Thick Earth energy surged beneath Lin Yuan's feet as he rapidly retreated.
"Nezha."
"That's not a very rigorous way to put it."
"Back then, I didn't ask my master to fight you for me."
"I just couldn't reason with your master, so I invited someone better at reasoning to come over."
"Is there even a difference?!"
Nezha was so furious that his Fire-Tip Spear moved even faster.
"Of course there is."
Lin Yuan twisted aside, dodging a streak of spear-shadow.
His Innate Spiritual Perception operated at full force.
Though the sky-full of spear-shadows was dazzling, only three of them truly carried killing power.
One from the left.
One from above.
And that thrust straight ahead!
Lin Yuan raised his Thick Earth Sword horizontally to block it.
Clang!
Sparks flew in every direction.
Both his arms went numb again.
He used the force to retreat, narrowly avoiding a sheet of flames descending from above.
"See?"
"That's the difference between reasoning things out."
Nezha: "..."
Why was this guy's mouth so damn annoying?
In the direction of the Shang Camp.
Wang Mo and the others watched with strange expressions.
Gao Yougan could not help asking, "Did Junior Brother Lin have a grudge against Nezha before?"
Wen Zhong shook his head.
"It wasn't exactly a grudge."
"At Chentang Pass, Nezha accidentally fired the Heaven-Shaking Arrow and nearly killed the young attendant under Junior Sister Shiji. Junior Brother Lin arrived and blocked the arrow. Later, the two sides got into an argument, and he brought our teacher over."
Gao Yougan suddenly understood.
"No wonder."
But Wang Mo frowned.
"This Nezha isn't weak."
"Junior Brother's cultivation is still lacking, after all."
Li Xingba watched even more closely.
"Junior Brother Lin isn't trying to win."
"Hm?"
The others looked at him.
Li Xingba pointed toward the battlefield.
"Look."
"He's been stalling the whole time."
That was indeed the case.
Since the fight began, Lin Yuan had never truly tried to clash with Nezha head-on.
He evaded every killing move he could avoid.
When he could not, he used the Thick Earth Sword to redirect the force.
Whatever he could not fully shed, he left to the Blackstone Dao Body to endure.
To outsiders, it looked as though Nezha had been suppressing him completely.
But after they had truly exchanged several dozen moves, one would notice that Lin Yuan's injuries were absurdly few.
Nezha himself grew increasingly irritated.
He could hit him.
But he could not hurt him.
He could catch up.
Yet he could not knock him down anytime soon.
Most outrageous of all, Lin Yuan seemed to grow a little more familiar with his spear technique every dozen or so exchanges.
At first, he could only evade obvious killing moves in advance.
Later, he could even shift position the instant Nezha's spear momentum began to rise.
"Are you using me to practice?"
Nezha finally realized something was wrong.
Lin Yuan did not deny it.
"An opportunity like this is rare."
"A personal disciple of the Elucidation Sect sparring with me for free."
"Where else could I find a deal like this?"
"You're courting death!"
Nezha was completely enraged.
The Wind-Fire Wheels erupted with blinding divine light, and his speed abruptly surged by a tremendous margin.
The sense of danger in Lin Yuan's heart instantly reached its peak.
Too fast!
This time, even after his Innate Spiritual Perception caught the trajectory, his body struggled to keep up in time.
The Fire-Tip Spear tore through the air and shot straight for his chest.
Lin Yuan stomped hard on the ground.
The Blackstone Dao Body operated at full force.
The Thick Earth Sword swept a semicircle before him, frantically drawing in the surrounding earth energy.
Boom!
The Fire-Tip Spear slammed into the Thick Earth Sword.
The ground within several yards beneath Lin Yuan's feet shattered at once.
He slid backward more than twenty yards.
A sweetness rose in his throat.
A thread of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
Yet Nezha was also stalled for a moment by that heavy rebounding force.
Lin Yuan raised a hand and wiped his mouth.
"This spear is decent."
Nezha laughed in anger.
"I've got something even stronger!"
He was about to charge in again.
Out of the corner of his eye, Lin Yuan suddenly saw two auras silently leave the West Qi formation.
Their target was not him.
It was Gao Yougan on the other side.
They were here.
Lin Yuan understood in an instant.
After fighting Nezha for so long, the other side's true target had indeed been Gao Yougan.
They had first tried to provoke Gao Yougan with insults before the formation.
After failing, they had Nezha hold him back—the one who had "called out the target."
As long as Gao Yougan moved even slightly away from Wang Mo and the others.
Those hiding in the shadows would strike immediately.
"Senior Brother Gao!"
Lin Yuan suddenly shouted.
Gao Yougan instinctively looked up.
"Don't leave Senior Brother Wang and the others!"
The moment his voice fell.
The two concealed auras within the West Qi Battle Formation visibly paused.
Nezha frowned as well.
"You dare lose focus while fighting me?"
The Fire-Tip Spear stabbed forward again.
Lin Yuan did not retreat.
The Qingxuan Sword suddenly flew out from behind him.
The Thick Earth Sword was in his left hand.
The Qingxuan Sword was in his right.
One heavy, one swift.
For the first time, both swords struck at once.
The Thick Earth Sword blocked the spear head-on.
Using the moment the two drew close, the Qingxuan Sword slashed at Nezha's wrist from an extremely tricky angle.
Nezha had not expected Lin Yuan to have such a move.
He immediately changed techniques.
The Fire-Tip Spear swept sideways.
The Qingxuan Sword was knocked flying.
Using that blow, Lin Yuan retreated far away again.
Of course, he had never expected to defeat Nezha this way.
He only needed to hold him back.
Gao Yougan had reacted as well.
He had indeed planned to take advantage of Nezha entering the battle to find an opportunity to charge the West Qi Battle Formation.
After all, Lin Yuan had held back the strongest of their younger generation.
Hearing the warning now, he simply folded his arms and stood beside Wang Mo.
"Fine."
"I'm not going anywhere today."
"I'd like to see what else those bastards think they can pull."
Wang Mo and the others were no fools either.
When Gao Yougan stopped and the two auras from West Qi still did not advance, how could they fail to guess the reason?
Wang Mo's gaze immediately turned cold.
"They're trying to pick us off one by one again."
"Do they really think yesterday's beating was for nothing?"
In the direction of West Qi.
The two people secretly preparing to strike waited for a long time.
Gao Yougan never left the four-man formation.
In the end, they could only quietly withdraw.
The intense sense of danger Lin Yuan had felt toward Gao Yougan gradually faded as well.
They had succeeded.
The instant he truly relaxed, Nezha was already before him.
"You're spacing out while fighting me?"
Lin Yuan: "..."
He had been careless.
Bang!
The spear shaft swept directly across his shoulder.
Lin Yuan was sent flying sideways.
After landing, he rolled twice before coming to a stop.
Wang Mo's face darkened.
Just as he was about to intervene.
Lin Yuan had already climbed to his feet on his own.
"I'm fine!"
Nezha did not pursue either.
That strike had only been with the spear shaft.
It had not been the spear tip.
If he had truly meant to kill, the group from the Intercepting Sect would not have stood by and watched.
At its core, this was still a contest of immortal arts between two sects.
They had not yet reached the point of completely tearing off all pretenses.
Lin Yuan brushed the dirt from his body.
He looked at Nezha.
"You hit pretty hard."
"Do you still care about that on a battlefield?"
"You have a point."
Lin Yuan nodded.
"Then if I get the chance next time, I'll ambush you too."
Nezha's eye twitched.
"I'll be waiting."
The sound of West Qi beating the gong for retreat soon rang out.
Nezha turned and withdrew into his Battle Formation.
Lin Yuan did not continue the pursuit either.
As soon as he returned to the Shang Camp, Gao Yougan came over on his own.
"Junior Brother Lin."
"I'll remember what happened today."
Lin Yuan waved it off.
"You're too polite, Senior Brother."
But Gao Yougan shook his head.
"If you hadn't warned me, I really might have charged out today."
"If I had run into another Golden Immortal ambush like yesterday..."
There was no need to finish the sentence.
The outcome would not have been good.
Gao Yougan patted Lin Yuan on the shoulder.
"This life of mine does not yet owe you."
"But I'll remember this favor for now."
"If you need anything in the future, just call out."
Lin Yuan smiled and nodded.
The night grew deeper.
He returned to his tent to meditate and recover.
His battle with Nezha during the day had benefited him greatly.
But not long after he sat down cross-legged.
His Innate Spiritual Perception suddenly stirred faintly.
At first, it was not strong.
Then that sense of danger became increasingly obvious.
Lin Yuan opened his eyes.
His gaze swiftly swept across his surroundings.
Wang Mo's aura was there.
Yang Sen was there as well.
Gao Yougan had returned to his tent not long ago.
And there was one more...
Lin Yuan's expression suddenly changed.
"Where is Senior Brother Li?"
Before you continue