Then...
Without the slightest hesitation, Phoenix Ritual Zither Master struck down with her beak!
The peck was faster than lightning.
And Phoenix Ritual Zither Master held nothing back. She fully intended to crush the golden man as though he were a tiny bug.
"You said you'd peck me, and you actually did. As a Longevity Immortal, are your methods of attack really that limited?" the golden man said cheerfully. He neither dodged nor blocked, letting Phoenix Ritual Zither Master's beak strike him.
Clang~~
A sound like a great bell rang out.
Zither Master Fengyi's all-out strike only scratched the golden man, exposing the silver body beneath his coat of gold paint.
How is that possible? Zither Master Fengyi stared at the golden man beside her. She had held nothing back, yet not only had her strike failed to send him flying, the force rebounding from his body had left her little beak aching.
At that moment...
Her beak was embedded in the ground beside the golden man—had this not been her cave abode, reinforced layer upon layer, that peck would have gouged out an abyssal crater and caused a powerful earthquake in the Secret Realm.
The golden man spun halfway around like a roly-poly toy again. He held out the fist that had just been gripping his foot and waved it in front of Zither Master Fengyi's eye, saying smugly, "See that? If I punched you now, your eye would get infected with my athlete's foot."
Phoenix Ritual Zither Master quickly closed her right eye, leaving only a slit.
"I mean you no harm, so there's no need to react so strongly." As he spoke, the golden man took out a roll of tape and carefully applied it around the scratch on his body, masking off the surrounding area.
Then