The Empress's No.1 Lackey

On the stage.

Accompanied by Zhao Douan imitating Chai Keqiao, his body agile as autumn leaves, the scene of the magical duel became strange.

The Tian Hai monk planted his legs firmly like ancient pines, steadfastly staying outside the attack radius of the Taia Sword.

With knees slightly bent and his back forcefully straight, within a small space, he wielded the Six Paths Stick—that was thick as a sword hilt at one end and as robust as the mouth of a bowl at the other—creating a fierce gust of wind with each swing.

In an instant, the air was filled with the phantasmal afterimages of the long stick, yet Zhao Douan floated lightly, as if weightless, and perfectly evaded every strike.

No...this wasn't evasion, but going with the flow...whenever my weapon came close to him, the disturbed airflow seemed to blow him away...Tian Hai was surprised in his ordinary-looking heart.

Without reason, he recalled the boring childhood scene of sitting under the big tree in the monastery, reaching out to catch falling leaves, which he could never grasp no matter what.

Tian Hai did not know what kind of Body Skill this was, but he knew that if this delay continued, the one who would exhaust the most would be himself.

"Hide? Let's see where you can hide!"

He shouted coldly, and suddenly took a deep breath.

The muscles on his exposed arms inflated like balloons.

In an instant, the myriad shadows of the stick doubled out of thin air!

Even the falling leaves would be unable to avoid the thousands of Buddha hands coming from all directions.

Moreover, Zhao Douan's seemingly elusive Body Skill ultimately could not match the lightness of true autumn leaves.

Accompanied by the monk's angry shout and increased aggression, Zhao Douan's rhythm was inevitably disrupted, becoming more laborious until he was ultimately grazed by the Six Paths Stick.

"Clang!"

However, the anticipated scene of bones breaking and sinews snapping did not occur.

The moment the stick swept across his body, a flush of rosy light abruptly surged over Zhao Douan's exposed flesh.

The rosy light blazed like fire, as if burning, coursing through his body in an instant and solidifying into Protective Gang Qi.

This was the first nameless incantation he had learned from Xu, one of the earliest.

After ascending to the divine chapter, it had significantly improved, and compared to the simple Gang Qi formed by the force of Qi, it was much more substantial.

——Considering the rules of the stage, he did not carry the "Six Talismans Treasure Armor."

As expected, the Six Paths Stick swept Zhao Douan from his "leaf" state back to reality.

Zhao Douan simply leveraged the force, his boots lightly touching the ground, gliding out faint scratches and steadying himself again.

A blush rushed to his face and then receded; beneath his feet, the stone slab cracked with a "crack" like a spider web, spreading towards all sides.

It was by virtue of Inner Strength that he had conducted the terrifying rebound force into the ground.

"Mr. Zhao's Body Skill has been broken!"

"What a fierce monk!"

In the crowd.

Haitang hugged her shoulders, staring intently at the light curtain, her expression anxious:

"Is he going to make it? Isn't the imperial sword in his hand just for show? Cut down that baldy."

Zhang Han, as a swordsmanship expert, shook his head and said in a deep voice:

"The strength of the Taia Sword goes without saying, but the problem is that Zhao Douan has just stepped into the divine chapter and is touching this sword for the first time, unable to exert even one-thousandth of the sword's power.

On the other hand, while Tian Hai has not truly mastered the Six Paths Stick either, its ease of expansion and contraction like an extension of his arm attest to his practiced handle of it. The same weapon, used over time, will vary greatly in power with the monk being a bit rusty."

In the stands, Eunuch Hai and Xue Shence, two masters, also spotted the disadvantage.

They realized that the Taia Sword in Zhao Douan's hands currently served only to forcibly elevate his cultivation by a notch, enough to contend with Tian Hai.

Yet it was not enough to rely solely on the weapon to create a crushing situation.

"Mr. Zhao must also understand this; hence, it seems like he is dodging and defending, but in reality, he is draining Tian Hai's Mana; having fought with Jin Jian, he has already lost some of his vitality, smart tactics..."

Xue Shence keenly analyzed, assuming the role of commentator.

This made the watching officials who didn't understand suddenly realize, thinking to themselves that it's no wonder Mr. Zhao, with his shrewdness, also fights with such cunning.

Eunuch Hai always kept his gaze on the battle, suddenly saying:

"The little monk has seen through it. Look, he's changing his methods."

...

On the stage.

Tian Hai sent Zhao Douan flying with a strike but did not continue with long-range attacks; instead, he twisted his wrist, and the Six Paths Stick which was adorned with Buddhist scripts expanded and contracted back to its original form, and he casually tossed it aside.

Then, he bent his knees and like a plant sprouting from dry earth, he leapt up violently, his right leg fiercely kicking one end of the Six Paths Stick.

"Boom!"

In that instant, the Six Paths Stick became like a slender missile filled with force.

The vast Mana poured into the weapon's interior, and the brass metal became searingly hot in a flash, steaming white vapour from the moist air.

Then, with a terrifying speed, the Six Paths Stick descended from the sky.

At the tail end, the friction with the air left behind a fine white line.

Danger!!

At this moment, Zhao Douan felt a potent sense of crisis.

In the midst of his haste, the Qi Sea within him, having expanded into an illusory "ocean" of Qi after ascending to the divine chapter, rolled and turned, releasing powerful kinetic energy through the inhalation and exhalation of the Dragon Essence.

Like a scorching engine powering up, he gathered all the blood and Qi in his body to his lower back, forcibly moving his body.

Externally, it seemed as if a force had pushed Zhao Douan's abdomen out of thin air, avoiding the Six Paths Stick falling from the sky.

"Boom!"

The hexagonal stick's end plunged into the ground, burying halfway.

Zhao Douan snapped back to reality, abruptly raising his head, only to see Tian Hai descending like a meteor, his fists pounding like drums, with an overwhelming might.

This was the true killing move!

After giving up on ranged attacks, Tian Hai chose close-quarter combat—

——As long as he was close enough, even a long sword could not be wielded!

However, Zhao Douan seemed to have anticipated this, and the arm holding the Taia Sword swept out from behind his back, chopping down from overhead!