"What's wrong? I've had a breakthrough, so what? Or... are you scared now?"

Perhaps influenced by Chen Fei, Elder Ming Daocuan spoke to Luo Zun with a smirk. Then, his tone turned abruptly cold, as sharp as a blade.

"Scared?" At these words, Luo Zun's eyes narrowed, a grim and ominous darkness swirling within them. The current Ming Daocuan's strength was approaching the Pinnacle of Innate Realm, making him a formidable opponent. But he was Luo Zun, master of the Tiger Leopard Hall and a Qi Refining Sixth Layer Practitioner. In this mundane world, who had he ever truly feared?

Besides, today's matter was no small affair. This man had come seeking revenge, destroying more than half of the Tiger Leopard Hall that Luo Zun had built with his own hands. If news of this got out, wouldn't people say he, Luo Zun, was afraid of Ming Daocuan? To him, that was a deep humiliation.

His face clouded over, and he licked his lips. A voice dripping with murderous intent suddenly emerged.

"Ming Daocuan, I beat you half to death once. I can do it again today and bury you here for good. You want to die? Fine, I'll grant you your wish." Luo Zun's shadowy eyes flashed with a cold, knife-like focus. Then, he made his move.

HISS.

His withered palm clutched an ancient, mottled Black Wooden Box. Wisps of unsettling black energy began to seep from it, coalescing into a dark radiance that roiled at his feet. In that same instant, his figure shot forward like a bolt of lightning. His other hand brandished a strange wrist blade, stabbing viciously at Elder Ming Daocuan's head.

CLANG!

An almost invisible thread sliced through the air, blocking the wrist blade. A cold gleam flashed in Elder Ming Daocuan's eyes. With a flick of his ten fingers, he made Luo Zun's expression change drastically.

CLANG!

A shocking black radiance quickly coalesced above Luo Zun's head like a shield. A piercing clang rang out as the nearly invisible thread, shaped like a crescent moon, pressed down hard on the dark light. They were locked in a stalemate, pushing and pulling… Both Ming Daocuan and Luo Zun clenched their teeth, until the latter let out a ferocious roar.

"Get lost!"

The terrifying black light shot skyward, flicking the thread away. The battle, however, continued without a moment's pause.

Before the horrified eyes of the crowd, the two figures, each wielding their unique weapons and techniques, crashed into one another like meteors destined only for forward momentum or utter destruction. Then, they flew apart.

The silver thread was like Death's own reaping scythe, while the black radiance was a terrifying monster from the abyss.

Their clash had no elaborate flair; it was a pure confrontation of power. One fought with the direct, unembellished power of an Ancient Martial Artist. The other wielded the strange and terrifying arsenal of a Qi Practitioner, complete with Magic Artifacts and spells. Yet both forms of power were enough to petrify an onlooker, and the aftershocks could be felt twenty meters away.

Is this the strength of a Later Stage of Innate Realm expert? So powerful... Wang Dashan muttered in a stupor, watching the terrifying scene. He had already dealt with his own opponent, sending him to hell, so he now had the freedom to observe this fight. Not far from him, Ruan Jing was in a similar state.

So this is a Qi Practitioner? Such incredible techniques... His focus was clearly on Luo Zun. Unlike them, Luo Zun was no longer just an Ancient Martial Artist; he was now also a fledgling Qi Practitioner.

However, even as someone who had switched paths midway, the power he now possessed was astonishing. After all, he was a Qi Practitioner—one of the greatest figures from the ancient history of Huaxia!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

RUMBLE... RUMBLE...

The battle raged on, the two figures growing ever more ferocious under the crowd's stunned gazes. The shockwaves from their battle caused the surrounding buildings, despite being made of special materials, to shake violently. Some even began to collapse, sheared apart by crescent-shaped glints of cold light.

BANG!

Luo Zun once again swung his wrist blade, slashing ferociously at Elder Ming Daocuan's head. In that instant, a shockwave of air radiated outwards. Yet, the expression on Luo Zun's face grew uglier.

"Damn you, old fool..." he cursed darkly. In the past, he was certain Ming Daocuan would have been unable to block this blade. But now, the old man had not only blocked it with ease but was even… starting to force him into a disadvantage. At this thought, the oppressive aura of his Spiritual Energy grew more terrifying as the demonic art within his body circulated wildly.

"Go!"

His palm gripped the ancient, mottled black box in his hand. A ray of dark, cold light shot out from within. In a flash, it vanished, only to reappear in the next moment less than ten centimeters from Elder Ming Daocuan's chest, a deadly attack aimed straight for his heart.

So fast! Elder Ming Daocuan's pupils contracted, but he reacted in the nick of time. With a flick of his wrist and a rapid tremor of his fingers, a silver thread shot out to block the sneak attack, colliding violently with the black ray in front of his heart.

A muffled grunt escaped him as he inevitably felt the impact at such close range. His chest felt as if it had been struck by a sledgehammer, and an unnatural flush spread across his face.

Seeing this, a cold smirk subconsciously formed on Luo Zun's lips. But before the smirk was fully formed, the hair on his head stood on end and his expression shifted drastically. The hiss of a thread slicing through the air at high speed had reached his ears.

SLICE!

Luo Zun dodged as fast as he could, but he was a split-second too late.

A gruesome gash, at least seven or eight centimeters long, appeared on his shoulder, the flesh peeled back and bloodied.

HISS!

The Hall Master... he... he was wounded!?

The members of the Tiger Leopard Hall who witnessed this could scarcely believe their eyes. How could their invincible Hall Master, Luo Zun, actually be losing? Wounded? A deep, bone-freezing chill shot through almost all of them, and their faces turned deathly pale.

"It seems you celebrated a bit too soon. Don't you think?" a cold voice rang out. It was Elder Ming Daocuan, staring coolly at Luo Zun. He had clearly noticed his opponent's premature smirk.

"Don't get ahead of yourself!" Luo Zun roared ferociously. Ignoring the wound on his shoulder, he stared at Ming Daocuan with an intensely cold and sinister gaze. The demonic art within him began to circulate faster and more intensely. A hoarse voice, thick with unconcealable killing intent, spilled from his lips. "Don't forget, I have plenty of tricks left. Ming Daocuan, rest assured, since I defeated you once, I can certainly do it a second and a third time!"

"And another thing! Do you, a lowly Ancient Martial Artist, really think you can compare to a noble Qi Practitioner like myself? Don't be naive! Next, I'll show you firsthand the insurmountable gap between an Ancient Martial Artist and a Qi Practitioner!"

Threads of blood began to creep into Luo Zun's fierce, aged eyes. He took a step forward, and his entire aura transformed, becoming immensely more terrifying and dense. At the same time, he raised a withered hand and formed a series of strange, somewhat crude Seal Gestures in front of his chest. Then, a terrifying wave of Demonic Qi erupted from within him.

"Black... Demon... Blood... Technique!"

As the terrifying Spiritual Energy flared, his chilling words echoed, each one articulated with deadly precision.

As he spoke, everyone present felt a wave of Spiritual Energy, far more terrifying than before, erupt from his body like a volcano and sweep outwards.

Behind him, tendrils of pitch-black Demonic Qi began to gather, forming a tiny Demon Qi Swirl. Though small, it was deeply alarming.

"Black Demon Blood Technique, Spiral Demon Seal," Luo Zun's murderous voice intoned. At that moment, the tiny Demon Qi Swirl behind him pulsed with a dull, unremarkable light. In the next instant, it shot out, descending from the sky to engulf the area where Ming Daocuan stood.

Hiss!

The old man couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath, his pupils shrinking. He had been defeated by this very move before.

But today… a brilliant light suddenly sparked in Elder Ming Daocuan's eyes.

"Release!"

He unskillfully and secretively formed several Seal Gestures. Instantly, from the back of his neck, strands of milky-white light, nearly invisible to the naked eye, shot out from under the cover of his white hair and collar. They traveled rapidly down his arm to his fingers and then leaped onto the silver thread, enveloping it in a faint halo that was distinctly different from before.

However, no one in the crowd noticed. Neither did the figure lurking in the shadows.

HISS...

The sound of the thread slicing through the air at high speed roared to life. Elder Ming Daocuan's eyes flashed with cold resolution.

BOOM!

An immensely powerful surge of True Qi erupted from his body like a volcano, a destructive force that attached itself to the outermost layer of the halo on his thread. With a flick of his fingers, he sent it slashing fiercely toward the so-called "Black Demon Blood Technique, Spiral Demon Seal."

When the two attacks collided, the air in the vicinity seemed to freeze for a moment. Then, the crowd, standing at a distance, felt an astonishing shockwave erupt outwards.

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