Long Ao Potian's pupils contracted. He inwardly cursed, "Let's see how many of my blows you can block!"
All his spiritual energy converged onto the Phoenix Dance Silver Spear. Holding the Phoenix Dance Silver Spear, Long Ao Potian raised his arm and thrust the spear tip directly at Wu Tao's throat.
Phoenix Dance Ling Qi, wind and clouds surged!
The long spear rose, its tip pointing, utterly fearless.
The silver phoenix danced, soaring into the sky—Phoenix Dances in the Nine Heavens!
"Boom!"
The sound of the silver light exploding, like a high-pitched phoenix cry, echoed around them. Wu Tao's body was instantly engulfed by the silver light!
The explosion of silver light flashed and vanished. The explosive force of the spiritual energy scattered wantonly. Wu Tao's body finally couldn't withstand it, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His tall, sturdy frame was also covered in many grotesque, deep wounds.
"Roar!"
Although Wu Tao was injured, his fighting spirit grew even stronger.
His long hair flew, his blue robe fluttered. Like a ferocious beast, carrying mountain-like power, he charged forward and threw a punch in mid-air.
On the other side, Long Ao Potian, though seemingly unharmed on the surface, had consumed even more spiritual energy internally. It was truly hard to say who would last until the end.
...
"I'll see if your fist is harder, or my Phoenix Dance Silver Spear is harder."
Long Ao Potian shouted, also unwilling to be outdone. With unstoppable dominance, he thrust the Phoenix Dance Silver Spear forward, directly meeting Wu Tao's fist.
Clang!
The spear tip and fist collided, igniting countless sparks, as if it were not a fist made of flesh and blood, but of the hardest metal.
The Phoenix Dance Silver Spear was bent by the powerful force, but it soon straightened again under the augmentation of spiritual energy, showing no signs of damage.
However, the rebound force of the Phoenix Dance Silver Spear also made Long Ao Potian's lips ooze blood.
Seeing this, Wu Tao's eyes lit up, his aura intensified, and he pressed his advantage, launching another punch.
Puff!
This time, with his spiritual energy nearly depleted and a step slower, Long Ao Potian could no longer resist. His face was pale and bloodless, his eyes had lost their former brilliance, and he retreated more than ten steps consecutively.
At this point, the disadvantage of a long spear in close combat became apparent.
Facing Wu Tao's rushing punch, Long Ao Potian's spear was a beat too slow.
And in a duel between masters, being a little slower could decide victory or death.
Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian exchanged dozens more blows. Fists and spear shadows crisscrossed the arena, the sound of metal clashing incessant.
Half an hour later, Long Ao Potian stood leaning on his spear, a wry smile on his face, signaling his voluntary surrender in the match.
...
Although in this battle, he hadn't used his trump cards at all, and Wu Tao appeared even more battered on the surface.
However, this score wasn't calculated that way. Long Ao Potian wouldn't naively believe that Wu Tao, as an elite disciple, only had one top-tier magical artifact, the "Armor-Piercing Dragon Cone." He surely had his own trump cards as backup.
And Wu Tao wasn't doing well either.
Although he had ultimately won by outlasting Long Ao Potian, he knew that in a real fight for survival, it was uncertain who would live to the end between him and Long Ao Potian...
After this fierce exchange, the relationship between Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian became even better than before, arguably reaching the level of confidantes. ...
Having achieved their goal of elevating their spiritual energy to the peak of the Qi Refining stage, Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian exchanged some simple compliments and decided to join forces to explore this Huangji Taiyi secret realm.
In the following days, Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian roamed freely together through the four perilous regions: Tianxing Ling Peak, the Bird's Nest on the Snow Domain summit, Qingye Bamboo Sea, and the Venomous Forest.
In just a few days, they obtained precious spiritual items such as the Sky Snow Spiritual Fruit, Seven-Star Speckled Grass, Earth Pear Blossom, Hundred-Year Ginkgo Tree, Three-Glow Sacred Lotus, Crimson Spirit Ganoderma, and Blood Poison Dissolving Grass.
...
Three days later, Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian arrived at the legendary Cloud Abyss Sea within the Huangji Taiyi secret realm.
The Cloud Abyss Sea was known as the "Mysterious Immortal Palace" within the Huangji Taiyi secret realm!
Clouds swirled, mist filled the sky, obscuring vision.
In a sea of hazy mist, Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian stood with their hands behind their backs, gazing into the distance, cautiously observing this strange and mysterious place.
At a glance, there were masses, patches, and clusters of clouds, neither in the sky nor on the ground, drifting everywhere, never dissipating throughout the year!
The wonders of heaven and earth were present everywhere, each unique.
In this vast sea of clouds, Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian spent an entire day, feeling as if they had entered a boundless expanse of mist.
Within this vast sea of clouds, due to special reasons, even divine senses were affected, and they couldn't even distinguish direction.
If not for the map indicating the coordinates, Wu Tao truly doubted if he would get lost in this sea of clouds and never find an exit.
The terrain within the sea of clouds was not an endless flat plain; it also contained many mountains, hills, and even valleys, which were merely covered by the pervasive mist.
If Wu Tao's map hadn't been so reliable, the two might have walked in circles endlessly without discovering anything unusual.
...
In the vast sea of clouds, even Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian lost track of how far they had traveled, how deep they had gone, and where they were.
After traversing a valley, they were surprised to find that the pervasive mist had suddenly become much thinner.
Emerging from this hazy mist, an incredibly beautiful scene appeared before Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian.
It stunned them both.
A azure sky, an endless plain, and beneath the serene, pure white clouds, a tall and majestic mountain peak appeared before Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian.
Sturdy pine trees, gracefully scattered petals all over the mountain, created a dreamlike landscape, as beautiful as an earthly paradise.
...
Long Ao Potian's mouth agape, he said in shock, "Damn it, this is the most beautiful sight I've ever seen in my life."
Then, Long Ao Potian turned his head to look at Wu Tao, only to be surprised to find Wu Tao's eyes fixed on the sky near the distant mountain peak, unmoving.
At this moment, a crisp and loud cry, like a dragon's roar and a horse's neigh, echoed from the sky, lingering endlessly.
As Long Ao Potian watched in astonishment, a supremely beautiful, elf-like figure finally appeared in the distant sky!
With snow-white mane flowing like falling snow, an extremely slender and elegant, handsome form, and a sharp single horn atop its head, it resembled the most perfect creature in the world.
It was none other than a celestial steed, hovering in the air, stepping through the void.
This celestial steed was named the Exotic Beast Dragon Horse.
Dragon Horses were exotic beasts born from the union of a true dragon and a celestial steed.
Dragon Horses possessed characteristics of both dragons and horses.
...
Dragon Horses had dragon scales but a horse's body, and a horn on their head, hence the name Dragon Horse.
The purpose of the Dragon Horse before them could be guessed with the barest of thought—it had come to cause trouble.
It was evident that the two had trespassed into the Dragon Horse's territory and had been discovered by the highly territorial creature. The Dragon Horse perceived Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian as intruders.
The Golden Python Bow in Wu Tao's hand slowly drew, a golden arrow nocked on the string. This might be a tough battle.
Long Ao Potian's reaction was equally swift. He immediately took out the Phoenix Dance Silver Spear from his storage bag, standing ready.
...
Only then did Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian finally grasp the terrifying speed of the exotic beast Dragon Horse.
In just a few breaths, the silver Dragon Horse, which had been miles away, instantly traversed the distance at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.
To the eyes of Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian, who had infused them with spiritual energy, it was merely a faint streak of silver light.
After a few breaths, the dazzling and eye-catching figure of the silver Dragon Horse appeared before Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian.
The entire body of the silver Dragon Horse shimmered with bright silver light, containing terrifying power.
"Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!"
Horse neighs echoed. The blood-red eyes of the silver Dragon Horse flashed with anger. Its forelegs and hind legs, its four hooves, leaped and struck, stirring up intense tides of spiritual energy. Slices of bone-chilling silver light rained down from the sky, attacking Wu Tao and Long Ao Potian.
Standing amidst the torrent of silver light, the Phoenix Dance Silver Spear in Long Ao Potian's hand shot out a terrifying brilliance of over nine zhang, forcefully deflecting the falling silver light.
Wu Tao, standing behind Long Ao Potian, was not idle. The string of the Golden Python Bow was repeatedly drawn, and one golden arrow after another was loosed, attacking the silver Dragon Horse in mid-air.