AZI Volume 2 Chapter 49
"…"
Tightening his grip on Bai Zhe, Long Hua looks at the fog-shrouded figure with an expression of wariness.
Had this replica of his shizun been fully replicated, then just a single Immortal Suppression Palm would be all that it would take to pulverize him into nothing.
"…Unable to use your divine arts?"
Emerging from the dust clouds, the fog-shrouded figure mutters this beneath his breath—prior to taking a single step forward.
Appearing right in front of Long Hua in the next instance, the fog-shrouded figure bears his blade down on the former's head.
Raising Bai Zhe, Long Hua blocks the falling blade.
Simultaneously, the fog-shrouded figure strikes with his left hand.
*Boom…!* receiving the fog-shrouded figure's punch with his free hand, Long Hua uses the momentum of the former's strike to put some distance between them.
"Hm?"
Coming to a stop, Long Hua glances down at his left hand, which was used to receive the fog-shrouded figure's strike.
Wrapping around his left hand at this time—is a similar set of runes, that were present on the hands conjured through the rotation of the Immortal Suppression Palm.
"…"
In that instance, a light of enlightenment emanates from Long Hua's eyes.
(All the divine arts that were taught to me by shizun can't be used with my current cultivation base. Even if my cultivation base was higher, the spirit Qi in this world can't support them fully… However, similarly to my previous life, none of that should prevent me from demonstrating a weaker version of them.)
Thinking up to this point, Long Hua looks at the fog-shrouded figure with a frown.
(Is this really just a replica?)
Giving no time for Long Hua to linger on this thought, the fog-shrouded figure approaches him once more, and accompanied by a powerful gale, the latter's blade lashes forth!
"…Mountain, mortal realm's most immovable mass."
Positioning his left hand in the trajectory of the blade's movement, Long Hua mutters the incantation used to rotate the Immortal Suppression Palm, and with it, his left arm begins to darken rapidly.
*Boom!* upon the wooden sword hitting Long Hua's wrist, a shockwave goes off.
Despite feeling a numbing sensation—that came as a result of him choosing to receive the strike head-on, Long Hua stands his ground firmly without moving an inch.
Grabbing the wooden sword, Long Hua slashes with his own blade; however, not a moment sooner than the initiation of his attack, the fog-shrouded figure relinquishes their grip over their weapon, to take a step back.
Amidst the fog-shrouded figure's retreat, he presses his palm forward—to throw out a concentrated mass of spirit Qi, that takes on the form of a handprint.
"…"
Taking hold of the wooden sword with his left hand—
*Boom!* Long Hua thrusts it towards the incoming handprint.
"…!"
Gritting his teeth, Long Hua straightens his left arm fully to push the handprint back!
"…"
Towards the returning handprint, the fog-shrouded figure straightens the index and middle fingers of his right hand.
Extending from these fingers is a beam of sword Qi, and accompanied by a brief flash, the fog-shrouded figure swings his right arm, and—
*…!* with effortless ease, he divides the handprint in half!
Just as the two masses of spirit Qi begin to collapse—
"…"
Long Hua closes the distance between them, and swings Bai Zhe, but just as his blade is less than a meter away from his opponent—
"…!"
"…"
Without any hesitation, the fog-shrouded figure lunges his sword Qi covered fingers towards the incoming cold steel!
*Kakaka!* receiving the full brunt of the fog-shrouded figure's counter, Bai Zhe's blade shatters!
Amidst the scattered pieces of metal, an unusual object is mixed in, but the fog-shrouded figure pays no heed to it, as he closes in on Long Hua—who defends himself with the wooden sword, while dropping Bai Zhe's handle.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!* in the span of a few short breaths' worth of time, the two exchanged more than 30 hits with one another.
And with each exchange, a blast of sword Qi would carve up the grounds beneath their feet!
"…?"
Just as the fog-shrouded figure is about to attack once more, he swiftly evades to the side—as a knife attached to a thin wire, flies pass his original position.
Grabbing the incoming knife out of the air, Long Hua begins to run in a circle around the fog-shrouded figure.
On the opposite side, Tian Cheng—who had emerged from the storage pouch that was tossed out earlier, does the same.
"…Oh?"
Realizing that these wires had been coated in Long Hua's sword Qi to reinforce their durability, the fog-shrouded figure raises an eye.
Having bound the fog-shrouded figure thoroughly, both Long Hua and Tian Cheng came to a stop.
Simultaneously, they stab their swords into the ground.
...…
"A sword array?"
As sword Qi erupts from the two swords that are stabbed into the ground, Bai Wen constricts his eye, as he watches the sword Qi close in on the fog-shrouded figure.