NOVPUB"You are much stronger than the others who have achieved Internal Qi Perfection."
Jiang Ding nodded slightly, the Inner Energy of the Twelve Meridians circulated, and then surged into the tip of the sword. Another stab was thrust forward, and the sword shadow hung in the air.
This was the truth.
Even among those who have reached Internal Qi Perfection, the likes of Lu Jingtian and Yang Dongsheng were far inferior to this man, whether in terms of Inner Energy or swordsmanship.
Ding!
The swords clashed once more, tremendous Inner Energy poured into the blade, directly shattering the Inner Energy within it, and spread through his arm into his body.
"Impossible, you’re clearly not a Xiantian, how can your Inner Energy be so profound?"
Hei Jin’s face turned red, desperately resisting the invasion of the foreign Inner Energy with his Black Flame Inner Energy, needing twice the effort to cope with a single part of Eaglet Qi, and paid the price of damaged meridians to extinguish it.
The Black Flame True Qi’s ability to burn Inner Energy was utterly useless in front of this strange white Inner Energy!
Jiang Ding kept silent.
The third sword was slashed out, creating a perfect semicircle in the air.
So far, he had tempered and nourished a total of 3407 meridians, including the main and branching meridians of the Twelve Primary Channels.
Of course, the deeper he went, the finer were the meridians he tempered and nourished, some so fine that not even Xiantian Martial Artists using inner view could observe them, and he could only cultivate them with the help of the Cultivation Room Array Spirit.
These finer meridians could hold only a minute amount of Inner Energy. Altogether, their capacity didn’t reach three times that of an ordinary martial artist who cultivated top-level cultivation methods, but twice was still possible.
Moreover, considering that the quality of Eaglet Qi was higher than that of martial Dao Inner Energy, such a situation was to be expected.
"But that’s just profound Inner Energy!"
The sword pierced the air once again. Hei Jin sensed danger and his body rose in rolling black flames, appearing from a distance as if he had already transformed into a deity of flames.
"Black Flame Burns the Eight Desolates!"
Hei Jin shouted coldly, and with one swing, the sky filled with black flames sweeping down!
This was the strongest move he inherited from the "Knife Demon Secret Record," burning the Inner Energy within his body to its limits, condensing the black flames to the extreme, and slashing out eight times at a single point in an instant.
His master had once commented on this move, saying it could severely injure a Xiantian if it caught them by surprise.
Like a peacock fanning its feathers, the eight pure black flame blades unfolded one by one in front of Jiang Ding.
Jiang Ding simply slashed down with his sword.
Ding!
Without anything fancy, under one sword stroke, six of the black flame blades were successively broken, with the swordsmanship he faced becoming stronger and stronger.
The seventh blade finally forced him to retreat a step.
The eighth blade, even more terrifying, filled the air with the scent of scorching.
Hei Jin revealed a trace of hope, but the figure in his eyes suddenly vanished, leaving only a sword shadow in its place.
Boom!
The eighth blade hacked at nothing and plummeted towards the forest below, breaking trees and blackening the broken ends. Even boulders the size of several meters were split in half.
"Not good..."
Hei Jin was frightened, but before he could do anything, the sound of an air bubble being pierced rang by his ear, and a longsword easily penetrated the thin shield of Inner Energy, stabbing towards his throat.
"My life is over!"
He closed his eyes in despair.
Everything was going smoothly, exploiting the opponent’s lack of mastery in that move to defeat him in one fell swoop, but Jiang Ding suddenly sensed something amiss and retreated explosively.
Whoosh!
A pure black Sword Qi burst out from Hei Jin’s embrace, the Black Flame was grim, and its aura was much more terrifying than that of Hei Jin himself, it even possessed a spirit-like quality, aiming directly for Jiang Ding with clear intent.
"Xiantian Sword Qi!"
Jiang Ding’s eyelids twitched, such agility that autonomously locked onto its target, containing a wisp of Xiantian Martial Artist’s will, was a qualitative change compared to Inner Qi Realm Martial Artists.
The Sword Qi arrived in an instant, agile beyond measure, as if wielded by a master of sabresmanship.
"Slash!"
Jiang Ding growled lowly, Inner Energy throughout his body boiled madly, surging into the sword, a circular arc cut through the air forward.
Expose Sword Style!
This was the sword move he practiced the most.
Boom!
As the sword and sabre collided, countless bursts of energy shattered, Jiang Ding was thrown back more than a dozen steps and rolled into the woods, his body covered in leaves, in an extremely sorry state.
"Damn it!"
Hei Jin cursed angrily and no longer bothered with pretense, desperately speeding towards the approaching forces of Chen Chen.
This was a Xiantian strike!
Yet he was only forced back a dozen steps and didn’t even show signs of a light injury. What kind of monstrous creature was this?
"No matter what, you are certain to die today!"
Hei Jin said grimly.
As long as he could join forces with Chen Chen’s dark clouds, with his assistance and restraint, they would certainly be able to... be able to...
A sharp pain surged from his chest, and Hei Jin looked down to find a red sword tip piercing through his heart. The scorching Sword Qi exploded, turning his heart into a lump of mush.
"...How could this be... here... so far away..."
He murmured, his body falling powerlessly from the forest.
Chen Chen, who had led his troops to a range of over forty steps, paused, looking ahead in astonishment.
He clearly saw that Hei Jin had already escaped more than twenty steps away. With his speed, a few breaths would have allowed him to catch up and join him, ensuring safety.
But suddenly, a glowing, red short sword, seemingly out of nowhere, pierced his chest.
Jiang Ding, who had collapsed into a ball, stood up, leaping to the treetops. The Talisman Sword left Hei Jin’s chest, shaking off the charred blood on its blade, turning into a streak of gold light as it flew back and hovered over his left shoulder.
The sunlight at noon gathered towards it, shining brightly, and from a distance, it looked as though he carried a small sun on his shoulder.
"Hundred Step Flying Sword!"
Chen Chen blurted out, causing a tremor among the officers and soldiers behind him.
In Dongling City, nobody was unaware of the founding ancestor’s story of the Qixuan School; it was said that the ancestor swept through all challengers with his Hundred Step Flying Sword, unrivaled under the heavens, honored throughout the Jianghu.
Chen Chen had thought it was just a story, for which sect didn’t have legends of ancestral masters ascending to immortality?
But now it was real?
"Leave, you are no match for me."
Jiang Ding advised.
With the sun on his shoulder, he seemed like a figure out of a myth, commanding an indescribable awe from the many officers and soldiers.
Leave?
Chen Chen bit his teeth, his mind swirling with thoughts.
Leading a large force to besiege, causing such a commotion, to retreat without firing a single arrow, what would the Marquis think of him?
The Xiantian’s Black Blood Pill’s concoction required young martial artists with deep potential; it was related to the Marquis’s path to Xiantian. If I show cowardice in the face of the enemy, will he vent his anger on me and my family upon my return?
Internal Qi Realm!
Chen Chen thought of a factor; whether it was his own perception or Hei Jin’s, a Xiantian disciple in combat, it was confirmed that this person was just in the Internal Qi Realm.
How many times could someone in the Internal Qi Realm wield a Flying Sword?
If he truly was invincible, why would the opponent have fled from the city? And why would he let me leave?
"Fire the arrows!"
Chen Chen’s expression fluctuated wildly before he suddenly bellowed, taking a gamble.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Years of brutal military drills had honed the reactions of the armored soldiers into instinct, and the taut bowstrings were released, sending triangular steel arrowheads cutting through the air, engulfing the small area Jiang Ding was in.
Jiang Ding’s expression became grave as he rapidly fell towards the ground, taking cover behind a four to five-meter-tall boulder.
The sounds of impacts incessantly reached his ears.
In an instant, his surroundings were littered with arrows, trees as thick as a man’s waist were penetrated, and in some places, even rocks a few inches thick were pierced through!
These were unquestionably arrows shot by Inner Qi Realm Martial Artists, completely comparable to the force of rifle bullets, even surpassing their power due to the greater mass of the arrows.
There was no doubt that his camouflage uniform couldn’t block this volley of arrows.
"Look!" 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
Chen Chen laughed heartily, pointing at Jiang Ding who was hiding behind the boulder, mocking him: "If he’s so strong, why is he hiding like a rat?"
Clang!
He drew his sword and shouted,
"The one who kills this thief will be rewarded a thousand taels of silver, promotion by three ranks, and a glimpse at the Hundred Step Flying Sword technique!"
"Those who retreat will be executed, and their families demoted to slaves!"
Seeing this, the armored officers were emboldened, the soldiers’ timidity vanished at the promise of rich rewards, and they responded thunderously.
"Aye!"
