Fierce Blast from the Sky

It's that pariah! Zhang Quan shouted in disbelief.

The light rain had already stopped. Moonlight spilled down, and everyone clearly saw Yan Nu's face.

His upper body was bare, and he was barefoot, wearing only a single, blood-stained pair of torn trousers.

The wounds on his body were already healed, though crisscrossed with countless scars, caused by the flesh of the healed cuts differing in color from the surrounding skin.

His long black hair was simply tied up with a straw rope, wound round and round, gathered high.

Whether he felt any shame was unknown, but Yan Nu even had a straw wreath hanging across his chest, which managed to cover some of his modesty.

Zhang Quan stared intently at the explosive force bursting beneath Yan Nu's feet: This is... leg wind?

How can he be this strong? What did the abomination teach him?

Below Three Essences Body Tempering, true qi could not leave the body or project outward. Relying solely on true qi transforming into force to drive the air and form such terrifying shockwaves... wouldn't that burn through forty years of cultivation like a self-detonation?

Who would actually do something like that? Using up all their true qi in a single breath, just to make a leap into the air? Even if someone could, it was impossible to repeatedly burst forth like this so many times.

Therefore, Yan Nu could not possibly be using it that way; there had to be incredible amplitude techniques at play.

Zhang Quan's thoughts were basically the same as Huang Banyun's, yet Mr. Feng wore a grave expression: Careful! His true qi is absurdly abundant!

"What?" Zhang Quan was astonished.

Immediately following was a huge wave of air descending from the sky, as Yan Nu smashed down with a heavy punch toward the crowd, who were already staring in a daze.

"Whoosh!"

With a backhand strike, Zhang Quan unleashed a sword qi that parted the fist wind like a boat cleaving through waves, retaining enough residual force to head straight for Yan Nu.

Force was just force; how could it compare to true qi directly breaking through the body and condensing into form?

No matter how great the explosive power behind it was, it was ultimately nothing more than a gust of wind.

"Humph!" Exercising his body-protection true qi, Zhang Quan took the fierce wind head-on, his body only swaying slightly.

Faced with the sword qi, Yan Nu had no time to dodge and simply swept out with his spear instead!

"Bang!"

The sound of metal and stone clashing exploded in midair! The sword qi vanished with a roar!

Although the quality of the sword qi crushed his, and fist wind alone couldn't block it, pouring forty years of cultivation into the Mysterious Iron Spear meant he wasn't someone to be trifled with either.

After blocking the sword qi, Yan Nu's forward momentum was also conveniently halted. He tumbled downward toward the ground, and just as he was about to crash, he slapped the air below with a single palm!

With a bang, his entire body seemed to crash against an invisible wall of air, hanging suspended for a split second. He even stepped on the air, executing a double jump and doing a backward somersault.

However, lacking basic foundations, he was unsteady upon landing, so tiny ripples vibrated from his sides to slightly adjust his center of gravity. His body tensed up like a sculpture, swaying three times like a tumbler before finally standing firm.

"Great Emperor White Jade Scripture!" Mr. Feng furrowed his brow slightly.

Possessing an extremely strong capacity for sensing qi, he could tell from afar that Yan Nu's feat was not due to some ultimate technique's amplification, but rather because his true qi was vast and mighty, like a great river.

The acupuncture points all over his body were filled with energy, and the Xuanji and Huagai acupuncture points especially held vortexes resembling the eyes of a storm.

Could this kid be a man of Mount Tai Immortal Sect? Are you seeking death by chasing and hunting him? I fucking knew something was going to go wrong!

Mr. Feng's tone was filled with extreme fear. This was, after all, a renowned and illustrious sect.

It was by no means comparable to the likes of Zhongnan Mountains, Mount Cangwu, or Mount Jiuhua. Although these blessed grottoes also gathered many cultivators, they could only be considered individual lineages.

For a sect to establish itself between heaven and earth and claim the title of an immortal sect, at least one true immortal had to have emerged from it!

However, Mr. Feng's dread was utterly meaningless.

Zhang Quan said coldly, "Mr. Feng, Mount Tai Immortal Sect was destroyed by the demonic path forty years ago! As for the Great Emperor White Jade Scripture, my Zhang family also has remnant scrolls! This brat is just a pariah, and who knows what method the water demon used! How could he become this formidable in just a few short days?"

"Ah? Mount Tai Immortal Sect is gone?" Mr. Feng was startled.

He had only been locked away for fifty years, never expecting that not only would the world fall into chaos with rising talents emerging like clouds, but there would also be such a terrifying, massive upheaval in the cultivation world.

Without a doubt, the present era was one of great contention!

"Then how could this kid have so much true qi?" Mr. Feng looked puzzled.

If it were someone from Mount Tai Immortal Sect, having true qi so absurdly abundant might be possible; every sect possessed extremely deep foundations, which boiled down to nothing more than piled-up resources.

Yet since he was a pariah and had grown strong over just these past few days, that made it truly bizarre.

Zhang Quan raised an eyebrow. "Is it a lot? Just how much could there be?"

Mr. Feng spoke in a solemn tone, "It's a hundred times yours!"

"Ha?" Zhang Quan was dumbfounded, suspecting he had misheard.

"Impossible! A hundred times? A few days ago he was still a pariah!"

The martial artists present all felt their worldview had taken a blow.

"Heh heh heh..." Shen Leling emerged from a stream beside Yan Nu.

"Yan Nu'er! I had already prepared myself to stall until dawn, waiting for you to complete your seclusion! I never expected you to succeed in body tempering so quickly; it wasn't in vain that I went through the trouble of explaining it to you."

Shen Leling wore a gratified and satisfied expression. Yan Nu's body-tempering speed greatly exceeded her expectations.

Yan Nu was very happy as well. "Yeah, I succeeded on the first try! Then I tested out the power, and the recoil ended up blowing me away..."

"I started thinking, hey, the action of forces is mutual, so couldn't I use this to fly?"

Shen Leling was pleasantly surprised, her eyes shining. "You—you succeeded on the first try? Good, good, good, a prodigy! My prodigy!"

While she was healing her injuries, she had carefully explained body tempering several times and then told Yan Nu to go practice by himself in the back mountain, instructing him not to come over until he mastered Primordial Body Tempering.

In truth, she had been extremely worried that Yan Nu would only have a half-baked understanding and continuously fail at body tempering.

If she couldn't hold on by then, she would only be able to take Yan Nu and flee in a sorry state.

Fortunately, Yan Nu hadn't let her down; he had actually succeeded on the first try? Was his martial arts comprehension also supreme?

To the point that Yan Nu even had time to practice and figure out such an explosive movement technique all on his own!

"Tee-hee-hee..." Shen Leling leaned against Yan Nu's side, looking at the enemies with playful amusement. "I said you came looking for death, and you really did come looking for death!"

As she spoke, she patted Yan Nu's shoulder. "Leave this one person and one ghost to me; you go deal with the other small fry first!"

The four martial artists other than Zhang Quan were also experts of Three Essences Body Tempering, though slightly weaker in combat power compared to Zhang Quan. Hearing themselves called small fry, they couldn't help but burn with anger.

"Tch! Just because you have a lot of true qi doesn't mean you can do whatever you want!"

One of the martial artists made the first move, stepping forward and unleashing his sword with lightning speed as a stream of scorching sword qi gushed forth.

"The strength of a martial artist is never determined by the volume of their true qi... Oh crap!"

Dust flew everywhere beneath Yan Nu's feet with a bang, and his entire body catapulted forward as if he had been hurled.

Even in midair, another explosion rang out, and the air behind him emitted a booming sound, forming a surging gale as he executed a secondary acceleration!

At the same time, he swung his arms in a wide arc, the Mysterious Iron Spear whistling down and shattering the sword qi with a roar.

That martial artist watched in horror as the long spear charged toward his eyes, and he desperately dodged to the side.

Yet Yan Nu was too fast, and the Mysterious Iron Spear was long; when swung down, its direction shifted slightly, sweeping diagonally!

"Pfft!"

That martial artist's movement technique was already very fast, yet his arm was still grazed. Flesh and blood burst apart on the spot, and the sword in his hand couldn't be held onto at all, flung directly away.

Even his entire body was carried along by the immense force, rolling twenty feet away!

Looking back at Yan Nu, he was still flying horizontally through the air from momentum, and seeing that he was about to crash into a tree, he hurriedly lashed out with a punch, finally halting his forward momentum.

That roaring fist wind already shook the tree straight, scattering fallen leaves like rain.

Everyone present was scared numb. They had never fought someone who treated every single move like a self-detonation, originally thinking they could win with exquisite techniques. Yet once they actually exchanged blows... they realized just how terrifying this was.

Any technique was sheer bullshit; the other party's every move and style possessed monstrous might, and their speed wasn't slow either, directly overpowering superior skill with sheer strength!

"You guys..." Yan Nu had fallen leaves floating all over his body. He turned around, revealing a benevolent smile.

"Those who want to leave, hurry up and go; those who want to stay, drop to the ground... Come block me if you're seeking death!"

He spoke with sincerity, yet the others heard it and felt their lungs burst with anger.

"Damn it, this pariah..." The remaining three martial artists wore grave expressions. Although they were burning with annoyance in their hearts, they didn't dare cross blows with Yan Nu head-on anymore.

In an instant, they scattered and spread out, slashing from various angles simultaneously!

Seeing this, Yan Nu didn't say a word, locking his gaze onto one of them and charging straight ahead!

Shockwaves roared behind him, making him look like a falling meteor as he smashed forward, grabbing hold of one person to hammer them!

"Clang!"

That person possessed peerless movement techniques, and while dodging to the side with a flash, he suddenly lowered his body to evade the horizontal sweep of the long spear.

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly as he turned back to slash upward at an oblique angle.

At this point, the two of them could be said to have already brushed past each other, since Yan Nu had charged forward in a straight line, meaning this person's sword slashed almost diagonally from behind Yan Nu.

Yan Nu's entire body moved forward with momentum, and a massive boulder stood right in his path ahead, meaning he would inevitably have to use counter-force to decelerate just like before.

That momentary stiffness would surely condemn him to death.

However, the unexpected happened. Yan Nu didn't decelerate at all; with a loud crash, he slammed into the rock, sending powder flying everywhere.

Immediately following that, grinding ruthlessly against the shattered stones, he made a turn, holding his spear horizontally to shake apart the sword qi.

Then, with another loud bang, his body catapulted upward. This time, before he had time to swing his spear, he crashed head-on into the enemy.

"Puff!" That person coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, flying backward three paces with a face as pale as gold, before rolling another pace on the ground and failing to get back up.

Yan Nu showed no intention of stopping, charging toward the remaining two in an instant.

The last two martial artists unleashed consecutive slashes of sword qi, sealing off Yan Nu's dodging angles.

Yan Nu didn't understand techniques, relying entirely on instinct for combat.

He couldn't even see the crisscrossing sword qi clearly, let alone dodge it, so he simply kicked off the ground and soared into the sky.

While dodging all the sword qi, Yan Nu accelerated the air once more. Utilizing the recoil force, not only did he halt his downward momentum, but he even jumped several feet high in midair without any footing...

Suspending in the air for a split second, he repeated his old trick, sideways executing a triple jump and flying horizontally across multiple yards.

Repeating this, four times! Five times! Darting left and flying right, leaping horizontally across the sky, he refused to come down!

The others could only send their sword qi slashing three yards away, and with Yan Nu jumping this high, they couldn't hit him at all, leaving them with no choice but to gaze up in despair.

Yet once their attacks stopped, Yan Nu would dive straight down, swinging his iron spear in a wild frenzy of smashing and whirling.

"How is this supposed to be fought?!"

"He can fly!"

They had never seen such a tricky enemy. For a moment, they fell into complete disarray, running for their lives in exhaustion.

Seeing this, Shen Leling was overjoyed. Originally, Yan Nu lacked an understanding of techniques, possessing excess ferocity without agility, let alone any capacity for pursuit.

Although that big yellow dog from earlier couldn't beat Yan Nu, it had been able to escape with ease.

Yet now, relying on this self-created combat style akin to 'Fierce Blast from the Sky', Yan Nu actually made up for his lack of mobility!

Originally, this group of martial artists could have relied on lightness skills to circle around, counterattacking with sword qi and dragging things out for a long time.

Instead, Yan Nu used 'forty years of cultivation' at every turn to accelerate, sweeping out with a single iron spear where a graze meant death and a brush meant injury! Who could withstand that?

As Yan Nu wreaked havoc in the distance, Mr. Feng, who was currently fighting Shen Leling from afar, glanced over. Looking at the rocks shattered by impacts on the ground, his expression turned somewhat hesitant and uncertain, thinking to himself that it truly lived up to the Great Emperor White Jade Scripture.

"Mr. Feng, hurry and deploy your corpse soldiers over!" Zhang Quan urged anxiously, his face unsightly.

It was precisely because he didn't want any elite casualties in this battle that he had killed dozens of elders in nearby villages, just so Mr. Feng could refine powerful corpse soldiers to serve as expendables.

Yet Yan Nu's strength was completely outside the scope of his calculations.

He was slaughtering them far too fast! In just two exchanges, the top-tier martial artists cultivated by the clan were already reduced to one dead and one crippled, with two more on the verge of death at any moment. How could he not be anxious?

"Zhang Quan, let's go! Things cannot be accomplished." After making a brief analysis, Mr. Feng decisively wanted to retreat.

Even with fifty first-rate corpse soldiers, what of it? They would only buy a moment's delay.

Furthermore, without corpse soldiers to maneuver around, once the vast ocean of vine-armor soldiers completely surrounded them, it would become troublesome.

He judged that the martial artists present together were no match for Yan Nu, unless he himself intervened.

Yet despite Mr. Feng possessing methods to kill Yan Nu, the Water Nymph of Laoshan wasn't just sitting around idling either.

Since things were beyond saving, it was better to withdraw first and plan a course of action later.

"No matter how strong he is, he's still a mortal! Use your spells to harm him! Drain him dry!" Zhang Quan was somewhat unreconciled.

"Hah!" Mr. Feng rolled his eyes. Pointing his long sword, clusters of ghost fire darted forth.

The ghost fires moved at extreme speed along erratic trajectories. Shen Leling casually raised a torrent of water, extinguishing only half of them, while the remaining half slammed squarely into Yan Nu.

This ghost fire could sever vitality and melt essence souls.

However, a surge of vapor churned over Yan Nu's body, and a faint green vein pattern appeared on his chest. With a few hissing sounds, before the ghost fire could even display its might, it was directly extinguished!

"Tsk!" Mr. Feng wasn't surprised in the slightest. "This female demon split a third of her Life Source Spring and forged it into a protective amulet for him; ordinary harmful spells will all be dissolved!"

"Unless you give me the Vitality Restoration Pill!"

As Mr. Feng spoke, he formed a hand incantation.

In an instant, all the corpse soldiers in the distance abandoned the vine-armor soldiers and swarmed toward Yan Nu like madmen.

They looked like ghosts and demons, their bodies wreathed in black mist with green light blooming in their eyes.

Faced with this, Yan Nu showed not a shred of fear, even feeling a vague sense of excitement!

"Another bunch of death-seekers... Huh?"

Yan Nu's excitement suddenly froze, and he stared in astonishment at a corpse soldier. "Village Chief?"