Even Qi Lin, his master, had advised him to do so. Zhu Jiao wasn"t idiotic to the point where he would linger around longer than necessary and wait for Yan Qing Wu to kill him. The moment he finished getting dressed and grabbed his spatial pouch and other loot that he found in the ancient tomb, he sprinted toward the direction where he came from.

"Thinking of leaving?"

Unfortunately for Zhu Jiao, Yan Qing Wu had gotten dressed faster than he had expected. Just as Zhu Jiao stepped into the tunnel where he came from, Yan Qing Wu emerged from the pool in an explosive jump and pursued him.

Despite running as quickly as possible, Zhu Jiao was still unable to shake her off. Glancing around, he decided that the narrow corridor might be more to his advantage, especially since his opponent seemed to be faster than him. By choosing a narrow s.p.a.ce, he would be able to limit the directions from where Yan Qing Wu attacked.

"You cannot escape."

Yan Qing Wu declared coldly, unaware that Zhu Jiao already realized this. Thanks to her footwork and qigong, she was steadily closing in on Zhu Jiao with her superior speed. Zhu Jiao understood that he might have the advantage in terms of raw power (but not qi, apparently – I had no idea why they decided whether someone was stronger based on cultivation level and realms instead of, you know, physical strength).

"If you want to fight, then I"ll entertain you!"

Spinning around suddenly, Zhu Jiao punched with his newly acquired treasure gauntlets, his fist exploding with golden qi.

"!!"

Yan Qing Wu flipped her body in midair, her divine reflexes allowing her to avoid a fatal hit. She spun around, crunching her legs against the ceiling and shaking loose a shower of stones, and then lunged at Zhu Jiao.

"Black Moon Shine!"

Yan Qing Wu slashed with the black, curved saber in her hands. Her body seemed to momentarily disappear into a blur reminiscent of black lightning and she suddenly materialized in front of Zhu Jiao. Between them, a black arc of qi rippled forward in a destructive manner, a dark crescent moon that carved toward Zhu Jiao.

"Hah!"

Using Golden Kirin Divine Fist, Zhu Jiao punched with all his might, fiery golden yang qi flaring up around his body. The sudden surge of speed and light took Yan Qing Wu by surprise, causing her to feel a chill run down her spine.

Even so, she refused to retreat and struck with all her strength.

Boom!

A cloud of qi detonated as their treasure weapons clashed and the two of them sprang apart in a shower of sparks.

"What impressive power!"

Yan Qing Wu frowned as she skidded backward. This was the first time she had faced off against a formidable opponent who was from her own generation. Previously, she had dominated anyone who fought against her, as long as they were around the same age and from the same generation. Only the much older masters were able to overpower her with their years of experience and cultivation. Similarly, while she was powerful, she still hadn"t forged a solid foundation of combat experience and cultivation to build upon yet.

She originally planned to return to her sect and master the Tian Sha Sect"s saber techniques to build a solid foundation for her saber arts, which would allow her to truly comprehend the essence of her Black Moon Saber skills.

The moment she mastered the essence of her Black Moon Saber skills, then her abilities would be amplified by at least two times. No one in her generation should theoretically be able to beat her.

Theoretically. Just like Li Xue Wu earlier, the disciples of the Tian Sha Sect were like frogs in the well. Sure, their masters and elders went around ma.s.sacring poor villages and exterminating small, minor orthodox sects, but the disciples had yet to actually test their skills in a true battlefield. They only picked on the weak and the vulnerable, avoiding battles against the strong and powerful. Thanks to that bully mentality, the disciples of the Heavenly Fiends Sect lacked proper combat experience and were at a disadvantage when coming up against a proper foe.

Even so, Yan Qing Wu was incredibly talented – a Six Star Const.i.tution cultivator, at that. Once she mastered her saber skills and earned the relevant combat experience, she would truly become a monster who could slay even the most seasoned veterans in the martial arts world with a single swing of her saber.

"Hu…"

Zhu Jiao exhaled as he shook his hand, watching his enemy warily. He recognized her limitless potential and her overbearing strength. If he wasn"t armed with a spirit armament, then he would be no match for her.

Fortunately, with his Heavenly Golden Draconic Gauntlets, he was now several times stronger than previously, when he was unarmed.

Thanks to Qi Lin, he had mastered his Golden Kirin Sacred Beast techniques to their utmost limits, and he was able to deflect even the fastest saber strikes without receiving any damage. If he hadn"t received training from his master, Zhu Jiao reflected that he would have been dead at least twice during the past exchange.

He was glad he had endured Qi Lin"s harsh training without giving up.

"Those techniques…aren"t they the Golden Kirin Sect"s Sacred Beast techniques? Wasn"t the sect supposed to be extinct for centuries? No…are you perhaps the direct disciple of the Golden Kirin Sect?"

Yan Qing Wu was still trying to wrap her mind around her opponent"s unexpected strength. Zhu Jiao shrugged casually and replied with a question of his own.

"Are you an inner sect disciple of the Tian Sha Sect?"

As I said before, the Tian Sha Sect, also translated as the Heavenly Fiend Sect, was a demonic sect which boasted a lot of members and was currently one of the top three demonic sects lurking in the territory of the Great Zhou Empire. They were slightly stronger than at least half of the eight major orthodox sects, and they viewed themselves as the most powerful, even more so than the other two top demonic sects.

That was why the disciples of that sect were so domineering and tyrannical, bullying the weak and plundering whatever they wanted.

Zhu Jiao realized that he had gotten himself into a troublesome predicament. Having inadvertently seen Yan Qing Wu"s naked body, he understood that he had just caused her to hold a grudge against him.

"Gouge out both of your eyes right now and I will consider sparing your life," Yan Qing Wu demanded coldly.

Zhu Jiao snorted. "Are you kidding me? I wasn"t the one who asked you to take off your clothes. In fact, I didn"t even know you were there. If you didn"t come out to attack me, I wouldn"t have seen you in the first place. Don"t you think the whole ordeal was caused by your own actions? Besides, why do I need you to spare my life?"

"d.a.m.n you…do you really think I will not be able to kill you? Die!"

Yan Qing Wu was filled with rage. She surged forward, swinging her black curved saber aggressively, seeking to cleave Zhu Jiao in half. Her strikes came from all directions at high speed with unerring precision, the Tian Sha Sect inner disciple pouring every bit of her strength into her attacks. The blade was so fast it turned into a black streak that was too fast for normal human eyes to follow, slicing toward Zhu Jiao from everywhere.

Fortunately, Zhu Jiao was not a normal human.

Clang!

He evenly met and turned away every strike from her blade, parrying her saber with his shining gauntlets. Sparks flew out and rained on both of them, but neither of them paused as they continued to clash ferociously with each other.

It wasn"t just Yan Qing Wu. Even Zhu Jiao was moving at an incredible speed, his arms and gauntlets disappearing into golden blurs as he lashed out to counterattack while simultaneously defending against Yan Qing Wu"s attacks. Their maneuvers, attacks and blocks were so fast that even an average martial artist from Wu Ling Academy would find it difficult to trace and follow their movements or the trajectories of their armaments.

Yan Qing Wu slashed again with all her strength, but Zhu Jiao met her squarely, his formidable defense refusing to give way. He knocked her back and countered with a punch, but she deftly twisted her body in midair to dodge, balanced her foot across the ground gracefully before answering with a riposte that terminated against Zhu Jiao"s other gauntlet.

Neither was giving an inch or yielding their ground. They continued trading hundreds, if not thousands of blows without stopping, time dragging on for much longer than either of them antic.i.p.ated. Both of them found themselves sucked into a stalemate. They were on par with each other, neither side able to gain the advantage over the other.

Yan Qing Wu was faster, more agile and had denser qi.

Zhu Jiao was physically stronger, st.u.r.dier and more experienced.

It was like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, or a spear attempting to pierce an unbreakable shield…well, the shield clearly was harder than the spear, but it lacked the means to attack the lighter and more mobile spear.

"Ugh…"

Yan Qing Wu was growing more frustrated. She couldn"t allow this shame to pa.s.s, and she continued to throw her all into the duel.

"Die!"

Don"t antagonists ever get tired of yelling that stupid word? It was getting meaningless, especially since n.o.body actually died whenever the enemy shouted that. I was pretty sure there was a curse attached to it…

Anyway, Yan Qing Wu suddenly held her saber in both hands and unleashed a powerful strike that almost took Zhu Jiao by surprise.

Whoosh!

Chaotic black lightning filled the s.p.a.ce between them, ripping through the air with a thunderous shriek.

Yan Qing Wu had finally resorted to releasing her black saber qi. Well, actually, she had already unleashed it several times before, but she had mostly relied on her saber techniques to fight Zhu Jiao. She did realize that those physical saber techniques alone wouldn"t be sufficient to overcome Zhu Jiao, and she was resorting to more esoteric means.

"That"s really fast!"

Zhu Jiao was almost taken aback by the speed of her attack, but his golden aura flared up and he was able to create a dense field of yang qi that dispersed the black lightning into harmless specks of shadowy qi.

"My turn!"

Zhu Jiao threw his fist out and unleashed his own golden qi as a response to Yan Qing Wu"s attack, firing out a Golden Kirin Holy Blast.

"d.a.m.n it…!"

Finally, Zhu Jiao"s decision to bring the fight to such a confined s.p.a.ce bore fruit. Yan Qing Wu was almost unable to avoid the Golden Kirin Holy Blast completely, even as she jumped high up and flattened herself against the ceiling. Gritting her teeth, she slashed with her black curved saber and dissipated some of the destructive qi.

"What power…!"

Even though Yan Qing Wu hated Zhu Jiao to the core, she had no choice but to acknowledge that he was much more superior to most of the male disciples that she had encountered. Probably because he was the b.l.o.o.d.y protagonist…and a f.u.c.king Mary Sue at that.

As the Golden Kirin Holy Blast dissipated, she dropped back to the ground and held out her saber cautiously.

"I can"t be careless," she murmured to herself, displeased. "Just one hit from him and I"ll be extremely injured."

Not to mention, they were still inside the ancient tomb. She couldn"t afford to be severely wounded, or it would affect her exploration of the interior later. While Yan Qing Wu had indeed found several spirit artifacts and elixirs, which made the journey a fruitful one, she wasn"t satisfied. For an elite disciple like her, she had a much greater ambition and desire than other martial artists.

"…"

Zhu Jiao was perspiring. Despite his immense power, he had yet to land a clean hit on Yan Qing Wu. There were grazes and shallow injuries from close shaves, yes, but he needed just a single decisive blow to defeat her…or at least drive her away.

His techniques consumed too much qi, and he couldn"t afford to recklessly expend his strength like this. Just like Yan Qing Wu, he wanted to conserve some energy to continue exploring the ancient tomb. He still needed to find the Ultimate Yin Dragon Saliva or a similarly yin-based elixir for his sister, Qing Tan.

Of course, he had no idea that I had already found that for him. On the other hand, that freed him up for more miraculous encounters where he would conveniently happen across treasures, artifacts and elixirs that would benefit him specifically. Typical of a xianxia protagonist.

For now, his priority was to survive this battle and hopefully to defeat Yan Qing Wu. Upon which, she would naturally fall for him because of his superior strength and become part of his harem. Harem member number four, if I counted correctly (since he already had Bai Ning Xue, Qing Xin Xia and Qing Tan).

Standing his ground, he slowly but surely made his inexorable advance, punching away whatever saber qi that Yan Qing Wu hurled at him. Even though the ability to unleash qi as a ranged attack was indeed terrifying, it was meaningless in the face of his formidable defense. His Golden Kirin Sacred Armor was enough to withstand whatever attacks she threw at him.

The only way for Yan Qing Wu to penetrate that defense (though it should be Zhu Jiao doing the penetrating, if you know what I mean *wink, wink*) was to execute an attack with overwhelming firepower, much like my Seismic Step.

"d.a.m.n it! If only my Black Moon Saber style has areof-effect type of attacks!" Yan Qing Wu complained inwardly.

By areof-effect attacks, Yan Qing Wu probably meant the ability to unleash many saber qi blasts from a single slash of her saber. Unfortunately for Yan Qing Wu, the Black Moon Saber style focused on overwhelming strength instead, condensing all of her qi into a single, ferocious attack. However, if she stopped to gather qi for that sort of powerful attack, Zhu Jiao would exploit that slight opening and attack her.

Therefore she couldn"t stand still.

The two of them clashed again and sprang apart, both of them perspiring profusely and feeling their qi and energy reserves getting depleted after fighting for so long. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Zhu Jiao studied Yan Qing Wu, whose skin was glistening.

"Huff…"

"Hu…"

They both paused to recover their breath, having engaged in a ferocious exchange just seconds earlier. The intense duel was taxing their endurance and stamina to their limits, and the both of them were aware they couldn"t afford to let it drag on for much longer.

The only reason why they were able to fight for so long, for what seemed like an hour, was because they were well-trained and disciplined martial artists. Otherwise they would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

"It irks me to have to do this, but you leave me no choice."

Panting, Yan Qing Wu glared at Zhu Jiao, her silky fringe sticking to her forehead and perspiration glistened across her snow-white skin, emphasizing her beauty. Undoubtedly any guy who looked at her right now would have fallen head over heels in love with her.

Except Zhu Jiao, because he was the protagonist, and his lack of attraction to the most beautiful girl in the middle continent was precisely going to be what drew her to him, and in the most cliché scenario ever, convince her that she had to make him fall for her at all costs. Or some similar bulls.h.i.t. Take your pick.

As I suspected, Zhu Jiao was not the least bit fazed by Yan Qing Wu"s beauty. Or if he was, he didn"t show it (though that lower part was bulging a little). In any case, he was disciplined enough to dismiss his s.e.xual desire for her and braced himself for the next attack with an unyielding stance, gathering his qi about his body defensively.

Boom!

Yan Qing Wu"s aura of qi blew up, swirling violently into a vortex at her hand before flowing forcefully into the black curved saber.

"Ho…a secret technique?" Qi Lin remarked, impressed. The ghost had hovered nearby, watching the entire battle without interfering. Without a physical body or tangible form, there was nothing he could do anyway.

"Huh?" Zhu Jiao responded, giving his master a quick glance.

"In order to enhance one"s ability instantly, if you aren"t consuming a spirit pill, then you must be using a secret technique. You know…just like your Golden Kirin Sacred Beast technique that I taught you. Since she obviously didn"t take any spirit pills, then it can"t be anything other than a secret technique. Make sure you activate Golden Kirin Sacred Beast technique now."

Zhu Jiao swallowed, but he did not question his master. Qi Lin explained it anyway, with a wide smile.

"Or you might die."

"Black Moon Shine."

"!!!"

It was the same move as previously, but this time the power of the technique was magnified by several times. This single strike was so powerful that it produced a blinding black light that engulfed everything within ten meters from the blade. The black, crescent-shaped qi blast arced forward with unimaginable destructive power and lethal effect.

"Golden Kirin Sacred Beast technique! Golden Kirin Sacred Armor, max level!"

Instantly recognizing the danger, Zhu Jiao quickly activated his strongest defense. Even without Qi Lin telling him, he was instinctively aware that if he didn"t block this blade, he would definitely suffer a serious injury.

A golden Kirin surged up from his body as he hardened his Golden Kirin Sacred Armor and boosted it with his Golden Kirin Sacred Beast technique. Golden flames, made visible by the dense yang qi that surrounded him like a conflagration, scorched the rock around him. The gauntlets shone brightly as Zhu Jiao brought them up to parry the saber.

Bang!

Kaboom!

As the saber met the gauntlets, two craters materialized on the ground on either side of Zhu Jiao, scars left behind by the slash.

Despite mustering his strongest defense, Zhu Jiao was no Hei Wu Gui, and his Golden Kirin Sacred Armor was not as impenetrable as the latter"s Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l. Even so, this attack was enough to shatter the Black Tortoise Sect"s supposedly impervious Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l technique, never mind Zhu Jiao"s attack.

Zhu Jiao was sent hurtling several meters backward, his feet digging in firmly and leaving twin trails of charred rock in the ground as he struggled to halt his momentum. Coughing out some blood as he finally came to a stop, he glared up at his opponent.

"What fearsome power…!"

Yan Qing Wu"s saber blast was just too strong. Even though he succeeded in splitting it in two with his Golden Kirin techniques, it still packed enough power to gouge huge chunks of stone out of the ground.

If he hadn"t defended against that with everything he had, he shuddered to imagine what would have happened…

"Golden Kirin techniques are indeed formidable!"

Yan Qing Wu"s eyes widened in shock. Even though she had executed her secret technique, the Divine Solar Gathering Palm, which allowed her to gather extreme amounts of qi into her palm for her to infuse her saber with it, she still wasn"t able to slay her foe.

Admittedly, this was the first time she had executed the Divine Solar Gathering Palm in actual combat, so she didn"t perform it perfectly. Otherwise, she might possibly be able to strengthen that previous saber blast further.

"But it"s over. I"ve finally broken through your defenses!"

Yan Qing Wu leveled her saber at the wounded Zhu Jiao, getting ready to use her boosted Black Moon Shine for the second time.

"!!!"

Zhu Jiao gritted his teeth as he pulled together what was left of his qi to put together a hasty defense.

"I"ve no choice but to fight to the end!"

Just before the two of them could clash again, there was a sc.r.a.pe at the end of the tunnel, causing both of them to freeze.

"!!"

Yan Qing Wu spun around, shifting the aim of her saber. Similarly, Zhu Jiao backed off a few steps, his eyes turning warily in the direction of the tunnel where he came from.

"Oh, hey!" I called out as I waved toward the both of them. Catching sight of Zhu Jiao, I grinned in relief. "Zhu Jiao! I"ve finally found you!"

"Uh…Wu, now isn"t a good time."

"Hmm?" as I stepped into the corridor, I caught sight of Yan Qing Wu, who was pointing her saber in my general direction. It didn"t take a genius to understand what was going on, so I stopped dead in my tracks. "Oh, I already know."

Even though I hadn"t been physically present, I had sensed their conflicting qi from such a distance away. h.e.l.l, it was precisely because both of them were unleashing such powerful attacks and emanating such potent qi auras that I was able to track down and locate Zhu Jiao in the first place despite being separated.

"Huh?" Zhu Jiao stared at me blankly for a moment. I shrugged.

"That"s why I"m here. To help you out."

"Your comrade, huh?" Yan Qing Wu"s eyes narrowed murderously. "It makes no difference. I"ll kill both of you."

I smiled at her, the expression ominously flickering across my face. "You"re welcome to try."