Nezha, Your Spear Isn't That Great

Thick Earth qi surged beneath Lin Yuan's feet as he rapidly retreated.

"Nezha."

"What you said wasn't very rigorous."

"Back then, I didn't have my master fight you for me, either."

"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 came even faster.

"Of course there is."

Lin Yuan twisted aside, dodging a spear shadow.

His Innate Spiritual Perception operated at full force.

Though the sky full of spear shadows was dazzling and bewildering, only three truly carried killing power.

One from the left.

One from above.

And that spear thrust straight ahead!

Lin Yuan raised the Thick Earth Sword horizontally to block.

Clang!

Sparks scattered in all directions.

Both his arms went numb again.

He borrowed the force to retreat, narrowly avoiding a sheet of flames crashing down from overhead.

"See?"

"That's the difference between reasoning."

Nezha: "..."

Why was this man's mouth so damn incessant?

In the Shang camp's direction.

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 couldn't be called 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 in time and blocked the Heaven-Shaking Arrow. Later, the two sides got into an argument, and he brought Teacher over as well."

Gao Yougan suddenly understood.

"No wonder."

But Wang Mo frowned.

"This Nezha is no weakling."

"Junior Brother's cultivation realm is still somewhat lacking."

Li Xingba watched even more intently.

"Junior Brother Lin isn't planning 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.

From the moment the fight began, Lin Yuan had never truly fought Nezha head-on.

He dodged every killing move he could avoid.

For those he could not avoid, he used the Thick Earth Sword to disperse the force.

Whatever force he truly could not shed, he left to the Blackstone Dao Body to withstand.

To outsiders, he seemed to be getting beaten down by Nezha.

Yet after dozens of exchanges, one would discover that Lin Yuan had shockingly few injuries.

Nezha himself grew increasingly irritated.

He could hit him.

But he could not hurt him.

He could catch up to him.

Yet he could not knock him flat anytime soon.

Most absurd of all, every dozen or so exchanges, Lin Yuan seemed to grow a little more familiar with his spear techniques.

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 for practice?"

Nezha finally realized something was wrong.

Lin Yuan did not deny it.

"Such opportunities are rare."

"A free sparring partner who's a direct disciple of the Explanatory Sect."

"Where else could I find such a good thing?"

"You're courting death!"

Nezha was thoroughly enraged.

The Wind-Fire Wheels erupted with dazzling divine radiance, and his speed abruptly surged by a great margin.

The sense of danger in Lin Yuan's heart instantly soared to its peak.

Too fast!

This time, even after his Innate Spiritual Perception caught the trajectory, his body could barely keep up in time.

The Fire-Tip Spear tore through the air, shooting straight for his chest.

Lin Yuan stamped heavily upon the ground.

The Blackstone Dao Body operated at full force.

The Thick Earth Sword swept a semicircle before him, frantically drawing in the earth qi from all around.

Boom!

The Fire-Tip Spear collided with the Thick Earth Sword.

The ground within several yards beneath Lin Yuan's feet shattered at once.

His entire body 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, too, was stalled for a moment by that heavy rebounding force.

Lin Yuan raised a hand and wiped the corner of his mouth.

"This spear is acceptable."

Nezha laughed in anger.

"There's something even better!"

He was about to charge forward again.

From 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 instantly understood.

After fighting Nezha for so long, the other side's true target really had been Gao Yougan.

First, they had tried to provoke Gao Yougan with taunts before the formation.

After that failed, they had Nezha hold back him, the one who had exposed their plan.

As long as Gao Yougan moved even slightly away from Wang Mo and the others,

those lurking in the shadows would immediately strike.

"Senior Brother Gao!"

Lin Yuan suddenly let out a thunderous roar.

Gao Yougan instinctively looked up.

"Don't leave Senior Brother Wang and the others!"

The moment his voice fell,

the two concealed auras in the West Qi army formation clearly paused.

Nezha frowned as well.

"You dare lose focus while fighting me?"

The Fire-Tip Spear stabbed forth again.

Lin Yuan did not retreat.

The Qingxuan Sword suddenly flew out from behind his back.

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.

The Qingxuan Sword, meanwhile, took advantage of their closeness to slash toward Nezha's wrist from an exceptionally tricky angle.

Nezha had not expected Lin Yuan to have such a move.

He immediately changed tactics.

The Fire-Tip Spear swept horizontally.

The Qingxuan Sword was knocked flying.

Lin Yuan used that blow to retreat once more.

Of course, he had never expected to defeat Nezha this way.

As long as he held him back, that was enough.

Gao Yougan had reacted as well.

He truly had been planning to seize the chance, once Nezha entered the battle, to charge at the West Qi army formation.

After all, Lin Yuan had tied down the strongest of the younger generation.

Now, hearing the warning, he simply folded his arms and stood beside Wang Mo.

"Fine."

"I'm not going anywhere today."

"I'd like to see what tricks those people still want to play."

Wang Mo and the others were no fools either.

When they saw Gao Yougan stop and the two auras from West Qi fail to advance for so long, how could they not guess the reason?

Wang Mo's gaze immediately turned cold.

"They want to pick us off one by one again."

"Do they really think we took yesterday's beating for nothing?"

In West Qi's direction.

The two people preparing to strike from the shadows waited for a long time.

Gao Yougan did not leave the formation of the four at all.

In the end, they could only quietly retreat.

The intense sense of danger in Lin Yuan's heart, directed at Gao Yougan, gradually subsided as well.

It worked.

At the instant he truly relaxed, Nezha had already arrived before him.

"You're spacing out while fighting me?"

Lin Yuan: "..."

He had been careless.

Bang!

The spear shaft swept directly into his shoulder.

Lin Yuan was sent flying sideways.

After landing, he rolled twice before coming to a stop.

Wang Mo's expression darkened.

Just as he was about to intervene,

Lin Yuan had already climbed to his feet himself.

"I'm fine!"

Nezha did not pursue either.

That strike just now 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 their core, this was still a contest of immortal arts between sects.

They had not yet reached the point of completely tearing off all pretense.

Lin Yuan brushed the dirt from his body.

Then he looked at Nezha.

"You hit pretty viciously."

"And you still talk 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 anytime."

The sound of West Qi beating the gong soon rang out.

Nezha turned and retreated into the army formation.

Lin Yuan did not continue the pursuit either.

The moment he returned to the Shang camp, Gao Yougan took the initiative to approach him.

"Junior Brother Lin."

"I'll remember what happened today."

Lin Yuan waved a hand.

"You're too polite, Senior Brother."

But Gao Yougan shook his head.

"If you hadn't warned me, I really might have rushed out today."

"If I had blundered into another Golden Immortal's ambush like yesterday..."

There was no need to say the rest.

The outcome would not have been good.

Gao Yougan patted Lin Yuan on the shoulder.

"This life of mine has not yet reached the point of being owed to 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 deepened.

He returned to his tent, preparing to regulate his breath.

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 gave a faint twitch.

At first, it was not strong.

Then that warning sign grew increasingly distinct.

Lin Yuan opened his eyes.

His gaze swiftly swept over his surroundings.

Wang Mo's aura was there.

Yang Sen was there as well.

Gao Yougan had only just returned to his tent.

And there was one more...

Lin Yuan's expression suddenly changed.

"Where is Senior Brother Li?"