The lake water had turned into rain, continuously falling from the sky. Currently, the lakebed was nothing more than damp soil.
It was rich and fertile sediment at the bottom of the lake.
Yun Jianyue had been sent crashing into the lakebed by the impact, leaving behind two long trenches before he stepped on the bottom of the lake. But it was only for a moment. His feet left the ground, and his toes hung suspended above the mud. The previously mud-coated cloth shoes had even more mud dropping from their surfaces, falling into the lakebed.
Chen Chao quickly crashed into Yun Jianyue's body. Yun Jianyue made no attempt to evade or dodge. After the collision, his body swayed and was sent flying several yards away, looking like a falling leaf in the wind.
However, all of the energy was dissipated by Yun Jianyue, and he did not appear to be in a particularly wretched state.
Chen Chao's feet sank deep into the mud, and he locked eyes with Yun Jianyue.
Looking at Yun Jianyue floating above the mud, Chen Chao said, "Do you know what our biggest difference is?"
Yun Jianyue looked down at his floating body and said with a frown, "Are you saying..."
"You're different from those cultivators who choose to wander the world, but in reality, you're not too fundamentally different from them. You keep floating, never coming down."
Chen Chao spat out a turbid breath and finally spoke his mind, "You immortal cultivators are talented, but if you were thrown into a mountain infested with demons, with similar cultivations realms, you definitely wouldn't survive."
Yun Jianyue seemed to ponder this and asked, "Is it because I'm floating in the air?"
As he said this, he descended from midair, landing on the mud but not sinking into it.
He was like a feather, resting on top of it without getting sinking in, but he still landed on the mud.
Chen Chao shook his head.
Yun Jianyue understood this logic and started floating again. He said, "Cultivators and ordinary people are inherently different. Why should they be the same?"
Chen Chao smiled and replied, "It's like a chicken trying to communicate with a duck; there's no result."
Yun Jianyue also smiled, and his fingertips began to emit brilliant radiance once again.
The battle had not ended yet, he naturally still had to fight.
Chen Chao gripped his broken saber tightly. This time, he did not rush forward again, but carefully observed Yun Jianyue who was not far away. A bright, clear saber light suddenly appeared between heaven and earth!
With the appearance of the saber light, a massive saber beam slowly materialized between heaven and earth. The saber qi on the broken saber skyrocketed dozens of times in an instant. From a distance, it looked as though Chen Chao was wielding a giant saber that stretched hundreds of feet long, and he swung it down violently.
The dry lakebed was instantly split apart, with countless mud and soil pushed to both sides as a deep trench formed in the middle.
Facing the oncoming saber beam, even if he was previously at a disadvantage, Yun Jianyue only stared at that saber beam at this moment, showing no intention of evading.
He had thought about it before, since they were not in the same cultivation realm, not winning would be defeat. But in reality, if he still needed to dodge when facing Chen Chao who was at a lower cultivation realm, that would be a great humiliation too.
Yun Jianyue did not care about the concept of disgrace, but he also did not want to use too many tricks in their fight. Even if he won, there would be little to boast about.
With a wave of his sleeve, thunder rumbled in the sky, and rolling thunderclouds appeared.
The techniques possessed by daoist cultivators that could rival the killing power of sword cultivators were troublesome to many cultivators. They often found it challenging to deal with, and in some cases, even more troublesome than the flying swords used by sword cultivators.
Yun Jianyue's thoughts stirred slightly as he lightly exhaled a word, and a thick purple thunderbolt, as thick as several people hugging together, descended from the sky.
This purple thunderbolt came down with a fearsome momentum, akin to divine punishment. As it fell, it even distorted the surrounding space.
Chen Chao tilted his head and calmly watched the purple thunderbolt descending from the sky. His expression remained composed.
In reality, the biggest difference between cultivators and martial artists was not just the inability to use magic spells. Going deeper, it was that cultivators could, to some extent, utilize the power of heaven and earth. In contrast, martial artists had to rely solely on themselves, with the qi within their bodies being their only reliance. Once their qi was exhausted, they could only await death.
When cultivators used the power of heaven and earth, it consumed less of their qi.
However, Chen Chao did not care about this distinction. Since he chose to be a martial artist, no matter how challenging it might be, he was determined to persevere on.
The purple thunderbolt landed, colliding with the saber beam. Without any surprises, it shattered the massive saber beam. Chen Chao raised his head and grinned, staring at the purple lighting in the sky rather provocatively.
Since fighting with the foreign cultivators, Chen Chao had fought the most number of times with cultivators of Daoism. Starting with He Yi at the imperial banquet, then Song Changxi at the martial examination, and now Yun Jianyue, they were all daoist cultivators. Furthermore, each one was stronger than the last, and each was more difficult to deal with than the last.
Yun Jianyue was aware of Chen Chao's thoughts and did not hesitate either. His thoughts stirred slightly, and a second purple thunderbolt descended abruptly.
The might of the heavens and earth made people feel exceptionally terrified.
Chen Chao dodged the attack of that heavenly lightning, but the lakebed instantly had an extremely huge pit that was smote apart.
Bottomless.
Chen Chao took a step out and the second bolt of purple lightning fell at the same time.
Accompanied by the distant sound of thunder.
The lake water from before was still falling as well.
This was an extremely natural thunderstorm.
However, there was no other purple lightning in the world as intense and terrifying as this one.
Facing this lightning pool, Chen Chao was ultimately struck by one of the purple thunderbolts. His entire body was immediately carried by the heavenly lightning and plummeted into the depths of the lake, sinking into the deep pit and disappearing from sight.
Yun Jianyue remained in silence as he floated in mid-air for a long time. Then, he slowly descended and came to stand quietly at the edge of the deep pit.
Thunder still rumbled in the heavens, but in Yun Jianyue's perspective, it was still incredibly quiet.
Before long, he took a step back.
Right when he took that step back, a saber light just happened to land in that place.
A disheveled Chen Chao suddenly leaped out of the deep pit. At this moment, the young martial artist's black clothes were torn apart, revealing numerous visible wounds on his body. The old and new injuries seemed intertwined, like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree, looking very special and peculiar.
However, this was just in Yun Jianyue's eyes. If it were anyone else, they might not necessarily think so.
"I heard that you served as a warden in Tianqing County for several years. I initially thought you were just wasting time there, but I never expected you really hunted demons seriously for several years."
Yun Jianyue narrowed his eyes and said, "Very impressive."
Chen Chao completely ignored him. He bent his elbow and struck Yun Jianyue's shoulder. At the same time, he swung his broken saber towards Yun Jianyue's head.
Yun Jianyue watched this scene without any panic. Several rays of light emitted from his fingertips once again, instantly transforming them into numerous golden threads. These threads entangled Chen Chao's broken saber. The saber was exceptionally sharp, and its snow-white and bright appearance now seemed even more dazzling with the golden threads wrapped around it.
Chen Chao shook the saber, trying to sever the gold threads that Yun Jianyue casually cast, but it failed to cut through.
Chen Chao had no choice but to retract his extended hand. But the golden threads were tightly wound around the blade. When Chen Chao pulled back, he merely stretched the threads taut.
Finally, the gold threads at Yun Jianyue's fingertips were stretched to their limit. The veins on Chen Chao's arms bulged as the two faced off.
However, the martial artist who usually relied on physical strength to dominate other cultivators did not pull Yun Jianyue over this time. Yun Jianyue seemed rooted to the spot, not budging an inch.
Was this daoist cultivator going to defeat a martial artist in his strongest area?
"It's not about physical advantage or magic spells. Unless my qi is depleted, other than tearing off these golden threads, you have no way of escaping. Unless you abandon your saber."
Yun Jianyue thought for a moment and said, "These golden threads are also connected to me, so you'll likely have to wait until my qi is exhausted before you stand a chance."
Chen Chao was expressionless, staring at Yun Jianyue and finding him rather troublesome too.
In this battle, apart from right at the start, he had been on the losing side. The gap in their cultivation realms and Yun Jianyue's abilities had resulted in this.
"Even if I might lose, I won't admit defeat."
Chen Chao looked at Yun Jianyue and shook his head.
Yun Jianyue asked seriously, "If it's a life-or-death battle, and I told you that as long as you admit defeat now, I'll spare your life. What would you do?"
Chen Chao did not hesitate and replied, "Of course I'd concede defeat."
Yun Jianyue could not suppress his laughter, "So, you still think I won't kill you, that's why you're acting like this."
"If you can't win, you surrender. Then you cultivator for a few more years and come back for another fight. If luck is on your side, and you haven't died yet, go and cultivator for a few more years and come back again. If luck still doesn't favor you, you come back again."
Chen Chao said as a matter-of-fact, "As long as you're alive, there are many possibilities, many things you can do. Only death is the worst outcome."
This had always been how Chen Chao thought. Otherwise, he would not have persevered and survived after the great flood of Wei Prefecture, nor would he have firmly declined the Lord Warden's offer to go to the Northern Border.
Chen Chao took a deep breath and smiled slightly as he said, "Being alive is, of course, the most important thing. But right now, it's not a life-or-death battle. I can try something else."
Yun Jianyue looked at him, somewhat puzzled.
However, at the same time, he noticed that there was some white mist emanating from Chen Chao's mouth and nose.
Seeing this, he felt a little dazed.
Previously, he seemed to have vaguely seen something many times, but he was never too certain. But at this very moment, he saw it clearly.
"You indeed have many secrets."
Yun Jianyue smiled indifferently.
But Chen Chao's expression became rather solemn.
He did have some tricks up his sleeve, but the white mist seeping out of his mouth and nose at this moment was not something he intended to happen.
What made it even more bizarre was that at this moment, in the deep craters formed by the heavenly lightning, there was also white mist seeping out.
The white mist that had originally become very thin, grew thicker. Yun Jianyue clearly felt his cultivation realm being suppressed again.
The golden threads dimmed.
Chen Chao raised an eyebrow. Although he did not understand the current situation, it seemed like a good thing for him.
