Chapter 55: Fierce Battle (2)

The moon in the sky was covered by dark clouds. The Chaoyang Martial Hall, which had been barely visible under the moonlight, was now completely shrouded in darkness.

In this pitch-black environment, two ghostly figures moved through the crowd. Nearby pillars, stone blocks, furniture, the ground, and even people were continuously sliced apart and sent flying.

Amid the blur of moving shadows, Zuo Zhicheng was now holding a large chopping knife.

On the other side, Blood Rakshasa felt the pain in her abdomen from the punch he had landed inside the house. Letting out a sharp cry, she once again transformed into a whirlwind, charging toward the masked man with her twin jian.

“I’ll kill you!”

The crisp sound of metal clashing rang out—the impact of blade against jian. In the overwhelming darkness, sparks intermittently flew as the chopping knife and the long jian met mid-air.

Screams, angry roars, and the panic of the crowd were illuminated by these sparks, revealing twisted faces, a beautiful yet furious countenance, and an icy mask.

In less than ten seconds, the metallic sparks had formed a continuous trail of light across the Training Ground of the Chaoyang Martial Hall.

Though the light flickered uncertainly, the onlookers could still see that the person engaged with Blood Rakshasa was a powerfully built man.

The two figures continuously weaved around each other. The over-three-meter-long soft jian coiled around the man and woman like two pythons, relentlessly constricting.

Beneath this dance-like elegance lay a terrifying killing intent.

In the midst of this intense exchange, Blood Rakshasa shrieked intermittently like a startled giant wolf. In contrast, the man opposite her remained as composed and silent as a block of solid ice.

Slice!

Another line of blood spread across Blood Rakshasa’s shoulder. A mere few centimeters difference, and her entire right arm would have been severed. Yet, in this situation, her face flushed with a post-coital blush, her eyes brimming with excitement.

In the brief exchange of just over ten moves, she had clearly realized that her opponent surpassed her in strength, speed, explosive power, agility, and precision. This was because although Zuo Zhicheng’s Innate Primordial Breath was less intense per unit, it covered a much larger area, granting him greater overall explosive power than Blood Rakshasa.

Even more terrifying was that every move he made was lethal, more ruthless than the Martial Arts of the Dìyù Gate.

The man before her was a colder, more brutal killer than she was.

But sometimes, victory wasn’t solely determined by physical ability and skill.

Another metallic spark flashed in the darkness. The next moment, the large chopping knife in Zuo Zhicheng’s hands seemed unable to withstand the clash of forces and snapped in two with a loud crack.

It was at this moment that a faint smile curled on Blood Rakshasa’s lips. With a tap from her finger, a mechanism on the hilt of the jian named Severing Mundane Ties was triggered, causing oil to spread along the patterns on the jian’s blade.

In the next instant, Blood Rakshasa surged forward. The jian scraped rapidly across the ground, producing a shower of sparks. The tip of the jian even emitted the smell of burning metal.

With a roar, intense heat ignited the oil on the blade, causing the entire Severing Mundane Ties to blaze like a wheel of fire, bearing down fiercely on Zuo Zhicheng, whose chopping knife had just broken.

Flowing Fire · Great Heaven Blade!

Under the raging flames, the blood flowing over Blood Rakshasa’s skin and clothes, along with her crimson attire, shimmered in the firelight. She looked like a goddess of flames, wanting to incinerate everything in the world with her scorching heat.

It was under this astonishing blaze that Jiang Tianzheng and Xiao Jingyang at the window, and Chang Qi, Xiao Changhe, Zhou Xingyun, Wang Qiang who had fallen in the distance, along with most of the Martial Artists in the Chaoyang Martial Hall, finally got a clear view of the man’s figure and the pure white mask on his face.

Just as they watched with worry, fear, or despair, seeing the man about to be engulfed by flames, he moved slightly and kicked up a chopping knife from the ground.

Only when the chopping knife struck the blade of Severing Mundane Ties did a trace of astonishment appear in Blood Rakshasa’s pupils. Unbeknownst to her, over a dozen large chopping knives had been arranged densely at his feet.

‘How… how could he still have the energy to set up a trap in such an intense fight?’

‘He must have kicked all the knives on the ground to this spot beforehand, calculating the exact moment his chopping knife would break.’

Just like the strategy he used earlier against Chang Qi, he lured his opponent into a full-force attack to expose an opening. The tactic was simple, but more deadly and dangerous.

Blood Rakshasa continued to charge toward Zuo Zhicheng with her blazing flames, but the flying chopping knife impeded her momentum, slowing her down. Then, one after another, chopping knives shot toward Severing Mundane Ties and Blood Rakshasa like bolts of lightning.

She wanted to advance, but Severing Mundane Ties, battered by repeated heavy impacts, could no longer press forward at high speed.

She wanted to dodge, but that would mean letting go, abandoning Severing Mundane Ties mid-assault and relinquishing the scorching heat.

Looking at that expressionless white face, Blood Rakshasa laughed.

“I’ll kill you!!”

Amid her frantic shrieks, the woman contracted her body, allowing the silver blades to graze her shoulders, arms, thighs, and waist. Covered in blood, she resembled a fiend from the Underworld, staring as her opponent charged madly toward her. Even her hair dried and curled in the intense heat, yet Zuo Zhicheng’s eyes remained as cold as ice.

In the next second, towering flames enveloped both of them. But it lasted less than a tenth of a second. With a thunderous boom, an unstoppable fist force struck Blood Rakshasa’s abdomen, sending her fiery, graceful figure flying like a blazing meteor amid the explosive impact.

Blood Rakshasa’s face twisted in agony, but her eyes showed even greater surprise: ‘His coat… it’s fire-resistant?’

Naturally, it was fire-resistant. Days earlier, when Zuo Zhicheng caught the scent of oil on Blood Rakshasa at the martial hall’s entrance, he had begun preparing this fireproof coat.

He used alum, a substance regarded as medicine in Xinlu Port, to create aluminum hydroxide, which he then applied to the coat. Once the temperature exceeded 220 degrees, the aluminum hydroxide would undergo a series of endothermic reactions and decomposition to lower the temperature.

It was this preparation, executed step by step in his trap, that dealt a heavy blow to Blood Rakshasa.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Blood Rakshasa crashed through an unknown number of walls upon impact. Startled cries echoed from the neighboring residences.

Only then did the clouds part, allowing moonlight to once again bathe the Mortal Realm. Jiang Tianzheng and Xiao Jingyang stared dumbfounded at the scene in the courtyard. Debris was torn and shattered everywhere, as if trampled by dozens of elephants.

From Blood Rakshasa’s first shriek to Zuo Zhicheng’s punch that sent her flying, the entire sequence lasted less than a minute. Yet, every move was like dancing on the edge of a blade.

Direct and swift, elegant yet vicious. When Blood Rakshasa was finally punched away by Zuo Zhicheng, all the spectators felt as if they were in a dream.

It wasn’t until the man’s icy gaze swept over them that a suffocating sensation jolted them back to reality. Beneath the white mask, no expression was visible. Coupled with his black coat, he appeared like the sovereign of the night—aloof and solitary.

“G-Ghost Fist?”

Everyone gaped at him. Someone was the first to shout it out. The next moment, he moved slightly and chased after the direction where Blood Rakshasa had disappeared, his form completely vanishing into the night.