Fighting a Dou Ling

The instant Hai Bodong tensed his body, Huo Yuhao caught the signal that he was about to make a move. Thus, Huo Yuhao was fully prepared when Hai Bodong charged at him.

Huo Yuhao stepped forward and flung Xiao Yi Xian backward by the right hand. A gentle force sent Xiao Yi Xian behind him. At the same time, Dou Qi surged wildly into his left palm, instantly absorbing all the cold air in the shop.

[Emperor Palm—Great Cold Without Snow]!

Seeing that Huo Yuhao not only failed to retreat before him but actually took the initiative to attack, Hai Bodong sneered inwardly. This kid really is a fearless newborn calf. He actually dares to attack me with mere Dou Master strength.

Hai Bodong changed his claw into a palm and met Huo Yuhao's strike. Yet when he saw Huo Yuhao's still somewhat youthful face, his heart softened, and he held back some of his strength.

Huo Yuhao's palm met Hai Bodong's without making a sound. Hai Bodong's expression changed abruptly as a tyrannical force surged from Huo Yuhao's palm. His Dou Qi collapsed at the first touch, and his body was instantly sent flying backward, crashing hard into his high-backed chair and smashing it to pieces.

"Impossible! Even if I held back, this is still far beyond what a Dou Master like you can handle!" Hai Bodong scrambled to his feet in a sorry state, unable to save face. Though he had been knocked back, his physical strength was there, so he had not suffered any severe injuries. Clearly, the blow to his mind was far worse.

Huo Yuhao said nothing more. His previously calm expression instantly turned cold. Releasing Xiao Yi Xian's hand, he took a short blade from his storage ring and poured Dou Qi into it madly. An icy-blue glow enveloped the blade as Heaven and Earth Origin Qi surged into it like rivers flowing into the sea.

[Unparalleled Ice Extremity]!

With a flick of Huo Yuhao's wrist, the short blade instantly vanished from his hand.

Boom! The massive mechanism door that Hai Bodong had been so proud of instantly collapsed. The entire door vanished from its place, leaving only shattered ice fragments scattered across the ground.

Even with Hai Bodong's eyesight, he could not see the flying blade's trajectory. He only had the illusion that the blade's disappearance and the shop door's disappearance had happened at the same instant.

"This is—an Earth Grade Dou Technique!" Hai Bodong blurted out. He had not guessed wrong. This Dou Technique had evolved from "Emperor Sword—Unparalleled Ice Extremity," but it had abandoned the Emperor Sword's sustained freezing ability and greatly enhanced its penetrating power. Combined with Huo Yuhao's comprehension of the Light of Time and Space, it gave enemies the illusion that time's flow was erratic, making it almost impossible to dodge.

After this period of training, Huo Yuhao had incorporated the force-generating method of Eight Extremes Collapse into it. He had also broken down and fused in certain hidden weapon techniques from his previous life, as well as the explosive power of the Ice Explosion Art. Now, this Dou Technique could draw upon Heaven and Earth Origin Qi without requiring the Heaven-Human Unity realm. That was precisely the hallmark of an Earth Grade Dou Technique.

Behind Huo Yuhao, Xiao Yi Xian did not hesitate in the slightest. She immediately activated her flying Spirit Artifact. The instant Huo Yuhao blasted open the shop door, Xiao Yi Xian threw the fragment map in her hand to Huo Yuhao, then urged the flying Spirit Artifact into motion. Her body instantly shot out, flying toward where Xiao Yan was. She left behind only a warning: "Old man, just you wait!"

Huo Yuhao caught the Demon Flame Fragment Map and stored it in his storage ring. Seeing that Xiao Yi Xian had not taken the fragment map with her, Hai Bodong abandoned the thought of pursuing her. After regulating his breath slightly, his aged eyes locked tightly onto Huo Yuhao.

"You came to steal the map, didn't you?"

Just as Hai Bodong was about to move and capture Huo Yuhao, a hidden chill within his body suddenly erupted. Its temperature was far below anything he could control, freezing a portion of the Dou Qi in his body. This former Ice Emperor actually felt bone-piercing cold for the first time in a long while, and his body shuddered uncontrollably!

Just as Hai Bodong prepared to dispel the chill, another change abruptly occurred. The frozen Dou Qi within his body exploded instantly. This blow was no light one. A mouthful of blood rose to his throat, but he forcibly swallowed it back down.

Sensing the intense killing intent coming from Huo Yuhao, Hai Bodong flew into a rage. "You're courting death!"

He stomped the ground. Hai Bodong's body shot toward Huo Yuhao like lightning, while icy mist spread through the shop, attempting to obscure Huo Yuhao's vision.

Yet in Huo Yuhao's eyes, the icy mist did not obstruct him in the slightest. Instead, it provided the perfect environment. Huo Yuhao stretched out his right hand, instantly absorbing all the surrounding icy mist. A massive ice sword condensed in his hand and cleaved down at the charging Hai Bodong.

"Damn it!" The biting sword wind bore down with the blade, and Hai Bodong cursed under his breath. His Dou Qi condensed into a long spear, which he thrust toward Huo Yuhao's giant ice sword.

The instant spear and sword met, the giant ice sword seemed not to exist at all. The Dou Qi spear passed through it with ease. In an instant, the ice sword before Hai Bodong, along with Huo Yuhao himself, dissipated.

"How is that possible?" The wind pressure was clearly still there, but the sensation of striking empty air warned Hai Bodong otherwise. Amid his shock and doubt, a sense of danger rose in his heart. Hai Bodong reacted swiftly. The spear in his hand dispersed, and he brought both hands together to form a hand seal.

"Ice Condensation Mirror!"

A rectangular ice mirror half a meter wide instantly condensed behind him!

Even after forming the ice mirror, the sense of danger in Hai Bodong's heart did not fade. Without the slightest hesitation, he mobilized his Dou Qi and summoned a Dou Qi armor.

Behind Hai Bodong, space warped slightly. A giant sword appeared out of thin air and slashed toward the ice mirror.

Again, not a sound was made. The instant the giant sword touched the ice mirror, which possessed the ability to reflect attacks, Hai Bodong lost control over it.

Smack!

Huo Yuhao's sword momentum did not lessen. The ice mirror seemed to stick directly to the giant sword and was carried along as it slammed into Hai Bodong. Like swatting a fly, it sent Hai Bodong flying, knocking over a bookshelf before pinning him against the wall.

After Hai Bodong was sent flying, the ice sword and ice mirror dispersed, turning back into icy mist that enveloped the surroundings. Huo Yuhao did not give Hai Bodong time to recover. The instant he struck the wall, Huo Yuhao pushed off with both legs and shot forward, becoming a streak of afterlight as he threw a punch.

[Eight Extremes Collapse]!

Bang! Eight layers of force merged into one. Empowered by Heaven and Earth Origin Qi, the punch reduced the entire wall to dust.

When the smoke cleared, Hai Bodong was nowhere to be seen. Though his attack had missed, Huo Yuhao's expression did not change. He raised his head and looked toward the street beyond the wall.

Faced with Huo Yuhao's pursuit just now, Hai Bodong's many years of combat experience had saved his life. He rolled along the wall, avoiding the center of Eight Extremes Collapse. At the same time, borrowing the force with which Huo Yuhao blasted through the wall, he slipped outside the shop and gained precious time to regulate his breathing.

"You think a mere Dou Master can defeat me?" Hai Bodong shouted, though he was truly shocked inside. He had never expected that the youth before him, despite possessing only Dou Master strength, had a grasp of the ice element far beyond even himself, a former Dou Emperor.

"I was merely careless just now. Without ice-element Dou Techniques, you're still no match for me!" Hai Bodong unleashed his aura, frightening away the irrelevant bystanders around them. His thoughts raced as he came up with a solution. He once again used Dou Qi to form objects, condensing a long spear in his hand while a Dou Qi serpent coiled around it. Performing a set of high-level spear techniques, he attacked Huo Yuhao.

After using several advanced Dou Techniques in succession, Huo Yuhao had also expended some of the Dou Qi in his body. Thus, he took a long saber from his storage ring and engaged Hai Bodong in battle.

In the clashes that followed, Hai Bodong grew more and more stifled. He could clearly sense that both Huo Yuhao's strength and Dou Qi intensity were inferior to his own. At full power, he should have been able to suppress this brat quickly. Yet in battle, he made frequent unexpected mistakes, while whenever his opponent changed moves, Huo Yuhao's other hand—whether fist or palm—always attacked the places that made him most uncomfortable.

Ever since arriving on the Battle Qi Continent, Huo Yuhao had cultivated the Golden Body Formula for a long time. His physical strength had already reached the Dou Ling level, and contending against an ordinary Dou Ling was not difficult. But Hai Bodong had once been a Dou Emperor. Although his seal had reduced his Dou Qi to the Dou Ling level, his body was still that of a Dou Emperor. Therefore, Huo Yuhao would likely suffer if they clashed head-on. From the very start, he had used Spiritual Interference, which was also one of the reasons for Hai Bodong's repeated mistakes.

At this moment, although Huo Yuhao had suppressed Hai Bodong, Hai Bodong was ultimately rich in combat experience. His early experiences had given him an extraordinary sense for danger. Thus, Huo Yuhao was unable to take him down.

Even amid battle, the Heavenly Cycle Art continued circulating without pause, rapidly restoring his Dou Qi. Huo Yuhao diverted a portion of the recovered Dou Qi and stored it up. At the same time, he secretly accumulated spiritual power, preparing to launch a fatal strike at Hai Bodong.

His anger accumulated ever more intensely. Before Huo Yuhao could act, Hai Bodong erupted first.

"Damn it, don't think you're the only one who knows an Earth Grade Dou Technique!" Hai Bodong parried Huo Yuhao's slash and borrowed the force to retreat rapidly. The long spear in his hand dispersed, transforming into a mysterious pale-blue formation that circled his wrist. Blue streams of light spread through Hai Bodong's eyes as the surrounding Heaven and Earth Origin Qi was drawn in and entered his body.

"Mystic Ice Dragon Flight!"