Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 695 - 679: Battle Against Late-Stage Nascent Soul! [Premium Bonus - ]

The fire dragon roared, the fire phoenix screeched.

The two flame-formed creatures, under their respective masters' control, desperately attacked each other to prove who was stronger.

In the battle, the fire dragon and fire phoenix continuously shrank, starting from several yards long, gradually reducing to less than one yard, while the duel between Zhouyang and Zhao Yuanpu had already lasted over a quarter of an hour.

A quarter of the agreed half-hour had already passed.

However, Zhao Yuanpu seemed not to be anxious at all, still unhurriedly controlling the silver-purple fire phoenix to battle with the golden fire dragon, without resorting to a second method.

He was not worried, and Zhouyang was even happier with this situation, hoping the entire half-hour would continue like this.

But that seemed unrealistic.

After approximately one and a half quarter-hours of fire fighting, the silver-purple fire phoenix controlled by Zhao Yuanpu suddenly let out a clear cry, transformed into a flaming long saber, and slashed the golden fire dragon into two parts on the spot.

Before Zhouyang realized anything was amiss and could control the two pieces of the fire dragon for repair, the flaming long saber transformed back into the fire phoenix shape and swallowed the smaller half of the fire dragon's remains, causing Zhouyang to lose sensing it.

Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but laugh angrily, "Fellow Daoist Zhao has quite an appetite; aren't you afraid of biting off more than you can chew!"

Zhao Yuanpu chuckled, "Haha, Fellow Daoist Zhou, if you have any tricks up your sleeve, feel free to use them."

"Then, Fellow Daoist Zhao, watch closely!"

Zhouyang's expression turned fierce, and with a flick of his mind, the remaining half of the fire dragon's remains suddenly condensed inward and compressed into a golden fire pearl the size of a fist, shooting straight towards the purple fire phoenix.

Boom!

The explosive flames soared from ten thousand feet in the sky, surging fire waves evaporated thousands of feet of clouds below, turning the sky red for miles.

When the firelight dissipated, no hint of flames remained in the sky.

Seeing this scene, Zhao Yuanpu shook his head with a bitter smile, "Fellow Daoist Zhou's move is truly ruthless. It seems it's impossible for me to surpass you in flame divine techniques. How about a draw in this fire battle?"

"I'll agree to what Fellow Daoist Zhao suggests."

Zhouyang nodded slightly, speaking without any concern.

Zhao Yuanpu might have some intentions in proving the powerful divine technique of his sect, but Zhouyang had no interest in that.

After all, his Qianyang True Flame had no cultivation method, and proving its superiority over other true flame divine techniques seemed meaningless.

Zhao Yuanpu's expression slightly tensed, nodding slowly, "Since the fire battle is a draw, now I can only rely on my cultivation to defeat Fellow Daoist Zhou. Please be ready to face my attack!"

Finishing his words, he waved his hand and summoned a crimson token, neither gold nor wood, on which a lifelike red-gold three-legged fire crow appeared. He formed a spell with both hands and cast it at the token, causing the three-legged fire crow to come to life, transforming into a red-gold three-legged fire crow with a wingspan of several yards.

The moment the red-gold three-legged fire crow revealed its form, the nearby fire attribute heavenly and earthly spiritual qi spontaneously converged onto it, quickly forming a sea of fire around it.

"Quick!"

With a low shout from Zhao Yuanpu, the three-legged fire crow screeched, flapped its wings, and stirred up a roaring fire tide towards Zhouyang.

This was different from the earlier fire battle; Zhao Yuanpu would not hold back anymore. Driven by his mighty magical power at the late-stage nascent soul cultivation, the three-legged fire crow, transformed from a tier six middle-grade spiritual artifact, possessed power comparable to the body of a tier six upper-grade demon king.

Not daring to slack off, Zhouyang quickly shouted, summoning his lifebound spiritual artifact, Qianyang Golden Tower, to suppress the fire crow riding the fire sea tide.

Meanwhile, the "Demon-Suppressing Golden Light" emerged on his body, directly activating the Exorcism Treasure Robe he wore, releasing a thick layer of defensive golden light to protect himself.

Even then, he felt it was not secure enough, so he also harnessed the power of the Qianyang Treasure Pearl to unleash the Qianyang Celestial Fire Shield divine technique.

It turned out that he acted with great foresight.

The three-legged fire crow opened its mouth and spat out a fiery red beam, knocking the golden treasure tower flying, then crashed towards Zhouyang with the boundless fire tide.

In an instant, despite the dual-layer protection, Zhouyang felt as if struck by a meteor, his bones nearly shattering, being uncontrollably blasted backward.

The double-layer protection he set up was directly breached under this single strike.

Were it not for the Exorcism Treasure Robe's special material, or if his physical defense wasn't remarkably sturdy, his clothes and flesh might have been burned and injured by the fire sea tide carried by the three-legged fire crow.

This strike made Zhouyang realize that without using the Vermilion Bird Fan, going head-to-head with a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator like Zhao Yuanpu, who wields powerful spiritual artifacts, would likely lead to his defeat after only a few moves.

A late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator wielding a Tier Six Middle-Grade Spiritual Artifact has the ability to easily break through his defenses. Once he is hit after his defense is breached, he would be severely injured, making it difficult to escape even if he wanted to.

Realizing this, he naturally would not rashly continue to clash head-on with Zhao Yuanpu, nor would he easily reveal the Vermilion Bird Fan as his trump card.

He immediately formed a seal with both hands, gold light appeared under his feet, and his body instantly turned into a golden light, disappearing from the spot, thus avoiding an incoming flying sword attack.

The next moment, Zhouyang reappeared in mid-air dozens of miles away, behind Zhao Yuanpu.

As soon as he reappeared, he formed another seal to cast a spell, once again transforming into a golden light and escaping to another place.

After performing this escape technique three times in succession, he was nearly out of Zhao Yuanpu's maximum Divine Sense range.

But before he could continue fleeing, Zhao Yuanpu's slightly surprised voice echoed around his ears.

"An ingenious escape technique, but unfortunately still inferior to Shrinking Inches!"

In mid-air more than thirty miles away from Zhouyang, Zhao Yuanpu appeared out of thin air, as if emerging from nothing, demonstrating the space divine technique Shrinking Inches, which only late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators can master.

This kind of Shrinking Inches divine technique in the hands of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator allows for stepping across a hundred miles as if it were a single stride, falling only half a step short of the legendary spatial teleportation divine technique.

"It is not that my Vertical Earth Golden Light divine technique is inferior to Shrinking Inches, but merely because I have not yet fully mastered this technique. If I had cultivated it to a small success realm, Fellow Daoist Zhao would be left in the dust behind me today!"

While Zhouyang firmly rebutted Zhao Yuanpu's words, he flicked his sleeve, launching three crimson-golden thunder pearls at the approaching Zhao Yuanpu.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Using the time bought by the three Profound Celestial Fire Thunder Pearls, Zhouyang once again employed the Vertical Earth Golden Light, extending the distance between himself and Zhao Yuanpu by over a hundred miles.

However, it wasn't long before Zhao Yuanpu once again caught up to within ten miles behind him, speaking casually in his ear, "It's no use. Although the magical power consumption for my use of Shrinking Inches may be greater than Fellow Daoist Zhou's escape technique, sustaining it for half an hour is not a problem at all. If Fellow Daoist Zhou intends to delay time in this manner, then you are miscalculating!"

"Since Fellow Daoist Zhao is so confident, why not take on one of my moves?"

Zhouyang spoke as he raised his palm, revealing a purple-gold ruler, which he then swung forcefully.

At that moment, as if realizing something extraordinary, Zhao Yuanpu's face changed dramatically, and he hurriedly waved his sleeve to summon an earth-yellow treasure pearl to form a thick layer of yellow light for protection.

It was just as he completed this that the short purple-gold ruler abruptly appeared above his head, striking heavily against the layer of yellow light shield he had established.

Crack!

The solid yellow light shield was unexpectedly shattered by the tiny ruler, breaking into nothingness with a series of cracking sounds.

This certainly took Zhao Yuanpu by surprise, stopping him mid-chase, with a look of uncertainty and apprehension toward Zhouyang.

Although he had detected the unusual spatial fluctuations and responded correctly just in time, he had evidently underestimated the power of that purple-gold ruler and almost got injured by it.

Seeing the purple-gold ruler return to Zhouyang's hand, Zhao Yuanpu's face twitched slightly, unable to resist exclaiming in awe, "Fellow Daoist Zhou's skills and treasure are indeed impressive. I underestimated you!"

Despite being a Tier Six High-Grade Spiritual Artifact, he only had one, which he had nurtured for over two thousand years as his lifebound artifact.

Although the Divine Fire Palace is also considered a top major sect where ordinary Tier Six Spiritual Artifacts are not rare, they have none of these Tier Six High-Grade Spiritual Artifacts that can be passed down.

This is undeniably a regret for the entire Divine Fire Palace!

"You've seen my shortcomings, Fellow Daoist Zhao. My cultivation is shallow, and even with a fine spiritual artifact in hand, I can't fully utilize its power. It truly is a shame to this treasure!"

Zhouyang looked at the purple-gold ruler in his hand, shaking his head with a sigh, without any hint of pride.

The Purple Gold Qiankun Ruler, as a Tier Six High-Grade Spiritual Artifact, naturally has more power than what it currently shows. However, his cultivation is insufficient to make this artifact display its full might.

The same goes for Jiang Fengxian's Tier Six High-Grade Flying Sword, the Cyan Simurgh Sword.

If he had the cultivation of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator like Zhao Yuanpu, that ruler strike wouldn't have just barely broken Zhao Yuanpu's hastily established defense, but instead, it would have directly smashed his head and popped it.

Zhao Yuanpu understood this truth as well, so he immediately assumed a serious tone and said, "Just now was my oversight. From now on, Fellow Daoist, you should truly be careful, as I will go all out!"

After saying this, he did not rush to attack and instead raised his hand to point at the yellow treasure pearl, causing it to emit a rich yellow light once again, enveloping him and gradually solidifying into a yellow light treasure armor surrounding himself.

Then he opened his mouth and spat out, a crimson flame flew out of his mouth, transforming into a little crimson banner that fell into his hand.

This little crimson banner was his Lifebound Spiritual Artifact, the [Six Yang Divine Fire Banner].

"Swift."

He threw the little crimson banner in his hand, and with a spell gesture, the banner instantly grew several meters high in the wind. On the triangular red silk banner face, golden runes sparkled with spiritual light, weaving flame patterns.

Zhao Yuanpu then extended one hand, grasped the banner pole, and shook it fiercely. The banner face erupted with surging firelight, condensing into a hefty crimson light beam, shooting furiously toward Zhouyang.

Zhouyang, at this moment, had already summoned the [Haoyang Treasure Mirror] obtained from the Land of the Far West Cultivation Realm.

Seeing the crimson light beam striking, he immediately formed a spell gesture and pointed at the purple-red copper mirror in midair, from which a thick purple-red flame also burst forth, condensing into a purple flame beam, intercepting the crimson light beam head-on.

The two flame beams collided in midair; the crimson beam quickly gained the upper hand, pushing back the purple flame beam until it finally shattered it completely.

However, after being blocked by the purple flame beam, most of the power of the crimson beam was exhausted, and it was immediately scattered by an earth-yellow Great Seal that followed.

"Another two Tier Six Middle Grade Spiritual Artifacts!"

Zhao Yuanpu's expression changed slightly, looking at the copper mirror and the Great Seal in the air with his face full of surprise and a trace of envy and jealousy in his eyes.

He, a dignified Late-Stage Nascent Soul Cultivator, and the leader of a top Major Sect, besides his Lifebound Spiritual Artifact, only had one Tier Six Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact and two Tier Six Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts to rely on, among which the Tier Six Middle Grade Artifact [Golden Crow Divine Fire Order] was a Sect Inheritance Artifact, not his personal possession.

Now, Zhouyang, having only formed his Nascent Soul less than a century ago, as an Early-Stage Nascent Soul Cultivator, had already revealed the quality and quantity of artifacts to crush him, how could he not feel envious and jealous?

One must know that he had been cultivating for over 2,500 years, and formed his Nascent Soul more than 1,800 years ago!

His mind stirred for a moment, and he couldn't help but say sourly, "Fellow Daoist Zhou's number of artifacts and their quality are indeed enviable. However, no matter how good the artifacts are, it depends on whether the user's cultivation can fully utilize their power. Fellow Daoist Zhou's cultivation is still somewhat lacking!"

After saying so, he seemed to realize that his words lacked grace, and he smiled self-deprecatingly, "Hehe, it seems my mental cultivation isn't as strong as I thought, as I couldn't help but feel greedy seeing Fellow Daoist Zhou's many treasures."

Being able to say such words openly, Zhouyang had a slight favorable impression of him, nodding and saying, "Fellow Daoist Zhao is right, Zhou's cultivation is indeed lacking, making these treasures gather dust."

"Enough talk, time is short, Fellow Daoist Zhou, please take the next move!"

Zhao Yuanpu suddenly stopped talking, shaking the crimson banner in his hand. Immediately, dazzling firelight spurted from the banner face, transforming into enormous crimson fireballs, barraging Zhouyang one after another.

Subsequently, the [Golden Crow Divine Fire Order], which had previously breached Zhouyang's defenses twice, transformed into a three-legged fire crow under his command, charging toward Zhouyang again.

At the same time, he pinched a sword gesture with both hands, an azure flying sword turned into a brilliant sword rainbow under the drive of his sword gesture, encircling Zhouyang, sealing off his escape route.

Yet he wasn't finished, he opened his mouth and spat out a large mass of silver-purple [Three Flavors Divine Flame], transforming into a gigantic fire phoenix with a wingspan over ten meters, fiercely diving toward Zhouyang.

Moreover, when Zhouyang's expression changed, busily dealing with these attacks, Zhao Yuanpu was already casting another powerful spell, mantra on his lips.

"Stop for me!"

Zhouyang shouted loudly, a talisman treasure flew out from his hand, transforming into a golden seal, firstly stopping the azure sword rainbow.

Then, he pinched a gesture with one hand, driving the [Thick Earth Heaven-Sealing Seal] to suppress the three-legged fire crow.

Finally, he himself moved, directly diving into his Lifebound Spiritual Artifact [Qianyang Golden Tower], using this artifact's robust form to withstand the barrage of fireballs and the [Three Flavors Divine Flame].

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The tank-sized crimson fireballs bombarded the golden treasure tower, shaking it continuously; the several-meter-tall golden tower wobbled incessantly in midair like a small boat in the oscillating waves.

However, Zhao Yuanpu sharply noticed that the power of the fireball explosions was inexplicably weakened by twenty percent upon contact with the tower's body.

It was not just the fireball explosion power that was weakened; even when the fire phoenix transformed by the [Three Flavors Divine Flame] assailed the golden treasure tower, confronting the blazing flames, the golden tower showcased an extraordinarily strong fire-resistant attribute, contrary to Zhao Yuanpu's expectations.

"Hmph, let's see how long you can hold out like a turtle!"

He let out a cold snort, formed a seal with one hand, and pushed forward, directly unleashing the spell he had prepared.

Only to see a massive fire cloud quickly forming above him. Then, under his spell gesture drive, the fiery clouds rolled, soon autonomously splitting into three clusters, wriggling into three house-sized fireballs, shooting toward Zhouyang.

It was clear that after casting this spell, Zhao Yuanpu's complexion slightly paled, his chest heaving intensely, evidently, this powerful spell consumed a lot, even for him, making it hard to continually cast it.

But in Zhao Yuanpu's view, this price was worth it. He didn't believe that Zhouyang could withstand the assault of his lifebound spiritual artifact and also resist the strike of this Tier Six Middle-grade Spell "Celestial Fire Meteor Burst" with just a Tier Six Lower-grade Magical Treasure Tower.

Three colossal fireballs, the size of houses, streaked across the sky, like real meteors with long fiery tails, bombarding in succession, daunting all who dared to look upon them.

Master Cyan Yang, watching the battle from outside the battlefield, clenched his fists, his face full of tension and worry as he looked towards Zhouyang.

In this magical combat, Zhao Yuanpu had demonstrated strength far beyond what Master Cyan Yang could handle. Now, he could only hope that Zhouyang would create another miracle and endure the remaining less than a quarter of an hour.

Boom!

Earth-shaking explosions resounded in the skies. In that moment, all living beings within thousands of miles heard the thunder from above the Nine Heavens and saw the explosion that was brighter than the sun in the sky.

Countless Demon Beasts and Barbaric Beasts suddenly ran amok, fleeing in panic in the direction away from the rising flames, forming dozens of small-scale beast tides.

This was a problem for those cultivators adventuring in the Wilderness Jungle. They knew that the explosion was caused by Nascent Soul Stage Great Powers engaged in magical combat within the "Nine Heavens Forbidden Realm," and determined that it would not impact them based on the distance, so they were not too panicked.

However, the frenzied escape of the Demon Beasts and Barbaric Beasts, and the resulting small-scale beast tides, directly placed them in mortal danger, and those with bad luck were crushed to bits on the spot!

But like elephants fighting, they certainly wouldn't care how ants thought. Zhao Yuanpu and Zhouyang also didn't care whether their battle would affect other cultivators.

Moreover, Zhouyang's current situation didn't allow him to think about these things.

At that moment, under the bombardment of the three colossal fireballs, he, who was hiding inside the "Qianyang Golden Tower," was forcefully blasted out from inside the tower.

It wasn't that the "Qianyang Golden Tower" was destroyed in the explosion; rather, the magical artifact suffered damage beyond its endurance limit, causing its spirituality to be harmed, reverting to its original form inside him, and it could not be summoned again for a short period.

As a result, he also suffered severe backlash injuries, sustaining significant internal injuries.

Fortunately, when he emerged from the tower, the explosion had already passed, and the damage he suffered was just from the flame impacts formed by the explosion's aftermath.

Amidst the waves of flames, he let out a loud shout and immediately utilized the "Cyan Dragon Transformation" divine technique to transform into a half-dragon, half-human form.

Almost as he completed his transformation, the fireball released from Zhao Yuanpu's lifebound spiritual artifact "Six Yang Divine Fire Banner" once again attacked, enveloping him within.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Amidst the continuous explosion roars, Zhouyang's tall and robust figure forcibly tore through the sea of flames and appeared outside.

The cyan and gold dragon scales on his body were slightly damaged in the previous explosion, and there were several charred wounds on his body, but his battle intent was stronger than ever.

"I, Zhou, have a move for Fellow Daoist Zhao to appreciate!" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Zhouyang opened his mouth wide, revealing sharp dragon teeth, cast a sneering smile at the astonished Zhao Yuanpu, and then quickly formed seals with his hands to perform some kind of secret technique.

In an instant, a dragon's roar shot up into the sky, and intense cyan-gold spiritual light surged from his body, swiftly forming a cyan-gold dragon head giant blade, hovering between illusion and reality, above his head.

"Cyan... Dragon... Rift... Strike!"

Whether it was excitement or pain, the discontinuous words tumbled out from Zhouyang's mouth, his face with dragon scales opened and closed, dragon-like vertical pupils wide as ever, in an extremely strained manner, sealing with his hands towards Zhao Yuanpu.

In an instant, as if a string had snapped, the cyan-gold dragon head giant blade hovering above Zhouyang's head, suddenly emitted an inspiring dragon roar and abruptly vanished from the spot.

The next moment, the cyan-gold dragon head giant blade appeared directly in front of Zhao Yuanpu, whose face had drastically changed, and slashed straight at him!

"Rip!"

Accompanied by a tearing sound, the full-faced, shocked and furious Zhao Yuanpu's figure suddenly appeared dozens of feet away.

"Senior Brother Zhao!"

"Grand Elder!"

Outside the battlefield, Nascent Soul cultivators Wei Qi and Master Deng from the Divine Fire Palace both exclaimed in shock with drastically changed expressions.

Where their gazes were fixed, it was the same place—where Zhao Yuanpu's severed right arm, bleeding profusely, was located.

ps: No updates tonight midnight, will update tomorrow