In the ninth month of the twenty-third year, after a month of careful probing, you finally succeeded in opening the Yin Wei Meridian among the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. Your realm officially rose to the Xiantian Realm peak.
At that moment, you felt terrifyingly powerful.
A month later, after completely stabilizing your realm, you officially emerged from seclusion and headed toward Black Wood Cliff.
As soon as you left Yong City, someone immediately followed you and discovered that you were actually heading all the way toward Black Wood Cliff.
The news quickly spread by word of mouth throughout the entire martial world.
But that still could not stop your advance.
Three days later, when you arrived near Black Wood Cliff, a large number of members of the Demon Cult immediately launched an attack on you.
From them, you learned that Yang Lianting had ordered them to come and kill you.
Having greatly increased your strength, you were in need of opponents to test yourself against. Since they had delivered themselves to your door, you naturally showed no mercy. You drew your sword and slaughtered them all.
For a time, the road to Black Wood Cliff rang with deafening cries of slaughter. You advanced leisurely, and wherever you passed, severed limbs littered the ground and rivers of blood flowed, turning the place into a living hell.
After half an hour, having lost count of how many members of the Demon Cult you had killed, you finally set foot on Black Wood Cliff and saw Yang Lianting fleeing in panic.
You did not rush to kill him. Instead, you followed behind him as he headed deeper into Black Wood Cliff.
You had not come to Black Wood Cliff to destroy the Demon Cult. You had come to challenge Dongfang Bubai.
According to what you knew, Dongfang Bubai had long since withdrawn behind the scenes and stopped concerning herself with worldly affairs. She had handed everything in the cult over to Yang Lianting alone, and only Yang Lianting knew where she had gone into seclusion.
Therefore, you only needed to follow Yang Lianting to find Dongfang Bubai with ease.
Things went exactly as you had expected. About fifteen minutes later, Yang Lianting led you into a valley filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers.
Yang Lianting immediately begged Dongfang Bubai, who lived in seclusion there, for help without the slightest hesitation. He also claimed that you were the disciple of the late former sect master, Ren Woxing.
Ren Woxing had been the former leader of the Demon Cult, and Dongfang Bubai had driven him from his position. Naturally, she could not allow his successor to live, either.
Just as you knew would happen, Dongfang Bubai obeyed Yang Lianting completely. Upon hearing his plea for help, she instantly flew out and attacked you without hesitation.
You had been waiting for this moment for a very long time, so you immediately flew forward to meet her.
Dongfang Bubai truly deserved her reputation as Number One Under Heaven. Her strength was actually greater than yours. She had already opened all the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and reached the absolute peak of the Innate Realm.
Her speed was even as swift as a ghost's. After exchanging only a few moves, she effortlessly carried Yang Lianting away right in front of you.
After an utterly nauseating display of two men becoming even more intimate, Dongfang Bubai attacked you again at Yang Lianting's urging.
In an instant, needles infused with pure Sunflower True Qi shot toward you from every corner, carrying terrifying penetrating power as though they cost nothing.
You hurriedly used the Arrow Breaking Form to defend yourself while occasionally counterattacking with sword qi. Unfortunately, Dongfang Bubai easily dodged every attack, damaging only some flowers and grass.
Thus, Dongfang Bubai relied on her terrifying speed and strange flying needles to attack you without pause, while you relied on the Arrow Breaking Form and the inexhaustible, ever-stronger true qi of the Purple Cloud Divine Skill to hold her off.
For a time, the two of you went back and forth, neither yielding an inch.
Overall, however, you spent more time defending than attacking and fell into a disadvantageous position.
But you were not anxious. Both your Purple Cloud Divine Skill and Dugu Nine Swords were martial arts that grew stronger the longer you fought.
In particular, your Arrow Breaking Form was rapidly adapting to Dongfang Bubai's flying needles as time passed, causing her expression to gradually turn solemn.
You were not afraid that Dongfang Bubai would flee. Based on your understanding of the original story, she was completely love-struck and could even sacrifice her own life for Yang Lianting.
As for having her flee while carrying Yang Lianting, setting aside whether Yang Lianting would agree—
Dongfang Bubai's lightness skill was indeed the best you had ever seen, but yours was not inferior. If she could escape right in front of you while carrying a living man weighing over a hundred pounds, you might as well go find a block of tofu and bash your head against it.
As a renowned master of several decades, Dongfang Bubai naturally understood this as well. Thus, she could only fight to the death.
After more than an hour, you left Black Wood Cliff alone despite your severe injuries, quickly disappearing into a stretch of mountain forest.
For more than an hour, you and Dongfang Bubai had fought like needle against wheat, neither giving way.
Your battle had even smashed Dongfang Bubai's secluded residence into a complete wreck.
Unfortunately, neither of you could do anything to the other, and the battle ended with both sides suffering heavy losses.
You had been struck by two of Dongfang Bubai's needles, while Dongfang Bubai had been stabbed by you when you found an opening.
Although you successfully forced the silver needles out of your body, the pure Sunflower True Qi clinging to them rampaged through you, seriously affecting your strength.
Seeing that victory was impossible, you had no choice but to flee Black Wood Cliff.
A stream of pure Purple Cloud True Qi had also been driven into Dongfang Bubai's body by your sword. With Yang Lianting, a burden, still nearby, she did not pursue you and instead allowed you to leave.
"Could I actually have lost? The Sunflower Manual is truly terrifying. Even the Dugu Nine Swords combined with the Perfection Level Purple Cloud Divine Skill failed to defeat her..."
Looking at the words that had just appeared on the screen before him, Zheng Qian raised an eyebrow and muttered in surprise.
The martial arts configuration he had used in the simulation was already the absolute limit he could reach. Yet even with that, he had still failed to defeat Dongfang Bubai. This showed just how much she had held back against Linghu Chong and the others in the original story.
However, rather than saying that the Sunflower Manual was powerful, it would be more accurate to say that Dongfang Bubai herself was powerful.
She had definitely cultivated the Sunflower Manual to the Perfection Level. Her strength had likely already reached the limit of the Low Martial World. If she advanced another step, she might ascend.
As for whether she would enter another world after ascending or be thrown directly into outer space, only Heaven knew.
You spent a full three days using the Purple Cloud Divine Skill to completely wear away the Sunflower True Qi in your body.
As for the Star Absorbing Great Method and Yi Jin Jing?
You had only cultivated the former to the minor mastery stage, so it could not shake the exceptionally pure Sunflower True Qi in your body at all. As for the latter, you had not even entered its gates, so it was even less capable of helping you refine the Sunflower True Qi within you.
After refining the Sunflower True Qi in your body, you discovered that your Purple Cloud True Qi, which had already reached its limit, had actually become three parts purer.
This discovery filled you with surprise and delight. It meant that your strength had risen slightly once again.
You guessed that this change must be related to refining the Sunflower True Qi in your body, and you consequently came up with a bold idea.
Before you continue