Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improving Spiritual Root Aptitude

A whooshing sound was heard first, followed by three clanging sounds of metal clashing.

The three flying needles pierced through the crimson sword light unleashed by the Blazing Sun Sword, diminishing its power considerably, but ultimately still clashed head-on with the sword in mid-air.

However, these flying needle magic weapons were designed specifically for surprise attacks. They were already at a disadvantage when facing offensive weapons like the Flaming Sun Sword head-on. With a crisp "clang," the three flying needle magic weapons were directly knocked away by the Flaming Sun Sword and "thud thud thud" into the tree trunk not far away, their ends still trembling slightly.

The Blazing Sun Sword, having deflected the three flying needles, continued its momentum, still carrying its residual force as it aimed straight for Liu Xi's face.

Liu Xi's eyes suddenly narrowed, and he raised his hand to unleash a beam of azure light. A circular shield quickly appeared from his storage bag, instantly forming in front of him and precisely blocking the fierce thrust of the Flaming Sun Sword.

The sword blade struck the shield, sending up ripples of spiritual energy.

He breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, I severed the spiritual connection with the Azure Shadow Blade in time. Otherwise, with the spiritual connection split, I wouldn't have been able to summon another defensive magic weapon to protect myself."

Just as they stabilized the attack of the Flaming Sun Sword, Wu Fan's fire serpent pounced forward on the other side, crashing hard into the multi-layered talismanic light shield laid out by the willow mat.

With a series of crackling sounds, the outer layer of talisman-formed light shield was successively burned away by the high temperature of the fire serpent, turning into specks of spiritual light and dissipating. The size of the fire serpent also visibly shrank.

Immediately following a piercing "sizzle" sound, the weakened fire serpent crashed into Liu Xi's last blue light shield once more.

The blue light shield began to flicker violently, and after a brief stalemate, it ultimately could not hold on.

Perhaps it was because Wu Fan's fire serpent was too powerful, or perhaps it was because Liu Xi's wood-attribute spiritual power was completely suppressed by the fire attribute, but the azure light shield finally shattered.

However, this azure shield was, after all, a defensive spell cast by a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator. After the fire serpent broke through the shield, it also exhausted its last bit of spiritual power, turning into countless sparks that fluttered down from the sky.

Seeing that the fire snake had failed to injure Liu Xi, Wu Fan's expression changed slightly. He dared not delay for a moment and quickly began to form hand seals.

Three fireballs suddenly formed and blasted towards Liu Xi's left, right, and other directions respectively, clearly intending to block his escape space before launching a strong attack.

"Hmph, young Fan, you underestimate this old man!"

Liu Xi snorted coldly, his hand forming a hand seal at an incredibly fast pace. A flash of azure light enveloped his entire body, and a new azure shield instantly formed around him.

With three muffled thuds, the three fireballs struck the shield, causing the azure shield to dim violently and nearly shatter.

Liu Xi was secretly shocked: "This kid's magic is so powerful?"

His wariness of Wu Fan increased even more.

Out of fear, Liu Xi suddenly changed his gesture and pointed at the yellow flag in front of him.

The earthy yellow spiritual light that had been swirling around Wu Fan instantly split into two, transforming into two slightly smaller balls of earthy yellow spiritual light. These balls mimicked Wu Fan's fireball attack, flanking him from both sides.

"Sizzle sizzle..."

The ear-piercing corrosive sound continued to ring out. The shield that Wu Fan had formed with the Fire Screen Technique could not withstand the erosion of the two balls of earth-attribute spiritual light and shattered with a crash.

But he was prepared. Taking advantage of the moment the shield shattered, he rolled backward and activated the Fire Cloud Shield with all his might. A crimson spiritual light shield immediately appeared in front of him, barely catching the two balls of earthy yellow spiritual light that were chasing after him.

The hissing sound resumed, and the spiritual light of the Fire Cloud Shield was continuously eroded, but it still managed to withstand the attack.

But Liu Xi gave him no chance to catch his breath. With another flick of his finger, he manipulated the two balls of earthy yellow spiritual light to merge back into one, transforming into a more condensed ball of light that continued to bombard the Fire Cloud Shield, clearly intending to exhaust his spiritual power.

For a moment, the two were locked in a stalemate.

During the stalemate, Liu Xi narrowed his eyes, suddenly clasped his hands together, and began to rapidly change his hand gestures, clearly preparing an even stronger move.

Upon seeing this, Wu Fan's heart immediately tightened.

The opponent has a wide range of methods and abundant magical artifacts, making them far more difficult to deal with than I expected.

More importantly, he was only at the fifth level of Qi Refining, and controlling a first-grade high-quality magic weapon already consumed a great deal of energy. To compete with Liu Xi, who was at the late stage of Qi Refining, in terms of sheer magical power was simply asking for trouble.

"We can't waste any more time with him!"

Wu Fan made a silent vow: "I must use the Poison Sac Bead and the Exploding Bead as soon as possible!"

Each of these two beads is worth a top-grade first-tier magic weapon, but at this critical moment, with life and death at stake, there's no time to worry about the spirit stones.

However, these two beads only work when Liu Xi is completely unprepared. If the other party becomes aware of them, they will definitely take precautions in advance. If he fails to kill Liu Xi in one blow, he will no longer have any trump cards to contend with a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

Wu Fan looked across through the spiritual light of the Fire Cloud Shield and saw that Liu Xi's hand gestures were still changing, and the time it took to cast the spell this time was much longer than before.

The yellow flag planted in the ground suddenly shone brightly, and the image of the mythical beast depicted on the flag—a creature resembling a fat pig, covered in short ochre-yellow fur with subtle earth patterns between its fur, and with limbs as thick as pillars—gradually became ferocious and terrifying, as if it were about to come alive from the flag itself.

"Is he about to unleash his ultimate move!?"

Wu Fan felt a chill run down his spine and no longer hesitated.

With a flick of his wrist, the Flaming Sun Sword, which was stuck diagonally in the ground, immediately emitted a buzzing sound, and the blade burst out with a dazzling red light, carrying specks of flame as it thrust towards Liu Xi once again.

Immediately afterwards, Wu Fan quickly took out several mid-grade first-tier defensive talismans from his storage bag. With a flick of his fingertips, all the talismans were activated, forming several overlapping defensive light shields around him.

Even after doing all this, he was still not entirely at ease, so he poured even more spiritual power into the Fire Cloud Shield. The crimson shield shone even brighter, and the spiritual light became several times more solid, like a thick crimson barrier blocking his way.

After setting up layers of defense, Wu Fan made another hand seal, and three fireballs roared out, blasting towards Liu Xi. At the same time, he chanted incantations, and the fire snakes that had previously dissipated reformed. This time, the fire snakes were much thicker than before, nearly ten feet long, with their bodies wrapped in raging flames, agile yet fierce.

On the other side, Liu Xi barely managed to block the second attack from the Flaming Sun Sword.

In order to stabilize the situation, he even sacrificed a mid-grade first-tier defensive magic weapon.

At this moment, the preparations for casting the spell were finally completed.

The spiritual light emanating from the yellow flag was incredibly intense. He looked at Wu Fan with a smug, confident smile: "Hahaha, kid Fan, taste the power of my Kangqi's 'Wind and Soil Qi'!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the earthy yellow spiritual light on the yellow flag suddenly changed. It was no longer in the shape of quicksand, but transformed into a high-speed rotating vortex of wind and soil, accompanied by a piercing whistling sound, and rushed straight towards Wu Fan's Fire Cloud Shield.

The power of this swirling wind far surpasses the previous earthy yellow aura. The crimson aura of the Fire Cloud Shield is being worn down at a visible speed, and it looks like it will be breached in no time.