‘They are really into it…’

Zhang Dong was surprised to see the many cultivators that had gathered in this large venue. The quality of the experts housed here was probably enough to bulldoze through the entire empire if they set their sights on the smaller sects. It put the original size of the Zhang Clan in perspective as even one core formation expert from here would probably be able to eradicate it themselves.

In actuality, he was not that interested in defending his honor or the sects. There were more pressing matters at hand but due to the Long Clan, he needed to do it by the book. Even if Zhang Liu lost this fight he would not care much as he was confident in his own skills. Perhaps his disciple would be depressed for a bit but it would give him some room to grow.

‘Seems like Liu wants to prove himself to me after my absence, there are no opponents for him in the sect in the same age bracket either and Feng Nuana keeps him on a short leash too.’

This was a good opportunity for his star disciple to spread his wings. Without a certain ball and chain attached to his leg he could finally breathe. It was actually interesting to see what the people around him would do without him giving out orders for once. The fight would also be good training so he did not bother to stop them. Yet if he saw any foul play he would instantly act even if that meant that he would be insulting the Azure Dragon himself.

‘I wonder if I’m stronger than Long Qing…’

While his thoughts were clouded by various things he was brought back to reality by a loud gong.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Zhang Liu, most of you might not know him but he is a disciple of our long-lost Golden Dragon, Long Dong!”

“Long Dong!”

“It’s really the Golden Dragon, Long Dong!”

“Uhhh…”

An announcer flew out on a flying sword and his voice boomed through the whole arena. Zhang Liu hopped onto the stage when his name was called but all of the attention was focused on his master. The moment everyone started chanting his updated name Zhang Dong wanted to crawl under the stage. It was a bit funny but when so many people were cheering it started getting uncomfortable for even someone of his status.

“The next person doesn’t need an introduction, he is Lord Long Fengge’s star disciple, Long Enlai!”

Luckily the announcement quickly continued and everyone looked to the other handsome young man hopping onto the stage. His height was over six feet and his facial features made him quite alluring to the ladies. Even though everyone here was from the Long Clan it didn’t mean that they had close blood ties and thus various young women started shouting to get the young man’s attention.

“Today these two young masters will clash in a friendly sparring match, will the yet unknown Zhang Liu be victorious or will Long Enlai claim another victory!”

By how the announcer was speaking it made it seem that this type of flashy combat was common. Zhang Dong could only attribute this to the lack of much entertainment around here. The cultivators were on top of the world without any enemies. No one in their right mind would be willing to challenge a person from the Long Clan. Thus they probably could only challenge each other to friendly matches and make a large spectacle of it.

‘Don’t worry master, I will show them that our techniques are superior!’

‘Ah yes, make me proud.’

Before the fight started Zhang Liu sent a message to Zhang Dong that could only cheer his disciple on. While he could not learn much from the fight himself he was still interested in some of the techniques that these Long Clan members used. The fights that he previously had had ended quite fast so he couldn’t really put his own lightning skills against them that well.

Enlai was a disciple of someone from the royal family. He was probably in possession of some hidden skills that the Azure Emperor was using. While the stronger arts were reserved for direct blood relatives some of them should be similar.

‘The Azure Dragon, as I remember, also had some folklore behind it. I think it was also called the blue-green dragon and its domain was rain.’

Finally, the two young men took up their stances. They were fighting barehanded with no weapons which could put some of them at a disadvantage. It was also just a spar and with sword energies flying around a head could come off quite easily.

While deep blue lightning surrounded Zhang Liu’s whole body, Enlai produced a fainter bluish aura that resembled clear ocean water instead. It was as if an enhanced Zhang Clan member was fighting with his disciple which also raised a few questions about his background. Could there be a direct relation between his old clan and this one, both of them used water techniques but one was clearly inferior?

‘I guess this whole scenario had deeper ties that were supposed to be connected in the future, I messed everything up by getting cut away from the system.’

Zhang Dong was not sure what the main scenario of this world was supposed to be. Was he supposed to live through that difficult expedition as someone that barely had any training in the core formation realm? Or perhaps the main plan was for the Zhang Clan to fall instead. Then while he adventures through the lands he would discover his real background that connected him to the Long Clan.

“What’s this, the challenger has decided to make the first move, what a loud movement technique!”

Zhang Liu was like a past version of himself, the movement art that he used was an improved version of the Thunder Movement Art that came together with the system. It produced a loud booming sound and made it look as if the user was sliding on the ground at an astonishing speed. The after images left by this art were quite dense which could confuse an inexperienced enemy, regretfully the young man was quite experienced.

A palm strike was the first attack, it carried Zhang Liu’s understanding of the Dao of Lightning. If he was fighting any other cultivator from any other sect then this one attack would probably have ended it. Yet Enlai countered with a palm strike of his own, when the two palms collided with each other a class of Qi occurred and was followed by a roar.

“Ladies and gentlemen, what is this! The young master\s Azure dragon palm is being held back by Zhang Liu’s own palm! Two dragons are fighting for supremacy!”

Enlai’s palm strike produced an illusory image of a water dragon. It was coiling around his hand and trying to devour Zhang Liu’s palm. Yet a similar technique was used by his disciple but instead of a dragon made from water it was made from blue lightning energy. Even though it was up against water the electrical discharge wasn’t doing much damage to Enlai’s body.

It seemed that the young man from the Long Clan was confused about something. The technique he was using was probably considered to be a staple around here. He had clearly cultivated it to a high degree but it was unable to overpower the lightning art that Zhang Liu was producing.

Soon the two blurry before everyone’s eyes and start blasting each other with their palm attacks. It was as if both of them wanted to prove that their palm technique was the superior one as they weren’t using anything else. Yet even after a hundred exchanges, there was no winner and both of them were forced to retreat to evaluate this tactic.

“For a country bumpkin, you aren’t that bad.”

“Finally stopped underestimating me?”

“Hah, I haven’t even shown you half of my true power!”

“Well, I haven’t even used a quarter of mine!”

Both of them had realized that they were somewhat evenly matched. The little exchange of moves was there to prod for an opening and now they would reveal their teeth against each other. In Zhang Lius a sword of pure lightning energy appeared which was also an improved version of the Thunderlight Sword Zhang Dong used to use. While the technique mostly fell in contrast to proper armaments when there was none it could easily slice an opponent in half.

In response Enlai produced an unknown technique of his own. Multiple water dragons surrounded his body while also producing a large water puddle that traveled in all directions. The water soon encompassed more than half of the arena while the previously visible dragons jumped into it to submerge themselves.

Liu was right at the edge of this body of water and could tell that his legs would quickly sink down into it if he stepped forward. Only when surrounding his feet with a protective layer of Qi would he be able to move forward.

‘Interesting technique, I bet the moment Liu tries to dash forward those water dragons will try to tear him to shreds, it’s like creating an area of influence. I bet if he falls into that puddle he won’t be able to get out either a good technique if your opponent can’t use a flying sword but will it be enough?’

It didn’t seem that Liu was taking the bait of jumping toward his opponent but he would need to make up his mind fast. Even after taking over half of the stage the puddle of water continued to expand in all directions. If he continued to stand there without doing nothing he would need to step onto the watery zone.

Yet Liu didn’t move, he just held his lightning sword over his head while concentrating. This was another take back to his old fighting days, a sword technique that could cleave through almost everything. While it would be weakened by not having a proper sword, the one made from lightning energy would still make it work.

Thus before the entire area was consumed by water Zhang Liu moved his hands down to cleave. The moment the place connected with the approaching water it was cleaved apart along with the stage below it. Though his opponent was not weak, multiple water dragons tossed themselves at the sword energy to absorb the blasts. The attack continued to approach Enlai that was just standing there but right before reaching him the energy was halted.

Enlai grinned while opening his eyes, Zhang Liu was already charging toward him while the large basin of water was forced to the sides.

“I have you now!”

“Think again!”

Both of them shouted at each other, Liu with his sword raised as he charged forward and Enlai with his hands performing a grasping motion. The water that had been parted started swarming back as a concentrated blade of azure. Would it reach Liu before he delivered the final blow or would Zhang Dong’s disciple be the first to strike…