Dual Cultivation System: My Cultivation Was Crippled, So I Rely on Intimacy to Level Up

Chapter 279: Can’t Win? Then Let’s Compare Backers!

Twelve flying swords shrieked as they tore through the air, instantly weaving a deadly sword formation before Zhang Qing.

The formation hummed to life, a net of sword light that descended upon its target!

Facing the furious strike, Zhou Kai tapped his foot and shot backward, vanishing completely into the sky.

At the same time, the Cicada Shell Body that had just slain Di An met the attack head-on, neither dodging nor evading.

With a flick of its wrist, a pitch-black banner materialized—the Hundred Beast Banner!

The Cicada Shell Body slammed the Hundred Beast Banner into the ground. The banner snapped and billowed, stirred by an unseen force.

“Buzzzzz—”

The insect cloud, still agitated from devouring Di An’s flesh, grew frenzied. The drone of its wings rose to a piercing shriek.

Amplified by the Hundred Beast Banner and empowered by the *Lawless No Word Heavenly Scripture*, the swarm was instantly transformed. The pitch-black insects were coated in a flowing, five-colored divine light.

As the divine light swept over them, the insect cloud churned and split, condensing into twelve five-colored insect swords that slammed into Zhang Qing’s sword formation!

*BOOM!* The clang of steel and the crunch of shattering carapaces filled the air.

Zhang Qing’s flying swords were impossibly sharp. Their light swept through the swarm, shredding swathes of Split-Back Katydids into a fine powder that rained from the sky.

But the Split-Back Katydids were fearless. Under the Cicada Shell Body’s control, they continued their mad charge, smashing against the swords’ spiritual light with brute, suicidal force.

With every flash, the five-colored divine light clinging to them seemed to scour away a fraction of the swords’ sharpness.

For a moment, the sky was a chaotic dance of sword light and rainbow-hued radiance, a storm of insect corpses and sparks.

In just a few breaths, Zhou Kai’s insect cloud had been depleted by a fifth.

On the other side, seeing his initial strike fail, Zhang Qing’s rage intensified. He unleashed his Divine Sense, frantically sweeping the area for Zhou Kai’s true body.

“You rat! Stop hiding and show yourself!”

Hidden from view, Zhou Kai watched with cold detachment.

With a thought, he reconnected with the great formation.

*RUMBLE!*

The earth trembled as he pushed the formation to its absolute limit.

The ground cracked open. Countless boulders were ripped from the earth by the formation’s power, imbued with heavy Earth-elemental energy, and transformed into a meteor shower that rained down on Zhang Qing.

Zhang Qing’s expression soured. He was forced to divert six of his swords, which spun back to shatter the falling rocks into dust. A thick cloud of stone and debris instantly obscured his vision.

“This trick again!”

Zhang Qing roared, producing the detection mirror once more. He spat a mouthful of Mana onto its surface. The mirror flashed, releasing a thick white mist.

Wherever the mist passed, all illusions were torn away.

Zhou Kai, having just relocated, was instantly exposed.

*Tsk.* A shame, Zhou Kai thought. That mirror is a perfect counter to stealth. So much for ambushes.

The moment his figure was revealed, an arctic killing intent erupted from the depths of his soul.

No time to think. Instinct took over.

He instantly abandoned all offensive thoughts and executed Dragon Roaming the Void, narrowly evading three cold glints aimed at his back. At the same time, he threw his left hand high, summoning the Chaotic Sky Hammer as Vitality and Mana flooded into it.

*BOOM!*

From the hammer’s head, a violent torrent of gold and red flames erupted, instantly unfurling a canopy of fire above him.

In that same split second, he slapped a Golden Bell Talisman onto his chest with his right hand.

And at that very moment, three white shadows, faster than anything before, blinked into existence, pouncing on him from all sides.

They were a full size larger than Zhou Kai’s own Jade Arm Mantis. Their sickle-like forelimbs sliced through the air without a sound, yet left shimmering ripples in their wake.

*CRACK!*

The shield generated by the Golden Bell Talisman didn’t last a single breath against their assault before it shattered.

The golden barrier dissolved into a shower of fading light.

Zhou Kai’s pupils constricted. *Too close!*

Without Cicada Chirp Steals Heaven and his own lightning-fast reflexes, he’d be grievously wounded right now.

A weaker Divine Sense really is a killer, he thought. I’m being led by the nose, and I almost fell for it.

At this moment of life and death, Zhou Kai twisted violently at the waist. Instead of dodging, he swung the burning Chaotic Sky Hammer in a savage, horizontal arc, aiming to smash the three white shadows from the sky.

“CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!”

Three heavy, bell-like tolls echoed, sounding nothing like impacts on flesh and blood. It was as if he had struck thousand-year-old steel.

A violent shockwave exploded outward, sending ripples through the air.

The recoil sent a jolt through Zhou Kai, churning his Vitality. He was thrown back dozens of zhang before he could stabilize himself.

The three Jade Arm Mantises struck by the hammer convulsed as if hit by lightning, their bodies twisting into grotesque shapes as they fell limply from the sky.

The other three, having missed, flashed back to Zhang Qing’s side, circling him warily.

Zhang Qing’s eye twitched, his heart a storm of shock and fury.

“Have a taste of your own medicine!” Zhou Kai said, steadying himself as a murderous glint flashed in his eyes.

With a thought, three streams of light shot from his Spirit Beast Bag.

One was crimson as fire, another white as snow, and the last a vibrant emerald green.

Hongyu, Baiyu, and Qingyu!

The moment they appeared, the three Jade Arm Mantises fanned out, assuming combat stances.

“What?! How do you have my Heavenly Spring Sect’s Jade Arm Mantises?”

Zhou Kai’s only response was a cold sneer.

“Kill!”

At Zhang Qing’s command, his remaining three mantises became streaks of white light, pouncing once more.

Zhou Kai’s trio met the charge without hesitation, hissing in defiance.

Zhang Qing’s Jade Arm Mantises were all mid-stage third-rank. Their higher cultivation gave them a clear advantage in speed and power.

But their eyes were hollow, driven by nothing but a programmed instinct to kill. They were little more than puppets.

Zhou Kai’s mantises, though only early-stage third-rank, were a world apart.

Hongyu, the most ferocious, met the attack head-on. It crossed its bladed arms, absorbing the enemy’s slashes. The demonic energy of the *Heavenly Demon Return to Origin Art* flared within it, allowing it to withstand the assault of a higher-level foe.

Baiyu was a phantom. It refused to clash directly, instead using its exquisite movements to weave through its opponent’s blind spots. Its gleaming blade-arms would lash out from impossible angles, forcing the higher-ranked mantis into a desperate defense.

Qingyu circled at a distance, its arms a blur as it unleashed a continuous barrage of green wind blades. It harassed and supported with perfect precision, its coordination with Hongyu and Baiyu flawless.

They were intelligent! They cooperated! They used cultivation arts!

For a moment, the three higher-ranked mantises were completely stymied by this perfect teamwork, unable to bring even seventy percent of their full power to bear.

The longer Zhang Qing watched, the more horrified he became. His opponent’s Jade Arm Mantises were so much more… *alive* than his own. These weren’t spirit pets—they were three demonic cultivators, complete with awakened intelligence and a mastery of tactics!

How was this possible?

Zhou Kai retreated rapidly, putting distance between them. He already had two cyan talismans pinched between his fingers.

“Wind, arise!”

The talismans ignited. Two violent sand-and-stone tornadoes roared into existence, flanking Zhang Qing from both sides.

“You think you’re the only one with talismans?” Zhang Qing bellowed, flinging out three crimson talismans of his own.

They transformed into three great flame birds that shrieked as they crashed into the tornadoes.

*BOOM!*

Earth, stone, and fire exploded. Amidst the chaotic surge of spiritual energy, Zhang Qing’s flame birds were instantly swallowed by the tornadoes. Their power was clearly inferior.

Without a second glance, Zhou Kai produced two more talismans. “Then let’s see whose pockets are deeper!” he sneered.

This time, they were two purple thunder talismans.

The talismans flew from his hand, transforming into two human-head-sized orbs of crackling lightning that shot straight for Zhang Qing.

The power radiating from the orbs made Zhang Qing’s heart skip a beat. High Grade third-rank Purple Extreme Thunder Talismans! A direct hit would leave him severely wounded, if not dead.

Zhang Qing’s face turned ashen. He never imagined his opponent would be so extravagant, tossing out high-grade talismans as if they were worthless. This was just burying him in Spirit Stones!

He had talismans of a similar grade, but they were for emergencies, not to be wasted in a battle of attrition.

Not daring to be careless, he urgently recalled six of his flying swords, crossing them into a defensive shield before him.

*BOOM!*

Lightning exploded in a frenzy of electric serpents.

The six swords that bore the brunt of the blast let out a mournful cry and were sent flying, their spiritual light visibly dimming by a third.

The shockwave rocked Zhang Qing, churning his Vitality. He felt utterly suffocated.

He, a proud sixth-layer Golden Core cultivator, was being suppressed so miserably by formations and talismans that he hadn’t even gotten a clear read on his opponent.

This wasn’t a duel; it was a humiliation, a crude display of wealth!

Seeing Zhang Qing’s ugly expression, Zhou Kai laughed to himself.

*Zhang Qing will probably go to his grave wondering why I’m fighting like this. If I weren’t just a first-layer Golden Core, would I even need to bother with these tricks?*

Zhang Qing’s hand seals suddenly shifted. The twelve flying swords hovering around him began to hum, glowing with a surging, earthy-yellow light.

“Merge!”

At his command, the swords flew towards each other in pairs, clanging together as they fused into one.

In an instant, three colossal Earth-element swords, each twenty zhang long with thick blades faintly etched with the patterns of mountains and rivers, hung in the air.

Before the blades even descended, the sheer pressure from them caused the ground below to fracture.

Zhou Kai advanced instead of retreating, battle lust flaring in his eyes.

He wanted to see for himself if he could truly withstand the full-powered strike of a sixth-layer Golden Core cultivator.

He threw three bright yellow talismans.

As they left his hand, they erupted in a violent golden light. Three giant swords of pure light condensed and tore through the air, slashing toward the Earth-element blades.

*BOOM!*

The golden light shattered on impact. The three light swords were instantly crushed into motes of light by the earthy sword energy, but they managed to stall the descent of the three colossal blades for a fraction of a second, causing their glow to dim slightly.

“Rise!”

Zhou Kai let out a low roar. His five organs hummed in resonance, and his bones and tendons popped and cracked like the beating of war drums.

His body swelled. In an instant, he transformed into the thirty-zhang-tall Five Emperors True Body! Five-colored divine light flowed around him, and the phantoms of five emperors materialized behind him. An aura like the sky itself collapsing crushed down on the battlefield.

The Chaotic Sky Hammer swelled with him