The blue spectral hands left huge impressions in the handkerchief wherever they struck.

Even Zu An began to wonder if Old Mi would be crushed into ground meat inside.

Though he was suspicious of Old Mi’s true objective, the two of them had spent quite some time together, after all. He still hoped to see Old Mi win.

Of course, the best outcome would be for both of them to wear each other out.

Thankfully, Old Mi wasn’t so easily dealt with. The handkerchief bulged as Old Mi aimed a fist at Wei Dan from inside.

Wei Dan frowned. The frequency of his strikes increased, raining blows on the handkerchief with greater urgency.

Numerous hand-shaped imprints appeared on the giant handkerchief.

At the same time, numerous fist-shaped bulges pushed outward from within the handkerchief in quick succession.

The two of them were clearly exchanging blows, despite the distance between them.

Suddenly, a long fingernail pierced through the handkerchief. It slid downwards like a sharp blade, cutting open a large hole.

A purple lotus flower blossomed within. That giant handkerchief couldn’t contain it, and unraveled suddenly, exploding into pieces with a loud bang.

Old Mi emerged from within. He leapt onto the roof of a hut nearby. “Sorry. It seems I’ve accidentally destroyed your Stellar Handkerchief,” he said casually.

Wei Dan shook his head. “It was your own skill that allowed you to escape. There’s nothing to apologize for. I’m astounded by just how much your cultivation has improved since our last meeting.”

Old Mi chuckled. “Didn’t I tell you earlier? We won’t know who will emerge the victor unless we actually fight.”

Wei Dan snorted coldly. “Is that so? I’ll guess I have to see for myself just how far you’ve come, then.” With a sudden tap of his foot, he rushed towards Old Mi like a zombie.

Zu An noticed that his arms were extended out in front of him rigidly, like the zombies in period dramas and movies. How could such a clumsy appearance be terrifying?

Despite this, Old Mi seemed extra wary, as if faced with a deadly enemy. He immediately used his Sunflower Phantasm to dodge to the side. The straw hut that he’d been standing on a moment ago was ripped to pieces by cutting winds even before Wei Dan’s hands reached it.

Zu An’ eyes widened. These two are both freaking superhumans!

Wei Dan pushed off against a pillar with his feet, and launched himself straight at Old Mi.

Old Mi dodged with his Sunflower Phantasm, waiting for his opportunity to counterattack.

Zu An expected that the Sunflower Phantasm would grant Old Mi a natural advantage in a frontal clash like this, yet Wei Dan always chose the shortest route, and his attacks were lightning fast. Far from being on the losing end, he managed to seize the advantage.

After all, dancing around left and right drained Old Mi’s strength more quickly.

Sure enough, as the battle dragged on, Old Mi’s movements began to slow. Even though it was almost imperceptible, Zu An could still sense it clearly, since he was familiar with the Sunflower Phantasm.

Zu An knew that Wei Dan’s sight and cultivation level were slightly superior to his opponents, because he seized his opportunities and chose his angles of attack perfectly. This was impossible to do without a superior level of cultivation.

However, something still gnawed at him. Why didn’t Old Mi use Grandgale or the other skills granted by the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra? Grandgale’s instantaneous movement would clearly beat out Wei Dan’s direct lunges. If he used it in tandem with the Sunflower Phantasm, Wei Dan would be the one at a disadvantage instead.

Was he trying to feign weakness, waiting for the critical moment to reveal his trump cards?

Right at that moment, the battle took a sudden turn. He heard Wei Dan laugh loudly. “I’ve caught you!”

“Inescapable Net!”

He made a circle with his palms, and Old Mi was suddenly encircled in a light blue ball of light several zhang in diameter. He pressed his palms towards each other, and the blue light ball began to shrink at a visible rate.

Old Mi was clearly stunned by this as well. He immediately shouted, “Sunflower Finger!”

He extended all ten fingers, and thrust his hands about him. Ripples appeared across the surface of the blue sphere of light wherever he made contact with it.

However, this finger thrust—which could kill a seventh-ranked expert—couldn’t pierce through this weak-looking ball of light which seemed like a giant soap bubble.

Wei Dan smiled. “It’s useless. This power is the result of the spatial laws that I’ve only recently gained insight into. It cannot be defeated by any worldly power.”

Spatial laws? Zu An couldn’t hide his shock. Just what level of cultivation did this old man possess?

No wonder that zombie-like movement was so powerful! He used spatial laws to augment it! As I was saying, there was no way the Sunflower Phantasm couldn’t keep up with regular movements.

Old Mi stopped trying to break out using his Sunflower Finger. He suddenly turned to look at Wei Dan. “No wonder you’re still unfazed even after your Stellar Handkerchief was destroyed. You had another trump card up your sleeve.”

“But of course.” Wei Dan clasped his fist. “Serving at the emperor’s side means that I occasionally receive pointers from him. These pointers can easily save us a decade of arduous cultivation. How could I have dared to pursue you if I hadn’t made any progress at all?”

As he spoke, the light blue sphere continued to shrink. A strange blackness appeared in the center of the sphere. Old Mi lost control of his own movements, and his body was slowly sucked towards that inky dark spot.

A black hole? Zu An was stupefied. It suddenly dawned on him that many things in this world were already beyond his understanding of science.

Old Mi tried to employ the Sunflower Phantasm several times. Unfortunately, not only could he not move his body, he was slowly being sucked towards the center.

Wei Dan’s voice grew grim. “Little Ying, out of respect for our friendship, I’ll let you go free if you break your own arms. Not even his majesty would be able to save you once you enter that darkness.”

“Break my own arms?” Old Mi sneered. “I would rather die than surrender.”

“Why must it be so?” Wei Dan frowned. “As long as you hand over the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, there is no need for you to die. Why are you so stubborn?”

Old Mi laughed. “It is precisely because I know that you still need my Phoenix Nirvana Sutra that I have the confidence to keep fighting! I refuse to believe that you will really kill me.”

Wei Dan snorted, but the blue sphere of light ceased its shrinking. He knew that the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra would also be lost if he destroyed Old Mi with that inky darkness. How would he explain things to the emperor then?

However, his opponent's cultivation was just too high. If he let him go now, Old Mi would surely be on the lookout for him, and become even harder to catch in the future.

In that moment of hesitation, as the space around him stabilized, Old Mi made his move.

“Steps of the Rising Lotus!”

He stepped upwards into empty air as though walking up a flight of stairs, and every step he took left behind a footprint. A lotus gradually blossomed from each footprint.

Zu An was completely dumbstruck. This Old Mi was already an old man, yet he still cared so much about aesthetics. Every single technique he displayed possessed a stunning beauty.

If a pretty young woman used these techniques, she would easily harvest the hearts of countless young men.

Leaving Zu An aside, even Wei Dan was shocked. “You’ve also reached the gateway to understanding spatial laws?”

Old Mi began to smile, but suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood. The move he just used had clearly pushed him beyond his limits, and he was suffering its recoil.

How could Wei Dan give up this opportunity? He immediately used his zombie leap to close the distance.

His two palms lashed out, sending a flurry of blows at Old Mi. Even though Old Mi did everything he could to defend himself, he was still hit by three palm strikes.

“Pfft!”

Blood spewed from Old Mi’s mouth, and even the snowy-white beard around his mouth was dyed red.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. It looks like you’re still clinging tightly to your identity as a eunuch! Even at your age, you’re still sticking all this fake beard around your mouth.” Wei Dan didn’t close the distance. He was clearly worried that Old Mi might feel like a cornered beast and risk it all. Old Mi was already seriously injured. The longer Wei Dan stalled, the more blood Old Mi would lose. The more blood he lost, the weaker he would become.

“Are you saying you don’t care? You have quite a bit of fake beard plastered around your mouth too!” Old Mi wiped away the blood staining the corners of his lips, accidentally rubbing off the rest of his fake beard. A pained expression appeared on his face.