Chapter 1945

Fang Yuan’s immemorial sword dragon is fast, and Duke Long, unable to shorten the distance, opens two dragon gates, one before himself and one behind Fang Yuan, and steps through. He delays Fang Yuan with qi engulfing mountains and rivers, and chaotic dragon fist knocks him down into the immortal graveyard. The second sword light of five finger fist heart sword still fires. Its light is extremely fast but cannot curve, so Duke Long dodges in advance. Unlike time cutting edge, the move will not be forgotten, but dragon gate denies its ideal long range setting by forcing close combat. ^{ch. 1945}

Fang Yuan stops the move after the second sword and uses golden thread sword, but Duke Long sees the scales flicker yellow and retreats far through dragon gate. Fang Yuan pulls distance again, and Duke Long must close in once more. Duke Long knows Bo Qing’s original five finger fist heart sword well enough to counter it, but Fang Yuan’s modified version can be canceled without backlash, each sword a separate move. Fang Yuan finds that this raises the thoughts required, so he cannot use other offense at the same time, and Duke Long grows stronger. ^{ch. 1945}

Fang Yuan had suppressed Duke Long and Cang Xuan Zi mostly because attacking the graveyard forced them to defend. Now it is destroyed, and though some hibernating Gu Immortals may survive, Duke Long is unburdened, and the two reach a stalemate. Fang Yuan spits out myriad thought sword waterfall and follows with Swordsman, and swordsmen with his appearance charge. Duke Long retreats, and Fang Yuan breaks free for Heaven Overseeing Tower, where Calamity Luck Altar easily destroys the refinement path formation and Qi Ci Lang inside struggles against remaining jade light. Demon Judgment Board blocks Fang Yuan and is sent flying. ^{ch. 1945}

Feng Jiu Ge’s destiny song then coils around the sword dragon, and Fang Yuan feels his condition slip as if at the low point of his life, his speed falling sharply. Duke Long blocks him and praises Feng Jiu Ge and Fairy Zi Wei, who guided the singer by opening Central Heaven Gate, the gateway to Heavenly Court. Duke Long beats Fang Yuan back, and the tower stays out of reach. At his worst disadvantage of the battle so far, Fang Yuan stops all sword path killer moves to prepare reverse flow protection seal. Duke Long chases him, and chaotic dragon fist disturbs his thoughts so that killer moves fail on activation. Fang Yuan releases Pure Dream Reality Seeker Physique bodies to self-detonate at Duke Long, who dodges and stops attacking, which lets Fang Yuan activate the seal. ^{ch. 1945}

Duke Long sighs at the missed chance, noting that Fang Yuan’s transformations turn all his dao marks into one path, so even rank seven killer moves threaten rank eights. Duke Long is certain that Fang Yuan, whose many methods were built in under one hundred years, could reach an unprecedented height given time. Fate Gu’s recovery forced Fang Yuan to invade early. Methods alone are not enough against Duke Long, and Fang Yuan needs a stable combat system with ample trump cards, like Duke Long’s two systems. ^{ch. 1945}

The transformation path system has nine dragons protection for defense, clear dragon vision for scouting, and dragon claw strike, chaotic dragon fist, spiraling dragon fangs and world shaking dragon hammer for offense. Dragon roaring wave, body flicker and dragon gate give movement, dragon offspring covers groups, and heavenly dragon’s last stand is the strongest. The qi path system has two qi walls, five long range offensive killer moves, purple-gold dragon-shaped qi for movement, and reverse worm dragon against battlefield killer moves. The two systems have no gaps and complement each other. Triple qi retraction, the qi path trump card, has not been used once, because Fang Yuan gives no chance. Five finger fist heart sword is Fang Yuan’s trump card, yet it is not decisive, and the stalemate holds because Duke Long’s systems are more comprehensive. ^{ch. 1945}