The Arrogant Immortal
Chapter 327 - 326: Is This a Normal Fight?

Chapter 327: Chapter 326: Is This a Normal Fight?

The two individuals on the platform confronted each other, neither taking the next step.

Is this a normal fight?

No!

Lin Ba knew very well that his sword could neither kill Xie Jiuniang nor even break her defense; the Thunder Explosive Bead had been provided by the forces behind him.

Even a Nascent Soul would be blasted to bits by it.

Yet, she remained unscathed!

Lin Ba was shocked,

Still maintaining a deadpan expression.

His tactic of killing by surprise had failed, and it was obvious that his opponent had been on guard against him, intending to deal him a lethal blow just the same.

Harboring the same intent, Lin Ba subconsciously pulled out another Thunder Explosive Bead upon seeing the ferocity and murderous intent in Xie Jiuniang’s eyes.

Xie Jiuniang smirked sinisterly and promptly took out two beads, one in each hand—even though her hands were small and could not hold as many beads as her adversary could in one hand.

But with both hands, it was a different story!

The power was definitely not inferior to Lin Ba’s.

"Everyone thinks these things are so rare—as if I don’t have a bunch of them tucked away in the corner of my Storage Ring!"

Xie Jiuniang truly wasn’t lacking.

Another mutual explosion!

Boom!

The noise this time was even louder!

The entire platform was blown away by half, and the Protective Array was on the brink of collapse, which also had to be acknowledged, that the Protective Array of platform one was indeed formidable.

It swayed precariously but ultimately did not break!

This time, Xie Jiuniang was slightly slower to take cover in the Small Tortoise Shell.

She felt a minor impact.

"Dog owner, one of your Protective Magical Instruments has been damaged," Jian Lingyan warned her promptly.

Xie Jiuniang discarded the broken artifact, "No matter, I have plenty of those."

Protective Magical Instruments for those above the Nascent Soul were rare, but she had a bunch of such Protective Magical Instruments suitable for the Golden Core Stage on her person, all plundered from the Gongsun Family and Ao Family.

Xie Jiuniang cursed, "This Lin-character, never intended to have a proper fight with me."

"You also never planned to fight him properly," Jian Lingyan chimed in with a retort.

Xie Jiuniang felt she couldn’t keep this Broken Sword anymore.

The Little Fatty nearby was blinking his distinct black and white eyes as if curious about what Xie Jiuniang was doing.

"Yi ya?"

"It’s nothing, I’m definitely going to kill that person outside." From the moment she stepped onto the platform, Xie Jiuniang had never intended to let her opponent live; she yanked at the Broken Sword, "You damned thing, do you know what he has on him?"

"A Protective Spiritual Artifact?"

"It must be more than that." Ordinary magical artifacts wouldn’t withstand an explosion of this magnitude.

Xie Jiuniang looked at the Little Fatty beside her again.

This time, Jian Lingyan hadn’t seen what Lin Ba possessed, which made Xie Jiuniang extra cautious.

The explosions outside had subsided.

Xie Jiuniang re-emerged and quickly went into stealth mode.

The array barrier on the platform was unstable, and an Elder from Battle Peak in charge of the platform intervened to secure it, announcing, "Deliberately damaging the Sect’s platform, Lin Ba, Yuanxi, a fine of ten million each."

Xie Jiuniang, who had just been informed of the massive debt on the platform, "..."

In a life or death struggle, who cared about a fine?

Was it even reasonable for the Sect to have such a rule?

Following that, the Battle Peak Elder added, "First pay the fine, then continue fighting; otherwise, if one of you dies, who will compensate for Battle Peak’s losses?"

This is outrageous!

Absolutely preposterous!

Since when did the Sect start issuing fines in the middle of a fight?

Xie Jiuniang and Lin Ba, at this moment, had surprisingly identical thoughts.

The Sect Disciples spectating the battle booed.

One shouted, "Serves you right! In all my time at Battle Peak, I’ve never seen a fight like this one!"

"Exactly! Fight with real skill if you’re going to fight!"

"This is the Challenge Platform, where fights depend on true abilities. What’s the point of watching if you’re both just using external objects to fight?"

"They should be driven out to blow each other up as much as they want."

"..."

Some disciples down below had expected a spectacular fight.

Now they were discontent.

Rational disciples, however, knew this was no ordinary arena, but the Life and Death Platform. Speaking of martial virtue and righteousness matters little here; disregarding it is equally blameless.

Elder of Battle Peak stepped onto the stage.

Xie Jiuniang deftly took out ten Superior Spirit Stones and paid the penalty.

Lin Ba, with a somber face, also paid his fine.

The gazes of the two combatants met across the void, each seeing the murderous intent in the other.

"Both of you, take to the air. I’ll repair the arena. Next time you damage it, you’re both out of Battle Peak," said the Elder of Battle Peak, a strong cultivator of earth attributes. With a bit of effort, he fixed the first arena.

This arena could not be broken by anyone below the Nascent Soul stage.

But these two were no ordinary people.

Once they struck, it was with the intent to kill.

Whether the two took the Elder’s words to heart, no one cared. But Xie Jiuniang was well aware that those words meant little to them.

In a battle to the death, it’s either kill or be killed.

Who would care about what comes after?

The only thought was to eliminate the other.

In an instant, Lin Ba drew his sword with a backhand motion.

Xie Jiuniang raised the Broken Sword horizontally across her chest, with a sword qi that was striking.

"Clang!"

In the blink of an eye, they had exchanged one move, and after that, both swiftly retreated.

Lin Ba took another look at his Heavy Sword.

To his astonishment, there was a nick on the blade. His eyes showed his shock.

His Heavy Sword was a Spiritual Artifact!

Had it been bested as a Spiritual Artifact?!

At this time, Xie Jiuniang’s gaze was composed, holding the Broken Sword with an air of deadly seriousness.

Suddenly, she soared into the air.

The sword qi was fierce, slicing through the air with a shrill whine, aiming straight for the opponent’s vital spot.

Xie Jiuniang’s speed was extremely fast, rapid like a flash of light or a startled swan casting its reflection, too fast for the eye to follow. Lin Ba was no simpleton; his reaction was equally swift, raising his sword again to block the lethal strike.

The sword moves were fierce and dazzling.

Upon the stage, amidst the flashing sword shadows, the sound of clashing weapons did not cease, and their battle was incredibly fierce, each move aimed to kill.

It made the spectators’ hearts race with fear.

For a moment, everyone held their breath simultaneously.

Aside from the two locked in intense battle on the platform, they forgot everything else, their eyes following every movement of the combatants.

With sword lights filling the stage, disciples of lower cultivation couldn’t make out their movements.

If they weren’t fighting, it was one thing, but once they did, it was a matter of life and death.

Xie Jiuniang had never been lax in her training.

Each move and style was fluid as a wandering dragon.

What were simple sword techniques from the Sect, the most basic swordsmanship, were now executed with amazing force, unpredictable in their feints and parries, holding her own against Lin Ba, a Sword Cultivator in the later stages of the Golden Core, with equally imposing momentum.

"Who here is really a Sword Cultivator?" a disciple murmured softly.

"Another disciple said, "Isn’t the Little Profiteer using the Sect’s basic sword techniques, right?"

"You’re not seeing things, that’s what I think too."

"Are the Sect’s basic sword techniques that powerful?"

"No, it’s not the sword techniques that are powerful, but the person wielding the sword!" this disciple felt enlightened.

If Xie Jiuniang knew she’d tell him.

He hadn’t seen the truth, but rather misunderstood.

The powerful one was not just Xie Jiuniang, but also the guidance of Jian Lingyan. Without its immersive guidance, she couldn’t have executed such powerful swordsmanship, nearly pushing Lin Ba to the brink of spitting blood.

Lin Ba had never thought there’d come a day when, after centuries of sword cultivation, he would be evenly matched by a Sect Disciple using basic Sect sword techniques?

From an outsider’s perspective, they seemed evenly matched.

In reality, Lin Ba was struggling to cope.

This made his centuries of effort seem like a joke!