Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

This left Li Tianxin unable to discern the situation, causing him to make erroneous judgments.

Watching Li Tianxin frantically darting about, Jiang Ran, though amused, knew this couldn’t go on.

Nor would he tell Li Tianxin that this was all fake, an illusion.

Li Tianxin was caught in the middle of it. Whether he would believe him was one thing; even if he did, it might not have been a good thing.

If he were to test it, the consequences could very well be irreversible.

Therefore, the best method was to eliminate the source of the problem.

But Jiang Ran had another way.

With a flicker of his body, he left a trail of afterimages, his true form reappearing in front of Li Tianxin.

Li Tianxin was stunned. ”How did you...”

Before he could finish, Jiang Ran extended a finger and tapped forward.

Righteous Heart Finger!

HUMMM.

Li Tianxin swayed. When he looked up again, the colossal Divine Demon that touched the heavens and stood upon the earth had vanished without a trace.

In its place stood only a bizarrely-shaped dwarf, chattering incessantly.

He was instantly overcome with uncontrollable rage.

”I’ll kill you all!!”

His feet moved, his body followed his blade, and in a flash he was before the cluster of dwarves. A blade gleam instantly appeared in mid-air.

It was another strike of the Great Transformation Divine Blade!

With a furious roar, Li Tianxin swung one-handed, and the blade gleam came crashing down.

The dwarves looked up and immediately knew they were in trouble.

At the gathering that night, they had dared to block Li Tianxin’s regular attacks, but they did not dare to face this Great Transformation Divine Blade head-on.

They immediately scattered like panicked animals, fleeing in all directions. Only the two dwarves at the bottom failed to escape in time. Enveloped by the blade gleam, they were instantly torn to shreds by Li Tianxin’s strike!

This was the first time Jiang Ran had seen the Great Transformation Divine Blade actually strike a person.

This blade energy appeared to be a single strike, but was in fact composed of fine, fragmented wisps. Once it made contact, it was like death by a thousand cuts.

No wonder that night at Tiger Leaping Gorge, neither that little old man nor Tong Wanli had been willing to take this strike head-on.

Judging by the display of the Great Transformation Divine Blade, it was difficult to gauge its true power.

A single miscalculation would mean certain death.

Even if one survived, no one would be happy about taking such a strange blow for no reason.

Having enjoyed the show, Jiang Ran unleashed a series of strikes with his own blade.

Several dwarves were immediately slain by his blade.

Li Tianxin, for his part, was already locked in combat with several other dwarves.

Aside from the Great Transformation Divine Blade, his blademanship had its own points of brilliance.

During the Heterodox Manor gathering that night, he had retreated after a single clash not because he feared this gang of dwarves, but because he was wary of the Young Manor Lord.

Now, with his blade flashing, the gang of dwarves joined forces to barely manage to trade blows with him.

But their defeat was only a matter of time.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran finally turned his attention to the duel between Tong Wanli and Ye Jingshuang.

The two had already exchanged over a hundred moves, but the fight was still a stalemate.

Ye Jingshuang’s Swordsmanship grew more formidable the more she used it. Jiang Ran also noticed that as she executed her techniques, a layer of misty vapor was faintly forming around her.

This vapor didn’t appear from thin air; it was the Sword Qi left behind from each of Ye Jingshuang’s strikes.

Drawn in by her Heart Method, it gathered and swirled around her body, refusing to dissipate.

Her mind was clear, and her Sword Qi drew in the vapor. The longer she fought, the more invigorated she became, and her Swordsmanship grew ever sharper and more vicious.

Tong Wanli, on the other hand, was of a scattered mind. He wanted to escape this dangerous place, yet found himself unable to disengage, forced to continue clashing with Ye Jingshuang. As his frustration mounted, the momentum of his Thousand Changes Heavenly Net Palm began to stiffen.

This was not to mention that Ye Jingshuang had been able to see the openings in his palm technique from the very beginning.

Even if she hadn’t been able to before, spotting them now was a simple matter.

As one side’s power waned and the other’s waxed, Tong Wanli grew increasingly anxious the longer he fought.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran’s gaze suddenly focused, fixing on Tong Wanli’s left shoulder.

At that exact moment, Tong Wanli was about to strike with his left palm. But when he felt that gaze, it was as if a blade was pressed against him. He had the distinct feeling that if he were to follow through with the strike, his left arm would be instantly severed by a blade.

He didn’t dare to follow through. But then, the tip of a sword slanted—SHRIIIP—and although Tong Wanli dodged in time, his left arm was still stabbed by Ye Jingshuang.

He hurriedly pulled back to retreat, his palm stances changing again as he prepared to rally, but he felt a throbbing between his brows, as if a blade were hanging over his head, about to fall in the blink of an eye.

His movements couldn’t help but slow, and Ye Jingshuang’s blade, following like a shadow, drove straight for his chest and abdomen.

In that brief pause, the sword tip pierced half an inch into his body. Only then did Tong Wanli snap back to his senses. He brought his hands together, slapping them against Ye Jingshuang’s longsword in the ”Child Worships Guanyin” stance to stop the blade from running him through.

With a PFFT, Sword Qi shot into his body, forcing him backward uncontrollably.

He stumbled back until he hit a tree, finally stopping his retreat.

Ye Jingshuang flicked her wrist, twisting the longsword. With a HUM, the blade slipped free from his grasp.

Both of his hands were instantly left dripping with blood.

He looked up again, but he saw no sword—only clouds.

Within the swirling mist, a thousand hidden blades lay in wait.

This was the ”Cloud Cover and Misty Coils” technique from the Liuyun Cloud Swordsmanship.

For a moment, Tong Wanli had no idea how to dodge.

He could only turn with the momentum, but with a SHLICK, the longsword plunged into his right shoulder, running straight through his torso.

THUNK. It stabbed straight into the tree behind him.

He was pinned to it completely.

His face contorted in agony, Tong Wanli reached out to snap the longsword in two.

But he only felt another blade’s edge closing in.

But he couldn’t be bothered with that now. How could he not understand? Those few times he had faltered were because Jiang Ran had been deliberately locking him down with his killing intent.

He shouldn’t have been defeated so soundly; in fact, he might have even gained the upper hand in a few dozen more moves.

But now, he had been brought to this miserable end.

He might as well muster his palm energy, shatter this longsword first, and then figure out how to escape.

However, at that very moment, a blade flashed.

The light of a blade flashed, and an arm was sent flying through the air.

Tong Wanli stared blankly at the arm flying through the air, and then at Jiang Ran, who now stood before him. Finally, the color drained from his face, leaving it an ashen gray.