Martial Cultivator

Watching Chen Chao who was still falling with momentum, Daoist Yinli let out a cold laugh. A stream of energy flowed from his side toward Chen Chao. It was not a killing move, but one that seemed oddly gentle.

Daoist Yinli had not only fought with Chen Chao before, he had already come to regard the young man as a grave threat, and thus had studied his methods closely.

He knew that Chen Chao possessed a strange page of paper. If he unleashed his full strength and it landed on that page, the consequences would be severe.

Therefore, when dealing with Yu Xiyi, Daoist Yinli could fight freely and without restraint. But when facing Chen Chao, he had to be far more cautious.

After all, everyone under the heavens knew that sword cultivators had but one sword, and only one sword.

But others were not the same.

Before Chen Chao could respond, a streak of sword light swept past him, blocking that stream of energy on his behalf.

Yu Xiyi and Chen Chao had only fought side by side once before, back on the snowy plains of the desolate north, but the tacit understanding between them was impeccable.

Such things could not be explained by ordinary reasoning. Perhaps it was the mutual admiration shared by young prodigies, paired with a wholehearted trust in one another.

Hence, that was why such a thing had happened.

Unable to retrieve his saber in time, Chen Chao hurled his own body forward, crashing straight into Daoist Yinli.

A martial artist’s greatest asset was none other than their tenacious body.

Daoist Yinli’s palm surged with energy as he pressed it down on Chen Chao’s head. His other hand swept upward, wanting to slap Chen Chao away. But at that moment, Chen Chao lashed out with a kick toward his abdomen.

Daoist Yinli had no choice but to withdraw the other hand and smack toward the foot kicking towards his lower abdomen.

Taking the opportunity, Chen Chao swung his saber, aiming for Daoist Yinli’s throat.

Daoist Yinli tapped a finger at the blade’s edge. The force knocked Chen Chao back several steps, but in that very instant, Yu Xiyi’s sword attacked again.

A sword imbued with countless threads of sword qi crashed toward Daoist Yinli’s chest without any hesitation.

It was a brilliantly coordinated attack.

But in the next instant, Daoist Yinli abruptly vanished from the spot, and a streak of flowing light shot toward Yu Xiyi’s chest.

The young sword immortal was blasted back hundreds of feet, finally crashing to the ground and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Chen Chao turned to glance at Yu Xiyi. The two exchanged a look, both a little helpless.

Daoist cultivators were inherently unpredictable, the magic spells they cultivated were so numerous and complex they defied explanation. More over, when facing someone like this, who was not just any ordinary daoist cultivator, but one of the most formidable great daoist sages of the entire daoist lineage.

Perhaps even “one of the most” was unnecessary here.

With just the two of them, killing Daoist Yinli was simply too difficult.

In other words, if it were two ordinary cultivators in the Nepenthe Realm, they would not even have the slightest chance of surviving in front of this Daoist Yinli.

That the two of them could go toe-to-toe with Daoist Yinli was already an impressive feat.

......

......

The brief lull in the great battle did not last long. As soon as Yu Xiyi soared into the air once again, Chen Chao raised his saber and slashed once more.

Cloud Mud carved a line through the sky, slashing down toward Daoist Yinli. But the blade never reached its target. Instead, it came to a halt just a short distance in front of him. Daoist Yinli stood with hands clasped behind his back, watching the young martial artist. His eyes resembled a boundless sea, and at its center swirled a vortex. Just one glance, and it became impossible to look away.

Chen Chao’s expression changed slightly.

His mind was momentarily shaken, but quickly returned to clarity.

Daoist Yinli showed a hint of surprise. The secret technique he had just activated, should theoretically have been impossible to break. Still, now that it had been, he did not dwell on it. Instead, he reached out and patted Chen Chao.

One after another, streams of daoist aura fell upon Chen Chao, sealing off several of his vital acupoints.

The flow of qi within Chen Chao’s body immediately came to a standstill.

Daoist Yinli let out a cold laugh and reached to tap the space between Chen Chao’s brows.

He had never held the slightest regard for this young martial artist. No matter what he had accomplished, or what status he held in this world, he had always been no more than an unimportant character in front of Daoist Yinli.

An uncouth martial artist, through and through.

Terrifying daoist aura surged relentlessly toward the space between Chen Chao’s brows.

Blood began to trickle from Chen Chao’s glabella.

If no solution was found soon, Chen Chao would likely lose his life here.

Fortunately, at this critical moment, the white mist began to surge within Chen Chao’s body. In the blink of an eye, the mist swept through his sealed acupoints and shattered the foreign qi within them.

As the white mist flowed, Chen Chao quickly regained his ability to move. Clenching his fist, he struck out, a punch that landed squarely between the brows of the great daoist sage before him.

The force of the punch howled through the air and hit its mark, though it was luck more than anything. After all, Daoist Yinli had never imagined Chen Chao would be able to break free of his bindings.

Still, despite taking the punch head-on, only a bruise appeared on Daoist Yinli’s forehead. The injury was not serious.

This did not mean that Daoist Yinli’s body was exceptionally tough, it was simply that a powerhouse at the end of Nepenthe like him possessed a faint, nearly imperceptible layer of qi that constantly shielded his body.

With a backhanded strike, Daoist Yinli swatted Chen Chao away. Now truly infuriated, he summoned the Profound Yellow Bell.

This was his lifeblood magic artifact, painstakingly refined over many years. It was fully attuned to his will and possessed incredible power.

The Profound Yellow Bell flew straight toward Chen Chao. Unable to dodge, Chen Chao simply slashed out with his saber. Cloud Mud clashed with the Profound Yellow Bell, producing a loud sound.

The toll of the bell echoed across the entire Yingchun Commandery.

Chen Chao’s saber strike failed to force the bell back, instead, he was sent flying.

Just as the Profound Yellow Bell swept past, about to crush Chen Chao, it was struck by a streak of flowing light, stopping its momentum entirely.

At some point, a young daoist had appeared on the battlefield; covered in dust and travel-worn.

Dressed in a dark red daoist robe, his bearing was ethereal. Compared to Daoist Yinli, he looked even more the part of a daoist sage.

Upon seeing the newcomer, Daoist Yinli narrowed his eyes and sneered, “I knew you were a traitor.”

Yun Jianyue hovered in midair, looking at Daoist Yinli before him, and said calmly, “Since Chief Enforcer killed the Temple Master, you should have known this day would come.”

Daoist Yinli replied indifferently, “You’ve merely been incited by them. There’s still time to turn back.”

Yun Jianyue shook his head. “Even now, Chief Enforcer still seeks to muddy right and wrong. There’s really nothing more to say.”

Hearing this, Daoist Yinli did not argue. He merely glanced at the three young cultivators on this side. Yun Jianyue’s appearance here was unexpected, yet not entirely beyond prediction. Still, he felt no concern. So long as he could kill Yun Jianyue and destroy the corpse, no one would be able to trace anything back to him.

“It seems from the moment you left the temple for the Divine Capital, it was all part of a setup. Is Yu Lu one of your people? But what I really want to know is, within this scheme, who was the one pulling the strings? Was it you, Yun Jianyue, or that woman in the Divine Capital?”

Daoist Yinli stood with his hands behind his back. Even if these three younger cultivators joined forces to kill him, he was not particularly worried. After all, he was a genuine great daoist sage. Facing three younger juniors, he had ample confidence in himself.

Yun Jianyue said nothing. But Chen Chao, who had climbed to his feet from the dust, chuckled and said, “Something this interesting, of course it was me who did it.”

Hearing this voice, Daoist Yinli turned his gaze toward Chen Chao and said coolly, “So it’s you.”

Chen Chao smiled and nodded.

Daoist Yinli’s expression darkened, not because he was especially surprised, but because those words had reminded him of that Great Liang Emperor who had since vanished without a trace.

Similarly a martial artist, similarly adept in scheming. Given time, this young martial artist before him would likely become the next Great Liang Emperor. And they would once again be forced to accept it, however reluctantly.

But fortunately...

This young martial artist had yet to rise to such heights.

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