With a single spear thrust, the crowd was astonished.
Wherever the spear pointed, nothing could stand in its way.
A massive dragon claw clashed with it.
The earthy-yellow energy surrounding the dragon claw was swiftly shattered by the explosive force of the spear.
The collision between the dragon claw and the spear tip caused space to distort slightly, becoming somewhat illusory.
Xu Yuan controlled the mech, quickly withdrawing the spear and thrusting again.
The world's primal energy moved with his spear, and even the entire atmosphere of the battlefield seemed to accelerate in response to his attack.
It was as though the heavens and earth themselves possessed intent. Under this added momentum, Xu Yuan's spear seemed even faster.
Long Yue felt a piercing pain shoot through the dragon claw on his right hand. Even his bloodshot eyes momentarily cleared.
He no longer directly clashed with Xu Yuan's Heaven Origin Five Elements Spear using his dragon claw. Instead, he switched to his left hand, swiping with the dragon claw to knock the spear away from behind its tip.
Taking advantage of the motion, Xu Yuan manipulated the mech to lift the Heaven Origin Five Elements Spear with his right hand, swinging it forcefully in a circle around him before bringing it down with great force.
Wherever the spear passed, the air groaned under the strain, producing ear-piercing sonic booms. Space itself seemed to warp slightly, as if compressed by the sheer force of the strike.
Long Yue staggered backward, avoiding a direct confrontation.
The eyes of the Mountain Dragon King reflected a grave seriousness.
"Is this truly the power that a mech can unleash?"
Could a mech execute spear techniques with such perfection?
Xu Yuan didn't give him time to be shocked. After dodging another spear thrust, the Heaven Origin Five Elements Spear rotated to his left foot. He kicked the spear shaft while simultaneously gripping it with his left hand, bringing it down in another powerful slash.
His footwork shifted.
Though not Ghost Shadow Perplexing Steps, it resembled it in effect.
Though clearly distinct from Ghost Shadow Perplexing Steps, this footwork could almost be considered an entirely different style.
Yet, it gave off the same elusive, unpredictable feeling, impossible to defend against or anticipate.
Long Yue let out a roar, and the six soul rings around his body rapidly circled him. The first soul ring flashed.
"Mountain and River!"
He raised his hands toward the sky. Above the arena, it seemed as though a massive mountain had appeared, descending under his guidance to collide with Xu Yuan's spear.
Boom!
The ground shook violently, and the entire stadium trembled.
Xu Yuan quickly disengaged and retreated.
Looking back at Long Yue's direction, there was no mountain in sight. It had all been an illusion created by the Mountain Dragon King. He himself was the mountain, the river, and the earth.
After unleashing the Mountain and River soul skill, Long Yue's physique became even more exaggerated. His overall defense skyrocketed, and the deep earthy-yellow aura enveloping his body exuded the profound essence of the earth.
At this moment, Xu Yuan felt as though he were facing the entire expanse of the earth beneath him.
Xu Yuan thrust his spear once more.
Break!
Third soul skill: Piercing Spear.
Seeing the third soul ring flash on Xu Yuan's body, Long Yue chose not to block this spear head-on but instead unleashed his second and third soul skills consecutively.
"River!"
"Marsh!"
Mighty torrents erupted between the sky and the ground, converging into a massive river.
The river surrounded Xu Yuan's spear, cushioning its force.
The latter half of the river rapidly transformed into a brownish marsh, firmly adhering to Xu Yuan's spear.
Xu Yuan snorted coldly, yanking the spear free before thrusting it down with even greater force.
His blood essence surged, channeling through the spear tip in a violent burst.
The blood essence formed a phantom spear shadow, piercing through rivers and marshes alike. The spear broke through defenses, aiming straight for Long Yue's body.
Long Yue roared and brought both dragon claws together in front of him, transforming his entire body into a towering mountain.
"Unmovable as a Mountain!"
Boom!
The mountain exploded, sending boulders tumbling everywhere.
After the illusion of the mountain faded, Long Yue's figure reappeared.
He continued retreating, seemingly also heavily wounded by that previous strike.
Upon closer inspection, though both of his dragon claws were earthy-yellow with no visible blood, there was a gaping hole piercing through them.
This hole rapidly healed.
The pain forced Long Yue back into a frenzied state.
Previously, the pain had interrupted his confusion, clearing his mind.
Now, however, the pain fueled his rage, clouding his judgment and causing his eyes to turn blood-red.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan still thrust his spear forward.
The first and second soul rings flashed.
First soul skill: Five Elements Spear Technique.
Second soul skill: Spear Demon Body!
Flames of blood essence ignited around the mech, enveloping the Heaven Origin Five Elements Spear.
The five elements converged, amplified by the heavens and earth.
"Mountain and River!"
Long Yue's soul power spread across the entire arena, and mountains suddenly rose from the ground.
Xu Yuan's massive mech was disrupted by the abrupt appearance of these mountains, breaking its momentum.
Long Yue's figure vanished amidst the mountains.
"River!"
Rivers suddenly appeared, submerging Xu Yuan's mech.
The rivers converged, ferocious and relentless, battering the mech from all directions.
The mountains beneath Xu Yuan's feet abruptly surged upward, launching the mech 100 meters into the air.
Then the mountains vanished.
Xu Yuan's mech was now fully exposed in midair.
On the ground, Long Yue reappeared. His entire dragon form shot upward like a cannonball, slamming into the mech at high speed.
Boom!
This cannon-like strike crashed into Xu Yuan's mech, causing numerous internal structures to malfunction.
The mech crashed to the ground.
Xu Yuan couldn't quickly counter Long Yue's consecutive combination attacks.
The entire arena seemed to have transformed into Long Yue's domain. Within this domain, he could freely alter the terrain—mountains, rivers, and all.
The rivers surged fiercely, making it impossible for anyone to maintain their footing.
Xu Yuan's mech was no exception.
Feeling the damage within the mech, Xu Yuan sucked in a breath of cold air.
This Long Yue… he truly was a ferocious dragon incarnate.
Xu Yuan felt an unprecedented level of pressure.
This battle was intense.
At the very least, Xu Yuan lacked absolute confidence in winning through direct collisions.
The mech would eventually break down.
This was an undeniable fact.
From the previous collision, Xu Yuan's mech had already sustained some internal damage. Continuing the fight would only worsen the situation.
Once the mech became unusable, Xu Yuan would have to face Long Yue with his own body.
No, not later.
Now, Xu Yuan proactively deactivated the mech.
Compared to his own body, no matter how proficient Xu Yuan was at controlling the mech, it was ultimately somewhat cumbersome.
While he could reach the level of a spear master with the mech, it was still clunky.
It wasn't truly one with him.
It lacked the seamless control of a fully integrated system.
Real-time, precise, and nuanced control was simply impossible.
Xu Yuan's earlier performance had been impressive, but only because it followed a fixed program. He merely needed to replicate the actions step by step.
However, once Long Yue took control—such as when he used mountains and rivers to disrupt Xu Yuan's strikes—this kind of control was enough to interrupt his attacks.
If he continued fighting with the mech, it would only be gradually battered into scrap by Long Yue's tactics.
The mech's metal, though spirit-forged, hadn't reached the soul-forged stage and lacked self-repair capabilities. Once damaged in battle, it couldn't be repaired.
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