Huo Qiyuan, on the other hand, found himself surrounded by a sharp sword formation. Had his eyesight been slightly worse, he would have struggled to discern the true angle from which the sword was lunging.
However, Huo Qiyuan possessed exceptionally keen eyesight. He had already locked onto the real sword. As the blade thrust towards him, he raised his right hand and, channeling his inner strength, flicked it!
With another resonant clang!
The sword in Huo Qiyuan's hand seemed to transform into a living ice serpent. It appeared as soft as a rippling wave, yet it struck with a force that was difficult for an ordinary person to withstand, sending Wang Bingchang flying.
Huo Qiyuan's sword struck with a subtle yet potent force. Wang Bingchang hastily turned his head, but it was a moment too late. A blood-red gash immediately appeared on his cheek. Had his reaction been even a fraction slower, his ear might have been severed.
Wang Bingchang retreated once more, his heart a mixture of anger and desperation. Sweat dripped incessantly from his forehead, and his eyebrows and eyelashes were beaded with glistening dew. His eyes, however, were burning crimson.
He attacked again, charging forward in a frenzy, his stabs seemingly wild and chaotic, yet each a lethal blow. Huo Qiyuan did not initiate any attacks; he simply parried each of Wang Bingchang's onslaughts.
After exchanging blows with Wang Bingchang for over a dozen rounds in this manner, Huo Qiyuan had largely deciphered his opponent's patterns.
Huo Qiyuan spun his sword in the air several times, tracing countless large circles. Though he was not gripping the hilt, the longsword seemed to have fused with his body, dancing in his palm and fending off all of Wang Bingchang's attacks.
Meanwhile, Wang Bingchang, holding his sword in his right hand, did not neglect his left. He subtly moved his wrist and, catching Huo Qiyuan off guard, flung his left hand forward.
Several shimmering silver needles flew towards Huo Qiyuan. The spinning sword deflected some of the needles, but two managed to slip through the gaps.
Such sneak attacks were utterly useless against Huo Qiyuan. With a casual flick of his left hand, he caught the two needles. Seeing his action, a sinister curve appeared on Wang Bingchang's lips.
These poison needles were coated with the potent 'Soul-Chasing Powder.' Instantaneous upon contact with blood, it was lethal at the slightest touch. Even without piercing the skin, merely touching the skin was enough for the poison to rapidly infiltrate the opponent's body, making it impossible to defend against.
Upon catching the needles, Huo Qiyuan sensed something was amiss. A faint burning sensation spread from his fingertips. He lowered his gaze and saw that the area where he had touched the needles was already beginning to darken. He understood immediately that the needles were poisoned!
Huo Qiyuan's right hand continued to calmly and composedly parry Wang Bingchang's attacks. With his left hand, channeling his inner strength, he casually flicked the two needles, embedding them deeply into the ground, disappearing into the dust.
Wang Bingchang's gaze flickered towards his movement. Seeing the silver needles completely vanish into the earth, his excitement intensified. He even silently prayed, "Use your inner strength with all your might! For those struck by the Soul-Chasing Powder, the more inner strength they expend, the faster the poison spreads. Once the toxin reaches the heart meridian, even an immortal cannot save them!"
Seizing the moment when Huo Qiyuan seemed distracted, Wang Bingchang's assault grew even fiercer. He believed Huo Qiyuan would soon succumb to the poison, making him much easier to deal with.
Wang Bingchang did not intend to kill him with a single sword stroke; that would be too uninteresting. He planned to capture Huo Qiyuan once he was no longer able to resist, and then leave him for Huo Qixiao to torment slowly.
If Huo Qiyuan dared to harm the person he loved, then he would ensure Huo Qiyuan wished he were dead, damned for all eternity!
As long as Huo Qixiao could personally kill this person he had hated for so long and vent his fury, he could then live a comfortable and peaceful life thereafter!
The two continued to spar for more than a dozen rounds, but Huo Qiyuan showed no signs of poisoning, contrary to Wang Bingchang's expectations. Instead, he appeared remarkably composed, his defensive moves flawless.
Apart from a slight change in his expression when he first detected the poison in the needles, there had been no further reaction, as if he felt no ill effects whatsoever.
Not poisoned? How could this be? He had used the Soul-Chasing Powder countless times. Even the most formidable masters in the martial world would suffer greatly from it. Was Huo Qiyuan truly human?
Wang Bingchang was astonished, his expression growing increasingly grim. After dueling with Huo Qiyuan for dozens of rounds, he found himself struggling more and more to keep up. Not only did his body feel as if it were burning, but his chest also began to ache fiercely. He knew he must have sustained internal injuries.
Huo Qiyuan, observing Wang Bingchang's increasingly pale face, smiled slightly. Under Wang Bingchang's terrified gaze, his right hand no longer traced circles but countered with a strike from an unexpected, sharp angle.
The sudden attack caught Wang Bingchang completely off guard. He had transitioned from controlling the battlefield with proactive attacks to passively defending.
However, in his haste to quickly subdue Huo Qiyuan, Wang Bingchang had failed to gauge Huo Qiyuan's inner strength and martial prowess, leaving him struggling to cope.
With the roles reversed from offense to defense, Wang Bingchang also recognized the vast disparity between himself and Huo Qiyuan. Blood began to streak his body as he struggled to match the opponent's speed.
Wang Bingchang knew that Huo Qiyuan was toying with him, as he had not delivered any fatal blows. Otherwise, a slightly heavier sword thrust might have been all it took for him to be unable to continue.
Huo Qixiao gripped the blue bricks of the city wall tightly, his eyes bloodshot. He watched from above as Wang Bingchang, who had initially dominated the fight, was now being pushed back, his body covered in wounds. He wanted to rush down and help, but the several vice-generals beside him held him back firmly.
As the weather grew hotter, Huo Qiyuan felt he had played enough. Wang Bingchang was drenched in sweat, mixed with blood, making him look as if he had been fished out of a pool of blood. No longer wishing to toy with him, Huo Qiyuan raised his hand and delivered a fierce palm strike.
With a sickening thud, Wang Bingchang spat out a mouthful of blood, sent flying back over ten meters. He crashed heavily onto the ground and continued to bleed profusely, unable to rise for a long time.
Witnessing this scene from the city wall, Huo Qixiao's eyes widened in fury. Disregarding the pleas of those around him, he leaped from the city wall and, with several strides, reached Wang Bingchang.
"Wen Tu! How are you?" Huo Qixiao helped him lean against him, his eyes red, his hand wiping away the blood constantly seeping from Wang Bingchang's lips.
But no matter how much Huo Qixiao wiped, blood continued to seep through his fingers. Wang Bingchang kept spitting, as if he could only stop once all the blood in his body had been expelled.