Fierce fighting

At this moment, Gu Yang's entire body was covered in dense runes, surging with light, and his aura was erupting; Long Chen felt as if he were being stared at by a ferocious beast.

Gu Yang's strength was unquestionable, but deep within his Soul, there was an arrogant will that did not allow him to retreat even half a step, nor did it even permit the thought of retreating to arise.

Even knowing he was not the opponent's match, and even if it meant dying at the other's hands, he was not allowed to retreat half a step; this made Long Chen complain bitterly in his heart.

Knowing he could not win yet not being allowed to run—how foolish a behavior this was. However, he knew that once he retreated, his Dao Heart would suffer a setback, which could very likely cause him to fall into a slump and give rise to a Heart Demon.

Taking a deep breath, since he could not retreat, he would fight. Long Chen slowly closed his eyes, the Fengfu Star suddenly becoming motionless as he prepared to summon the Fengfu Battle Body.

"Gale Slash!"

Suddenly, a delicate shout came, and a massive wind blade slashed heavily toward Gu Yang.

"Boom!"

Gu Yang let out a muffled groan and was sent flying by that terrifying wind blade. The wind blade's momentum remained undiminished, carving a deep trench into the ground.

A graceful figure appeared before Long Chen. With her clothes fluttering and long hair dancing in the air, looking as elegant as an immortal, it was none other than Tang Waner who had arrived.

"Leave this Gu Yang to me, Long Chen. You go protect everyone. Just hold on a little longer, and we will be victorious."

Tang Waner's eyes were fixed tightly on Gu Yang. With a clasp of her jade hands, surging Spiritual Qi poured out, and wind blades filled the sky, tightly surrounding her.

The wind blades spun rapidly like dancing flowers, cutting through the Void Realm, while simultaneously, a long sword appeared in Tang Waner's hand.

It was a long sword composed of wind blades; the terrifying power of the wind caused the space around the sword to twist incessantly.

Runes lit up on the long sword, as if it had been imbued with life, roaring incessantly with surging Battle Intent.

This was Tang Waner in her peak state. At this moment, she stood there quietly, looking like a beautiful female war god.

Long Chen nodded. It was most appropriate to leave this to Tang Waner; among these people, only Tang Waner was qualified to be Gu Yang's opponent. Moving his feet, he rushed toward the direction of his own team.

Gu Yang looked at Tang Waner: "Are you truly unwilling to join forces with me?"

Tang Waner did not speak, only looking at him coldly. The wind blades around her body rotated rapidly, ready to strike at any moment.

Gu Yang gave a cold snort: "Since you are so unappreciative, don't blame me for being ruthless."

With a cold shout, runes lit up all over Gu Yang's body once again, shining with dazzling light. His fists were wrapped in a faint golden glow as he smashed a punch toward Tang Waner.

Tang Waner slashed down with the wind blade in her hand. The wind blade collided with the fist, erupting with a thunderous roar.

The ground beneath their feet immediately split apart, and both of them flew backward simultaneously. However, in the process of flying backward, Tang Waner let out a delicate shout.

"Wind Shadow Stab!"

As Tang Waner moved her mind, the wind blades around her immediately gathered together, forming an arrow that flew toward Gu Yang, reaching him in the blink of an eye.

Gu Yang was startled. Without a second thought, he punched out, shattering the massive arrow.

The arrow was shattered, but it did not explode; instead, it scattered, remaining as individual, tiny wind blades.

After the wind blades scattered, they immediately swarmed toward Gu Yang like a hive of bees. If it were an ordinary person, they would have been sliced to pieces by the ten thousand blades.

Gu Yang was also taken aback. He had not expected Tang Waner's attacks to be so agile, and Tang Waner's wind blades were extremely powerful; even he did not dare to be cut by them.

"Vajra Protection!"

Gu Yang roared, blocking with his fists in front of his chest. Suddenly, his entire body shone with intense light, like a sun, and those pervasive wind blades were immediately shattered into dust.

Ling Yunzi, who was watching the battle from afar, smiled slightly and said: "This Gu Yang is very strong. He awakened his Ancestral Runes two years ago; his talent is quite good."

Tu Fang nodded and said: "Gu Yang is indeed powerful and possesses unique talent. His Physique perfectly meets the requirements of his ancestral Bloodline; it has a hint of atavism."

"However, his Aptitude is not higher than Tang Waner's. Tang Waner is at a disadvantage because she just awakened her Ancestral Runes and has not yet fully synchronized with them."

"Who do you think is stronger?" Ling Yunzi took a sip of fragrant tea and said indifferently.

"I think that for now, Gu Yang is stronger. However, in half a year, they might be evenly matched, and in a year, Tang Waner will absolutely be able to defeat him completely," Tu Fang said very confidently.

Ling Yunzi also nodded and said: "A year from now is exactly when the Nine Li Secret Realm opens. This group of children will be able to make it just in time."

Tu Fang smiled bitterly and said: "The Nine Li Secret Realm is said to come from the ancient era and opens once every hundred years, containing countless Opportunities within."

"However, when the time comes, Disciples from both the Righteous and Evil Path will enter it. That will be a brutal competition. I wonder how many people will die miserably inside."

"Danger and Opportunity coexist; where is there a flat road on the path of the strong? Confronting the Evil Path is imperative. For the sake of the common people in the world, there is only slaughter," Ling Yunzi said, looking at the Disciples still fighting below.

"Oh? It seems there is a good show to watch," Ling Yunzi could not help but exclaim softly.

Over there, Tang Waner and Gu Yang were engaged in a fierce battle, fists and blades flying, strong winds whistling, exceptionally intense. However, Ling Yunzi's gaze was not on them, but fixed on Long Chen.

Long Chen had just returned to the side of his team when he discovered that there were contenders from all eight directions. Clearly, they had the most flags on their side and were viewed as a piece of fat by everyone.

"Triangle formation, change to circular arc formation! Protect the flag bearer in the middle! Whoever comes over, beat them to death for me!"

Long Chen shouted loudly and kicked a person blocking his path away. Now, people all around were surging toward this side like a tide; he needed to support everyone.

Otherwise, once the formation was broken and the flags were snatched away, all their hard work would be in vain, and in the end, it would all be for nothing.

Moreover, Long Chen had also seen that Ye Zhiqiu's side was also being targeted by two powerful forces and was being attacked with full force. They were having some difficulty even protecting themselves and were completely unable to come and help.

However, what made Long Chen slightly relieved was that although the opposing side had many people, everyone was protecting Guo Ran like an iron barrel, and there was no danger for the moment.

Furthermore, they had one advantage: with the assistance of the High Grade Bone-Strengthening Pills, their combat power was much stronger than their opponents'. Even with the tide-like onslaught, they were still able to hold on.

After all, this was not a real life-and-death struggle, so no one dared to truly attack with full force. Everyone was primarily focused on knocking the other side down, allowing them to hold on for a longer period of time.

He took a look at the incense stick; there was still half a foot left. It was estimated that there was only about a quarter of an hour left before it would be completely extinguished. As long as they held on until that time, they would be victorious.

"Long Chen, die!"

Suddenly, with a loud roar, a biting cold wind gusted toward Long Chen.

Without a second thought, the fire blade in Long Chen's hand slashed directly toward the source of that sound.

"Ssh!"

A strange sound came; Long Chen's fire blade collided with a water blade, as if a red-hot iron had been plunged into water, and the Void Realm was filled with heat.

"Qi Xin!"

Only then did Long Chen see clearly who had come; it was none other than Qi Xin.

"Long Chen, I said that I would make you regret coming into this world. You will soon experience the pain," a sinister smile appeared on Qi Xin's face.

Waving the fire blade in his hand, Long Chen sneered: "Just relying on you? It seems you can't do it."

"Hehe, you will understand immediately. When the time comes, don't regret it so much that you want to commit suicide; that would be no fun."

Qi Xin gave a sinister sneer and slashed the water blade in his hand down toward Long Chen. Long Chen blocked again; in the air, another strange sound rang out, and water vapor filled the sky.

"This is a bit troublesome."

Long Chen's expression changed slightly. Water overcomes fire; Long Chen's fire blade was countered by his water blade, preventing it from unleashing its proper power.

This did not mean that Long Chen's fire blade was not strong, but rather that his cultivation was insufficient to truly ignite the power of the blue flame.

If he had also advanced to the Tendon Transformation stage, although he would not dare say he could completely ignore Qi Xin's water blade, he definitely would not be affected to such a great extent.

"Hmph, let's see how long you can hold on."

Qi Xin operated the Spiritual Qi in his hands with full power, and the water blade in his hand became incredibly huge, reaching ten zhang in length, slashing fiercely down toward Long Chen.

He wants to compete with me in Spiritual Qi, huh? Long Chen sneered. With the support of his divine ring, he had no fear at all; he also increased the output of his fire blade, clashing crazily with Qi Xin.

For a time, water and fire collided incessantly, water mist filled the sky, and air waves rolled; the two had actually turned it into a battle of attrition.

"Qi Xin, you still haven't solved this trash? Let me, Lei Qianshang, give you a hand."

Suddenly, a massive lightning blade, carrying a whistling strong wind, slashed toward Long Chen; Lei Qianshang had also made his move.

Long Chen was surprised and retreated a step. Looking around, his expression could not help but change; he was shocked to discover that there were three forces crazily launching assaults on his own team.

Under the assault of the three forces, their iron-barrel defense began to teeter, and from time to time, people were knocked down, losing their combat power.

"Everyone, hold on! Time is almost up!" Long Chen roared, because he discovered that the incense stick was only a few inches high; the grand competition was about to end, and they had to hold on at this moment.

"You'd better worry about yourself."

Lei Qianshang sneered and threw a punch toward Long Chen, while Qi Xin was not slow at all, slashing the water blade in his hand toward Long Chen.

Two Core Disciples of the Tendon Transformation stage were actually joining forces to attack Long Chen, which surprised Ling Yunzi, who was watching from above.

"This seems a bit unfair. Joining forces to attack others goes a bit against our original intention," Tu Fang frowned and said.

Ling Yunzi smiled slightly and said: "It doesn't matter if it's fair or not; the strong never keep these two words on their lips."

"Fairness is always the powerless cry of the weak. The strong trample all unfairness under their feet in the most savage and brutal way."

"Let us see how this Long Chen will face the current unfairness. If I am not mistaken, this kid still has a hidden card."

Tu Fang also watched Long Chen silently. How could a kid who was only at the seventh heaven of the Blood Condensation stage face two Core Disciple-level experts of the Tendon Transformation stage?

So what if he is an anomaly? In the face of absolute strength, one can only bow their head; this made Tu Fang let out a helpless sigh in his heart.

And just at this moment, Long Chen slowly closed his eyes. It was as if everything in the world had disappeared, and it had fallen into a deathly silence.

"Fengfu Battle Body—Appear!"

When Long Chen opened his eyes again, a star pattern appeared in both of his pupils.