A chosen day is not as good as a random day; after successfully arranging the duel, Zhu Guizhi and Ning Zhuo quietly left the cave mansion and headed to a martial arts hall.
A battle at the Golden Core Level is beyond what the martial arts array in the Bluestone Cave Mansion can handle.
If things break, Ning Zhuo would have to pay for repairs out of pocket.
This is a secret battle; no one else is watching.
Zhu Guizhi and Ning Zhuo entered the arena and stood still, facing each other.
Ning Zhuo extended his hand, saying, "Mrs. Zhu, you’re the elder. Please start first."
Since it was a performance, they would play out the whole act. Ning Zhuo displayed his genius arrogance and disdain for Golden Core Cultivators.
Zhu Guizhi took a deep breath, furious. She immediately formed a spiritual technique with her hands, gathering green light points like fireflies around her.
"I invite Lord Qingling to wield the virtue of life!"
While praying, the divine artifact, the Green Emperor’s Staff, responded to her divine sense, flying out of her storage bracelet.
Mana was consumed, divine power descended, focused on the divine artifact, transforming into a figure, ethereal yet imposing.
Soon, divine power solidified, forming a divine avatar.
Earth God·Qing Ling Gong!
His body was hunched like a dragon, his face covered with bark-like texture, his beard resembling hanging aerial roots, and he held a natural wooden staff, the divine artifact Green Emperor’s Staff.
Ning Zhuo then patted his storage waist belt, releasing a Golden Core Puppet. It wore an ice helmet, Hexagonal Mysterious Ice Armor, and had an Ice Chi Beast Head on its shoulders. It was Snow Core Control·Xie.
The Earth God Avatar placed the Green Emperor’s Staff on the ground.
Rumble...
The floor tiles of the martial arts arena shook and cracked. Numerous thick roots broke through the ground, intertwining and growing like living creatures, forming a forest of roots.
This was meant to control the battlefield.
Ning Zhuo’s eyes flickered. On the surface, his fingers moved frequently, pulling the Void Spider Silk, but in reality, he was only conveying divine sense, notifying Snow Core Control·Xie to fight independently.
Snow Core Control·Xie raised both hands, releasing an extremely cold stream of ice from all over her body.
The cold stream froze the forest of roots, causing the air temperature to drop sharply and forming little ice crystals.
"This cold air is quite unusual." Facing it directly, Zhu Guizhi felt a slight chill in her heart.
The Earth God Avatar had Golden Core Level combat power, and Snow Core Control·Xie was the same. The difference might be that the latter’s core used Nascent Soul Level treasure, giving her a slight Nascent Soul Level foundation.
The Earth God Avatar immediately changed tactics, waving the Green Emperor’s Staff, causing countless emerald leaves to appear out of thin air, whirling and flying with sharp swishing sounds, like thousands of flying knives shooting at Snow Core Control·Xie.
Snow Core Control·Xie released six Cold Steel Mechanism Balls. The Mechanism Balls revolved around her, turning into a miniature icy tornado, perfect for both attack and defense.
The leaves, full of life force, flew into the icy tornado, getting instantly frozen and losing spirit light, then being ground into powder.
The two sides kept attacking and defending, constantly switching roles.
The Earth God·Qing Ling Gong frequently used Divine Arts, while Snow Core Control·Xie employed Frost Spells, their duel deadlocked.
The Earth God·Qing Ling Gong, finding it hard to create an opening, personally wielded the Green Emperor’s Staff to engage in close combat.
Snow Core Control·Xie fell into a disadvantage, continually struggling to change the negative trend, but with little success.
Zhu Guizhi started to doubt, "Why now does Ning Zhuo’s mechanical puppet perform worse in close combat than it did when fighting Gu Qing?"
In the battle against Gu Qing, Ning Zhuo controlled everything throughout. In this match, Ning Zhuo secretly trained the puppet, relying solely on Snow Core Control·Xie’s inherent spiritual nature, which naturally couldn’t compare to Ning Zhuo’s direct control in terms of fluidity and strength.
However, fortunately, spiritual nature itself has growth potential. Under pressure, she recalled the combat situation when controlled by her master, drawing nutrition from imitation and rapidly growing.
After a dozen rounds, the Earth God·Qing Ling Gong firmly held the upper hand.
Zhu Guizhi’s brows slowly furrowed.
She had previously acquired intelligence and understood the battle details between Ning Zhuo and Gu Qing. Observing up to this point, she confirmed: Ning Zhuo was holding back and not giving his all.
This made her feel humiliated again.
Ning Zhuo is merely a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage, still just a mid-stage youngster, yet facing a Golden Core Cultivator, he still doesn’t use his full potential.
Where does this leave her?
How much does he underestimate her!
At once, Zhu Guizhi called out softly, "Lord Qingling, use divine skills to utterly defeat her!"
Earth Gods are generally demigods or little gods. Lord Qingling’s true form is only at the Golden Core Level, but cultivated by Zhu Guizhi, relying on his divine artifact the Green Emperor’s Staff to descend, he could fully exhibit his strength, with even the avatar reaching Golden Core Level.
Within the Zhu Family, Zhu Guizhi is not considered high-ranking but is on the middle level. In terms of identity, she is still at the top level of a certain force, at her level naturally different from Zhu Fenxiang. Not only serving the gods, but to some extent, nurturing the weaker ones.
Therefore, she even has some command authority over the Earth God Avatar.
Unlike Zhu Fenxiang’s relationship with the Earth Guardian True Monarch, Zhu Fenxiang’s mere disagreement would result in disdain and dislike from the Earth Guardian True Monarch.
Divine Skill—Wood Twisting!
The roots, like dragons and pythons, continued to capture.
Snow Core Control·Xie relied on her spiritual nature. After dodging for a moment, she was caught by the roots and wrapped layer upon layer.
Despite resisting with all her might, she couldn’t withstand the divine skills, and the Hexagonal Mysterious Ice Armor shattered one after another.
"If this continues, this battle will be lost."
At the critical moment, Ning Zhuo finally intervened. His fingers moved rapidly, directing Snow Core Control·Xie. On one hand, he utilized the Ice Chi Beast Head to emit an icy blue light, scanning crucial roots, and on the other, his divine sense directly controlled the Cold Steel Machine Gun, releasing a large number of icy breathes for additional attacks.
In the end, Snow Core Control·Xie escaped the predicament, but the Hexagonal Mysterious Ice Armor was mostly shattered, revealing the magic ice tendons formed by the condensation of magic silk threads. She looked quite miserable, battered.