Crimson flames and white sword light clashed ceaselessly, unleashing wave after wave of violent explosions.
Caught in the crossfire below, the city of Xuanjing was also engulfed in a sea of fire.
The fight between the two did not last long. Kou Hong's cultivation had been inferior to Dao Xuanzi's to begin with, and having previously expended his vitality against the immortal-mortal miasma, he quickly fell into a disadvantage.
Dao Xuanzi showed no mercy either, his sword strikes growing ever sharper and fiercer.
Just then, the aged voice rang out once more.
"Dao Xuanzi is fickle and vindictive! If he wins, there will be no way out alive for us! Sons of the clan, hear my command: assist Immortal Master Kou Hong against Dao Xuanzi!"
Hearing this, Kou Hong was overjoyed.
He flashed away to put distance between himself and Dao Xuanzi. Seeing Dao Xuanzi swarmed by a torrent of bullets, Kou Hong gloated loudly, "Truly, those who sow iniquity reap their own destruction! Who would have thought the ever-lofty Dao Xuanzi would betray his word and suffer such a backlash!"
Dao Xuanzi was already seething with irritation over the hidden schemer's tricks, and hearing Kou Hong's words made him so furious he nearly spat blood.
"You idiot!" Unable to bear it any longer, he snarled at Kou Hong.
"Ha! You've finally spoken your true thoughts!" Kou Hong shot back, refusing to back down. "You fancy yourself so clever, yet why has everyone abandoned you now? Even the mortals you went to the trouble of recruiting have turned on you! That is what you get for being too clever for your own good!"
Dao Xuanzi was utterly speechless. He simply gave up on reasoning with this blockhead, swinging his blade to unleash arcs of sword light that reaped the lives of any mortal soldiers who dared attack him.
Yet these mortals were like locusts, endless in number. No sooner was one batch slaughtered than another sprang up from nowhere to take their place.
Moreover, Dao Xuanzi had to remain wary of the immortal-mortal miasma, forcing him to rely on costly ranged attacks to dispatch them. For a time, the battle fell into a bizarre stalemate.
Right then, that aged voice rang out again like a haunting specter.
"Immortal Master Kou Hong, our clan's sons are nearly wiped out! Once Dao Xuanzi slaughters us all, do you think you will be spared? If you don't strike now, what are you waiting for?!" The voice sounded urgent, carrying a faint sob.
Jolted by the reminder, Kou Hong snapped to his senses.
Looking at Dao Xuanzi, his expression grew solemn. "That makes sense. Dao Xuanzi, you and I have been friends for a hundred years. Though we turned on each other over a Core Formation technique, each relying on our own abilities in pursuit of longevity is hardly blameworthy. I will give you one final chance. If you give up on the Core Formation technique and withdraw on your own, I won't cause you trouble. Otherwise, I'm afraid only one of us will walk away from this alive."
Dao Xuanzi let out a soft sigh. Without a word, he simply raised his sword and met Kou Hong.
"Very well. While on the run recently, I happened to comprehend another Dao art. It will serve nicely to send you on your way!" Kou Hong's face turned grim.
He traced a talisman in the air with his hand: "Dao Art: Dragon Imprisonment!"
Around Dao Xuanzi, above and below and in every direction, chains of fire abruptly materialized, intertwining into an array that formed a massive cage, trapping him at its center.
"Break!" Sensing the crushing pressure suddenly bearing down upon him, Dao Xuanzi's expression darkened. He took a deep breath, and behind him, the faint phantom of a rust-pitted iron sword emerged.
Empowered by the phantom, his sword light seemed imbued with extraordinary force. When it struck the flaming cage, the roaring flames froze in an instant, then dimmed rapidly.
Kou Hong seemed to have anticipated this. He laughed aloud, "Dao Xuanzi, you and I have known each other for a century and fought side by side countless times. Outsiders claim my cultivation is far beneath yours, and in truth, it is. But cultivation is one thing, and life-and-death combat is another. In a true fight to the death, it's still anyone's guess who will prevail!
"Now that it has come to this, there is no need to hold anything back. Let us see whether your Dao Xuan Sword is stronger, or if my Dao art reigns supreme!"
A boundless will to battle erupted in Kou Hong's eyes. "Dao Art: Dragon Devouring!"
The dimming flames abruptly extinguished completely, but Dao Xuanzi's expression dramatically shifted the moment the flaming cage vanished.
Beneath the flames forming the cage lay hidden a tangle of tea-brown branches. Like venomous serpents, they had lain in ambush, biding their time for the kill. Now that the flames had died, they shot toward Dao Xuanzi with lightning speed. As they flew, they proliferated and grew wildly, forming a writhing, monstrous mass in the blink of an eye, poised to engulf him!
"Dao Xuan!" At the precipice of life and death, Dao Xuanzi was startled but not panicked.
In the sky, the colossal phantom of the rusted sword manifested completely.
As if encountering a natural predator, the Horned Dragon Branches instinctively froze for a fraction of a second. But immediately after, as though provoked into fury, they swept toward Dao Xuanzi with even greater madness.
Dao Xuanzi swung his sword, and the phantom behind him mirrored the motion.
The space ahead froze in layers, like the surface of water gripped by biting frost.
The squirming Horned Dragon Branches collided with the colossal Dao Xuan Sword. After barely holding out for a breath, they began crumbling in defeat.
The Horned Dragon Branches shattered into glittering fragments, exploding outward. Despite their ferocious appearance, they were not even a match for a single strike of the Dao Xuan Sword!
His meticulously prepared Dao art was shattered like kindling, and the colossal sword phantom was about to reach him, yet Kou Hong neither dodged nor retreated, his eyes devoid of fear.
"Dao Art: Dragon Transformation!"
With Kou Hong's furious roar, a small portion of the Horned Dragon Branch fragments drifting across the sky sprang to life in an instant.
They converged at breakneck speed, fusing into a brand-new Horned Dragon Branch.
Its hue was deeper than that of the twisted behemoth before, and at its tip grew two protrusions that resembled dragon horns!
Like a sharp sword, the Horned Dragon Branch lunged recklessly toward Dao Xuanzi, accompanied by the faint rumble of a dragon's roar!
A glint of admiration flashed in Dao Xuanzi's eyes, yet he had no intention of drawing back the colossal Dao Xuan Sword.
A battle of life and death was a contest of who was more decisive, who was more ruthless!
The victor lives; the loser dies. Nothing more!
At that critical juncture, the aged voice reverberating over Xuanjing echoed once more.
"Immortal Master Kou Hong, we shall lend you a hand!"
Before the words faded, long trails of exhaust roared through the air in a prearranged volley, striking Dao Xuanzi from all sides and erupting into a rain of blood!
"Ah!" Caught completely off guard, Dao Xuanzi cried out in agony, his momentum plummeting.
The Dao Xuan phantom dimmed alongside him, and seizing this opening, the Horned Dragon Branch surged against the tide, shattering the frozen space and taking root in Dao Xuanzi's body!
Meanwhile, the sword phantom Dao Xuanzi swung out was like an arrow at the end of its flight; after striking Kou Hong and making him cough up a few mouthfuls of blood, it dissipated on its own.
"Cough, cough..." Dao Xuanzi let out a wretched laugh, wanting to speak, but the words would not come.
In mere moments, under the voracious feast of the Horned Dragon Branch, he was reduced to a skeleton of white bones!
Chapter 7