It was nearly noon in the center of a nameless desert on Mars. Nothing grew for miles; before them lay only hard, unyielding rock. Yet, this flatness offered one advantage: it spanned tens of thousands of square kilometers, more than enough space for two pinnacle masters to exchange blows. This was the designated arena for the duel between Dao Feng and Longe.

Several spacecraft hovered in the sky. Besides the vessels belonging to the two combatants, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nian Neng Temple had each sent a few ships to observe this exceptionally important confrontation.

Inside one of the ships, Dao Feng looked out the viewport at the barren landscape and the other hovering vessels, including Longe’s. His heart remained utterly calm as he made his final preparations for the duel. Longe was not an opponent to be taken lightly. He had received instruction from the fourth-level master, Kalaguni, and being a native Kustar, he naturally possessed a more comprehensive foundation than the ape-man Hadak. This was an undeniable fact.

However, Dao Feng did not believe Longe surpassed Hadak in raw power. Hadak’s strength stemmed mostly from himself, not from instruction. The crucial difference was that when Dao Feng had faced Hadak previously, six Blade Emperors had attacked simultaneously. This time, however, it was Dao Feng alone, and under the watchful eyes of so many, his transformation into the Blade Emperor was restricted. He would have to rely solely on the true merit of his swordsmanship and sorcery.

In terms of swordsmanship and sorcery, Dao Feng suffered a disadvantage due to his shorter period of cultivation; his mastery was still incomplete. His only edge was his Nian Power, which was deeper, having reached the absolute limit of the third level.

The time approached twelve o’clock when, suddenly, a flash streaked across the sky, and a strikingly beautiful spacecraft appeared directly above the desert. As soon as it materialized, it took a position directly opposite Longe’s Kustar vessel.

“That must be Jia Youna’s ship. I thought she wouldn't be seen near any Kustar presence, yet here she is. Why has she come this time? Is it to signal to the Kustars that the Songari people will back the Terrans? The Songari ship arrived at precisely the right moment; the duel is about to start, leaving the Kustars no time for any maneuvers.”

Seeing that twelve o’clock had struck, Dao Feng opened his hatch and leaped out. His body plummeted rapidly, then halted abruptly ten centimeters above the ground, before settling softly onto the surface.

In the Kustar ship, Longe also jumped down. Mid-air, he glanced toward the Songari craft, snorted disdainfully, and landed heavily. The impact crushed two perfect circles into the ground beneath his feet, sending radiating cracks outward for more than ten meters.

Longe waved his hand and summoned his lightsaber, igniting it with a zila sound. There were no referees for this battle; it would continue until one side was dead or surrendered.

Dao Feng also drew two lightsabers from his waist, igniting them both with a zila, one in each hand, readying himself for combat. With no referee, the fight had officially begun the moment the clock struck twelve, meaning both sides were permitted to strike instantly. The great battle was imminent.

Suddenly, fierce waves of energy erupted from both men. Dao Feng’s aura was laced with the sharp, crackling sound of miniature lightning bolts, while Longe was enveloped in a blazing scarlet nimbus that turned half the sky crimson.

This nimbus was clearly a specialized technique. Yang Ying had never witnessed it before, but he surmised it was likely connected to Kalaguni.

At the very start of the engagement, neither man rushed to attack. Instead, they catalyzed their inner power, treating it like a warm-up to ensure they could exert their full strength when the time came.

Then, with simultaneous motion, they moved. Dao Feng shifted his footing and surged toward Longe, and Longe mirrored the action. Three golden lightsabers collided in the air, releasing a shockwave as potent as a high explosive detonating, scattering outward.

Both men unleashed ten bursts of power within a single second. Dao Feng ultimately gained the upper hand, using his right hand to deflect Longe’s blade while his left swept toward Longe’s throat.

Longe instantly flashed backward, narrowly avoiding the deadly slash, but Dao Feng pressed the attack immediately, showing no hesitation whatsoever.

Longe knew his Nian Power was inferior. He thought grimly, Teacher always said that Nian Power is the root; swordsmanship and sorcery are but branches and leaves. The deeper the root is sunk, the more luxuriant the foliage will be. Dao Feng’s swordsmanship is not superior to mine, but his Nian Power vastly outweighs mine. Who knows how he cultivated it? This single advantage eclipses his lack of refinement in swordsmanship.

After dozens of exchanges, Longe realized he could gain no advantage. Furthermore, Dao Feng’s two lightsabers employed a subtle sword technique he had never encountered; Longe found himself hard-pressed to defend against one of them with his single blade. His perimeter of defense was constantly shrinking. Although he managed to claw back some ground through a few counterattacks, the ground regained was insufficient to cover the losses; each time his defense briefly widened, it was immediately compressed again.

In the direct confrontation of their lightsabers, Dao Feng also gained insights. Although his multiple bodies allowed him to accumulate cultivation experience at an astonishing rate, he lacked the practical combat experience of these pinnacle masters who had clawed their way up from the very bottom.

Yet, practical experience was the most valuable kind for true advancement. It was the same principle as "traveling ten thousand miles is better than reading ten thousand books." Yang Ying’s mind had processed countless techniques from the Nian Neng Temple, accumulating vast reserves of cultivation knowledge. He now needed this real-world testing to verify some of the hypotheses he had formed during his training.

“What Nian Power!”

Suddenly, Longe roared, sending a flare of light from his free left hand toward Dao Feng.

Dao Feng’s right-hand sword flashed out like lightning, shattering the flare. However, this flare was a secret technique; anything composed of energy would be absorbed by the lightsaber.

Longe shouted, “Not bad! Take this!” He spread his left hand, releasing dozens of flares in quick succession. The flares behaved as if they possessed independent life, carving tricky trajectories across the air as they burned toward Dao Feng.

Dao Feng ignored them, his dual lightsabers blurring into two streaks of golden lightning. The speed was so great that his wrists and palms were invisible to the eye, merely a smear caused by the sheer velocity.

Seeing this, Longe instantly spun his single lightsaber into a whirling sphere, establishing a network around his body that nothing could penetrate. Even with the speed of Dao Feng’s twin blades, his single sword could at least hold the line for a while.

Yet, just as the dozens of flares reached Dao Feng, they suddenly burst apart—colliding with his plasma shield.

The plasma shield, though appearing as an invisible layer of no discernible thickness, was incredibly resilient. Neither physical strikes nor energy attacks could harm the man inside unless the shield itself was first shattered.

All the flares were blocked by this thin layer; they found no point of entry, nor was there any conceivable way to breach it.

Stymied, Longe immediately fell onto the defensive. Pitting one lightsaber against Dao Feng’s two in a direct contest of speed was no simple feat. Even Hadak at the peak of the third level would have met a dead end trying such a maneuver.

Dozens of moves flashed by in an instant. Longe felt overwhelmed, his defense rapidly shrinking, yet he couldn't manage a single counterattack. Filled with great fury and alarm, he roared and unleashed his ultimate move. Light flames erupted from every pore on his body, gathering at his left hand, engulfing his entire arm and palm, which he then thrust toward Dao Feng.

The flame detached from his palm, transforming into a bizarre creature, neither snake nor dragon. It had a pointed horn on its head, but its body was long and serpentine. Dao Feng recognized this as some form of Kustar organism, utterly unlike anything on Earth.

Of course, its shape was secondary; the real issue was its power. The flame-formed creature charged the plasma shield like a furious bull. Although the shield stopped it, Dao Feng felt a tremendous force shoving him violently backward. Longe’s left hand remained in a pushing posture, and the flame that had enveloped it seemed to be drawn into the serpentine creature, receding from his shoulder down to his wrist and palm, returning his arm to normal.

Once the last trace of flame vanished from his palm, the creature fully separated from Longe’s arm, becoming a free-moving entity that waved eight seemingly sharp claws as it lunged toward Dao Feng.

Dao Feng had been pushed back more than ten meters by the creature. Seeing the distance between himself and Longe widening, he immediately raised his right-hand sword and brought it down upon the serpentine creature!

The strike effortlessly decapitated it. However, Dao Feng felt a sharp sense of warning and instantly shifted his footing, darting to the side. In that same instant, the creature exploded with ferocious intensity. It was a cataclysmic blast, its range enveloping an area a hundred meters away; the epicenter would certainly be devastating.

Fortunately, Dao Feng had already moved one step in advance, reaching the edge of the blast radius. The shockwave was deflected by the plasma shield, causing no significant strain.

However, Longe charged forward. His dash carried an indomitable momentum, as if capable of shattering everything in his path. His lightsaber pointed directly at Dao Feng in a thrust, as if the entire universe held only that single target.

He had timed his charge perfectly. His speed had reached its apex, and he seemed poised to reach Dao Feng instantly. Longe calculated that Dao Feng would have no time to evade.

But Dao Feng shouted, “Well met!” and immediately charged back. A contest of pure force was the very thing Dao Feng feared least. He crossed his dual blades forward like a pair of shears and slammed into Longe!

Boom!

With a deafening crash, the two collided. Dao Feng had taken only one step to begin his charge, leaving two deep footprints behind him; he had not exerted maximum velocity on this collision. As a result, he was shoved backward, his feet plowing two deep trenches into the ground. Longe was also far from unscathed; he was thrown backward as if he had struck a mountain. His hands tingled with numbness until he circulated his Nian Power to recover. He tumbled five or six times in the air before landing hard.

But the moment Longe touched down, he realized the tables had turned. As soon as Dao Feng stopped his retreat, he instantly shifted his stance and launched a counter-charge, his entire being radiating irresistible momentum, now almost upon Longe. His two lightsabers swept down toward Longe in savage arcs!

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