<h4>Chapter 666 - Phoenix’s Bloodline</h4>


    Long Chen’s Five Piercing Dragon was barely stronger than his regr punch at this point.


    <i>Bam!</i>


    The air was ripped apart as Long Chen’s essence coursed through his nine Martial Meridians. The blood-red Golden Crow appeared vaguely on his cores as the mes surged into his fist. Long Chen’s fist was shrouded in the illusion of a blood-red Golden Crow!


    On top of the terrifying feeling emanating from the Ancient Bloodsoul Dragoning from Long Chen’s veins, the Heavenly Phoenix was also wary of the bird-type presence inside him. The Divine Phoenix was rumored to be immortal and the peak of all bird-type demonic beasts. It also had a trace of the Divine Phoenix’s blood in its veins, but even so, it was wary of the Golden Crow’s strength.


    Despite all that, the Heavenly Phoenix would not retreat. It had its pride as the king of Sky Isle and as the descendant of the Divine Phoenix. It would never retreat, even though Long Chen was stronger!


    Long Chen’s punch had angered the Heavenly Phoenix. It would not allow itself to be challenged by him, especially after thetter had killed its strongest subordinate.


    The Heavenly Phoenix cultivated by reversing its body into an egg and cultivating inside of it. When Long Chen and Xiang first appeared, the Heavenly Phoenix only sensed Xiang’s strength and ignored Long Chen. That was why it had sent the Six-Winged Fire Bird to intercept them while it underwent the process of revival. It had never thought the Six-Winged Fire Bird would be killed by Xiang shortly after.


    <i>When did such a talented youngster appear in the Divine Martial Empire? Did hee from one of the other empires?</i>


    The Heavenly Phoenix couldn’t afford to waste time on such questions since Long Chen was directly below it. The Heavenly Phoenix turned its body downwards and used its ws to block Long Chen’s attack. Its body wasrge enough to cover the sun while its ws wererger than Long Chen!


    An ancient power surged out from the Heavenly Phoenix.


    In terms of physical strength, the demonic beasts had humans outssed. It would’ve been fine if Long Chen had managed to cultivate an intermediate or advanced King-tier Body Tempering Method, but it was extremely difficult to use only his essence to block the Heavenly Phoenix’srge body.


    Thankfully, humans had martial techniques.


    <i>Boom!</i>


    Long Chen flew backwards from the impact, causing his blood to boil.


    But he soon recovered and chuckled. “Not bad! You are strong.”


    Being able to withstand a hit from the Heavenly Phoenix was a testament to how strong Long Chen’s body was.


    The Heavenly Phoenix realized that even though Long Chen was small, his body was surprisingly sturdy. Therefore, it decided to sacrifice some of its strength and turned smaller. mes appeared on its body as it shrunk.


    Demonic beasts at the King-tier were all capable of shrinking their bodies. Xiang had the power to do so even while he was at the Earth-tier, though it was not suitable forbat. On the other hand, the Heavenly Phoenix’s mini-form was much suited forbat.


    A King-tier demonic beast could shrink their body to a certain degree forbat. Xiang could shrink his body to the size of a horse while the Heavenly Phoenix could shrink to six meters!


    A massive being capable of covering the sun had shrunk down to six meters. Nothing had changed for the Heavenly Phoenix except for its strength and mobility. By shrinking down, it had increased its mobility at the cost of some strength.


    Demonic beasts preferred to maintain their natural body size and weight because it was the mostfortable state for them. Therger a demonic beast, the stronger they were. This was the basic rule that Long Chen and every cultivator understood.


    The Heavenly Phoenix wouldn’t have shrunk unless it was necessary to do so.


    Because it had seen how agile Long Chen was.


    <i>To think that the Willow Step is so versatile! I could even use it in the air! </i>This was the first time Long Chen had tried to use it mid-air, though he had mentally prepared himself just in case he had to fight on the ground.


    Using Willow Step, Long Chen floated and zipped in the air like a willow leaf. The Heavenly Phoenix’s attack had only managed to knock him away.


    After shrinking, the Heavenly Phoenix’s speed and agility increased drastically, and it flew towards Long Chen.


    It had recognized Long Chen as the primary threat!


    The gold and red mes swirled around the Heavenly Phoenix’s body.


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    The Heavenly Phoenix swooped down again. Its zing red body appeared in front of Long Chen in an instant!


    It was twice as fast now!


    Long Chen no longer had the advantage in agility.


    The Divine Phoenix’s wings were like burning des attempting to cut him down.


    It pped its wings and formed a torrent of mes resembling des. The burning des shot towards Long Chen at extreme speeds!


    The attack’s power wasparable to a human’s martial technique!


    “Wind God Kick, Typhoon Style!” Long Chen used the second technique of the Wind God Kick to parry the burning des. Simr to the Divine Phoenix, Long Chen’s legs were cloaked in the mes of the Golden Crow.


    There was a difference between blood-red and scarlet. The Divine Phoenix’s mes had a tinge of gold and yellow, while Long Chen’s mes werepletely blood-red with an overbearing heat!


    Two different mes shed in the air, covering the sky in mes. A human and a bird zipped over Sky Isle. They were evenly matched as their attacks shed again and again. Long Chen used his legs to force the Divine Phoenix back, while the Divine Phoenix forced him back using its wings.


    “Soul Dispersing Dragon w, Five Piercing Dragons!” Long Chen suddenly used his ws to attack the DIvine Phoenix! Five dragon illusions flew towards it.


    The battle was intense.


    Just as the Divine Phoenix had its own strengths, Long Chen has his too. Neither side showed any promise of victory for now.


    But Long Chen was secretly wary because he knew how strong the Divine Phoenix was. He was certain that if he hadn’t managed to break into the Third Earthly Martial Stage, he would never have been able to defeat it, even with Xiang’s help.


    The powerful ming des were more than enough to chop Long Chen and Xiang to bits. Long Chen would’ve never been able to use the Golden Crow mes to force the Divine Phoenix back if he was still at the Second Earthly Martial Stage.


    The Divine Phoenix was forced to be passive after Long Chen used the Five Piercing Dragons, but it wasn’t panicking at all, as it had ws simr to Long Chen’s. It shed its own talons and extended them forward to take on Long Chen’s attacks. Its talons were even harder than Long Chen’s!


    ws and talons shed in the air, creating a terrifying grinding sound.


    The Five Piercing Dragons were strong enough to cut up the flesh on the Divine Phoenix’s legs, but Long Chen was not having a good time either. His ws were almost broken by the hard talons.


    He felt a burning sensation on his hand.


    Long Chen quickly retreated. <i>One wrong move and I’m dead!</i>


    Both the man and the beast were injured from that sh, but the Heavenly Phoenix was infuriated. In the end, it was merely a demonic beast, so its intelligence was limited.


    It let out a sharp cry, causing the clouds surrounding them to dissipate.


    The scarlet mes on the Heavenly Phoenix sputtered out. Recing them were golden mes, and the Heavenly Phoenix was enveloped by them. A dangerous power started to consolidate in the Heavenly Phoenix’s body.


    <i>Is it using its strongest attack?! </i>