True Force

Empowered by the Dao Sect Dragon-Tiger Great Pill, Li Haomiao even felt as though he had stepped into the Viscera Training Realm. His stamina was boundless, and every punch contained astonishing force.

Each time he threw a punch, Li Miaoyun had no choice but to withdraw and defend. Her fingers formed a flower-plucking gesture, strange ripples dancing at her fingertips as she controlled the air from a distance, dissolving his force about an inch before his fist could reach her.

Still not quite enough. If his control over his strength had been sufficient, Li Miaoyun would have already fallen to him.

Li Haomiao sighed inwardly. Though his arms and legs had regrown, he still needed time to adapt. After all, he had gone months without hands or feet. Now that he had recovered, he needed to get used to them again. Moreover, regenerating severed limbs required far too much vitality; even one Dragon Tiger Great Pill was barely enough.

As time passed, Li Haomiao's control over his own strength grew ever closer to perfection.

At that moment, a heaven-shaking roar suddenly erupted from his chest, like the bellow of some ancient beast. Sound waves rolled outward, making even the surrounding snow tremble.

His legs rooted firmly into the ground, sinking deep into the snow. Veins like winding little snakes rapidly crawled across his arms. Beneath taut skin, his muscles bulged layer upon layer, every muscle stretched with lines like steel wire.

His hand closed, all five fingers locking together precisely to form a fist seal.

Then, like a cannon that had been charging for ages, his arm shot horizontally forward. The instant he punched, the muscles of his shoulders and back exerted force at the same time, layering the power in his arm again and again like surging ocean waves, each swell stronger than the last.

"True Force?"

Li Miaoyun's gaze sharpened. Reacting swiftly, she raised both arms to defend. The thin gauze at her cuffs billowed with the air currents and whipped about wildly, while her stance remained steady.

With a thunderous bang, both of them staggered back several steps.

This was bad.

Li Haomiao's heart sank. He had already mobilized the active True Blood within his body in that punch, yet he still could not injure Li Miaoyun.

The External Three Harmonies nurtured qi, allowing one to cross two major realms and battle those in the Blood Refinement Realm. With his True Blood activated, he had thought he could suppress her by a level. He had never expected...

Li Miaoyun came to a conclusion. Countless strange blue-black veins, as fine as hairs, instantly spread all over her body, even covering her face.

Yet they did not diminish her beauty. Instead, they lent her a breathtakingly eerie allure, every rugged blue-black vein upon her body seeming to have been crafted by nature itself.

"If you had cultivated true qi, I would turn and leave. But you have merely managed to activate your True Blood, and yet you are this arrogant. You seek death..."

Her thin lips pressed tightly together. Since he possessed True Force, she no longer needed to hold back so much. It would be enough to beat him until he had only one breath left. As long as his head remained on his shoulders, there would naturally be a way to save him afterward.

Her bare feet tapped the ground, and her figure closed in instantly like a ghost.

So fast!

Li Haomiao's pupils contracted sharply. His feet settled into a balanced stance, his body becoming the axis as his fists and palms swayed, stirring up fierce gusts to shield himself.

Yet Li Miaoyun's hands flashed around Li Haomiao like phantoms. Every strike was incomparably precise, carrying sharp gusts that pierced through his defenses and struck his vital points.

Though Li Haomiao did his utmost to evade, his newly regrown limbs had not yet fully adapted. His movements were just a fraction too slow, and before long, Li Miaoyun's attacks had struck him in several places.

Blood continuously seeped from the corners of Li Haomiao's mouth and his wounds, staining his clothes crimson.

Yet his gaze remained resolute. He gritted his teeth, enduring the searing pain as he kept searching for an opportunity to counterattack.

At the same time, Li Miaoyun's breathing grew increasingly unstable amid her frenzied assault. This high-intensity movement technique consumed nearly all of the qi she had been using to protect her body, draining her enormously.

The thread of qi she had nurtured was nearly exhausted in this intense battle.

Suddenly, as Li Haomiao closed in, Li Miaoyun brought her hands together before her chest and formed a strange seal. At the same time, she uttered a peculiar ancient syllable.

Buzz!

It was like the toll of a great bell, yet also like a sound too great to be heard. The strange syllable was not loud; it could even be called a whisper.

Yet it tugged at the heart, making Li Haomiao lose focus. The rhythm of his attacks slowed by more than half.

When experts clashed, such a delay was a colossal mistake—enough to determine victory or defeat.

Li Miaoyun flicked her fingers and jabbed out again. Wind and thunder surged with the strike as her finger pierced Li Haomiao's chest and sank straight in.

Li Haomiao let out a muffled groan, but paid it no heed. His fists swung like hammers, blasting the air with heavy humming sounds.

Thump!

With a dull impact, Li Miaoyun flew backward like a leather drum. Yet in midair, she twisted and flipped in a movement that defied all reason, drifting down onto the snow as lightly as willow fluff.

Though every movement of hers carried an ethereal grace, Li Miaoyun's face grew ever paler. The blood beneath her skin had all but drained away, and her breathing was extremely unsteady.

Li Haomiao was staggering as well. He stumbled back several steps, then collapsed onto the ground, utterly spent. His chest rose and fell rapidly a few times before slowing to an extreme degree.

Li Miaoyun's finger had pierced his heart. He needed to control it, reducing the frequency of its contractions and beats, or he would die violently on the spot.

Li Miaoyun steadied her breathing and slowly walked over to Li Haomiao. Her eyes were no longer as indifferent as before. A trace of killing intent appeared within them, but as though she had recalled something, the sharpness in her gaze quickly faded.

"If not for Your Majesty wanting you alive, you would already be dead."

The instant her words fell, a black shadow shot out from the side like lightning. With the momentum of a fierce tiger, it charged wildly forward, stamping deep pits into the snow. It was Xu Yunfan.

Xu Yunfan seized Li Miaoyun and locked her tightly in his grip, wrapping his arms and legs around her before forcing her to the ground.

Li Miaoyun had never suffered such treatment before. Her expression visibly froze for a moment before she quickly reacted, anger appearing on her face for the first time.

"Let go of me!"

She wanted to use her qi, only to discover that her battle with Li Haomiao had already drained it dry. If she used it regardless of the cost, the qi she had nurtured for years would be ruined beyond recovery.

In that instant, she hesitated.

Seeing this, Li Haomiao forced his crumbling body to turn over and rise, mobilizing the little True Force remaining within him.

A faint, nearly imperceptible golden glow appeared at his fingertips. He suddenly jabbed a finger toward Li Miaoyun's chest.

That barely visible golden radiance instantly surged into Li Miaoyun's body, tightly sealing the thread of qi within her that was now all but nonexistent.

Li Miaoyun let out a pained muffled groan, and her taut body instantly went limp and powerless.

Her eyes were filled with unwillingness and disbelief. Her qi had been sealed?!

After delivering that strike, Li Haomiao completely lost his ability to fight as well. He collapsed to the ground, gasping heavily. The bloody hole Li Miaoyun had poked through his chest kept opening and closing, blood continuously bubbling out.

He was utterly exhausted and could no longer keep his body braced.

But hearing Xu Yunfan's grip making Li Miaoyun's bones crack, Li Haomiao endured the pain and said, "Don't, don't kill her. The qi in her body has already been sealed by me. She's no different from a weak woman now. She has great use."