Cohabitation with Sword Spirit

Chapter 374 - 111: Moral Armor Value Overflow Bug

When the white-clad swordsman vanished suddenly in mid-air, and the pure white, archaic longsword slowly floated into Li Wanqing’s hand, Zhao Jincheng’s inner alarm bells went off like thundering lightning.

Though not as battle-hardened as the cultivators of Shen City, Zhao Jincheng had received rigorous training from City Lord Golden Jade since childhood, and thus possessed battlefield intuition on par with elite warriors, giving him an acute premonition of impending crises.

There were many things difficult to rationally comprehend: how Wang Jiu could disappear into thin air, evading capture even under the Spiritual Vision supported by the Golden Jade Secret Technique; the mystery of the pure white longsword; and why Wang Jiu himself no longer continued to fight, leaving his weapon to Li Wanqing—whose cultivation was far inferior to Wang Jiu’s.

Yet, even if his rational mind couldn’t fathom it, Zhao Jincheng’s intuition told him that this combination of black armor and white sword would only be more troublesome than the previous white-clad swordsman.

Having confirmed this point, Zhao Jincheng immediately chose to strike first.

Although acting rashly when the adversary’s methods are unknown entails significant risk, allowing the opponent to finish their preparations and reveal their trump cards undoubtedly carries several times more risk!

And to take the initiative, the best choice is, of course, to win by surprise.

Thus, Zhao Jincheng’s figure flickered. Leaving a slightly dimmer clone in place, his true form instantly appeared before the girl in black armor, almost face-to-face, as a silver disk as bright as the moon in his hand surged upward toward her abdomen.

The Golden Jade Secret Technique, Moon Wheel, Zhao Jincheng’s most powerful close-combat magic—a single Moon Wheel is an isolated space containing seventy-nine different immortal techniques. Once activated, it can drag the opponent into the Moon Wheel’s domain, giving full advantage of the home field. The only challenge is the Moon Wheel’s fragile nature, where a slight distraction can disrupt it. If luck favors, it’s merely a wasted wave of precious True Essence; if not, it might instead result in a magical backlash, dragging oneself into the Moon Wheel. From his previous battle with Wang Jiu, Zhao Jincheng had vaguely realized his opponent had an extraordinary talent in the domain of Breaking Technique.

What ordinary people refer to as using four ounces to move a thousand pounds is more of a rhetorical device; in practice, breaking an opponent’s spell with half of their power is considered highly rewarding, and doing so with even less is often the result of targeted research, making one a natural nemesis.

But from Zhao Jincheng’s observations, for Wang Jiu to break his spells, he required at most a tenth, or even half, of his strength. Many of his Breaking Techniques were simply unfathomable, subverting common sense, easily shattering his previously impregnable Magical Treasures with a mere sweep of Sword Qi, leaving Zhao Jincheng to suspect he was using a counterfeit!

Yet, facing such a dangerous expert in Breaking Techniques, choosing actively to bring forth the spell most vulnerable to disruption was akin to seeking one’s own doom.

However, this was a gamble where survival depended on facing death, betting that the opponent would never expect this move.

Even his sister had repeatedly warned him during her teachings that Secret Art Moon Wheel should never be used for risky maneuvers, and without an ideal release environment, it should be left unutilized.

But Zhao Jincheng felt that unleashing it at this moment was indeed the best timing.

Li Wanqing’s Yuqing Taoist Armor excelled in defense, and Wang Jiu’s White Sword was indestructible. This combination could elevate Li Wanqing’s close-combat ability to a terrifying level, challenging even opponents a realm higher. Nevertheless, precisely because of that, the opponent would never expect him to approach for close combat actively!

In fact, Zhao Jincheng indeed guessed right, at least halfway.

Wang Jiu did not expect Zhao Jincheng to take such a risky move at this time; in fact, Wang Jiu was not concerned with Zhao Jincheng’s actions at all.

After forming the Master-Servant Contract with Li Wanqing, Wang Jiu discovered that this mount’s driving performance was even beyond his expectations. If driving Shen Qingming, who inherited both the Nine Dragon Sword Heart and Immovable Tyrant Body, offered a performance score of 100—already satisfying for the Celestial Divine Sword—then Li Wanqing’s driving performance was at least 500 or more.

This performance was unrelated to strength, rather to the compatibility between the mount and master.

While driving Shen Qingming, Wang Jiu could exert a tenfold force compared to the mount’s base power; however, when driving Li Wanqing with the aid of the Yuqing Taoist Armor, he had the potential to unleash fifty times the mount’s base power.

Fifty times Li Wanqing’s strength, even in direct combat, would not be inferior to Zhao Jincheng of the Rain Cover Realm, hence Wang Jiu was focused on integrating Li Wanqing’s own resources, not caring for Zhao Jincheng’s risky gambit.

The next moment, when Wang Jiu saw Zhao Jincheng approach and glimpsed the Moon Wheel in his hand, he immediately chose to fully enhance the Yuqing Taoist Armor, briefly elevating Li Wanqing’s defense to a hundredfold.

Zhao Family Moon Wheel—Wang Jiu was all too familiar with this move. There were two ways to break it: one was to find the spell’s innate flaw and shatter it with perfect timing—but driving Li Wanqing now, it was inconvenient to use the Breaking Technique. The other was to form a perfect shield with absolute defense, rendering the Moon Wheel ineffective, causing it to backfire due to its reincarnation property.

Zhao Yuming’s Moon Wheel was originally a do-or-die ultimate skill. Once deployed, there was no room for negotiation... Zhao Jincheng’s careless decision to gamble his life caught Wang Jiu by surprise; was there no warning in the Zhao Family’s heritage?

Yet, in the next instant, as the Moon Wheel was poised to collide head-on with the Yuqing Taoist Armor...

Zhao Jincheng’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief, his eyeballs almost popping from their sockets.

Meanwhile, the silver Moon Wheel swirling in his hand crumbled due to his primordial spirit’s tremor—integration of dozens of immortal techniques, such compound spells are fragile and unstable, unable to withstand internal disturbance.

With the Moon Wheel shattered, the contained spells erupted like a volcanic explosion, the seventy-nine spells clashing and tearing each other, transforming into pure primordial forces, spreading outwards.

This impact force directly pushed Zhao Jincheng back over a hundred yards, causing him to tumble in mid-air like a kite with a broken string. Meanwhile, Li Wanqing remained motionless, standing like a mountain amidst the shockwave!

Wang Jiu hadn’t even made a move, and Zhao Jincheng was already falling apart!

——

Elsewhere, Li Wanqing felt her long-accompanying Yuqing Taoist Armor undergoing unfathomable, mystical transformations under Wang Jiu’s command.

First, its strength surged nearly a hundredfold in a heartbeat, and secondly, the structure forming this defensive strength presented a shape she could not comprehend.

Yuqing Taoist Armor, using the user’s mind and will as a power source, strengthens exponentially with the user’s mental fortitude, and vice versa. When used by Li Wanqing, the armor shone pure black, reaching an extreme in that aspect—whereas worn by Yuqing True Master, the Moral Armor was a simple azure, akin to the sky.

Yet, in Wang Jiu’s hands, the Yuqing Taoist Armor took on an unprecedented form.

For a moment, Li Wanqing recalled words once spoken by her master.

The Yuqing Taoist Armor, according to legend, possesses a realm unattainable by any cultivator.

Heart like crystal, pure and flawless.

At that realm, one reaches the brink of soaring to True Immortality, unparalleled even in the Xiangzhou Continent where immortal paths dwindle. Even during the legendary Primordial Era, it seems cultivators rarely achieved that realm.

And now, the legend was right before her eyes.

No, even surpassing the legend, advancing beyond pure and flawless!

At this moment, Li Wanqing, as a cultivator, was suddenly moved, moved by witnessing the essence of Dao Laws.

As Li Wanqing involuntarily immersed herself in the Yuqing Taoist Armor’s sublimation, what appeared to Zhao Jincheng was an entirely different scene.

At the peak of a desolate mountain, Li Wanqing stood facing the wind, her skin as white as jade, akin to the breathtaking night moon. Then, her long, voluptuous legs, rounded shoulders, and lotus-like arms were all exposed!

Except for a rose-red belly band and shorts, Li Wanqing’s skin exposure was nearing half!

It was simply unbelievable, that in a life-and-death battlefield, there was such a one-button outfit change!? Looking at Li Wanqing, she didn’t seem like someone frivolous, yet how could there be such an unconventional move!? But on the other hand, Zhao Jincheng had to admit this unexpected maneuver truly struck at his Achilles’ heel, and even with another brain, he could never have expected the opponent to pull such a move!

Disarming by undressing, that’s impressive!

Zhao Jincheng furiously wiped his nosebleed, feeling unavoidably pessimistic about the battle’s prospects.