The Flesh of the Dao Fire Realm
Zuo Qiu hadn't run two steps when he felt immense pressure bearing down on him.
First, the Hibernating Dragon Technique could not be maintained, and its form was revealed from the Shade of the trees. Then, all its True Essence was forced back into the Dao Embryo by the immense pressure.
What kind of Array Formation is this? It's so powerful!
Zuo Qiu was both shocked and furious. He hurriedly activated his cultivation technique and stirred his Dao Embryo. If someone really sealed his cultivation within his Dao Embryo, wouldn't his Life and Death be at the mercy of others?
He used the same techniques he hadn't even used when fighting Li Shi'an. Dao Fire rose from his Dao Embryo and Dao Fire fiercely, but it went out in an instant. The Dao Embryo was as still as death, completely beyond his control.
However, compared to others who had died at Gu Yuanqing's hands before, Zuo Qiu reacted much faster. Even in such a critical situation, he still made the most correct response and did not hesitate in the slightest due to the sudden change.
He ran downhill without stopping, relying on his Physical Body strength, because he knew that only by leaving North Spring Mountain would there be a glimmer of hope for survival.
As he ran, he sensed Motion and Stillness behind him. Turning around, he saw a sword and a blade hurtling towards him from mid-air.
Zuo Qiu's pupils constricted rapidly; at that moment, fear finally rose within him.
"This is Sword-Riding Art, which requires a great Cultivator to the Spirit Gathering and Opening the Mansion, Establishing the Divine Platform to perform. How could there possibly be such Cultivator in this lowest level of the Trial Ground?"
Zuo Qiu cursed angrily. If such a powerful Cultivator was already there, why wait for him to enter the mountain? Wasn't this just playing with him?
But then he immediately noticed something was wrong. This Sword-Riding Technique was completely different from the one he had seen used by the great Cultivator of the Divine Platform Realm. It didn't have that kind of imposing presence at all.
Sensing a glimmer of hope, he drew a short knife from his hand, but his pace did not slow down in the slightest.
In the blink of an eye, the sword and the blade arrived with a whoosh.
Zuo Qiu remained calm, using a short knife in his hand to parry, deflect, and redirect the force of the attack. Even without the Empowerment his will, he managed to block the most ferocious first blow by relying solely on his eyesight and Physical Body strength!
"It seems that the suppression of the Dao Fire Realm is far less effective than that of the Grandmaster Realm," Gu Yuanqing muttered to himself.
He was confident that his casual Sword Control strike was now at the Peak Profound Martial Ninth Layer, and his first strike was even at the Grandmaster level, but Zuo Qiu still managed to block it.
That short sword was no ordinary item either. Despite having no True Essence Empowerment, it remained completely undamaged after several exchanges with the Blood Tiger Yao Blade.
Gu Yuanqing controlled his Object Control with his mind, and his sword and saber unleashed their respective Swordsmanship and Blade Technique as they attacked Zuo Qiu, interspersed with a dozen or so fine needles that shimmered with blue light.
Zuo Qiu fought and retreated, wielding a short sword with unparalleled skill, coordinating it with his footwork and evasive maneuvers. Each strike landed precisely on the weakest point of the incoming blades.
He even attempted to disarm the opponent with his bare hands and seize the Blood Tiger Yao Blade back.
Gu Yuanqing smiled lightly. If I let you succeed under these circumstances, then I would be too pathetic.
Zuo Qiu relied entirely on his eyesight and Physical Body reflexes during the battle, while Gu Yuanqing used his mind to Mountain-Viewing Object Control; it was immediately clear who was faster.
"If I were to fight him face to face right now, I still might not be his match! And isn't the strength of his Physical Body a bit exaggerated!"
With the combined power of multiple Object Control, the attack far exceeded the scope of ordinary attacks, and the suppressed Zuo Qiu was bound to make a mistake.
However, whether it was the Kunwu Sword or those fine needles that landed on Zuo Qiu's body, they only caused his skin to dent slightly and left faint bloodstains on his body, but they could not damage his body at its core. Even when the fine needles landed on his eyelids or other vulnerable areas, they had no effect.
Zuo Qiu dared not confront the Blood Tiger Yao Blade head-on, so he focused all his defenses on this blade!
If it weren't for this sword, Gu Yuanqing even doubted that Zuo Qiu could have withstood his attacks and charged down the mountain!
"Wouldn't you say he shot himself in the foot?" Gu Yuanqing chuckled.
Gu Yuanqing's Object Control Method has become increasingly flexible. In the past, when he used Sword Control control to kill people, he would solve the problem with a single sword strike. He practiced all his Object Control Method on his own. But today, he had a rare opportunity to have a master as his sparring partner.
Many ideas arose during practice, and these ideas were constantly tested and improved in battles with Zuo Qiu. Zuo Qiu was the one who most directly felt this improvement.
Zuo Qiu was in a bad mood. He found it increasingly difficult to block the attacks, and the angles of the Snow Tiger Yao Blade's attacks were becoming more and more unpredictable.
He had been fleeing and defending himself, and was less than a hundred feet away from leaving North Spring Mountain. In the past, he could cross that distance in one or two steps, but now it seemed as if there was an Heavenly Chasm in the middle of that hundred feet, and the main body of this Heavenly Chasm was the Blood Tiger Yao Blade!
One wound after another began to appear on his body. Although none of these wounds were fatal, blood gradually stained his body.
Zuo Qiu never imagined that one day the thing that would hurt him the most would be the Yao Blade he had nurtured for so long.
Although Gu Yuanqing suppressed the Spirituality and power of the Blood Tiger Yao Blade, the blade itself contained Exotic Object. These inherent characteristics of the blade did not lose their effectiveness due to the suppression of its Spirituality. Therefore, with each wound, Zuo Qiu felt that his blood and power were being devoured by it, and the muscles around the wound would also be affected and begin to atrophy. Even though his body had been tempered by Dao Fire, it was useless!
"No, I'm going to die if this continues!"
Zuo Qiu's heart sank. His Dao Embryo was suppressed, and his True Essence and Divine Sense were rendered useless. He could not use any Secret Method, nor could he activate any Mystic Artifact or Law Treasure. He could hardly think of any way to resolve his current predicament.
"Perhaps only that one thing can save me, but this mere Trial Ground have to use up my trump card for survival. I'm not willing to accept it!"
Zuo Qiu roared and brandished his dagger, using it to block the Snow Tiger Yao Blade as much as he could, ignoring all other attacks.
He wanted to withstand the attack and break through. As long as he could get out of North Spring Mountain and recover his True Essence and Dao Embryo, these injuries could be healed.
Gu Yuanqing remained calm, focusing all his power on the Blood Tiger Yao Blade. As his Mental Power concentrated, the power contained within the Blood Tiger Yao Blade suddenly increased by three-tenths, transforming into beams of light that continuously slashed forward.
Zuo Qiu kept parrying with his short sword. His muscles and bones bulged, and he unleashed all his Physical Body strength. Many of his wounds, which had been sealed by his own power and were healing at a speed beyond that of ordinary people, burst open again at this moment, and Zuo Qiu was covered in blood!
Ten zhang, twenty zhang, thirty zhang...
Zuo Qiu kept rushing out, getting closer and closer to the exit, when suddenly he heard a clang. The short sword in his hand could no longer hold on and broke in two!
The Blood Tiger Yao Blade, which had severed the short sword, struck Zuo Qiu's chest heavily, inflicting a wound that penetrated deep into his internal organs. Just as Zuo Qiu was about to seize the Blood Tiger Yao Blade back, he dodged in an arc and then transformed into a blade of light to attack again.
Zuo Qiu blocked several more attacks, even shattering the hilt of his short sword. Seeing that he had no other choice, he roared, "Gu Yuanqing, I, Zuo Qiu, swear that if I don't kill you, I will not be a man!"
The blade pierced the body, but the scene exploded with a burst of blood.
Gu Yuanqing frowned slightly. He didn't know what had happened just now, but he knew that in his perception, Zuo Qiu's body suddenly disappeared in Within North Spring Mountain, and the Qi he had locked onto turned into a Wooden Puppet.
The blade flashed across the Wooden Puppet, unleashing a crimson light that seemed poised to destroy everything around it, but was immediately suppressed and vanished without a trace.