White Rainbow Palm Power

The shriek of cannonballs and the whistle of crossbow bolts mingled together, raining down from all directions.

Just as Wang Xuan maxed out White Rainbow Palm Power in his mind, insights surged wildly through him—the transformation of Pure Yang into clarity, clarity reaching its peak and returning to white. The force of White Rainbow Palm Power belonged to neither yin nor yang. It was invisible Astral Qi born from Pure Yang transforming into clarity, clarity returning to white at its utmost. It contained a divine intent of clarity, purity, cleanliness, and sharpness, specializing in breaking hard-body arts. Against external cultivation techniques like Indestructible Diamond, it had an almost natural advantage. The fierce and domineering Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms looked like a novice soldier before it.

The System Panel displayed the complete information for this martial art:

[Martial Art: White Rainbow Palm Power. Traits: White Rainbow Piercing the Sun, No Trace to Follow, Cleansing Marrow and Purifying Turbidity]

White Rainbow Piercing the Sun: a palm strike flew like a rainbow, incredibly fast and lethal in a single blow. No Trace to Follow: its force could bend and turn at will, coming and going without a trace, leaving opponents unable to defend. Cleansing Marrow and Purifying Turbidity: cultivating this palm art cleansed impurities from the meridians, making True Qi increasingly pure.

He had no time to study it further. The cannonballs had already reached him.

Wang Xuan raised his right hand, and White Rainbow Palm Power shot forth. It did not collide head-on. The invisible Astral Qi curved through the air like an unseen whip wrapping around the side of an iron cannonball before giving it a light flick.

The iron cannonball was whipped back along its original path, faster than it had come. Spinning with a piercing shriek, it crashed like a black meteor into the Brocade Guard, sending screams and sprays of flesh and blood everywhere.

"Get out of the way!"

The crowd instantly erupted. Screams tore through the sky as everyone shoved desperately to either side, plunging into chaos.

Someone slipped and was violently knocked down. The surging crowd behind him could not stop in time, and countless feet trampled straight over him. Agonized screams rose one after another, mixed with crying and curses, instantly drowning the entire street.

An iron cannonball slammed into the ground with a thunderous boom that shook the earth. The bluestone pavement was blasted open into a savage crater, fragments of stone spraying like rain. Worse still, severed limbs, shattered bones, and mangled flesh were hurled into the air by the blast before crashing heavily into the panicked crowd, followed by another wave of gut-wrenching wails. It was too horrible to behold.

This was the limitation of Great Ming. At the time, cannons were still loaded with crude iron or lead shot, propelled only by gunpowder and relying entirely on raw kinetic force to injure people. How could they compare to the high-explosive shells of later generations, which detonated upon impact and scattered deadly shrapnel?

The Royal Clan had descended more than a year ago, so why had they never improved gunpowder technology? They probably understood better than anyone that once such a weapon was created, who it would ultimately be aimed at was far from certain.

White Rainbow Palm Power could bend and turn at will, leaving No Trace to Follow. It penetrated hardness and pierced softness. Using such an exquisite palm art to bat away these lumps of iron was simply overkill. Palm wind suddenly rose, and the incoming cannonballs were forcibly swatted back along their original paths, whistling as they flew back.

The Brocade Guard formation instantly collapsed completely. The cannonballs that had been sent back followed their original trajectories into their own artillery positions. Thunderous blasts rang out in succession as their own cannons bombarded their own troops, sending soldiers sprawling amid flying blood and flesh.

The formation fell into complete disorder. Some fled blindly with their heads in their hands. Some cowered in corners, trembling as they dodged. Some simply lay on the ground pretending to be dead. Others were pinned beneath the chaotic crowd, crying for their fathers and mothers as they wailed in misery. They were pathetic beyond measure.

The pressure on Wang Xuan's side eased at once, but the several Grandmaster Players in the distance were thrown into a frantic mess by the stray cannonballs and crossbow bolts. They had to block attacks from the front while constantly guarding against projectiles flying out from nowhere. Their movements gradually lost all rhythm, and the openings around them became increasingly obvious.

"Opportunity."

A sharp gleam flashed in Wang Xuan's eyes. The invisible force field of the Energy Absorption Technique abruptly spread out like an impenetrable giant net, instantly enveloping the closest Grandmaster Player.

That Player was swinging his palm to knock away an off-course crossbow bolt. Before he could steady himself, his body suddenly froze. The True Qi circulating within him surged out of control like floodwater bursting through a dam, and his aura instantly weakened.

He moved slightly, clearly sensing the abnormality within his body. He desperately urged his remaining True Qi, trying to break free from the powerful suction. But Wang Xuan's White Rainbow Palm Power had already arrived. White Rainbow Piercing the Sun—its speed was like lightning. The invisible Astral Qi silently and deftly curved around the arm he had hurriedly raised to block, lightly pressing against his chest.

There was no external wound. Even his clothes remained completely intact.

But in the next instant, he spat out a mouthful of scalding blood, which splashed onto the ground in a shocking crimson spray. His internal organs had already been shattered by the Astral Qi that had penetrated his body.

Taking advantage of his severe injuries and weakness, the Energy Absorption Technique's suction suddenly reached its peak, locking him down like an irresistible force.

His True Qi, his surging blood and vitality, even the remaining fragments of martial arts insight in his mind—all were forcibly drawn out by that suction, leaving not a trace behind.

In only a few breaths, a living man rapidly shriveled beneath Wang Xuan's suction. In the end, he turned directly into a pile of flying ash that scattered with the wind, leaving only an empty set of clothes drifting silently to the ground.

"Fourth."

Wang Xuan's voice was calm. Before his words had even faded, a crossbow bolt as thick as a child's arm suddenly shot out from the billowing smoke and dust, shrieking through the air as it aimed straight for the vital point between his shoulder blades.

Without even turning his head, he casually slapped the shaft with his backhand. White Rainbow Palm Power raced backward along the smooth shaft and instantly reached the heavy crossbow three zhang away. With a loud crack, the entire weapon shattered into pieces.

Amid the chaos of flying wood chips, a Grandmaster Player seized the chance to pounce from the side.

He was wrapped in a dull gray coarse-cloth robe and looked unremarkable at first glance, but his face was savage and terrifying. His cheekbones protruded sharply, his cheeks were sunken, and his skin was covered in layer upon layer of dark purple scars. His lips were swollen and turned outward, leaving his whole face so twisted that it was nearly impossible to recognize his original features.

His palms glowed an eerie bluish-black. The palm wind he unleashed carried a cloying, fishy stench that assaulted the nose. It was a rare and vicious poison art.

Thousand Spider Myriad Poison Hand!

This poison art was sinister and strange. Its practitioner had to feed venomous spiders with his own Essence Blood, then refine their spider venom into his body. The deeper the poison, the stronger the palm force, but the price was total disfigurement and a hideous appearance.

Faced with the sneak attack, Wang Xuan's expression did not change. Without looking back, he reached behind himself with his left palm and unleashed the Energy Absorption Technique at full power. Violent suction swept outward, twisting even the surrounding air.

The Grandmaster Player's palms had just come within three inches of Wang Xuan's back when they were firmly locked by the suction, as though caught in an invisible net. The more he struggled, the tighter it bound him, until all strength left his body.

His expression changed drastically, and his already hideous face twisted even further. His eyes were filled with terror and unwillingness as bluish-black poisonous True Qi gushed from his palms and followed the suction into Wang Xuan's body, attempting to poison him through the backlash.

He let out a hoarse roar. The bone-draining, marrow-sucking pain of the Energy Absorption Technique swept through his body, nearly driving him mad. The spider venom True Qi accumulated within him poured out endlessly like floodwater through a broken dam.

As the poisonous True Qi entered his body, Wang Xuan felt as though the meridians in his arm were being scorched by boiling oil. Wherever the poison passed, tiny blisters formed across the meridian walls from corrosion. He frowned slightly, but remained composed.

The blazing Pure Yang True Qi of the Indestructible Diamond Divine Skill moved first, evaporating vast amounts of poison like blazing fire. The Arhat Demon-Subduing Divine Skill followed close behind, wrapping around the remaining toxicity and repeatedly crushing and purifying it.

The life force of the Divine Illumination Scripture flowed along the damaged meridians, rapidly healing the corroded passages. The regenerated tissue was even tougher than before, and soon returned to normal.

The three Divine Arts alternated in perfect coordination, filtering and refining the poisonous True Qi. Impurities seeped out from his pores as black smoke, while the remaining pure True Qi was swallowed by the Energy Absorption Technique and absorbed into his dantian for his own use.

The entire refinement process took only two breaths, clean and efficient.

"Fifth."

Wang Xuan moved like a fish swimming through water. Reed Crossing River and Snow-Treading Traceless worked together as he darted through the smoke like a ghost.

Whenever he spotted an opening, he struck with White Rainbow Palm Power, targeting the weak points of hard-body arts.

The Energy Absorption Technique never stopped either. Its force field contracted and expanded, constantly tugging at his opponents' True Qi and blood vitality, making their movements slower and more labored. Some tried to run, only to be struck in the back by his palm. White Rainbow Palm Power pierced flesh and shattered their heart meridians, and before they even hit the ground, they were drained dry.

Some tried to fight to the death, burning their Essence Blood as they charged at him. He sidestepped them, then seized the crown of their heads with his backhand, draining them into desiccated husks while they were still in midair. Others were wounded by stray projectiles and staggered backward. Wang Xuan could not even be bothered to strike them. With a distant grab, the suction dragged them over, and they fell silent before reaching him.

Half an hour later.

The thunder of cannon fire finally began to subside. Smoke and dust rolled through the streets, Shrouding the Heavens. The choking smell of gunpowder mixed with dust and filled every inch of the air. Lingering ripples of Astral Qi still remained among the ruined walls, while the stone road beneath their feet was covered in cracks, with slaughter's wreckage everywhere.

Wang Xuan stood in the center of the smoke and dust, his skin gleaming with brilliant golden light like a gilded Buddha. His presence was as deep and steady as a mountain.

His clothes had long been torn apart by cannon fire and force, shredded cloth hanging from his body to reveal a strong upper torso lined with dense scars, yet still standing tall and straight. Those wounds were healing at a visible rate. Around him, only a few pieces of tattered clothing twisted apart by force remained on the ground, testifying to the brutality of the battle.

The more than ten Grandmaster experts he had killed had given him unimaginable gains. Massive, almost violent True Qi surged through his meridians as though it would break through their limits and burst his body apart. The scorching, churning blood vitality within him circulated with the three Divine Arts, washing through his meridians again and again and repairing the damage.

The Divine Illumination Scripture in particular was a heaven-defying healing art. Endless life force poured from his dantian and saturated his limbs and bones. Combined with the domineering tempering of the Indestructible Diamond Divine Skill, every inch of his flesh was repeatedly refined by True Qi and blood vitality, becoming increasingly indestructible.

Such abundant True Qi and blood vitality ignited an intense desire for a breakthrough in Wang Xuan's heart. He could even vaguely sense that he had already touched the barrier of the Ninth Heaven of Grandmaster. Just one more step, and he could break through the wall and enter the supreme realm of the Great Grandmaster.

Yet no matter how he mobilized all his True Qi, drew upon his boiling blood vitality, and crazily assaulted that bottleneck, neither his body nor cultivation budged in the slightest. The barrier was as towering and heavy as ancient Mount Buzhou, utterly unshakable. No matter how hard he tried, he could not move it even a fraction.

Wang Xuan refused to give up. He gathered all his strength once more and fiercely slammed into the bottleneck, only to hear a dull boom within his body. A violent rebounding force surged back from the barrier, shaking his blood and vitality into turmoil. Sweetness filled his throat, and he nearly vomited blood.

His heart tightened as he instantly understood that it could not be done. It was not because he lacked strength, but because the rules of the Heavens Tower were secretly restricting him. The peak combat strength of the second floor had been fixed at the Grandmaster realm. To break through into the Great Grandmaster realm, he would have to enter a higher-level High Martial Arts World and escape this limitation.

Still, this fierce battle had not been without pleasant surprises.

Each of the more than ten Grandmaster experts had possessed quite a few unique Divine Arts and Ultimate Arts. Some were exceptionally exquisite martial arts with profound foundations. Even Wang Xuan, who had seen much, could not help but brighten at the sight, secretly delighted by the abundant gains from this trip.