Chapter Seven: The Art of Fighting

  Yuan Futong rushed to the mountain beside the valley where the two rays of light landed, and found that the two cultivators were already engaged in a fierce battle. Yuan Futong hid behind a huge boulder on the mountainside, secretly watching the fight between the two men.

  Two streaks of light, one red and one black, were entwined in mid-air, resembling two flying swords. Two people stood on the ground, their hands forming a spell to control the swords. One was slender with a pale complexion, wearing a black brocade robe embroidered with a golden turtle pattern, and had a yellow gourd and a small pouch hanging from his waist. The other was short and stout with a ruddy complexion, dressed in a red long gown with a fiery bird pattern on the chest and back, and wore two red gourds and a small pouch around his neck.

  Two people directed flying swords entwined in battle, their mouths also didn't stop.

  "Turtle Daoist, don't be too presumptuous! This Wind Spirit Grass is a tribute to the Lieyang Sect. Do you dare to snatch it?"

  "Tribute? Didn't you just snatch this thing from those two ordinary people earlier? How did it suddenly become a tribute to the Liuyang Sect?"

  "Our Yuan family has been offering spiritual medicine and spiritual stones to the Lieyang Sect every year. This Fenglingcao is specifically collected by the Lieyang Sect, of course it's a tribute, you're just a loose cultivator daring to rob something from the Lieyang Sect, don't you want your life?"

  "Haha, Yuan Xing, you don't have to put on a big show. The Lieyang Sect doesn't allow robbery of ordinary people within the inner mountain, but didn't you do just that? Not only did you steal things, but you also killed and silenced them. If I hadn't discovered the spiritual energy fluctuations and gone to investigate, who knows how long it would have taken to discover what good stuff you had stolen? How can you rob others, yet not allow me, a Turtle Dao person, to rob you for once?"

  "Alright, if you're confident in taking me down, then come on. We both have cultivation of refining Qi at the 10th level, I may not be as fast as you in flight, but in a fight, I'm afraid you won't be able to handle me!"

  "Of course I have confidence in winning you over, otherwise why would I be chasing after you?"

  "Alright, let's see what you're capable of today!"

  Yuan Xing, with a red face, recalled his flying sword and patted the bag at his waist. A square shield flew out of the bag and blocked the black flying sword that followed. The black flying sword changed direction several times but was firmly blocked by the shield, unable to get close to Yuan Xing's body. Yuan Xing then took out three talismans from the bag. On the yellow talisman, mysterious spells were drawn with bright red cinnabar. With a wave of his hand, three fire dragons flew out and pounced on Turtle Daoist. The talismans in his hand burned to ashes.

  "Fire Dragon Technique, three cards in one go. Looks like you're quite wealthy, but with this move, you're still far from being able to compete with me." The Tortoise Daoist calmly recalled his flying sword and took out a small bag from his waist.

  Tiao Jin Pa. Jin Pa welcomed the wind and immediately lengthened, emitting a light screen to protect the Turtle Path person. Three fire dragons pounced in front of the Turtle Path person, but were blocked by the light screen and couldn't advance even half a point.

  "Liúyún Pà, how did this thing end up in your hands? This is the magical instrument of Liúyún Xiānzǐ. Could it be that last time you went to Xiǎo Dānxiá Jìng, Liúyún Xiānzǐ died at your hands?"

  "Heh heh, can't talk nonsense, this is a treasure I bought from the market, as for who killed Liu Yun, I don't know."

  "You're a notorious lone thief, infamous throughout the Song Kingdom. You've robbed low-level cultivators and done all sorts of evil deeds." The three fire dragons released by Yuan Xing had disappeared, but they couldn't penetrate the light screen of Liu Yun's Flowing Clouds Pa. Feeling anxious, he gritted his teeth and took out two more talismans from his bag, the cinnabar on which was a dark red color.

  "Xuanhuo cone, hehe, finally brought out something like that." The tortoise path person has always been fearless and calm. He doesn't seem to be in a hurry to attack, but rather speaks to tease Yuan Xing while observing his moves.

  Yuan Xing released two pieces of Xuán Huǒ Zhuī twice, and the two talismans formed a fist-sized fire cone that rushed towards Guī Dào Rén. The light screen formed by Liú Yún Pà was smashed into two large holes, but was blocked by a turtle shell sacrificed by Guī Dào Rén, which dissipated after being hit once.

  Yuan Xing saw that the Turtle Daoist had put away the Flowing Clouds Pa, and was holding up a signboard-shaped magical tool, the Turtle Shell. He knew that the Turtle Daoist was about to launch an attack, and if he didn't bring out something real today, he might really be left behind by this famous lone thief of the cultivation world. As expected, as soon as the Turtle Daoist put away the Flowing Clouds Pa, he slapped his waist and a black water burst forth from the yellow gourd on his back, transforming into a water dragon that pounced towards Yuan Xing. Yuan Xing hastily transmitted magical energy to his shield. The shield expanded to block the black water, but the black water had strong corrosive properties and quickly corroded the surface of the shield until it was covered in holes. Just as it was about to shatter, Yuan Xing took advantage of the opportunity to pull out a small golden bell from his bag with a pained expression, holding it above his head. A golden light screen enveloped Yuan Xing, blocking the black water that had broken through the shield's defenses. The shield shrunk down to the size of a palm and fell to the ground, its surface already corroded beyond recognition. Seeing that the golden bell had blocked the Turtle Daoist's famous black water, Yuan Xing let out a sigh of relief, sat cross-legged on the ground, took out a piece of spiritual stone to absorb spiritual energy, and recovered his magical energy.

  "Top-grade defensive artifact, it seems that the Yuan family has really made a fortune!" The Turtle Daoist saw that the black water couldn't break through the Golden Bell's defense and knew he had encountered something good. This black water was refined by the Turtle Daoist from Xuan Water, and he added a lot of blood pollution, evil poison, and other things to it, making it a secret recipe. It was best at corroding others' artifacts, and even high-grade artifacts couldn't withstand it. The Golden Bell could easily resist the black water's erosion, so it must be a top-grade artifact. Seeing Yuan Xing holding a mid-grade spirit stone to recover his spiritual power, the Turtle Daoist didn't dare to be careless. He quickly put away the black water in the gourd and solemnly took out a folding fan. With a serious expression, he chanted some words, and a stone mountain flew out of the fan, pressing down on the light shield formed by the Golden Bell. The light shield was instantly pressed into a creaking sound, but the stone mountain couldn't push it down for the time being.

  Yuan Xing saw the folding fan, his face changed greatly, and he couldn't help but retrieve his magic power. He took down the red gourd from his waist and aimed it at Guiren. Dozens of red bullets flew out of the gourd's mouth, exploding loudly on the turtle shell. The explosion deafened Yuan Futong's ears. The accumulated snow on the mountain was triggered by the explosion, causing a sudden avalanche. At this time, Yuan Futong was about one mile away from the valley where the two were fighting, hiding behind a large rock on the half-mountain waist, secretly watching the battle. When the avalanche came, Yuan Futong didn't dare to run, fearing that he would disturb the two people who were fighting. He let the avalanche bury him. After the avalanche passed, he dug his way out again.

  The two people who were fighting in the valley didn't care about the avalanche. The snow piled up around them, but they couldn't get close to each other's light shields.

  "Yuan Xing, your Dry Yang Thunder can't break my Linggui Shield. Spare yourself." As he spoke, he accelerated the flow of spiritual energy into his folding fan, trying to suppress the Golden Bell as soon as possible.

  Yuan Xing saw that the gourd's dry yang thunder had no effect, and the tortoise path person was pressing in tightly. He fiercely threw the gourd onto the snowy ground. Gnashing his teeth, he took out another gray sword-shaped talisman from his bag. Holding the talisman in his hands, he sat on the ground and began to channel his magical energy into it.

  Gu Dao Ren was shocked and lost his composure when he saw the talisman in Yuan Xing's hand.

  "Fu Bao! How could you possibly have a Fu Bao?"

  "It's you who forced me. Let's see if your turtle shell can withstand this talisman's blow."

  "Wait until you can activate the symbol treasure before talking." The tortoise path person said, biting his tongue tip fiercely, a mouthful of blood spurted onto the folding fan, and Stone Mountain pressed down violently, Golden Bell was about to be overwhelmed. The tortoise path person knew that today's situation had become a life-and-death struggle, neither side would let the other go. A moment of hesitation would result in death and destruction. So, at all costs, he wanted to kill him before Yuan Xing activated the symbol treasure.

  Talismans are just the power of magical artifacts compressed onto talisman paper. They can exert about one percent of the power of a magical artifact. The power of magical artifacts is too far away for tortoise path cultivators. Cultivators' weapons include talisman paper, magical instruments, spiritual instruments, magical artifacts, and spiritual artifacts. Generally, Qi-refining stage cultivators can only use various first- and second-grade talismans. Only when they reach the fourth layer of Qi-refining can they start using magical instruments. Only when they reach the twelfth layer of Qi-refining, the Great Perfection, can they use spiritual instruments. Foundation-building cultivators generally use spiritual instruments; poorer ones use top-grade magical instruments. Talisman paper is basically useless by then. Especially after the middle stage of foundation building, the power of the spells stored in talismans is not even comparable to the power of the spells one can cast with a flick of their wrist, so talismans exit the stage of spell battles. Only when cultivators reach the Great Perfection of foundation building and condense their Earthly Fiend Heavenly Rampart can they barely use magical artifacts. Being able to use them doesn't mean they have magical artifacts to use. It's rare to see anyone using magical artifacts during the foundation-building stage. During the Golden Core stage, only a few core disciples from super-large sects can use magical artifacts. Magical artifacts are usually the exclusive domain of high-level cultivators in the Embryonic Breath stage. As for spiritual artifacts, it's basically unheard of for anyone to have used them.

  The Fu Bao is a special type of talisman, even Golden Elixir cultivators occasionally use it. The Fu Bao is created by compressing part of the power of a magic treasure into an extremely high-quality paper, which is then carved with intricate patterns. These items are usually given to junior cultivators who have a close relationship with the Nascent Soul stage cultivator and lack self-defense capabilities. The power of the Fu Bao varies greatly, with some being much stronger than others. If a powerful magic treasure is used to create a Fu Bao by a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, its power can be even more formidable than a top-grade spiritual artifact's full-power strike. Even the weakest Fu Bao can unleash an attack at the level of a spiritual artifact. A Fu Bao can only be used ten times before it collapses, but most cannot withstand that many uses. Generally, a good Fu Bao can be used eight times. The minimum requirement to use a Fu Bao is to have reached the 9th layer of Qi Refining. When using a Fu Bao, one must absorb a large amount of magical energy; the higher the magical energy, the greater the power unleashed.

  Actually, Yuan Xing and Gui Dao Ren were already wealthy in the cultivation world during their Qi Refining period. They both had top-grade artifacts to protect themselves and attack with. One of them even took out a talisman. Although this talisman was made from low-grade materials and wasn't very powerful, it was basically unbeatable at this level. Even inner disciples of the Dà Mén Pài weren't necessarily stronger than them, which is why they were so reckless in fighting openly in an area where Lìè Yáng Zōng's disciples might appear. Unfortunately, neither of them expected the other to be so tough. What was supposed to be an easy fight forced them to use their ultimate moves. Especially Yuan Xing's talisman, which he had spent a huge price to obtain as a lifesaving measure, could only be used twice, and now he was about to use it for the first time, causing him great pain in his heart.

  "Killing him will make up for all losses." Both of them thought at the same time and simultaneously intensified their transmission of magical power.