Thunder and Fire Intertwined

Li Muxuan rubbed his arm and retreated to Lu Jin's side. The two exchanged a glance, a mixture of shared misery and schadenfreude. Lu Jin mouthed, "It's senior brother's turn," and Li Muxuan mouthed back, "Serves you right." They both turned to look at the arena.

Liu Jin walked to the center of the field. The night wind blew through the woods, fluttering the hem of his clothes. Moonlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled patterns on him. Zhang Zhiwei stood ten paces away from him, the sleeves of his dark blue Taoist robe slightly rolled up, revealing a pair of calloused hands.

The two stared at each other across the distance, neither speaking first. Zhang Zhiwei's expression shifted from relaxed to serious, while Liu Jin's remained unchanged. Zhang Jingqing stood under the old camphor tree, her left hand unconsciously twirling a strand of her beard.

Zuo Ruotong stood with her hands behind her back, her face calm as usual, but her eyes were brighter than usual. Neither of them spoke, but they each moved half a step forward from where they had been looking at Lu Jin and Li Muxuan earlier.

"Zhang Zhiwei of the Celestial Master's Mansion." Zhang Zhiwei bowed first, his voice deep and resonant, echoing through the forest.

"Liu Jin of the Sanyi Sect".

Zhang Zhiwei took a deep breath, and golden light suddenly erupted. Unlike his casual demeanor when facing Lu Jin and Li Muxuan, this time, his golden light was unreserved from the very beginning.

A layer of solidified, almost tangible golden light enveloped his entire body. Wherever the golden light reached, the fallen leaves on the ground were pushed aside by an invisible force, and the pebbles at his feet trembled with a soft rustling.

At the same time, Liu Jin also underwent changes. He was fully activating his peak Second Stage of Reverse Life, and his skin, under the moonlight, took on a translucent, pale white hue, from his fingertips to the top of his head, from his chest and abdomen to his legs. He resembled a jade sculpture bathed in moonlight. The edges of his Qi transformation shimmered faintly in the night.

Zhang Zhiwei moved first. He took a step forward, leaving a shallow pit in the soil beneath his feet, and his entire body transformed into a golden afterimage. His right fist, wrapped in golden light, struck straight at Liu Jin's chest without any fancy trajectory.

This punch was a full speed faster than the one he used against Li Muxuan. Liu Jin didn't dodge, but took half a step forward to meet the punch, striking out with his right palm. Fist and palm collided.

Golden light and white energy exploded in the air, creating a silent shockwave that rustled the surrounding leaves. Liu Jin remained unmoved, while Zhang Zhiwei took a step back.

Zhang Zhiwei frowned slightly. Without pausing, he pushed off the ground with his left foot, and his second punch followed immediately. This punch was heavier than the first, with golden light solidifying on the surface of his fist, and it slammed into Liu Jin's shoulder with a whooshing sound.

Liu Jin dodged the punch by sidestepping it, and with his right hand, he grabbed Zhang Zhiwei's forearm and pulled him aside. Zhang Zhiwei's punch was deflected by half an inch, but he used the momentum to spin around, and his left hand transformed into a chop to strike Liu Jin's neck.

Liu Jin raised his left arm to block, his hand striking the Qi-transformed skin with a dull thud. Zhang Zhiwei's hand was deflected.

It wasn't a parry, but a recoil. The defense condensed by Liu Jin's peak Reverse Rebirth Second Stage was no longer a simple hardening. His Qi-transformed skin would slightly indent upon receiving force, then instantly rebound, sending all external force back along its original path.

Zhang Zhiwei's attacks grew increasingly rapid, golden light streaking across the night sky. Fists, hand strikes, elbows, knees—each move landed precisely on Liu Jin.

Liu Jin didn't dodge. He punched Zhang Zhiwei in the chest with a dull thud, but Zhang didn't move. He chopped Zhang's shoulder with a palm strike with another dull thud, but Zhang didn't retreat. He then slammed Zhang's knee into his abdomen with a dull thud, before grabbing Zhang's knee with his other hand and lifting it upwards.

Zhang Zhiwei was thrown back three steps, his heels carving two shallow furrows in the mud. He steadied himself, his chest rising and falling slightly, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter, filled with the excitement one feels when facing a worthy opponent.

"Your rebirth," Zhang Zhiwei said, his voice filled with disbelief and undisguised admiration, "is unbreakable."

"Your golden aura is also very thick," Liu Jin said. "I didn't break through it either."

Zhang Zhiwei paused for a moment, then withdrew from his stance and turned to look at Zhang Jingqing under the old camphor tree. Liu Jin also looked at Zuo Ruotong. The two masters' gazes met briefly in the air. Zhang Jingqing nodded slightly, and Zuo Ruotong nodded in return.

"Yes." "Okay."

Zhang Zhiwei turned back and flexed his wrists. He took a deep breath and formed a hand seal in front of him. Thunder Spell. Unlike the solid and heavy Golden Light Spell, the surrounding air instantly became dry and sharp when the Thunder Spell was activated.

Tiny sparks of electricity danced on Zhang Zhiwei's fingertips, producing a fine crackling sound. His hair stood on end slightly, and his Taoist robe fluttered in the wind by an invisible force.

Liu Jin also moved. He didn't form hand seals, nor did he adopt a starting stance. He simply closed his eyes, then opened them. A dark blue flame suddenly ignited between his brows—the Samadhi Divine Fire. The divine fire was the foundation, and the Qi fire was the blade; the two fires burned simultaneously.

A faint blue flame rose from Liu Jin's fists. The flame was neither hot nor loud; it simply burned quietly, making his fists look like two pieces of blue steel just taken out of the furnace.

Zhang Zhiwei made the first move. With the enhancement of lightning magic, his speed was almost twice as fast as before. He transformed into a golden afterimage wrapped in lightning, and with a palm strike, his palm crackling with lightning, he aimed straight for Liu Jin's chest.

The speed of this palm strike was so fast that even Li Muxuan and Lu Jin on the sidelines could only see a blurry trajectory. Liu Jin did not block; he also struck out with his own palm. It wasn't a block, but an attack against an attack. His right palm was wrapped in blue Qi fire, meeting Zhang Zhiwei's thunderous palm strike head-on.

Their palms collided. Lightning and blue flames exploded in the air, creating a blinding white light that rippled outwards. Fallen leaves were instantly swept up, and the bark of the nearest trees crumbled and splintered.

Zhang Zhiwei felt a numbness in his palm, not from the force, but from being burned. The layer of blue flame clung to his golden surface for a moment, and the golden light was burned through to a point no bigger than a pinhead. Although it was only for a moment and a point, it was enough to make his heart skip a beat.

He immediately withdrew his palm and retreated, forcibly interrupting the continuous output of the lightning technique. Liu Jin was also struck by the lightning, the lightning technique flowing from his palm into his arm, causing the Qi transformation state of his entire right arm to shake for a moment. But it was only for a moment.

His regenerative abilities, honed at the peak of the second level of Reverse Rebirth, activated instantly. His Qi-transformed meridians automatically reorganized, and in less than half a breath, his arm returned to normal. He didn't even have to retreat.

Zhang Zhiwei noticed this detail, the arm that had instantly regenerated after being struck by lightning. His pupils contracted slightly, then he smiled. Not a bitter smile, not a sneer, but a pure, heartfelt smile.

The fight grew faster and faster. Zhang Zhiwei no longer engaged in direct combat, but instead used the speed of his lightning magic to move rapidly around Liu Jin. Golden lightning flashed through the forest, striking from the left with a palm strike, then instantly flashing to the right with another palm strike, before launching a surprise attack from behind.

His speed increased so much that Lu Jin and Li Muxuan, who were watching from the sidelines, could no longer see his figure. They could only see a golden lightning bolt flashing around Liu Jin.