Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

Tong Wanli heard the hostile rush of wind behind him.

He spun around to see Ye Jingshuang’s longsword descending upon him and roared in fury:

”You dare to fight me?”

As he spoke, he made a grasping motion with one palm, once again unleashing his ever-shifting palm technique.

To his surprise, however, Ye Jingshuang merely angled her sword, slipping it through a nigh-imperceptible gap in his defense. In an instant, the blade’s edge weaved through the afterimages of his palm.

Tong Wanli’s heart seized. He instinctively jerked his head aside, feeling a sudden coldness on his cheek as blood began to stream down.

The gleam of Ye Jingshuang’s sword flared anew. Her Liuyun Cloud Swordsmanship was truly like its namesake—at times a gathering storm, at others a serene expanse of unfolding clouds!

This was the first time Jiang Ran had witnessed Ye Jingshuang’s Swordsmanship in its full glory.

He had seen her perform a dazzling, flowing turn during their first encounter.

Later, when she and Luo Qingyi joined forces against Ghost Seven, she had also demonstrated the power of this Swordsmanship.

But in truth, she had been so grievously injured then that it was a wonder she could display even a fraction of her full capabilities.

Now that she had mostly recovered, her true martial prowess was finally on display.

Jiang Ran knew after only a brief glance that while she might not be able to defeat Tong Wanli quickly, it would be no easy feat for him to defeat her either.

’No wonder someone like Shi Miao admires you so much.’

’Without this level of skill, how could you possibly have fought your way out of the Ye family’s predicament that night?’

A slight smile touched the corner of his lips as he glanced into the darkness.

”Since you’re here, why don’t you show yourself?”

”Just helping you keep watch, in case they try to run.”

A voice drifted over, and a figure emerged from the mist, dressed all in black and cradling a saber.

”But now it seems my efforts were unnecessary.”

”No wonder that woman, Shi Miao, didn’t bother to come... What exquisite Swordsmanship.”

”This Liuyun Cloud Swordsmanship is the foundational art of the Liuyun Sword Sect. Years ago, Ancestor Liuyun established his dominance over all his rivals with this very technique.”

”But in all the years since, she might be the first to have cultivated the Liuyun Cloud Swordsmanship to such a masterful degree...”

”You certainly are well-informed.”

As Jiang Ran spoke, he flicked his saber, cutting down a dwarf who was trying to slip away.

The remaining dwarfs exchanged uneasy glances, all of them realizing the gravity of their situation.

Tong Wanli and Ye Jingshuang were locked in combat, and Jiang Ran, while watching from the sidelines, was preventing any of them from leaving.

It was obvious that once the other fight concluded, it would be time for all their heads to roll.

At this thought, the group exchanged a look and immediately clustered together.

Two dwarfs took positions on either side as others leaped into the air, landing on their comrades’ shoulders. More scrambled on top of them, and in moments, a nearly thirty-foot-tall dwarf-conglomerate had formed before them.

Jiang Ran blinked. ’What kind of circus act is this?’

Still, he didn’t dare underestimate the methods of Heterodox Manor.

Then, the dwarf forming the head opened his mouth and yelled:

”SKRAWW!!”

As this cry rang out, the rest of the dwarfs opened their mouths in unison.

In an instant, the air filled with a cacophony of ”SKRAWW! SKRAWW! SKRAWW! SKRAWW!”

The sounds rose and fell in pitch, powered by Inner Strength to form bizarre waves of energy that crashed into the listeners’ ears, making their heads feel heavy and groggy.

Jiang Ran’s brow furrowed. Just as he was about to look up, he heard Li Tianxin cry out in terror:

”What is that thing?”

Jiang Ran glanced back at him, then followed his gaze toward the pile of dwarfs.

”Have you never seen a human pyramid before?”

”A human pyramid?”

Li Tianxin was stunned. ”This is clearly a Divine Demon! How can you call that a human pyramid?”

As he spoke, he drew his saber with a SHING, his hand trembling so badly that sweat soaked the hilt.

A look of sudden understanding dawned on Jiang Ran.

”So that’s it. They’re using this technique to attack the mind...”

”A Divine Demon... Li Tianxin, what exactly are you seeing? Describe it to me.”

”Three heads and six arms, so massive it props up the sky and stands upon the earth.”

”Each head is the size of a mountain.”

”They wear three different expressions: one of joy, one of anger, and one of sorrow...”

”Oh no, it’s coming for me!”

As he spoke, the dwarf-conglomerate did indeed move.

However, it only moved its ”leg”—and even then, only shifted in place. Despite this, Li Tianxin reacted as if he’d been struck, rolling away desperately. When he finally scrambled to his feet, his clothes were in disarray and his face was ashen, as if he had just escaped death’s door. He spat fiercely.

”How am I supposed to fight this?!”

The words had barely left his lips before he leaped into the air. His footwork shifted rapidly as he executed a flurry of saber techniques, yet he held the final blow, gathering its power.

Finally, he brought his hand down, and a brilliant flash of saber energy condensed in the air before cleaving downward violently!

Great Transformation Divine Saber!

This time, the power of his Great Transformation Divine Saber was considerably stronger than the last two times Jiang Ran had seen him use it.

’Is this man’s martial skill improving every second?’

Unfortunately, for all its power, the Great Transformation Divine Saber cleaved through nothing but empty air.

With a deafening BOOM, the strike shattered the ground where it landed.

But it failed to harm the dwarf-conglomerate in the slightest.

The color drained from Li Tianxin’s face.

”Completely unscathed...”

Jiang Ran was finally beginning to understand what it looked like when someone’s mind was being manipulated by a Profound Skill.

’Honestly, it looks a bit awkward.’

’His opponent barely moves a muscle, and he acts like it’s the end of the world, rolling all over the ground.’

’Still, it goes to show just how formidable this technique really is.’

’It can warp a person’s perception, distorting its own image and the distance between them.’