Flying Sword!

Kong Wu bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and crushed it effortlessly. Then he turned toward Hu Qiying and gave him a "kind" smile.

Next, he casually flicked his wrist, sending countless fragments of stone flying toward Hu Qiying like bullets.

Almost at the same time, Hu Qiying's expression grew solemn as he waved his broad sleeve.

Surging True Qi whipped up a gale that slammed head-on into the stream of stone fragments.

With a thunderous boom, an explosion erupted between the two of them and sent Liu Gu flying.

The scattered stone fragments struck the surrounding trees, effortlessly punching tiny holes through them.

Hu Qiying tipped his head back and said grimly:

"I admit, you've got some strength. But no matter how you look at it, without True Qi in your body, do you really think a mere mortal can oppose me?"

"Heh." Kong Wu chuckled without answering. He merely pointed at Hu Qiying.

Hu Qiying lowered his head in confusion, and his expression changed dramatically.

Several bloody holes had appeared on his body at some unknown point.

Blood slowly seeped out, and only then did the pain surge over him.

Hu Qiying drew a deep breath, pulled a pill from his robes, and swallowed it.

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

Only then did Hu Qiying understand what Kong Wu had meant by "giving it back."

He had clearly blocked every stone fragment with his gale. How had Kong Wu managed it?

The wounds on his body rapidly healed. Hu Qiying looked at Kong Wu with none of his former arrogance, his face flushed red with fury.

He was not a body cultivator, and his physical strength was merely average. If those few stones Kong Wu had thrown earlier had been aimed at his head, he would have been in serious trouble.

But Kong Wu had not done that. He had merely answered blow for blow, leaving several bloody holes in his body.

This was humiliation!

Rage surged into his heart, and he had already forgotten his earlier intention to torture Kong Wu to death.

He raised his hand, brought his index and middle fingers together into a sword-finger seal, and pointed at Kong Wu.

"Two Tribulations, No Birth!"

A black beam of light, considerably thicker than the one before, shot from his fingertip and struck Kong Wu squarely in the forehead in an instant.

Yet when the attack hit Kong Wu's head, it merely made him tilt it slightly to the side. His forehead smoked, but not even the slightest injury could be seen.

"How is that possible?"

Hu Qiying could not help crying out.

"That attack was somewhat interesting."

Kong Wu shook his head. "But before this body tempered through a thousand hammerings, it's still lacking."

He raised his fist before his eyes and said softly, "Don't underestimate this human body that drove countless species to extinction!"

Before his voice had even faded, Kong Wu vanished from where he stood.

In the eyes of Liu Gu, who had just risen nearby, Kong Wu's body seemed to have smashed through something, leaving a white ring behind him.

His body shot toward Hu Qiying at tremendous speed.

Hu Qiying was, at any rate, a cultivator who had touched the threshold of the Golden Core stage. He reacted in time, forming a spell seal with his right hand, and his entire body suddenly became ethereal.

At the same time, Kong Wu had already reached him and slammed forward with a vicious punch.

The fist struck Hu Qiying in the face, yet passed straight through it. With nothing to brace against, Kong Wu himself staggered.

Boom!

At that moment, the sound of the explosion reached them.

The path Kong Wu had taken was crushed into a deep furrow.

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

In the open ground not far away, the air rippled, and Hu Qiying's figure emerged. He stared at Kong Wu in disbelief.

As a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, Hu Qiying had ways to reach such speeds and break through the sound barrier as well.

For example, his most prized Sword Control Technique could make a flying sword easily surpass the speed of sound.

However, aside from requiring an enormous amount of True Qi, this method placed extremely high demands on the flying sword's material. A flying sword at the mid- or low-grade spirit artifact level would fall apart after only a few uses.

Yet just now, Kong Wu had accomplished all of this with his physical body alone.

Looking at Kong Wu, who had not suffered the slightest injury and whose expression remained calm, a terrifying thought rose in Hu Qiying's mind.

Could his physical body already rival a high-grade spirit artifact?

"You don't have the slightest fluctuation of True Qi on you. How did you accomplish all this? Even those body cultivators can't do this before reaching the Golden Core stage..."

Faced with Hu Qiying's question, Kong Wu gave a derisive laugh. "How could a body trained day and night be compared with something like True Qi?"

With that, Kong Wu slowly removed the Evil-Slaying Saber from his back and casually swung it once. A large tree four or five steps away slowly slid down, its cut perfectly 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 was no longer keeping up.

He should not have killed that fox demon barehanded merely for the thrill of it. He should have used the Evil-Slaying Saber to cut off its head.

That way, the Evil-Slaying Saber could have grown as well.

This featherlight sensation in his hand was truly unpleasant.

Unfortunately, the plump cultivator before him could only provide attribute points, not increase the Evil-Slaying Value of the Evil-Slaying Saber.

Kong Wu's greedy gaze fell upon Hu Qiying, making him suddenly feel a chill run down his back.

This guy...

"Three Tribulations, Yuan Destruction."

Almost instinctively, Hu Qiying brought three fingers together. A sword-shaped black radiance shot from between his fingers.

His signature technique was casually deflected by Kong Wu with a single stroke of his saber, yet Kong Wu did not slow down. He charged straight toward Hu Qiying.

The Evil-Slaying Saber flashed with a cold glint beneath the moonlight as it chopped down toward Hu Qiying's neck.

The saber carried a faint white mist—the water vapor that had gathered when it broke through the sound barrier.

But just as it was about to touch Hu Qiying, golden light flashed. With a clear clang, the Evil-Slaying Saber stopped in midair.

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

Beneath the Evil-Slaying Saber, a small jade sword floated in the air, blocking the strike Kong Wu had been certain would land.

Hu Qiying's expression was ugly, his brows furrowed into a wrinkled onion.

He gave a low shout. The jade sword shimmered with azure light and actually sent Kong Wu, saber and all, flying backward.

In midair, Kong Wu twisted his waist, adjusted his posture, and landed on the ground.

Was this... a flying sword?

The thing that had appeared countless times in the novels of his previous life was now right before his eyes. Kong Wu studied it curiously.

The sword was made entirely of jade, crystalline and translucent, with azure light constantly flowing within it. At a glance, it was clearly extraordinary.

When his keen five senses looked upon this jade sword, a faint stabbing sensation rose from the depths of his heart.

This sword could pierce Kong Wu's physical defenses.

According to what Kong Wu had investigated earlier, so long as an opponent's Strength attribute was lower than his own—even by the slightest amount—that opponent would be completely unable to break through his defenses.

Hu Qiying's Strength attribute was clearly below his own.

Yet now, it seemed that Hu Qiying, relying on this jade sword, could pierce his defenses.

"It's... starting to get interesting."

The corners of Kong Wu's mouth lifted into a smile.