Chapter 122: The Spirit-Transforming Phantom Hand (Please vote and recommend ^_^)

Almost at the same moment Liang Yan and Zhao Xunzhen began their duel, the entire stone platform trembled slightly. The stone staircase they had ascended twisted and shifted, then vanished into thin air!

Liang Yan’s heart sank; he sensed a foreboding that this matter would not end well.

Despite this, he maintained a calm facade and said, "Miss Zhao, a mere inscription is hardly enough to prove anything. There may be another way out of here."

Zhao Xunzhen, however, shook her head. "Why deceive yourself? The blue light barrier on that teleportation array is clearly an incredibly powerful seal. You must have felt it as well—with the cultivation level of the two of us, we could never break through it in our lifetime. I believe this fiery clearing is a massive sensory array. Unless the aura of one of us is extinguished, that blue barrier will never open."

"Are you suggesting that based on these cryptic words alone, we must slaughter each other?" Liang Yan asked, still unwilling to accept the situation.

"The cultivation of the master of this place is truly beyond imagination. It is impossible for them to deceive low-level Qi Refining cultivators like us. The fire ox mentioned earlier that this place is for trials; surely, this is the trial set by that person."

"It seems we must truly fight to the death..." Liang Yan’s expression gradually turned cold.

"I am sorry, Brother Liang." Zhao Xunzhen said with a look of apology. "You have helped me much along the way, and I truly have no desire to be your enemy. However, there are things I must accomplish, and I absolutely cannot die in a place like this. I am afraid I must wrong you, Brother Liang."

"You seem very confident in yourself," Liang Yan said, staring at the young woman before him.

Zhao Xunzhen did not reply. Instead, she pressed her palms together in front of her chest and formed a strange incantation gesture. Gradually, a thick, dark mist swirled around her, accompanied by the sounds of wailing ghosts and howling wolves.

The noise was maddening, feeling as if sharp claws were tearing at one’s consciousness. Golden light circulated within Liang Yan, and he silently employed the "Dozing Phase" of his Hunhun Technique to completely dispel the oppressive feeling.

Across from him, Zhao Xunzhen was now completely enveloped in dark mist. Her hands, in particular, were not only shrouded in the thickest aura but had also grown ten long, sinister, and terrifying fingernails, resembling the hands of a vengeful spirit.

She pushed off the ground and lunged toward Liang Yan with blinding speed.

"Could she be a body cultivator?"

This was Liang Yan’s first thought, as Zhao Xunzhen’s speed was truly extraordinary, and her choice to close the distance for a direct confrontation matched the characteristics of a body cultivator perfectly.

With this in mind, Liang Yan pulled back, simultaneously summoning his Dingguang Sword from his storage pouch and slashing it backhanded at Zhao Xunzhen.

It was not that he lacked confidence in his own physical strength; on the contrary, he had always prided himself on being invincible among his peers in that regard. However, the girl's techniques were bizarre, and that sinister ghost energy might have other effects. This was a battle for his life, and he could not afford the slightest carelessness.

The Dingguang Sword cut a moon-white arc through the air, aiming for Zhao Xunzhen’s shoulder. To his surprise, she did not dodge or retreat, but instead met the blade with her bare palms.

Liang Yan felt a jolt of alarm, but his hand did not slow in the slightest, the spiritual sword striking forward like lightning.

The expected spray of blood or the ringing of metal on metal never occurred. Liang Yan’s strike felt as if it had fallen into a bottomless ocean or a deep, dark void; there was simply no resistance.

Upon contact with Zhao Xunzhen’s hands, the Dingguang Sword acted like iron drawn to a magnet, forced to change direction and stab into the empty air beside her. Furthermore, the moon-white spiritual light on the blade poured forward like water, instantly vanishing into the black mist around her hands.

In just a few moments, the Dingguang Sword appeared to have suffered a significant loss of its spiritual essence.

"Indeed, there is something strange here!"

Liang Yan remained calm despite his shock. He pressed his left fingers together like a sword and unleashed a blue ribbon of energy—the Lightning Refining Technique he had practiced for so long.

Zhao Xunzhen glanced at it, realizing she had met a formidable opponent. She shifted her body sharply to the side, narrowly avoiding the lightning energy.

Seizing the opening, Liang Yan hurriedly retracted his sword and retreated several paces. He pushed his spiritual power into the blade, and only then did it recover slightly.

"Could her ghost path techniques be specifically designed to corrupt the spiritual artifacts of others?" Liang Yan mused to himself.

Ghost path techniques were known to be unpredictable, and many contained vile methods meant to sully spiritual treasures. Sword-type artifacts, in particular, were most vulnerable to such filth before they had truly become the flying swords of a Sword Cultivator.

With a thought, Liang Yan stowed his sword. He circulated his "Two Fish Dual-Birth Array" within his body; blue light surged on his left hand while golden light overflowed from his right, and he struck out two palms toward Zhao Xunzhen.

His spiritual power was no longer what it once was; running the "Hunhun Technique" and the "Heart Without Fixed Intent Method" simultaneously was no longer difficult for him.

Seeing this, Zhao Xunzhen murmured, "I didn't expect you could truly operate both Buddhist and Confucian supernatural abilities at the same time."

Though surprised, her eyes held no panic. Shrouded in black mist, she met Liang Yan’s powerful palms head-on, showing no intention of dodging.

Boom!

The four palms collided solidly in mid-air. In the gloomy space, gold, blue, and black colors exploded, appearing to be a perfectly matched struggle.

However, the next moment, Liang Yan realized something was wrong!

The massive spiritual power contained in his palms was being dissipated by the black mist in an instant, unable to coalesce. After the initial clash, he found himself without further momentum, unable to sustain the attack.

"What kind of technique is this!"

Liang Yan was horrified and tried to withdraw his power to retreat.

Zhao Xunzhen, however, was relentless. The black mist swirled upward, binding his arms. At the same time, her red lips parted, and she spat out a stream of sinister black light, which shot toward him with lethal intent.

With his hands restrained and the black light approaching, Liang Yan immediately recited an incantation. The spiritual light within him shifted from gold to blue, transforming entirely into a pale azure. He then planted his feet firmly and began to spin in place.

While it takes time to describe, this happened in the blink of an eye. As soon as Zhao Xunzhen’s black light emerged, Liang Yan dragged her into a spin with him.

It was as if a pale blue whirlwind had erupted on the flat ground. The black light whistled within the gale, its aim thrown off, and it was deflected toward the empty ground nearby.

With a "pfft," the black light embedded itself into the stone platform, emitting a sharp, metallic hum. It was revealed to be Zhao Xunzhen’s ghost-headed dagger.

In his urgency, Liang Yan had shifted his spiritual power to use the "Circular Rotation Method" from his "Heart Without Fixed Intent." Zhao Xunzhen had not anticipated such a technique. In the chaos, she was forced to release her grip and flip backward to retreat.

"This woman’s technique is so bizarre; it can actually neutralize my spiritual power!" Liang Yan thought to himself once he was free.

He did not know that this was Zhao Xunzhen’s secret bloodline technique: the Ghost Hand of Dissipated Spirits.

This technique could neutralize any offensive move, sharing a similar principle to Liang Yan’s own "Dispersion Method." However, while the "Dispersion Method" focused on guiding force and fluid transformation—fitting the free-spirited nature of Taoism and Confucianism—the "Ghost Hand of Dissipated Spirits" directly dissolved the spiritual power within a move. Without spiritual power, the attack naturally collapsed.

The "Ghost Hand" was more overbearing, yet it lacked a degree of agility. Both had their own merits.

The fiery clearing fell into a deathly silence.

It was clear that after their exchange, both sides were wary of each other. Now standing on opposite sides of the clearing, they both fell into an uneasy silence.