When the two rays of sword energy collided, a thunderous rumble echoed and a shockwave spread out from the center.

The shockwave kicked up all the dust on the ground, and some of the gravel was turned to dust by the residual sword energy. At the end of it all, the sword energy cut large divots in the ground.

The surrounding cultivators carefully watched all of this and saw Bai Zimo fall on the losing side. Even with his body protection spell, he was still forced back a few steps by Zhao Jiuge before he could stabilize himself.

Body protection and body refinement were different on a fundamental level. One was a spell to protect the body, while the other made one’s body stronger. They both added a layer of defense and therefore seemed similar, but they were different in quality.

Bai Zimo had lost at every exchange, but he refused to give up. Anger surged through him, and he would not accept defeat. No matter what he had to do, he was going to make Zhao Jiuge stay; otherwise, how could he live through another disgrace? His reputation in Qing Cang City would be destroyed.

However, cultivation couldn’t be completed in one day, and there were certain things that couldn’t be changed with just hard work. No matter who it was, fortune was not easily obtained.

How could the foundation of a long standing family compare to the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect? No matter how long a family had been around for, how could it compete with a holy land? The Mysterious Heaven Sword Art contained profound meaning, and an ordinary person would not be able to understand the sword intent.

After knocking Bai Zimo back, Zhao Jiuge saw a figure in white rush at him. He could only laugh in response—a Foundation Realm cultivator wanted to interfere in a fight like this. Zhao Jiuge would never let a person who should be killed go, but he wouldn’t kill an innocent person. No matter how much killing intent Bai Zimo had, he wouldn't kill these people.

His hand holding the Cold Underworld Sword casually turned, and he gently pointed the sword forward. There was a crisp and pleasant sound as a whitish-blue light covered the sword tip. He naturally wouldn’t use sword energy against a cultivator at this level. Zhao Jiuge held back, or else he would have easily taken a life.

Using his spirit force to deal with this kind of trash was more than enough. The whitish-blue light immediately landed on the guard from the Bai family, who didn’t even have time to react. After all, the difference between the two of them was too great.

The guard only had time to release a protection layer around him before a thin layer of ice covered his body. Frozen solid, he still maintained the pose of holding his sword high in the air. Zhao Jiuge’s spirit force naturally contained the ice attribute.

Fortunately, he had held back and the blue ice quickly started melting. After a few seconds, the ice became thin and soon shattered. The guard still maintained his posture, but the meridians in his body had been damaged. It wasn’t life-threatening damage, but he would need half a year to recover. This was only because it was Zhao Jiuge—other cultivators would not have held back like this, they would’ve gone for the kill.

However, Bai Zimo didn’t care about this at all. Instead, he took this chance to launch an attack at Zhao Jiuge.

Seeing Bai Zimo launch an attack filled with killing intent, Zhao Jiuge frowned but remained quiet. Unless it was his last resort, he would not kill recklessly unless the situation was very serious.

A dark-green light had already gathered before Bai Zimo. This light flashed from time to time, and Bai Zimo had a sneer on his face when he launched it toward Zhao Jiuge.

Battles between cultivators could be very short or very long. If the difference in cultivation level or experience was too large, it could end in an instant. But if they were very similar, a battle could go on for three days. Whoever seized the opportunity would naturally have a big advantage. Bai Zimo had taken advantage of the time his guard had bought and launched an attack. Not only would Zhao Jiuge be caught off guard, he also had a longer time to condense his attack, making it more powerful.

However, Zhao Jiuge only sneered at this. He decided to respond with the same attack. “Did you think you could win just because you got the preemptive strike?”

Zhao Jiuge wanted to tell Bai Zimo with his actions that strength was gathered slowly, one step at a time. It was not based on one’s heritage or other external factors.

“Since you want to use a sword art, I’ll use a sword art as well. If you use spirit force, then I’ll use spirit force. Whatever you use, I’ll use it too and defeat you in the most fair way possible so your self-confidence suffers.”

Seeing the dark-green light close in, Zhao Jiuge had no time to gather spirit force, not that there was a need to gather it. His body moved slightly and he let out a cold snort, then a bright blue and white light spread out.

The moment this ray of spirit force shot out, the surrounding temperature dropped. Even Bai Zimo could clearly feel a chill on his back.

Zhao Jiuge also waved the Cold Underworld Sword in his hand, creating a ray of sword energy even more shocking. When this sword was refined, Master Ou Yezi had used all water and ice attribute materials because of the cold phoenix soul.

Blue-white spirit force flew toward the dark-green spirit force like a crescent moon, trying to freeze it. The dark-green spirit force contained the lightning attribute, so there was an occasional flicker of lightning!

At this moment, it was a competition of whose spirit force was denser. The blue-white and dark-green lights were particularly eye-catching at night.

The blue-white ice spirit force pushed the dark-green spirit force a little and then was suddenly broken by the lightning. This happened many times, and the dark green spirit force slowly began to lose. Water conducts electricity, and ice even more so. Soon, the victor was decided.

Bai Zimo suddenly felt a little backlash after having his spirit force attack destroyed. This was a small problem for a Spirit Core Realm like him, but his expression was extremely gloomy. Again and again he had been on the losing end today, which caused his temper to flare up. They had exchanged moves three times, and he hadn’t even been able to win a single exchange.

Bai Zimo casually waved his Tender Willow Sword to destroy the remaining blue-white spirit force. His eyes were filled with hatred as he stared at Zhao Jiuge, his chest heaving up and down. When he felt the gazes of the people watching, his urge to kill Zhao Jiuge surged.

“Li Changhao, what are you doing, you piece of trash?! Why can’t you even deal with a woman? Quickly deal with her and come help me. Old Bai, help me now! If I’m not beaten to death first, I’ll be angered to death.”

Bai Zimo was so furious that he ignored his image. He no longer cared about what other people thought about him, he only wanted to kill Zhao Jiuge.

Sure enough, all the cultivators watching began to boo him after seeing him filled with killing intent. It was clear that regardless of today’s outcome, he would be looked down upon by others.

Although Li Changhao and Bai Yang were Bai Zimo’s guards, their treatment was very different. Bai Yang was a member of the Bai family, so at least Bai Zimo was respectful toward him. Even though Li Changhao was a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, he worked for the Bai family in exchange for resources, so he was basically like a servant.

Hearing Bai Zimo’s roar filled with anger, Li Changhao’s cold expression didn’t change at all, but there was a hint of displeasure in his eyes. However, his hand didn’t stop and instead moved even faster. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not defeat Pei Su Su so easily. While she was younger, her strength and treasures were no worse than his. In fact, she seemed to be a tiny bit above him.

When Bai Yang heard Bai Zimo’s angry roar, he began to move. There was a flash of light and a black cane appeared in his hand. It was clear that he was going to intervene in Bai Zimo and Zhao Jiuge’s duel.

However, how could San Wu let Bai Yang intervene so easily? San Wu looked like he wasn’t doing anything and just gently turned the beads in his hand. In truth, he had been alert all along, and when he noticed Bai Yang’s spirit force surge, he immediately took action.

“Hehe, your opponent is me. Isn’t standing around watching the show better? Why bother fighting?”

San Wu still had a gentle smile on his face. However, while looking at the black cane in Bai Yang’s hand, San Wu’s actions were not as gentle as his expression.

His wide, yellow monk robe fluttered in the wind once. It didn’t look like he was using any spirit force at all, he just threw the Buddhist beads in his hand toward Bai Yang. There weren’t any spirit force fluctuations at all, and Bai Yang had the illusion that San Wu wasn’t a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.

However, what happened next caused Bai Yang’s heart to sink.