Fine.
Completely, utterly done!
When it came to trash-talking, Zhao Xuan stood no chance against Lu Ran.
So he might as well just get straight to fighting!
“The Xun position—ethereal and formless, soul phasing…” Zhao Xuan spread his arms wide and shouted.
His weapon turned out to be a horsetail whisk.
Now that was a strange choice of weapon.
Even Ye Hongyi, the Karmic Fire Celestial Master from the same Celestial Master lineage, used a staff.
And besides—
You didn’t need to chant to activate skills, which just went to show that Zhao Xuan really loved showing off.
Maybe shouting it out loud made it seem more impressive and high-class.
“Phasing right from the start—cautious enough, which shows he’s got some brains. Too bad not much.” Lu Ran muttered to himself.
He wasn’t in a rush either, just standing there watching Zhao Xuan put on his little act.
So really, Zhao Xuan wasn’t as dismissive of Lu Ran as he appeared on the surface—deep down, he was still afraid of getting one-shot right out of the gate.
What Su Ting said was also correct.
This was Zhao Xuan’s battle strategy: phase out, get ten seconds of invincibility, bombard Lu Ran with everything he had, crush him, and seal the win!
But Lu Ran’s reaction was actually making Zhao Xuan increasingly anxious.
He had expected Lu Ran to throw out the Blood Spear immediately. The Blood Spear had a cooldown too—if the first one got negated by the soul phasing, the second one would take even longer to come out, which would give Zhao Xuan even more time to unload his burst.
Unfortunately, Lu Ran just stood there, holding onto the Blood Spear without releasing it!
That left Zhao Xuan with only this last chance—his ten-second burst window!
“Why isn’t Lu Ran defending at all?” Cong Yu grew anxious watching this.
Even an idiot knew that Zhao Xuan would go all-out after phasing, yet Lu Ran wasn’t even putting up a defense?
He wasn’t even summoning any undead creatures!
At least throw out an Ancient Golem to absorb some damage!
What about the Skeleton Soldiers?
The Banshees?
Even if they couldn’t deal damage or interfere with Zhao Xuan, couldn’t they at least share some of the splash damage from his area-of-effect skills?
“I don’t know. This doesn’t make sense.” Even Cong Shuang was baffled.
She simply couldn’t read the situation at all!
Meanwhile, up on the stage.
Zhao Xuan had already begun.
He’d even given up on trying to look cool—no more chanting.
Beneath Zhao Xuan’s feet, a massive, complex Qimen formation materialized and began to rotate. At the same time, a layer of clear energy coated his body, swirling around him like a heat haze.
No need for explanation—this was definitely a burst-type buff.
“Decent stance, impressive visuals too. Just don’t know how effective it’ll actually be.” Lu Ran commented critically.
As for his own movements—he remained perfectly at ease, standing in place, as lazy as a loafer.
Then came—
Lightning, flames, air currents, surging water…
All sorts of attacks came raining down on Lu Ran in a relentless barrage.
Across the entire plaza, no arena was more dazzling or spectacular than this one!
But these weren’t elemental skills from an Elemental Mage. They were Qimen techniques from a Qimen Celestial Master.
Qian represented heaven, Kun represented earth, Xun represented wind, Zhen represented thunder, Kan represented water, Li represented fire, Gen represented mountains, and Dui represented marshes—each skill had its own variations.
Some were close to elemental-type skills, while others were strange, hard-to-describe special attack methods.
Lu Ran had to admit, this was an eye-opener.
But the ones whose eyes were really opened were all the spectators around them!
And Su Ting down below the stage!
Facing this storm of attacks, Lu Ran didn’t even change his posture in the slightest. He kept his hands in his pockets, still lounging lazily, letting all those skills batter him from every direction.
Yet the result?
Lu Ran’s health bar didn’t budge an inch!
Whoosh~
Representatives from every major power shot to their feet, eyes wide as they stared at Lu Ran.
Including the Cong family!
The two sisters, Cong Yu and Cong Shuang, were completely dumbfounded at this point.
“Lu Ran… how is he not losing any health?” Cong Yu asked in bewilderment.
“I don’t know…” Cong Shuang could only utter those three words.
The spectators were just as thoroughly baffled.
“What the hell is going on? Can anyone explain this to me?”
“Dammit, this Lu Ran is invincible, holy crap!”
“He’s still holding onto that Blood Spear without even throwing it!”
“Zhao Xuan only has a ten-second burst window. After ten seconds, he’s done!”
“Whoa, I definitely did not see this coming!”
“Wait a sec! I’m a Necromancer too—since when do we have an invincibility buff skill?”
“God dammit, how the hell is this guy doing this?!”
……
Countless people were asking the same question.
But no one could give them an answer.
And right now—
If anyone had the most complicated feelings, it wasn’t the spectators, not Su Ting, not the Cong family, not the major powers, and not even the four guild leaders.
It was Zhao Xuan himself!
Zhao Xuan over there was giving it everything he had—literally using all his strength!
He had never spammed skills this fast in his entire life.
No technique required. The opponent wasn’t dodging or defending—just toss the skills out there directly.
And the result?
Zhao Xuan could see with his own eyes that Lu Ran’s health bar was genuinely, completely unmoved!
No matter what skill he used, not a single one had any effect whatsoever!
It was as if Lu Ran had phased out too!
Zhao Xuan’s expression was absolutely dreadful—like he’d eaten a mouthful of crap. His plan had been to go all-out, crush Lu Ran, secure the victory, and look cool in front of everyone.
But now?
The exact opposite was happening. He was over here huffing and puffing, working his ass off, while Lu Ran was acting like nothing was even happening.
This was utterly humiliating!
Zhao Xuan’s face burned with shame.
And what frightened him even more was that the ten seconds were almost up—and once that time was over, he’d have to face Lu Ran’s Blood Spear!
No time to overthink.
The ten seconds were up, and the ethereal state ended.
Without hesitation, Zhao Xuan retreated a huge distance backward.
Then—
Crack, crack, crack~
Rock walls began rising up on the arena, encasing him, while wooden stakes extended around him as additional protection.
“Not bad—on top of offensive skills, you’ve also got defensive ones. The Qimen Celestial Master is a great class, really. But on someone like you? What a waste. An absolute waste.” Lu Ran clicked his tongue.
Then—
He slowly raised one hand.
At that moment, the hearts of every single spectator in the venue rose right along with Lu Ran’s hand.
That familiar motion, that familiar wind-up—he was about to throw the Blood Spear!
Meanwhile, Zhao Xuan’s eyes were practically splitting apart. He had done everything he could.
He had phased. He had burst. But none of it had taken even a single point of health off Lu Ran!
Now he had defended too.
Life or death—it was all up to fate now!
The next second.
The familiar Blood Spear materialized in front of Lu Ran.
Then—
Swoosh~
It shot forward!
Tearing through everything in its path—stone walls, wooden stakes—all of it shattered and dissipated in an instant, until the Blood Spear struck Zhao Xuan.
Bang!
Zhao Xuan’s health bar plummeted instantly to 1%. Same formula, same scene.
Following the Shield Berserker Wang Yan and the Pitcher Plant Summoner Cen Yunuo, the Qimen Celestial Master Zhao Xuan had also been defeated!
In that instant, the entire plaza fell utterly silent.
Even the contestants on the other nearby arenas were stunned speechless.
After a brief moment of dead silence, the host was the first to snap out of it and shouted: “Match on Arena 3 concluded! Winner: Blackfire City—Lu Ran!”
Hearing this, Lu Ran tucked his hands back into his pockets and started walking off the stage.
“Impossible! You can’t win like that! Using cheap tricks—what kind of skill is that?! I don’t accept it!” Zhao Xuan roared.
His face was twisted and contorted, and the unprecedented humiliation made him want to crawl into a hole and hide.
His harsh words were just a last-ditch attempt to salvage some dignity.
Unfortunately, Lu Ran wasn’t about to indulge him.
He paused, turned his head to look at Zhao Xuan, and said, “Like I said—if you’ve got a problem, come find me after the match. Life-or-death duel contract. You game?”
