Chu Feng's senses were extremely sharp, and he immediately detected the change in Kong Zheng. He couldn't help but turn his gaze toward the man.
But that single glance was enough to startle him. He watched in shock as Kong Zheng's palm swept past his Universe Bag, and a semi-finished Ancestral Weapon materialized in his hand — already swinging straight toward Chu Feng.
Whoosh—
Chu Feng sensed danger in an instant and hurriedly unleashed his Thunder Armor and Thunder Wings. The moment his cultivation surged, his body shot backward at incredible speed.
"So you actually dodged it. It seems a Spirit World Master's reflexes really aren't to be underestimated," Kong Zheng said with a grin upon seeing Chu Feng evade the strike.
"Kong Zheng, what do you think you're doing?" Chu Feng asked coldly. As he spoke, he gripped his own semi-finished Ancestral Weapon — the Magma Emperor Sword.
"What am I doing? Isn't it obvious enough? You can't seriously have thought I'd bring you into the Hundred Refinements, can you?"
"To tell you the truth, I deliberately got close to you, and even used a precious treasure my grandfather gave me to mask my emotions — all so I could gain your trust and then strike when your guard was completely down, defeating you and eliminating you as a competitor," Kong Zheng declared.
In that moment, Chu Feng finally understood how someone like Kong Zheng had been able to deceive him. It turned out that to pull off the ruse, Kong Zheng had gone so far as to use a special treasure designed specifically to counter a Spirit World Master's keen observation.
The pity was that Kong Zheng had ultimately been exposed and Chu Feng had caught on beforehand. Otherwise, if he truly had launched his attack when Chu Feng was completely unprepared, Chu Feng might very well have already fallen.
"I didn't expect someone like you to be so scheming," Chu Feng said with a faint smile, though there was unmistakable sarcasm in his words.
After all, without that treasure, Kong Zheng's meager abilities would never have been enough to fool Chu Feng.
"It's just that I didn't expect it to fail in the end. I should have just attacked you from the start — after all, I have every confidence I can beat you," Kong Zheng said. The moment those words left his mouth, lightning crackled fiercely in his eyes.
In the span of a single heartbeat, he unleashed his Thunder Armor and Thunder Wings as well. His cultivation instantly skyrocketed from sixth-stage Half Grandmaster to eighth-stage Half Grandmaster.
And as his power surged, the semi-finished Ancestral Weapon in his hand came slashing toward Chu Feng once more.
Whoosh—
The slash tore through the air, rending even the atmosphere itself, cleaving through the void, and bearing straight down on Chu Feng.
At that moment, a confident smile still hung at the corner of Kong Zheng's lips.
In his view, his cultivation was a full realm above Chu Feng's. They both wielded the same Heavenly-grade bloodline — so no matter how strong Chu Feng might be, he simply could not be a match for him.
This strike, though not his full power, should in his estimation be more than enough to force Chu Feng into using his forbidden martial techniques. Otherwise, with Chu Feng's strength, there was no way he could block this slash.
Whoosh—
However, almost simultaneously with Kong Zheng's attack, the Magma Emperor Sword in Chu Feng's hand swept forward as well.
The long blade pierced through the air, its fiery light dancing like a dragon. A blazing fire slash materialized in its wake, crossing the sky and hurtling directly toward Kong Zheng's incoming strike.
"Hmph. Overestimating yourself," Kong Zheng scoffed silently to himself at the sight.
In his eyes, Chu Feng's actions were nothing short of arrogance personified — an egg trying to smash a rock. Such carelessness could only lead to his own destruction.
Boom—
Yet in the very next instant, the two slashes collided — and the result of this clash was a draw.
"Impossible?" Kong Zheng's face was filled with shock. He could not believe what he was seeing.
"Surprising, isn't it? Hard to believe, right? You're at the sixth-stage Half Grandmaster while I'm only at the first-stage Half Grandmaster, yet we share the same bloodline."
"Under these circumstances, you should be able to kill me by lifting a single finger. So how is it that with the exact same type of attack, you couldn't so much as scratch me?" Chu Feng said, his voice dripping with mockery.
"You've been hiding your real cultivation? Could it be that you're the same as me — a sixth-stage Half Grandmaster?" Kong Zheng demanded.
He had guessed that Chu Feng, as a Royal-cloak Spirit World Master, naturally possessed all manner of abilities he could not see through. Surely he must have been concealing his true cultivation for them to reach a stalemate like this.
Otherwise… he truly could not find any explanation for how Chu Feng had managed to match his strike evenly.