"If I took your head with a single stroke, Long Juxue, I suspect you wouldn't accept it. So bring out whatever trump cards you have — all of them at once."
Jiang Chen's indifferent voice echoed suddenly from every direction around Long Juxue.
The sound was utterly traceless, as if it came from all sides of the arena at once. There was no way to pinpoint its origin.
Long Juxue's heart sank. Her strikingly beautiful eyes flashed cold, and she raised her sword to guard her vitals, scanning the surroundings with sharp vigilance.
"Jiang Chen, hiding and skulking — what kind of man does that make you?" Her tone dripped with venom, but deep inside, a nameless unease had begun to stir.
Because she had realized that Jiang Chen was nothing like any opponent she had faced before. There was something about him she simply couldn't see through. That last exchange, especially — she truly couldn't fathom how he had escaped from her ice waterfall. Frozen by the Azure Phoenix's frost energy, and yet he had broken free?
Whoosh!
A figure burst out from directly behind Long Juxue.
It was, unmistakably, Jiang Chen.
"Long Juxue, have you got anything else? Don't tell me that you — the so-called Innate Constitution, the prodigy blessed by the fortune of the Purple Sun Sect — have nothing more than these two tricks?" Jiang Chen scoffed, a mocking smile crossing his face.
He knew Long Juxue well. He knew this woman was supremely proud. And the best way to deal with such a woman was to humiliate her, to belittle her — even to ignore her entirely.
If he did that, she would fly into a rage, perhaps even lose her mind.
Once she was consumed by fury, her Dao heart would waver, and then he could crush her without effort.
Sure enough, Long Juxue erupted: "Jiang Chen, you beast! With that silver tongue of yours — today, this young lady will sever your dog's head!"
Jiang Chen smiled coldly. "All talk."
He crossed his arms over his chest, striking a pose that made it utterly clear he did not care about her attacks.
Long Juxue's fury surged beyond containment. The anger inside her had been fully ignited.
"Jiang Chen, dying under my Azure Phoenix frost energy is a blessing you accumulated in a past life! Today, I will show you what an Innate Constitution truly means!"
She clenched her silver teeth, hatred pouring off her in waves.
"Long Juxue, aside from spouting empty words, what do you actually have left?" Jiang Chen sneered, continuing to bait her.
"Jiang Chen, death is staring you in the face and you still won't shut your mouth! If I were you, I'd have found a remote corner where I could hide from me forever. Maybe you could have lived out your life that way. But you just couldn't help yourself — prancing around in front of me, thinking that a few so-called lucky breaks made you untouchable. Remember: I am of the Innate Constitution, a genius blessed by heaven itself. Before me, you will always be an ant!"
With that, Long Juxue spread her arms wide, and behind her, the phantom of an Azure Phoenix materialized abruptly. The phantom spread its wings and split — one becoming six.
Six Azure Phoenix phantoms transformed into six beams of white light and landed at six points around Jiang Chen, instantly surrounding him.
"Jiang Chen — in all the heavens and on all the earth, where do you think you can run?!"
Long Juxue's phoenix eyes flared wide. Her body swayed, and six phantom copies of herself flickered into existence — real and illusory, impossible to distinguish.
Six phantoms and six Azure Phoenix phantoms boxed Jiang Chen in from every side.
Then, in a flash of cold light, the frost on the ground intensified rapidly. The entire surface beneath the arena froze over in an instant, three feet of solid ice rising up.
"Jiang Chen, you seem to know some kind of earth-escape technique? Now that I've frozen the entire arena, let's see you break through my Millennium Ice!"
Her voice was venomous, brimming with killing intent.
As she spoke, the six Azure Phoenix phantoms circled rapidly overhead, spinning ceaselessly and raining down beams of frost. In moments, countless pillars of ice had formed around Jiang Chen, sealing off every possible escape route.
"Jiang Chen — let's see you escape this time!"
Her six phantom copies moved in unison, daggers flashing as they thrust beams of cold light straight at Jiang Chen.
"Parlor tricks!"
Jiang Chen let out a low shout and flicked six streaks of crimson light from his hands. They shot upward toward the six Azure Phoenix phantoms above.
"Moon-Shattering Flying Knife — Flowing Light Form!"
These were no ordinary flying knives. They had been crafted from the tail feathers of the Fire Crow King — a Spirit Beast at the peak of the Spirit Realm. The feathers forged into flying knives carried Jiang Chen's supreme yang energy, granting them incomparable power.
Boom!
The six knives transformed into crimson beams and collided with the six Azure Phoenix phantoms.
Boom!
The six phantoms shattered instantly under Jiang Chen's strike, dissolving into scattered shards of light.
Meanwhile, the ground beneath Jiang Chen's feet began to tremble violently. Suddenly, crimson vines erupted from the earth, one after another.
In a heartbeat, more than a dozen had appeared.
These crimson vines were the Ice Fire Demon Lotus that Jiang Chen had been cultivating, and every last one of them was a fire lotus. The Ice Fire Demon Lotus was an extraordinarily rare treasure, and under Jiang Chen's refinement, it had become something truly fearsome.
More than a dozen fire lotus vines spewed terrifying flames like a pack of raging fire dragons, colliding and devouring. In an instant, every pillar of ice had been melted away.
"Long Juxue — is that all you've got?" Jiang Chen snorted, then pointed a commanding hand. All dozen-plus fire lotus vines lashed toward Long Juxue.
The vines could bend and stretch, soften and harden. Driven by Jiang Chen's will, they became like a dozen sky-binding, earth-seizing ropes, weaving together into an inescapable net that closed around Long Juxue in an instant.
"What the hell is this?!" Long Juxue cried out in horror.
She swung her Azure Phoenix dagger wildly. To her credit, the nine-refined spiritual weapon was formidable — with each sweep, she severed vine after vine. But the growth rate of the fire lotus was nothing short of extraordinary.