"Well, Junior Sister, your Senior Brother hasn't had a proper fight with anyone in quite a few years. Let's just keep this to a friendly spar, alright?"
After giving this reminder, Chen Wuyou rather reluctantly drew his crimson Spirit Sword.
Without a word, Yu Luo simply drew a light, sharp Spirit Sword of her own and took her stance.
The disciples off the stage recognized the weapons in their hands almost instantly, letting out waves of gasps.
Both of these Spirit Swords were renowned Spirit Transformation Grade weapons. The one in Chen Wuyou's hand was called Chiyang, forged from the essence of blazing fire stones and refined with the Heart of Frost—wait, the Heart of Frost? No, the Chiyang sword was forged from the Heart of Fire, while Yu Luo's completely azure-blue Spirit Sword was called Shuangqu, forged from the essence of frost stones and refined with the Heart of Frost.
Fair to say, purely in terms of weapon quality, the two were evenly matched.
Thus, under the gaze of countless onlookers, their sparring match officially began.
The moment she started, Yu Luo poured her all into it. Her delicate hands fluttered as she formed seal after seal, executing the first form of Azure Sky Flowing Heavens within the span of a breath.
In an instant, the combat stage was once again shrouded in a thick mist.
Naturally, the figures of the two vanished from the sight of the disciples below.
"This mist can actually block spiritual sense perception?"
Chen Wuyou raised an eyebrow slightly, then tentatively waved the Chiyang Sword in his hand.
Instantly, under the scorching heat of the flames ignited by the Chiyang Sword, the mist began to disperse rapidly. But after just a moment, an even denser mist filled the void the Chiyang Sword had just carved out.
At this, the corners of Chen Wuyou's mouth hooked up, and he called out, "It seems Junior Sister wants to play hide-and-seek. Heh, well, Senior Brother happens to be quite good at this."
With that, a thought crossed Chen Wuyou's mind, and Shadow-Tracing Arts activated instantly, scattering his entire figure like a ghost into the mist.
The spectating disciples below were completely baffled for a moment.
When Yu Luo was fighting Wang Meng, even though they couldn't see clearly what was happening, they could at least hear the sounds of fighting. But what was this situation now?
Were they playing some kind of mental flashback?
Little did they know that while they were still stunned, Chen Wuyou had already used Shadow-Tracing Arts to shuttle back and forth through the mist dozens of times.
Based on his experience, turning spiritual power into mist consumed a tremendous amount of energy to begin with, let alone creating and continuously replenishing such a large-scale mist. Therefore, this move definitely had an unknown secret.
And that secret was the weakness of this move.
"Where could it be..."
After another shuttle, Chen Wuyou flew up and hovered briefly above the combat arena, looking down at the whole picture.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yu Luo stepped with light footwork from below, swinging her sword upward toward Chen Wuyou.
"Oh, hello there, Junior Sister." Chen Wuyou showed no panic whatsoever; he even had time to greet her casually before calmly meeting her sword with his own.
To his surprise, the moment their swords met, Yu Luo suddenly flicked her wrist, and the Shuangqu sword in her hand slid right along the blade of the Chiyang, thrusting forward from the side.
Chen Wuyou couldn't help but praise Yu Luo's combat skills, a hint of genuine seriousness entering his eyes.
Accordingly, Chen Wuyou splayed the five fingers of the hand holding his sword, braced his palm against the pommel of the Chiyang, and then shoved the sword forward hard. Utilizing the recoil, he instantly spun a full circle in the air, lightly tapped the tip of his foot on the blade of the Shuangqu, and leveraged that almost imperceptible, tiny fulcrum to activate Shadow-Tracing Arts once more, flashing behind Yu Luo.
In the flash of a spark, the passive party reversed once again.
Yet looking at Yu Luo's back, Chen Wuyou grew a bit troubled.
He simply couldn't bring himself to strike her.
Yet the moment Chen Wuyou hesitated, Yu Luo, whose single strike had failed, melted back into the mist.
Chen Wuyou landed steadily on the ground.
Over the next dozen breaths, the two exchanged dozens of moves in rapid succession.
"This won't do, I need to think of a way. If I win, I have to win with grace; if I lose, I can't lose too miserably."
Landing once more, Chen Wuyou drove the Chiyang sword into the ground and channeled his spiritual energy into the blade.
"Flame Meteor Explosion."
As his words fell, a hemispherical wave of blazing flames erupted from the Chiyang sword, raging in all directions and instantly evaporating a massive amount of mist.
Chen Wuyou knew that Yu Luo wouldn't attack him from wherever she was at this moment, so he simply closed his eyes and spread his spiritual sense outward.
In an instant, Chen Wuyou scanned almost the entire combat stage.
"So you're over there." Chen Wuyou hooked the corner of his lips and took flight once more.
Since the spiritual power of the Xuanling First Layer couldn't offset the impact of the mist dissipating, there must be something turning the mist back into spiritual power!
A rune radiating a faint blue light was quietly floating above the combat stage, falling into Chen Wuyou's sight at that exact moment.
"Found you." Chen Wuyou slashed crimson sword qi toward the rune.
"Dream on." With a sudden sharp cry, Yu Luo's slender figure materialized, and she swung the Shuangqu to shatter the sword qi.
Seizing the momentum, Chen Wuyou waved his sword in continuous slashes, blasting out several more streaks of sword qi.
Seeing Chen Wuyou's aggressive onslaught, Yu Luo suddenly drew in a deep breath and slowly closed her eyes.
This sight almost frightened Chen Wuyou's eyeballs right out of their sockets. "Hey, hey, Junior Sister, if you can't block it, at least dodge! Someone as pretty as you can't afford to get hurt!"
He hadn't even had a proper chance to admire such a pretty face yet!
To Chen Wuyou's surprise, the instant before the sword qi closed in on her, Yu Luo suddenly snapped her eyes open, transforming into a blue streak of light that shattered the sword qi one after another and stabbed straight toward the space right in front of Chen Wuyou's eyes.
Azure Sky Flowing Heavens, Third Form, Frost Assault.
Acting as if he didn't care at all about this close-range attack, Chen Wuyou let out a lingering sigh of relief before his gaze suddenly sharpened.
"Flame Shadow."
The tip of the Shuangqu sword was practically grazing Chen Wuyou's forehead.
"Senior Brother, you lose." Confidence of victory flashed in Yu Luo's eyes.
"Is that so, Junior Sister?" Chen Wuyou tilted his head.
The very next moment, Yu Luo's slender body suddenly stiffened, and she looked behind her in sheer disbelief.
She sensed a gaze identical to the one down below.
A surging blast of frosty air instantly blew her away. In her daze, she saw Chen Wuyou hovering with his sword where the rune used to be, giving her a wink.
"How is this possible, two of..."
Yu Luo landed on the ground somewhat unsteadily.
As the rune was shattered into nothingness, the mist shrouding the entire arena slowly dissipated along with it.
Thus, the situation on the stage was once again laid bare before the watching disciples.
And then, the entire crowd erupted in uproar once more.
The Azure Sky Flowing Heavens had actually been broken!
"Junior Sister, shall we continue?"
Chen Wuyou looked at Yu Luo and asked.
At that moment, Chen Wuyou was praying to the heavens and earth that Yu Luo would call it a draw, so he could drag her back for a meal and talk about the colorful wonders of life...
Unfortunately, while the idea was wonderful, reality was cruel. Yu Luo's gaze remained steadfast, her fighting spirit soaring to the heavens.
"Yu Luo has one last move, and wishes to ask Senior Brother for your guidance."
Knowing he couldn't dodge it, Chen Wuyou could only say, "Please make your move, Junior Sister."
Immediately afterward, Chen Wuyou noticed the surrounding spiritual energy beginning to converge frantically toward Yu Luo.
Yu Luo closed her eyes. As her arms slowly raised, a pair of blue wings gradually materialized behind her.
Her fingers danced like a brush before her, inscribing profound and arcane runes. Her slender figure gradually became surrounded by flowing water; she spread her wings and rose into the air, her form growing increasingly hazy.
Down below, an older, more experienced disciple stared blankly at Yu Luo on the combat stage, muttering under his breath, "I never expected it would actually be..."
"Azure Sky Flowing Heavens, Final Form." Yu Luo opened her eyes, bursting with dazzling radiance. With a gentle touch of her delicate hand before her, the rune shattered into tens of thousands of starlights.
"Flowing Patterns, Sky Fracture."
Chen Wuyou frowned slightly. He wanted to activate the Shadow-Tracing Arts, only to suddenly realize that at some unknown point, he had already been trapped inside a crystal-clear water prison.
"Locked down?"
The next moment, tens of thousands of starlights transformed into countless fine and sharp water needles, carrying the hazy, overwhelming beauty of a pouring rainstorm as they assailed Chen Wuyou from all directions.
Chen Wuyou's gaze condensed. Facing this inescapable attack, and to everyone's utter surprise, he actually put away the Chiyang sword in his hand.
Down below, a heavy look of deep worry appeared on Shangguan Mo's delicate face, terrified that Chen Wuyou might get hurt by this move.
Yet.
Chen Wuyou simply swept his hand across his chest, and tiny black spots of light emerged behind him.
"Reverse."
Chen Wuyou slammed his hands together. The black spots of light swelled abruptly, first shooting out several dark pillars of light before detonating with a roar.
Consequently, a dark purple radiance engulfed the combat stage.
Following that came a deafening roar.
Buzz buzz!!!
The protective barrier trembled with unprecedented violence.
During those brief few moments, looking at the virtually disappearing combat stage, everyone held their breath.
The light gradually dissipated.
The disciples were astonished to find that both Chen Wuyou and Yu Luo were standing intact upon the combat stage.
A subtle smile lingered on the corner of Chen Wuyou's mouth, while Yu Luo looked as cold and aloof as ever.
Who won?
That was what everyone was eager to know at that exact moment.
And so, under the gaze of countless concerned eyes, the two of them spoke simultaneously.
"I lost."