Chen Ping's Sword

"Ah, attack."

The Blood Monkey Yuan Cultivator leaped among the trees, quickly crossing the dense forest.

Through the large and small leaves, he caught sight of Chen Ping and his companion, his face twisted in savage delight, lips pulling back to reveal sixteen sharp teeth in a grin.

A sharp, howling scream.

His thin, monkey-like frame suddenly expanded as if inflated, his clothes bulging, hair standing on end.

Flipping, like a swooping windstorm, he charged forward.

At that moment, everything seemed to darken in midair.

Chen Ping didn’t even want to count how many staves his opponent had swung in an instant.

All he could hear was the whistling of the staves around him, golden staff shadows pounding down from all directions.

"Heavenly Wind and Sea Rain, it’s the method of the Celestial Spirit Thirty-Six Staves’ one into a hundred technique. Seventh Brother, don’t try to clash head-on; the more you block, the worse it gets. You can’t match his speed. Just evade... ugh!"

Hua Lian’er leaned over Chen Ping’s body, bending her head close to his ear, speaking rapidly and urgently.

Just as she said not to clash head-on... her voice grew fainter.

Wrong.

It wasn’t that he was slower than the opponent.

Nearby, the sword’s whistling rose like a dragon’s roar, countless flickering sword lights soared into the sky.

The place seemed to have turned into an arctic frost land, innumerable ice spikes shot skyward, stretching to the horizon.

Those shadows of staff rain multiplying into hundreds and thousands of staves striking down.

In an instant, they were utterly submerged by the mountain-like sword whistle.

Even with Hua Lian’er’s eyesight, she couldn’t clearly see how many swords Seventh Brother thrust within that misty sword rain.

Clang clang clang...

The sound of dense collisions, merging into one.

Sparks splattered across the sky.

Staff shadows and sword auras collided, igniting a fiery red curtain.

Qi force surged all around, leaves danced, wood chips flew...

Waves of air undulated, swirling and twisting around them.

Chen Ping chuckled softly, drawing his sword behind his elbow, his figure had already transformed into a fluttering butterfly, lighter than the leaves, more agile than spring swallows.

Swaying with the gentle breeze, he was already dozens of feet away.

But that Blood Monkey Yuan Cultivator, enraged as if mad, launched himself high into the sky, with blood fountains shooting from his shoulder, abdomen, and arms.

It was in the hand-to-hand speed contest just now that he lost his edge.

That was why this guy, ranked within the top two hundred of the Hidden Dragon List, showed no sign of discouragement despite falling behind in the frontal clash. Instead, the more injured he was, the fiercer he became.

He roared towards the sky, somersaulted, back-kicked a tall tree’s crown and branch.

Using the force to rebound, roaring, his golden staff shadow exploded and contracted, thirty-six staves merged into eighteen staves, then nine, nine staves returned to the origin, finally forming into one stave.

It crashed down with a rumble.

The air exploded, causing blast waves, trees turned to powder, soil collapsed.

Falling from the sky, aiming straight for his head...

Chen Ping twisted left and right, sprinting and circling around, only to find that the stave naturally had a tracking function, no matter which way he dodged, it would always come down on his forehead.

He was infuriated on the spot: "Don’t you know your limits, do you think I’m afraid of you?"

Of course, he couldn’t turn his back on Yuan Cultivator, so he turned to face him, steadied himself, focused his mind and qi, his qi and blood gathered, transforming into blood essence power, black patterns surfaced on his body and face, his frame swelled significantly.

Indeed, monkeys are annoying creatures.

Highly perceptive, plus naturally adept at spotting weaknesses, extremely nimble.

Earlier, Chen Ping’s Clear Wind Shadowless Sword was already at the pinnacle of speed, and it shouldn’t have been difficult to kill the opponent technically.

Yet, it appeared that either Yuan Cultivator’s talent for crisis was exceptionally strong, or his technique of borrowing and redirecting force had reached a very high level.

At critical moments, he could always miraculously evade the vital spots, only receiving sword injuries where his skin was thick and flesh tough.

The situation somewhat mirrored Chen Ping’s initial response to the Clear Wind Shadowless Sword.

He would get injured but wouldn’t die.

In the final moments, fortune would seemingly favor him, always managing to escape at the last second.

Back then, Chen Ping was acutely aware that, once out from under the sword’s lethal range, he should immediately run...

Life only comes once, so taking a gamble on luck each time is not an option.

Yet the Blood Monkey Yuan Cultivator evidently didn’t share this belief.

Injured, he seemed even more ferocious.

Displaying a ’fight to the death’ attitude.

’How much is Beizhou paying you for this?’

Chen Ping was somewhat puzzled, muttering to himself about how insane this was.

Gathering his qi to strike, with qi and blood surging, this time, he intended to completely slay this Blood Monkey.

Raising his sword to his eyebrows, the Frost Condensation Treasure Sword emitted layered sword shadows...

Hundreds and thousands of sword lights merged into one sword.

This sword was as heavy as a mountain.

And as graceful as clouds...

Like mountains falling into the sea, shattering rocks and boulders.

The sword’s momentum drew an arc, powered by Chen Ping’s essence, qi and blood, and internal qi from his dantian.

Transforming shadow into form, a dignified strike cleaves down.

Splatter...

The sword’s momentum had only reached halfway.

The single stave that gathered from the Celestial Spirit Thirty-Six Staves was already unable to strike further... under the overwhelming sword force, pushed back, a streak of blood from the Blood Monkey’s forehead to his chest and abdomen split open, seemingly about to cleave him in two.

Buzz...

After Chen Ping’s enlightenment greatly increased, he stepped from being an average person into the realm of a little genius, finally experiencing the thrill of a breakthrough in the midst of battle.

He also understood why some people keep getting stronger the more they fight, traversing the world, ultimately becoming a master of their generation’s true secret.

In the heat of the fiercest battles, when emotions are at their peak, one can always grasp insights that would otherwise be absolutely impossible to achieve.

Just like now...

His set of Clear Wind Shadowless Sword techniques finally took a step into the Realm of Form and Emotion, from seeing a mountain as no mountain, back to seeing a mountain as a mountain, quietly achieving "Great Success" on his attribute panel.

Unexpectedly, with this sword’s strike, the Blood Monkey would truly become a blood monkey, a dead monkey.

This is the suppression of strength, an ultimate transcendence in sword technique realm.

Unfortunately, the Blood Monkey did not come alone.

Just as the Frost Condensation Sword was about to pierce through the flesh and flash past...

Suddenly, the sword body began to vibrate violently...

Chen Ping only felt that the treasure sword in his hand was somewhat unresponsive.

Countless forces, pulling left and right, swirling and entangling upon the sword body, preventing it from cutting downward.

In the corner of his eye, he saw a figure, dressed in a grey robe with snow-white hair, stepping into his line of sight amidst the dancing leaves.

The person took a step forward, his body slightly turned towards him, with both hands rested on the shoulder sword’s hilt.

The sword was not unsheathed.

A sensation of extreme sharpness and tearing had already reached the center of his brows and chest.

Sss...

Even with Chen Ping’s current robust physique, which was difficult even for himself to hurt, he found himself unknowingly split open with deep bloody cuts.

"Yan Hui... Seven Stars!"

Chen Ping’s heart shivered.

No longer caring to force this sword down, he took one deep look at the grey-robed elder, his body flickered, and he had already darted dozens of feet away.

Before landing, he lightly tapped on the tree trunk, explosively splitting into more than twenty illusions, disappearing in different directions into the forest.

"He escaped quickly indeed."

The elder took a few steps forward, reaching the front of Blood Monkey Yuann Xiu, his eyes slightly focused, taking a glance at the bloody mark on Yuann’s forehead, and asked in a deep voice, "Can you still pursue? Rest assured, with me here, he cannot kill you."

"Sword Elder surely underestimates this person named Yuann far too much. Just because I’m beyond the top three hundred on the Hidden Dragon List, how could someone like that kill me?

Earlier I merely let my guard down momentarily, otherwise... just a scratch, it’s no big deal."

Yuann Xiu was rather displeased.

However, in front of a senior expert like the Sword Elder, he dared not act too presumptuously.

Without a master nearby, walking the Jianghu, he still had to rely on strength.

One should respect seniors where due.

"As long as you can fight, it’s okay, he won’t escape. If you can hold him for just half a breath more, I’ll catch up, and one sword strike will finish him."

A faint sense of solitude and pride appeared between the Sword Elder’s eyebrows, unwilling to say much.

The young man’s body technique and stepping technique across from him, indeed, were marvelous to the extreme.

If not for the Eye of the Celestial Divine Eagle constantly watching tightly, no one to slow down his steps at every turn, with that slippery little bastard turning this way and that, it’s entirely possible he might have slipped away.

However, ifs and buts don’t change the reality.

After the Beizhou army’s pressure, even a Sword Master Mingxin, despite any unwillingness, had to bow in submission.

Under great forces, individual strength isn’t much stronger than a mantis trying to stop a cart.

How long can that boy escape anyway.

In any case, he will die; to die under the "Lifeless Sword" isn’t a wasted life.

Feeling the killing intent in the old man’s heart, the sheathed, rusted iron sword on his back suddenly emitted a muffled low hum, with faint golden light seeping through.

...

"What kind of sword technique is that?"

Right now, Chen Ping felt somewhat fortunate that earlier he had spent considerable effort and quite a few Tribulation Points to enhance the "Swallow Returning Butterfly Dance" body technique.

Otherwise, after being locked on by that grey-haired elder, whether or not he could escape would still be unknown.

Incredibly, even from a dozen feet away, just with his gaze, he had already wounded me.

He even slightly controlled my long sword, causing the Frost Condensation Sword to be unable to come down, sparing the dead monkey’s life.

"Mother once said, after Martial Artists cultivate to the Innate Realm, they arrive at the same destination through different paths... they need to condense willpower to form Martial Intent to successfully break through."

Hua Lian’er paused for a moment and added with a sigh.

"Of course, those who comprehend Martial Intent and reach the Innate Realm, without exception, are extraordinarily gifted individuals, with so few in the vast world.

Yet, the Jianghu rumor is that this Sword Elder is only a Lifeless Sword Slave, serving a sword all his life.

I thought, no matter how strong he might be, he’d just be in Eight Meridians Perfection, and even at best, devoid of potential at the peak.

But I didn’t expect that even at his advanced age, he could still grasp a trace of sword intent in embryonic form."

Hua Lian’er really knows a lot about everything.

Chen Ping was shocked: "You’re saying, that move he just used was sword intent?"

"Not quite sword intent, rather, he just grasped a trace of its embryonic form."

Hua Lian’er glared with wide eyes, what are you thinking, if it were really sword intent, we’d have already been sliced into four pieces.

The might of an Innate Expert isn’t something you, who have barely stepped into Tier Three Qi Blood Martial Arts, can handle.

"But even just an embryonic form, for us, doesn’t make much difference either, before him, you basically can’t use a sword.

No matter how exquisite your sword technique, it would still be controlled to an extent, and even, that sense of extreme sharpness isn’t something you can fend off."

What does this mean.

Getting into a fight with him, Chen Ping would essentially be without a weapon.

Moreover, unable to withstand the full force of a single swing from the opponent.

So how is one supposed to fight?