Martial Arts Master

The God Slaying Saber came slashing down in a plain, efficient stroke. It wasn’t fancy, but Lou Cheng could feel the area around him suddenly dimming, as though isolated from the rest of the environment.

Not only that, there was a dangerous, underlying quality that had been accumulating, layer by layer, turning into shapeless shackles that limited his movements. He felt helpless as the long saber swished down. He was about to meet metal with meat. It wasn’t much different from taking a hammer to the head.

Nothing could be accomplished without rules!

Lou Cheng saw the long saber. Blurry and dark, as though it occupied the entire sky and reigned over all land. Apart from the sword, there was nothing else!

At that moment, Lou Cheng was mentally intimidated. He felt like he was tied up by ropes. Couldn’t move. The God Slaying Saber came whistling down, not giving him much time to think. A flitting idea came to him. Trusting his martial arts accumulation and battle experience, both deeply ingrained in his root pulp and mind, he suddenly retracted his Qi and blood, then concentrated force to his lower abdomen.

The dazzling stars moved slightly, instantly forming a Fighting character brimming with strength!

Boom!

His Dan Qi erupted like a volcano. His muscles bulged ridiculously, making him big and tall, ripping the shapeless shackles apart. There were continuous cracks in the surrounding that went bang, bang, bang.

As the white gas spurted wildly, he regained his mobility. He turned on his waist, raised his shoulder, and swung his arm, throwing a punch in the air!

Disrupting order with violence!

Boom!

His fist caught the saber on the side, scattering the blurry darkness. The God Slaying Saber bent like a bow, clearly revealing its form!

It was a black, arm-lengthed saber, heavy with latent energy. Streams of golden glow, between the texture reflection, made the surrounding seem even darker.

That was when Lu Yongyuan flicked his wrist. The God Slaying Saber bounced up, straightening with a clink.

Immediately after, he slashed left, then right, as though he was writing the number eight!

Swish, swish, swish! Swish, swish, swish!

Lu Yongyuan repeated the set, slashing out one “Eight” after the other. His strokes were getting faster and more anxious. A faint metallic smell lurked in the hissing wind.

To Lou Cheng, it felt like a sudden downpour. He drew breath with difficulty. Preserving his visualization, he transformed into a raging blizzard; chopping, punching, smashing and slapping. He met speed with speed, and combating continuity with continuity!

Clink, clink, clink, clink! The silvery clattering reverberated in every direction, like rain splattering on banana leaves. Frost formed on both sides of the black God Slaying Saber, weighing it down and making it harder to wield. Lou Cheng was beginning to feel numb, as though a hidden poison was chipping away at him.

Lu Yongyuan’s attacks breathed endlessness, as though it would stop at nothing before Lou Cheng’s collapse, like the creeping darkness during evening—no matter how much the great sun struggled, retaliated, and pleaded, it would eventually be slowly swallowed but definitely wouldn’t leave a trace behind.

Clink, clink, clink!

Fists clenched, elbows swinging, Lou Cheng barely warded off the long saber. He knew he couldn’t let this go on. If he did, he’d be in a completely passive position, where he had zero say on the outcome of the battle and could only hope that Lu Yongyuan would run out of stamina.

Suddenly, he compacted his body and squated down, concentrating his force, Qi, blood, and mind. The God Slaying Saber missed its mark.

Boom! Before the long saber slashed down, he pounced at Lu Yongyuan with a burst of Dan Force at his feet. In each hand, he clutched a lump of dense faint-purple flame.

If he only dodged and retreated, the saber strikes wouldn’t stop coming. There was no escape. Attacking was the only answer to this move.

He pounced swiftly, keeping his body close to the ground, and clapped forward, bringing the two lumps of flames together. A stream of flame burst forth.

But just as Lou Cheng pounced out, Lu Yongyuan stepped back at the perfect timing. As a result, the distance between them didn’t decrease at all. The coordination made it seem like they were dancing.

With a turn and a flick of the wrist, the long saber slashed at Lou Cheng swiftly.

It left a threatening light trail in its path, like lightning across the darkness. The darker it was around it, the grander it looked in contrast.

At the same time, a crack sounded mid-air, like thunder on a sunny day.

Lou Cheng felt a chill down his spine. Without thinking twice, he pulled at his shoulders, forcing his arms to shoot up. The purple flame collided into the saber.

Rumble!

Purple light burst forth. Fiery streams enveloped the long saber with a viscosity that made it look like odd-colored lava.

While the saber was momentarily stopped, Lou Cheng pushed his feet into the ground and sprang away. Facing upwards, he had his body close to the ground, as though he was skiing.

Poof! Parting the purple flames, the long saber scraped past Lou Cheng’s legs, missing.

Impassive, Lu Yongyuan squat down with the momentum, stabbing the darkness-emitting long saber into the soil.

Bam, bam, bam!

Dark saber aura, along with gravel and dirt, spurted up around Lou Cheng from below and shot towards the sky.

Yan Zheke brought a hand to her mouth as she watched. Brahman and some others gasped. To them, it seemed like Lou Cheng was in extreme danger and likely didn’t possess an answer to the attack in his current state.

At this crucial moment, Lou Cheng suddenly brought his limbs closer and stayed compact, avoiding most of the saber aura. In his mind, he quickly formed an image of a heavy sun crashing into the cold, deep abyss.

Mutated Version of Severe Warning!

He could already execute a Simplified Physical Invulnerability Move at rapid speed!

Bam!

Lou Cheng jolted his shoulder, drew his arm back, and threw out a right uppercut. His fist was covered by a layer of darkness, dense with latent energy, as though it could absorb everything that has ever existed.

Swish, swish, swish!

Seven to eight beams of saber aura was drawn towards Lou Cheng’s fist, dissolving in the darkness.

Immediately after that, the darkness burst apart, strength reversing, and landed on the ground.

Lou Cheng used the opportunity to spring into the air, changing direction mid-air. Right as he landed on the ground, he swept up a frigid wind once more as he repositioned to avoid follow-up attacks.

In this process, His right fist, covered in saber cuts, drooped as the infiltrating darkness had stolen much of his strength.

Lu Yongyuan paused once more. Nodded in content.

“The three strokes I have just used are known as Dusk, Divine Spear, and Raging Tides. Now, the eighth stroke.”

“Extreme Shock!”

Lu Yongyuan hunched over before finishing his sentence, sliding his long saber backward as though he was returning it to its sheath. But, suddenly, he thrust it forward.

That was when Lou Cheng sensed extreme danger.

Without thinking twice, he stepped to the side with a jerk of the waist, then tilted his body sideways while he was at it.

In that instant, Lou Cheng saw a flare before him. The long saber had struck where he originally stood at unimaginable speed!

In the wave of the saber, the split air currents materialized into electric sparks.

Boom!

Only after all of this did Lou Cheng hear the deafening sonic boom. A rush of air was ejected in every direction.

It was reminiscent of Flying Dragon Takedown from the Xinzhai Sect! Both were culminations of fast bladework!

Clink!

The God Slaying Blade tremored noisily, as though it couldn’t handle the pressure. At the same time, it was as though it was ululating in exhilaration.

Lu Yongyuan’s face darkened. A dark sheen flitted across his eyes. He withdrew his long saber and held it horizontally before him.

All of a sudden, a sharp sheen burst forth. The surrounding immediately fell into darkness, as though the noon sun had been swallowed by a Tengu!

In the endless darkness, Lou Cheng couldn’t see or hear. His mental perception had also ceased functioning, turning empty and unresponsive.

Petrified, he felt as though he was about to be consumed by the Tengu!

Channeling his Qi and blood, Lou Cheng threw out his Fire Force unreservedly. There weren’t any techniques involved, but the amount and speed made up for it!

A dazzling white formed and blasted forth, quickly landing in the darkness and disappearing before Lou Cheng’s eyes. However, nothing happened after that, not a flare or a sizzle. The silence around him was redolent of Death itself!

The darkness surged forward uncontrollably. It actually made Lou Cheng consider conceding.

However, his will was strong and his ice heart was unaffected. Different ideas still flitted across his mind.

Seizing a moment of eureka, Lou Cheng visualized a complex seal script character— the character formed from the nine ancient words “Confrontation, Army, Fighting, Swordsman, Wholeness, Formation, Dequeuing, Forwarding, and Attainment”!

When practiced internally, using all Nine Word Formulas enhances the mind. When used externally, it can give the user courage, weaken the enemy, empower oneself, and dispel all illusions imposed on oneself within a certain range!

Lou Cheng suspected what he was experiencing to be a result of being hypnotized by illusions induced by the stroke!

Once the Nine Words formed, everything cleared up before his eyes. The dark metallic sheen from the saber was about to contact him, but it could no longer conceal the colors around him, or the fiery streams that had formed from the Fire Force explosion!

He raised one hand to protect his face, then threw out a clenched fist. Lou Cheng had found the God Slaying Saber hidden in the darkness!

Clink!

The long saber jolted, slanted away. After the stroke, Lou Cheng’s body was ridden with laceration, charred saber-cuts that ravaged his skin and flesh.

For a moment, his mind went blank, as though a hidden poison had manifested in him. He quickly concentrated his Qi and blood, alleviating most of the symptoms. With the momentum, he threw a punch forward, switching from defense to offense!

Lu Yongyuan backed away nimbly, barring the long saber between them.

“I admit defeat!” he boomed.

Had it been nine strokes? Lou Cheng stopped in his tracks. He could hardly believe it.

It took him all his strength and concentration to deal with the strokes, so he wasn’t counting at all.

Lu Yongyuan looked him straight in the eye.

“That’s the Ninth Stroke. It’s my loss.”

“The last stroke, I call it Eternal Silence.”

With that, he turned, shaking his head, and left.

“Too slow, too slow…” he muttered, half- thoughtful and half-dismal.