A Look Confirmed It

A look confirmed it: he was someone looking to die.

Hai Bodong wasted no more words. He flashed out from behind the counter, and mist rapidly rose around him, with Ice-Blue Dou Qi faintly flickering into view.

Chen Guan's fighting spirit stirred. He put away the map, and a broadsword appeared in his hand.

Unlike a longsword, a broadsword carried a greater sense of weight and was better suited for wide, sweeping attacks.

At the same time, he discovered that the hazy mist filling the room had a peculiar effect—it could make people lose their sense of direction.

An interesting method, but unfortunately, it was useless against him.

The naked eye could sometimes deceive, but Soul Perception would not. His perception, infinitely close to the Spirit Realm, was far more useful and trustworthy than his eyes.

Dou Qi Armor condensed over his body. Strands of Ink-Blue Flame flowed through his meridians and spread across his skin, evaporating every trace of water mist within three meters of him.

"Junior Chen Guan seeks your guidance, sir."

"You're merely a Three-Star Da Dou Shi, yet you can condense full-body Dou Qi Armor. You truly surprise me. But if you think you can take something I obtained with such painstaking effort so easily, keep dreaming!"

Hai Bodong walked forward step by step. With a raise of his hand, dozens of icy white Ice Spikes shot out. This was the materialization of Dou Qi that only Dou Ling experts and above could achieve.

Their killing power was considerable. Nothing could be more suitable for a probe.

Watching the Ice Spikes assault him, Chen Guan showed no fear. Holding the broadsword one-handed, he launched a frontal counterattack. At the same time, Ink-Blue Flame appeared in his left palm and swelled violently in the wind. Its scorching heat was the bane of Ice Spikes, melting them into droplets that fell in the blink of an eye.

After clearing away the Ice Spikes blocking his path, Chen Guan controlled the flames and sent them sweeping toward Hai Bodong first. He shifted to a two-handed grip on his sword and unleashed a Dou Skill ingrained into his very bones, slashing out wave after wave of piercing sword qi like a surging tide.

"Ice Condensing Mirror!"

"Ice Spirit Armor!"

Hai Bodong truly lived up to his reputation as a veteran expert. Having experienced countless battles, he naturally did not lose his composure.

He mobilized his Ice Attribute Dou Qi and condensed an ice mirror over a meter wide before him, blocking the Beast Flame's first wave of attack.

As the ice mirror rapidly caved in and melted under the flames' erosion, he swiftly formed another defensive Dou Skill, condensing a thick layer of ice armor around himself.

At the Same Time, an Ice Spear materialized in his hand. Defending without attacking had never been his style.

"Mystic Ice Spinning Kill!"

Crescent-shaped ice blades appeared around him one after another. Hai Bodong pressed forward with his spear against the ice mirror, meeting the tidal sword qi head-on.

The dozen-meter distance vanished in an instant as the two charged toward each other. Sword qi raged, shattered ice sprayed everywhere, and the broadsword clashed against the Ice Spear.

In an Instant, ferocious Dou Qi Energy spread outward from the two of them like ripples. The wooden floor cracked into a web of fractures, and the flimsy shop teetered on the verge of collapse.

Hai Bodong's expression turned rather ugly. It was not only because his shop had been ravaged into a complete mess, but also because, after that direct clash, the Young Man had merely taken a few steps back before steadying himself.

This was not a result he could accept!

As a Dou Ling, he had fought a Da Dou Shi, yet one strike had failed to determine the victor. Didn't that make him look pathetic? Although he had not gone all out, it was enough to prove that the Young Man before him was extraordinary.

At such an age, with such strength, he was absolutely not a genius the Jia Ma Empire could produce!

"Fourfold Profound Ice Kill, break!"

He attacked with his spear in one hand while rapidly forming seals with the other. Powerful Dou Qi Energy surged as nearly a hundred ice blades appeared and gathered together, forming an ice dragon that charged toward the Young Man.

The already swaying shop finally Collapsed beneath the rampage of this attack.

Chen Guan's expression was solemn. He stepped through Drifting Cloud Steps and dodged the descending attack.

At the same time, he divided his focus in two. The broadsword in his hand slashed madly, so fast that afterimages appeared. Each wave surpassed the last, and a full thirty waves stacked together. Crimson Sword Qi poured down like a sea of fire, unleashing its own savage fury.

He mobilized his Spiritual Power and condensed an invisible, formless needle, shooting it into his opponent's glabella.

A rudimentary application of a Soul Skill.

Caught off guard, Hai Bodong suffered a hidden loss. A stabbing pain immediately pierced his mind, and the Ice Spear's attack lost its threat.

Boom! The thirty streams of sword qi gathered together and collided with the ice dragon formed by the Fourfold Mystic Ice Spinning Kill. Water and fire were incompatible, madly eroding and consuming one another, stirring up water vapor that filled the sky. In the dry Desert City, it formed a strange spectacle that drew countless gazes.

After several breaths, Hai Bodong's Fourfold Kill ultimately proved superior. It completely ground away the sharp sword qi and charged toward the Young Man with its remaining force.

With seventy to eighty percent of its power gone, Chen Guan naturally did not fear it. He clenched his fist, coated it in Beast Flame, and shattered it into powder with a single punch.

"Boy, you're courting death!"

As the stabbing pain in his mind eased, how could Hai Bodong fail to realize that he had suffered a hidden loss? Humiliated, he immediately roared in anger, his face beneath the ice armor looking incomparably grim.

"Ice Blade Storm!"

He discarded the already cracked Ice Spear and rapidly formed seals with both hands. Hundreds of tiny ice blades floated behind him, brimming with killing intent as they poured down like torrential rain.

Seeing this, Chen Guan also put away his broadsword. He used Drifting Cloud Steps to swiftly widen the distance, forming seals as he counterattacked.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Crimson Sword Qi likewise appeared behind him, surging upward against the tide like falling meteors in reverse.

Clearly, only two people were fighting, yet the onlookers felt as though hundreds were engaged in a chaotic battle. The magnificent scene left the mercenaries watching from afar exclaiming in amazement.

Just as Chen Guan had expected, Hai Bodong's grand Ice Blade Storm was actually comparable in power to his Fleeting Beauty!

Terrifying indeed! This was a contest between ice and fire, and it lasted for over ten breaths before finally ending.

What amazed the onlookers was that throughout the exchange, neither the handsome Young Man nor the strange Old Man selling maps had made another move, as though they had reached a tacit understanding.

Silence returned to the scene. A rainbow arced through the air as Chen Guan and Hai Bodong exchanged a distant glance. Their eyes held thoughts outsiders could not understand, yet both of them knew perfectly well.

So you're a poser too!

A look confirmed it: they were the same type of people.