Clash of the Peaks

Clash at the Peak

The two great martial techniques collided, and the aura that scattered from them blazed like the sun at high noon, their might nearly tearing the vacuum apart.

This was a duel between the strongest moves of two true experts standing at the peak of the Earth Martial Realm!

Those Black Martial Realm martial artists could only watch the spectacle. They could not see the details of these two moves at all, let alone the profundities within them.

Only the few experts whose cultivation had likewise reached the perfection of the Earth Martial Realm saw the clash between the two great techniques clearly.

At the instant they collided, Ouyang Ke's Unrestrained Blade advanced with the force of splitting bamboo, actually destroying Tang Wanjing's Ten Thousand Swords Return to Origin without the slightest effort!

"Tang Wanjing has lost!" Before Unrestrained Blade had even landed on Tang Wanjing, those few people had already seen the outcome!

And the truth was exactly so. After the dazzling, resplendent brilliance came to an end, Tang Wanjing was sent flying nearly a hundred meters, her body dragging a ten-meter-long trench through the ground before she finally stopped.

"Pfft, pfft..." Several mouthfuls of blood sprayed from Tang Wanjing's mouth in succession, dyeing her clothes red.

She was in an utterly sorry state!

If not for most of the force of that slash just now having been worn away by her Ten Thousand Swords Return to Origin, it probably would have killed her outright.

Even the remaining portion of its power still heavily injured her Cliff Stone Body, which excelled at defense.

At this moment, her internal organs had suffered severe damage, many of her meridians were snapped inch by inch, and her injuries were extremely grave!

Tang Wanjing had never imagined that the Ten Thousand Swords Return to Origin she was so proud of would actually lose—and lose to Ouyang Ke, who had once been defeated by her!

Under the eyes of the crowd, Tang Wanjing had suffered a crushing defeat!

"She lost. She lost so decisively!" the onlookers cried out in shock.

"Exactly. Ouyang Ke's strength really has improved a lot."

"His Unrestrained Blade has grown greatly in power. It looks like his comprehension of it has climbed another level."

"This is too unexpected. Simply too unexpected."

"After tonight's battle, the Earth Ranking will be updated again."

The entire process of the duel was recorded by the Dragon Tower Master using a Memory Crystal.

He was feeling extremely pleased now as well. Because Zhushan Town had produced a Jiang Feng, Zhushan Town's reputation had soared these past few days. And as the Dragon Tower Master of this small town, he had naturally been basking in the limelight within the industry.

In particular, that battle between Jiang Feng and Ouyang Ke had made him several thousand gold coins.

Tonight's battle would probably bring in quite a bit too.

As far as Ouyang Ke was concerned, this outcome had long been certain.

His Unrestrained Blade was no longer the original Unrestrained Blade.

After Jiang Feng's improvements and guidance, the power of Unrestrained Blade had become so great that even he found it unimaginable. Even using only thirty percent of his strength, it was not something Tang Wanjing could withstand.

Just now, if he had not withdrawn a portion of his force in time, Tang Wanjing would undoubtedly have died!

He and Tang Wanjing had no deep hatred between them, so there was no need to put her to death.

"I still had some doubts before, but now it seems that if I unleash the full power of this slash, I could probably even kill a Heaven Martial Realm expert!" Ouyang Ke sighed inwardly.

For someone in the Earth Martial Realm to kill a Heaven Martial Realm expert above his level—what kind of concept was that?

In all of Hengshan Prefecture, only two Earth Martial Realm experts had ever accomplished it.

They were the mysterious expert currently ranked first on the Earth Ranking, "Bai Wanli," and the young master of the Shen family ranked second on the Earth Ranking, "Shen Bijun."

Even though Ouyang Ke was proud, he had never imagined he could stand shoulder to shoulder with these two.

But now, he seemed to already possess that kind of qualification.

"Following Jiang Feng has actually brought such an opportunity into my life!" Ouyang Ke sighed.

Only after a long while did Tang Wanjing recover a little strength. Trembling, she rose from the mud, her eyes still staring viciously at Ouyang Ke, but it could be seen that the sharp edge from before was already gone from them.

Ouyang Ke slowly walked up to Tang Wanjing. Victory and defeat had been decided, and there was no need to remain with swords drawn and bows bent.

"Young Master said that if you're still not convinced, you may continue to challenge him in five days," Ouyang Ke said.

Tang Wanjing looked at Ouyang Ke in puzzlement. Only after a long time did she ask, "Why has your strength improved so much?"

Ouyang Ke smiled confidently. "To tell the truth, the strength I have today is entirely due to Young Master's guidance."

"Jiang Feng?" Tang Wanjing asked. "His strength isn't much greater than yours. In terms of cultivation experience, he's far inferior to you. In terms of age, how could a wet-behind-the-ears brat possibly guide you?"

Ouyang Ke's expression sank. Now that someone was speaking ill of Jiang Feng in front of him, he naturally was not pleased. In his heart, Jiang Feng was now an existence close to a god, and he held boundless faith and reverence for Jiang Feng.

"Tang Wanjing, show my young master some respect!" Ouyang Ke said, forcibly suppressing the urge to kill Tang Wanjing. "The reason you can still stand here and speak is entirely because my young master instructed me to spare your life. Otherwise, with that slash just now, your corpse would already be lying here on the spot!!"

Tang Wanjing froze. She could tell that Ouyang Ke was not lying.

Because at this point, Ouyang Ke had already won. There was no need for him to say harsh words to prop up his image.

"You mean you didn't use your full strength just now?!" Tang Wanjing asked in terror.

"What!?" The people standing close by heard Tang Wanjing's terrified question. "In that battle just now, Ouyang Ke didn't use his full strength!?"

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"

Ouyang Ke did not answer directly. He merely reminded her to lower her voice and not make a commotion.

"Tang Wanjing, I trust you understand why my young master had me spare your life," Ouyang Ke continued.

Tang Wanjing was a clever person as well, so naturally, she understood.

"He wants to recruit me?"

Ouyang Ke gave a snorting laugh. "Recruit you? You really do think highly of yourself. With Young Master's strength, adding one more person like you or me would not help him much. Young Master merely wants to give you a chance to pursue the supreme martial path, and have you follow him of your own free will."

Tang Wanjing frowned slightly. She could already see that Ouyang Ke was now utterly convinced by Jiang Feng, filled with unquestioning faith in him.

Clearly, this had to do with the rise in Ouyang Ke's current strength.

She had seen the scene of Ouyang Ke's previous battle with Jiang Feng. For the moment, she could not make out much else, but she could clearly see the power of Unrestrained Blade. Ouyang Ke's Unrestrained Blade now was almost twice as powerful as it had been that night!

Moreover, Ouyang Ke had also said that tonight, he had not used his full strength. And on that night, he had definitely gone all out.

Even without using his full strength, the power of his Unrestrained Blade had doubled compared to when he had gone all out before. One could imagine how great his improvement had been in just these few short days!

And all of this seemed to have benefited from that legendary Jiang Feng!

"Have you thought it through?" Ouyang Ke pressed.

Tang Wanjing raised her head and asked, "If I'm unwilling, are you going to kill me?"

Ouyang Ke shook his head. "No. If you're unwilling, you may leave right now."

Tang Wanjing froze, her heart trembling slightly. What a magnanimous young man!

She had not expected that Jiang Feng, despite his young age, would possess such a grand and sweeping bearing. If it were someone else, perhaps they would not kill her either, but at the very least, she would have to pay some price.

"Fine!" Tang Wanjing made up her mind then and there. "I, Tang Wanjing, will trust you, Ouyang Ke, this once!"

"I am willing to follow him!"

Ouyang Ke nodded, not at all surprised. "At least you know what's good for you."

"From this day forth, you are Young Master's retainer. Once Young Master comes out of seclusion five days from now, he will certainly give you proper guidance."

Aside from the one startled question Tang Wanjing had blurted out, the onlookers had not heard the conversation between the two clearly. They only saw that in the end, the two of them actually walked side by side, left and right, toward the small town.

"Tonight's battle was truly marvelous beyond compare!"

"Exactly. Two great Earth Ranking experts fought with everything they had. How could it not be marvelous?"

"Wrong. Didn't you hear Tang Wanjing's startled question? I infer that Ouyang Ke did not use his full strength."

"Hmph. You even believe Ouyang Ke's pretentious words meant to scare Tang Wanjing?"

"Oh?"

"Don't you have a brain of your own? What level of strength does Ouyang Ke have, and what level of strength does Tang Wanjing have? Once they've reached their degree, can their strength really increase greatly in a short time? The rankings before Dragon Tower were not conjured from thin air; naturally, they had roots and evidence. Since Ouyang Ke was ranked below Tang Wanjing before, that proved Ouyang Ke's strength was inferior to Tang Wanjing's. For him to improve quite a bit during this period and defeat Tang Wanjing is already astonishing. It's impossible that he did not use his full strength."

"That's true, that's true!"

Just as the crowd was retreating back into the small town, two figures appeared on the mountain peak.

"Brother, in your view, did that Ouyang Ke use his full strength?"