“Bang!”
Before he could even finish his sentence...
...Jiang Ye had already swung a second strike.
A hairline crack appeared on the shield.
Sima Gui's eyes widened abruptly as an ominous premonition surged in his heart.
“Bang!”
A third strike! No technique whatsoever—just pure, unadulterated violence and ultimate speed!
“Crack!”
The low-grade defensive Treasure Tool shattered directly into dust!
Under Sima Gui's horrified gaze, the massive black sword carried its full momentum forward, slapping him squarely in the face like swiping at a fly!
“Boom!”
Sima Gui launched straight into the air, spinning more than a dozen times in midair before crashing violently into a distant hill, his status unknown.
“Fourth Brother!!!”
In the rear, Sima Zhao's eyes nearly tore open. He skidded to a sudden halt, his face full of utter disbelief.
How was this possible?! Why did the array fail?
And that woman clearly had the cultivation aura of only a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator! How could she shatter a low-grade defensive Treasure Tool in just three strikes and send Fourth Brother flying?!
Only now did Gu Changqing and the others finally charge out of the courtyard.
Seeing Sima Gui embedded in the distant mountainside, the group from Sword Peak fell into self-doubt once more.
Although they had seen “Bai Zhirou” swat away Gao Chengji—who was at the early stage of the Golden Core realm—Gao Chengji had clearly underestimated her then and hadn't used his full strength at all.
But Sima Gui had literally activated a defensive Treasure Tool! How could his turtle shell still be hacked to pieces in three strikes?
Junior Sister Bai's combat power... couldn't even be described as terrifying anymore. This was fucking cheating!
The fighting spirit of the Sword Peak group instantly reignited!
Jiang Ye ignored the cheers behind him.
Shouldering the Meteorite Greatsword with one hand, he pointed the tip arrogantly at the grim-faced Sima Zhao and curled his finger:
“Hey, old fogey, what are you dazing off for?”
“Hurry up and hand over the experience!”
Sima Zhao swept his divine sense over Jiang Ye again and again.
What in the world!
It was indeed the true qi fluctuations of the mid-stage Foundation Establishment stage, without a doubt!
But the combat power this woman unleashed was entirely, completely wrong!
Seeing that this red-named mob didn't take the initiative to pounce on him, Jiang Ye curled his lip.
“Tsk, so slow.”
Since the mob wouldn't come over, he could only go over and farm it himself.
“Whoosh!”
Brandishing the greatsword, Jiang Ye proactively initiated a charge!
Sima Zhao's face darkened. With a flip of his right hand, a crimson spear appeared in his grip.
It was none other than the top-grade Treasure Tool, the 【Blood Cherry Spear】.
“You're courting death!”
“Bang!”
Jiang Ye opened right away with an extremely simple and brutal downward chop.
Sima Zhao raised his spear to block.
The instant they collided, a terrifying, monstrous force transmitted down the shaft into his arms.
Sima Zhao grunted, his legs buckling so hard he nearly dropped to his knees!
He roared frantically in his mind:
“This piece of shit calls herself a sword cultivator?! She's clearly a pure body cultivator!!!”
However, through that collision, he also confirmed one thing.
This young girl truly was at the Foundation Establishment stage; she just possessed raw, monstrous strength!
As long as he didn't clash with her in raw strength and utilized his realm advantage to kite her, he could still win!
“Boom!”
The powerful pressure belonging to a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator erupted with a crash.
Borrowing the recoil force from the spear shaft, Sima Zhao rapidly retreated backward, pulling away distance.
Still midair, his spear surged like a dragon as his wrist shook violently.
Low-grade Earth-grade spear art—【Sky Full of Stars】!
The spear tip instantly dissolved into dozens of frigid gleams, falling like a sky full of shooting stars. Shrouded in illusions and reality, they completely sealed off all of Jiang Ye's retreat routes!
Sima Zhao's expression turned vicious as he laughed maniacally:
“So what if your strength is great?!”
“With a mere Foundation Establishment stage, how can you possibly block this?!”
“Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang...”
Crisp, dense metal-clashing sounds exploded wildly over the quiet village!
Amidst the flying sparks, the corners of Jiang Ye's mouth slowly curled into a maniacal arc.
Parrying every real spear shadow with absolute precision using his greatsword, he pressed forward step by step against the rain of strikes.
Jiang Ye grinned, his eyes filled with mockery:
“Old fogey, your movements...”
“I can see them clearly now. What are you going to fight me with?”
Watching Jiang Ye stroll casually through the spear shadows of his 【Sky Full of Stars】, Sima Zhao's face changed drastically.
“What?!”
As the final crisp “clang” echoed...
...Sima Zhao was horrified to discover that his body was briefly stunned! He couldn't move at all!
A glint of ferocity flashed through Jiang Ye's eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation...
...the Meteorite Greatsword cleaved straight down toward his head with an ear-splitting howl of wind!
Sima Zhao's pupils instantly shrank to the size of needle points.
“Bang—!!!”
A deafening boom resounded.
Dust billowed into the air.
Sima Zhao was pounded directly into the hard earth like a nail, leaving only his head exposed.
Jiang Ye grinned, raising the greatsword to finish the job and strike down the fallen foe.
Although dizzy and bleeding from all seven orifices, Sima Zhao still possessed the foundation of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, and his consciousness remained intact.
At the critical juncture of life and death, the Treasure Tool bracelet on his wrist burst with a blinding light.
“Buzz!”
A thick shield of light rose from the ground.
“Bang!”
The greatsword slammed viciously into the shield.
The shield shook violently, yet it stubbornly held against the blow.
The foundation of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator was indeed not to be underestimated.
Farther off, the Sword Peak disciples were beating the Yin-Yang Sect disciples into a steady retreat, on the verge of charging over to assist.
Covered in blood, Sima Zhao looked disheveled to the extreme.
Holding up his shield, he roared hysterically toward the distant hill like a wounded beast:
“Fourth Brother! If you keep fucking playing dead, I'm really going to die here today!”
...
Deep inside the distant hill...
Sima Gui, who had actually woken up long ago and was secretly observing the situation, felt a flash of embarrassment on his face.
He had indeed been injured after Jiang Ye destroyed his defense and swatted him away in three strikes.
But as a grand Golden Core early-stage cultivator, how could he be so easily killed?
He was lying in the crater playing dead mainly because he suspected the white-robed girl was a Nascent Soul old monster in disguise, and he was looking for an opportunity to slip away.
But after observing for a while, he realized that her true qi fluctuations were truly only at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment realm, and she didn't know any powerful spells at all.
Over and over, it was just swinging her sword, parrying, and dodging.
This wasn't some old monster—it was just a pure body cultivator who had trained her physical body to the limit and possessed sheer, raw strength!
“Since she's just a body cultivator, what am I afraid of?”
Sima Gui stopped pretending.
“Boom!”
He blasted out of the mountain with a roar, bringing along the terrifying pressure of an early-stage Golden Core:
“Junior, prepare to die!”
Before his words died away, his entire body had vanished from the spot.
In the next second, he appeared directly above the heads of Gu Changqing and the others, blocking their path!
Monstrous pressure slammed down like a collapsing mountain!
Facing the rage of a Golden Core cultivator directly...
...Gu Changqing and the others instantly felt their scalps go numb and their breathing stall.
Only at this moment did they truly experience firsthand how ridiculous it was that “Bai Zhirou” had casually batted this Golden Core around like a ball!
“Form the array!”
Gu Changqing barked out a fierce shout.
【Floating Light Sword Array】!
The Sword Peak members immediately took their positions, their true qi resonating in unison.
Layers upon layers of sword light soared into the sky, meeting Sima Gui's barrage like waves on the ocean.
...
Meanwhile.
On the eastern side of Daniu Village, inside Widow Liu's house.
A monk with a shiny bald head, a bare torso, and firm chunks of fat lay in bed.
It was none other than Monk Du'e, who had failed to get free service at the brothel and instead turned around to “perform last rites” for Widow Liu.
He rubbed his dizzy, bald head and sat up from the bed.
“Hiss... why does my head feel so heavy? Looks like I indulged a bit too much just now.”
He failed to notice that the moment he stood up...
...a few gossamer-thin, aura-less blood-red threads silently peeled off his body and dissolved into the dark.
As a martial monk who cultivated his physical body exclusively, Du'e had not developed divine sense and naturally couldn't perceive the battle at the tail end of the village.
Walking over to the window, he pressed his palms together and closed his eyes.
A faint halo of golden Buddhist light shone behind his head.
A secret Buddhist technique—【Heavenly Ear】!
In an instant...
...the distant sounds of explosions, clashing weapons, and angry roars poured clearly into his ears.
Du'e slowly opened his eyes, their clarity restored, as he cursed under his breath:
“It really is those evil cultivators causing trouble! How dare they disturb Lord Buddha's rest!”
Snatching up the coarse monk robes by the bed, he draped them over himself and prepared to push open the door.
As he reached the door, he seemed to suddenly remember something.
He turned around and walked back to the bedside, giving Widow Liu's impressive chest a hard squeeze.
However, Widow Liu gave no reaction whatsoever, as if she were dead.
Du'e muttered under his breath:
“Is she sleeping that dead? Fighting outside sounds like the sky is falling, and it didn't even wake her?”
Thinking nothing more of it, he turned around, pushed open the door, and headed straight for the battlefield at the tail end of the village.
Inside the house...
...silence fell once more.
Only Widow Liu's faint breathing remained.
But in the shadows behind her, those few extremely subtle blood-red threads were slowly squirming...
Rate on N.U.
