Chapter 48: The Great War of Nan Hua

  The knife's aura was sharp and swift, almost in the blink of an eye it had already arrived before his eyes. Nan Hua was startled by this sudden change, fortunately, over a hundred years of cultivation were not in vain, although his heart was shocked, but his hands moved swiftly.

  With a wave of the staff in his hand, a burst of clashing metal sounds rang out, and Liu Xuan even saw a few sparks flash by. The staff, which didn't look extraordinary at all, was actually as hard as steel, truly astonishing.

  However, Liu Xuan's move was not entirely ineffective. The powerful force pushed Nan Hua back continuously, and he even had to jump backward in the end, jumping out of the window from the study room, barely dissipating the force of this blow.

  Liu Xuan saw Nan Hua jump out, and immediately took several big strides to the window, then also jumped out. The long sword in his hand followed through with a stroke, bringing up a red glow, preventing himself from being ambushed by that old man when he jumped out.

  But when he landed, he found that he had made a useless move. Nan Hua was standing two zhang away, holding a staff in his hand. He then placed the staff horizontally in front of him, muttering to himself, and with a wave of his right hand on the staff, a blue light flashed out. Although the staff didn't seem to have changed outwardly, Liu Xuan could feel that it had acquired a powerful force, making it capable of becoming as deadly as a sharp weapon.

  While sizing up Nan Hua, Liu Xuan took a glance around and saw several guards lying on the ground in the courtyard. It seemed that they were the ones who had been knocked down by Nan Hua when he arrived.

  Perhaps seeing Liu Xuan observing the several corpses around him, Nan Hua Lao Xian coldly smiled and said: "Actually since my few disciples died, I have been seeking an opportunity to come and avenge those useless disciples. However, Luoyang City is heavily guarded with many soldiers and the imperial palace also has many guards stationed inside, and there's also that Daoist named Shi on the side, so it's really hard to find a suitable opportunity."

  "I didn't want you to take the wrong path, leaving Luoyang and running all the way to Chang'an. The imperial palace of Chang'an is much easier to enter than that of Luoyang..."

  Nan Hua said that, Liu Xuan only then knew why Nan Hua Lao Xian had been quiet all these years and now came to find him for trouble.

  It was because when I was in Luoyang, I lived in the depths of the palace, with guards everywhere, and although the imperial court had declined, the dragon energy had not completely dissipated. The imperial city still received the protection of the dragon energy, so Nan Hua's various magical techniques were severely restricted in this environment, which is why he never made a move.

  After Liu Xuan moved the capital to Chang'an, there were fewer soldiers around him. At the same time, the imperial palace in Chang'an was dilapidated and many places had been unrepaired for years, so naturally not many guards would be sent to patrol those areas, giving Nan Hua Lao Xian an opportunity to sneak into the palace.

  What's more, these days they are widely recruiting civilians to enter the palace and repair various palaces. With many people coming in and out, the chances of sneaking in have greatly increased.

  The most important thing is that although Chang'an City was also the capital of the Han Dynasty, it has been two hundred years ago. By now, the dragon energy had long since dissipated cleanly, and Liu Xuan had not yet cultivated new dragon energy here. Seeing this excellent opportunity, Nan Hua Lao Xian naturally would not miss it, so he sneaked into the palace, wanting to get rid of Liu Xuan in one fell swoop.

  It was just that no one had expected Liu Xuan to be an extraordinary person, and the previous blow had already made Nan Hua realize that this young master could not only drive the dragon energy but also have a mature use of the law, which is absolutely impossible for someone who doesn't understand the mysteries.

  "Even if you are well-versed in mystic arts, today you will still be unable to escape death."

  With a swing of his staff, Liu Xuan felt a gust of wind behind his head and immediately rolled to the side, barely avoiding the attack. He looked up to see that what had just struck him was a boulder about the size of two watermelons.

  This trick is not a rare move in Taoist magic, but just a small skill in the flying sand and walking stone. When the Yellow Turban bandits were rampant all over the world, Zhang Jiao's three brothers relied on this trick to disrupt the official army's formation, and then took advantage of it to kill the officers and soldiers until they were defeated.

  At that time, the move made by Zhang Jiao and his two brothers was earth-shaking, with dust flying everywhere and countless rocks mixed in. However, its killing power was actually quite ordinary. Except for some unlucky soldiers who died directly under this move, the number of deaths was not high. Most casualties were caused by the chaos of the formation, trampling each other, and subsequent attacks.

  At that time, Zhang Jiao's magic was the strongest, and the stones rolled up by the flying sand and walking rocks were no bigger than a fist. Which can be compared to this one in front of us? Nan Hua Lao Xian casually waved his hand, and it was as big as this piece. If used in war, giant rocks would fall from the sky, causing heavy casualties.

  Of course, it's also possible that Nan Hua Lao Xian emphasized the killing power, but the range of the attack was not large. For example, at this moment, he could only move a huge stone to attack Liu Xuan, rather than a large piece of rock falling directly down, but this possibility is a bit low.

  Liu Xuan was pondering in his heart, when suddenly the artificial hill nearby exploded, and countless rocks came flying towards him. Seeing this scene, Liu Xuan immediately knew that his previous guess had been wrong. Just now, Nan Hua didn't use a large stone to crush him not because he couldn't do it, but because there was no suitable stone at hand.

  Such an attack, dense and inescapable, Liu Xuan had no choice but to dance his long sword into a ball of light. Others who saw it only saw a large patch of red light enveloping Liu Xuan, and any stone that came into contact with this red light was either chopped into powder or knocked aside.

  A burst of crackling and crashing sounds, when the dust settled, Liu Xuan was still standing proudly in the distance, Nan Hua Lao Xian saw it from the side, couldn't help but be even more astonished.

  "This son is skilled in martial arts and also understands the dark magic of the mystic school. If he is not eliminated, he will surely become a great calamity."

  With a wave of his hand, the staff pointed towards Liu Xuan from afar. A gray misty fog slowly drifted out from the top of the staff, and after a moment, it turned black with a hint of dark purple visible within. The mere sight of this smoke made one feel dizzy, and Liu Xuan knew something was amiss. His long sword immediately flashed out in three consecutive half-moon slashes.

  At the same time, he took the opportunity to charge forward, wanting to get close to Nan Hua and engage in close combat. Otherwise, being in an awkward period himself, if he continued to fight from a distance, he would only become more and more passive.

  Ke Nan Hua Lao Xian was not a fool, how could he let Liu Xuan approach him at will? In this moment, he had already seen that Liu Xuan's martial arts were powerful and his physical strength was also extremely strong. Just now, when he had withstood the flying sand and walking stones, it wasn't any magic trick, but purely physical strength.

  If Liu Xuan gets close, Nan Hua Lao Xian can't withstand his sword for a few moves, so he must keep his distance and use some magic to consume his energy from afar. When he's exhausted, then go in for the killing blow.

  The only trouble is that Liu Xuan has dragon energy protecting his body, ordinary magic or some relatively sinister evil spells are ineffective against him, and can only be used with some magic to fight him head-on, which makes Nan Hua very unhappy.

  "Poisonous smoke!"

  As soon as he spoke out the name of the spell, the black purple smoke on the top of his staff immediately turned into a tornado and rolled straight towards Liu Xuan.

  The poisonous smoke had not yet reached the front, but a strange and eerie fragrance had already made Liu Xuan somewhat apprehensive. He had only smelled a little of it, and he felt his head getting dizzy. Fortunately, the dragon energy was quite miraculous, and with a turn of the cloud energy inside his body, all the discomfort immediately disappeared.

  Even with the protection of dragon energy, Liu Xuan did not dare to be enveloped by this poisonous smoke - just smelling a little bit of it from afar had such a huge effect. If he were to be directly enveloped, perhaps his own flesh and bones would immediately be corroded by the massive poison, which was not something that could be withstood solely by relying on the special effects of dragon energy. Therefore, it was still best to dodge.

  Nan Hua Lao Xian saw Liu Xuan wanting to dodge, his hand holding the cane made a turn, that black purple smoke suddenly turned in mid-air, and once again rolled towards Liu Xuan.

  "What a nuisance!"

  Liu Xuan cursed under his breath and slightly adjusted the direction, then the Chi Xiao sword in his hand suddenly flew out of his hand and was thrown directly at the black purple poisonous smoke.

  His actions were too unexpected, and Nan Hua Lao Xian had never expected that someone would throw away the weapon in his hand to block his poisonous smoke.

  This move is more like a desperate attempt to vent one's anger, and it doesn't make any sense at all - that Red Cloud Sword does have some mysterious power, but without someone to wield it, the power in the sword can't be brought out, not to mention that the power in the sword seems to have no special effect on a cloud of smoke.

  At this time, Nan Hua Lao Xian only thought that Liu Xuan was young and vigorous, and under the extreme circumstances, he had done something foolish. He thought that the young man was certainly doomed to die, and couldn't help but smile slightly, relaxing a bit. The hand holding the staff was no longer held horizontally in front of him, but instead held in one hand, while the other hand stroked his beard with a self-satisfied smile.

  He didn't know that Liu Xuan was waiting for the moment he relaxed, and after adjusting his direction while hiding, Liu Xuan suddenly burst out with all his strength and rushed forward. At the same time, his left hand pointed at Chi Xiangjian who had been enveloped by the poisonous smoke, and he whispered a sentence:

  Scorching

  This move, like the Half Moon Slash, was also something he came up with back then to teach his disciples. Its original source was still a low-level skill from that game he played at the time. After he modified it himself, he could actually use it, but since his cultivation was already so strong and he had countless magical artifacts, this kind of move wasn't really useful. It just so happened that these moves were all quite useful now.

  Originally, Liu Xuan couldn't use his dragon energy at all, but by borrowing the dragon energy from the Chi Xiao sword, he could barely use this move. The only drawback was that it had to be used within a certain range of the long sword, and now he couldn't get close to the poisonous smoke, so he simply threw the long sword into the poisonous smoke, which was also for this purpose.

  All that was heard was a loud rumble, and a burst of flames suddenly flashed out, the scorching heat in the center of the toxic smoke caused it to explode directly, even if a small part did not explode, it was also sent high into the air by the shockwave and heat generated by the explosion, slowly dispersing naturally, no longer a concern.

  At the same time, taking advantage of this explosive force, Liu Xuan's speed suddenly accelerated again, and in one breath, he rushed to the front of Nan Hua Lao Xian. With a flip of his right hand, the long knife that had been stored in his divine consciousness was already grasped in his hand. Before Nan Hua Lao Xian could react, he made a direct slash upwards at an angle, sending a large piece of crimson flying towards the sky.