Chapter 6

Dugu Feng strolled through the boundless web of trigram energy as if she were taking a leisurely walk in a courtyard, gradually getting closer to Nangong Wentian. However, just as her toes touched the ground to borrow force and catch her breath, a shockwave of hidden energy surged from beneath her feet. In the blink of an eye, several emerald trigram energy chains, like dragons, burst from the ground, spiraling upward from Dugu Feng's landing point, entwining and binding her.

"Haha, you've fallen for it," Nangong Wentian laughed, his surrounding energy surging. The trigram energy that had been woven into a net instantly condensed into a massive trigram pattern. The trigram energy was so solid that it seemed tangible, and with Nangong Wentian's palms, it descended like a mountain, aiming to crush Dugu Feng, who was locked by the trigram energy.

Under the immense pressure of the energy, Dugu Feng's figure instantly collapsed. Nangong Wentian suddenly realized that the Dugu Feng he had locked with his hidden energy was just a residual image left by sword qi. He was startled and immediately changed his move without hesitation.

"Chapter Two of the Heavenly Freedom Manual — Guarding the Universe with Intent!"

Guarding the Universe with Intent, drawing a prison on the ground, limiting the world. As Nangong Wentian's move flowed, boundless trigram energy swirled around him, forming a square trigram space. Guarding the Universe with Intent, where intent aligns with the universe, creates a personal space within a limited area. The universe is the great cosmos, and the self is the small cosmos, resisting all external attacks. As long as the trigram energy does not dissipate, the defense will not fail. This is the only defensive move in the Heavenly Freedom Manual, capable of withstanding attacks several times stronger without collapsing.

"Nice reaction!" Dugu Feng suddenly appeared behind Nangong Wentian, praising him as she pressed her palm against the square trigram space.

"Boom!"

Under Dugu Feng's palm, countless layers of trigram energy dispersed, but they quickly restored themselves. The square trigram space stood firm under Dugu Feng's full-strength palm, demonstrating the powerful defensive capability of the "Guarding the Universe with Intent" move.

A hint of interest appeared on Dugu Feng's lips as she formed a sword with her fingers and thrust it forward.

"Roaming Sword Qi through the Universe!"

With one thrust, the world changed.

Suddenly, countless threads of sword qi appeared in the air. These sword qi threads were as fine as green silk, existing between the real and the illusory, like fish swimming in the void, moving unpredictably.

Under Dugu Feng's finger, the endless threads of sword qi surged like a flood, slashing at the square trigram energy. In an instant, countless fine threads of sword qi clashed fiercely with the layered trigram energy. In a single breath, the square trigram space, under the continuous slashes of the fine threads of sword qi, collapsed with a loud boom.

As the trigram energy collapsed, the sword qi surged like a tide.

With no choice, Nangong Wentian gathered his strength again and performed the third chapter of the Heavenly Freedom Manual — Spirit Roaming Beyond the World.

Spirit Roaming Beyond the World, where the body is in the vast universe, and life is limited, but the universe is infinite. Nangong Wentian used the method of Spirit Roaming Beyond the World to draw on the elemental energy of the universe to protect himself. The chaotic space, where trigram energy and sword qi intertwined, suddenly exploded like a ignited powder keg. The endless threads of sword qi chasing him were swallowed by the surging elemental energy, and Nangong Wentian took the opportunity to escape the sword qi's encirclement, flashing to a distance of several dozen zhang.

Dugu Feng couldn't help but shake her head slightly. The combat habits in the Divine Armament World were very different from those in the Tang Dynasty World. In the Tang Dynasty World, due to the relatively similar levels of power, even grandmasters dared not withstand the full-strength attacks of innate experts, so battles were more about deception, pursuit, and interference.

In the Divine Armament World, the warriors' physiques were robust, and the power gap between experts was significant. This led to a combat style that often relied on overwhelming force. If one layer of power couldn't defeat the opponent, they would push their power to a higher level, with little flexibility in adapting to the environment. The advantage was that the power of experts could increase rapidly, almost without limit, but the downside was the inefficient use of power. Generally, experts could only unleash about four to five layers of their power in a full-strength attack, rarely achieving the extreme situation of using all their power in one strike, as seen in the Tang Dynasty World.

It was hard to say which mode was better, as increasing output power wasn't just about improving martial arts skills. Superior martial arts wisdom, sensitive combat awareness, and resilient martial will were all methods to enhance output power. Experts like the Evil Emperor, with profound martial arts wisdom, and the leader of the Great Rakshasa Sect, with resilient martial will, would not be inferior to Dugu Feng in controlling their power.

However, at least for now, Nangong Wentian's power control was far from matching Dugu Feng's. Although his power was greater than hers, his maximum output was only about seven to eight layers of his power. Even with the assistance of elemental energy, it only multiplied his current output by several times. In contrast, Dugu Feng could unleash her full power with a casual strike, and once she drew on the elemental energy, her output could increase tenfold or even a hundredfold, far beyond what Nangong Wentian could match.

Nangong Wentian's combat awareness was good, but he lacked the tempering of bloody battles, and his martial will was not yet resilient enough. He still had a long way to go to reach his peak. This made Dugu Feng somewhat uninterested in the battle.

Dugu Feng's sword finger turned, transforming into the move "Sword Qi Locking the Universe."

Suddenly, hundreds of solid sword shadows appeared in the air, crisscrossing and forming a grid of sword qi, dividing the space of several hundred zhang into small squares. In an instant, Nangong Wentian, who was riding the elemental energy, was trapped in a cage of sword light.

"Again this move!" Nangong Wentian cursed inwardly. He had been defeated by this move countless times. Without hesitation, he activated the fourth chapter of the Heavenly Freedom Manual, "Limitless Freedom," and his figure split into four, then into eight.

The trigram symbols of Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui appeared in the air, and the eight Nangong Wentians exerted their power simultaneously. The sky and wind suddenly changed, and an overwhelming force appeared, distorting space. Endless cosmic energy was absorbed into Nangong Wentian's body.

The eight Nangong Wentians merged into one, and a massive force surged, breaking through the layers of sword light. A huge shadow, resembling a fish or a bird, appeared on Nangong Wentian, its mountain-like figure moving with the force of ocean tides, symbolizing the ultimate freedom of the mythical creature — the Kunpeng.

The Kunpeng spread its wings and soared to the ninth heaven.

As the Kunpeng rose, the shadow grew and solidified. When it reached its highest point, Nangong Wentian's figure was no longer visible in the massive shadow. Only a giant bird, several dozen zhang long, remained in the sky.

The Kunpeng spread its wings, locking onto Dugu Feng, and the immense pressure surged through the space. In an instant, it felt as if the heavens were collapsing, and everything was pressing down on Dugu Feng.

"This move is quite interesting!" Dugu Feng, seeing Nangong Wentian successfully perform Limitless Freedom for the first time, became slightly more interested: "I'll be a bit more serious then!"

"Spirit Roaming Beyond the World with the Sword!"

Dugu Feng's right hand formed a grip, and in an instant, the countless threads of sword qi and grid sword qi that had dispersed in the air converged, like birds returning to their nests, into Dugu Feng's right hand, forming an ancient and ethereal long sword.

The Kunpeng extended its claws, carrying the force of a collapsing sky, and lunged at Dugu Feng.

Dugu Feng raised her sword to the sky and slashed.

The originally four-foot-long ethereal sword grew inch by inch as Dugu Feng slashed.

Ten feet... ten feet... a hundred feet...

In an instant, the hundred-foot-long sword qi pierced the clouds, slashing at the equally massive Kunpeng shadow.

"Boom..."

The Kunpeng shadow shattered, creating a violent storm of energy. The hundred-foot-long sword, with its momentum still intact, struck Nangong Wentian, sending him plummeting into the icy river from a hundred feet in the air.

After the battle, Dugu Feng ignored Nangong Wentian and turned to find Wenlai.

Behind a small hill about a mile away, Wenlai was comforting a small deer that was trembling from the shock of the battle between Dugu Feng and Nangong Wentian: "Don't be afraid! Big brother and Snow sister are good people! They won't eat you..."

"Come on, Alai, let's go soak in the hot spring!" Dugu Feng called from the hilltop.

"Hey, did you finish the fight, Snow sister?" Alai stood up, delighted: "Where's big brother?"

Dugu Feng smiled: "Your big brother is catching fish for you in the river. He said he wants to treat Alai to a delicious fish soup tonight!"

"Boom!"

As Dugu Feng spoke, the surface of the icy river exploded, and Nangong Wentian burst out of the water with a geyser of water.

"Miss, don't make things up behind people's backs!" Nangong Wentian, drenched, landed in front of Dugu Feng, not bothering to evaporate the water on his body, and said hastily: "You're so gossipy!"

Dugu Feng looked at Nangong Wentian, who was full of frustration and dissatisfaction, and smiled: "Wentian, what should you call me?"

Nangong Wentian's handsome face turned awkward and embarrassed. He mumbled a few times, finally reluctantly saying: "Hmph! Where in the world is there a master like you, who takes pleasure in bullying and beating disciples, and is so stingy, afraid that teaching too much will starve the master?"

Dugu Feng laughed: "Aren't all disciples in the world bullied and exploited by their masters?"

Nangong Wentian was speechless, completely at a loss with this unreasonable and confident bad master.

Dugu Feng ignored Nangong Wentian and called to Alai: "Alai, let's go soak in the hot spring. Let your big brother catch fish here!" Then she turned to Nangong Wentian and said: "If you want to surpass me, first master the Heart Benevolence Sword Emperor."

Nangong Wentian, who was about to say something, stopped in his tracks, lost in thought. Dugu Feng's teachings were not held back; besides the revised Heavenly Freedom Manual, she even taught Nangong Wentian her self-created imitation version of the Heart Sword Divine Technique. However, due to the differences in time and martial arts styles, Nangong Wentian found the imitation version of the Heart Sword Divine Technique, which fundamentally cultivates mental power, very difficult to adapt to.

Dugu Feng's version of the Heart Sword Divine Technique emphasizes infusing emotions into the sword, using emotions to win, with the mind being unpredictable and ever-changing. The first six techniques were relatively easy, focusing on how to infuse emotions into sword techniques, using the heart as the foundation and the sword as the brush, freely expressing thoughts and feelings. Although it was difficult to change emotions at will, maintaining a single emotion for a long time was relatively easy for Nangong Wentian.

The most challenging for Nangong Wentian was the seventh technique of the Heart Sword Divine Technique. The seventh technique had no fixed form, only requiring each person to find their own belief and infuse it into the sword technique, forming a unique heart sword. Dugu Feng's self-created seventh technique was "Heart Mood Sword God."

Given Nangong Wentian's future role as the Lord of Tianjing, his path should be the "Heart Benevolence Sword Emperor." Unfortunately, the current Nangong Wentian, a young man in his early twenties, had not yet experienced the various adventures in the original story, nor had he been enlightened by Nüwa to understand the power of Tianjing's benevolence. Therefore, he was completely lost with the "Heart Benevolence Sword Emperor" technique and could not grasp it.

PS: What a tragedy, the power went out at home. I came to the internet cafe and found that the Word versions were different, so it took until now, really frustrating.

Regarding the update times, generally, there will be two updates a day, at 10 AM and 6 PM.

Today's two chapters are updated together.

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