Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

”Fuck off!”

The muddy-eyed man swung his hand, the palm strike sharp and fierce, and viciously slapped Ruan Bigui across the face.

The waste of a man didn’t even let out a whimper before the blow knocked him unconscious.

With utter disgust, the muddy-eyed man kicked him away, as if flicking off a nauseating maggot that had crawled onto his leg.

SWOOSH—!

The muddy-eyed man pushed off the ground again, leaping. After two or three bounds, he was above the rear wall of the Chen Mansion.

Just as he was about to vault over the wall and into the inner courtyard...

Chen Cheng burst from the shadows to the side, just as expected. He had to intercept the man.

He had been building momentum for this strike for a long time, and his timing was perfect, catching the muddy-eyed man in mid-air with nowhere to leverage his strength.

At the same time, the medicinal paste on Chen Cheng’s body had not yet been washed off. The hard, silver-gray shell cracked and shattered as he exerted his strength, the fragments scattering like butterflies.

The night was deep, and moonlight poured over him, reflecting with a strange, silvery glow.

Combined with his silent, breathless state—devoid of even a hint of life—he looked like a silver statue awakened in the dead of night.

Cold, indifferent, and exuding an indescribable, eerie aura.

”What... What the hell are you? A man or a ghost?!”

The muddy-eyed man was startled for a moment, the hairs on his back standing on end.

But he was, after all, a hardened Transforming Force bandit who had spent half his life on the edge of a blade. His brief shock was quickly suppressed by his ferocious nature. A savage light flared in his muddy eyes.

”I don’t care what you are! If you don’t have Transforming Force, you’re dead—!!”

With a low roar, he suddenly drew a Fish Fin Cleaver from his waist. The blade was twisted with a strange curve, its edge glinting with a sharp, cold light under the moon.

He channeled his Transforming Force into the blade, infusing it with immense power.

The cutting edge actually began to emit a low hum.

This single strike was enough to cleave an ordinary Six Pillars of Blood Qi Martial Artist in two from head to toe.

Chen Cheng thrust out both fists, appearing as if he intended to meet the Fish Fin Cleaver with his bare hands.

A savage grin spread across the muddy-eyed man’s lips. ”Trying to block with your fists? Idiot!”

SWISH—

Just as his Transforming Force-infused blade was about to strike Chen Cheng’s fists.

Chen Cheng’s wrists suddenly flipped, and two Profound Black Daggers slid silently from behind his forearms, crossing to meet the attack.

The entire sequence was as fast as a flash of lightning. It was as if the daggers were a part of his body, moving with the speed and agility of his own limbs.

CLANG—!!

The sound of metal striking metal exploded, sending sparks flying and creating a blinding flash in the night.

The Fish Fin Cleaver struck the crossed daggers, and Transforming Force poured down like a tidal wave.

Chen Cheng felt a surge in his arms as an immense, powerful force flooded into him. It rushed through his limbs and into his torso, making his internal organs tremble for a moment.

The force of the blow Ejected him backward, nearly slamming him into the courtyard.

When his feet hit the ground, he stumbled back several steps. Each step made a dull THUD on the blue bricks, sending spiderweb cracks across their surface. Only after several paces did he manage to stabilize himself.

His arms hung at his sides, the web between his thumbs and forefingers numb. The two daggers in his hands trembled slightly, letting out a constant, fine-grained hum.

When he fought Zhuang Zhen, they had been evenly matched, but that was only because she hadn’t been using her full strength.

But this muddy-eyed man was likely using one hundred and twenty percent of his power.

This was a true battle against a higher-level opponent.

Though Chen Cheng had been forced back, he wasn’t injured. This was an incredible feat. For most Martial Artists, it would be considered a miracle.

However, it wasn’t over yet.

On the other side, the muddy-eyed man had never expected Chen Cheng to be hiding two Profound Iron Daggers.

But what he could have never imagined in his wildest dreams was that Chen Cheng’s speed and strength were not much weaker than his own.

Forced back by Chen Cheng, he landed outside the courtyard wall, back in the dark alley.

Protected by his Transforming Force Barrier, he felt no discomfort whatsoever. His overall condition was far better than Chen Cheng’s.

However, his face was filled with something Chen Cheng’s lacked.

Horror! Stupefaction! Disbelief!

A mere kid with just Six Pillars of Blood Qi had taken a direct hit from a strike infused with his full Transforming Force.

Not only was he not dead, he wasn’t even injured.

He had even managed to force him back.

’Is... is this kid a Secret Martial Artist?’

His brows furrowed deeply, but the savage glint in his muddy eyes didn’t fade in the slightest.

Shock was one thing, but in the end, as long as his opponent lacked Transforming Force, he was invincible.

He could advance or retreat at will. With such flexibility, he naturally felt no panic.

The boy’s identity made him intensely curious, and the enormous prize within the courtyard was something he couldn’t let go of.

How could he spit out a juicy piece of meat that was already in his mouth?

’I’ll try again!’

His gaze hardened. He stomped his foot and once again leaped onto the top of the wall.

However, the moment he landed on the wall, the one who met him was not Chen Cheng.

A graceful figure leaped from the front courtyard, her speed so great she resembled a white rainbow streaking across the night sky.

The figure was dressed only in a moon-white silk nightgown, her long hair unbound, scattering like ink in the night wind.

Her delicate, jade-like feet were bare. She tapped lightly on a stone table to launch herself into the air.

The moonlight illuminated the Horizontal Saber in her hand, its cold gleam like a bolt of silk.

In that instant, her posture was like that of an immortal descending from the heavens—graceful and effortless, yet possessing a sharp-edged power that could look down upon all mortals.

”Who are—!?”

The muddy-eyed man’s pupils shrank. He didn’t have time to see the newcomer’s face, or even finish his question.

The long saber in the graceful figure’s hand was already descending with the force of a thunderbolt.

’This speed... this power...’

’She must be a Transforming Force expert! And a genius who surpasses others of the Same Tier!’

The muddy-eyed man hastily raised his cleaver to block, but his opponent’s strike was simply too fast, too sudden.

A moment ago, he was still calculating how to continue testing Chen Cheng’s limits. How could he have expected another, even stronger Transforming Force genius to appear out of nowhere?