Hua Muchen wore elegant white robes, and the white cape behind him fluttered despite the lack of wind. Though his feet had not moved, he had already drifted forward. With his handsome face and graceful bearing, he was utterly captivating.
By contrast, Lu Xiaotian stood on the arena with his arms folded across his chest and the Fangtian Halberd planted in the ground before him. Like a stone statue, he closed his eyes to rest, completely motionless, as if every spectator in the arena were an outsider.
"Anyone who dares challenge my Hua Household has only one path: death." Hua Muchen paused, leaving more than a dozen afterimages in his wake. He had already appeared a dozen or so zhang away from Lu Xiaotian.
"I hope your skills are as impressive as your mouth," Lu Xiaotian said with a faint smile.
"King Lu! King Lu!" Hua Muchen's handsome appearance, past accomplishments, and noble birth had won over most of the female cultivators. By comparison, more men admired Lu Xiaotian's composure: he remained unruffled even as Mount Tai crumbled before him. Even when facing a top expert like Hua Muchen, he showed not the slightest fear.
"Arrogant!" Hua Muchen sneered.
"Now, the duel begins!"
As the host's voice faded, Hua Muchen drifted backward, his robes fluttering. He raised both hands, and behind him, an ice river came surging from the distant sky. Everything in its path seemed on the verge of being frozen solid. Even the air was hung with razor-sharp icicles.
Before Lu Xiaotian could even react, the ice river swept over him. Frigid ice crystals crawled across his body, and in the blink of an eye, he had become an ice statue.
But cracks soon appeared, spreading rapidly. With a bang, the statue burst into countless shards of ice.