One Punch Breaks the Heavens

A black-clad figure wearing a mask covered in intricate, multicolored patterns was stopped by an Immortal Seeking Palace reception officer.

The explosive sound just now had come from the masked man condensing his qi and blood five hundred paces away, using qi to control a blade and strike at Ning Yutan's carriage—only for the reception officer concealed among the armored guards to intercept it halfway.

"Kill!" Having failed in his first strike, the masked man did not bother responding. He merely waved one hand and let out a hoarse command.

Nearly a hundred masked figures then appeared behind him and charged at the entire escort.

"An amateur Qi and Blood Realm cultivator dares ambush an immortal seedling? Who gave you the nerve?" The reception officer swept his gaze over the charging masked men and snorted coldly. Qi and blood surged from his body like sand and mist as he took the lead and charged straight at their leader.

He was also a Qi and Blood Grandmaster!

There were fewer than a hundred attackers, yet every one of them was an expert at the Bone Forging Realm or above. Their leader was a Grandmaster who had only just entered the Qi and Blood Realm.

Facing fewer than a hundred masked men, the armored guards at the front line were driven back step by step in an instant. After all, most of the Marquis Estate's armored guards were primarily at the Skin Grinding and Muscle Compaction stages.

It was truly no simple matter for the enemy to gather nearly a hundred experts above the Bone Forging Realm.

Only after their formation shifted, with the academy guards dispatched by Chong'an Prefecture's Immortal Seeking Academy and the Immortal Seeking Palace's reception party replacing them—experts of the Blood Exchange and Marrow Cleansing stages each taking on corresponding thieves, while nearly ten armored guards surrounded each masked man—did they barely manage to hold back the offensive.

Yet before they could breathe a sigh of relief, a powerful pressure suddenly bore down on them.

There was another expert!

"Outrageous!" Duke Dingguo and the leader of the reception officers shot into the air, guarding tightly above Ning Yutan's carriage.

Boom! Almost instantly, a crimson streak shot toward them like a bolt of silk. Duke Dingguo and the reception officer's expressions changed drastically as qi and blood churned throughout their bodies.

Even the combined defense formed by the two men's qi and blood collapsed the moment it encountered that crimson light.

"A Qi-and-Blood-Dragon Grandmaster bullying two juniors—have you no shame?" At the critical moment, to everyone's astonishment, a flash of light appeared below, and the old coachman on the lead carriage slowly rose to his feet.

"Uncle Chen! I leave it to you." Duke Dingguo let out a long breath and hurriedly retreated behind the old coachman.

"So the rumors were true!"

"Could that old coachman be the old Marquis's friend through life and death, a figure on the Grandmaster Ranking?"

"He hid himself deeply!"

In an instant, people all around exclaimed in astonishment, looking upon the old coachman with solemn respect.

Ning Sujin beside Li Ji'an was even more dumbfounded. The person who had brought her back from the Su Family all those years ago had been this very old coachman. Back then, some had said the Marquis Estate looked down on her and did not care about her, sending only a coachman to fetch her. Looking at it now, Elder Chen going personally to receive her had counted as the highest courtesy the Marquis Estate could offer.

Looking once more at her birth father, Ning Haichan, Ning Sujin was slightly moved. The small thread of resentment she had never possessed much of to begin with quietly dissipated.

When she came to the Marquis Estate at ten years old, she had fought hard for that Marrow Cleansing Pill so she could enter the Immortal Realm and find her brother.

In the end, she lost to her younger sister, Ning Yutan.

She had been somewhat unwilling to accept it.

But Ning Yutan's eventual potential and achievements proved the Marquis's judgment right.

Her initial resentment had long since faded, leaving only a habitual and symbolic tendency to be at odds with Ning Yutan.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The person opposite them did not pause because of Elder Chen's unexpected appearance. He struck again and again, every move aimed directly at the carriage behind Elder Chen.

Elder Chen rose into the air, his qi and blood gathering before him into a shield that received every one of the opponent's killing moves.

"Hmph!" The Qi-and-Blood-Dragon Grandmaster opposite him snorted coldly, and his qi and blood became three parts stronger. In an instant, a thirty-zhang blood-colored dragon came roaring toward them.

Elder Chen's expression instantly turned grave. He no longer dared show the slightest contempt and attacked with all his strength. A golden dragon likewise surged forth.

However, Elder Chen's golden dragon was clearly three parts smaller than the other's blood-colored dragon.

Rumble—

The two dragons collided. The golden dragon held on for only three breaths before dissolving into dust and smoke.

Yet the blood-colored dragon still had enough force left to charge at the carriage.

Alarm showed on Elder Chen's face. No longer able to concern himself with anything else, his hands shifted as he threw a punch. "One Punch Breaks the Heavens!"

Boom—

The golden fist shadow shattered the blood-colored dragon, and its lingering might forced the masked man to retreat a good distance.

"Heaven Breaking Divine Fist—Chen Xiaosheng!" The masked man spoke for the first time, his aged, hoarse voice carrying a trace of surprise.

At his words, many people below were once again shaken.

"What? That old coachman is the Heaven Breaking Divine Fist—Chen Xiaosheng?"

"The Qi-and-Blood-Dragon Grandmaster who challenged his way across the Grandmaster Ranking from Western Mountain thirty years ago, ultimately taking twenty-eighth place!"

"He suddenly vanished twenty years ago. Who would have thought he would lay down his earthshaking fame and become a coachman for the Marquis Estate?"

The older members of the Marquis Estate, in particular, stared at Chen Xiaosheng in shock. Some felt lingering fear, others terror, all recalling whether they had ever shown him disrespect.

"Chen Xiaosheng! He is actually the Grandmaster Chen Xiaosheng, whose might shook the world!" Ning Sujin was even more stunned.

Having grown up in a family of Qi and Blood Grandmasters, she understood Grandmasters far more deeply than ordinary people. She knew all too well just how much weight a Qi-and-Blood-Dragon Grandmaster carried.

Her maternal grandfather had merely ranked within the top fifty of the Grandmaster Ranking, yet he had been able to establish an aristocratic family, rise to the level of kings and marquises, and rule over an entire province below—practically the local emperor of a province.

Chen Xiaosheng's fame back then had surpassed even that of his grandfather!

Especially his Heaven Breaking Divine Fist—fierce and razor-sharp. Even those with comparable qi and blood cultivation found it difficult to withstand its edge.

It was said that someone had once wanted to rank his Heaven Breaking Divine Fist among the top ten martial arts in the Martial Arts Ranking, but it was ultimately dropped because he was unwilling to submit the fist art to the imperial court.

"Heaven Breaking Divine Fist!" Li Ji'an was instantly invigorated as well.

Of the various martial arts rankings in this world, the Martial Arts Ranking was the one that interested him most.

After all, qi and blood cultivation was one thing, but without a superior martial art to condense one's qi and blood and unleash it, its greatest power could not be brought forth.

When Chen Xiaosheng had fought the other man just now, his initial release of qi and blood had merely been the power of his own qi and blood. It had force, but it had not displayed its full might. Only by using martial arts to condense and wield one's qi and blood could one reveal one's true strength.

The quality of a cultivation method lay in how much it could stimulate one's qi and blood. Inferior martial arts could condense at most thirty percent, while superior martial arts could condense fifty percent. Most martial arts on the Martial Arts Ranking could condense seventy or eighty percent, with some even reaching ninety percent.

Some speculated that Chen Xiaosheng's Heaven Breaking Divine Fist might be capable of condensing ninety percent.

At the same qi and blood realm, with the same qi and blood strength, the more superior the martial art, the stronger one's combat prowess.

If he failed to become an Immortal Seedling after the age of thirty in this life, then he would inevitably need to cultivate superior martial arts.

"Since you know my name, why have you not retreated at once?" Rather than press his advantage, Chen Xiaosheng took the initiative to call for an end to the fight.

There was no other reason. With his discernment, he could tell that the other man's true identity was far from simple. His qi and blood were thirty percent stronger than Chen Xiaosheng's own. He was most likely someone within the top twenty of the Grandmaster Ranking. If the man used his signature martial art, Chen Xiaosheng might not be his match.

"Heh heh~ You truly don't know life from death. If you retreat now, this old man may yet spare your life." The masked man laughed hoarsely, clearly not taking him seriously.

Chen Xiaosheng lowered his gaze. He knew that victory and defeat had to be decided today. He said no more and unleashed his full strength, his fist wind rising abruptly.

The other man was no weaker. The longsword on his back immediately left its sheath, and in an instant, fist winds and sword shadows shrouded the area.

"Even the might of mortals can be this terrifying!" Li Ji'an stared blankly at the two Grandmasters, their qi and blood like dragons as they battled to the death, his heart stirring slightly.

Though the power of their clash was far from enough to erase the Great Dao, much less overturn reincarnation, or even move mountains and fill seas, it was already enough to thrill Li Ji'an!

It was no less impressive than the Immortal Methods in some xianxia worlds he had read about before transmigrating.

At the very least, it proved that individual strength could already stand fearless before thousands upon thousands of troops!

During the new book period, I hope fellow readers can follow along every day. There are sixty bookmarks now, but only four people are keeping up with the chapters in the backend, and two of them are friends from the group. It's a little miserable.