Azure Lotus Sword Song Second Style: Two Forms: Frost Sword! Tonight, Once Again

Azure Lotus Sword Song Second Style—Two Forms: Frost Sword! Tonight, Wine Boils, Sword Sings Once More

Zhao Wuji kicked aside the shattered bricks and rubble.

Li Zhixian was revealed beneath them, covered head to toe in mud and seemingly unconscious.

Rather than reaching down to grab him, Zhao Wuji curled his lips into a cold smile and swung his basin-sized fist straight at Li Zhixian's head without any flourish.

Li Zhixian's tightly shut eyes flew open.

He kicked off the ground and slid several meters across it like a fish.

Boom—!

Zhao Wuji's fist struck where he had been moments before.

Rubble flew everywhere, leaving behind a pit two feet deep.

Had that punch connected, Li Zhixian's head would have burst like a watermelon.

"Old bastard..."

Using the Azure Lotus Sword for support, Li Zhixian staggered to his feet.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and a grave look passed through his icy eyes.

I made things too simple...

Or rather, he had underestimated the heroes of the world.

His unbroken record had bred in him the arrogant belief that the great figures of the age were nothing compared to those of the present.

But today's battle—

had ruthlessly crushed that arrogance.

He had thought that several hundred life-and-death trials in the Soul Fighting Arena had fully matured his combat experience.

Yet before Zhao Wuji, he had been completely suppressed.

The foundation of the older generation's experts was truly as unshakable as rock.

"Li Zhixian..."

Zhao Wuji wiped the rain from his face, and a trace of admiration actually appeared in his tiger-like eyes.

Setting aside their opposing positions—

Li Zhixian was the finest young soul master he had ever seen.

Though he did not want to admit it, even the Shrek Seven Devils could not compare.

Yet that admiration vanished in an instant, replaced by an even stronger, crueler killing intent.

"All the more reason I can't let you live!"

The Fourth Spirit Ring beneath Zhao Wuji's feet lit up with purple light.

An invisible aura locked onto Li Zhixian from afar.

"Fourth Spirit Skill—Locating Pursuit!"

Zhao Wuji, renowned for his defense, erupted with terrifying speed.

The floor tiles beneath his feet exploded as his burly body tore through the air. In the blink of an eye, he was before Li Zhixian.

"Die!"

Zhao Wuji's fist, carrying overwhelming force, drove straight toward Li Zhixian's chest!

Li Zhixian's expression changed drastically. He had no time to dodge!

He could only raise his sword across his chest!

Boom—!

The Azure Lotus Sword bent into a shocking arc beneath the blow before slamming heavily into Li Zhixian's chest.

"Puh—!"

He spat out another mouthful of blood, and several crimson droplets even splashed onto Zhao Wuji's face.

The rain washed the blood into winding red streaks, making his rough face look even more savage.

As for Li Zhixian—

he was blasted dozens of meters away, crashing through several trees in succession before slamming into the mud.

"Cough... cough, cough..."

Li Zhixian struggled to prop himself up.

Every breath tugged at the needle-like agony in his chest.

His face was deathly pale. Slowly lowering his head, he saw that his breastbone had caved in by nearly an inch. A strange glow of fiery red and deep blue intertwined faintly through the broken bones.

If he had not cultivated the Molten Frost Spirit Vein Body—

Zhao Wuji's punch would have killed him.

Staring fixedly at the life-reaping figure dozens of meters away in the rainy night, Li Zhixian took out the Clear Spring Wine Gourd and tilted his head back for a deep drink.

The wine flowed down his throat.

It turned into a surging torrent of energy that exploded within his body.

His grievously wounded body was repaired, and his depleted Soul Power brimmed full once more.

Li Zhixian held his sword in his right hand and the gourd in his left.

Tilting the wine gourd, he poured the shimmering liquor over the Azure Lotus Sword.

The wine soaked into the blade. The longsword, once flowing with azure light, turned molten red like heated iron.

Twelve vivid red lotuses bloomed, even floating across the blade's surface.

Bubble, bubble—

Hum, hum—

The wine boiled, and the sword hummed!

Tonight, in this desperate situation, Wine Boils, Sword Sings appeared once more!

Li Zhixian's hunched back straightened little by little.

Blood stained the corners of his mouth, and mud covered his white robes. He looked utterly bedraggled.

But his gaze was terrifyingly sharp.

"Today..."

"Even if I, Li Zhixian, die, I'll tear a chunk of flesh from you!"

"Second Spirit Skill—Three Sword Splendor!"

"Azure Lotus Sword Song First Style—Shaking Light!"

Setting attributes aside—

the Yaoguang Sword was Li Zhixian's sharpest sword strike to date.

Now, enhanced by Three Sword Splendor and Wine Boils, Sword Sings—

this strike!

became ten thousand cold stars spilling from the Jade Terrace!

The dark blue-black sky seemed to be torn open by an invisible hand.

A ray of starlight suddenly descended. In the ink-dark rainy night, it shone brilliantly like a river of stars, illuminating the falling rain as though countless beams of light were woven together.

Zhao Wuji, who had been advancing, abruptly stopped.

Such a phenomenon made him furrow his brow.

The faint pain in his arm—

reminded him that this move was anything but ordinary.

"Useless struggle!"

The fierce light in Zhao Wuji's eyes intensified.

The Seventh Spirit Ring beneath his feet rose, rapidly expanding from small to large. Deep black light enveloped the entire forest.

"Seventh Spirit Skill—Martial Soul Avatar!"

To deal with Li Zhixian—

he had actually used his Martial Soul Avatar.

It showed just how intense his killing intent was.

The pitch-black light carried the weight of a mountain.

As Zhao Wuji stepped forward, his body rapidly swelled until, in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a giant bear over five meters tall.

Thick, golden fur covered his entire body. His huge lantern-like eyes flashed with violent red light, and he resembled a moving hill.

A baleful wind rose from flat ground.

It swept the curtain of rain into a slanting swirl.

Li Zhixian's drenched white robes snapped loudly in the wind.

He raised the Azure Lotus Sword high, its tip aimed directly at the ray of starlight descending from the heavens, as though drawing down the power of the stars.

Zhao Wuji stopped and assumed a defensive stance.

Yet he soon sensed something strange.

Cold!

Bone-piercing cold!

Rain poured over his massive body, yet it carried a chill that penetrated to the marrow.

"Li Zhixian, what the hell are you doing?!"

Zhao Wuji charged at Li Zhixian with earth-shaking force.

The rain poured like a waterfall.

Heaven and earth were a chaotic blue-black haze.

Li Zhixian stood in the mud, his bloodstained white robes thoroughly soaked.

Yet the chill clinging to his skin could not compare to the resolve in his eyes.

Zhao Wuji's roar shattered the curtain of rain.

A foul wind, carrying icy raindrops, rushed straight at him.

Just as Zhao Wuji's giant paw was about to reach him, Li Zhixian suddenly flicked his wrist.

His sword move changed.

Hum—!

The Azure Lotus Sword suddenly cried out.

Its blade shifted inch by inch from crimson to deep blue, like a glacier bursting apart and tearing through the rainy night.

Wherever the blade passed, even the air seemed to freeze.

The pooled water on the ground and the rain pouring from the sky began to flow upward in reverse.

They became hundreds upon hundreds of crystalline threads of ice that coiled around the blade, forming a Frost Sword several meters long.

The raindrops that had yet to merge with the Azure Lotus Sword hung suspended in the air.

Every droplet reflected a dark blue Sword Shadow, like a frozen river of stars.

Li Zhixian stepped upon the droplets in the air and leaped upward.

His robes fluttered as he swept up ice crystals that filled the sky.

He swung his sword at the giant bear.

Zhao Wuji's giant paw collided with the Frost Sword.

The instant the cold light burst forth—

a crisp freezing sound climbed from his claw tips segment by segment.

Ice patterns spread through the golden fur like living things.

In an instant, Zhao Wuji became an ice sculpture.

"Puh—!"

However—

the recoil from the Frost Sword still struck Li Zhixian like a heavy hammer, sending him flying backward.

Even the wrist holding his sword twisted unnaturally, and piercing agony drilled into his heart.

But even so—

Li Zhixian still gripped the hilt without loosening his hold in the slightest.

"Just because I called out Shaking Light... does that mean I have to use Shaking Light?"

This sword strike was precisely the Azure Lotus Sword Song Second Style—Two Forms: Frost Sword.

In terms of pure destructive power—

it was inferior to Shaking Light and the Blazing Sword.

But it was Li Zhixian's only control-type sword move.

In this environment of torrential rain, its power was amplified all the more.

Crack—

Crack—

Just as Li Zhixian barely steadied himself—

countless spiderweb-like cracks suddenly spread across the thick ice encasing Zhao Wuji.

Ice fragments fell in a rustling shower.

Li Zhixian immediately turned and fled.

He took out the Clear Spring Wine Gourd again and gulped down a mouthful of wine, swallowing it along with the bloody foam filling his mouth.

As he ran—

he slapped the green Treasure Pouch tied at his waist.

A small herb shaped like a turtle shell appeared in his hand.

Li Zhixian stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it up whole, and swallowed.

Turtle Breath Grass: For three days, the user enters a state of feigned death, concealing all signs of life.

He did not know how far he had fled.

All he felt was a fire burning in his chest.

Every breath tore at his heart and lungs.

His injuries were so severe that even the Wine Spirit could not heal them in a short time.

He bit down hard on his tongue.

The pain jolted what little clarity he had left.

Through Li Zhixian's blurred vision,

the outline of a bird's nest faintly appeared amid the thick branches of an ancient tree.

Draining the last of his strength,

Li Zhixian leaped onto a branch, curled up in the icy nest, and fell completely silent...