Qingyangzi's voice forced its way out through gritted teeth.
Those aged eyes stared unblinkingly at Chen Zui, the intent to kill in his gaze even thicker than before, yet laced with a profound, deep-seated apprehension.
Lu Yang, however, had quite a different reaction.
He looked Chen Zui up and down before his lips suddenly curled into a bold grin. Resting his wrought iron staff over his shoulder, he laughed out loud.
“Young Hero Chen, this speed of your breakthrough... I'm afraid you've put even my sworn brother Beisheng to shame.”
Chen Zui hovered beside Lu Yang, pointing his long spear diagonally down at the sea.
He turned his head toward Lu Yang, the corner of his lips curling slightly.
“Senior Lu praises me too much. May I ask who this Daoist is?”
“A consecrated retainer of the Third Prince's residence, Qingyangzi.”
Lu Yang lowered the staff from his shoulder and leveled its tip far toward Qingyangzi.
“Here to kill you.”
“Kill me?”
Chen Zui frowned slightly and looked at Qingyangzi.
“I have no prior acquaintance with you, Daoist, nor any grudges. Why do you wish to kill me?”
Qingyangzi did not answer.
He stared at Chen Zui, countless thoughts churning in his mind.
Those of the Daoist sects placed the utmost importance on karma and held supreme faith in destiny.
A young man who could break through two major realms back-to-back within the shockwaves of two Earthly Sword Immortals fighting could never be an ordinary person.
He was either a child of destiny blessed with immense fortune, or the reincarnation of some reclusive supreme figure.
Or...
His eyes fell upon the purple-gold light around Chen Zui that had not yet fully receded.
Yet Ziwei imperial qi was a destiny unique to imperial lineages. How could it appear on an unaffiliated martial artist?
Qingyangzi could not fathom it.
But he knew one thing.
If such a person were a friend, it would be a monumental blessing.
If an enemy, he had to be weeded out by the roots before he fully matured!
“Young Hero Chen.”
Qingyangzi finally spoke, his voice regaining its usual composure.
Yet every single word carried a resolute, bone-chilling coldness.
“This poor Daoist indeed bears no hatred toward you. However, His Highness's command is one I must obey.”
Before his words even faded, Qingyangzi moved.
When fighting Lu Yang earlier, though every move had been ruthless, he had always held back thirty percent of his strength.
Now, he held nothing back.
The Black Iron Heaven-Measuring Ruler in his hand released a deafening hum as thirty-six graduations on its surface burst forth with a blinding, dark purple light.
That light was no longer the dim glow from before, but tangible ruler phantoms!
Each ruler phantom reached ten feet in length, detaching from the ruler itself to form an airtight ruler formation around his body.
The thirty-six ruler phantoms aligned with the number of the Heavenly Stars.
This was the ultimate trump card move of the Black Iron Heaven-Measuring Ruler.
The Heavenly Star Ruler Array.
Lu Yang's face darkened drastically. Holding his wrought iron staff horizontally before him, he roared out loud.
“Young Hero Chen, fall back!”
His body shot toward Qingyangzi like an arrow leaving the string, his staff sweeping out with catastrophic force, attempting to disrupt the ruler array before it could fully deploy.
Yet Qingyangzi had clearly anticipated his reaction. With a flick of his left sleeve, an invisible wall of qi materialized out of thin air, blocking Lu Yang's path.
The wall of qi was no ordinary defensive barrier, but a shield condensed from the qi of heaven and earth using a secret Daoist art.
Lu Yang struck it with all his might, yet his staff only produced a cobweb of cracks without shattering it through.
In that split second, all thirty-six ruler phantoms had taken their positions.
Holding the ruler in his right hand, Qingyangzi formed a hand seal with his left and muttered a low Daoist chant.
At that very instant, the thirty-six ruler phantoms began to spin, converging to crush Chen Zui from every direction!
The trajectory of each ruler phantom was distinct—some thrusting straight, some slashing diagonally, some sweeping horizontally, and others sweeping backward...
Thirty-six attacks launched simultaneously, sealing off all possible escape routes for Chen Zui.
Wherever the ruler phantoms passed, space was torn open into black fissures.
The entire sky above the reef beach was bathed in the dark purple glow of the thirty-six ruler phantoms, turning it into a realm of ghosts.
Lu Yang turned back and witnessed this scene, his pupils shrinking violently, his eyes nearly bursting with rage.
He let out a thunderous roar as a ring of golden staff aura exploded from his wrought iron staff, shattering the wall of qi in front of him to pieces.
However, no matter how fast he was, he could not outspeed the already active Heavenly Star Ruler Array.
The thirty-six ruler phantoms had already closed in, piercing toward Chen Zui at the center of the formation from thirty-six directions.
Yet Chen Zui did not retreat.
He slowly raised his long spear, drawing a slow, perfectly steady arc in front of himself with its tip.
After stepping into the Wind-Riding Realm, his comprehension of the Way of the Spear had undergone a qualitative transformation.
Techniques that previously required channeling his full internal energy could now be executed with a mere thought, as the qi of heaven and earth surged naturally into the spear shaft.
The eerie unpredictability of the Thirteen Ghost Shadow Spears, the biting cold of the Wind and Snow Night Return Spear, and the supple flexibility of the Coiling Serpent Willow Spear.
In his hands, three completely different spear arts were no longer isolated moves fighting independently.
Instead, they were unified by a spear intent of a higher realm.
Upon the spear tip, black energy and frost bloom exploded into life together.
Using the power of heaven-man resonance from the Wind-Riding Realm as a bridge, they twisted into an unprecedented spiral force.
【Ghost Shadow · Cold Night】
A whirlpool-like domain of spear intent formed around his body.
The instant the domain expanded, the thirty-six ruler phantoms carrying the lifelong cultivation power of a Boundless Realm Grandmaster unexpectedly shuddered and froze for a brief moment.
It was not that they had been blocked, but that the harmonious blend of Yin and Yang spear intent at Chen Zui's spear tip had forcibly disrupted the connection between them and Qingyangzi.
The Heavenly Star Ruler Array was driven by a secret Daoist art, relying on the qi sensing between the caster and the ruler phantoms.
And Chen Zui's spear intent happened to perfectly counter this qi sensing.
Yin and Yang rotated, reversing heaven and earth.
The lethal array that should have locked down all retreat exposed an opening that should not have existed, guided by his spear intent.
And Chen Zui slipped straight through that opening.
His body wove between the thirty-six ruler phantoms, his Dragon Roam technique pushed to its absolute limit under the empowerment of the Wind-Riding Realm's natural forces.
Every dodge was immaculate. Each ruler phantom brushed past the edge of his robes without landing a single scratch on him.
Simultaneously, the long spear in his hand thrust out.
【Yin-Yang Spear Intent First Form: Taiji Thrust】
This thrust was not fast.
In fact, it could be said to be very slow.
Yet eerily, as the spear thrust forward, the dozens of feet separating Chen Zui and Qingyangzi seemed to compress in a single instant.
It was not an illusion born of extreme speed, but rather the Yin-Yang spear intent distorting space itself.
Yin was immaterial, Yang was tangible. As immaterial and tangible engendered each other, space ceased to be absolute.
Qingyangzi watched helplessly as the spear thrust toward his face, his pupils reflecting the intertwined black and white light at the tip.
Having cultivated Daoism for nearly a century, he had witnessed countless divine weapons and formidable armaments, yet he had never seen a spear intent like this.
Instinctively, he raised the Black Iron Heaven-Measuring Ruler to block.
As a Boundless Realm Grandmaster, his reaction could not be called slow.
At this critical moment, the Heaven-Measuring Ruler parried with extreme precision three inches in front of the spear tip.
What he did not expect was that the mass of spear intent exploded violently the instant it touched the ruler.
Two diametrically opposed spear intents erupted simultaneously in that fraction of a second, yielding a destructive force far more terrifying than either spear intent alone!
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