Chapter 65: Rune Weapons

After a stick of incense burned out.

Long Zhantian successfully dodged the mutated Fire-Devouring Wolf's flame blast for the fifteenth time, then swiftly retreated to observe the wolf's condition.

At this moment, the mutated Fire-Devouring Wolf, having unleashed fifteen flame blasts, showed extreme exhaustion, its limbs trembling.

The right blue wolf head opened its mouth, as if trying to spit flame again, but only coughed out a few sparks.

The left silver wolf head also opened its mouth, but after spitting out a few clumps of white smoke, it fell still.

Seeing this, Long Zhantian was overjoyed—his guess was correct; the beast's Qi was completely depleted. He sneered: "Beast, die!"

Saying this, he activated his movement technique and Spring-Autumn Palm, rushing toward the mutated Fire-Devouring Wolf with intent to kill it with one blow.

In the blink of an eye, Long Zhantian appeared beside the right side of the mutated Fire-Devouring Wolf and struck out with a palm, slamming hard against the wolf's right head—he had nearly had his hair burned off by that very head's flame.

The Spring-Autumn Palm technique Long Zhantian wielded was majestic, far surpassing his junior sister Lin Xin by an incalculable margin.

Earlier, Lin Xin's full-power thirty-two palm strikes had merely sealed Zhao Renwu's meridians and acupoints, causing no fatal injury.

If it were Long Zhantian, one palm would have defeated Zhao Renwu—even killed him.

As his palm wind howled, it was about to strike the mutated Fire-Devouring Wolf's head—when suddenly, Long Zhantian felt a chill.

He saw firelight flickering inside the wolf's right mouth, his heart jolted—he forcibly retracted his palm, choked back a surge of blood-Qi, and rolled sideways to escape.

The next instant, a sudden blast of searing flame scorched past Long Zhantian's hair, burning a patch of it to ash.

Having narrowly escaped, Long Zhantian touched his charred hair, trembling with rage—if he hadn't dodged in time, he might have killed the beast, but his own face—not just his hair—would have been burned off.

Damn beast!

It still had Qi left? I underestimated it—it has more Qi than an ordinary Fire-Devouring Wolf, and far greater intelligence, even feigning weakness.

Behind him, the disciples of Kong Sheng Academy held their breath—they too believed the Fire-Devouring Wolf's Qi was spent, yet it still had Qi left; just like its worthless master, it was despicably deceitful.

At this moment, Long Zhantian found the situation extremely difficult, pondering what to do next—continue draining its Qi?

No, if the beast's Qi exceeds mine, I'm finished—dammit!

Cang Luo laughed: "Brother Long, what's wrong? Keep going?"

Long Zhantian ignored Cang Luo, fixing his gaze on the Fire-Devouring Wolf. Cang Luo continued smiling: "Alright then, since you won't attack, it's my turn to strike back."

No sooner had he spoken than Erha lunged forward, leaping at Long Zhantian while spewing a torrent of searing flame—its intensity showed no sign of weakening.

Seeing the flame hurtling toward him, Long Zhantian had no time to hesitate—he dodged instantly.

This dodge, like the previous fifteen, was narrowly successful—but Long Zhantian felt no joy, for he could no longer gauge the Fire-Devouring Wolf's true strength.

If this continues, will I lose?

As he pondered, Long Zhantian saw the Fire-Devouring Wolf charge at him again, its foul-smelling maw open—but this time, it did not spit flame; instead, its left silver head continuously exhaled white smoke.

The smoke spread, carrying the scent of gunpowder, gradually engulfing the area where Long Zhantian stood, then expanding to nearly half the arena.

Trapped in the white smoke, Long Zhantian could no longer see the mutated Fire-Devouring Wolf—he realized with dread that the beast could produce smoke from its mouth.

He couldn't see it, but it could track his position through its keen sense of smell and hearing.

"Beast!"

Long Zhantian cursed and rushed to flee the smoke—but after only a few steps, another cloud of smoke slammed into him, once again enveloping him.

Along with this new cloud came a burst of flame. Unable to see, Long Zhantian couldn't dodge in time—the fire scorched his clothes. He immediately rolled on the ground to extinguish the flames, emerging utterly disheveled.

Just as he put out the fire on his body, before he could even breathe, he sensed two waves of heat surging toward him—one from the left, one from the right—flashes of fire ignited amid the swirling mist.

Long Zhantian's heart froze—he groaned in despair, abandoning all caution, and dashed back to the Kong Sheng Academy's position.

The fellow disciples of Kong Sheng Academy rushed forward to support him. One female disciple asked anxiously: "Brother Long, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Long Zhantian shook his head, disheveled and furious: "Why does this beast have so much Qi? How is it not running out?"

The Kong Sheng Academy disciples exchanged glances, all puzzled. One disciple speculated: "It must be due to its mutation—its two demon cores must be far larger than those of an ordinary first-rank beast..."

Not only these lowly Warrior Stage disciples were baffled by Cang Luo's beast's seemingly endless Qi—even Xuan Qingqing, Li Haoran, and Murong Ye stared in confusion, ultimately attributing it to the mutation.

Li Zhanxing exclaimed excitedly: "Brother Cang's beast is incredible—it can spit fire and white smoke to create mist! Even a first-rank beast like this is worth having—no wonder Brother Cang wanted to subdue it."

Those around him nodded in agreement, but Li Haoran shook his head: "You must not emulate him. What good is spitting white smoke and creating mist?"

"Once you reach the Wu Ling realm, your Yuan Shi spreads outward—you can perceive targets through Yuan Shi. Mist becomes useless."

Hearing this, everyone agreed—it made perfect sense. They immediately abandoned any thought of capturing a mutated first-rank beast if they ever encountered one.

At that moment, the white smoke blanketing the arena slowly dissipated. Cang Luo saw Long Zhantian had retreated to the arena's edge and smiled: "Brother Long, are you planning to surrender?"

"Surrender to you, worthless trash?" Long Zhantian sneered, stepping back into the arena.

Yet as soon as one foot touched the ground, he saw the mutated Fire-Devouring Wolf charging at him—one mouth clutching flame, the other filled with white smoke, its twin eyes glowing with bloodthirsty intent, as if it would not stop until it burned him to ash.

Seeing this, Long Zhantian could only flee as far as possible—but the moment he dodged one flame, he was instantly engulfed in smoke.

Long Zhantian was in torment, with nowhere to escape—wherever he ran, the smoke followed, and the flame followed too.

When the entire arena was shrouded in smoke, Long Zhantian stared at the blinding white haze around him, trembling with dread—fearing a flame might erupt from any direction, he hesitated, wondering whether to just surrender.

But just then, he heard someone calling him from behind.

"Brother Long, catch the sword!"

Catch the sword?

Long Zhantian froze—could he use a weapon?

Even that Warrior Stage 7 trash didn't use a weapon—how could I, a Warrior Stage 9 peak cultivator, shamelessly use one?

Long Zhantian thought he wouldn't catch the thrown sword—but his body moved without his will, successfully catching it.

Clang!

The moment the sword entered his hand, it emitted a resonant hum of vibrating metal—a sound that brought Long Zhantian a sliver of security.

This sword was no ordinary iron blade—it was a Rank 2 Rune Weapon.

Rank 2 means this sword was forged from Rank 2 materials—such as Xuan Huang Iron, Liu Li Silver, or Sheng Jin Wood—all Rank 2 materials capable of forging Rank 2 weapons.

As for the runes, they indicate that this weapon is also inscribed with a formation.

Named the Green Gale Formation, once activated by Yuan Consciousness, it can form a wind barrier before the user capable of deflecting arrows, or unleash a slash of formidable gale force.

Embedded in the sword hilt is a mid-grade Yuan Stone to provide energy for the formation, sufficient to drive the formation more than ten times.

If the Yuan Stone's Yuan Power is exhausted, the user can instead inject their own Yuan Power for the formation to consume.

Long Zhantian looked at the second-grade rune sword in his hand, hesitating whether to use it, but just as he hesitated, two more waves of heat rushed toward him.

At this, Long Zhantian no longer hesitated; he swiftly drew the rune sword and injected Yuan Consciousness to activate the formation. The activated sword emitted waves of green light, dazzling and brilliant.

Long Zhantian's expression was stern; facing the two incoming waves of heat, he fearlessly swung the sword twice in succession.

The first swing generated a green wind barrier the size of a screen five paces before him, successfully blocking the two flames outside. The flames struck the wind barrier and slowly dissipated.

The second swing unleashed a ring of green gale, instantly blowing away the smoke filling the surroundings. After a few breaths, the smoke that had originally shrouded the entire arena completely vanished.

After the smoke was blown away, the two competitors fighting in the arena, along with Cang Luo's beast companion, the Mutated Fire-Devouring Wolf, reappeared in the sight of the disciples from both sects.

The people of Xuan Tian Gate were still wondering why the mist had suddenly disappeared, but upon seeing the sword emitting waves of green light in Long Zhantian's hand, they understood everything at once, instantly erupting in collective fury.

"He actually used a rune weapon? How despicable!"

"Senior Brother Cang didn't use any weapon at all, and the match implicitly forbade using weapons from the very start, let alone a rune weapon."

"Tsk tsk tsk! I didn't expect the Confucius Holy Academy to have such thick skin; not only do they rely on their high cultivation, but they even use rune weapons..."

Long Zhantian's face instantly turned red, but since matters had come to this, even if he had to endure people's contempt, he must kill the Fire-Devouring Wolf.

His hair and his clothes were largely burned away; at this moment, he looked like a beggar, even more disheveled than Cang Luo who had just come out of the Beast Mountain.

Long Zhantian forcibly argued, "This match never stipulated that weapons could not be used; how am I despicable?

Moreover, weapons and beast companions are alike in being a martial artist's right arm and left hand; you can summon beast companions, so why can I not use a weapon?"

Having spoken, he said no more, staring motionlessly at Cang Luo and the Fire-Devouring Wolf with a stiff face, paying no heed to the waves of hissing coming from the Xuan Tian Gate side.

Xuan Qingqing sneered, "Senior Brother Murong?"

At this moment, Murong Ye was also somewhat troubled; he was very disappointed in Long Zhantian, but since he was his own disciple, he must protect him.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Your sect's disciple possesses formidable strength; his beast companion already has the combat power of a second-order demon beast.

Junior Brother Long is only at the Warrior Stage 9 cultivation; if he does not use a weapon, defeat is certain, which would be unfair to him."

Speaking thus, he added, "How about we end this contest as a draw?"

Xuan Qingqing frowned slightly; she felt a draw was not unacceptable. Junior Brother Cang, at Warrior Stage 7 cultivation, had already forced the opponent into a wretched state, earning ample face for Xuan Tian Gate.

She exchanged a glance with Li Haoran; seeing him nod, she thought no more and immediately agreed to end this martial assembly as a draw.

However, just then, Cang Luo suddenly said, "A draw? Why a draw? I have recalled my beast companion, you have sheathed your weapon; let us fight again. You have not yet fulfilled your promise to let me have three moves."

Upon hearing these words, disciples from both sects turned to look at Cang Luo; the side of the Confucius Holy Academy looked at him as if he were an idiot.

Long Zhantian was stunned for a moment, then immediately threw away the rune sword in his hand and hurriedly said, "Of course I will fulfill my promise; come on."

Having spoken, he clasped his hands behind his waist, puffed out his chest, and signaled for Cang Luo to strike.

Long Zhantian did not intend to defend either; he prepared to hardily withstand the opponent's three moves, appearing magnanimous and generous, and also recovering some of the face lost just now by using a rune weapon.

The Xuan Tian Gate side was much the same; all looked at Cang Luo with shocked expressions, though most were more anxious on Cang Luo's behalf.

Zhao Renwu sighed with emotion, "Alas! Senior Brother Cang is too confident. Long Zhantian is at the peak of Warrior Stage 9 cultivation; even standing still and hardily enduring three moves would be no problem."

Beside him, Zhao Renli continued, "Senior Brother Cang's act damages the honor of our Xuan Tian Gate. We could have ended in a draw, yet he insists on choosing to lose to the Confucius Holy Academy..."

The crowd nodded in agreement one after another, looking at Cang Luo with faces full of reproach.