Cao Yun had been pushed into this fight, but this was something he wanted to do anyway. That was why he had not really protested. During the fight, he hoped to improve his understanding of the spear, especially now that his soul had developed a bit more. Moreover, Ren Chao would observe everything and ponder about the best spear he could make for him. When it came to armor, Cao Yun wasn't too picky. After all, his blood cultivation had made his flesh exceptionally resistant and resilient. Cao Yun could heal from almost any injury. As long as it wasn't lethal, he could heal from it in a matter of minutes, or hours in the most extreme cases. At the moment, the only way to really kill him would be to destroy a vital area or organ, like his heart or his head. In other words, to kill Cao Yun, one had to destroy at least one of his Dantian. Short of that, he could heal if given enough time. Still, an injury could hinder him during a fight...

In front of Cao Yun, Chief Elder Baishen wasn't really bare-handed, she was wearing metallic rings around her fingers that were protecting her knuckles. From each ring, a small chain connected them all together and seemed to join at the base of her palm before losing itself in her sleeves. Unlike Cao Yun, Ren Chao immediately recognized those rings as he had forged them himself. Those were a 3-star Heaven weapon known as 'Iron Tiger Maw'. Compared to Cao Yun's 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar', it was theoretically one grade above. However, it didn't mean that much because the weapons were simply too different.

Just by looking at her, Cao Yun recognized the martial art she was using. Right now, she was displaying the 'White Tiger Devours the Heaven' posture. Thus, she was planning to use her best martial art, 'White Tiger's Celestial Fist'. It was very similar to Cao Yun's 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' and the Wubei Sect's 'Black Tortoise Under the Rain'. Cao Yun had seen her use it several times but even he wasn't sure how proficient she was in that martial art. However, he knew that her fists were her greatest weapons.

As the Chief Elder of the martial arts pavilion, Chief Elder Baishen had learned countless martial arts. But, she wasn't proficient in all of them. That being said, she wasn't bad at any of them. For the most complicated ones, she was just good at the basics, but had an understanding of the complexity of the techniques nonetheless. With her experience, she could mostly understand a martial art just by glancing over it. That didn't mean that she could master it though. However, it allowed her to give great advice to her students.

Standing before Chief Elder Baishen, Cao Yun could feel his own fists clench his weapon tightly. They already wanted to submit to her. Cao Yun couldn't even see her face anymore, he could only see her fists. This was Fist Spirit to a very high degree. In fact, it wasn't impossible for her to maybe reach Fist Soul before the end of her life. Anyway, the young man could see two white fists that looked like the maws of two white tigers ready to pounce on him and tear him apart. He had to use his mind cultivation and even his 'Weeping Asura' to resist it. However, he didn't try to perform any mental attack.

This duel was only about martial arts. So Cao Yun wouldn't use anything else but his martial proficiency, and so would Chief Elder Baishen. Using mental or soul attacks, or even his Black Heart Flame, were out of place. Besides, this wasn't a life or death situation. Cao Yun would only rely on his spear and Chief Elder Baishen would only rely on her fists.

Just as the two of them were ready to fight, the young man displayed the full might of his Spear Heart. He was now one with his weapon. Obviously, Ren Chao's interest was piqued. Although he wanted to see the fight, he solely focused on Cao Yun. No matter what, he would forge the best weapon for his brother. For that, he needed to know his spearmanship completely and he would. Despite his lack of perception, Ren Chao was focusing everything he had on this fight. He was circulating the mind cultivation his brother had given him to the limit. In his mind, thousands of blacksmithing principles were floating around as he was trying to make connections. He erased them and remade them as the fight evolved.

Chief Elder Baishen moved first. A sudden roar echoed throughout the battlefield. With each of her movements, one could hear both lightning and the roar of a majestic white tiger. The woman herself turned into pure lightning for an instant. Two bolts of white lightning flew toward Cao Yun. She was so fast that only her two fists were clearly visible, everything else was a blur. It was hard to tell if it was her martial art or her Fist Spirit. Given her speed, it felt as if hundreds of fists were striking Cao Yun at the same time.

'Tiger Roars at Heaven'!

Immediately, Cao Yun countered.

'Dragon's Chest'! 'The Dragon's Belly is Contorted'!

All around Cao Yun, the Azure Dragon's scale armor appeared. Then, he also started to move too fast for human eyes. Cao Yun himself turned into azure lightning at that moment. Flashes of white and black erupted here and there as his 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' was colliding with her fists. Cao Yun's martial art relied upon the concepts of Wind from the Wood element so he was very fast. Unfortunately for him, Chief Elder Baishen's 'White Tiger Devours the Heaven' relied on the concept of Thunder from the same Wood element. She was much faster than he was even at the top of his speed.

Cao Yun couldn't block most of the fists. Several Qi Manifested scales had already been blown apart. Chief Elder Baishen's fists were literally imprinted into some of them as they cracked and broke apart. Finally, a fist reached Cao Yun's shoulder. He heard the roar of the tiger as his bones shattered.

'Imperial Throne'!

All around Cao Yun, a powerful hurricane emerged, pushing against Chief Elder Baishen. His spear spun around and struck toward her, but what Cao Yun hit was just pure lightning that went directly into his spear and tried to enter his body.

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'Tiger Descends the Mountain'!

Reacting fast enough, Cao Yun spun his spear even faster and struck it in the ground. All the lightning flowed into the ground, leaving Cao Yun unharmed. But he was forced to lessen his 'Imperial Throne'. The mere breath when his spear was stuck in the ground, he heard two roars coming from both sides.

'Tiger Shreds the Prey'!

On one side, Chief Elder Baishen's Fist Spirit had formed a giant white fist made of pure black and white lightning. On the other side, it was Chief Elder Baishen herself.

'Dragon Swimming Against the Storm'!

This time, Cao Yun injected his understanding of 'Three Storms' into his martial art. This was his personalized martial art, 'Azure Dragon Through the Seven Storms'. Within it wasn't just the concept of Wind, but also the concept of Thunder that Chief Elder Baishen was using right now. For an instant, he became just as fast as Chief Elder Baishen. Still, he didn't want to strike her directly. Somehow, he could tell that it wouldn't end too well for him. So, instead of striking her, he targeted the Fist Spirit coming his way.

As he charged with his weapon, he truly felt as though he was in the maw of the white tiger. Everything around him was charged in electricity and he could already feel it flow through his body. Thankfully, his understanding of the concept was good enough that he redirected most of it into his very spear. Obviously, Ren Chao saw all of that. Cao Yun's spear had to be able to control electricity just as much as wind.

In the air, the seven Piercing Stars of the Azure Dragon appeared. Among them, the Heart Constellation shined bright red as Cao Yun even circulated his 'Dragon's Heart' to its fullest. His spear turned into an azure dragon completely surrounded by a storm of lightning and wind. The wind was created by Cao Yun's speed while the lightning was graciously provided by Chief Elder Baishen herself. His spear finally collided with the Fist Spirit of his opponent. Although it wasn't material, it still resisted Cao Yun's attack. This ethereal fist was quite literally a physical manifestation of Chief Elder Baishen's understanding of the Dao of Fist. In other words, it was very similar to a spiritual weapon of sorts.

Cao Yun and this Fist Spirit were locked in battle just as Chief Elder Baishen was coming behind the young man. Seeing that he couldn't break this stalemate, Cao Yun found another escape.

'Cracking the World'!

While the tip of his spear was in contact with the Fist Spirit, he struck the butt of it toward the ground. The legs of the Azure Dragon trampled on it and caused a small earthquake. Using it as an impulse, Cao Yun leapt into the air and flew above the battlefield. Immediately, he tried to attack Chief Elder Baishen before she could understand what had happened, but it was already too late for that. The old woman was gone.

Suddenly, between Cao Yun and his seven Piercing Stars, thick white clouds appeared. They roared as black lightning was coursing through them. Up in the air, they almost looked like white tigers with black stripes moving all over the place. Chief Elder Baishen was using another concept of her 'White Tiger's Celestial Fist', the concept of Heaven from the Metal element. At this point, Cao Yun was at a disadvantage. Indeed, his martial art only had the Wood element that was weak against the Metal element. The fact that Chief Elder Baishen could master a martial art allying two opposite and even clashing elements was a testimony of her martial prowess.

Indeed, this was the greatest difficulty of this 'White Tiger's Celestial Fist', it combined the Wood element and the Metal element, opposing elements that were at odds with each other. The martial artists using it had to find the perfect balance at every moment, in every technique, or it could collapse. Elements were only really important when martial artists were of similar aptitude. A weak Metal element could easily be shattered by a stronger Wood element. But Cao Yun's problem was that Chief Elder Baishen was a bit superior to him, and had this advantage.

From the sky, all the white clouds sent black lightning toward Cao Yun, they formed a sort of inverted tree, with the roots in the heavens and the trunk going toward Cao Yun. From the ground, Chief Elder Baishen reappeared, flying straight for Cao Yun. Her fists were completely white as if they had been heated to an extreme degree. Black from the sky, white from the ground. Cao Yun's escapes were completely cut off. Although he could fly away, he sensed a powerful force around him. The white tiger had chosen its target and Cao Yun couldn't escape from its greedy eyes.

'Tiger Devours the Sun'!

'Son of Heaven's Chariot Tramples the Nine Skies'!

Once again, Cao Yun chose not to clash with Chief Elder Baishen directly. Since the heavens wanted to send lightning toward him, he would crush the heavens themselves. The celestial chariot of the Azure Dragon emerged as Cao Yun stabbed at the white clouds. Pouring all of his understanding of 'Three Storms', Cao Yun tried to merge the last storm in his technique, the hailstorm.

'The Ice hails in the South.'

Powerful winds were spinning around Cao Yun, forming a large hurricane. Lightning was coursing through them, both Cao Yun's lightning and the black lightning from the clouds above. In fact, those winds were making this black lightning stronger. A few bolts struck Cao Yun and burned his flesh. Even with his great vitality, those burns didn't heal instantly. Some lightning bolts even entered his body and damaged his meridians. With his Wei Qi, he was able to fight them off but the pain was intense.

Chief Elder Baishen, who was about to strike Cao Yun, realized that the temperature was dropping significantly despite all this lightning around. Here and there, pieces of ice were also floating in the storm. This was the concept of Water.

Among the five elements, Water and Fire were the only ones who had only one concept, themselves. Metal, Wood and Earth all gave birth to two concepts, but Fire and Water were unique in that regard. Right now, she could tell that Cao Yun was mobilizing the Water element and more than that, the very concept of Water. At that moment, she knew she could strike him and he would be defeated. A single blow wouldn't be enough, but she would have broken his momentum and the fight would ultimately be hers. But she didn't want that. At heart, she was a teacher, she wanted to see how far she could push Cao Yun.

'Three Storms' consisted of mastery of the tornado, the thunderstorm, and finally the hailstorm. Only then could one attempt to merge all of them. Although it was a sword martial art, Cao Yun was pouring it into his 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars'. He was touching upon the concept of Water. Besides, Water could strengthen Wood while being strengthened itself by Metal. With Water and Wood combined, this martial art would be able to resist and adapt in almost all circumstances.

'Dragon General of the South Obeys the Celestial Mandate'!

The storm suddenly froze, literally. Then it broke apart under the wind pressure created by Cao Yun's movement. In the ice, bolts of lightning were still moving, trapped in the solidified water. Those pieces of ice formed a large dragon all around Cao Yun and his spear. He stabbed toward the clouds and completely shattered the black lightning. As the ice around him exploded, the trapped lightning surged and chased all the white clouds.

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