continuously fired golden spikes at his body. Combined with the Wind Bind Formation, the Storm Sand Formation sent yellow sand falling from above, pressing down so heavily that Yong Chuan couldn’t move.
“You brat, you’re cheating on me!”

Yongchuan was extremely enraged. At this moment, he was completely unable to move. The Binding Wind Formation and the Yellow Sand Formation had reached their strongest intensity—meaning two experts in the late Golden Core stage were holding Yongchuan in check.

It turned out that Qu Yi knew Yongchuan’s strength, so he didn’t hesitate at all and decided to unleash the full power of the four formations. As a result, each formation disc was equipped with a thousand low-grade spirit stones. If Yongchuan had only been trapped, he wouldn’t have been too worried, but the fierce attacks from the Golden Thorns Formation and the Wild Fire Formation made him realize the danger—it was as if two experts in the late Golden Core stage were attacking him simultaneously.

With no other choice, Yongchuan could only continuously circulate his vital energy to protect his body. His vital energy was being depleted at an alarming rate!

Huaiyou, who was flying far away, sensed that Yongchuan was no longer chasing after him. He immediately stopped, used his vital energy to heal himself, and then carefully flew back.

“What? Isn’t that Qu Yi? How did he trap Yongchuan?” Huaiyou exclaimed in delight, clearly excited.

Seeing Yongchuan trapped, Huaiyou quickly flew back, arriving right beside Qu Yi. He then looked at Yongchuan with a mix of frustration and triumph.

“Qu Yi, you came just in time. You’ve done my uncle a huge favor,” Huaiyou said gratefully.

“Uncle, get ready quickly. The four formations will stop soon—now’s the time to attack!” Qu Yi reminded him calmly.

Huaiyou laughed. Did he really need Qu Yi to remind him? He had been waiting for this moment to avenge the previous attack.

When Yongchuan saw Huaiyou returning with the Yumi Sword raised high, he understood Huaiyou’s intentions and became even more anxious. Several ideas flashed through his mind as he tried to devise a way to escape.

“Burn the Golden Core!”

Suddenly, Yongchuan shouted fiercely. Instantly, a surge of golden vital energy erupted around him, and a massive force sent the four formations flying. It turned out that Yongchuan had resorted to burning his own Golden Core energy. His Golden Core, which was originally the size of an egg, shrank to the size of a soybean in an instant. The intense energy generated from burning his Golden Core finally broke free from the formations.

“Yongchuan, you still want to escape? Take this sword!”

Huaiyou wasn’t expecting Yongchuan to be so ruthless. He was momentarily distracted when he saw Yongchuan trying to fly away, so he immediately shouted. A blue energy blade shot out from the Yumi Sword, aiming straight at Yongchuan.

Yongchuan’s body suddenly dropped, avoiding Huaiyou’s fatal strike, and he ended up above the muddy ground.

At that moment, the muddy ground suddenly rippled like waves, with layers of mud spreading out, and then a ten-meter-wide circular hole appeared, from which blood-sucking mosquitoes flew out.
“Ah!”
Yongchuan had just dodged Huaiyou’s sword strike, but he didn’t have time to escape from the swarm of blood-sucking mosquitoes. The thousands of mosquitoes that emerged at once all rushed into Yongchuan’s body.