Fighting a First Rank Alone

Taking advantage of the fact that the Gara Tree was repelled by the White Emperor's charged water mine ball, Asura opened his mouth and spat out a piece of paper. "Sizzle," the paper burned to ashes.

As Gara Tree staggered, a loud thud resounded in his chest, causing it to cave in, but he was unable to tear apart the Vajra Body.

Wizard - Curse Killing!

Asura returned some of the damage to this first-rank Bodhisattva. Unfortunately, the Law Technique recorded by Confucian School differed from the original, and the curse spells cast by returning damage were far less powerful than those cast using the enemy's flesh and blood as a medium.

Two forms of curse killing techniques:

Using the enemy's personal belongings as a medium; returning them at the cost of personal injury.

The latter is somewhat similar to Xu Qi'an's Jade Shatter, but there are also differences. First, the power is not comparable. Second, the return method of the Curse Killing Technique is relatively simple, targeting the heart and Primordial Spirit.

Xu Qi'an's shattering of the jade was an act of retaliation.

After using the curse to buy time again, Asura's two severed arms flew back on their own and reattached to the broken ends, which was less strenuous than limb regeneration.

They were prepared for a protracted war in the North.

Gara Tree glanced down at the dent in his chest, not paying much attention to it. Compared to this minor injury, which was barely noticeable, the damage caused by the exploding mineball was far more serious, causing him a burning pain.

Bai Di was also a first-rank expert. His charged attack, though it failed to break through the Vajra Dharma Form's defense, caused intense pain.

Despite having been through countless battles, and having never fought against a Daoist priest of the Earth Sect before, nor having experienced the power of the Earth Sect's Merit Cultivation Method, it did not prevent him from realizing that there was something wrong with his "luck".

Buddhist School lacks the Vast Righteous Qi of Confucian School, which makes one impervious to all evils, and it also lacks Golden Core Daoist elixir that can "break through all Daoist School with one Golden Core." However, the source of Zen practice—the image of Acala—can ward off bad luck.

However, if he uses the form of Acala, his physical body will also be unable to move.

After a brief moment of thought, Garuda Tree decided to ignore it.

While being plagued by bad luck is certainly troublesome, there's a limit. With a first-rank official suppressing a second-rank official, bad luck can only cause minor troubles at most. Since there's no way to get rid of it, let's just ignore it.

Gara Tree lowered his knees slightly, and then with a "boom," the plain beneath his feet suddenly collapsed, and he transformed into a golden light that shot towards Asura.

Asura spat out a dark golden longsword and held it in his palm.

Taiping Sword!

Xu Qi'an lent this half-step Law Treasure to Asuluo.

With the current sharpness of the Taiping Blade, it can cut through the flesh of a second-rank martial artist. Against the Vajra Divine Skill of the Gara Tree, although it cannot break through the defense with a single strike, it is still better than Asuluo using his fists.

The difference in grade cannot be bridged, but it can be mitigated to the greatest extent possible through external means such as Law Treasure Law Technique.

The dazzling halo of light converged, rushing along the arm and into the blade, adding a layer of dazzling special effects to the Taiping Blade.

As the golden light hurtled towards him, Asura lunged forward, sidestepped, and his Taiping Blade dragged across his opponent, sending blinding sparks flying.

Gara Tree frowned immediately; he felt a burning pain.

Although the knife failed to break his Vajra form, it still made him feel the threat of being attacked.

The golden light emanating from the Gara tree stopped abruptly, and the tree grabbed Asura's wrist with its right hand, attempting to seize the Taiping Blade.

Asura loosened his grip, transferring the knife to his left hand, the dazzling blade slicing towards Gara Tree's eyes.

Gara leaned back to avoid the blade, and his knee slammed into Asura's abdomen.

The energy surged through Asuro's back with a deafening boom.

This attack could have sent Asulu flying, but Zhao Shou's "one man can hold off ten thousand" buff was still in effect, making Asulu even more valiant than usual.

Gara Tree sneered, sprang back, and slammed his headbutt into Asura's face.

The ripple-like energy suddenly exploded, and Asuro lost consciousness for a moment, flying backward like a sandbag.

Master Jinlian blew out a breath, and the airflow condensed into a "wind image" behind Asuluo, carrying him in a turn and drift, avoiding the follow-up pursuit of the Gara Tree.

The four on both sides displayed their Divine Ability and engaged in a fierce battle. Asuluo faced the Gara Tree head-on and withstood the pressure, while Zhao Shou and Daoist Jinlian provided assistance.

The Gara tree, blessed with the Vajra Dharma form, was aggressive and relentlessly pursued and attacked. Asura and his companions, however, dealt with it cautiously, daring not to make the slightest mistake.

The former can make mistakes freely, while the latter has almost zero tolerance for error.

With a straight punch, Gara Tree sent Asura flying. Without needing to gather its strength, it transformed into golden light and pounced on the Golden Lotus Daoist on the other side.

Gara Tree had a clear objective. Asuluo was stronger than an ordinary peak second-rank martial artist. Due to his system, he had strong defense and vitality. Even for him, it would be difficult to kill this traitor in a short time.

Zhao Shou belongs to the Confucian School system, and Confucian School allows for arbitrary modification of rules, making it extremely difficult to deal with. Moreover, with the assistance of two peerless magical Law Treasure —the Confucian Crown of the Second Sage and the Confucian Carving Knife of the Sage— Zhao Shou's skill level may not be inferior to Asuluo's.

Therefore, among the three, the old Daoist priest from the Earth Sect was the easiest to control.

The ground beneath Master Jinlian's feet rose up and solidified into a giant three zhang tall, covered in stone armor, with his arms crossed over his chest in a defensive stance.

Geological features!

The Daoist school has four major Dharma forms: Daoist School, Wind, Water, and Fire. The Earth form is known for its defense. When Daoist Master Jinlian, at the peak of the second rank, uses the Earth form, its defensive power is higher than that of a third-rank martial artist, but not as high as that of a second-rank martial artist.

Bang!

The earth exploded under the iron fist of the Gara tree. Master Jinlian's chest felt like it had been hit, blood gushed out, his body curled up like a shrimp, and he was sent flying backward.

The Gara Tree pressed its advantage and pressed its attack, which, for a high-ranking non-martial arts practitioner, was tantamount to a death sentence (for the physical body).

Zhao Shou waved his sleeve sharply and said in a deep voice:

"Retreat two hundred feet!"

Master Jinlian suddenly vanished and reappeared two hundred feet away, narrowly avoiding having his physical body destroyed.

Instead of letting the Garuda Tree retreat two hundred feet, Zhao Shou sent the Golden Lotus Daoist to a relatively safe place. The advantage of doing so was that the backlash from the Law Follows Speech becoming law would be very mild.

The effect achieved is the same.

A mature Confucian School disciple should know how to showcase his skills.

After seeing off Daoist Jinlian, Zhao Shou took out his scholar's cap and said in a deep voice:

"This strike is sure to hit!"

He gently handed over the carving knife in his hand. During the process, gold paint shone from between his eyebrows, quickly covering his entire body and temporarily elevating his physique to the level of a third-rank martial artist.

The knife in Zhao Shou's hand broke through the limitations of space, stabbing the Confucian sage's carving knife into the chest of the Garuda tree.

Knowing the terrifying power of this Law Treasure, Gara Tree quickly formed hand seals, unleashing the Fudo Myo-o form for the first time since the start of their fight.

But at that moment, dark clouds suddenly churned in the sky, and a bolt of lightning as thick as a bucket struck down, hitting the Gara tree squarely.

The blow paralyzed his body, leaving him frozen in place.

The handprint could not be formed.

This is no ordinary lightning; this is Luo Yuheng's tribulation.

But for some reason, they struck the wrong person.

"Puff!"

The defense of the Immovable King's Dharma form failed to materialize. The Confucian sage's carving knife pierced the chest of the Gara tree, breaking through its Vajra body, and dark golden blood gushed out.

After successfully striking, Zhao Shou immediately sheathed his sword, seemingly unwilling to harm the Garuda tree any further.

The next moment, his brow split open, blood gushing out, and the scholar's cap and carving knife, which had been shrouded in a clear light, dimmed somewhat.

The backlash from Law Follows Speech can vary in intensity depending on the specific effect.

Don't be fooled by Zhao Shou's usual boastful talk, his tendency to retreat hundreds of feet at a time, or his excessive buffs to teammates. These actions either have an indirect impact or create trouble and annoyance, but they don't cause direct harm.

Therefore, the backlash is very mild.

But this time was different. This time, he directly used the power of his Law Follows Speech to injure the tree with the carving knife of the Confucian sage.

If it weren't for the scholar's cap and carving knife helping to protect him, Zhao Shou would have suffered an even greater backlash.

Not far away, Daoist Jinlian swallowed a healing pill. His broken sternum and damaged organs slowly healed. He smiled and said:

"I am a person of great fortune; to harm me would incur divine retribution."

Gara Tree lowered his head, pressing his hand against the wound piercing his heart, his expression becoming unusually serious.

Although such an injury was unlikely to threaten his life, the force of the Confucian sage's carving knife could not be removed in a short time, and the wound could not heal.

This means that his invincible physique will have a fatal flaw, and will no longer be invincible.

Strength and defense are the foundation of Gara Tree's dominance over Kyushu. Any flaws in its defense will directly lead to a loss of combat power.

The extraordinary experts from the Great Feng Dynasty present exchanged knowing smiles.

The lightning strike just now wasn't a mistake; it struck the Garuda tree.

Everything was planned.

On that day in Yongzhou, during the extraordinary battle, it took three second-rank martial artists— Xu Qi'an Yangzhou, and Asuluo—to barely contend with the Gara Tree.

Xu Qi'an later analyzed the situation and found that the reason was that the three of them were from the same system or a similar system, and their opponents were also from the same field.

Simply put, Xu Qi'an and his two companions excel in qi cultivation, hand-to-hand combat, and defense, but no matter how strong they are, can they be stronger than a first-grade Garuda tree?

This has resulted in suppression of the quality gap within the same system.

After much painful reflection, the extraordinary experts of the Great Feng rearranged their forces and discovered that if the trio's structure were changed, with one peak second-rank martial artist leading the charge and the other two second-rank martial artists from other systems providing support, they could achieve the following:

The effect is far stronger than three second-rank members from the same system joining forces.

Because there are counters between different systems, and each system has its own advantages, there are more ways to defeat the enemy, resulting in a higher win rate.

Just like the Earth Sect's practice of reducing one's fortune, the Garuda tree has no way to do anything about it.

The precepts of Buddhist School, on the other hand, were restrained by the Confucian School Vast Righteous Qi and Golden Core.

This is something that three second-rank martial artists simply could not do.

Of course, it would still be difficult for Asura, Golden Lotus Daoist, and Zhao Shou to defeat the Gara Tree Bodhisattva, but as long as they could hold him off, delay him, and fight back and forth without being one-sidedly defeated, that would be enough.

"For your tactics to succeed, the most crucial factor is whether you can withstand my offensive."

The White Emperor glanced at the four people fighting in the distance, then at Luo Yuheng in the lightning tribulation, and finally his gaze fell on Xu Qi'an was covered in blood.

"I've only used half my strength so far, and you're already exhausted."

It felt that these extraordinary experts were somewhat clever.

But in the face of absolute power, wisdom is insignificant.

As it says, the key to the success of this tactic lies in whether Xu Qi'an is qualified to compete with a descendant of a first-rank god and Gods and Devils.

The White Emperor is not a martial arts practitioner; he lacks the ability to sense danger and the power to transform internal energy. However, as a descendant of Gods and Devils, he possesses an innately powerful physique, and his speed and strength are comparable to those of martial artists of the same rank.

Moreover, their innate Divine Ability powers are extremely powerful and destructive.

It only takes three mineballs to disintegrate the young man's body.

Xu Qi'an took a deep breath, and the scorch marks on his wounds healed instantly. He flicked the Zhenguo Sword with his finger, and laughed amidst the clear, melodious sword sound:

"Sixty percent is usable now."

"Then I will grant your wish."

Between the horns of the White Emperor, a pure black energy sphere condensed and collapsed inward, crackling and crackling with electric arcs that enveloped the outer layer.

After a brief charge, the mineball shot off, leaving a fleeting arc of electricity along its path.

Its target was not Xu Qi'an, but rather the unethical sneak attack on Luo Yuheng.

Boom!

Xu Qi'an dodged between Luo Yuheng and the water mine ball, raised his sword, and slashed at the water mine ball.

The mineball exploded immediately, instantly filling the air with electrical charge, and arcs of electricity flashed and died in mid-air.

Xu Qi'an's indestructible body was torn apart by the explosion once again, but this time, despite the flesh being torn open, no bones were exposed.

He has become stronger, just as the report stated. The White Emperor's tone remained unchanged as he sneered:

"The means to unleash your potential? Is this what you're confident about?"

While it was speaking, it was not idle. Its four hooves flew, and its back and waist stretched and contracted, like a nimble leopard pouncing on its prey.

The descendants of Gods and Devils are not afraid of close combat; in fact, it is one of their methods of killing enemies.

Taking advantage of the paralysis caused by the mine ball, it prepared to hunt down Xu Qi'an and end the battle in the shortest possible time.

Seventeen bolts of lightning silently caused Xu Qi'an's body to collapse, merging into the shadows and disappearing without a trace.

"Escape?"

The White Emperor chuckled and spat out two black arrows, which shot towards Luo Yuheng.

Compared to the Gara tree that was tightly entangled, its only enemy was Xu Qi'an, and Xu Qi'an could not possibly entangle it by himself.

Therefore, it can often free up its resources to deal with Luo Yuheng.

While undergoing his tribulation, Luo Yuheng diverted some of his energy, raising his right hand in a sword-finger gesture and manipulating his flying sword to slash at the two black arrows.

Boom! Boom!

The arrow formed by the Water Spirit Sword exploded, and Luo Yuheng swayed, his face paling slightly.

Xu Qi'an emerged from the shadows beneath the White Emperor, wielding the Zhenguo Sword, its yellow light exploding, and thrust it towards its genitals.