Chapter 666: Phoenix’s Bloodline
Long Chen’s Five Piercing Dragon was barely stronger than his regular punch at this point.
Bam!
The air was ripped apart as Long Chen’s essence coursed through his nine Martial Meridians. The blood-red Golden Crow appeared vaguely on his cores as the flames surged into his fist. Long Chen’s fist was shrouded in the illusion of a blood-red Golden Crow!
On top of the terrifying feeling emanating from the Ancient Bloodsoul Dragon coming from Long Chen’s veins, the Heavenly Phoenix was also wary of the bird-type presence inside him. The Divine Phoenix was rumored to be immortal and the peak of all bird-type demonic beasts. It also had a trace of the Divine Phoenix’s blood in its veins, but even so, it was wary of the Golden Crow’s strength.
Despite all that, the Heavenly Phoenix would not retreat. It had its pride as the king of Sky Isle and as the descendant of the Divine Phoenix. It would never retreat, even though Long Chen was stronger!
Long Chen’s punch had angered the Heavenly Phoenix. It would not allow itself to be challenged by him, especially after the latter had killed its strongest subordinate.
The Heavenly Phoenix cultivated by reversing its body into an egg and cultivating inside of it. When Long Chen and Xiaolang first appeared, the Heavenly Phoenix only sensed Xiaolang’s strength and ignored Long Chen. That was why it had sent the Six-Winged Fire Bird to intercept them while it underwent the process of revival. It had never thought the Six-Winged Fire Bird would be killed by Xiaolang shortly after.
When did such a talented youngster appear in the Divine Martial Empire? Did he come from one of the other empires?
The Heavenly Phoenix couldn’t afford to waste time on such questions since Long Chen was directly below it. The Heavenly Phoenix turned its body downwards and used its claws to block Long Chen’s attack. Its body was large enough to cover the sun while its claws were larger than Long Chen!An ancient power surged out from the Heavenly Phoenix.
In terms of physical strength, the demonic beasts had humans outclassed. It would’ve been fine if Long Chen had managed to cultivate an intermediate or advanced King-tier Body Tempering Method, but it was extremely difficult to use only his essence to block the Heavenly Phoenix’s large body.
Thankfully, humans had martial techniques.
Boom!
Long Chen flew backwards from the impact, causing his blood to boil.
But he soon recovered and chuckled. “Not bad! You are strong.”
Being able to withstand a hit from the Heavenly Phoenix was a testament to how strong Long Chen’s body was.
The Heavenly Phoenix realized that even though Long Chen was small, his body was surprisingly sturdy. Therefore, it decided to sacrifice some of its strength and turned smaller. Flames appeared on its body as it shrunk.
Demonic beasts at the King-tier were all capable of shrinking their bodies. Xiaolang had the power to do so even while he was at the Earth-tier, though it was not suitable for combat. On the other hand, the Heavenly Phoenix’s mini-form was much suited for combat.
A King-tier demonic beast could shrink their body to a certain degree for combat. Xiaolang could shrink his body to the size of a horse while the Heavenly Phoenix could shrink to six meters!
A massive being capable of covering the sun had shrunk down to six meters. Nothing had changed for the Heavenly Phoenix except for its strength and mobility. By shrinking down, it had increased its mobility at the cost of some strength.
Demonic beasts preferred to maintain their natural body size and weight because it was the most comfortable state for them. The larger a demonic beast, the stronger they were. This was the basic rule that Long Chen and every cultivator understood.
The Heavenly Phoenix wouldn’t have shrunk unless it was necessary to do so.
Because it had seen how agile Long Chen was.
To think that the Willow Step is so versatile! I could even use it in the air! This was the first time Long Chen had tried to use it mid-air, though he had mentally prepared himself just in case he had to fight on the ground.
Using Willow Step, Long Chen floated and zipped in the air like a willow leaf. The Heavenly Phoenix’s attack had only managed to knock him away.
After shrinking, the Heavenly Phoenix’s speed and agility increased drastically, and it flew towards Long Chen.
It had recognized Long Chen as the primary threat!
The gold and red flames swirled around the Heavenly Phoenix’s body.
Whoosh!
The Heavenly Phoenix swooped down again. Its blazing red body appeared in front of Long Chen in an instant!
It was twice as fast now!
Long Chen no longer had the advantage in agility.
The Divine Phoenix’s wings were like burning blades attempting to cut him down.
It flapped its wings and formed a torrent of flames resembling blades. The burning blades shot towards Long Chen at extreme speeds!
The attack’s power was comparable to a human’s martial technique!
“Wind God Kick, Typhoon Style!” Long Chen used the second technique of the Wind God Kick to parry the burning blades. Similar to the Divine Phoenix, Long Chen’s legs were cloaked in the flames of the Golden Crow.
There was a difference between blood-red and scarlet. The Divine Phoenix’s flames had a tinge of gold and yellow, while Long Chen’s flames were completely blood-red with an overbearing heat!
Two different flames clashed in the air, covering the sky in flames. A human and a bird zipped over Sky Isle. They were evenly matched as their attacks clashed again and again. Long Chen used his legs to force the Divine Phoenix back, while the Divine Phoenix forced him back using its wings.
“Soul Dispersing Dragon Claw, Five Piercing Dragons!” Long Chen suddenly used his claws to attack the DIvine Phoenix! Five dragon illusions flew towards it.
The battle was intense.
Just as the Divine Phoenix had its own strengths, Long Chen has his too. Neither side showed any promise of victory for now.
But Long Chen was secretly wary because he knew how strong the Divine Phoenix was. He was certain that if he hadn’t managed to break into the Third Earthly Martial Stage, he would never have been able to defeat it, even with Xiaolang’s help.
The powerful flaming blades were more than enough to chop Long Chen and Xiaolang to bits. Long Chen would’ve never been able to use the Golden Crow Flames to force the Divine Phoenix back if he was still at the Second Earthly Martial Stage.
The Divine Phoenix was forced to become passive after Long Chen used the Five Piercing Dragons, but it wasn’t panicking at all, as it had claws similar to Long Chen’s. It flashed its own talons and extended them forward to take on Long Chen’s attacks. Its talons were even harder than Long Chen’s!
Claws and talons clashed in the air, creating a terrifying grinding sound.
The Five Piercing Dragons were strong enough to cut up the flesh on the Divine Phoenix’s legs, but Long Chen was not having a good time either. His claws were almost broken by the hard talons.
He felt a burning sensation on his hand.
Long Chen quickly retreated. One wrong move and I’m dead!
Both the man and the beast were injured from that clash, but the Heavenly Phoenix was infuriated. In the end, it was merely a demonic beast, so its intelligence was limited.
It let out a sharp cry, causing the clouds surrounding them to dissipate.
The scarlet flames on the Heavenly Phoenix sputtered out. Replacing them were golden flames, and the Heavenly Phoenix was enveloped by them. A dangerous power started to consolidate in the Heavenly Phoenix’s body.
Is it using its strongest attack?!