By a Hair's Breadth

However, even with her injuries, she refused to believe she couldn't defeat a junior who was less than a fraction of her age.

"I've heard you're hailed as the most outstanding genius in the Si Clan in a century. Today, I'll see if you have the real talent or just empty praise."

Suddenly, she moved with lightning speed, reaching out to grab Si Jingyu. Although she said she was determined to kill him, what she really wanted was to capture him as a hostage, use him to blackmail the Si Clan, and then stir up even bigger trouble. In the end, the dead are not as valuable as the living.

Unexpectedly, Si Jingyu reacted quickly and was able to keep up with her speed. With her palms transformed into the gentle flow of water, she neutralized all of Si Jingyu's force.

Shi Muyan snorted coldly, twisted her wrist, and her five fingers, sharp as swords, plunged straight down towards Si Jingyu's wrist.

Si Jingyu knew that her opponent's move, which appeared to be a claw technique, actually contained sharp sword Sword Qi within its five fingers, making it extremely powerful. If it were to touch her, it would likely sever her wrist. With her soft skills, she knew she couldn't withstand it. So she used the Phoenix-Coming Fuxi Dance from the Water Moon Precious Mirror, her body darting backward like a snake, barely avoiding the sharp force of her opponent's five fingers.

The Phoenix-Coming Fuxi Dance is said to be a sacrificial dance created by the human emperor Fuxi. It is ingenious and closely related to the Eight Trigrams and numerology. Combined with the principle of using softness to overcome hardness, even though Shi Muyan's cultivation is high, she cannot defeat it for the time being with her skills alone. Feeling embarrassed, she immediately activated her Yuan Gong and swept her hands horizontally. White Sword Qi shot out indiscriminately. To dodge this move, one must either lie on the ground or leap into the air, both of which would inevitably affect one's movement.

Seeing this, Si Jingyu stopped dodging and drew circles from the outside in with both hands. At the same time, her True Qi surged and condensed into a round mirror. The Sword Qi that swept towards her struck the round mirror and was deflected!

"Mirror Reflection Technique!" Shi Muyan shattered her own Sword Qi with a wave of her palm, her expression filled with surprise and uncertainty. "Isn't this Secret Method only used to reflect Technique Method?"

Si Jingyu retorted, "When things reach an impasse, one must adapt; adaptation leads to progress. If you can't even modify the Cultivation Method of your predecessors, what kind of peerless genius are you?"

"You seem like a humble girl, but you're actually quite proud inside. However, you certainly have the right to be proud." Shi Muyan didn't hold back her praise.

Modifying Cultivation Method is easier than creating Cultivation Method, but only to a limited extent. If creating Cultivation Method only brings one's vision to a certain level, then modifying Cultivation Method can only surpass that vision by a hair's breadth. Therefore, only those who have mastered the art can do it. If modifying Cultivation Method were really that easy, how could the predecessors of the Si Clan have turned a blind eye to it?

Shi Muyan sighed, "It's a pity that even the most talented person needs time to grow. If I gave you another ten years, I'm afraid I really wouldn't be able to handle you."

Si Jingyu corrected him, "It won't take ten years, just five, for me to defeat you. And if we take into account how quickly your body decays, it will only take three years before you have no chance of winning."

"Trying to provoke me? It won't work. I won't let you get away with this today. You have no future!"

Her aura dissipated, causing dust to fly up from the ground. With a wave of her hand, sword light seeped into every grain of sand, causing it to shoot out like bullets. At the same time, she charged forward, closely following the barrage of bullets.

Si Jingyu dared not use the Mirror Reflection Technique again, because she could not move while shooting, and it would be dangerous if Shi Muyan got close. She immediately started dancing again, darting into the stone forest, using the stone statues to block the shooting sand, and dodging left and right to avoid the opponent's sight.

Although Shi Muyan was fast, absolute speed was meaningless in this space full of obstacles. Instead, movement and Movement Method were more important. Footwork was the Si Clan's forte. Although her physical qualities and reaction were obviously faster, she just couldn't catch up with anyone. Every time she missed by a hair's breadth, she was dodged and blocked by stone statues.

"Trying to hide behind a stone statue? Dream on!"

A moment later, feeling agitated, Shi Muyan didn't want to play hide-and-seek with Si Jingyu anymore. She immediately formed her fingers into a sword, and Sword-Ray more than a meter long extended from her fingertips. With a light swipe, she sliced a three-zhang-tall stone statue in half as easily as cutting tofu.

Then, Shi Muyan stopped circling around, locked onto Si Jingyu's aura, and walked in a straight line, using her Sword-Ray to cut down all the stone statues blocking her way. The earth rumbled, and the broken stone statues crashed to the ground, stirring up dust that filled the air.

However, although the Sword-Ray cleaved the stone statue very easily and in no time, it took time for the statue to fall to the ground after it broke. No matter how strong Shi Muyan's body was, it would be difficult for her to crash head-on into a stone weighing several tons. She still needed to go around it, so she still couldn't catch up with Si Jingyu.

The two chased each other from one end of the valley to the other. All the stone statues along the way were cut down and lay scattered on the ground. When Si Jingyu turned around and saw this scene, she immediately understood the other party's intention. This was to force her to no longer be able to use her footwork, and at the same time cut off her next opportunity to hide with the stone statues.

"Run away! Why aren't you running away anymore?"

Shi Muyan pointed forward, and the Sword-Ray flew out of his hand, slicing through stone and splitting gold, indestructible, and piercing a hole in the blocking stone statue.

Si Jingyu feinted, her body seemingly boneless, her lower body continuing to charge forward while her upper body bent backward, level with the water's surface, barely avoiding the Sword-Ray. Only her clothes were torn at her lower abdomen, leaving her in a crop top.

"Pointing the halberd, glaring angrily, I cleave the crimson clouds!"

Shi Muyan five fingers together, and a powerful Sword-Ray burst forth from her palm, condensing into a five-meter-long giant sword, which she then slashed down angrily from the sky.

Knowing that it was difficult to dodge again, Si Jingyu channeled her inner energy into her palms and pushed aside the statue of Zhuan Zhu, who was kneeling and holding a fish.

Zhuan Zhu was a great assassin of the Wu State during the Spring and Autumn Period. He once hid the Fish Intestine Short Sword in a four-gill perch and assassinated King Liao of Wu. This stone statue is crouching on a tray, with the short sword about to be drawn. Its aura is already fierce and strange. At this moment, it was stimulated by Si Jingyu's palm force, and the stone sword in its hand shot out angrily. At the same time, the stone statue was pulled to the side by the force.

Seeing the stone sword shooting towards her, Shi Muyan snorted and casually slapped it with her other hand, shattering it into pieces. However, the dust from the shattered stone sword hit her face. Although it was blocked by her True Qi, it still made her mind waver slightly. Her arm, which was condensing the qi sword, swayed involuntarily, causing the giant sword to deviate slightly.

Seizing the opportunity, Si Jingyu twisted her serpentine waist and finally dodged the sword of energy slashing down from above, then quickly retreated.

The sword energy struck the ground and exploded with a bang, dispersing into Sword Qi energy that shot out in all directions. Even the residual force was enough to pierce through iron armor and easily turn a person into a sieve.

Fortunately, the stone statue of Zhuan Zhu fell down, landing precisely between Si Jingyu and the sword, blocking all the incoming Sword Qi with a thud.

Before Si Jingyu could even breathe a sigh of relief, Shi Muyan had already struck with her palm. Knowing that she could no longer dodge, she could only gather all her strength and desperately parry with her palm.

As soon as he clasped his hands together, Si Jingyu felt an unparalleled surge of energy rushing up his arms and converging upon him. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and he vomited blood and flew out of the room.

Shi Muyan intended to catch up and capture the person in one fell swoop, but a force with the same attribute as her palm strike rebounded, causing her to be momentarily hindered. By the time she caught her breath, she had lost the best opportunity to capture the person.

"Countercurrent Divine Gang!"

Shi Muyan naturally recognized the Si Clan's secret technique. She glanced down at her palm and sighed, "Even Si Jingxi only mastered this technique after advancing to the Spirit Transformation. And at your current age... perhaps you really will surpass me in just five years."

Si Jingyu steadied himself, used his internal energy to suppress his injuries, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and said, "What's so surprising? Times are always moving forward, just as the waves of the future push the waves of the past. Later generations should surpass their predecessors, otherwise they are incompetent! After the Mohist School promoted the martial arts revolution, our generation has had access to far more martial arts than your generation. In terms of basic martial arts knowledge, you may not be able to match me. Let me tell you something: there is another person in the Si Clan who is my age who has also learned the Countercurrent Divine Gang."

"The younger generation is indeed formidable," Shi Muyan sighed without refuting. "Unfortunately, the Countercurrent Divine Gang alone cannot harm me. Your Si Clan's martial arts are more than capable of defense than offense. In addition, due to physical limitations, even if you learn powerful and domineering martial arts, you can only unleash half of their power."

The Body Refinement Chapter of "Water Moon Precious Mirror" emphasizes flexibility. After the physique is set, practicing soft skills will be twice as effective. It will also make practicing dance easier. Even those with dull talent can have excellent dance skills after body refinement, but this will also reduce their aptitude for strength.

"To injure an enemy, one doesn't necessarily have to rely on powerful and domineering martial arts."

Despite her injury, Si Jingyu was not discouraged. She raised her energy and launched her first attack.

Shi Muyan intentionally tested his skills, neither dodging nor avoiding, raising her hand to meet his palm, their energy clashing.

Although she managed to push Si Jingyu back again, she also felt a vicious and ruthless force seeping into her palm, causing her entire arm's meridians to ache. She was immediately alarmed, as far as she knew, the Si Clan did not have such a vicious palm technique.

"What kind of martial art is this?"

"Meridian-Shattering Goosefoot Heart Palm."

PS: Because of the masking words, I changed "today" in the article to "today", otherwise "" and "" would appear.

Chapter 301 A Close Call