"A competition?"
Zi Linling sneered, "Fine, when it comes to thick skin, I admit I'm no match for you. But I do enjoy... a good comeback!"
"Come on then! Let me see what makes you, who are so focused on cultivating spirit and law power, so exceptional in these aspects!"
Cao Shaochen's face turned grim. "You brat, those who are too arrogant never have a good end!"
Zi Linling chuckled coldly. "That's something you'll have to ask yourselves! Weren't you planning to steal my destiny as the chosen one? Come on, show me what you've got!"
"Hmph! As I said, I alone am enough!" Cao Shaochen said, his eyes glinting coldly.
He then turned to Cao Shaoqing. "Big brother, you provide support from the rear!"
Cao Shaoqing unclenched his fists and nodded. "Alright!"
Then, through a spiritual transmission, he said to Cao Shaochen, "Be careful, this girl is strange! Don't test her, go all out and aim to kill!"
"Don't worry, big brother!"
Cao Shaochen transmitted back.
Zi Linling naturally felt the fluctuations of spiritual energy between the two, but she remained calm.
Even if she used her toes to think, she could guess what they were discussing.
But in the face of absolute strength, all schemes and calculations are paper tigers, easily shattered with a poke.
Cao Shaochen looked at Zi Linling, his gaze fierce. "Brat, take this!"
As he spoke, a long sword appeared in his hand. Intense golden spirit energy surged from the sword, instantly forming a massive sword projection.
"Slash!"
Zi Linling let out a cold snort, and the Dragon Scale Dagger appeared in her hand.
She smiled disdainfully. "All show and no substance!"
Then, she said to the Dragon Scale Dagger, "If you can't even block this flashy sword projection, I'll toss you into a cesspool to stop you from disgracing the name of 'dragon'!"
As Zi Linling's words fell, the Dragon Scale Dagger vibrated violently and broke free from her palm.
"Roar~"
An enraged dragon's roar echoed, and the phantom of a colossal dragon emerged from the Dragon Scale Dagger, its tail lashing out at the sword projection.
"Pop!"
A faint sound was heard as the sword projection shattered.
However, the dragon phantom's fury did not subside, and its tail continued to lash towards Cao Shaochen.
The dragon phantom, possessing sentience, knew that Zi Linling's threat of throwing it into a latrine was all thanks to this despicable old man before it.
Therefore, it showed no mercy to the culprit.
Seeing that the Dragon Scale Dagger could attack autonomously without Zi Linling's control, Cao Shaochen was stunned.
This momentary lapse was fatal!
The dragon's tail instantly struck Cao Shaochen, sending him flying ten zhang away.
The long sword in Cao Shaochen's hand also developed several cracks.
This was not surprising, as the Dragon Scale Dagger was a powerful divine artifact, sealed within its original stone for countless years before being brought back to light by Zi Linling.
It was eager to acknowledge Zi Linling as its master and, having finally seized an opportunity, naturally wanted to impress her.
The dragon phantom looked at Cao Shaochen, who had been thrown to the ground, and proudly looked towards Zi Linling.
Zi Linling smiled and waved. "Not bad! You haven't disgraced the name of the Dragon Scale Dagger!"
The dragon phantom proudly flicked its tail and returned to the Dragon Scale Dagger, landing back in Zi Linling's hand.
Zi Linling looked coldly at Cao Shaochen. "What goes around comes around. Take one of my moves!"
"Five Spirits Severing Autumn Wind!"
With Zi Linling's light shout, a blade projection exuding a dangerous aura appeared on the Dragon Scale Dagger.
Since Cao Shaochen had only used spirit energy before, Zi Linling did not use law power.
The blade projection rapidly slashed towards Cao Shaochen.
Cao Shaochen was greatly alarmed and quickly jumped to the side to evade.
He did not have Zi Linling's confidence and dared not meet this attack head-on.
However, the speed of "Five Spirits Severing Autumn Wind" was too great. Before Cao Shaochen could completely dodge, it grazed his side, shearing off a lock of his hair and a strip of his clothes.
Simultaneously, the spirit energy emanating from the blade projection blasted Cao Shaochen away, causing him to land at Cao Shaoqing's feet.
Cao Shaochen broke out in a cold sweat. If he hadn't reacted quickly enough, he would have been split in two.
Cao Shaoqing was also startled and quickly helped Cao Shaochen up, checking him with a worried expression.
Only after confirming that Cao Shaochen was not seriously injured did Cao Shaoqing breathe a sigh of relief and ask, "Shaochen, are you alright?"
Cao Shaochen spat fiercely at the ground, forcefully pushed Cao Shaoqing away, and glared menacingly at Zi Linling. "Brat, try again!"
"One Sword Cuts Floating Clouds!"
He roared and swung his sword at Zi Linling again.
This time, without Zi Linling's threat, the Dragon Scale Dagger leaped out on its own. The dragon phantom reappeared, smashed through the sword projection, and then continued, unabated, to collide with the long sword in Cao Shaochen's hand.
"Clang..."
The long sword shattered, its fragments falling to the ground with a crisp sound.
Cao Shaochen's second provocation had thoroughly angered the dragon phantom within the Dragon Scale Dagger.
The dragon phantom roared and slammed into Cao Shaochen, breaking three to four of his ribs and dragging him towards the Cao family's wall.
Fortunately, the Cao family's wall was reinforced by their clan protection formation, so it did not collapse. However, Cao Shaochen was not so lucky.
Dazed and disoriented by the impact, he was then repelled by the formation, sending him flying face-first to the ground, biting into a mouthful of dirt.
Tragically, before he could even spit out the dirt, he coughed up three mouthfuls of blood.
A dignified expert at the peak of the Grand Deity realm, who was on the verge of becoming a Divine Lord, had been reduced to such a pitiful state by a dagger. Cao Shaochen was truly unique in history.
After spitting out the blood, Cao Shaochen felt his blood circulation improve slightly, but the internal pain became more acute.
He got up, his fierce gaze falling on the Dragon Scale Dagger, which had already returned to Zi Linling's hand. He was grinding his teeth so hard they felt like they would shatter.
But Cao Shaochen could do nothing. Zi Linling disdained to use law power to humiliate him, but the dragon phantom within the Dragon Scale Dagger had no such reservations.
And dragons, by nature, were masters of spatial power. With the enhancement of this power, its speed had become almost impossible to track.
This was precisely why Cao Shaochen had suffered repeated setbacks.
Cao Shaochen roared, "Brat, you're just relying on the power of your weapon! If you dare, don't use that dagger, and let's have a fair contest of spirit energy!"