Overlord's True Intent, Breaking Through Two Realms

"So heavy!"

Li Changqing spat out a mouthful of blood.

The bright red blood shot into the water, hissing as it hit, and a large cloud of white smoke rose.

Bang!

The river water, now unimpeded, unleashed the accumulated gravitational force through the narrow opening of the collapse, directing it all at Li Changqing's body.

He had no time to think. Even as his chest throbbed and Blood Essence surged within him, Li Changqing couldn't spare a moment to check his injuries.

The rolling waves, carrying immense Momentum, surged towards him. If he couldn't block this wave, he was done for.

A glance to the side revealed the jagged, deep cave entrance behind him.

Falling here, even with Blood Essence protecting his body, would be a certain death.

Boom!

The waves crashed, meeting Li Changqing head-on.

His Blood Essence condensed into a core, and the explosive force transmitted to his left and right hands.

Tai Chi, Invert Yin Overturn Yang.

Li Changqing channeled the powerful Soft Strength through his fists, intending to use Tai Chi Soft Strength to mitigate the impact of the first wave of water. After slightly reducing the water's speed, he planned to use the Heaven-Man Resonance state to forcefully borrow the lake's power, turning its own attack against it.

Using water to control water.

Bang!

The first wave hit.

Li Changqing's pupils contracted sharply. The Blood Essence radiating from his body lasted less than half a second before the roaring waves shattered his first line of defense.

At this moment, the situation was entirely different from when Li Changqing was above the cave entrance.

The lake water, not funneled through the narrow opening, was calm, and Tai Chi could easily block it.

But now he was three meters below the opening.

The vast lake water had accelerated through the narrow passage, and the pressure generated within that confined space was far beyond anything the lakebed could compare to.

And at this moment, the cave behind him showed no signs of being filled with water.

Where did this cave lead?

As Tai Chi Soft Strength met the waves head-on, Li Changqing's face turned even paler.

He gritted his teeth, his hands reversing Yin and Yang.

Transforming motion into stillness!

He deflected part of the lake water's power, but Li Changqing had no room to breathe.

He had only managed to deflect about thirty percent of this wave of water.

Immediately following, an even more ferocious wave arrived before him.

Bang!

No time to resolve it, Li Changqing took the subsequent impact head-on once more.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His internal organs were unstable from the shock, and the Blood Essence in his Dantian showed signs of dispersing.

Once the state of condensed Blood Essence and returning force was broken, he would have no hope of survival.

Tai Chi Soft Strength was useless.

He glanced at the abyss below. If he continued to use Tai Chi Soft Strength to deflect, before he reached his limit, Li Changqing would either die from internal bleeding or fall into the abyss behind him.

"Tai Chi Soft Strength can't deflect it?" Li Changqing exerted force with his legs, his feet cracking the ground and embedding themselves into the stone.

"Can't deflect it? Then I won't deflect it." He raised his fists, still in the Tai Chi starting stance.

However, the Blood Essence within him underwent a seismic shift.

The Universe Breathing Technique operated at maximum capacity, mobilizing every pore of his skin.

Tai Chi Hard Strength.

This was the strength he had recently attained through the Universe Breathing Technique.

The strength, which was as formless and mutable as water, fundamentally transformed into its opposite: extreme Yang and extreme Hardness.

Tai Chi Hard Strength was not a separate martial art.

Hard Strength and Soft Strength both belonged to Tai Chi.

Just as Yin and Yang follow each other, the two were one.

When Tai Chi martial arts were performed with Soft Strength, it was the element of Water.

When performed with Hard Strength, it was the element of Fire.

The same martial arts, yet with two completely different types of strength.

This, was Tai Chi.

Tai Chi, Thunder Department.

Flick-Body Block-Strike!

Boom!

Li Changqing took a sudden step forward, his left foot crushing the ground as it landed.

His right hand clenched into a fist, the dense Blood Essence no longer restrained.

Aggressive as fire!

Surging waves clashed with Li Changqing's iron fist.

Burning flames met the clear blue waves.

The violent impact sent Li Changqing staggering back three steps.

Gah—

He spat out a mouthful of blood.

But Li Changqing showed no fear, his pupils flashing with intense fire.

He stepped forward again.

Retreat?

The most yang and most hard fist techniques never had retreating moves.

There was only constant advance, and more advance!

The Flowing Water that had repelled him surged forward again.

Li Changqing's feet danced the Seven Stars, his strength flowing as he unleashed Tai Chi Hard Strength once more.

Bang!

A head-on collision.

Like sparks hitting the earth, the waves were blocked, and this time Li Changqing was pushed back even further.

His back slammed directly into the cave wall.

Blood Essence surged, and he violently broke free from the restraint, his dantian erupting.

"Again!"

Bang!

Time and time again, the collisions occurred, and the Momentum of the Flowing Water was blocked by Li Changqing.

But his body was continuously pushed back.

In the blink of an eye, he had reached the last inch of space.

His Blood Essence was nearly depleted, his internal organs were injured in multiple places, and he had countless subcutaneous hemorrhages.

Li Changqing knew every injury his body had sustained.

Seeing the waves surge again.

The pores all over his body opened.

He drew all his Blood Essence into his dantian.

Whoosh—

The surging lake water rushed into the cave, and under the pressure, the already terrifying water pressure doubled.

Watching the waves loom just inches away, Li Changqing finally consolidated all his Blood Essence.

The next instant.

Within his dantian, the Blood Essence, which had returned to its origin, transformed into two streams of yin and yang, entwined together.

Leaving no room for error, the terrifying explosive force, along with all his Blood Essence, erupted outward through Li Changqing's skin, transforming into Tai Chi Hard Strength.

Boom!

The lake water within the cave was completely cleared.

The powerful force directly pushed the waves back out of the cave entrance and into the lake.

With this move, he had emptied all his Blood Essence, but his Physique had not yet reached its limit, preventing him from gaining the strength replenishment from the added points.

At this moment, Li Changqing's face was devoid of emotion. He slowly closed his eyes.

One second later.

The residual force of the strike, which had consumed all his Blood Essence, dissipated completely, leaving the cave entrance unobstructed.

Two seconds later.

The waves, with the might of a mountain collapsing and the sea roaring, surged into the cave, cracking rocks wherever they went.

The third second.

The sound of the waves was already in his ears. Li Changqing slowly opened his eyes, the rolling blue waves almost touching his face.

His dantian was devoid of Blood Essence, and his muscles had no strength left.

His body, already wounded, was far from its peak.

Before him lay a flood, behind him an abyss.

There was no escaping.

At the same moment, Li Changqing's mental energy surged within his mind, finally completing its task at the very end of the third second.

It was fully sketched out.

A powerful emotional resonance, a predicament exactly like his own.

The surging waves before him seemed to transform into countless elite Qin soldiers covering the mountains and plains.

He himself was clad in armor, wielding the Overlord's steel spear, with only a dispirited rabble suffering from hunger behind him.

Zheng—

It was as if swords clashed in his ears.

Breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats, the hundred and twenty passes of Qin will finally belong to Chu!

In this instant, Li Changqing's spirit successfully resonated with the Overlord from a thousand years ago.

"Break!"

His Blood Essence depleted, his Physique weakened.

Li Changqing raised his right arm, as if gripping a spear of fine steel.

A force of utmost Yang and utmost hardness, an will that refused to retreat.

Just like the Overlord himself.

Comparable to a Supernatural Ability.

His fist, utterly devoid of Blood Essence, met the flood.

To his surprise, it was the flood that retreated.

With a single punch, Li Changqing had actually repelled the flood.

[Overlord's True Intent: 10%]

The Artistic Conception gained from the Overlord Lifting Cauldron Diagram had changed.

Not only had its completeness jumped directly from 5% to 10%, but even its name had changed.

Overlord's True Intent.

The single word "True" encompassed everything.

Discarding the false and preserving the true, the True Intent he now comprehended was the Overlord's invincible spirit, looking down upon the world.

With the aid of the Overlord's True Intent, Li Changqing repelled the Flowing Water with a single punch, his Physique finally surpassing its limits.

[Physique +5]

An unprecedented increase in points, the pressure and the reward were directly proportional.

Terrifying strength poured into his Physique. Although his injuries had not lessened in the slightest, Li Changqing's aura was now far superior to his previous peak.

[Vitality Concentration: 45%]

His empty dantian generated something from nothing, and a large amount of Blood Essence poured in.

The Blood Essence, which had already liquefied, was compressed once more.

As it circulated through his body in a Great Heavenly Cycle.

Within the viscous, mercury-like Blood Essence, countless tiny crystalline particles slowly began to form.

The Lead-Mercury State!

The Blood Essence, further compressed from its liquid state, exhibited solid characteristics.

This was the mark of a Lower-Rank Martial Artist reaching Great Perfection!

Embracing the Core and Returning the Strength.

The solidified Blood Essence once again embraced the core.

In his dantian, a swirling mass of Blood Essence floated, its surface smooth, emitting a faint metallic luster.

It was getting closer and closer to the Brilliant Golden Core within the bodies of the legendary Qi Practitioners of the pre-Qin era.

Li Changqing stepped forward slowly. The lake water, which he had repelled with his resonance of the Overlord's True Intent, surged towards him again.

As long as the entrance to the cave did not disappear, these turbulent waves would not cease.

Li Changqing calmly raised his hand. The Blood Essence in his dantian swirled.

Tai Chi Hard Strength.

No need for martial arts techniques, just pure power.

Boom!

The terrifying force pierced the air, piercing the flowing water.

Without any semblance of technique, it crushed everything with pure might.

The falling lake water's momentum halted, and in the blink of an eye, it actually flowed upstream, shattering the equally descending currents mid-fall.

This was the true Tai Chi Hard Strength.

Utterly yang and utterly hard, it could break through any martial art!

[Tai Chi (Heaven-Man Resonance): 50%]

After Li Changqing comprehended Hard Strength, his Tai Chi martial art, with its perfected Yin and Yang, was directly pushed to 50% by him.

He exerted a slight force with his legs and leaped out of the pit. He mobilized the Blood Essence within his body.

His hands churned the lake water, creating a massive vortex at the cave entrance, halting the flow of water.

Without any warning, no need for preparation.

With Overlord's True Intent at 10% progress, Li Changqing could already move as he willed.

An invincible will, the courage to burn one's bridges.

Just like the Overlord who led his remaining soldiers to defeat the Qin army, his True Intent, once unleashed, directly commanded all the Blood Essence in Li Changqing's body.

Boom!

He punched the stone wall by the lake shore, and massive cracks spread across it.

Li Changqing inserted one hand into a crevice in the rock face.

"Lift!"

He put strength into his right arm and effortlessly pulled a massive boulder, four to five meters in diameter, from the rock face.

He aimed it at the pit below.

Bang!

The giant rock crashed down, directly covering the hole.

Li Changqing worried it wasn't solid enough.

He punched through the air.

His Blood Essence surged out of his body, transmitted through the water, and the immense force shattered the rock, embedding it firmly into the cave entrance.

There were no more cracks.