Chapter 650: Unmatched in War

He could still feel a faint chill on his back, as if a sharp sword qi had just brushed past him. Li Fan's face twitched as he looked at the mortal city below, now a large, desolate crater.

It was a good thing he reacted quickly; otherwise, if hit by that sword light, his body would have been utterly destroyed, and his Grotto-heaven foundation might even have been damaged.

Luckily, he wasn't too unlucky and hadn't been too close. Otherwise, if he had been covered in the Immortal-Mortal Mist, he might have truly reverted to a mortal on the spot!

"So far from the stone statue, and the influence of the qi absorption is already this significant?" Li Fan's heart tightened. He drew upon the Black Bird's Feather to replenish the devoured qi of fortune he had lost. He also quietly activated his Fate Domain to prevent any further loss of qi of fortune.

As the smoke dissipated below, a wooden sword was seen sticking straight up from the bottom of the large crater.

It seemed a little familiar.

"Oh dear, my apologies, fellow Daoist!"

At that moment, the owner of the wooden sword finally arrived, speaking to Li Fan with an embarrassed and remorseful expression.

"It's all my fault for my inadequate skills; I almost cost you your life, fellow Daoist!"

Li Fan looked towards the newcomer. Although the other party didn't recognize him, Li Fan was far from unfamiliar with this person.

It was none other than the famous second-generation immortal from the Myriad Immortals Alliance, the beloved son of Crimson Snow Immortal Venerable, Shuo Feng, also known by his nickname, "I Am Invincible"!

When he had appeared not long ago in the "friendly exchange and sparring" between the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council, he had still been at the Soul Transformation stage.

Yet now, Shuo Feng appeared to be only at the Foundation Establishment realm!

"He hasn't concealed his cultivation; is it because he was provoked and chose to disperse his cultivation for re-cultivation?" Li Fan's gaze swept over Shuo Feng, a flicker of almost imperceptible light in his eyes.

"So it's fellow Daoist Shuo Feng!" Li Fan greeted him with a respectful but not subservient bow. "I thought it was just another troublemaker from the Five Elders Council!"

Shuo Feng's face reddened slightly.

He didn't find it strange that the other party recognized him; he just quickly explained, "A misunderstanding, truly a misunderstanding. I was originally meditating and cultivating in the air, but somehow, this wooden sword suddenly lost control. Fortunately, fellow Daoist, you reacted quickly, otherwise, I would have needlessly accumulated more negative karma!"

"Haha, no harm done. I can tell you didn't do it on purpose. It's just, what's going on with your cultivation realm, fellow Daoist Shuo?" Li Fan studied him, intentionally showing a hint of confusion before asking.

Shuo Feng didn't hide anything and spoke candidly, "It's nothing much. I just felt I had taken the wrong path before, so I'm starting over from scratch!"

Although Li Fan already knew, he still feigned a look of shock. After observing Shuo Feng carefully for a long time, he slowly shook his head and sighed, "The Soul Transformation realm is already the ultimate goal dreamt of by most cultivators in the world. Yet, fellow Daoist, you possess such courage to simply decide to re-cultivate..."

"Admirable, truly admirable!" Li Fan praised, cupping his fists.

Shuo Feng smiled dismissively, unaffected, "I don't deserve such high praise from you, fellow Daoist. How am I stronger than ordinary people? I merely rely on my Mother to support me. Even if I fail in my re-cultivation and remain a Foundation Establishment cultivator for life, how many in the Myriad Immortals Alliance would dare to look down on me? But if an ordinary cultivator fails, they are truly doomed for eternity."

Li Fan simply smiled, neither agreeing nor refuting.

Instead, his gaze turned to the wooden sword in the giant pit below, and he frowned, saying, "Although fellow Daoist, you are re-cultivating, you are clearly still beyond what ordinary cultivators can compare to. From what I observed, the speed and power of this wooden sword could probably effortlessly slay even ordinary Golden Core cultivators."

Shuo Feng agreed, "Fellow Daoist has good discernment, this wooden sword..."

He paused, then continued, "To be frank, this sword is the heaven-and-earth anomaly I used for my current Foundation Establishment. Although I successfully established my foundation with it, I still cannot fully control it."

"It's quite a headache." As he spoke, Shuo Feng pointed downwards.

However, the wooden sword in the pit merely swayed gently for a moment, not responding to Shuo Feng's summons, remaining stuck in the ground.

No matter how extraordinary his demeanor, a hint of awkwardness couldn't help but appear on Shuo Feng's face.

He coughed lightly, then cast spells repeatedly, three times in a row.

Only then did he manage to recall the wooden sword to his side.

Li Fan looked closely at the wooden sword before him. It could no longer be described as "ordinary."

The sword body had no patterns, nor did it exude any mysterious aura.

It could even be called quite "crude," like a child's toy simply carved from wood.

But from its formidable strike just now, Li Fan knew that this item was definitely not as ordinary as it appeared.

A thought stirred in Li Fan's mind, and he suddenly suggested, "This sword is quite interesting. Coincidentally, I've always had some insights into the Way of the Sword. I'm just troubled by not finding a suitable opponent for sparring, so how about...?"

Shuo Feng was overjoyed upon hearing this, clapping his hands in approval and exclaiming, "I've just broken through as well, and was just worrying about not finding a suitable opponent to practice with. Your words, fellow Daoist, are exactly what I wished for!"

With a serious expression, Shuo Feng lightly grasped the wooden sword, moved back a short distance, and pointed it at Li Fan from afar, saying, "Let's keep it a friendly spar!"

"Alright!" Li Fan responded clearly.

Before his words even faded, eighty-one blue water swords had already materialized. They formed a sword array in the air, whistling as they instantly flew towards Shuo Feng.

This was a killing move Li Fan unleashed, mimicking it using the power of his water-attribute Grotto-heaven, with the profound principles of the Cloudwater Heavenly Palace's "Sea-Pacifying Divine Sword" as its core. He held nothing back just because Shuo Feng was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, fully mobilizing the power of an entire Grotto-heaven.

"Water Dragon's Roar!"

With Li Fan's loud shout, the blue water swords instantly scattered like countless water dragons filling the sky. They simultaneously thrust towards every part of Shuo Feng's body.

Faced with Li Fan's apparent full exertion, Shuo Feng was not alarmed but rather delighted.

Closing his eyes, as the eighty-one water swords were about to strike him, he slowly swung his sword.

It appeared extremely slow, but in reality, it was incredibly fast.

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

Like a streak of white lightning, it continuously wove through the multitude of water dragons filling the sky.

Each clash between the wooden sword and a blue water sword produced a crisp, metallic ringing sound.

In the blink of an eye, the wooden sword moved deftly, having parried every single water sword.

Shuo Feng sheathed his sword.

His arm trembled slightly, as if the effort had drained all his strength.

The next moment, the eighty-one blue water swords, which should have been under Li Fan's control, surprisingly all turned against him, now attacking Li Fan instead.

And what's more...

A subtle, even more profound change seemed to have occurred in them; the azure water dragon they formed appeared to come alive in Li Fan's eyes.

He could faintly hear a dragon's roar, and amidst crisscrossing sword qi, it was already roaring before Li Fan.

"This is..."

A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes, but his reaction was not slow in the slightest.

The world was instantly illuminated by blue light.

A streak of sword light shot forth from in front of Li Fan, tearing through the blue water dragon with overwhelming force and destructive power.

Its momentum undiminished, it reached Shuo Feng's face in an instant.