That Strong!?

"Clang!"

A sharp ring resounded, and Liu Wang's sword hand went numb.

He looked up in shock and saw Chen Qing holding his blade between just two fingers.

"You—"

Before Liu Wang could finish, a tremendous force surged through the sword. He hurriedly let go and leaped back, only to see the blade in Chen Qing's hand break into pieces!

"Qi coursing through sinew and bone? Second Realm?!" Liu Wang's pupils contracted. "Impossible! A few days ago, you were still..."

At the same time, scenes of battlefield clashes and bloody combat surged through Chen Qing's mind. They were unmistakably memories of "Chen Xu" leading troops on campaigns in the Western Desolate Continent. Stunned, Chen Qing didn't wait for the other man to finish. He casually hurled the sword hilt, and it tore through the air with a thunderous whistle.

Liu Wang dodged in a panic, but the hilt still grazed his shoulder. Blood poured from the wound.

"I never thought we had any great enmity, and the two Houses are bound by the South Sea Blood Tax Alliance. Yet the moment you made a move, you tried to kill me?" Chen Qing's gaze was icy. "Looks like this grudge can't be settled."

"Of course it can't! You quietly reached the Second Realm, then deliberately came down the mountain to bait us into attacking. With talent and cunning like yours, if we let you live, in a few years you'll be suppressing Sea Abyss Temple!"

Liu Wang spoke coldly, then suddenly raised his voice—

"Attack!"

Four figures leaped from the undergrowth at once!

Shi Hong flicked both hands, and Five Poisons Powder spread into a cloud of green mist. The other three each held talismans, weaving lightning and fire into a net.

"Surrounding someone with others' help can stabilize your Dao Heart, too? What kind of Dao Heart is that?"

Alarm bells rang in Chen Qing's mind. He knew that if these attacks landed, he'd be gravely wounded at best. So he stopped testing the waters and went straight to his trump card!

"Mountains Collapse, Seas Roar!"

At a thought, the Will of Mount Tai came crashing down like a mountain, while Vastness of Intent surged like a towering tide. Two utterly opposing forces clashed within his meridians like waves smashing against a shore, erupting with terrifying power far beyond the early Second Realm!

"Boom!"

In an instant, waves of force surged around him, his robes snapping in the wind. The rocky ground beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, and the shockwave swept up broken stones into a whirlwind, scattering the incoming poison and lightning!

"Not good!" Liu Wang's face changed. He hurriedly formed a hand seal. "Form a formation!"

But it was too late.

Chen Qing took one step, force rising from the soles of his feet and merging with the qi in his Yellow Court, gathering into a single current that shot to his right shoulder and surged onward, layer by layer!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

His right fist gathered momentum, bearing down like Mount Tai, aimed straight at Liu Wang's face!

Before the punch even arrived, Liu Wang already struggled to breathe. He hurriedly raised his arms to block.

"Crack!"

The sound of breaking bone rang clear. He flew backward, smashing through three pine trees as thick as bowls before finally coming to a stop.

"How is he this strong!?"

Seeing this, Shi Hong hurriedly flung out more Five Poisons Powder. But Chen Qing swept his left hand, and Vastness of Intent became a curtain of water that blocked every trace of poison. His right hand shifted from fist to palm, and he unleashed a mighty strike of "Pushing Mountains Filling Seas"!

Rumble!

As the force of his mind spread, Shi Hong seemed to see a mountain collapsing before her, while around her a raging tide crashed in!

There was nowhere to retreat!

"Pfft!"

After taking the blow head-on, she spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered back, her vision going black.

Seeing the situation turn against them, the other three Sea Abyss Temple disciples turned and fled. Chen Qing gave a cold snort, pouring inner breath into his legs as his figure flickered like a ghost!

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

Three precise chops to the backs of their necks knocked them out cleanly. They collapsed to the ground.

"This is too savage! We're no match for him! He took care of all of them in one exchange!"

Nearby, Shi Hong struggled to her feet and was about to crush a messaging talisman when a streak of golden light flashed. Her wrist went cold, and her right hand was severed at the wrist. She let out a scream.

Chen Qing drew his hand back, then suddenly noticed Liu Wang stealthily getting up. He gathered his breath and sprang away, trying to escape!

"You led the way here, and now you want to run? Think you'll get away?"

Chen Qing immediately formed a seal with one hand, and Supreme Harmony Qi stirred the earth's veins.

"Mountains, rise along the land's contours!"

The earth trembled. Soil and stone swelled up, instantly forming a circular stone wall around Liu Wang and trapping him inside.

"Chen Qing!" Liu Wang's face twisted, murderous intent flashing in his eyes like a blade. "You injured us today and disrupted my Dao Heart. Sea Abyss Temple won't let you get away with this!"

Before he could finish, Chen Qing had leaped onto the wall, his gaze icy.

"What is this, some third-rate villain's line? And you call that a Dao Heart? I meant to spare your life, but you've reminded me that letting you go won't change a thing. It'll only spur Sea Abyss Temple to escalate things further. Since that's the case, I might as well send you on your way..."

He joined the fingers of his right hand like a sword, Supreme Harmony Qi gathering at their tips.

"Show mercy!"

A voice suddenly rang out in the distance!

But Chen Qing ignored it completely. He thrust out his sword fingers and struck Liu Wang squarely between the brows.

Liu Wang's eyes flew wide. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He slowly fell to the ground, unable to believe until the very end that he'd been killed by a cultivator who had only just entered the Second Realm.

Chen Qing withdrew his attack and stood still as the aura around him ebbed like a retreating tide.

He looked down at his palm, feeling a stinging pain in his meridians. But compared with the damage he'd suffered the first time he used the technique in his dream, this was negligible. During the fight, he'd done his utmost to control the power, preventing the eruption from the clash of mountains and seas from damaging his flesh and meridians. Otherwise, the force would have been thirty percent greater!

"Too bad Liu Wang was only in the Second Realm. If a Third Realm cultivator had been there to spar with me, I could've gauged my strength more precisely..."

"M-Master Uncle..."

Han Sha sat collapsed on the ground nearby, his face deathly pale.

"How dare you!"

The shadows of the trees swayed, and an old man in gray robes emerged at a measured pace, his aura deep as an abyss. With each step he took, ripples spread across the ground like waves on water.

Late Second Realm!

"Zhao Shun, enforcement elder of Sea Abyss Temple." He steadied his thoughts and recognized the newcomer. "You've been hiding in the dark watching all this time. Finally decided to show yourself?"

"Since you know who I am, you still dared to kill a disciple of my temple?" Zhao Shun narrowed his eyes, a cold glint shining between them. "It isn't easy for any House to raise a Second Realm cultivator. You killed him just like that. Tell me, what do you think should—"

"You're just in time!" Chen Qing suddenly cut him off, speaking sharply as he took a crimson jade talisman from his robes. "The Various South Coast Sects swore a Blood Pact to stand or fall together! Your people ambushed the sect leader of Hidden Star Gate in broad daylight, lying in wait to surround and kill him, every move aimed at taking his life. What was your intention?"

"The Blood Tax Pact?"

Zhao Shun stopped in his tracks, and the ripples on the ground abruptly froze.

He stared at Chen Qing, recalling the ruthless decisiveness he'd just witnessed. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes twitched. "Sharp-tongued brat. You think..."

Clang!

Before he could finish, a streak of azure light flew in from beyond the sky and struck the ground precisely in front of Zhao Shun. The words "Mystic Chess" fluttered in the wind on its sword tassel.

Zhao Shun's gaze sharpened.

His expression shifted several times. At last, he flicked his sleeve, shooting three streams of water that revived the unconscious disciples, then swept up Liu Wang's corpse. "I'll give Mystic Chess Academy face and withdraw for now. But someone will settle this blood debt with you!"

"I'll be waiting." Chen Qing remained neither servile nor overbearing. "Once I've recovered, I'll be paying your sect a visit to demand justice, too."

"Bold words!" Zhao Shun gave a cold snort, and his figure vanished at the end of the mountain path.

Chen Qing withdrew his gaze, then looked toward a distant hilltop. A figure stood there: the young man who had carried a sword case behind Mo Huaiyong that day.

They looked at each other from afar. Chen Qing cupped his hands in salute, then turned and left.

"You're just going to let him go like that?"

On the hill, a sixteen-year-old girl stood on tiptoe, gazing into the distance. The Golden Bell at her wrist jingled.

"Senior Brother, you even stepped in. At least make that guy thank you!"

Beside her, the young man carrying the sword case held out five fingers. The long sword on the ground flew back into its sheath with a clang. Without even turning around, he said, "Even if I hadn't stepped in, he wouldn't have come off worse."

"How do you know? Zhao Shun is in the late Second Realm!" the girl said. She paused to think, then added, "But he really did fight fiercely and ruthlessly! What a presence!"

The young man finally turned around and said calmly, "A few days ago, that man was still in the First Realm, yet now he can kill a Second Realm cultivator in a single strike." He looked toward the direction Chen Qing had disappeared. "A person like that doesn't need anyone to hand him a chance to live."

"Forget it. No need to dig into it. Master said we just have to keep an eye on him." The girl changed the subject, tilting her head as she asked about something else. "What was that South Sea Blood Tax Alliance he mentioned? Zhao Shun seemed very wary of it."

"The South Coast lies at the southernmost edge of the Eastern Spirit Continent, and the thirty-three great Houses of the Central Lands have never paid it much attention." The young man gently stroked his sword case. "Our Mystic Chess Academy nominally governs this region, but in practice, we're too far away to do much. We only come to inspect it once in a while."

The girl seemed to understand. "Could it be from even farther south...?"

"Exactly." The young man nodded. "A branch of the Crimson Flame Dynasty of the South Flame Continent is using the sea routes to infiltrate this region. The Blood Tax Pact is how they win over the small sects of the South Coast. It's also a means of infiltrating, corrupting, and exploiting them. Every few years, they levy the tax. Those who can pay receive protection in name, while those who can't..."

The girl clicked her tongue. "So they're just blood food for the Crimson Flame Dynasty? And this so-called protection—don't they just fatten them up before slaughtering them?"

"The Blood Tax Alliance is only a stopgap measure. It can constrain Sea Abyss Temple in the open, but it won't make the conflicts disappear."

The mountain path wound on, and Chen Qing walked steadily.

He carefully reviewed the battle, weighing the gains and losses.

Liu Wang and Shi Hong had both been in the early Second Realm, yet before the eruption of his Mountains Collapse, Seas Roar, they had been no better than clay chickens and pottery dogs.

"If I went all out, I might be able to match someone in the late stage!" Chen Qing felt the lingering sting in his meridians. "But it's hard to say how I'd fare against the Third Realm."

Third Realm cultivators were like a sword hanging over his head.

If Sea Abyss Temple really had a newly advanced Third Realm cultivator, his own mountain-protecting formation could withstand no more than three strikes. And though the Blood Tax Pact could buy time, it was an external force, and easy to circumvent.

"Not enough!"

Chen Qing looked toward Misty Gorge Mountain. Clouds and mist curled around its summit, making it look just like the stone platform in his dream.

"Once I've stabilized my realm, I must enter the Dao Evolution Records again! This time, I'll see if I can find a way to counter the Third Realm!"