CHAPTER 217: CLONE

With a flick of his wrist, a staff appeared in his grasp — forged from condensed solar qi, glowing like a miniature sun.

He leaned forward, eyes burning with confidence, and his body blurred.

In an instant, Ye Chen became a streak of light, tearing through the volcanic haze toward his opponent. The ground beneath him erupted into geysers of molten flame, his movement were smooth.

In response, the woman didn’t linger on the scorched ground. She knew full well that the terrain favored her opponent.

With a light step, she rose into the air, her figure gliding hundreds of meters above the molten field.

’In this environment, he has the advantage... but what if I change the environment itself?’ she thought, her eyes narrowing.

Though they stood far apart, to cultivators of their level, this distance was small. A slender staff appeared in her hand, frost misting from its surface. She began to chant softly, each syllable resonating with the laws of water and sky.

Almost instantly, clouds began to gather above her — dense, dark, and heavy. The temperature shifted. Within moments, the volcano’s searing heat met the defiance of nature, and rain began to pour down, sizzling as it struck the molten ground.

Ye Chen’s eyes widened. He shot upward in pursuit, his figure bursting through the rising steam. Golden flames blazed around him as his speed surged, closing the distance in a heartbeat.

But just before he reached her, a golden talisman flared to life in her left hand. A radiant barrier enveloped her in an instant.

Ye Chen’s staff struck the shield like thunder. The collision unleashed a shockwave, scattering some clouds.

Both were thrown back — she from the sheer impact, he from the rebound.

Still, the woman smiled faintly. She had achieved her goal.

The Infinite Rain Spell was complete. As long as someone didn’t forcefully stop the spell and spiritual energy lingered in the atmosphere, the downpour would not cease. The battlefield would soon shift, but time is the essence.

She vanished from sight, reappearing beside Ye Chen in a blur of icy mist.

"Illusionary Yin Spirit Palm!"

A massive, translucent palm materialized, crashing into Ye Chen’s golden form. His body shone with radiant heat as he resisted the blow, but for an instant, his gaze went unfocused.

’An illusion?’ he realized, flames flaring brighter.

Before he could recover, the falling rain transformed into sharp crystalline shards. The sky itself became a storm of icy blades.

Ye Chen’s staff spun in blazing arcs, shattering hundreds of shards. But several cut through his defense, drawing faint lines of blood across his skin.

’So that’s it,’ he thought.

’She’s weak in close combat, her strength lies in distance and control.’

If that was the case, then he would simply drag her into a close-range fight, even if he had to break her domain to do it.

He surged forward again, heat flaring from his every step, each movement leaving a trail of molten gold in the air.

Yet, the woman remained elusive, her body flickering through the mist like a phantom. Every time he struck, she slipped away — graceful, calm, infuriatingly untouchable.

’Tch. Then I’ll destroy her advantage first.’

Golden radiance exploded around Ye Chen as he condensed his qi into his limbs. He feinted a palm strike — then pivoted midair.

"True Yang Fist!" he roared, and his leg whipped out instead, slamming into the woman’s side before she could raise her guard.

She gasped, the unexpected strike sending her flying backward.

"What the—?! I thought—"

"Hehe, don’t look at me like that," Ye Chen said, grinning. Flames curled along his body, his confidence burning hotter than the lava below.

’Now’s my chance.’

He pressed the assault, each swing of his staff driving her closer to the volcano’s base. The molten air shimmered with heat as he slammed his staff into the ground.

Crimson light flared.

The entire lava field began to churn.

Qi surged from his core as he bellowed, "True Yang — Twin Dragon Ascension!"

The lava erupted in a blinding wave. Two colossal dragons formed from molten rock and flame, their roars shaking the air. They coiled upward and lunged toward the woman, jaws wide to swallow her whole.

But instead of resisting, she smiled.

Her form shimmered. Then, with a soft crack, her body exploded into a cloud of freezing mist.

The dragons froze mid-lunge, their molten bodies hardening into black stone before shattering.

Ye Chen landed heavily, eyes widening.

"What—"

He hadn’t sensed her energy vanish. He’d fought seriously from start to finish, but that... that wasn’t her.

And then.

A cold voice drifted from above, echoing through the storm.

"You took your time defeating my clone."

Ye Chen’s head snapped upward. High above, beyond the rain clouds, she descended — the true one.

Her hair whipped like silver threads, her presence commanding and serene. Around her, the rainfall parted, refusing to touch her.

"What?!" Ye Chen’s pupils contracted.

’A clone from the very start?’

The woman raised her staff, her eyes glowing with an icy blue light.

"Now," the woman said coldly, her voice echoing like crystal in the air, "let me end this match."

The storm froze. Every raindrop hanging in the sky solidified into glittering ice, suspended midair. The world fell silent.

She stood upon a gleaming frozen cloud, descending like a goddess of frost delivering divine judgment. Then, still seated upon her glacial throne, she tilted her staff downward, toward the volcano.

The frozen cloud surged forward, streaking through the sky.

Ye Chen’s eyes blazed gold.

"Then there’s no choice."

With a shout, he leapt, not toward her, but straight into the volcano.

A brilliant golden aura erupted from the depths, dyeing the sky in molten hues. His True Yang Physique ignited in full, his body becoming the core of a miniature sun.

The woman’s eyes narrowed. Her divine sense flared — something inside the volcano was changing.

’That fool... what is he planning—?!’

Sensing danger, she channeled nearly all her remaining Qi into the frozen cloud, fortifying it until the air itself cracked from pressure. The temperature plummeted, her descent turning into that of a divine hammer crashing down from heaven.

Then Ye Chen’s voice roared from within the volcano, echoing like thunder:

"Explosion!!!"

The mountain convulsed.

A blinding eruption tore through the crater as lava and fire burst outward like an infernal dragon unleashed. The frozen cloud met the explosion head-on.

Steam and flame collided, heaven and earth trembling.

Hot smoke surged skyward, devouring the sky. The frozen cloud melted instantly, half rain, half fire, turning into a storm of chaos.

Out of that storm, the woman launched herself downward, her figure streaking like a shard of ice through flame.

Ye Chen emerged from the crater at the same time, his breathing ragged but his spirit burning even fiercer.

Every breath he took drew the surrounding spiritual energy into him, forcefully; molten light coiled around his staff like dragons answering their master’s call.

The woman’s staff shimmered and transformed into a sword of pure frost.

"One strike to shake the sky!" Ye Chen roared, his golden aura surging as he dove to meet her.

The woman’s eyes turned illusionary. Calmly, she whispered, "Soul Severing Strike."

The world vanished in blinding light.

A soundless explosion rippled through the air. The Arena’s barriers flared, suppressing the catastrophic energy.

When the brilliance faded—

The woman floated midair, her silver hair scorched and trailing smoke, burn marks crawling across her arms. Yet, her gaze remained calm.

Ye Chen stood across from her, his golden light flickering. His body was unharmed but his face contorted in agony, veins pulsing faintly across his temples.

It wasn’t his body that was wounded.

It was his soul.

’Ahh... who even is she?’ Ye Chen thought, through the haze of pain, his vision flickering.

Never in his wildest expectations had he imagined such a terrifying opponent existed within the Nascent Soul Realm.

’Is she... from another peak?’

The woman’s cold voice drifted across the scorched battlefield.

"Surrender. Any further struggle, and your soul will suffer wounds even your physique cannot heal."

Her words were calm.

Ye Chen’s jaw tightened. The thought of surrender was bitter on his tongue. He had fought too hard, to just accept now.

"Not yet!" he roared, his voice cracking the air. Pain raked through his body and mind, golden light flared once again on his body, blazing like an indignant sun.

The woman exhaled softly. Her expression held no mockery — only faint disappointment.

’What a foolish man,’ she thought.

’Power without reason... is nothing but ruin.’

She raised her hand and murmured a single word in a different tongue, her tone laced with authority—

"SLEEP."

Ye Chen froze.

His mind splintered into illusions, fractured images, distorted sounds, colors bleeding into one another.

The True Yang light around him pulsed violently, his physique instinctively resisting the foreign power invading his consciousness.

But she was faster.

In a blur, she appeared before him. Her hand reached forward and closed around his head.