"Junior Brother Qi, you... are my Enlightenment Bell!"

A savage grin spread across his lips as Yue Rong’s burly and imposing Demon Body transformed into a black and red afterimage, tearing through the rain. He lunged ferociously toward Qi Yun, radiating a suffocating sense of pressure.

Wherever he passed, the rocks underfoot were crushed to dust, blasting backward!

Qi Yun’s gaze hardened. He knew full well how terrifying Yue Rong’s strength and speed were in his Demon Body state. A faint vortex of air swirled at his feet as he pushed the Clear Wind Technique to its limit, his body drifting rapidly backward like a weightless willow catkin.

At the same time, his hands formed a series of Dharma Seals at lightning speed!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Three White Bone Skeletons immediately shot forward with cackling laughter, aiming directly for Yue Rong’s face, chest, and vital joints.

The Glowing Green Ghost Fire in their eye sockets burned wildly as they launched a suicidal assault to slow him down.

Yue Rong let out a low roar. He swept his arms, which were covered in thick bristles, from side to side, the immense force kicking up a terrifying gale!

BANG! BANG!

Two of the White Bone Skeletons were smashed to pieces, sending bone fragments flying!

But the third one aimed for his ankle with cunning viciousness.

Though he instantly shattered it, it successfully halted his charge for a split second.

In that fleeting instant, Qi Yun’s retreating figure suddenly steadied. He took a deep breath, his Innate True Qi circulating wildly within him. His ten fingers became a blur of motion, forming countless Spells.

HUMMM—!

Countless specks of ice-cold, jet-black Iron Sand flew from his sleeves, instantly coalescing before him into an enormous, sharply-angled fist of Sand Iron that glinted with a metallic sheen.

The giant fist, nearly half the height of a man, radiated a terrifying aura capable of crushing anything in its path. It met Yue Rong’s outstretched arm and smashed forward ferociously.

BOOM—!!!!

The giant fist of Sand Iron collided violently with Yue Rong’s demonic beast-claw!

A ring-shaped shockwave, visible to the naked eye, erupted outward, instantly clearing the area of rubble within dozens of meters and pulverizing it to dust.

The ground caved in as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, forming a huge crater. Spiderweb cracks spread madly toward the cliff walls, shaking loose a cascade of rocks.

Yue Rong’s body shuddered violently. The impact forced him to slide back half a step, his feet plowing two deep furrows into the ground.

The crimson in his eyes deepened, and his will to fight surged.

"Good, good! This is getting interesting!" Instead of anger, Yue Rong was delighted. He let out a gratified roar as the black and red Demon Qi around him billowed like roaring flames. His aura, far from diminishing, grew even stronger.

He stomped, shattering the ground again as he pounced, his twin claws tearing through the air and leaving behind trails of afterimages. His assault was like a tempest!

Qi Yun’s eyes were grave, his Heart and Spirit focused to the extreme.

His Body Skill was erratic and unpredictable, always allowing him to evade the fatal pounces by a hair’s breadth.

Meanwhile, his hands never stopped weaving Spells, coordinating with the low-chanted Spells on his lips to continuously activate his Magic.

Fists! Kicks! Palms!

Unburdened by the drain on his Heart and Spirit, Qi Yun’s mastery of the Sand Iron Skill had reached an entirely new Realm.

Relying solely on his abundant True Qi and this one Daoist Skill, he was actually fighting Yue Rong to a standstill!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

BOOM!

CRACK!

The place where they clashed was like a battlefield for two primordial beasts!

The ground continuously exploded and collapsed. The surrounding trees and rocks suffered terribly—some were snapped in half by stray Qi Force, others were riddled with holes like sieves by the flying Sand Iron, and still others were directly shattered by Yue Rong’s terrifying physical body.

The longer Yue Rong fought, the more shocked he became. Although he acknowledged Qi Yun’s title as Champion Scholar...

...he had still harbored a fair bit of contempt for his true strength.

After all, he didn’t know Qi Yun, but he knew himself very well.

How could a Dharma Gate from the Outer Mansion possibly compare to a direct Dharma Lineage from a Master?

But after this bitter battle, Qi Yun’s control and cultivation of Magic had truly been an eye-opener for him.

That black Sand Iron was both hard and soft, its transformations endless. It possessed immense power, yet could also disperse to deflect force, allowing it to clash head-on with the brute strength of his Demon Body.

Not to mention his opponent’s slippery Body Skill, which caused seventy to eighty percent of his attacks to miss their mark.

’Looks like I won’t be able to take him down without getting serious.’

Yue Rong took a sharp, deep breath. His chest swelled to a visible degree, and the boiling black and red Demon Qi around him swirled as if drawn in, converging madly into his mouth.

His heart alarming, Qi Yun keenly sensed a destructive energy rapidly gathering.

’Hm? He’s about to use his ultimate?!’

Eyes narrowing, Qi Yun didn’t hesitate for a second. He immediately manipulated a large amount of Sand Iron to stack layer upon layer in front of him, instantly constructing an incredibly thick, black cocoon that shielded him securely at its center.

In the next instant!

"ROAR—!!!"

Yue Rong let out a furious roar, but what he spat out wasn’t a sound wave—it was a stream of golden flame, condensed to the extreme, brilliant and blinding.

The temperature of the flame was terrifyingly high. Wherever it passed, the air warped and burned, and the ground itself melted into scorching, glass-like trenches!

[Demon-Devouring Technique: Golden-Burning Demon Flame]

FWOOSH—!!!

The torrent of golden flame slammed viciously into the Sand Iron barrier!

The extreme heat instantly burned the outermost layer of Iron Sand red-hot, softening and even vaporizing it.

The black cocoon melted away, thinning at an astonishing rate!

Qi Yun grunted. The True Qi on the surface of his body surged to insulate him from the heat, while the True Qi within him poured out like a flood from an open sluice gate. More Iron Sand streamed from his Storage Pouch to reinforce the barrier, holding firm against the terrifying Demon Flame’s searing heat!

TSSSSS—!

The grating sound of melting metal was enough to set one’s teeth on edge. Red-hot molten iron dripped continuously, and the acrid smell of burning metal filled the air.

Finally, just a moment before the golden Demon Flame could melt completely through the barrier, its power was spent, and it slowly died out.

Yue Rong panted, wisps of smoke curling from his mouth. Clearly, that attack had taken a massive toll on him as well.

CLANG—

The remaining red-hot Sand Iron barrier suddenly collapsed inward, coalescing into a searing meteor that shot viciously toward Yue Rong, forcing him to block it with another swipe of his claw!

Steam rolled off Qi Yun’s body and his face was flushed red. Although his Protective True Qi had blocked the worst of the heat, he had still nearly been cooked alive.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes. Qi Yun’s right hand, which he had kept hidden, formed a sword finger. He poured all the remaining Innate True Qi in his body into it without reservation.

’Senior Brother Yue, you’ve lost!’

The point of extreme, pale-blue Sword Aura on his fingertip moved as if teleporting, stabbing silently toward the center of the back of Yue Rong’s Demon Body!

Yue Rong had just swatted away the searing ball of Sand Iron when alarm bells screamed in his mind.

He twisted violently, trying to dodge, but he was half a beat too slow! Furthermore, the immense energy he had expended spitting out the Demon Flame had made his movements sluggish for that one crucial instant!

SHLICK—!

An extremely faint, yet crystal-clear, piercing sound was heard.

The pale-blue Sword Qi stabbed with unerring accuracy into the spot Qi Yun had predicted.

The Sword Qi instantly penetrated deep. While it didn’t cause a major external wound, it was like the sharpest needle, stabbing viciously into a node in Yue Rong’s qi channels and instantly throwing his rampaging Demon Qi and blood into disarray!

"Urgh!"

Yue Rong’s massive body suddenly stiffened, and a muffled grunt, mixed with pain and disbelief, escaped his lips.

The boiling black and red Demon Qi around him abruptly dissipated like a punctured balloon. The crimson in his eyes faded rapidly, revealing the unfocused and extremely weary gaze beneath.

He struggled to turn around to get one last look at Qi Yun.

But his massive Demon Body began to shrink uncontrollably, reverting to its original form.

An intense feeling of weakness and the agonizing backlash of his disrupted qi and blood washed over him like a tide, submerging his final shred of consciousness. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

THUD!

His powerful body swayed, then toppled forward like a falling mountain of gold or a collapsing pillar of jade, crashing heavily to the ground.

Qi Yun stood behind the unconscious Yue Rong, panting lightly. His face was a little pale, his True Qi almost completely depleted.

Gazing at the passed-out Yue Rong, his eyes narrowed slightly. He raised his right hand, a wisp of Sword Qi flickering faintly into existence.

But at that very moment, a supreme and majestic power, vast and righteous, descended through the void. In the unseen depths of reality, Qi Yun seemed to see a magnificent, imposing Black Mountain that reached from the earth to the heavens, suspended at the apex of the Celestial Vault.

The next second, Yue Rong’s body vanished without a trace.

Staring at the impression Yue Rong’s body had left on the ground, Qi Yun’s expression turned grave:

"Was that... a Foundation Establishment Master again?"

...