“A fist match?”
Ji Yuande sneered. With a flick of his wrist, his three-foot longsword danced, blooming into a sword flower. He held the blade level, pointing its tip directly at the bandits.
“Who's going first? Step up and face me!”
His arrogant display instantly brought a savage look to Tu Xiaotian's face.
The tower of a man strode forward, his blood qi erupting with a boom, locking onto his prey like a ferocious tiger.
His burly frame stretched his black short coat to its limits. Veins coiled like snakes across his bare arms, and with every step he took, the bluestone ground trembled slightly.
“You wet-behind-the-ears little brat! Who do you think you are? Today, I'll teach you what the jianghu is really about on behalf of your elders!”
Before his voice could even fade—
Tu Xiaotian's massive body shot forward like an arrow from a bow, kicking up a gust of fierce wind.
As the fierce bandit lunged at him, a sharp light flashed in Ji Yuande's eyes.
If you were still at the Bone Tempering stage, my Flowing Cloud Swordplay would be enough to keep me undefeated. Even if you've broken through to the Tendon Tempering stage, I can still clash with you for dozens of moves before retreating safely.
Before coming to Yunyi Island, Ji Yuande had obtained a treasured family technique from Ji Wen—
The Flowing Cloud Swordplay!
This technique was derived from Bixia Villa's ultimate sword sect manual, the True Exposition of the Flowing Cloud Thousand Illusion Sword Dao.
Although it only captured a fraction of the original's essence, it was still a top-tier sword style.
If mastered to its peak, one could even condense Flowing Cloud Sword Qi. Its movements were unpredictable and could penetrate any opening.
It was precisely because he had this sword technique to protect him that Ji Yuande dared to step onto the field himself.
In his mind, as long as Chenjian Dock's Anjin experts didn't make a move, he could preserve his life even if he couldn't defeat the others.
“Die!”
Ji Yuande thrust his sword diagonally. The momentum of his blade was like drifting clouds emerging from a mountain valley, elusive and unpredictable.
Shifting his footing, he advanced instead of retreating. The tip of his sword dragged a trail of afterimages, thrusting straight at Tu Xiaotian's face.
Tu Xiaotian's steps were steady yet violent. Completely ignoring the sharp edge of the sword, he lunged forward in a few strides, breaking directly into Ji Yuande's sword range.
His bare palms, which had been soaked in countless poisons and iron sand, swelled significantly under the infusion of blood qi, taking on a terrifying greenish-black hue.
Spreading his fingers, energy gathered in his palms, producing a muffled sound like a rotating millstone as he slapped the side of Ji Yuande's sword.
Overturning Heaven Palm: Roiling Seas and Rivers!
Ji Yuande reacted incredibly fast. He slid his sword along the force, the blade shifting like drifting clouds!
Flowing Cloud Swordplay: Parting Clouds to See the Sun!
He aimed to slash the other's wrist, using softness to conquer strength and redirect that brutal force.
Clang!
When the steel blade scraped against Tu Xiaotian's greenish-black palm, it sounded as if it had struck raw iron, sending a shower of blinding sparks flying.
Ji Yuande felt a massive surge of force travel up the spine of his sword and penetrate his body. The shock sent a tearing pain through his web of skin between thumb and forefinger, and his sword nearly flew from his grip.
He let out a muffled groan and stumbled back four or five steps, only barely managing to dissipate that terrifying palm force. His right arm, still holding the sword, was completely numb.
Tendon Tempering... and he's likely mastered that palm technique to Great Perfection!
Ji Yuande's pupils contracted. Sensing a formidable enemy, he no longer dared to underestimate his opponent in the slightest.
“Is this soft, weak, showy garbage all you've got? And you still dared to stick your neck out for others?”
Tu Xiaotian sneered repeatedly. Pressing his advantage ruthlessly, he closed the distance instantly.
His palms swung wide and powerful one moment, then became agile and unpredictable the next. The wind from his palms roared like thunder, enveloping all of Ji Yuande's vital points.
The essence of the Overturning Heaven Palm lay in a single word: "suppress."
It was incomparably domineering, crushing the opponent with sheer momentum!
For a time, palm shadows overlapped. The air was filled with deep, explosive booms like the heavens collapsing and the earth splitting, suppressing Ji Yuande's sword moves until they became sluggish and difficult to execute.
Though Ji Yuande lacked combat experience, the Flowing Cloud Swordplay was a genuine high-grade martial art with dense, supple moves.
Grimacing, he spun his sword into a sphere of silver-white light. The sword force swirled, occasionally deflecting the palm wind with "Clouds Gathering and Parting," and at other times protecting his vital areas with "Clouds Shrouding, Mists Veiling."
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Sword light and palm shadows clashed. The dull thuds of impact were as dense as raindrops, sending sparks flying in all directions.
However, the chasm between their cultivation realms was not something a single profound sword technique could easily bridge.
Tu Xiaotian had entered the Tendon Tempering stage two years ago, and had already tempered two and a half of his five main tendons.
His blood qi flowed seamlessly, and his strength and reaction time completely suppressed Ji Yuande, who had only recently broken through to the Bone Tempering stage.
After blocking seven or eight heavy palm strikes in a row, Ji Yuande's chest heaved. Unable to catch his breath, his sword momentum inevitably faltered.
Such a flaw might have been negligible against an ordinary martial artist, but in the eyes of an expert like Tu Xiaotian, it was no different from leaving himself completely wide open.
“Die!!”
A fierce light erupted in Tu Xiaotian's eyes.
Sinking his body, he dodged the panicked thrust of Ji Yuande's sword. His left foot forced its way into the open space on the left, while his right palm curled slightly with a hollowed center, resembling a heaven-overturning great seal as it blasted upward with a boom!
This move was precisely the extremely overbearing ultimate technique of the Overturning Heaven Palm!
Overturning Heaven with a Single Hand!
The fierce wind whipped his face; there was no way to dodge.
Ji Yuande could even feel his fine silk robes whipping loudly, pressed tight against his skin by the wind.
“Oh no!”
Ji Yuande was scared out of his wits. Trying to bring his sword back to block was now a pipe dream.
Boom!
With a dull explosion, the palm strike slammed violently into Ji Yuande's chest, its force penetrating straight through his bones.
A dense series of bone-snapping cracks rang out. Ji Yuande sprayed a mist of blood as his body flew backward like a torn sack.
“Young Master!”
Wang Jindao's eyes nearly split from rage!
With a furious roar, the blood qi inside him erupted. He kicked off the bluestone steps with all his might, intending to leap into the air to catch him.
However, a grey afterimage beside him was even faster!
Swish!
The afterimage shot across the ground and steadily caught Ji Yuande's falling body in mid-air.
Everyone focused their gaze.
The one who had made the move was actually a young guard with a square face, barely twenty years old.
Slung across his back was a saber wrapped in black cloth. Through the gaps in the fabric, two dark red characters were faintly visible on the hilt—
“Blood Shadow”!
“Is that... Luo Feng?!”
“That new, wooden block of a kid from Team C? He... he has actually broken through to the Blood Tempering stage?!”
Several nearby guards were utterly dumbfounded.
But this shock lasted only an instant before being swallowed by despair.
Even the main family's Bone Tempering young master had been beaten to the point of spitting blood and retreating. A mere Blood Tempering guard... in the face of this dead end, could do absolutely nothing.
The morale of the guards collapsed completely, some of their faces turning as pale as paper.
Shen Xiuhan, however, narrowed his eyes slightly, staring intently at Luo Feng, who was half-squatting by the shore, cradling Ji Yuande in his arms.
As if sensing something, Luo Feng looked up slightly, meeting Shen Xiuhan's gaze.
Then, he smiled faintly. The smile vanished in a flash, as if it were nothing but an illusion.
In the next instant, the palm Luo Feng was using to support Ji Yuande's back quietly turned.
His blood qi surged soundlessly.
Immediately after, he pressed down gently, right against the main spinal column of Ji Yuande's back.
“Pfft!”
Ji Yuande, who had already passed out, suddenly opened his eyes wide as they bulged from his sockets. He threw his head back and spat out another massive mouthful of dark blood, mixed with bits of shattered internal organs!
Immediately after, his upper body collapsed limply, as if his entire skeletal structure had been pulled out. He slumped into Luo Feng's arms, unable to move a single inch.
“P-Patrol Envoy!”
Luo Feng looked up, his square face filled with terror and helplessness. His voice trembled as he cried out:
“The young master... the young master's spine is broken!”
His spine was broken!
As soon as these words were uttered, several people nearby gasped, their scalps tingling with numbness.
In the martial path, the spine was the central hub for exerting force and circulating blood qi, akin to the main pillar of a house or the keel of a ship.
Even a minor injury to it would render most of one's combat power useless.
And for Ji Yuande, whose spine was completely broken, it meant...
He was crippled.
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