First Battle Against Li Heng

Chapter Thirty-Four: First Battle with Li Heng

Li Yifan's figure moved like a coiled leopard, suddenly unleashing its power! The moment he burst from behind the stalagmite, the Nine Yang Burning Heaven Technique was pushed to its peak. His supreme yang true qi surged like a tide, roaring through his meridians! A faint, crimson-gold halo enveloped him, a searing ember cast into the cold, dark cave, instantly shattering the silent equilibrium. His target was clear: his right hand formed into a sword, the Scorching Sun Finger's searing, sharp energy condensed to a razor's edge, piercing the air silently, aiming directly for the vital point on Li Heng's back! This strike, built on anticipation, explosive power, and precision, was the absolute limit of his current abilities!

However, "Shadow Demon" Li Heng, who had roamed for years, possessed a danger sense honed to an almost beastly instinct! The instant Li Yifan erupted and his supreme yang aura leaked, even with his back turned, Li Heng's every hair stood on end! That searing energy, so out of place in the cave's environment and brimming with vitality, was like a torch suddenly lit in the dark night. For someone who cultivated sinister arts, the stimulation was intensely jarring!

"Ambush!" Li Heng's mind screamed alarm! He didn't even have time to ponder how the enemy had infiltrated the place. Years of dancing on the edge of a blade had forged a combat instinct that led him to the most bizarre yet effective response!

His charging form abruptly halted, as if defying the laws of inertia. In a thousandth of a second, his aura became illusory and ephemeral. The Phantom Demon Technique's life-saving skill, "Phantom Shift," was instantly activated! His true body slid sideways and backward in a near-contorted manner, leaving behind a solid, lifelike afterimage that even carried a trace of his true essence!

"Chii—!"

Li Yifan's confident strike, with mere millimeters to spare, pierced the head of the afterimage! The scorching finger force struck empty air, burning a small pit into the rock wall behind, emitting a faint crackling sound.

"What a bizarre movement technique!" Li Yifan's heart sank. His opponent was far more troublesome than he'd anticipated. But his attack was like a tidal wave; missing his mark, he followed up with a series of Spirit Fox Steps. His body spun like a willow in the wind, his left index finger glowing crimson again. Another Scorching Sun Finger strike, aimed at the exposed flank of Li Heng's ribs revealed by his shift! The finger wind was sharp and the angle cunning!

Li Heng had now fully turned, his pale, sinister face first showing shock, then replaced by surging rage! He never imagined that his most hidden lair would be infiltrated by a mere Xuntian Guard kid, whose cultivation was clearly lower than his, and that he'd almost fallen prey! What unsettled him even more was the supreme yang, supreme hardness of the true qi emanating from the other, which made him feel disgusted and a hint of... fear from the depths of his being!

Facing Li Yifan's relentless finger wind, Li Heng, a mix of shock and rage, let out a strange roar! He didn't meet it with his palm or claws. Instead, he quietly brought his index and middle fingers together. A deep, dark, light-absorbing black glow emanated from his fingertips as he thrust silently! This thrust was at an incredibly cunning angle, astonishingly fast, striking before Li Yifan's attack and aiming directly for Li Yifan's wrist pulse! Before his fingertips even arrived, a bone-chillingly cold, sharp energy with penetrating and corrosive properties tore through the air!

"Netherworld Stab!"

Before the finger winds could connect, Li Yifan felt a needle-like sting at his wrist pulse. That cold, sharp energy seemed capable of piercing skin and damaging meridians! His heart grew solemn: "This is his famed skill, the Netherworld Assassination Technique? As expected, it's sinister and fierce!" He dared not delay. He swiftly flipped his wrist, changing his finger to a palm. A flash of crimson light appeared at the edge of his palm as he unleashed a palm strike imbued with the essence of the Burning Wood Saber Technique, diagonally meeting the Netherworld Stab energy!

"Pfft!"

A dull thud of colliding energies! The crimson sun palm strike and the Netherworld Stab energy collided, the searing and chilling energies of two completely different true qi types corroding and eroding each other! Li Yifan felt a sharp, chilling force penetrate his palm, his entire arm going slightly numb, his blood circulation momentarily stagnated. Meanwhile, Li Heng felt his Netherworld Stab energy strike a red-hot iron poker; the supreme yang true qi surged back, searing his fingertips until they ached. The chilling penetration was neutralized by more than half!

The two forces separated as soon as they touched. Both retreated several steps, regaining their footing. Their eyes, like lightning, locked onto each other.

"A hound of the Xuntian Guard? Truly persistent!" Li Heng's gaze was as cold and venomous as a snake's as he scanned Li Yifan's black robes, his voice hoarse and filled with killing intent. "A mere mid-stage Muscle Tempering cultivator dares to provoke a tiger? Perfect, my blood sacrifice is in need of a prime soul. Your supreme yang soul will be a rare delicacy!"

Li Yifan's expression was as calm as still water. Circulating the Nine Yang True Qi once, he dissolved and expelled the trace of chilling, sharp energy that had infiltrated his meridians. He was unfazed by Li Heng's words, merely stating calmly, "Li Heng, your crimes are heinous. Today is the day you face justice."

"Arrogant whelp! Die!" Li Heng roared, abandoning further words. His figure flickered violently, the Phantom Demon Technique unleashed at full power! In an instant, his form became a blur, as if splitting into three or four illusory figures of indistinguishable reality. Each exuded a chilling aura, emitting maddening shrieks, attacking Li Yifan from different directions at various cunning angles simultaneously! Each phantom's attack transformed into an incredibly sharp Netherworld Stab aimed at vital points! The finger winds tore through the air with whistling sounds, weaving a net of death!

"Phantom Netherworld Kill!"

Facing this dazzling, hard-to-distinguish assault, Li Yifan was not swayed by its appearance. He knew well that the power of illusions lay in confusing the mind and unsettling the spirit. His eyes gleamed, pushing the Spirit Fox Steps to their limit. His body left trails of afterimages within a small area, while his spiritual sense was highly concentrated. No longer relying on sight, he fully sensed the subtle changes in airflow and the core source of energy fluctuations! The supreme yang spiritual sense granted by the Nine Yang Burning Heaven Technique was like a lamp in the dark night, striving to illuminate the core amidst the layers of illusions!

"Front left! The third phantom's flank, the Netherworld Stab energy is most condensed and sharpest!" In a flash, Li Yifan pinpointed that almost imperceptible true body trajectory! Without hesitation, he altered his footwork, narrowly dodging the pounce of two phantoms. His right index and middle fingers joined, the Scorching Sun Finger's power raised to eighty percent. A condensed, crimson thread of finger wind, incredibly hot, tore through the air with a sharp whistling sound, shooting directly at the vital throat of Li Heng's true body, slightly exposed by his attack!

"What?!" Li Heng's face turned ashen with shock! His Phantom Netherworld Kill technique, a combination of illusion and reality, was unpredictable. Even martial artists of the same level found it difficult to see through. How could this Xuntian Guard brat pinpoint his true body's movement so accurately? That supreme yang spiritual sense was too much of a counter to his illusions!

In haste, Li Heng could only forcibly interrupt some of the phantom attacks. He brought his fingers together, unleashing the Netherworld Stab energy at full power. The black light at his fingertips surged, attacking rather than defending. An even fiercer Netherworld Stab struck directly at Li Yifan's Scorching Sun Finger wind! He intended to counter point with point, to clash head-on with its sharpness!

"Ding—!"

An extremely crisp, metallic clang rang out! The tips of the crimson finger wind and the dark finger energy collided with pinpoint accuracy! Supreme yang and extreme yin, searing heat and bone-chilling cold – two extreme attribute true qi condensed to a single point, erupting in a violent conflict!

A visible ripple spread from the point of collision! Li Yifan felt a sharp, chilling sting at his fingertip, his entire finger going slightly numb. The finger wind was neutralized by more than half by the incredibly condensed Netherworld Stab energy! Meanwhile, Li Heng felt as if his fingertip had struck a miniature sun. The searing pain penetrated to his very bones, and the chilling energy of the Netherworld Stab was largely evaporated!

Both grunted simultaneously. The finger winds and energy dissipated, and their bodies were forced back several steps by the recoil!

Li Heng touched his slightly trembling, slightly burned fingertip, his eyes filled with even greater madness! He no longer attempted to win with subtle illusions and stabbing techniques. Instead, he unleashed the Yin Sha energy of the Phantom Demon Technique without reservation. Black mist coiled around him, his speed increasing again. He was like a demon crawling from hell, launching a storm of attacks around Li Yifan! The Netherworld Assassination Technique was pushed to its extreme, his fingers, palms, fists, and claws all transforming into incredibly sharp stabs. Every move was vicious, every strike deadly, targeting weak points like acupoints, joints, and meridians! It was a desperate fight, trading life for injury! He intended to wear Li Yifan down using his absolute advantage in cultivation!

Li Yifan immediately felt pressure like a collapsing mountain and a raging sea! Li Heng's Netherworld Assassination Technique was bizarre and fierce, with extremely strong penetration. Every move targeted vital points; a single misstep meant severe injury or death! He dared not be careless. The Spirit Fox Steps were pushed to their limit, dodging and weaving in the narrow space like a small boat in a stormy sea, narrowly evading the fatal stabs at the last possible moment. Simultaneously, the Scorching Sun Finger was unleashed repeatedly, its searing finger winds clashing with the Netherworld Stab energy, emitting dense "chii-chii" sounds, attempting to neutralize its chilling penetration with scorching power and seeking an opportunity to counterattack.

Inside the cave, figures flickered and collided like ghosts! Crimson finger winds and dark stab shadows clashed incessantly, like countless tiny lightning bolts flashing in the darkness! Each collision between supreme yang true qi and profound yin sha qi stirred violent air currents, kicking up debris and dust from the ground. The surrounding stalactites were riddled with countless tiny holes by the sharp, scattered energy.

Although Li Yifan was at an absolute disadvantage, relying entirely on his exquisite movement technique and the counteracting effect of his supreme yang true qi to barely hold on, his defense was incredibly tenacious. The perfected Iron Bone Technique granted him powerful resilience, but its defensive effect was greatly reduced against the Netherworld Assassination Technique's focused, highly penetrating attacks. He could only try to avoid vital points. The chilling, sharp foreign true qi that invaded his body was constantly neutralized by the surging Nine Yang True Qi, but the process was mentally and energetically taxing. His body was already crisscrossed with several bloody marks from the sharp finger winds. While not fatal, his blood churned, and his true qi was being consumed at an alarming rate. Each counterattack from his Scorching Sun Finger forced Li Heng to expend more mental energy and true qi to cope, especially the scorching, evil-dispelling attribute of his fingertips, which prevented Li Heng's Netherworld Stab energy from fully exerting its power.

Li Heng grew increasingly agitated with each passing moment! This kid was like a slippery loach! Clearly, his cultivation was inferior, and his Netherworld Assassination Technique was repeatedly countered by that supreme yang finger force. He couldn't finish him off after such a prolonged fight! The old wound on his left arm, injured by the "Corpse Ghost Old Monster," began to ache faintly. His aura showed signs of disturbance due to the frustration of his prolonged, unsuccessful assault. Most importantly, the Yinsha Soul Pearl was within reach, yet he was bogged down here. The longer this dragged on, the greater the variables!

"Can't wait any longer!" A flicker of madness flashed in Li Heng's eyes. He feigned an attack, forcing Li Yifan to dodge sideways. Then, his figure abruptly retreated several yards, widening the distance between them. He formed an incredibly complex and bizarre hand seal with dazzling speed. The Yin Sha energy swirling around him converged madly towards his brow like countless rivers returning to the sea! A powerful, chaotic mental fluctuation filled with negative emotions spread out like a tangible substance, and the temperature of the entire cave seemed to drop several degrees!

"Phantom Demon Heart Devouring Curse!"

Li Heng roared. His eyes instantly turned pitch black, with no whites visible, like two black holes swallowing everything! An intangible, yet intensely corrosive, confusing, and terrifying mental shockwave, like a breached dam, swept towards Li Yifan like a tidal wave! This was an extremely profound mental attack secret technique from the Phantom Demon Technique, directly targeting the opponent's mind and consciousness, aiming to destroy their will and create inner demon illusions!

This mental attack was far more perilous than any previous move! Although Li Yifan's will was firm, and the Nine Yang Burning Heaven Technique had a mind-stabilizing effect, he could not be completely immune to an attack directly targeting the consciousness level! The moment the mental shockwave struck him, his head buzzed. His vision blurred and distorted, as if countless vengeful spirits and fierce ghosts were wailing beside his ears. Various negative emotions from the depths of his heart – fear, hesitation, despair – seemed to be stirred and amplified! His movements inevitably showed a slight delay and a flaw!

"Now!" Li Heng, enduring the backlash of unleashing the secret technique, seized this fleeting opportunity. His figure pounced again like a ghost! This time, he condensed all his power into his right index finger, pushing the Netherworld Assassination Technique to its peak. The black light at his fingertip condensed into ink, seeming to swallow even light itself. With a resolve to pierce through everything, he thrust directly at Li Yifan's chest acupoint, the Shanzhong Acupoint, which had slightly opened due to his resistance to the mental shock! This thrust contained his lifelong cultivation, vowing to kill with a single blow!

"Netherworld Soul Severing Stab!"

At the moment of crisis, Li Yifan's powerful combat instinct and tenacious will came into play! Despite his mind being severely disturbed and illusions rampant, his control over his body and his intuition of death remained! Facing this stab imbued with Li Heng's full killing intent, he almost instinctively unleashed the "Spirit Fox Flip," a move from the Spirit Fox Steps that narrowly avoided disaster, twisting his body at an unbelievable angle! At the same time, his left arm subconsciously rose to block!

"Pfft!"

Li Heng's Netherworld Soul Severing Stab failed to hit the Shanzhong acupoint precisely. Instead, it pierced Li Yifan's raised left arm! The chilling, sharp finger energy instantly penetrated his body, directly invading his meridians and bone marrow! Black blood immediately gushed out!

The intense pain jolted Li Yifan, surprisingly clearing his mind somewhat from the interference of the Phantom Demon Heart Devouring Curse! He grunted, using the momentum of his body's twist. Enduring the drilling pain in his left arm and the invasion of the chilling energy, the crimson light at his right fingertip erupted with unprecedented brilliance! The remaining Nine Yang True Qi in his body surged madly towards his fingertip! This time, he held nothing back. The Scorching Sun Finger, at ten percent power, was unleashed resolutely! His target was not Li Heng's vital point, but his left shoulder, which was unprotected due to his full power strike and had an old wound that had not yet healed!

This finger strike was fast! Accurate! Ruthless! It condensed all the supreme yang true qi Li Yifan could muster at that moment and his will to fight with his back against the wall! Where the finger wind passed, the air distorted, emitting a sharp sonic boom!

Li Heng's old wound had not healed. At this moment, his previous strength had just faded, and new strength had not yet emerged, making his defense the weakest! He never imagined that Li Yifan, despite being heavily injured and mentally disturbed, would counterattack so fiercely, cunningly, and accurately!

"Pfft—!"

The crimson finger wind, like a red-hot steel needle, pierced precisely into the old wound on Li Heng's left shoulder!

"Ah—!!!"

An extremely piercing scream tore through the cave! Li Heng's old wound on his left shoulder felt like a red-hot iron had been plunged into it. The supreme yang true qi clashed violently with the residual foreign yin energy and his own profound yin sha qi, causing a terrifying annihilation reaction! Black blood mixed with scorched flesh sprayed out! His entire left arm instantly went limp, completely losing sensation! The bone-piercing pain caused his body to convulse, his offensive instantly collapsing. He staggered backward, his aura plummeting like an avalanche!

Li Yifan's finger strike succeeded. The chilling, sharp Netherworld Stab energy continued to rage in his left arm wound, causing unbearable pain. He endured the injury and the immense consumption of true qi, his face pale, but his gaze as cold as iron. He looked at the heavily injured Li Heng, slowly regulating his breath, preparing to launch the final attack. Li Heng, however, stared back with a gaze filled with utter venom, almost spitting fire. His remaining right hand trembled as it reached towards the cold Soul-attracting Jade Box in his embrace... A more dangerous and crazed aura permeated the air.