Five days later, early in the morning, Zou Feng left the Dragon Gate Boat alone under the pretext of purchasing medicinal herbs himself.
Over the past five days, aside from cultivating his Tribulation-Indestructible Body while sparring with Bian Yixia, he hadn’t practiced any other Evil Skills with much fervor.
He had no choice. The current List of Gods no longer had any Seventh Grade backers to support him, which left Zou Feng feeling deeply insecure.
While he could have taken the initiative to deal with the ever-provocative Mountain and River Association to increase his number of backers, the duel was imminent. It was better not to stir up unnecessary trouble.
’An opportunity for an Immortal Treasure... if I get my hands on it, I might find Immortal Pills, Exotic Poisons, or something similar. That could instantly bring my Five Poison Fire Lotus Palm to the Peak of Perfection!’
’Regardless, today is the day it all comes to a head...’
By the time Zou Feng left Yuan Guang County Town, he was fully disguised in his familiar porter’s attire.
Wang Xingjian and Chen Jingsheng had already arrived, waiting in the shade of some trees beside the main road outside of town.
Both men were, of course, in disguise.
Chen Jingsheng was dressed as a farmer, while Wang Xingjian looked like a down-and-out scholar.
The three did not travel together. After exchanging a look, they acted like strangers and each found a spot to rest.
Zou Feng had only just sat down when Zhu Qiming and his two companions arrived.
The three of them were disguised as traveling merchants. Wei Lingyun had even gone so far as to carry two crates of goods on a shoulder pole.
Naturally, the duel would not be held right here.
Despite being bound by the Heart Demon Poison Oath, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Both sides worried the other would try to pull a fast one and set up an ambush in advance.
Therefore, the location of the duel had not been decided beforehand.
Instead, the six of them would first set out and travel together aimlessly.
The duel would only officially begin when both parties mutually agreed to stop and fight.
Even their direction of travel was chosen randomly, determined either by the way a fallen leaf was pointing or the direction an insect on the path was facing.
In short, it was a constant, random back-and-forth. Both sides were practically shadowboxing, going to extreme lengths along the way to prevent the other from playing any tricks.
This charade continued until Noon, when both sides finally came to an agreement and stopped.
They were now located more than twenty li from Yuan Guang County Town, a considerable distance from the main road in a desolate, rarely traveled area.
They stood halfway up a small hill with a wide, open view.
In such an open area, anyone approaching from any direction could be spotted from a great distance.
With the dueling ground decided, it was time to inspect the goods.
Chen Jingsheng was the first to present the metal sphere, and Zhu Qiming promptly took out the one he possessed from within his robes.
Verifying their authenticity was simple. As long as the two metal spheres were brought close together, they would attract each other like magnets.
Although Chen Jingsheng and Zhu Qiming had agreed to the duels, the actual order of the combatants was still to be decided randomly.
And so, after another round of convoluted, random selection, the first match was determined: Wang Xingjian versus Wei Lingyun.
"Excellent! Hall Master, my friend, just wait. Allow me to draw first blood!"
Wang Xingjian stepped forward, brimming with confidence.
He had made extensive preparations to obtain the Immortal Treasure.
Wang Xingjian knew everything about the Cultivation Skill Wei Lingyun practiced, as well as the method to counter it.
In Zou Feng’s estimation, Wang Xingjian had hardly ever fought seriously since they’d met, politely refusing all offers to spar.
Although Wang Xingjian had participated in the siege on the stronghold of the Ten Directions Sect remnants, his slacking had been blatant. The entire time, he had merely provided support from the sidelines by shooting poison darts.
But now it seemed Wang Xingjian had been saving up for something big, preparing to unleash all his accumulated power today!
"Come on, Wei!"
After stepping forward, Wang Xingjian curled his lips into a sneer and made a taunting gesture at Wei Lingyun with his hand.
’Seeing Wang Xingjian this confident, Zou Feng began to think that this match might be a sure win even if he didn’t interfere.’
But he was not about to get that careless. He had already taken out his waterskin and was pretending to take a drink off to the side.
In reality, however, the waterskin was filled with Spirit Wine.
’If I cultivate other Skills during the duel, it would be too conspicuous and they’d immediately suspect me of foul play.’
’But if I’m just drinking, I can covertly cultivate my Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step without arousing suspicion.’
’Just imagine it: right when the fight is at its most intense, Wei Lingyun suddenly feels dizzy. He’s bound to reveal an opening.’
’Wang Xingjian surely wouldn’t fail to seize such a golden opportunity.’
’And after Wei Lingyun’s defeat, he wouldn’t have any lingering adverse effects, so the other two wouldn’t be able to find anything wrong. They’d most likely just assume that he had been training too intensely, causing a pre-existing vulnerability to flare up at an incredibly "unlucky" moment.’
’Chen Jingsheng’s earlier intelligence had been very detailed; Zhu Qiming and his men all practiced Evil Skills that came with significant hidden dangers.’
In response to Wang Xingjian’s taunt, however, Wei Lingyun simply held up a hand to signal for a moment’s pause. He then turned and opened one of the crates he’d been carrying on his shoulder pole.
He was disguised as a traveling merchant, after all, so it was perfectly normal for the crates to contain goods.
But what Zou Feng’s group had not expected was for Wei Lingyun to pull out what appeared to be a dead White Fox!
But the White Fox was clearly only feigning death. Wei Lingyun then took out some kind of Elixir and held it under the fox’s nose.
After just a few breaths, the White Fox stirred and woke up.
’No wonder we couldn’t sense any living creature in the crate. They put the White Fox into a state of suspended animation.’
’But the duel is about to start. What’s he doing, waking this White Fox up now?’
The next moment, seeing Wang Xingjian standing there, utterly shocked and frozen to the spot, Wei Lingyun gave a vicious smile. He grabbed the White Fox by the neck and lifted it into the air.
He squeezed slightly, and the White Fox immediately began to struggle in agony, its four paws flailing uselessly.
The sight didn’t seem to faze Zou Feng or Chen Jingsheng, but Wang Xingjian’s eyes went wide with rage, turning bloodshot.
Chen Jingsheng hurriedly snapped, "What do you think you’re doing!?"
Wei Lingyun replied brazenly, "This is my weapon. Is there a problem? The Heart Demon Poison Oath we swore didn’t say we couldn’t use weapons in the duel, did it?"
At these words, Chen Jingsheng was left speechless.
When they had sworn the Heart Demon Poison Oath, it had been impossible to account for every single contingency.
’Besides, he hadn’t expected Wang Xingjian to have such an extreme reaction. The man was constantly swapping out his Pet Beasts. Was this really necessary?!’
Zou Feng, however, wasn’t too surprised. In his past life, he had seen plenty of extreme pet lovers. Their thought processes simply couldn’t be measured by common sense.
’He just hadn’t realized Wang Xingjian’s obsession ran this deep...’
"Calm down! That’s not your fox!"
Chen Jingsheng quickly realized what was happening—the other party had simply found a similar-looking White Fox.
But it was too late. Wang Xingjian was beyond reason. Wei Lingyun squeezed harder, and the White Fox began to cough up blood.
"Stop! AAAAAHHH!!"
Wang Xingjian roared furiously and charged.
Zou Feng, meanwhile, hastily began cultivating his Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step, hoping it might buy enough time for Wang Xingjian to come to his senses.