Zhao Yun vs. Taishi Ci!

Seeing the two brimming with fighting spirit, Zhuge Ming found it hard to refuse them and could only nod.

"A spar is fine, but you can't use soul skills. Otherwise, the nearby villages might be affected."

But Taishi Ci said:

"What's the fun in not using soul skills?

"My lord, my third soul skill, 'Meeting on a Narrow Road,' can pull a target into my [Duel Domain] and force a one-on-one duel!

"Within this domain, we won't be affected by the outside world, nor will we affect it. Zilong and I can fight to our hearts' content!"

Zhao Yun also pleaded:

"My lord, my soul skills have barely been used so far. I really should practice with them.

"If we encounter a truly powerful enemy in the future, I'll be better prepared to deal with them."

Since even Zhao Yun had said so, Zhuge Ming no longer refused. He could only sigh.

"Fine! But don't go for the kill. Stop at the right point—we still have things to do tomorrow!"

Delight flashed in Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci's eyes as they clasped their fists together.

"Thank you, my lord!"

With that, Taishi Ci impatiently summoned his martial soul!

He raised both hands, and the hair atop his head was swept backward by surging soul power!

Two blue short halberds appeared in his hands, each with a bladed tip and a short blade on the inner side!

They were his martial soul—the Wild Song Halberd!

The historical Taishi Ci had not only been highly skilled with spears and bows; he wielded his twin short halberds just as masterfully!

As he summoned his martial soul, nine soul rings appeared beneath his feet: "purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black, red, red"!

The same configuration as Zhao Yun and Guan Yu!

However, since they were figures summoned by the Records of the Three Kingdoms martial soul,

their hundred-thousand-year soul rings each possessed only one hundred-thousand-year soul skill.

Unlike ordinary hundred-thousand-year soul rings, which possessed two soul skills.

Even so, their strength remained formidable!

As Taishi Ci summoned his martial soul, Zhao Yun swept out one hand.

An invisible curtain of light confined Taishi Ci's soul power fluctuations within an extremely small area.

Then, Taishi Ci's third soul ring suddenly lit up!

Third soul skill—Meeting on a Narrow Road!

In an instant, centered beneath Taishi Ci's feet, a streak of green light connected him and Zhao Yun through a narrow, jagged passage!

The passage resembled an enormous crack splitting open in the earth.

The two figures fell straight into the fissure!

As the fissure closed, everything around Zhuge Ming instantly fell silent, as though nothing had happened.

Zhuge Ming scratched his head.

Taishi Ci's third soul skill was something else.

It had actually shut out even him, their lord.

With Guan Yu currently guarding Langya City as well, Zhuge Ming was alone and suddenly felt a little uneasy.

Fortunately, his connection with the two had not been cut off.

He could still watch the battle through their eyes.

Zhuge Ming returned straight home, went back to his room, lay on his bed, and began watching the show.

Within the pure white space,

Zhao Yun, who had likewise summoned his martial soul, faced Taishi Ci across the void!

Two pressures of Level 96 soul power crushed against one another like two spheres of light, neither yielding an inch!

Taishi Ci laughed heartily and launched the first attack!

His first soul ring suddenly lit up!

First soul skill—One Rider Against a Thousand!

A phantom warhorse suddenly appeared beneath Taishi Ci!

The warhorse shattered the void, carrying the momentum of a thousand troops charging into battle as it arrived before Zhao Yun in an instant.

The wind howled like thunder as two sharp halberd blades tore through the air!

Instead of retreating, Zhao Yun advanced. The Dragon-Gallbladder Silver Spear shook fiercely as his first soul skill, "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix," activated!

The spearhead transformed into a sky full of flying feathers, every one of them shrieking as it stabbed toward Taishi Ci's descending halberd blades.

Spear and halberds clashed, metal rang out in an unbroken barrage, and sparks scattered like a rain of stars!

With a twist of his wrist, Zhao Yun slid his spear shaft along the halberd's body and thrust at Taishi Ci's shoulder blade. The spear tip was so fast that it became nothing but a silver line.

Taishi Ci let out a low shout, and the Wild Song Halberd suddenly erupted with violent force, knocking Zhao Yun's spear tip aside with one blow!

He spun with the momentum, his halberd carving an arc of light as it swept upward toward Zhao Yun's chest and abdomen.

Zhao Yun sidestepped, and the halberd wind grazed past his nose, carving a jade-green fissure through the pure white space.

Seeing that his strike had failed, Taishi Ci immediately pulled back.

His second soul ring lit up at once. He held one halberd forward as a bow and drew the other back as an arrow!

In an instant, they transformed into a bow and arrow!

Streams of arrow-light condensed from soul power shot from the tip of the halberd in his right hand, piercing the air and targeting Zhao Yun's entire body!

Zhao Yun swept his spear across, activating his second soul skill, "Night-Illuminated Jade Qilin"!

A phantom warhorse, pure white like a jade qilin, instantly appeared beneath him!

Mounted on the horse, Zhao Yun moved like lightning and wind!

No matter how superb Taishi Ci's archery was, his arrows were always one step slower than Zhao Yun!

Yet Taishi Ci was no fool. He knew he would never catch Zhao Yun by pursuing him like this.

So he anticipated Zhao Yun's next position and fired a soul-power arrow with all his strength!

It appeared precisely where Zhao Yun was about to emerge!

Zhao Yun's heart jolted!

But he reacted quickly. A jade-like sheen rose over the silver spear, which swiftly blocked before him!

Barely knocking away the precise arrow-light.

The arrow-light brushed past Zhao Yun's ear and blasted into the distant void, bursting into a dazzling halo.

After that, the two displayed all their abilities!

Sometimes they bombarded each other from afar with soul skills, sometimes they clashed at close range with their weapons, yet neither could determine a victor.

After a long while...

The two breathed slightly harder, but their gazes only grew hotter.

Then Taishi Ci stomped heavily, and his seventh soul ring bloomed with dazzling green light.

"True Form of the Mad Halberd—!!"

His body instantly swelled several times over, transforming into a giant like a heavenly manifestation. Bronze battle patterns emerged across his skin!

The Wild Song Halberd became two enormous halberds dozens of meters long!

The halberd blades gleamed coldly, and the powerful soul pressure made Zhao Yun's body sink.

A sharp light flashed in Zhao Yun's eyes as his seventh soul ring lit up as well!

"Dragon Soul True Body—!!"

The silver dragon patterns on the Dragon-Gallbladder Silver Spear instantly came alive.

A silver-white dragon soul coiled around his arm and spear.

Dragon-scale armor covered half his body, causing that side to radiate astonishing silver soul light!

His aura surged to its peak in an instant!

The two charged at each other simultaneously.

The giant halberds collided with the dragon spear!

A crack instantly tore through the pure white space!

Taishi Ci's Wild Song Halberd smashed down with overwhelming force!

Zhao Yun's dragon spear stabbed out cunningly, like a silver dragon lashing its tail.

A streak of green light and a streak of silver light collided and tore at one another wildly within the spatial domain.

Each impact caused cracks to continuously appear throughout the domain, as if it might collapse at any moment.

Taishi Ci seized the opportunity, swinging a giant halberd down with crushing force!

Zhao Yun raised his spear to block it head-on, and the ground beneath his feet instantly collapsed into a pit several meters wide.

But just as the halberd blade pressed down, Zhao Yun suddenly released the spear shaft with his right hand, and his eighth soul ring flashed!

Eighth soul skill—Green-Steel Divine Sword!

A longsword radiating green light appeared out of thin air. He gripped it in reverse and slashed fiercely at the giant halberd blade!

Though this sword seemed insignificant compared to the massive halberd blade,

it forcibly cleaved through the halberd blade and knocked it back!

Taishi Ci immediately felt his martial soul suffer damage and had no choice but to withdraw his halberds and retreat!

Yet he used the momentum to spin, and his eighth soul ring abruptly lit up!

"Falling Flood Dragon, Subduing Tiger!!"

The Wild Song Halberd erupted with the furious roar of a flood dragon and the savage howl of a tiger.

With one halberd slash, phantom flood dragon and tiger forms seemed to pounce forth alongside the blade, crashing down on Zhao Yun with the force of heaven and earth collapsing.

Zhao Yun shot into the air, his dragon spear and Green-Steel Divine Sword slashing out together. Silver dragon and green light intertwined into a cross-shaped blade of light, meeting the flood dragon and tiger phantoms head-on.

"Boom—"

A black fissure tore open through the center of the entire space!

Violent currents of soul power surged out, throwing both men away. They each slid dozens of meters across the ground, their feet plowing two deep trenches.

They steadied themselves once more and stared at each other across the shattered void...