Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1634 - 1627: Both Sides Suffer

Chapter 1634: Chapter 1627: Both Sides Suffer

Huayu Ting didn’t speak but began quietly channeling magic power, preparing for battle at any moment.

Just now, he had defeated Wuting Li, not only because of his immense strength but, more importantly, because he exploited Wuting Li’s carelessness.

Flow Redirect is not some forbidden technique; virtually all cultivators attempt to learn it and use it frequently in battle.

However, Wuting Li seemed to lack experience in combat and was entirely unguarded against it, allowing Huayu Ting to seize the initiative and render him unable to fend for himself.

Yet Huayu Ting knew full well that luck would not always be on his side.

While Wuting Li may have been easy to defeat, the current opponent, Wuting Yan, was definitely no ordinary foe. To have cultivated to the Golden Core Realm at his age, claiming he lacked combat experience would be self-deception.

Still, Huayu Ting wasn’t overly concerned, as Wuting Yan was merely a Ba Path cultivator, whereas he himself was a Dual Dao cultivator. This alone created a significant gap between them.

Royal Dao is lethal; Ba Path is tenacious.

No matter how formidable Wuting Yan was, as a Ba Path cultivator, he could never match the fatality of Royal Dao — one of the reasons why Huayu Ting dared to fight across realms.

Huayu Ting continued channeling magic power, sensing sudden fluctuations in the air. This was a minor trick he had learned from the Advance Team, detecting magical fluctuations in the atmosphere.

Following the trail, he saw several of Wuting Yan’s acupoints erupting with invisible magic power. The next moment, Wuting Yan launched himself forward like an arrow off the string, forming a palm strike aimed at Huayu Ting, who remained stationary.

Huayu Ting slightly raised his hand and calmly absorbed Wuting Yan’s full-force attack, then withdrew two steps to offset the immense power.

With just one exchange, both sides roughly gauged each other’s strengths.

Wuting Yan was certainly no mere pretender; his abilities were solid, and he seemed well-versed in the ways of the Jianghu.

After merely one round, Wuting Yan sought opportunities to attack Huayu Ting’s exposed acupoints while simultaneously protecting his own, avoiding being Flow Redirected by Huayu Ting.

His agility allowed him to quickly adjust his position and once again launch an attack against Huayu Ting.

The two clashed back and forth, engaging in straightforward hand-to-hand combat techniques.

However, unlike traditional combat methods, both benefited from the augmentation of magic power, making their attacks faster and stronger — far surpassing human limitations.

The more they exchanged blows, the more vividly Huayu Ting could sense Wuting Yan’s caution.

This old man had undoubtedly lived in the Jianghu, knowing full well that practitioners of the Nine Streams often resorted to dirty tricks. Thus, he constantly guarded his lower body during the fight.

Of course, in such a public setting, Huayu Ting naturally wouldn’t use Star-shattering, a sinister move.

So, despite Wuting Yan’s meticulous defenses, if Huayu Ting ever decided to use low blows, not even full-body armor would protect Wuting Yan from his black hand.

The fight was fierce; though Wuting Yan was fast, Huayu Ting’s agility was equally impressive, causing several of Wuting Yan’s strikes to miss their target.

This was a lesson Huayu Ting had gleaned from his battle with Feng and applied in practice.

Feng’s Western Continent sword technique emphasized counteraction through stillness, dodging big moves with small steps, and delivering sharp, precise thrusts. Yalunte monopolized the Western Continent with these techniques, earning the title of Sword Saint.

In his battle with Feng, Huayu Ting had marveled at the finesse of Feng’s sword skills, so after the fight, he absorbed and transformed them into his own techniques.

Enhanced by Ba Path Banshan, Huayu Ting’s movement became even lighter, and Wuting Yan at one point couldn’t even touch his hem.

Relying on the Golden Core Realm, Wuting Yan unleashed his massive inner power to strengthen his attacks at will.

Under such circumstances, Wuting Yan’s strikes became exceedingly dangerous. Without Ba Path Zhongyan’s augmentation, Huayu Ting would not even dare to touch them — as even the slightest contact would risk his limbs being blown away.

Despite the enhancements, Huayu Ting remained extraordinarily cautious, unwilling to engage recklessly.

Huayu Ting was continually searching for Wuting Yan’s weaknesses but was surprised to find nearly no openings in his defense.

It seemed Wuting Yan had anticipated Huayu Ting’s possible attacks and was specialized in protecting his Qitian and primary acupoints, leaving no opportunity for Star-shattering or Flow Redirect.

This was the combat habit of a true Jianghu martial artist — always wary of the opponent’s underhanded tactics in battle.

The fight also wowed the spectators, who called out in excitement.

What thrilled the Huayu family’s troops the most was seeing their patriarch Huayu Ting dare to fight across realms against a higher-ranked cultivator, making them feel incredibly energized.

The battle extended through over two hundred exchanges, stirring up clouds of dust on the battlefield, with their clothes flaring in the wind — yet no victor emerged.

Though fighting across realms seemed disadvantageous, Huayu Ting cleverly relied on his nimble movements, maneuvering like a slippery eel and rendering Wuting Yan’s force useless.

The harder Wuting Yan fought, the more magic power he wasted. But compared to Huayu Ting, his greatest advantage was his magic power reserve; without emphasizing this, he had little to compete with Huayu Ting.

This explained why he fought more ferociously with each round, putting in more effort as the battle progressed.

As the fight dragged on, his mindset grew increasingly anxious, and his blows became heavier, no longer managing his stamina or magic power.

Wuting Yan was an elderly man, while Huayu Ting was in his prime — making stamina his greatest weakness.

With his magic power advantage neutralized, Wuting Yan was virtually incapable of defeating Huayu Ting, whose superior stamina proved a decisive factor.

Based on this realization, Wuting Yan launched aggressive, rapid attacks at the beginning, hoping to draw a matching response from Huayu Ting and leverage his magic power dominance.

Yet Huayu Ting wasn’t foolish; before fighting, he had already predicted Wuting Yan’s strategy and intentionally relied on his movement techniques to drain his stamina and magic power.

Younger, and a Dual Dao cultivator — this disparity was far more significant than the gap in realm levels.

As the fight approached nearly three hundred rounds, Huayu Ting suddenly changed his tactics. Facing Wuting Yan’s incoming punch, he rerouted his magic power, countering with a direct palm strike to intercept it.

Boom!

The crowd distinctly heard the forceful air blast, while Feng could even feel faint magical fluctuations from the eruption.

Huayu Ting and Wuting Yan collided for less than a second before an invisible force separated them.

Wuting Yan’s expression darkened. Despite Zhongyan’s defense, he seemed injured, with blood soaking his sleeve and dripping to the ground.

Wuting Yan was cunning, so Huayu Ting hadn’t sealed his acupoints. Instead, Huayu Ting seized the chance, channeling magic power into his palm, creating an effect akin to a pinpoint explosion spell.

The magic power exceeded Wuting Yan’s endurance threshold, forcibly flooding into the uneven meridians of his arm — causing it to burst.

Though Huayu Ting failed to sever Wuting Yan’s meridians completely, he at least crippled his arm for this fight.

Of course, Huayu Ting didn’t escape unscathed. To rupture Wuting Yan’s arm meridians, Huayu Ting concentrated nearly half of his body’s magic power for the infusion.

While it effectively injured Wuting Yan, Huayu Ting also lost half of his magic power reserve, cutting his strength in half.

This was essentially a mutually destructive move; Huayu Ting used half his magic power to temporarily disable Wuting Yan’s arm — leaving them evenly matched.

Both sides paused momentarily, staring each other down. Wuting Yan took deep breaths, inwardly startled.

Initially, he had assumed that having reached the Golden Core Realm, and with Huayu Ting merely late-stage Jiedan Realm, he would have a clear advantage.

Though Huayu Ting was a Dual Dao cultivator, he thought that even in defeat, the fight should end in a draw.

Unexpectedly, Huayu Ting had the audacity to take the initiative and cripple one of his arms.

Although the injury could be healed, losing face before such a crowd made it impossible for Wuting Yan to treat it openly — forcing him to grit his teeth and endure, letting the blood drip freely.