Stranger Danger

“Did I mention that it’s only thanks to you that I was able to survive, Ye Qing?”

Chen Cang sneered. “Every time I feel like I can’t stand it any longer, I will remember you, what you did to me, and everything I had to go through because of you. Suddenly, I don’t feel like ending my life anymore.”

“After all, how can I pass onto the afterlife when you are still alive? If I die, then who else is left to make you pay for what you’ve done?”

“Sounds like you owe me your life,” Ye Qing said.

“Indeed. It is all thanks to you. I could never have become a Trueman so quickly if not for you.” Chen Cang chuckled darkly. “As thanks, I shall reward you with an experience worse than death itself.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you can’t kill me even if you’ve become a Trueman, much less ‘reward’ me.” Ye Qing replied indifferently, “How about I make you a counter offer? You let me end your miserable life, and I’ll see you off to the cycle of samsara. With luck, you’ll get to live as an actual human next time.”

Having figured out the truth of the situation, Ye Qing was no longer interested in speaking with Chen Cang. He charged the swordsman as soon as he was done.

Chen Cang was ready, of course. The second Ye Qing moved, he immediately pinched his fingers together.

He held no sword, but the sword was everywhere. An endless amount of sword qi gushed out of his pores and caused the surrounding air to gather at his fingertips.

When he thrust his fingers forward, a hundred streams joined together to form a massive river of sword qi. It was cold and sharp enough to chill the nine provinces.

Strangely, the surging river of sword qi could not be seen or heard despite its strength and intensity. Only its deadly intent was perceivable.

The technique Chen Cang was using was the Swordsgrave’s notorious qi-based sword art, “Innate Body Breaking Intangible Sword”. It emphasized on forming qi swords using qi and manipulating them using qi as well. A practitioner of the “Innate Body Breaking Intangible Sword” wielded no sword because the very world around them was their sword.

The “Innate Body Breaking Intangible Sword” was invisible and intangible. Sharp beyond imagination, it specifically countered astral qi and tough-bodied warriors. Naturally, it possessed incredible potential.

The “Innate Body Breaking Intangible Sword” could be split into three levels: Body Sword, Qi Sword, and Sky Sword.

Body Sword was the level where the practitioner accepted intangible sword qi into their body. With a thought, they could unleash the sword qi they accepted and slay their enemies without a trace.

Qi Sword was the level where the practitioner’s sword qi was no longer limited to the true qi within their physical body only. At this level, they could manipulate the surrounding air and origin energy and turn them into swords as well. When they unleashed an attack, it felt as if the wind, the clouds, and even the air itself was conspiring against their foes.

Sky Sword was the highest level of the “Innate Body Breaking Intangible Sword”. At this level, the practitioner had become one with nature itself. No longer confined to the laws—or rather, they had become the law—anything and everything could become a sword. The practitioner could turn the world itself into their sword and smite their foes with the power of the world.

It looked like the “Innate Body Breaking Intangible Sword” only had three levels, but very, very few warriors had managed to reach the Sky Sword. Every single one of them were famous titans who once shook the jianghu to the core.

Four hundred years ago, Swordsgrave once produced a Sky Sword level swordsman named the Sword Lunatic. The man had challenged countless famous warriors under the heavens and found them all wanting, and not even a Sage of the Heaven Champions Ranking dared to tempt his sword. For a time, it looked like he would become the unrivaled champion of the era.

Unfortunately, there was a reason the Sword Lunatic was called a lunatic. After he proved that he was unrivaled under the heavens, he decided to set his sights on a loftier goal, literally. He actually tried to challenge the Heavenly Way with his Sky Sword.

In the end, the Sword Lunatic was smote into dust by tribulation lightning. However, he proved that the Sky Sword was a martial art that could threaten even the heavens.

Obviously, Chen Cang had not yet reached the Sky Sword level of the “Innate Body Breaking Intangible Sword”. Not even close. However, he was born an Innate Immaculate Swordsmaster and possessed outstanding talent in the way of the swords. As a result, it only took him a short time to enter the Qi Sword level.

What this meant was that the river of sword qi before Ye Qing’s eyes wasn’t the ending. No, it was just the beginning.

When the river of sword qi began surging forward, countless air currents and origin energy flowed in from every direction and transformed into wisps of sword qi. They were becoming one with the river of sword qi.

As a result, the river of sword qi grew thicker every time it traveled an inch, and bigger every time it traveled a third of a meter.

By the time it was right in front of Ye Qing, it wasn’t a river anymore. It was a bonafide ocean of sword qi.

Such was its volume and density that the entire world plunged into darkness as if it was nighttime. However, Ye Qing’s expression did not change one bit. With casual confidence, he stepped right into the ocean of sword qi and allowed it to wash all over him. Like a tidal wave crashing against a reef, the ocean of sword qi failed to leave even a scratch on his person.

Chen Cang’s face looked ugly. He let out a growl before lifting and lowering his fingers in one swift motion.

When he lifted his fingers, the ocean of sword qi immediately rose into the air. When he lowered them, it crashed back down with renewed, no, greater vigor.

Not only that, the ocean of sword qi had condensed into a massive, invisible sword. Even before it fell, the ambient sword qi had already turned the sky into pincushion and left countless deep marks on the marshland.

It was a heavenly sword seeking to slay a human foe on the ground.

For the first time, Ye Qing stopped in his tracks. He looked up at the gigantic sword in the sky and turned the corners of his lips into a devilish smirk.

“Let’s see if your sword is sharper, or if my fist is tougher.”

The next moment, Ye Qing raised his arm and punched.

The wind died, the clouds scattered, the space shattered, and all things returned to Primal Chaos.

“Break Hammer”

Yes, it was “Break Hammer”. The real “Break Hammer”.

If this was ten days ago, then he would’ve suffered massive damage for even imbuing the technique’s fist intent to his attack. He would have hurt himself before he hurt his enemy. He was no longer who he was ten days ago though.

Ever since he started practicing the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture”, his physique had been growing by leaps and bounds. So long as his feet were still planted on the ground, it would be as if he had become the earth itself: tough, dense, heavy, and strong. Thanks to this, he could now withstand the rebound of “Break Hammer”’s fist intent and even execute the technique for real.

It had only been ten days since he made contact with the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture”, but he was improving at a tremendous pace. In fact, he was improving faster than when he was practicing the “Chaos Demon Ape Body Tempering Sutra”.

There were two reasons. One, he was a body-tempering Grandmaster. His vigor and physique were extraordinary to begin with, and the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture” was a pure body-tempering martial art. Naturally, he came to it like a fish in water.

Two, it was all thanks to the Profound Yellow Mother Qi. The “Earthly Sovereign Scripture” was created by the Earthly Sovereign, and the Earthly Sovereign was born with the Profound Yellow Mother Qi inside him. One of the most important fundamentals of the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture” was to renew one’s body and forge the Earthly Sovereign Body using the Profound Yellow Mother Qi.

Once the practitioner had attained the Earthly Sovereign Body, their cultivation speed would increase by leaps and bounds. After that, he simply needed to stick to the training routine—absorb the ambient origin qi, create the Profound Yellow Mother Qi, and continuously refine his body with it—until it evolved into the Earthly Sovereign True Body, an immortal body that could withstand ten thousand tribulations.

With all this in mind, the most fundamental and important step of practicing the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture” was to create a wisp of profound Yellow Mother Qi. Otherwise, one could not renew one’s body and forge the Earthly Sovereign Body, much less everything else. It was also the hardest step.

The Earthly Sovereign was one and only. Not everyone could be born with the Profound Yellow Mother Qi in him.

The Profound Yellow Mother Qi was also a rare, priceless treasure. It could only be obtained by the exceedingly fortunate and destined.

Although the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture” did contain the method to absorb the ambient origin energy and refine it into a wisp of Profound Yellow Mother Qi, it was an exceedingly slow process prior to renewing one’s body and forging an Earthly Sovereign Body. Assuming that the practitioner could only rely on his hard work to progress, it would take him a decade, maybe even decades to create just a single wisp of Profound Yellow Mother Qi.

This one problem disqualified most people from being able to practice the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture”—but then again, the martial art wasn’t meant for the average warrior, so it wasn’t a big issue.

Ye Qing did not have this problem, however. Because he overcame the Profound Yellow Mother Qi Tribulation, he was rewarded with a single wisp of Profound Yellow Mother Qi. This meant that he did not need to waste an entire decade to create the qi. He could simply use his existing Profound Yellow Mother Qi to renew his body and forge an Earthly Sovereign Body immediately. That was how he was able to reach the journeyman level in just the span of ten days.

After reaching the journeyman level of the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture” his body had become twice as strong and durable as before. That was why he could now execute the full “Break Hammer” without injuring himself.

“Break Hammer” could break all secret arts, Magia, energies, and vitality. All things would return to Primal Chaos before its power, and the giant sword above his head was not an exception.

As soon as the giant sword made contact with Ye Qing’s fist, it crumbled inch by inch and scattered into countless wisps of sword qi.

When the dust settled, everything had returned to Primal Chaos.