Chapter 470: Immortal Fairy Uproots the Laurel Tree

"Bring it on." The Immortal Fairy was itching for a fight, completely unfazed by Luo Hongxia's challenge.

Since her debut, she had traversed the ancient realm for sixteen years, sweeping through every battle with unbroken victories; for her, challenging those of higher realms was a regular occurrence, and as the pioneer of the Invincible Elixir, she feared no one when it came to combat!

Not even Yun Zhi was an exception!

The onlookers had no intention of stopping them, finding the turn of events rather amusing instead, and cleared a space to allow Luo Hongxia and the Immortal Fairy to unleash their might.

Everyone wanted to see the true extent of Lu Yang's strength, and Qiu Jin'an was no exception.

Back when Lu Yang fought Huang Ming, Qiu Jin'an had felt that Lu Yang had not fully exerted himself and surely held other trump cards in reserve.

Luo Hongxia opened a small, round box—a supreme treasure forged from the unique horn of a Xiezhi, known as the Light-Binding Box.

Invoking her ancestral incantation, Luo Hongxia activated the Light-Binding Box, which shot out two beams of light; one landed upon herself, and the other upon the Immortal Fairy.

Just as the Immortal Fairy was about to dispel the beam, she heard Luo Hongxia say, "Do not resist. The box can adjust both of our realms to the exact same level."

Hearing this, the Immortal Fairy gave Luo Hongxia some face and ceased her resistance.

With a sharp whoosh, the two were sucked into the box.

The interior of the box was a vast, boundless expanse, and its environment could change at the whim of the caster; mountains, rivers, lakes, and oceans could all be conjured, making it ideal for environmental warfare.

The moment she entered the box, Luo Hongxia's realm began to shift, plummeting continuously through the Body Integration stage, the Void Refinement stage, the Deity Transformation stage... all the way down to the mid-Golden Core stage.

Her physical strength and mental power adjusted accordingly.

"The mid-Golden Core stage... this realm truly brings back memories." Luo Hongxia smiled; in her youth, she too had been a peerless genius without equal in the world, so formidable that peers lacked even the courage to face her in battle.

Now, returning to the mid-Golden Core stage with the wealth of her Body Integration level experience, who could possibly match her?

"Begin!"

Luo Hongxia cast a seed forward, executing the Tree-Planting Incantation; the seed took root and sprouted, and a graceful laurel tree rose elegantly, its leaves rustling as it radiated a vibrant vitality!

The laurel tree would provide her with an endless stream of power.

"Bright Moon Hanging High!"

Luo Hongxia raised her hand, and a bright, pristine moon hung in the high sky, casting down moonlight that transformed into cones of sharp light, raining down toward the Immortal Fairy.

The power of each light cone was remarkable; an ordinary Golden Core cultivator hit by a single one would be severely wounded and stripped of their combat capability.

The Immortal Fairy dodged deftly with light, nimble steps, resembling a clever cat; with a slight tilt of her body, she evaded the lunar onslaught.

This was a technique inspired by her battle with the Qilin Immortal; seeing how agile the Qilin Immortal was, leaping up and down and miraculously dodging a few of her own attacks—which was highly rare—she contrasted him with the Heaven-Echoing Immortal, who only knew how to take hits head-on and possessed far inferior footwork.

Moved by the sight, she had carefully observed the Qilin Immortal's movement trajectories and derived the "Qilin Steps."

Seeing that she could not land a single hit on the Immortal Fairy, Luo Hongxia formed hand seals, shifting her gesture as the light cones began to pour down like a relentless, infinite, and unending deluge of rain.

Faced with an attack that left no room for evasion, the Immortal Fairy stamped her foot, and the yellow earth beneath her surged like waves, billowing layer upon layer to form a tsunami of soil that roared forward, seemingly intent on burying her before the light cones could even land.

She extended a single finger and tapped gently upon the soil; instantly, the yellow earth turned hard as iron, freezing in place and blocking the rain of light cones.

"Turning Earth to Steel?!" Luo Hongxia gasped in surprise, not expecting Lu Yang to deploy such a technique.

She then let out a cold snort; so what if he knew ancient spells?

"The Moon Descends to the Mortal Realm!" The moon crashed down with a thunderous roar, striking toward the Immortal Fairy and colliding with the steel-like earth, kicking up a thousand layers of dust!

As the dust settled and the haze cleared, Luo Hongxia searched for Lu Yang's figure, but found absolutely nothing.

"No, he's underground!" Luo Hongxia's combat experience was immensely rich; in her youth, she had frequently been ambushed with this exact move by Qiu Jin'an, and practice had made perfect, allowing her to react in the shortest time possible.

The Immortal Fairy was employing a perfectly orthodox earth-burrowing technique, its effect virtually identical to Lu Yang's "Ground-Shrinking."

Luo Hongxia leaped fiercely into the air, ensuring that no matter which direction Lu Yang launched his ambush from, she would have a chance to dodge.

"Bright Moon Hanging High."

A bright moon was suspended in the sky once more; the moment Lu Yang dared to show his head, he would face the lunar assault all over again!

The Immortal Fairy emerged from the ground, yet she did not target Luo Hongxia; instead, she attacked the laurel tree that Luo Hongxia had planted at the very start of the battle.

The mana required for Luo Hongxia's attacks was not something a mid-Golden Core cultivator could sustain—even Lu Yang would find it strained—so the answer was obvious: the laurel tree was feeding Luo Hongxia a continuous stream of power.

This was actually a standard combat tactic of the Laurel Immortal Palace, typically mastered only by Nascent Soul disciples; even Lan Ting could not execute it yet, but Luo Hongxia had managed it at the Golden Core stage by relying on her vast experience.

Luo Hongxia felt a brief flash of tension, surprised that her opponent's awareness was so keen as to analyze the weakness so quickly, but she soon regained her composure.

The laurel tree possessed no offensive power; it had only two traits: providing spiritual energy to the caster, and an absolutely formidable defense!

Even if Lu Yang mastered a few incredibly powerful offensive spells, it would be utterly impossible to break the laurel tree's defense in a short time!

"Quite sturdy." The Immortal Fairy casually struck the laurel tree with a fist; the tree merely shuddered slightly, without losing a single leaf.

"Looks like I need to use a little method... Paraquat Fist!"

To cultivate her Fairy Fist techniques, she had studied thousands of herbal fist styles, from which she derived a branch technique specifically designed to counter plant-based lifeforms; once unleashed, a hundred grasses would wither and no vegetation could survive, hence the name Paraquat Fist.

The laurel tree took a single punch; its leaves turned yellow and dry, its trunk withered, and in the blink of an eye, it died away!

Pfft—

Luo Hongxia violently spat out a mouthful of blood, her face turning deathly pale from the backlash of the laurel tree.

She had never expected the opponent to slay the laurel tree with a single punch; what kind of fist technique was this?!

But what of it? Even without the laurel tree, could she possibly lose to a junior?

Luo Hongxia dove down from high above, while the Immortal Fairy uprooted the dead laurel tree and swung the entire tree right at her, smacking her into complete a daze.

In the imperial palace, a group of orthodox grandmasters gathered around the box, discussing animatedly.

"Who do you think will win between the two of them?"

Those outside could not see the situation inside the box and could only speculate.

"Hongxia, surely. Her combat experience is immense, incomparable to those Body Integration cultivators who dispersed their cultivation to start anew. Lu Yang is just a junior, how can he compete?" Yang Ding guessed, stroking his chin.

"I share that sentiment," the Emperor of Xia echoed.

"Lu Yang isn't entirely without a chance to win," Qiu Jin'an murmured, hesitant to speak too definitively; after all, this was the junior brother trained by Yun Zhi, and there was no telling what spells he might pull off.

"Look, the box is glowing. The victor is about to be decided!"

Boom—

Luo Hongxia came flying backward out of the box, seeing stars and with a mouth full of tree leaves.

The second chapter will be at eleven o'clock.

(End of this chapter)