Chapter 412

The white light mist quickly spread to the surroundings, and after a few breaths, it created a space to serve as a battlefield.

Ning Zhuo sighed, stepped forward, moved out from the crowd, and stood before the projection of Linghu Jiu.

For Ning Zhuo, he did not like to fight unprepared battles. In his heart, war was dangerous, and every time he started a fight, he had to be extremely cautious.

This was because once a real move was made, it was inevitably the last resort taken when all other means had been exhausted.

But the current situation was quite special; whether it was Lin Bufan, Shen Lingshu, or Zhu Xuanji and the Five Elements Divine Lord, they all hoped for Ning Zhuo to fight.

Forced by the situation, Ning Zhuo, being only a small Foundation Establishment cultivator, could only comply.

"This battle must be won." Ning Jiufan looked at Ning Zhuo's back and sighed inwardly, "As clever as you are, you should understand that this is not a simple competition, right?"

Ning Zhuo certainly knew!

The challenge from the Linghu Jiu projection was indeed unexpected, originating from the idea of the Loneliness Sword Monarch's dharma body within the Linlang Reflection Wall, not an arrangement by Zhu Xuanji or Lin Bufan.

But this battle was still related to the division of benefits for this trip and the future specific relationship between the Ning clan and the Myriad Medicine Sect.

If Ning Zhuo won, the Ning family would gain more benefits, and the Myriad Medicine Sect would show more respect to the Ning family. The reverse was also true.

Ning Zhuo already had the intention to win, but polite words still had to be said: "Brother Linghu, I think of us drinking and getting drunk together, which was incredibly joyful. Today's battle is truly not what this younger brother wishes for."

Linghu Jiu, however, shook his head and said: "Virtuous brother, to tell you the truth. This elder brother has long had the desire to spar with you; today I am taking advantage of the situation, so I ask you to fight with all your might!"

Linghu Jiu was quite straightforward; after his wrists turned and he performed a sword flourish, he immediately pounced on Ning Zhuo.

"I look forward to it!" Ning Zhuo clenched his fists and also rushed up.

He had never had such a direct close-quarters fight with a Foundation Establishment cultivator who mastered weapons, and he also held many expectations in his heart.

Sword Art—Cup Full and Overflowing.

Linghu Jiu's sword edge swept across the air, forming a phantom image. Like an overflowing wine cup, it trembled and swayed, marvelous to the extreme.

Blood tendons appeared on Ning Zhuo's hands, acting as gloves, blocking the sword edge.

Linghu Jiu did not attack, as if it were a dragonfly skimming the water, tasting it and stopping.

This did not conform to common sense. Ning Zhuo felt slightly surprised, thinking that since you are not attacking, then I will.

Ning Zhuo took the initiative to attack, closing in on Linghu Jiu.

Linghu Jiu chuckled and said: "Virtuous brother, catch this."

Sword Art—Floating Fragrance in Wine.

In an instant, the long sword in his hand turned from solid to virtual, sword intent gushing out like the fragrance of wine, soft yet containing attacks.

The offensive was surging!

Ning Zhuo could only retreat, retreat, and retreat continuously.

Linghu Jiu attacked with a few moves, then suddenly took the initiative to stop and defend.

Lin Shanshan let out an "ah" and recognized it: "This is the Wine Forest Sword Art that I co-created with Senior Brother."

Everyone looked sideways.

Lin Shanshan gave a wry smile and explained the reason.

It turned out that back then, Linghu Jiu was grounded in the Myriad Demon Cave, bored to the extreme, and his thoughts ran wild, leading him to think of creating his own sword art.

When Lin Shanshan delivered food, Linghu Jiu showed off his creation, which made Lin Shanshan quite angry.

Because Linghu Jiu's sword art was all named after wine, fully revealing his intense craving for fine wine.

Lin Shanshan could not stand this, so she actively participated in the creation of the sword art, adding her own philosophy to it, wanting to use this method to urge her senior brother to quit drinking!

Wine Forest Sword Art—Wine Meets a Soulmate.

Linghu Jiu's long sword condensed again, turning from virtual to solid. The sword tip was delivered, and although it was quite sharp, it gave people a gentle and enthusiastic feeling, as if inviting someone to drink together!

Ning Zhuo could not dodge in time and was stabbed in the shoulder, but fortunately, he had the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art to protect his body, blocking the sharp sword edge.

Ning Zhuo broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly retreated.

Linghu Jiu's sword art offensive was endless, leaving Ning Zhuo only able to dodge in a sorry state for a time.

Seeing this, Lin Shanshan could not help but clap with a smile: "Senior Brother, well fought. Teach this big-head a good lesson!"

Hearing this, the Linghu Jiu projection's spirit increased, and he laughed: "Little Junior Sister, then watch closely."

Wine Forest Sword Art—Drunkenly Lying in the Clouds.

Linghu Jiu's sword moves suddenly became broad and open, without any pattern like a drunkard dancing, yet the offensive was even sharper.

Ning Zhuo could not distinguish it for a moment, only feeling that the sword edge was stabbing from all kinds of tricky and strange angles, making it difficult for him to defend, and he was stabbed many times in a short while.

Several times, the sword tip hit the same spot repeatedly, breaking through the blood tendon protection and leaving Ning Zhuo wounded.

Ning Zhuo hurriedly retreated, using the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art to make the wounds heal quickly.

He displayed the demonic art in front of everyone, which could be considered an active public appearance.

Ordinary righteous cultivators would always scold someone when they saw them practicing demonic arts. But seeing that Zhu Xuanji was unmoved, looking as if he had known about it for a long time, Lin Bufan could only follow suit and accept it.

Lin Shanshan's expression froze slightly.

Ning Zhuo being wounded just now made her suddenly realize that her own senior brother was just a projection, but Ning Zhuo was a living body of flesh and blood. In a sparring match, Ning Zhuo was naturally in more danger.

But soon, Lin Shanshan became angry with herself again: "Why am I still worried about him?"

"This Ning Big-Head, clearly has a cultivation method that can be used for close combat, yet he has been hiding it from me all this time!"

Wine Forest Sword Art—Stopping with Satisfaction.

Linghu Jiu's sword edge was like the momentum of drinking quickly, fierce and sharp, as if it wanted to wipe out the enemy completely. But suddenly, at the moment when the offensive was strongest, he stopped abruptly, his sword style returned to defense, turning into sword qi flowing like water to protect himself.

As a result, he directly missed the opportunity to attack; he should have pressed on to turn the advantage into a victory, but he took the initiative to stop.

The spectators all understood the reason. This was because the Wine Forest Sword Art was co-created by Linghu Jiu and Lin Shanshan, and the two had conflicting philosophies. Linghu Jiu wanted to drink, but Lin Shanshan wanted him to quit. Reflected in the sword art, it meant the offense and defense suddenly switched, sometimes attacking, sometimes defending, making it impossible for people to figure out the pattern.

Since Linghu Jiu retreated, Ning Zhuo took the initiative to attack.

He gradually adapted to the Wine Forest Sword Art and began to turn the situation around.

"This sword art is not brilliant; it is fragmented."

"Part of it is exquisite and rigorous, while part of it is loose and freehand!"

Ning Zhuo shouted: "Brother Linghu, if you want to defeat me with this sword art, isn't that looking down on people too much?"

Lin Shanshan sneered inwardly: "This stinky big-head, just as he stood firm, he started to get arrogant. We're nowhere near the end! Senior Brother hasn't even truly exerted his strength yet."

"But come to think of it, this guy Ning Zhuo is indeed clever. How long has he been at Little Struggle Peak, and he has improved so much in close combat. I still remember when he first came..."

Lin Shanshan felt secretly gratified, recalling the past, and her heart revisited the good times she spent with Ning Zhuo.

"Pah! This stinky big-head kidnapped me and even squeezed my father in public; he has no good intentions!" Lin Shanshan hurriedly stopped her spreading thoughts.

Wine Forest Sword Art—Drunken Cup Lingering with Affection.

Linghu Jiu tended to defend, and as he defended, he gained the advantage.

Ning Zhuo was wounded again and retreated in astonishment.

Zhu Xuanji suddenly laughed out loud: "This sword art is starting to get a bit interesting."

It turned out that "Drunken Cup Lingering with Affection," while seemingly just a defensive move, actually contained hidden attacks. It was like a carefully laid trap, luring the enemy to attack continuously.

Ning Zhuo seemed to have the advantage, but in reality, sword wind was constantly entering his body, and he suffered many hidden losses. At first, the sword wind was subtle, but after many times, the accumulation could not be underestimated.

If the previous sword art had Linghu Jiu and Lin Shanshan's philosophies clashing, leading to a fragmented sword art with poor actual combat results, then by this move, the two opposing philosophies were cleverly unified, forming an unexpected effect.

Wine Forest Sword Art—Smelling Wine Through the Curtain.

Linghu Jiu's sword moves were still subtle and profound, as if smelling the fragrance of wine from afar through a curtain, with the moves mainly focused on defense.

But Ning Zhuo felt a faint and strong threat.

This was because he had drunk with Linghu Jiu and, at this moment, understood the psychological state of the other party when creating this sword art.

Smelling wine through the curtain... the craving in Linghu Jiu's heart was blocked by the curtain. How could a thin curtain block his craving for fine wine?

Once the craving burst out, it would surely be the rich fragrance of wine, rushing toward him.

Ning Zhuo retreated rapidly!

Seeing the sword move miss, Linghu Jiu was both disappointed and happy: "Virtuous brother Ning Zhuo, you know me."

"Can you catch this move?"

The final move of the Wine Forest Sword Art—Raising a Cup to Drown Sorrows!

In an instant, Linghu Jiu returned his sword to defense, but the sword intent surged and dissipated, sorrowful and melancholy; the depression in his heart had nowhere to be vented and could only be expressed by drinking heavily.

It was both an attack and a defense. It was both a restraint in action and a release in emotion!

Ning Zhuo was hit!

Blood sprayed, and a huge wound appeared on his chest.

The defense of the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art was simply like paper.

The spectators changed color one after another.

Lin Bufan, whose cultivation reached the Nascent Soul level, also showed a look of shock. This was because he saw the shadow of a profound secret manual in this sword art.

"The Loneliness Sword Scripture?"

Ning Zhuo retreated again and again, hurriedly swallowing elixirs while frantically operating the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art to heal his wounds.

As a result, although the blood stopped, the wound did not heal immediately. There was a strand of sword intent lingering at the wound, which could not be dispelled in a short time, extremely hindering Ning Zhuo from treating himself.

"Wine Forest Sword Art... I wonder how it compares to the sword art I created myself?" Inside the mechanical dragon, Sun Lingtong also felt his fighting spirit rise.

"So formidable!" Ning Zhuo praised loudly.

He was not discouraged at all, and his mindset was very good.

This was because he knew deeply that Linghu Jiu had been immersed in close-quarters sword arts for many years, while how much time had he spent?

They simply could not be compared.

It was normal to be unable to beat him!

"Learned it, learned it!" This competition gave Ning Zhuo many insights and great gains.

He wished he could always spar with Linghu Jiu in this way until he was defeated.

"But in the current situation, I had better win."

The significance of this battle was by no means a superficial spar, but concerned the future of the Ning family and the Myriad Medicine Sect, and the bet between the Five Elements Divine Lord and the Loneliness Sword Monarch.

"The probing ends here. I'm getting serious!"

"Brother Linghu, please receive my move."

After the greeting, Ning Zhuo took a deep breath, his face showing a solemn expression, and he quickly performed a Wood Element spell.

Root Vine Entanglement!

Tree roots and vines grew out of thin air and quickly entangled Linghu Jiu.

Close combat... was just Ning Zhuo's weakness. Five Elements spells, however, were becoming his strength!