Flying Sword!

Kong Wu bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and crushed it with ease. He then flashed Hu Qiying a "friendly" smile.

Next, with a slight flick of his wrist, countless small stones shot towards Hu Qiying like bullets.

Almost simultaneously, Hu Qiying's expression turned serious as he waved his wide sleeve.

A surge of True Qi stirred up a gale, colliding head-on with the barrage of stones.

With a loud boom, an explosion erupted between the two, sending Liu Gu flying.

The scattered stones struck the surrounding trees, easily punching small holes through them.

Hu Qiying tilted his head back and said with a grim expression:

"I admit, you've got some strength. But no matter what, without True Qi, do you, a mere mortal, intend to oppose me?"

"Heh heh," Kong Wu chuckled without answering, merely pointing at Hu Qiying's body.

Hu Qiying lowered his head in confusion, and his face immediately changed drastically.

He saw several bloody holes had appeared on his body without him knowing when.

Blood slowly flowed out, and the pain finally surged.

Hu Qiying took a deep breath, pulled out a pill from his embrace, and swallowed it.

The locations of these wounds were exactly the same as the wounds he had inflicted on Kong Wu earlier.

Only then did Hu Qiying understand what Kong Wu meant by "returning it."

He had blocked all the stones with his gale, so how had Kong Wu done it?

The wounds on his body healed rapidly. Hu Qiying looked at Kong Wu with less arrogance, his face flushed with anger.

He wasn't a body cultivator; his physical strength was average. If Kong Wu's earlier stones had been aimed at his head, he would have been in serious trouble.

But Kong Wu hadn't done that, merely returning the favor by creating a few bloody holes on him.

This was humiliation!

Rage surged in his heart, and he had forgotten his earlier thought of torturing Kong Wu to death.

With a raise of his hand, he brought his index and middle fingers together in a sword stance and pointed at Kong Wu.

"Two Tribulations, No Birth!"

A black beam of light, significantly thicker than before, shot from his fingertip and instantly struck Kong Wu's forehead.

However, the attack only caused Kong Wu's head to tilt slightly. His forehead, emitting wisps of smoke, remained undamaged.

"How is this possible?"

Hu Qiying exclaimed involuntarily.

"This attack is quite interesting."

Kong Wu shook his head and said, "But in the face of my thoroughly tempered body, it's still a bit lacking."

He raised his fist to his eyes and said softly, "Don't underestimate the human body, which has caused the extinction of countless species!"

Before he finished speaking, Kong Wu vanished from his spot.

In the eyes of Liu Gu, who had just gotten up, Kong Wu's body seemed to have shattered something, leaving a circular white ripple behind him.

His body then rapidly charged towards Hu Qiying.

As a cultivator who had touched the threshold of the Golden Core stage, Hu Qiying reacted. He formed a hand seal with his right hand, and his entire being became ethereal.

At the same time, Kong Wu had already reached him and threw a fierce punch.

The fist struck Hu Qiying's face, but it passed right through. Kong Wu himself stumbled as he found no purchase.

Boom!

At that moment, the sound of an explosion reached their location.

A gully was carved into the ground along Kong Wu's charging path.

In that instant, Kong Wu had broken the sound barrier with his physical body.

In an open space not far away, the air rippled, and Hu Qiying's figure reappeared, looking at Kong Wu in disbelief.

Breaking the sound barrier was something he, a cultivator at the late Foundation Establishment stage, could achieve with certain methods.

For example, his most prideful sword control technique allowed his flying sword to easily surpass the speed of sound.

However, this method, besides requiring significant True Qi, also placed extremely high demands on the flying sword's material. Flying swords of mid-to-low-grade spirit artifact level would disintegrate after only a few uses.

But just now, Kong Wu had achieved all this using only his physical body.

Looking at Kong Wu, who was completely uninjured and calm, a terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.

Could his physical body already be comparable to a high-grade spirit artifact?

"You have no True Qi fluctuations, so how did you accomplish this? Even those body cultivators cannot do this before reaching the Golden Core stage..."

Facing Hu Qiying's question, Kong Wu let out a sneer. "A body trained day and night, how can it be compared to something like True Qi?"

With that, Kong Wu slowly took down the Evil-Slaying Saber from his back. With a casual swing, a large tree four or five steps away slowly slid down, its cut surface smooth.

Kong Wu was not satisfied with this and shook his head.

As his Strength attribute increased, the weight of the Evil-Slaying Saber in his hand could no longer keep up.

He shouldn't have killed that fox demon with his bare hands just for the thrill; he should have used the Evil-Slaying Saber to lop off its head.

That way, the Evil-Slaying Saber could also grow.

This light, almost weightless feel in his hand was truly unpleasant.

It was a pity that the corpulent cultivator before him could only provide attribute points and not increase the Evil-Slaying Value of the Evil-Slaying Saber.

Kong Wu's greedy gaze fell upon Hu Qiying, making the latter feel a chill down his spine.

This guy...

"Three Tribulations, Yuan Destruction."

Subconsciously, Hu Qiying brought his three fingers together, and a sword-shaped black light shot out from his fingertips.

His signature move was swatted away by Kong Wu with a casual saber strike. Without missing a beat, Kong Wu charged straight at Hu Qiying.

The Evil-Slaying Saber flashed coldly under the moonlight, slashing towards Hu Qiying's neck.

The blade was accompanied by a faint white mist, water vapor condensed from breaking the sound barrier.

But just as it was about to touch Hu Qiying, a golden light flashed, and with a clang, the Evil-Slaying Saber stopped in mid-air.

Kong Wu raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise appearing on his face.

Beneath the Evil-Slaying Saber, a small jade sword floated in the air, blocking Kong Wu's seemingly inevitable strike.

Hu Qiying's expression turned grim, his eyebrows furrowed like an onion.

He let out a soft shout, and the jade sword, shimmering with green light, actually repelled Kong Wu, saber and all.

In mid-air, Kong Wu twisted his waist and adjusted his posture, landing on the ground.

This is... a flying sword?

Kong Wu examined it with curiosity, something he had read about countless times in novels from his previous life, now right before his eyes.

The sword was entirely made of jade, crystal clear, with a stream of green light constantly flowing within. It looked extraordinary.

As his keen senses perceived the jade sword, a subtle, stinging sensation arose from the depths of his heart.

This sword could pierce Kong Wu's physical defenses.

Based on Kong Wu's previous investigations, if the opponent's Strength attribute was lower than his own, even by a little, they wouldn't be able to break through his defenses at all.

Hu Qiying's Strength attribute was clearly lower than his.

Yet now, it seemed, with the help of this jade sword, he could break through his defenses.

"This is starting... to get interesting."

Kong Wu's lips curved upwards into a smile.