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"Fairy of the mortal realm! Jiang Yuebai stands here! Evil shall not prevail! Victory belongs to Jiang Yuebai!"
"I'll carry the banner for Jiang Yuebai! Who dares to oppose her?"
"Beauty that topples kingdoms and cities, Jiang Yuebai! Unparalleled elegance, Jiang Yuebai! The love of my life, Jiang Yuebai!"
"Wifey!"
"……"
If there were ten thousand spectators watching the match, probably nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine of them were rooting for Jiang Yuebai, so the cheers and shouts of encouragement were overwhelmingly one-sided. Banners emblazoned with the character "Jiang" waved across the hills, and the fervent atmosphere seemed to boil over.
Chu Liang had previously defeated Xu Ziyang, regaining some favorable opinion, but goodwill takes time to consolidate into followers. Plus, Jiang Yuebai's popularity both within and outside Shu Mountain was so high that even those with a favorable view of Chu Liang remained neutral at best when faced with her as the opponent.
This resulted in Chu Liang having almost no supporters of his own.
Even the members of the Silver Sword Peak's small team were standing at the sidelines, deep in thought.
"Should I support Chu Liang or Sister Jiang? It's a tough choice," Lin Bei said, stroking his chin.
"What's so hard to choose?" a lackey whispered, "Brothers are like limbs, women are like clothes… You can go out without an arm, but can you go out without clothes?"
"Hmm…" Lin Bei found the argument convincing.
Shang Ziliang declared resolutely, "Big Brother saved my life; he's like a second father to me. How could I not lend him my support at a time like this?"
With that, he took out a small flag with the character "Chu" from his sleeve and waved it gently.
Lin Bei, looking at the large "Jiang" banner behind this fellow, fell into silence.
Even Chu Liang's own team was like this, let alone the bystanders. Compared to Jiang Yuebai's terrifying popularity, anyone would be crushed to dust.
But Chu Liang was not panicked at all.
Even though it felt like he was competing on the opponent's home ground, he was not the least bit nervous inside.
He and Sister Jiang were so familiar with each other, what's yours is mine, right? Her supporters are essentially the same as mine, aren't they?
Thinking this way, the cheering around him suddenly felt much warmer.
Seeing Jiang Yuebai flying towards him, he was as surprised as the onlookers. In her previous matches, she had not shown any prowess in physical cultivation.
Her physical strength was not even on par with Ling Ao.
What did this mean?
Chu Liang certainly didn't think Sister Jiang would intentionally go easy on him. Instead, he immediately became wary of her mystical abilities and paid close attention to his surroundings.
Sure enough, he detected a faint ripple of Qi spreading out—she was casting a spell!
The next second, Jiang Yuebai's sword light stabbed towards him.
A sword light of several feet surged forth, and Chu Liang didn't bother to dodge; he charged forward to meet it! With a flash of his Returning Flow movement technique, he dodged Jiang Yuebai's sword light and swung his Dustless Sword!
Swoosh—
The sword qi cut through the air, and just as it was about to strike Jiang Yuebai, her figure suddenly flickered and vanished from in front of Chu Liang.
Huh?
Chu Liang paused, only to see Sister Jiang reappear at the other end of the arena, charging at him with the same posture as before!
What was going on?
He twisted his body and met her attack again. This time, just as his sword qi was about to touch Jiang Yuebai, her figure disappeared once more.
And she reappeared from the other side of the stage, flying towards him again!
Something was off!
A warning bell rang in Chu Liang's mind; he was definitely caught in some kind of mystical trap!
But nothing seemed amiss… Wait!
His divine consciousness had already spread out, slightly extending beyond the arena. A spectator below had repeated the same slogan three times. Looking further back, all the slogans shouted by the crowd were repeated!
Jiang Yuebai charged at him again, and as Chu Liang swung his sword, she vanished once more.
An illusion!
The thought flashed through Chu Liang's mind. Only an illusion could create such a scene, and it was no ordinary illusion.
This was an attack he had never encountered before.
What to do?
His mind raced. Without understanding the intricacies of illusions, there was usually only one way to forcibly break free.
That was to use the most powerful mystical ability available, as long as the strength of the attack exceeded the illusion's capacity, the illusion would naturally dissipate.
Chu Liang immediately conjured his Dustless Sword, executing the Heavenly Sword Art!
Under the circumstances of a not-so-complicated combination of mystical abilities, this was indeed his strongest attack.
It was also the strongest mystical ability he had self-taught from the Protector's Hall. Anything above the Heavenly Sword Art was an immortal technique, which was unlikely to be self-taught to completion.
Boom—
A massive sword light shot towards the sky, and indeed, ripples appeared in the void.
Chu Liang immediately pushed his Qi to the limit, pouring it all into the Heavenly Sword Art!
Boom—
With another surge of power, the sword light fiercely broke through the void, and all the surrounding light and shadows instantly vanished! The same scene reappeared, with Sister Jiang in front of him and the vast plaza around him.
As if nothing had changed, yet everything had.
Jiang Yuebai's Thousand Sword Art was shooting countless sword lights towards him!
Within the illusion, a brief moment was less than a single breath in reality. Chu Liang's reaction was incredibly fast, and Jiang Yuebai's attack hadn't reached him yet!
There was still time to save himself.
As the sword lights were about to land on him, Chu Liang instantly used the Inch-Shrinking Technique, retreating thirty feet in a flash.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—
The sword lights missed their target.
That was the charm of the Inch-Shrinking Technique, instant and without distance; as long as the attack hadn't hit, it was unlikely to land.
Seeing Chu Liang dodge, Jiang Yuebai wasn't disappointed but instead smiled slightly.
"Bright Light Reflecting Shadows?"
On the viewing platform, Master Sun was slightly surprised, "There are not many illusion masters on Shu Mountain, and I wonder where she learned this technique. It seems she's not very skilled at it yet; otherwise, an opponent of lower realm would have no chance of escaping."
The immortal technique, Bright Light Reflecting Shadows.
It's a rare illusion among immortal techniques, capable of recording a scene that has occurred before and then constructing an illusion based on that moment. Compared to pure illusions, Bright Light Reflecting Shadows is extremely realistic, as if building a world within a mirror.
If you suddenly find yourself in a bizarre environment during a fight, even a fool would know it's an illusion. But if the scene before your eyes doesn't change, it's hard to discern without paying close attention.
If Chu Liang's reaction hadn't been so sharp, he might have been confused for a while, and his true body would have been eliminated.
"Being able to cast Bright Light Reflecting Shadows is indeed powerful, but the fact that Chu Liang could escape so quickly is also a skill," Master Huang said, "Had he been immersed in it for even a moment longer, the outcome would have been decided."
"Eh?" Master Sun looked at him curiously, "Why are you suddenly speaking in favor of Chu Liang? Weren't you always supporting Jiang Yuebai?"
Master Huang hemmed and hawed, then said, "Old Sun, I don't know if you've noticed… but it seems whatever I say tends to happen in reverse? If I keep speaking for Jiang Yuebai, I'm afraid she might actually lose."
Master Sun looked at him deeply and nodded, "I noticed that a hundred years ago."
"Ah?"
As they conversed, the tide turned once again on the battlefield.
After escaping the illusion, Chu Liang felt that dragging out the fight with Sister Jiang, who had many mystical and immortal techniques, was disadvantageous for him.
So, he threw out four Puppet Pills and immediately executed the Bean Soldier Technique!
These four Puppet Pills were auxiliary tools for casting mystical abilities, and beans could be used just as well, but these worked better, hence they didn't count towards the limit of magical artifacts allowed in the arena.
As four puppet figures appeared, Chu Liang unhesitatingly activated the Great Five Elements Heavenly Net Formation!
Unlike his surprising moves against Xu Ziyang, Chu Liang had almost exhausted his tricks, and there were no more surprises. On the other hand, it was always uncertain how many more techniques Jiang Yuebai had hidden.
Boom—
But no matter how many mystical abilities she had, she would definitely find it difficult to face absolute power. Chu Liang deployed the formation and pushed forward, and the powerful chaos vortex was about to engulf Jiang Yuebai!
At this critical moment, Jiang Yuebai raised her right hand slightly.
Her flying sword soared into the air, unleashing a terrifying force.
Heavenly Sword Art?
The sword qi felt familiar to Chu Liang.
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
No.
It was the Sky-Piercing Sword!