Chapter 134: One Dead, One Injured

While Liang Yan was trapped within the Sea of Refining Thunder, the original golden palace was currently in utter chaos.

Three Foundation Establishment cultivators were locked in fierce combat in the center of the hall, while the remaining Qi Refining cultivators had retreated dozens of feet away, clearly intending to preserve themselves.

Sword lights danced, and cranes shrieked.

Under the joint attack of the two opponents, Yunxuzhi dodged and wove, escaping unscathed time and again within the narrowest margins, without showing the slightest sign of disadvantage!

The more Li Zheng fought, the more alarmed he became. Although he had long known that the "Innate Breath Technique" was extremely tricky, it was only now that he truly understood the terror of this cultivation method.

Although this old Daoist possessed few spiritual instruments and no formidable treasures, relying merely on a single breath of innate energy, he had fortified his entire body so impenetrably that not a single flaw was exposed.

A wave of impatience surged in Li Zheng's heart. Suddenly, he formed incantations with his left hand while simultaneously pointing upward with his right.

The crane raised its head and emitted a clear, resonant cry, then beat its wings fiercely, soaring instantly high into the sky.

Glowing with a dazzling white light and following the vibration of its wings, flowing feathers shot downward from time to time, drifting toward Yunxuzhi below.

Yunxuzhi narrowed his eyes, exerted force through the soles of his feet, and retreated rapidly backward.

The feathers in midair landed continuously three inches in front of Yunxuzhi, emitting a sizzling sound and leaving numerous holes in the ground.

At the exact same time the feathers attacked Yunxuzhi, the four sword puppets also struck simultaneously, stabbing toward Yunxuzhi's vital points from all directions.

Azure light circulated around Yunxuzhi's body, and as he brushed his hands across the air, a cyan crystal barrier manifested, blocking all the sword thrusts of the four puppet swords in midair.

Seeing that they could not breach Yunxuzhi's crystal barrier, Meng Qi changed her hand seals once more. The four sword puppets converged into one and thrust upward sharply into the void.

The four sword lights merged into one, erupting with a dazzling radiance. Following that, a yellow spiritual beam as thick as a water bucket burst forth, shooting directly toward the front of Yunxuzhi.

Yunxuzhi's expression changed slightly; clearly, the strength of this attack was so great that relying solely on the cyan crystal barrier was no longer sufficient for defense.

With a solemn expression, he silently recited an incantation while pointing two fingers of his right hand to his chest, then traced them all the way upward to the vicinity of his crown.

A beam of cyan spiritual light lit up from his chest and surged upward. Exhaling through his open mouth, a wispy, chaotic blue breath billowed out.

The yellow spiritual beam roared forward, plunging into the chaotic cyan mist in the twinkling of an eye.

Although the combined strike of the sword puppets was full of momentum, charging and crashing wildly within the cyan mist, it was completely unable to break through. Instead, the chaotic cyan mist was inexhaustible, wrapping around them impenetrably.

Following a series of muffled rumbling sounds, the yellow spiritual beam finally transformed into dozens of smaller flowing lights that scattered in all directions, ultimately losing every trace of killing intent.

Witnessing this scene, both Li Zheng and Meng Qi wore expressions of shock. Conversely, Yunxuzhi remained entirely calm and composed, looking as though he had everything well under control.

"It is my turn!"

With a flick of his large sleeve, Yunxuzhi extended a withered finger and tapped gently upon the chaotic cyan mist before him, splitting it into two streams—one flying toward the sickly scholar Li Zheng, and the other toward Meng Qi.

Seeing the chaotic cyan mist approach, Li Zheng did not dare to be negligent. Hastily forming incantations with both hands, he summoned a black inkstone to manifest before him.

The inkstone was carved with dragons and phoenixes, exquisitely ornate. Spiritual light overflowed from its surface, revealing at a glance that it was a rare and peerless top-tier spiritual instrument.

As the inkstone flew into midair, a ring of black halo gradually emerged around Li Zheng, shrouding his entire body within. Only then did his heart settle slightly.

By this time, the chaotic cyan mist had already flown right in front of Li Zheng. As the cyan mist intersected with the black halo, a fierce gale suddenly erupted in the arena, causing even the Qi Refining juniors dozens of feet away to feel a stinging pain on their cheeks.

As the gale dissipated, everyone looked toward the center of the hall.

The black inkstone, which had previously overflowed with spiritual light, was now in a utterly dilapidated state. Meanwhile, Li Zheng, who stood within the black halo, gazed down with a blank and stunned expression, for right in the center of his chest was a fist-sized bloody hole...

Although Meng Qi had also engaged with a stream of chaotic cyan mist, she was not nearly as wretched as Li Zheng. After exhausting four defensive Xuanwu puppets, she managed to barely withstand the blow.

"Li Honggui! I'll fight you to the death!"

With a roar of fury, Li Zheng formed a bizarre incantation with both hands before his chest. The crane in midair, as if sensing the mournful cries of its master, opened its mouth and spat out a white medicinal pellet.

"Self-detonating the beast core!"

Yunxuzhi's expression changed drastically in fury. Hurriedly casting several incantations, he formed three crystal barriers in front of him. Meng Qi was also struck with utter dismay; she sacrificed the very last Xuanwu puppet left in her storage pouch to guard herself, while rapidly retreating far away from the beast core.

The white pellet trembled violently in midair, followed by a heaven-shaking explosion. A dazzling white light enveloped everything within a radius of ten feet below.

Although those Qi Refining cultivators had long since retreated dozens of feet away, they still felt an overwhelming wave of spiritual power surging toward them like a tidal wave, causing them to stumble and fall to the ground in disorder.

Ji Lai performed a carp kipping up from the ground, and as he stood back up, he retreated a few more paces backward.

Turning his head to look, he noticed that Li Huayang, the ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivator, and Zhao Xunzhen, who had arrived alongside Liang Yan, were also retreating with wary expressions—yet the figure of one person was conspicuously missing.

"Eh? Where did that young girl who came with Meng Qi go?"

A trace of doubt flickered through Ji Lai's mind. He cast his gaze about in all directions, yet still found no trace of her.

"Strange, she was clearly right here just a moment ago!"

While Ji Lai was plagued by confusion, the battle in the arena had already reached its conclusion.

Having exhausted every last ounce of his remaining spiritual power to drive the crane into self-detonating its beast core, the sickly scholar Li Zheng now possessed not a shred of vitality, lying stiffly on the ground as a corpse.

As for Meng Qi, because her Xuanwu mechanical beasts had already been heavily depleted in the earlier clash, relying solely on a single remaining Xuanwu puppet for defense was clearly still beyond her capacity.

She now collapsed in a heap on the ground, her aura completely withered and seemingly incapable of mobilizing even a shred of spiritual power.

In contrast, Yunxuzhi was the least injured among all present in the arena. Although his clothes were tattered, faint cyan light circulated around his body, showing clearly that he still retained plenty of surplus strength.

"Li Honggui? It has truly been a very long time since anyone called me that..."

Li Honggui was Yunxuzhi's secular birth name. Ever since the previous dynasty fell and he stepped into the path of cultivation, no one had addressed him by that name again.

He glanced sideways at Li Zheng's corpse not far away, a hint of reminiscence flashing across his face, though it returned to normal a moment later.

"Hehe, Fairy Meng, it seems your strength is lacking, so you cannot blame Yun for this. Once I kill you and clear away the remaining Qi Refining juniors, everything within this secret realm shall belong to this old man."

A smile touched Yunxuzhi's face as he walked slowly toward Meng Qi. Meanwhile, Meng Qi sat blankly in place, seemingly incapable of resisting her impending fate.

Cyan light gathered in the palm of his right hand, and without the slightest hesitation, he pressed his palm directly onto Meng Qi's forehead. Yet the very next moment, Yunxuzhi's expression underwent a drastic change, and he frantically tried to pull his right hand back.

Strangely enough, his right palm seemed glued to Meng Qi's forehead at that moment, utterly unable to budge an inch!

Following a series of mechanical clicking sounds of gears turning, Meng Qi's forehead tilted upward at a bizarre angle. Her lips parted, and several silver needles shot out from within, burying themselves entirely into Yunxuzhi's chest.

Puff!

Yunxuzhi spat a mouthful of dark blood. The flesh pierced by the silver needles turned from yellow to black, evidently laced with potent poison.

"You are not human! You... you are a puppet!"

Just as Yunxuzhi was struck with absolute horror, a surge of yellow light suddenly lit up on the ground beside Meng Qi. Following that, a young girl of eleven or twelve years old slowly rose from beneath the earth.

A smile graced the corners of her lips as she bowed gracefully toward Yunxuzhi and said:

"This junior Meng Qi greets Daoist Yun!"