Wherever the rain fell was where Cao Zhengchun’s form appeared.
Chen Zui pushed the Dragon Roam movement technique to its limits, darting through the storm like a swimming fish.
His spear drew arc after arc in the rain, every thrust carrying a dark, chilling aura that bore no hint of wickedness.
Alternating between the bizarre unpredictability of the Thirteen Ghost Shadow Spears and the biting chill of the Wind and Snow Night Return Spear, his spearhead wove an airtight web within the curtain of rain.
Clang, clang, clang, clang—
The clashing sounds of metal rang as dense and rapid as a torrential downpour.
Every claw strike from Cao Zhengchun caught the spearhead at its weakest point with pinpoint precision, dismantling Chen Zui’s offensive inch by inch.
His internal power was dark, frigid, and overbearing, vibrating back through the spear shaft and numbing the webbing between Chen Zui’s thumb and forefinger.
“Kid, the spear techniques you use may be exquisite, but the disparity in cultivation realm isn't something that can be bridged by a few sets of spearmanship!”
Cao Zhengchun’s voice drifted erratically through the rain, laced with a hint of mockery.
His claw technique shifted abruptly. Instead of attacking directly, his fingers traced profound, arcane arcs through the air.
With every sweeping arc, a burst of invisible energy lingered in midair!
In the next instant, multiple strands of energy intertwined into a vast, invisible net, closing in on Chen Zui from all directions.
Using the fine threads of rain between heaven and earth as a medium, Cao Zhengchun had turned the entire curtain of rain into a cage!
The cage woven from the rain drew tighter and tighter.
Each thread of rain carried Cao Zhengchun’s dark, cold internal energy, slicing toward Chen Zui like strands of steel wire.
Chen Zui took a deep breath.
The liquefied internal power within his body surged and roared like a rushing river.
Gripping the spear with both hands, he snapped the shaft in a violent tremor!
An extremely biting chill erupted from the spear.
The moment the rain threads touched this chill, they condensed into ice beads and clattered down in a rustling shower.
【Wind and Snow Night Return Spear Sixth Form: Snow Over Tianshan】
The spearhead traced countless arcs across the sky, every path sweeping with bone-chilling frost.
Snowflakes materialized out of thin air, appearing eerily bizarre amidst the torrential rain.
Snow and rain intertwined between heaven and earth; water and ice collided in midair, emitting dense, grating hisses.
The cage formed by the invisible curtain of rain was forcefully torn open.
An anomaly of heaven and earth suddenly manifested at this moment.
Centered on Chen Zui, the raindrops within ten zhang actually reversed their flow, sweeping upward from the ground toward the sky.
Meanwhile, within ten zhang of Cao Zhengchun, the raindrops turned into countless ice needles as thin as ox hair, hovering in midair with their tips pointed squarely at Chen Zui.
Between the two, one side was an inverted deluge, while the other was a forest of ice needles.
The square before the Academy’s mountain gate was split cleanly into two distinct worlds.
This was the heaven-man resonance of a martial artist in the Second Rank Earthly Realm.
A martial artist’s internal mechanism could already trigger natural phenomena, using their own Dao to interfere with nature.
Chen Zui’s Wind and Snow spear intent violently clashed with Cao Zhengchun’s dark, cold internal power across heaven and earth, throwing the weather of this small slice of the world into utter turmoil.
“Interesting. To think you could forcefully tear an opening in my inescapable net. No wonder He Bailou viewed you in a different light.”
Cao Zhengchun’s figure finally emerged from the curtain of rain.
Standing ten zhang away, his dark purple python robe remained spotless. Three feet above his head, the rain automatically split to both sides, as if avoiding something unclean.
Yet his gaze was no longer as calm and composed as before.
A trace of genuine murderous intent now flickered within those bright black eyes.
“However, the more capable you are, the less I can allow you to live.”
He slowly raised both hands, fingers loosely curling in the air.
The countless ice needles hovering around him seemed to receive an order, emitting a piercing drone in unison.
In the next moment, ten thousand ice needles transformed into a sky full of cold glints, shooting toward Chen Zui in an overwhelming barrage.
Each ice needle was imbued with the dark, frigid internal energy of a Wind-Riding Realm Grandmaster, tearing fine white trails through the air wherever they passed.
Chen Zui advanced instead of retreating.
Pushing the Dragon Roam movement technique to its peak, his figure blurred on the spot, reappearing before Cao Zhengchun in the very next instant.
The barrage of ice needles grazed past his back, riddling the bluestone ground behind him into a honeycomb.
Carrying the momentum of ten thousand jun, the spearhead stabbed straight toward Cao Zhengchun’s throat.
This thrust came so swiftly that even the falling raindrops had no time to move aside, crushed into a mist of water by the energy swirling around the spearhead.
Yet Cao Zhengchun neither dodged nor retreated. Forming a claw with his right fingers, he met the spearhead head-on while his left hand lightly brushed against his waist.
A flash of purple light glinted from his waist.
Only then did Chen Zui clearly see the entirely crimson-purple soft whip tied around his waist. The whip was densely covered in menacing barbs, their tips glinting with an eerie blue sheen.
The crimson-purple soft whip whipped out a bizarre arc in midair, lashing toward Chen Zui’s flank.
Chen Zui shifted his stance with lightning speed. Revolving the spear in a horizontal sweep, the butt of the spear tapped precisely against the tip of the whip, knocking the venomous whip flying backward.
Immediately following through, the spearhead flicked upward, leaving a shallow bloody scratch across the back of Cao Zhengchun’s right claw.
Cao Zhengchun glanced down at the scratch on the back of his hand. A sinister glint flashed in his eyes, yet the corners of his mouth curled into a bizarre smile.
“Kid, do you think the poison on my Crimson Lotus Whip is just some ordinary toxin?”
His left hand gripping the crimson-purple soft whip jerked violently, and the soft whip exploded with a circular wave of energy in the air, knocking Chen Zui’s spearhead three feet away.
At the same time, his right hand flipped across his chest. Between his fingers, five silver needles as thin as hair strands had appeared at some unknown moment, gleaming with a faint blue luster in the rain, with an almost imperceptible drop of black fluid congealed at each needle tip.
“I have been in the palace for forty years. To survive until today in the seat of the Seal-holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, I never relied on being fair and honorable.
These few poisonous needles are something I have trained with for most of my life.
As long as one is tainted by these needles, even a Second Rank Grandmaster will not last past three breaths.”
Before his voice had even faded, the five silver needles shot out into the rain!
The distance between the two was already point-blank, and these five silver needles came without the slightest warning.
The silver needles were so thin as to be invisible in the rain, impossible to distinguish amidst the endless curtain of rainfall, shooting silently toward five major acupoints on Chen Zui’s chest.
The smile on Cao Zhengchun’s lips was nearly cruel.
He had waited for this moment for a long time.
Sudden use of poison in the heat of close combat was his habitual killing technique.
Augmented by the dark, frigid internal energy of his Wind-Riding Realm, the poisonous needles would instantly seal the opponent's meridians upon entry, leaving them without even the chance to circulate their energy and force out the poison.
The instant the silver needles touched his body, a system notification chimed in Chen Zui’s mind.
【Fatal toxin attack on host detected. Passive permanent Trait “Immune to Ten Thousand Poisons” has been automatically triggered.】
【Immune to Ten Thousand Poisons: Grants immunity to ten thousand instances of poison. Now in effect. Current uses expended: 1/10000.】
Chen Zui smiled faintly.
The spear in his hands suddenly erupted with thick black qi, the shaft vibrating and giving off a low hum like the wailing of a ghost.
【Thirteen Ghost Shadow Spears Sixth Form: Ten Thousand Ghosts Devouring Souls】
Spear shadows blotted out the sky.
This thrust was the most ferocious form among the Thirteen Ghost Shadow Spears.
As the spearhead struck out, sinister winds howled in fury, and the air was torn open in a black fissure!
The entire curtain of rain was stirred into utter darkness by the sheer might of this spear.
Countless ghost shadows, carrying Chen Zui’s Mountain-Viewing Realm internal energy, surged toward Cao Zhengchun like a tidal wave!
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