“How are you able to defend for so long…”

“Wouldn’t you pick up a few tricks if you fought people at your level? But perhaps you never really had to struggle before in your life?”

For a while it seemed that he would lose, the quasi-immortal weapon that his opponent was using had shredded through his armor and continued to be a problem. Even though his spiritual energy was higher and he possessed more insight into various Dao’s, he was still getting pushed back. The only reason he could last through everything was due to Long Qing's supposed lack of experience.

The Azure Emperor was at the pinnacle of this world. The only people that could challenge his might were the other emperors that had all been defeated by Zhang Dong. Throughout his life there was no one that could pose a real threat to his position. From what he knew, Long Qing was an only child. The Long Clan would not allow their future emperor ever to suffer a setback.

Zhang Dong could imagine his older brother being surrounded by yes men all his life. He was given the best cultivation materials, the best techniques, and the best training that was possible. He obviously developed into a strong fighter but there was something lacking, something that could not be given by training alone. This something was experience gained only by a near-death battle with an equal or slightly stronger opponent.

Even though Zhang Dong was a lot younger and relied on the system to gain a lot of his power, he still faced competent opponents. He had risked his life the moment he arrived in this strange world and had even almost died when defending others. Long Qing never had a worthy opponent that would push him to his extreme. His sense of superiority made him believe that he could not be defeated.

However, now he was having a rude awakening as some droplets of blood appeared on his cheek. During their last exchange, Zhang Dong was able to predict the path of the quasi-immortal weapon and delivered a well-placed counter. After throwing in a few fakes here and there his opponent had to retreat.

“You cut me…?”

“Oh, that little nick? It was a bit shallow but I think I’ve gotten the hang of you and that blade… Now we can start for real.”

Long Qing touched his cheek with two fingers and quickly examined the red liquid on his fingertips. He could vaguely recall Zhang Dong swinging his sword that had been dulled by his own. It looked more like a saw with all the broken-up parts but was somehow being held together by his Qi instead. It made the edge retain a lot of sharpness that somehow made it through his defenses.

“A lucky cut!”

“We will see in a moment if I was lucky or not, won’t we?”

The two men charged at each other without using any grand techniques. Long Qing still expected to have the all-around advantage but soon he realized that something was wrong. Zhang Dong started to anticipate all of his sword strikes before he could pull them off. His weapon was superior and could not touch his body which was constantly recovering from any damage.

To make things worse he even needed to defend himself. It didn’t end at the shallow cut on his cheek, soon his royal robes were being torn through. Long Qing was so confident in his victory that he didn’t even change out of his baggy royal robe. It had become a negative factor in this fight when his opponent turned up the pace.

“Why you…”

“Oh, it stings, doesn’t it? But this is only the beginning…”

Zhang Dong had managed to figure out Long Qing’s fighting style. It was very proper and orthodox. It lacked any weaknesses but it also didn’t possess many strengths. The limitations of it started shining through as he was unable to react to the unorthodox sword style he was fighting against.

“Ugh…”

During their duel, the Azure Emperor started faltering. His rage built up and resulted in wider swings that had more power behind them but were also easier to predict. Zhang Dong’s palm managed to find its way toward Long Qing’s torso. This clean hit sent the leader of the Long Clan flying into the distance. His body collided with the edge of this wide chamber and produced an imprint that started cracking.

‘So this wall is destructible?’

For some reason Zhang Dong expected this room to be locked away from the outside. The attacks that the quasi-immortal weapon produced had been slamming into the walls constantly without producing any damage. To his surprise it cracked almost instantly the moment Long Qing collided with it. There could be only one reason for this happening.

‘There is some sort of invisible barrier over those white walls but Long Qing can pass through this invisible barrier.’

He was sure that this was the trick behind it. This whole area was probably attained to the Azure Emperor in a similar fashion as his own Golden Palace was to him. Perhaps right outside of it there was some type of power source that these walls were tapping into. It was probably a defensive formation or something similar that recognized Long Qing as the owner.

‘Hm, this smells like a bloodline technique…’

A small amount of the Azure Emperor’s blood remained on the tip of his damaged sword. While his opponent was quickly recovering from the hit, he was far away. The Azure Dragon that was fighting to the side with Bahamut was already charging to protect his master. Landing a follow-up attack was improbable so instead he decided to go for the nearby white walls.

‘Hah, like through butter…”

The tip of his sword that had broken in a few places had somehow made it through this white coating. After pulling it out he could feel some air being circulated through. These walls were rather thin and mostly for show, the thing keeping the whole place together was an invisible formation that he only now started to see through.

‘Hey Bob, can you tell me where I am?’

‘Attempting… map has been updated…’

‘Well, this is surprising…’

Zhang Dong was able to finally activate his map. The small hole that he lodged his sword through allowed him to connect with the outside. Just as he had thought his location was deep into the enemy lines. If what he was seeing was correct then he was directly under the floating capital that he once visited.

‘Bob, where am I exactly?’

After some calculations were met he got his answer. The floating city that only Long Clan members lived in was around thirty kilometers above him. He on the other hand was somewhere underground five kilometers deep from the surface. The reason he was unable to teleport out became apparent as a large black hole appeared in the middle of his location. He was in a previous player spawn point that didn’t let people use their system map.

‘I need to get out of here, that quasi-immortal blade is tougher than it looks, it will take more to break it and even if my skills are getting sharper, so will his…’

Zhang Dong knew that for the time being he had the advantage but things could change rather fast. Long Qing lacked the experience when fighting opponents with more spiritual energy but he was getting it the more they fought. Just like he surprised his older brother with the cut to the cheek, the same thing could happen to him. It was more important for him to get out of this trap and reach his people as victory was murky.

‘There are other people outside, I can feel it… even if I back him into a wall, I will not win.’

His mind was made up after realizing that this was not a fair fight, to begin with. Their clash was being watched from outside. It was probably members from the Long Clan there. If their Emperor started losing they would surely charge in to stop him. Before they got involved he needed to get out of here and with Bob’s help and these few drops of Long Qing’s blood his escape became possible.

With a slight tap, he managed to expand the area of the hole to the side of a manhole cover. With a quick swipe of his blade, the white wall was sliced into a perfect circle that slowly started falling into the room he occupied.

“Bahamut, to me!”

“Wait, what are you doing? You can’t leave!”

“Sorry, but my sect members are worried about me!”

Bahamut’s form exploded into a million golden particles that blinded the Azure Emperor for a moment. Now in the form of a tiny baby dragon, he appeared on Zhang Dong’s shoulder. Both of them quickly slid through the hole in the wall to arrive outside of this cage. Now the true form of all of this came to light and it included many nascent soul elders crawling out of the woodwork.

“Stop him, he must not escape.”

‘This looks like some strange filming set…’

His body blurred as he dodged a few of the nascent soul masters trying to attack him. The white room that he left behind was inside a large circular cavern. It was made from some sort of gray stone that was very similar to cement. The whole area was very well lit and it was possible to look into the huge white room inside. For the entire time that he was in it the people here were able to look at the confrontation.

‘So, these guys were his backup. I never really stood a chance even if I continued to fight…’

There were far too many people guarding this place for him to ever come out victorious. Without reaching something like a quasi-immortal level himself there was no way of him winning. Luckily he did not use all of his energy while battling his older brother. The people coming after him were not prepared for his escape so evading their tackles was rather easy.

His gaze fell on the environment that looked out of place. The whole place was lit up as if he was in some kind of secret underground facility. It looked sterile and more modern compared to the capital city that was directly above. Considering that one of the ancestors of the Long Clan was part of the system users it made some sense. It was possible that he built up this spawn point to be a secret lair to help his descendants after they left.

Before him was a giant gate before which something like an elevator was waiting for him. It was the only way out as the walls were probably enhanced by the otherworldly material that was unbreakable. His push for survival was on, getting out to get some assistance from his sect was necessary and he would show that it was a mistake for the Long Clan to ever bring him here.