Chapter Thirty: Dragon and Tiger Fight

  Ao Lie still held the long spear with both hands, standing casually. His entire body was full of openings, but it was precisely because there were too many openings that it made it impossible for others to find a weakness, achieving an effect of having no openings at all.

  Zhao Yun did not rush to launch an attack, and like Zhang Xiu, after making the "Welcome Phoenix" gesture, he stood quietly, secretly observing Cao Lie's subtle movements.

  Wang Ao saw Zhao Yun's movements and had a deeper intuitive understanding of his talent. He turned to Tong Yuan and said in a low voice, "Not bad, steady and calm, with the demeanor of a great general." Tong Yuan smiled and nodded, but didn't say anything.

  Time slowly passed, and Ao Lie and Zhao Yun faced each other for a whole incense stick's worth of time. Neither of them launched an attack, instead using their eyes to observe each other, intending to find the other's weakness. However, it was very clear that both people failed, neither of them able to find the other's weakness.

  No flaw, then create a flaw. Ao Lie's eyebrows slightly furrowed, causing a bead of sweat on his forehead to slide down, and Ao Lie took the opportunity to close his eyes. Zhao Yun, in the instant Ao Lie closed his eyes, made a circular motion with his spear and stabbed at Ao Lie.

  Suddenly, Ao Lie opened his eyes, with a hint of a smile still in them. Seeing Ao Lie's clear eyes and the smile in them, Zhao Yun knew he had been deceived, but being Zhao Yun, he didn't panic, changing his spear technique, the already thrust-out long spear suddenly changed its trajectory, from a stab to a lift, lifting upwards towards Ao Lie's right shoulder.

  Ao Lie's right hand loosened its grip on the gun handle, shifted two inches to the right, and then tightened its grip again. His right hand was below, his left hand above, and he raised the gun handle at an angle to block Zhao Yun's long spear. Ao Lie's move was still a block, but it was completely different from the one he used to block Zhang Xiu earlier. The angle, direction, and even the tilt of the gun handle were all different. This move caused Tong Yuan and Zhang Xiu to exclaim in surprise: "How is this possible?" Can the same move be used in reverse? And by slightly changing the tilt and grip of the gun, can you achieve the same effect as blocking? This was simply incredible.

  Tong Yuan turned his head to Wang Ao and said, "Brother, you've picked up a treasure!" Wang Ao smiled and responded casually, "It's okay, just barely passable." Tong Yuan almost rolled his eyes at the remark. What a joke! If this was just passable, then what about Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun under their own sect? "Brother, you're getting better at pretending, I can't take it," Tong Yuan muttered quietly. The two brothers had an extremely good relationship, so occasionally, Tong Yuan would also tease Wang Ao a bit.

  Zhoa Yun was also stunned by Ao Lie's reverse direction block, and he couldn't help but admire Ao Lie greatly in his heart. Ao Lie didn't know what Zhoa Yun was thinking, and now that he had finally lured Zhoa Yun into revealing an opening, he wasn't about to give up halfway. So, Ao Lie drew a circle with his long spear, painting the shape of a Tai Chi diagram in mid-air as he closed in on Zhoa Yun. Zhoa Yun retreated two steps, then launched the "Phoenix Descends Golden Crow" move from his Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear technique, striking at the center of Ao Lie's Tai Chi diagram with lightning speed.

  The Taiji diagram shattered in an instant, the two long guns lightly collided and then quickly separated. Ao Lie looked at Zhao Yun with surprise and admiration in his heart. Indeed, he was a famous general who left his name for thousands of years, and he could actually see through the secrets of the Taiji gun method. To know that the Taiji gun method was created more than 1,500 years later, it must be said that Zhao Yun's talent is against the sky.

  However, there is an existence that surpasses Zhao Yun's heavenly defying abilities, and that is Ao Lie, who has traveled through time from over two thousand years in the future! Not only does he possess the cultural accumulation and knowledge of over two thousand years later, but more importantly, Ao Lie was a practitioner of ancient martial arts in his past life, and had spent over twenty years honing his skills on the famous Wudang Mountain.

  At this moment, Ao Lie infused his arms with strength and unleashed the "Overlord's Armor-Stripping" move from his "Eighteen Slashes of the Reversal Hand", striking towards Zhao Yun's spear with a powerful slash. As he slashed down, another burst of wind-breaking sound was triggered. Zhao Yun watched as Ao Lie once again produced the wind-breaking sound and didn't dare to slacken off. His long spear followed his body in a circular motion before thrusting out from under his armpit, colliding with Ao Lie's spear.

  Clang——the sound of metal clashing fiercely came, Ao Lie's silk-like movements remained still, but Zhao Yun was knocked back three steps. Taking advantage of the momentum, Ao Lie chased up two steps, his long spear circling and pointing again, but this time it was no longer just a simple Taiji spear technique, but rather Ao Lie's self-created Taiji Eighteen Slashes. Zhao Yun furrowed his brow, unable to understand why Ao Lie would use such similar techniques, and although the two moves looked very alike, for some reason, Zhao Yun could feel that Ao Lie's previous and current circling and pointing were not completely identical techniques.

  Not having time to think carefully, Ao Lie's long spear had already drawn a Tai Chi diagram towards Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun retreated another step, using 70% of his strength to attack and 30% to defend, trying to stab the center of the Tai Chi diagram again. Just as the spearhead pierced the center of the Tai Chi diagram, Zhao Yun knew he had been deceived once more, and this move was indeed different from the previous one! In this collision, Ao Lie didn't use any strength at all, and Zhao Yun felt his long spear was like striking cotton, unable to exert any force. After successfully luring Zhao Yun into stabbing over with his long spear, Ao Lie changed his spear technique again when their two spears collided, using the "Sticking Character" trick from the Tai Chi Spear Method, wrapping around and pulling on Zhao Yun's spear shaft, causing his long spear to immediately change direction, almost flying out of his hand!

  Zhoa Yun drew his spear back and retreated, avoiding Ao Lie's long spear. He took a deep breath and shouted: "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix!" His spear suddenly stirred up a flurry of spear shadows, so fast that people only saw a fleeting shadow. In this fleeting shadow, a phoenix spreading its wings as if about to fly was outlined.

  In the hall, Wang Ao and Tong Yuan shouted in unison: "Good!" Zhang Xiang stood up, clenched his fists and loudly exclaimed: "Zi Long, your shooting skills are excellent!"

  Zhao Yun had also made up his mind, one move to decide the outcome! Ao Lie couldn't help but secretly praise him, and the long spear in his hand changed its moves again. With both hands grasping the long spear, he executed a series of rapid rotations, causing the entire spear to spin rapidly, and astonishingly, it formed a giant Tai Chi diagram shape in mid-air. Ao Lie shouted loudly: "Like sealing, like closing!"

  Then the two long spears clanged continuously, splashing sparks. It was like rain hitting banana leaves, and it was like a heavy downpour hitting the ground. The prolonged collision sound lasted for nearly a hundred times before stopping.

  Everyone looked towards the courtyard, Zhao Yun's long spear had also been knocked to the ground, just like Zhang Xiu's; it was clear that the outcome had been decided, and Ma Chao had defeated Zhao Yun. However, at this moment, Ma Chao was not feeling well either, his arms were showing signs of cramping from continuously wielding his long spear, and he couldn't stop trembling. Ma Chao inserted his spear into the ground and leaned on it for support, barely managing to maintain his standing posture.

  Zhao Yun was even more miserable than Ao Lie, not only was his long spear knocked to the ground, but even the sleeves on both arms were no exception, being pierced by Ao Lie's long spear with countless holes, now fluttering in the wind, just like dozens of butterflies swirling around Zhao Yun's arms. Zhao Yun's tiger mouth was also shattered, and fresh blood flowed down Zhao Yun's hand all the way to the ground. Although Ao Lie withdrew his force in time and did not cause major harm to Zhao Yun, he still caused minor injuries to Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun wanted to raise his arm to look at the wound, but both arms were numbed by Ao Lie's powerful shock, temporarily losing sensation, and could not be lifted at all.

  Ao Lie dropped the long spear in his hand, panting heavily as he walked step by step towards Zhao Yun. As he walked, he rummaged through his chest and pulled out some gold wound medicine. When he reached Zhao Yun's side, Ao Lie squatted down and carefully sprinkled the gold wound medicine onto Zhao Yun's wounds. Zhang Xiu hastily ran out of the main hall, first supporting Ao Lie to sit down and rest on one side, then taking over the gold wound medicine from Ao Lie to bandage Zhao Yun's wounds.

  Wang Ao laughed loudly in the hall: "Good! What a thrilling battle!" Everyone nodded in agreement, smiling.

  After a while, Ao Lie caught his breath and stood up to say to Zhao Yun: "I was not able to retrieve my spear, and accidentally injured Brother Zilong. Please don't take offense, Brother Zilong." Because Ao Lie was younger than both Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, he didn't dare call himself "older brother", so he could only use the first person singular to refer to himself.

  Zhao Yun smiled at Ao Lie under Zhang Xiu's support and said, "Thanks to my brother for sparing me earlier. Otherwise, I'm afraid my arms would have been crippled." Ao Lie hurriedly waved his hand and said, "We three are fellow disciples, and it's not right for brothers of the same school to hurt each other when competing and testing each other's skills. So, let's just drop it, Zilong."

  "Look, you two don't have to keep yielding to each other. You're not tired, but I am. Can't you see I'm supporting Zi Long? If you continue to yield, that's fine too. Brother Ao, why don't you support Zi Long and the two of you can go to the side and continue yielding? I'll head back to the main hall and take a seat."

  Ao Lie and Zhao Yun looked at Zhang Heng together, the three of them burst out laughing at the same time, a sense of trust and camaraderie between brothers was born among the three.

  The three of them supported each other as they returned to the hall. Ao Laozhang looked at their silhouettes and couldn't help but exclaim, "These three are truly dragons among men! Wang Shi, Tong Shi, you two have good fortune indeed, to have taken in such exceptional disciples." Wang Ao and Tong Yuan simultaneously turned their heads towards Ao Laozhang and said, "But we two brothers must congratulate Uncle on having a fine grandson!"

  "Ah, what a good grandson! What's his surname? It's Ao! He's my own flesh and blood!" Old Master Ao said with feigned anger. As he spoke, he turned to Liu Yu: "Bo An, tell me, isn't Lie Er my own grandson?" Liu Yu was forced to respond, his face twisted in discomfort: "Yes, yes, yes... hasn't Lie Er been a member of the Ao family since birth? You've been going on about this for ten years now, can't you just drop it?"

  Ao Lie listened to her grandfather and father's conversation, couldn't help but trip over her own feet, almost falling to the ground. Luckily, Zhang Xiu reached out in time to grab her arm, pulling her back up. However, after hearing Ao Laozhang and Liu Yu's conversation, Zhang Xiu couldn't help but want to laugh, yet didn't dare be rude, feeling stifled in his heart. He quickly pulled his hand back to cover his mouth, afraid of bursting out laughing. But in doing so, he neglected Ao Lie's awkward position, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground.

  Everyone in the hall, except for Ao Laozhang and Liu Yu, was already having a hard time holding back their laughter. Seeing Ao Lie's disheveled figure sprawled on the ground ignited everyone's funny bone, including Ao Laozhang and Liu Yu, who could no longer hold back and burst into loud laughter.

  The hall was suddenly filled with a warm and gentle laughter, rising and falling in waves.