Chapter 515: Qingyuan Sword Body VS White Flame Body

At Lan Yuan, the lamps stayed lit until very late this night.

Wang Ji called everyone to the front hall; Liu Yu spread out a sheet of white paper and used a charcoal pencil to draw the Bai Clan's formation.

Huo Luan sat in the corner sharpening a blade; the sound of the whetstone against the blade edge was a rustling noise, as if keeping time for the night.

Gu Niangzi guarded the charcoal stove to decoct medicine, and the whole room was filled with a bitter, fishy smell.

Cheng Feng leaned against the doorframe, looking down at the scar on his right hand. The new flesh had already grown firm; it didn't hurt when pressed, only felt faintly tight, as if reminding him that he could no longer rely on brute force with his fists tomorrow.

"Bai Wugou's White Flame burns True Qi and Blood Qi. If I use Qingyuan Sword Qi to contend with him, both our Qi will be ignited by the other."

Wang Ji got straight to the point, "Tomorrow when I face him, you must not come near. Cheng Feng, especially you. Your Blood Qi is his firewood. The closer you are, the more fiercely the White Flame will burn."

"Then I can't let you shoulder it alone," Cheng Feng said. "No matter how fast the Qingyuan Sword is, once his White Flame disperses, your footwork won't be able to keep up."

Wang Ji raised her eyes: "I don't need you to fight him head-on. I need you to strike his formation while he is held back by the Qingyuan Sword Qi.

Leave those four teammates of Bai Wugou to you and Huo Luan. You don't need to worry about me."

Cheng Feng was silent for a moment, then asked: "What if you and Bai Wugou both end up severely injured?"

"Then this match will be left to you all," Wang Ji said. "I will trade myself for him. No one has decreed that if the commander falls, the soldiers cannot continue to hack away."

Before the light of day had fully broken, the Great Drill Ground was already packed tight.

When Cheng Feng and the others entered the arena, they saw from afar that the Battle Platform in the center of the East One Battlefield still had scorch marks from yesterday, looking like a black eye.

Today's spectators were even more frantic than yesterday; the gambling den's odds opened at one-to-two, then changed to one-to-one, and finally, they simply closed the book.

Because no one knew what it would look like when the Qingyuan Sword Body faced the White Flame Body.

The Qingyuan Sword Body is truly capable in actual combat.

But the White Flame Body is not bad either!!

Bai Wugou arrived first.

He had changed into white robes, stood barefoot in the center of the platform, his long hair loose behind him. The morning light shone down from the top of the stands, casting his shadow onto the charred stone surface like a streak of white smoke.

He saw Wang Ji step onto the platform and tilted his head slightly: "I thought I wouldn't see you draw your Sword."

"That won't happen; what is meant to come will still come." Wang Ji untied her outer robe and tossed it casually to Huo Luan.

Underneath, she wore a moon-white, narrow-sleeved martial outfit, a Sword hanging at her waist; she looked like a blade of green steel about to be drawn.

"Please." Bai Wugou said no more, only gently raising his right hand.

"Begin the fight!"

Wang Ji moved first. Her body was like a startled swan, the green blade at her waist "clanged" as it left its sheath; the Sword light was extremely clear and bright, like a mountain stream falling from the nine heavens.

White Flame surged in Bai Wugou's palms as he met the Sword.

The Sword light and the White Flame collided without making a sound, only the sky full of White Flame being slashed open and then closing again.

The Qingyuan Sword Qi carved an opening in the White Flame, and the White Flame crawled up along the Sword body.

The two forces were like ice and fire, or like two streams of clear and scorching wind, twisting together.

Cheng Feng and Huo Luan lunged at the four retainers of the Bai Clan simultaneously.

Those four were well-prepared and joined forces to intercept them, using both blades and spears to block Cheng Feng and Huo Luan ten paces away from Bai Wugou.

Liu Yu swept in from the flank, his blade light like lightning, stabbing toward the back of one man's heart. That man turned to parry, but was stung on the wrist by three of Gu Niangzi's Black Bees; his blade momentum faltered, and he was hacked down by Huo Luan.

Cheng Feng took the opportunity to surge forward, slamming a blade into another man's shield and carving a deep crack into its surface. The man stumbled backward, and the formation line was torn open.

Yet the Bai Clan retainers did not retreat, gritting their teeth to drag Cheng Feng and the others down.

Because they knew that for every extra breath they held them, Bai Wugou could burn Wang Ji a little more.

In the center of the platform, Bai Wugou and Wang Ji had already exchanged over twenty moves.

Wang Ji's Sword grew faster and faster; the Qingyuan Sword Qi gathered like a stream into a great river, each strike bringing with it a chilling wind.

The White Flame on Bai Wugou's body burned more and more fiercely, spreading from his palms up his entire right arm, then to his chest and the side of his neck, like a snow-white god of fire.

His movements were not as fast as Wang Ji's, but the White Flame was everywhere.

When the Sword Qi stabbed toward him, it was like piercing into a ball of cotton—soft yet resilient, unable to penetrate through.

"The Qingyuan Sword Body, the Sword emerges from the clear source, breaking demons and slaying evil; it slays turbid Qi.

My White Flame is precisely the most pure and clean fire."

Bai Wugou spoke suddenly, his voice sounding exceptionally clear and cold amidst the firelight, "You cannot break through me."

"Even if I cannot break through, I must strike." Wang Ji said coldly, her Sword momentum shifting abruptly. The green blade traced nine strokes in mid-air, the Sword Qi crisscrossing like a weave, covering Bai Wugou like a net.

Bai Wugou pressed his palms together, the White Flame forming a lotus flower before him, holding the Sword net back inch by inch.

The next moment, the lotus exploded, and the White Flame spilled out like splashed water, washing over the Sword net and lunging at Wang Ji.

Wang Ji blocked horizontally with her Sword, but the White Flame washed over the blade and coiled around her right wrist.

She let out a muffled groan; her sleeve instantly turned charred, and her skin was burned with a deep mark.

Yet she did not retreat; her Sword tip sank, and the Qingyuan Sword Qi poured down like a cold pool, forcing the White Flame down along the Sword body.

"The Qingyuan Sword Qi and the White Flame will perish together."

Cheng Feng, while fighting, took a moment to glance toward the center of the platform.

He saw that Wang Ji's right hand was already dripping with blood, and he also saw blood continuously spilling from the corner of Bai Wugou's mouth.

The two were extremely close, their breathing audible.

"Get back!" Wang Ji shouted fiercely, her long Sword glowing with intense green light; she herself was like an unsheathed Immortal Sword, thrusting straight toward Bai Wugou's heart.

Bai Wugou did not retreat; the White Flame engulfed his entire body, like a white sun.

He also stepped forward, slamming one palm onto the Sword body and pressing the other toward Wang Ji's shoulder.

With a boom, the white light and green Qi exploded on the Battle Platform, the shockwave forcing Cheng Feng and the others to step back.

The entire Battle Platform was illuminated in snow-white, with countless fragments of fire and Sword Qi scattering like a blue-and-white rainstorm.

As the firelight faded, Cheng Feng looked up.

Wang Ji knelt halfway on the Battle Platform, her Sword plunged into the stone, her right hand bleeding profusely, her shoulder charred black.

She was panting heavily, yet she still held her head high, her eyes as clear as a spring.

Bai Wugou stood at the edge of the platform opposite her; his white robes had been shredded by the fragments of the Qingyuan Sword Body.

Especially his torso, which had sustained the most damage.

He swayed, bracing himself against a wooden pillar at the edge of the platform to keep from collapsing.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but only coughed up a mouthful of blood foam.

Wang Ji and Bai Wugou had both suffered injuries; the blue stone in the center of the Battle Platform had been blasted into a web of cracks.

Wang Ji knelt halfway on the platform, her Sword stuck in a stone crevice, the wound on her right wrist deep enough to see bone, blood flowing down the hilt and staining half the blade red.

The spot on her shoulder where she had been struck by the White Flame was charred, the skin and flesh curled back as if branded by a red-hot iron.

Cheng Feng rushed up to support her; the moment his fingers touched her shoulder, he felt a searing heat in his palm, as if pressing against a coal that hadn't fully extinguished.

"Don't touch," Wang Ji whispered, her voice trembling, yet she still braced herself, refusing to fall.

Cheng Feng ignored her, knelt halfway down, and tore off a piece of his own inner sleeve.

He pretended to take a small water gourd from his bosom, dipped it in clean water, and pressed it against her wound.

White smoke hissed as it rose; Wang Ji's entire body stiffened, but she forced herself not to cry out.

Cheng Feng poured Clearing Heart Powder onto her wound and wrapped it layer by layer with the cloth strips, whispering, "Can you get down?"

Wang Ji looked up at him, her lips drained of color: "If I go down, what will you four use to fight the Bai Clan?"

Cheng Feng didn't speak, only helped her to the edge of the field. Wang Ji leaned against the stone railing at the edge of the platform, unable to even sit straight, yet she still kept her Sword across her knees, refusing to let anyone carry her off the platform.

As long as she refused to leave the field, they could not be counted as having lost.

If a team could take first place, besides the Immortal Seed, the others also had a chance to obtain Immortal Fate.

As long as one person could obtain Immortal Fate, it would be a boost on the path to seeking the Immortal.

She could still distinguish which was more important.

Zhou Yanran truly hoped that her entire team could obtain Immortal Fate.

They had come this far, how could they possibly retreat!!!

"So stubborn." Huo Luan wiped the blood from her face, smiled, and slammed her Steel Saber onto the ground. "Fine, then we fight."

Liu Yu said nothing, only tightened his grip on his hanging left arm and tightened his right hand holding the Narrow Saber.

Gu Niangzi's shoulder wound had not yet healed, and she could not release many Gu insects, yet she still fished the last three Black Bees out of her box and took out a crimson pill, holding it under her tongue.

That was her trump card, the Blood-Urging Gu Pill; consuming it would cause her Blood Qi to surge within half an incense stick's time, at the cost of having to lie in bed for three full days afterward.

She did not hesitate and swallowed it in one gulp.

The four retainers of the Bai Clan were also not lightly injured, but by comparison, they were still able to form formations in pairs.

Bai Wugou was helped to the edge of the platform, and those four merely retreated to the edge as well, not having given up.

Seeing that Wang Ji would not retreat, they began to close in on the center of the platform again.

"They won't concede," Liu Yu said in a low voice.

"Then we won't concede either," Cheng Feng said, stripping off his already half-ruined outer robe and walking to the front, bare-chested.

Old and new wounds overlapped on his body; the gashes on his right arm split open again, blood seeping out and dripping down his forearm.

Even though they were nearly healed, the pain of them tearing open again still made him frown slightly.

But Cheng Feng's eyes grew brighter and brighter, as if something were surging within his body, impossible to suppress.

Wang Ji had taken out Bai Wugou.

The remaining four could still put up a fight.

Victory was in sight!!!

The four members of the Bai Clan lunged forward almost simultaneously. Two attacked Cheng Feng, while two split off to assault Huo Luan and Liu Yu.

Gu Niangzi was in the back, and no one had entangled her.

Cheng Feng did not dodge, crashing head-on into the combined attack, channeling his Iron Bone Golden Body with all his might; his left hand grabbed the back of one person's blade, while his right hand swung his own blade, slamming it into another's waist and ribs.

The back of the blade was bent by force; the retainer's web between thumb and forefinger split, the blade flew from his hand, and his waist was slashed, blood gushing from the wound as Cheng Feng kicked him off the platform.

The other person wanted to retreat, but was stung on the back of the neck by Gu Niangzi's last remaining Black Bee, his movements faltering.

Cheng Feng's fist already smashed into his face; the man fell backward and went silent.

Liu Yu and Huo Luan also finished off the remaining two.

One of Huo Luan's legs could no longer stand steady, so she used her blade to prop herself up, the sweat and blood on her face mixed together.

Liu Yu had been struck in the shoulder by a sword, and his Narrow Saber had chipped, but he still swept the last Bai Clan retainer off the platform.

"They've all fallen," Liu Yu said, gasping for breath as he scanned the platform.

There was no one left on the Bai side who could fight.

Bai Wugou sat at the edge of the platform, supported by two heavily injured retainers, looking at the aftermath on the stage; after a long while, he gently closed his eyes.

"We... lost." Bai Wugou's voice was very soft, as if he had finally exhaled a breath he had been holding for a long time.

The referee raised the flag; the Zhennan Wang Ji Team won.

The roar from the stands was like a bursting dam, pounding against Cheng Feng's eardrums until they ached.

He stood in the center of the platform, covered in blood, as if he had been drenched in a rain of blood.

He wanted to raise his hand, but his right arm felt like it was filled with lead, unable to lift at all.

Huo Luan limped over to his side and poked him with her blade hilt: "Hey, we won."

"Yeah," Cheng Feng's throat was dry, "we won."

Wang Ji leaned against the edge of the platform, closed her eyes, and a faint arc appeared at the corner of her mouth. She knew that today's match was not won by her.

It was the four of them, Cheng Feng and the others, who had dragged her out of a losing situation.

"Let's go, let's head back." Gu Niangzi spat out the Gu pellet that had already dissolved, her complexion as white as paper, her voice even trembling, "I might... be about to faint."

Cheng Feng reached out to support her, a faint body fragrance wafting over, and he turned his head to look at Wang Ji.

Wang Ji had already stood up while leaning on the stone railing; though her steps were unsteady, she did not let anyone help her in the end.

The five people covered in wounds slowly walked down from the Battle Platform.

On the platform, the scorch marks left by the White Flame and the Qingyuan Sword Qi remained, like a massive, grayish-white flower blooming amidst the mountain-shaking cheers of the crowd.