Daoist Competition
Chapter 87 - 8: Comprehending the Sublime Truth through the Dispersion of Clouds and Mists (Part 2)

Chapter 87: Chapter 8: Comprehending the Sublime Truth through the Dispersion of Clouds and Mists (Part 2)

Wang Pan suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, realizing that his Flying Sword had somehow lost its connection with him. He was instantly both shocked and enraged, shouting, "Zhang Yan, I know that Master Sun’s lineage specializes in Mist Concealment and snatching Flying Swords. Brother Ning must have also taught you a few spells. But don’t think that just because you’ve learned some minor magic techniques and are hiding in the mist, I can’t deal with you!"

With a loud roar, he extended both hands in a claw-like gesture. The sand and stones within ten zhang were drawn toward him by a surge of Qi Mechanism. Dry branches and small pebbles floated in midair, gathering around him. Having reached the Ming Qi Second Realm, he could effortlessly manipulate objects weighing over a hundred catties within this range—let alone these fragments of stone or broken branches. With a sweeping motion of his large sleeves, these scattered stones and leaves shot out in all directions.

This chaotic destruction continued for half an hour, yet Wang Pan still failed to catch even a glimpse of Zhang Yan’s figure. The dense vegetation in the mountainside compounded by lingering mist made it exceedingly challenging to find a cultivator deliberately hiding.

Wang Pan couldn’t help but feel a bit regretful as he berated himself for boasting earlier, claiming he could capture Zhang Yan in as little as an hour or as much as a day. Now that he had lost his Dharma Treasure and his opponent had vanished without a trace, he began to worry that he might even spend days or nights in vain.

After mulling it over for a bit, Wang Pan thought to himself, "Zhang Yan must have received some kind of Dharma Treasure from Ning Chongxuan. That’s likely how he managed to seize my Flying Sword. However, if he truly had any skills, he would’ve already come down and attacked me. Why hide? Clearly, he fears direct confrontation with me." With this thought, he touched the Purple Copper Short Spear in his hand, hardened his resolve, and said, "It seems I’ll have to sacrifice it today."

He performed a spell gesture and shouted into the void, "Zhang Yan, behold my treasure!"

Just as he anticipated, the appearance of the copper spear elicited a response from his opponent. Wang Pan suddenly felt his heart and spirit sever their connection to the Magic Artifact. However, he had never intended for the spear to defeat Zhang Yan; rather, its purpose was to locate Zhang Yan’s general position. With that done, he roared loudly, "Zhang Yan, you wretched brat, prepare to die!"

Wang Pan opened the Dan Acupoint in his chest. With a single breath, he spat out eighteen fiery streams of flame, glowing as red as scarlet sands and resplendent like clouds at sunset. Instantly, the ground beneath him blackened and scorched, and the grass and trees around him ignited into roaring flames. In the blink of an eye, the area spanning several dozen zhang surrounding Zhang Yan was engulfed.

This cultivation technique Wang Pan practiced was called the "Red Fire Dan Xia Scroll," a fire-based cultivation method his clan had sought out on his behalf. When mastered, this Mysterious Skill could melt iron and refine steel with ease. However, the manuscript Wang Pan possessed was incomplete—it contained the "skill" without the "method," which left him with fiery energy he couldn’t effectively wield.

As a result, Wang Pan sought other avenues and finally managed to apprentice under Du De. However, having only been under Du De’s tutelage for a few months, he was taught just one fire-attack method, the "Fiery Sun Smoke Furnace," which relied on nine streams of blaze to overwhelm the enemy. Wherever it was unleashed, scorched earth would remain in its wake.

Yet, Wang Pan had not yet mastered this technique and required eighteen streams of Spiritual Energy to barely utilize it.

As these eighteen fiery streams dispersed outward, they each spread to occupy a designated location and then sank into the earth. Moments later, an intense heat began to rise from below. Within moments, the trees surrounding Zhang Yan were ablaze.

Wang Pan’s calculations had been meticulous, but he had overlooked one crucial factor: this spell was only effective on flat terrain, as he had yet to truly master it. Meanwhile, Zhang Yan was able to ascend with the mist. Feeling the scorching heat closing in on him, Zhang Yan smiled faintly, tapped his foot lightly, and rose along with the swirling smoke and mist, effortlessly escaping the spell’s range in mere moments.

As he looked down at the raging flames below, watching the fire Qi surge and move unpredictably as if stirred by an array formation, Zhang Yan couldn’t help but marvel. With curiosity about the power of Wang Pan’s fiery technique, Zhang Yan opened his mouth and exhaled a stream of Qian Spirit Clear Qi toward the flames. To his surprise, he heard a distinct "hiss" as this stream of Clear Qi clashed with the fire Qi, both dissipating instantly into nothingness.

Startled, he couldn’t help but pause. Then, shaking his head with a wry smile, he realized that the Clear Qi he painstakingly cultivated had just been wasted for nothing.

As Zhang Yan lamented the loss of his Clear Qi, Wang Pan, on the other hand, was left with a mix of anguish and astonishment.

Those eighteen streams of fire Qi, formed by blending Clear and Turbid elements, were originally intended to reach thirty-six streams for his breakthrough into the Ming Qi Third Realm. To his disbelief, Zhang Yan accidentally dispelled one of the streams. To make matters worse, it would take him two more months of cultivation to replenish what was lost, and even then, the restored fire Qi would lack the refined purity of those laboriously tempered within his chest over time.

Even so, this loss was not the worst of his concerns. The true problem lay in the fact that Zhang Yan seemed capable of completely neutralizing his fire Qi. Wang Pan hesitated, debating whether to continue unleashing his spell or to retract it.

After weighing his options, he gritted his teeth and added another stream of fire Qi to the fray. He refused to believe Zhang Yan could truly extinguish all his fire Qi. Today, he resolved to fight to the end—even if it meant depleting his chest’s fiery reserves. No matter; he’d simply replenish them later. After all, compared to the position of True Disciple, what did this minor loss truly matter?