Heaven and Earth Change Color, Thunder Aids the Display, Martial Path's Apex Reveals Its True Form

He had been stationed at the core of the family for years. Although he knew the major events of the world through his intelligence network, he had rarely personally traveled the vast territory of Daliang.

This was the first time he had witnessed such a terrifyingly fierce battle with his own eyes.

In the Southern Border, they had only occasionally clashed with the Gu Tribe. Those savages mostly used insidious methods like strange arts and Gu poisons for covert combat, not this kind of spectacular destructive power.

Moreover, the Kong family members present were mostly Martial Artists, yet they were already so disheveled. If ordinary unarmed civilians were unfortunately caught in such a conflict, how would they cope?

Martial Artists who violated prohibitions with their martial arts harmed ordinary people the most.

The aftermath of a single battle could easily claim countless lives, leaving no place to appeal or complain.

For a moment, his thoughts were in disarray, but there was no sense of exhilaration from watching powerful individuals clash.

However, Kong Tianpeng, standing beside him, had a completely different mood due to his years of adventuring outside.

His eyes gleamed, his breathing quickened, and he stared intently at the two figures clashing in the distance like gods and demons, filled with excitement.

"This... this is true combat!"

Recalling his past so-called "jianghu fights," they were simply like children squabbling.

The joy of reuniting with his wife and children a few days prior had been completely forgotten.

Indeed.

His heart, after all, could not return to a state of calm.

He couldn't let go~

So many years of wandering the jianghu, so many years of martial path confrontations, it wasn't something he could just let go of.

Deep within his heart.

He was a jianghu Martial Artist first, and only then a father, a husband.

This world.

Ultimately, it was the world of Martial Artists.

At the center of the battlefield, Chen Duan delivered a tricky heavy punch directly at Feng Qu Xian's ribs.

Feng Qu Xian countered with a palm technique, his hands like a venomous snake coiling, unleashing a subtle force that diverted the power of the punch elsewhere.

Simultaneously, his other palm silently extended, sweeping towards Chen Duan.

Chen Duan's reaction was as swift as lightning. The moment the force of his punch was diverted, he twisted his body and sidestepped, avoiding the sharp edge of the palm.

After this preliminary probing, the auras of the two grew even stronger, officially entering a more perilous second stage.

Chen Duan had changed his combat strategy, no longer relying on his powerful physique to directly confront the opponent's palm strikes. He began to use the fighting style of a Martial Artist, his movements and footwork becoming elusive and unpredictable, with hidden feints and traps within his punches.

Every palm strike from Feng Qu Xian carried cold poison, and it was far more potent than that of ordinary cold corpses. Even with Chen Duan's robust Blood Essence, he had to divide his attention, mobilizing a large amount of Blood Essence and internal energy to constantly neutralize it.

At the same time, the nature of the opponent's True Qi was also extremely insidious. Its properties were very similar to the "Gut-Severing Force" of Inch Soft Palm. When it struck a wound, it would frantically burrow in, invading the body and forming a pincer attack with the cold poison, constantly assaulting Chen Duan's physical defenses.

This caused the Withered Wood Meets Spring of the Wood Element Art on his wounds to appear stretched thin, its healing speed unable to keep up with the speed of destruction, forcing him to utilize the Power of Tissue Proliferation.

These two layers of offense briefly put considerable pressure on Chen Duan, forcing him to abandon his brute force, flesh-to-flesh brawling and switch to a more refined Martial Arts approach.

However, the moment he changed his strategy, Feng Qu Xian's response also shifted.

When both sides abandoned pure power clashes and began to engage on the level of "fighting style," Chen Duan realized that the opponent's greatest advantage was not the cold poison or True Qi, but this extraordinary "fighting style" experience.

The core of a Martial Artist's fighting style lay in feints and traps.

Appear weak when strong, appear strong when weak, the interplay of illusion and reality, intricately linked, with feints hidden within feints, this was the essence of feints, and traps were the bait hidden between these feints.

Ordinary Martial Artists, when feinting, emphasized "taking one step and seeing three steps ahead." Their minds had to be faster than their limbs. At the realm of Five Levels, their mental calculations could reach the point of "taking one step and calculating ten steps."

But the feinting techniques Feng Qu Xian was displaying now completely surpassed this scope, as if he had already deduced a hundred moves ahead the moment he launched an attack.

His moves were seamlessly connected, and his traps were exquisitely laid, making Chen Duan's mind struggle to keep up, repeatedly falling into the traps woven by the opponent.

And the counter-traps Chen Duan set were largely foreseen by the opponent, who easily bypassed or broke them.

This resulted in Chen Duan sustaining far more damage than his opponent.

However, Chen Duan soon understood that this was the fighting experience of the "Break Apex" level.

Although Feng Qu Xian's current realm had fallen to Five Levels, rendering him unable to use Break Apex internal energy, the Break Apex experience still remained in his mind.

Using Break Apex experience and techniques to fight a Five Levels opponent, it was clear that Feng Qu Xian was already taking Chen Duan seriously!

Indeed, this was the case.

Despite his outwardly arrogant demeanor, which required him to look down on his opponents during a fight, he couldn't help but feel astonished by the junior's strength.

After all, he had originally intended to defeat Chen Duan in the initial "warm-up" phase. Just this disgusting cold poison alone was enough to defeat most Five Levels Martial Artists, let alone combined with his insidious True Qi properties.

Although he could see Chen Duan's abundant Blood Essence, he hadn't expected it to be so robust, capable of continuously neutralizing his cold poison and invading True Qi while his offensive momentum showed no signs of weakening, truly relentless, as if inexhaustible.

Now that they were in the second stage, even if he ultimately won, it would be a "dishonorable victory," as he was using the wisdom of the "Break Apex" level to bully a junior at the Five Levels realm.

What was the concept of "Break Apex" fighting style? Even if its essence was given to a First Level Martial Artist, it would be enough for them to bridge the realm gap and defeat a Third Level Martial Artist.

Not only that, but Feng Qu Xian also detected several other traces of internal energy on Chen Duan. Although deeply hidden, they couldn't escape his Break Apex perception, and these internal energies appeared quite formidable.

Furthermore, there was the incredibly strange power of flesh and blood regeneration on the opponent, with no visible activation of internal energy. Could it be a peculiarity of a Strange Creature? And the opponent's boxing style always gave him a sense of familiarity, yet for some reason, he couldn't recall it?

Judging from all this, the junior has too many secrets. If not for his still "immature" fighting style, Feng Qu Xian would almost suspect that he, like himself, was an old monster who had slept for an era and then reawakened.

What was most crucial and infuriating to him was that he could still feel Chen Duan holding back a massive power he hadn't unleashed!

To engage in a life-or-death battle with him, a Demonic Path Magnate, and still dare to hold back? He truly didn't know how to write the word "death."

"Junior! Stop hiding things! Take out your ultimate trump card for this Lord!"

Feng Qu Xian's massive body leaped into the air with an agile grace, transforming into a "dark cloud" that blotted out the sun, enveloping Chen Duan from above.

Just then, a clap of thunder resounded, echoing his movement.

Feng Qu Xian hovered high in the sky.

His palms moved slowly in an arcane trajectory.

In his field of vision.

His arms seemed to begin replicating and separating.

Though seemingly slow, it was instantaneous and ever-changing.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds, even thousands, of new arms, indistinguishable between real and illusory, had formed.

Layered upon each other, dreamlike and fantastical.

They filled the entire sky, completely sealing off all of Chen Duan's escape routes.

Under the immense pressure.

The surrounding air froze.

Time itself seemed to stand still.

Several bolts of lightning followed the thunder, white lines tearing across the sky above Feng Qu Xian.

His figure flickered in and out of light and shadow.

As if he alone had ripped open the sky.

"It's the Thousand Illusory Palms!"

Duan Chonghe, standing on the cliff, widened his eyes, staring at Feng Qu Xian hovering in the air not far away, his gaze not daring to shift even slightly.

His voice trembled, filled with indescribable excitement and shock.

According to the secret lore passed down by his ancestors, this move was one of Feng Qu Xian's signature techniques that had made him famous throughout the land in his prime.

His Duan family even possessed a scroll depicting Feng Qu Xian using the "Thousand Illusory Palms" to battle a powerful enemy, titled Portrait of the Demon Lord Fuxian.

That scroll was said to have been painted by a Martial Artist of profound cultivation, containing some of the martial intent of the original technique, almost comparable to a Visualization diagram.

Duan Chonghe had spent years studying this painting, trying to comprehend its mysteries, but he had never been able to grasp it, only possessing its form but not its spirit.

Yet now, he was witnessing the very person from the painting with his own eyes, personally executing this legendary ultimate skill.

The static image of Portrait of the Demon Lord Fuxian in his mind perfectly merged with the living, awe-inspiring figure of the Demon Lord before him.

In an instant, it was as if he had received divine enlightenment.

The obscure and incomprehensible points that had baffled him for years suddenly became clear! Inspiration and understanding surged into his heart like a gushing spring.

"Husband? Husband?"

"Old Duan! Let's go!"

"Eldest Brother, are we going or not!"

His other companions had already been terrified by the fearsome spectacle of gods and demons battling in the distance, urging him on repeatedly.

But Duan Chonghe, who had initially made the decision to retreat, was now like a dazed fool, deaf to everything around him.

His eyes were mesmerized as he gazed at the figure in the distance, completely immersed in the display of supreme martial arts.

Seeing her husband's soul completely captivated, Xu Miao felt a strange sense of jealousy amidst her confusion.

It was because she saw an unprecedented obsession in her husband's eyes, a devotion she had never experienced herself.

She couldn't help but pout and reach out to pull Duan Chonghe's arm: "Husband! Stop looking! Let's go!"

But Duan Chonghe fiercely shook off his wife's pull, took two steps forward, and stopped only at the edge of the cliff.

He looked up at the battlefield, murmuring to himself, his voice filled with reverence and longing:

"This... this is true Martial Path..."

Even a single stance from Feng Qu Xian's combat, the martial intent it displayed, could make him entranced and greatly benefit him.

If he left now, would he ever have such an opportunity again in this life?

Would he ever see hope beyond the Break Apex?

Perhaps not.

Recalling how he once wanted to become "the new Feng Qu Xian," he now felt how ridiculous and ignorant he had been.

He finally understood why his family's ancestor had unhesitatingly sworn to follow this Demon Lord to the death back then.

Duan Chonghe spoke, as if having made some decision, causing those behind him to look on in surprise and confusion:

"We're not leaving."