Chương 363: Bai Zijun's arrival

While it didn't make sense, it was the only explanation for now, and the youth wasn't about to let his guard down against both Long Feng and Zhou Zheng.

"Where's the Dao heart?" He asked cautiously.

"It's here with me of course." Long Feng pointed at his chest freely. The youth took in a deep breath and once again assessed Long Feng thoroughly. No matter how much he looked, he couldn't find anything special about him. He looked like a completely ordinary Imperial who could hide his cultivation as he pleased. As he hesitated on what to do, Zhou Zheng's voice transmission reached him again.

"Let's work together and take him down! With the two of us, we can certainly deal with him!" The youth frowned and glanced at Zhou Zheng.

"Do you still have anything left in you?" He asked. To be honest, his question was justified. Zhou Zheng didn't look like he had any fight left in him at all. He was beaten and battered through and through from exceeding his own limit.

"Don't worry about me. I'll burn my life source if I must! All I need is to kill this brat!"

"What? You're willing to go that far?"

"You have no idea how terrifying he is! You've never experienced anything like him. If he doesn't die here, then he'll become a threat to all of us in the future! I promise you, if we kill him, the Dao heart is all yours. I want nothing of it. I'm in no condition to fight you for it." The youth's eyes widened at that generous promise and he couldn't help but wonder what exactly Long Feng did to Zhou Zheng to terrify him so much.

"You're serious? The Dao heart is mine?"

"I am dead serious! I'm sure I've weakened him to some extent. With your skills, we can absolutely deal with him. Trust me, you'll regret it if you don't accept this now." The youth began to ponder with a deep frown on his face while alternating his gaze between Long Feng and Zhou Zheng who still hadn't left his defense. As minutes passed, Zhou Zheng became increasingly impatient and nervous, especially whenever he saw how calm Long Feng still was.

"You're wasting time! He's not saying anything probably because he's recovering some of his strength! Also, if you wait till others arrive, then you'll be forced to share the Dao heart with them. We must make our move now to kill him before the others come!" Zhou Zheng's words finally convinced the youth and cleared all of his hesitation.

"Beat it! No matter how strong he is, he must be in a bad state after fighting Zhou Zheng. Together, we can kill him, and the Dao heart will be mine alone!" He glanced at Zhou Zheng briefly.

"Even if he later tries something else, I can take care of him and even get rid of him as well, killing two birds with one stine. After losing his arm, he's certainly no longer my match!" Thinking along this line, the youth took another deep breath and glared at Long Feng.

"Brat, it's time to die!" He uttered coldly. His words were bold, but in reality, he didn't dare to make the first move. He wouldn't do anything until he saw for himself just how strong this Long Feng really was and confirmed whether he could fight him. Even for him, the Dao heart wasn't worth his life. Long Feng smiled.

"Finally. For a minute I thought you were going to chicken out and escape like a coward. But you didn't disappoint me." He glanced behind him at Zhou Zheng who had dispersed the earth stabilizing mountain shield around him and his smile deepened.

"If you two work together at your peak, you will have a chance at defeating me. But with you in such a state… tsk. You'll die." Zhou Zheng's heart froze for a second at his words before he shook his head and suppressed his fear. He swallowed dozens of healing pills at once to staunch the bleeding of his severed arm before glaring at Long Feng.

"Keep talking big." He gritted his teeth as the pain from his arm battered away at his mind. There was originally no grudge between them, just a clash of interest. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. But the moment Long Feng severed his arm, he had already formed a blood grudge between them. Zhou Zheng was completely terrified of Long Feng, but even stronger than that terror was his rage and killing intent. His standing would fall greatly after this.

The other deities would mock him and none of them would fear him or be wary of him any longer, and it was due to Long Feng! It was natural to Zhou Zheng that he tried to kill the former at all cost. He himself didn't think about what caused it all from the very beginning; his killing intent towards Long Feng.

"Very well then. Let's see what you two can accomplish." Long Feng smiled and raised his sword. The youth stared at the sword with a strange gleam in his eyes.

"Sword huh? To use metal before me…" Just as the atmosphere tightened and they were about to exchange blows, Long Feng suddenly frowned deeply and stared in another different direction. Mere seconds later, both Zhou Zheng and the youth followed his gaze after sensing the approaching aura. The temperature around them began to rise rapidly even before the person could be seen.

A cloud of red appeared in the distant horizon and approached at an explosive speed, leaving a trail of red that seemed to set the clouds on fire. Long Feng quickly retreated several meters backwards with a serious expression as he stared at the burning cloud. Zhou Zheng and the youth also stood together and stared at the cloud with strange expressions. They exchanged glances and saw the surprise in each other's eyes.

"Is it him?" The youth asked lightly.

"It can only be him. He's the only flame wielder among us." Zhou Zheng replied assuredly. Long Feng overheard their little exchange and coupled with the sheer intensity of the aura approaching, he guessed who it was.

"This is getting a bit out of hand… he's later than I prepared for..." His frown vanished and a thin smile that failed to reach his eyes appeared on his face.

"Nevertheless, I still have a certain level of confidence." Zhou Zheng turned around to glance at Long Feng with a mocking smile that only intensified as he saw the serious look on the latter's face.

"Hoh? Look who's scared now? Still dare to run your mouth? You're dead now! I can't wait to see the expression on your face before you are ripped apart!" He laughed. Long Feng didn't bother replying to his mocking words. A subtle gleam flashed through his eyes as the flaming cloud got closer and closer.

"Bai Zijun…" The air was so hot that each breath felt like inhaling boiling steam, and it was only getting worse. In less than a minute, the distant cloud of flame revealed itself to be a beam of red light approaching at a great speed. As the light dispersed, a mature youth with sharp facial features appeared. Extreme heat followed him as the air itself burned around him. His appearance alone changed the atmosphere of the entire field, suppressing the auras of both Zhou Zheng and the youth.

This was none other than Bai Zijun! His hair fluttered in the wind as he floated there and observed the situation with a cold gaze. A mere glance at the scene gave him a certain understanding of the situation and he gazed at Long Feng directly without sparing so much as a second glance at Zhou Zheng and the other youth. Before he could speak, Long Feng smiled warmly and spoke.

"You're a bit late. It would have been much better if you were here first." Bai Zijun's eyes narrowed as he completely disregarded Long Feng's cultivation.

"It doesn't matter as long as I get to strangle the life out of you personally." Saying that, he didn't wait for Long Feng to say anything else. A storm of flames burned around him, causing crackling sounds as the air was burnt away. Long Feng's pupils contracted as he tightened his grip around the sword while preparing to unleash the true essence within him at any moment.

"Using true essence from the very start… he's truly decisive." Anyone else would have worried about their pride and wouldn't deem it worth it to use their true essence against an Imperial no matter how strong they were. Bai Zijun clearly wasn't that way. At least, when it came to Long Feng, he didn't want to waste a single second. He was going all out from the get go, not holding anything back.

"World Extermination Flame Art…" Bai Zijun's entire figure began to distort from the extreme heat surrounding him. The flames took an extremely dark shade, radiating destruction unique to true essence and a powerful earth grade manual.

"Ring of destruction." Bai Zijun lightly raised his palm towards Long Feng. A great amount of flame gathered before his open palm, forming a ball of fire that contained terrifying destructive heat. Zhou Zheng's expression changed as he glanced at the youth beside him.

"We should retreat. This lunatic has lost his mind!" Without hesitating, both youths fled backwards till they were a safe distance away. Instantly, the ball of fire exploded in a beautiful but deadly wave of flames that spread out circularly.

"Three layered waves demon annihilation!" Long Feng stood his ground in the face of the incoming wave of flames. Demonic energy swept out of his body, churning around him and enveloping several dozens of meters in a bone chilling aura. The demonic figure formed rapidly and launched two huge fists upon the wave of fire in an instant, generating a huge shockwave from the collision. Both Long Feng and Bai Zijun were forced back a few feet and the two energies completely cancelled each other out.

Not allowing his surprise to appear, Bai Zijun rapidly made hand seals with both hands while circulating the World extermination flame art.

"Sword of infernal judgement! Cleave!" A tall sword made entirely of flames manifested before him and descended sharply upon Long Feng, burning everything in its path.

"Earth Firmament!" Long Feng changed his stance and poured all of his demon and sword energy into unleashing the perfect earth firmament skill. The swing of his sword sent a curved blade of darkness slicing through the flaming sword and forcefully corroding the flames even as the demon and sword energies were burnt to nothing by the extreme heat.

"Heaven Firmament skill!" Long Feng's eyes flickered as he instantly followed up with a full powered heaven firmament, completely annihilating the flames and sending a shocking sword blade at Bai Zijun. An astonishing sword intent enveloped the air, causing Bai Zijun to feel as though a sword was pressed against his forehead. Frowning slightly, he quickly changed his hand seals.

"World extermination essence! Vermilion shadow!" A new wave of flames burned to the skies around him as the faint shadow of a huge bird appeared behind him. Its wings spanned over a dozen meters and its curved beak gleamed with pristine sharpness. Its claws appeared sharp enough to pierce through a mortal grade armament and its entire figure was aflame with dense flames. This was the vermilion bird of the legends, a spirit lord beast that had a tiny trace of the bloodline of a Divine Phoenix!

There was no confirmation of its existence across the mainland, but according to the legends, its flames could burn down the skies when it matured. This was just a tiny shadow formed from the World extermination flame art, but its power was still astonishing. The vermilion bird let out a piercing and resounding cry as it spread its wings and flew into the sky before diving down and crashing into the heaven firmament sword strike.

Fire intent and sword intent exploded in the sky as the two attacks exploded at the same time. A shudder passed through Long Feng's body while Bai Zijun's face paled slightly as he was forced back once again. Long Feng didn't waste this opportunity. He used the firmament steps to close the distance in the blink of an eye and unleashed more attacks before Bai Zijun could recover.

Bai Zijun managed to regain his footing nearly instantly, but he was instantly overwhelmed by several sword attacks in succession, giving him no chance to attack. Within seconds, he was forced backwards continuously and he could only defend himself with his flames, unable to retaliate. In just a few minutes, who had the upper hand and who was slightly inferior was clear to all. The shock in Zhou Zheng's heart was no less than the shock in Bai Zijun's own as he watched with bitterness in his eyes.

"This… he is suppressing Bai Zijun?"