Meeting Force with Force

"Such speed!"

Chen Feng's heart stirred slightly as he recognized the black shadow as Wang Xuance.

It turned out that the moment Wang Xuance saw Chen Linger take up her twin blades against the enemy, he knew she was no match for her opponent.

When it came to weapons, an inch shorter meant an inch more perilous.

Chen Linger's twin stabs were nimble enough, but they lacked fierce, unyielding force.

Chen Kexin, on the other hand, linked one sword move to the next at will, using speed to overwhelm slowness. Though she had made only a few strikes, each was filled with savage power. Every swing of her sword boomed with force, determined to crush her opponent!

"This girl probably isn't weaker than any elite disciple at the Six Schools Martial Meet!"

Wang Xuance leaped into the air and drew a deep breath. Golden light gathered around his hands beneath his wide sleeves, and the joints of his ten fingers gleamed as if coated in molten gold. He swung his arms and slammed them into the blade.

He activated the Vajra Fist at its perfected level!

A black shadow flickered before Chen Linger's eyes, and she cried out in alarm.

"Watch out!"

Clang!

The clash of gold and iron exploded through the air, spraying a string of inconceivable sparks!

"Hmph!"

Wang Xuance knocked the sword aside, then extended his arm and smashed his raised fist downward.

Chen Kexin only felt as though her sword hilt had struck a wild bull. Vast, surging force exploded through her palm.

Pfft!

The force was so fierce that, with a dull crack, her palm bones rang out. She immediately lost her grip on the hilt, allowing Han Lin to lodge slantwise in the ground with a low hum.

Thud, thud, thud!

She retreated three steps in a row, her feet plowing two feet through the earth. Only after sliding back more than ten feet did she finally halt.

Her blood and Qi churned in her chest, and the tendons and veins throughout her body felt weak and sore. An unnatural pallor surfaced on her originally lovely face.

"If you don't get down now, I won't be able to save you a second time!"

Wang Xuance glanced at the dazed Chen Linger and brusquely swept his sleeve, pushing her off the platform.

"The eldest branch's guest retainer will fight in her stead!"

His cold, rigid voice echoed above the earthen platform. At that moment, the elders of the various branches opened their eyes one after another, their gazes abruptly falling upon the young man.

"Huh! Where did this fellow come from?!"

Chen Feng, whose hand had been resting on the thigh of the woman in his arms, suddenly rose to his feet, staring hard at Wang Xuance.

"Grandfather, this man..."

Chen Xuanfeng opened his aged eyes and waved a hand, cutting him off.

"Hmph, it's only a perfected Vajra Fist. It can't stand against Xin'er's Sword Radiance!"

"That brat is even less your match. Just rest easy—there's no need to worry!"

After speaking, he wrapped his sheepskin coat tighter around himself and once again half-closed his eyes, seeming asleep yet awake.

When Chen Feng heard the words "perfected Vajra Fist," his pupils contracted. He gave Wang Xuance a meaningful look, snorted coldly, then scooped up the palace-dressed woman and continued eating "grapes"!

"Big Brother, I'm no match for Chen Kexin. Her swordsmanship has already advanced to the point where it is about to give birth to Sword Radiance."

The sword path stood apart from the martial path. Since ancient times, countless talents had emerged from the forests of sword cultivators, each peak higher than the last.

The stages of its advancement were Sword Radiance, Sword Qi, Sword Force, Sword Intent, and so on, until one finally reached the Mortal-Realm Sword Immortal.

Chen Kexin was barely of marriageable age, yet she had already gradually entered the realm of Sword Radiance. Her talent in the sword path was clear for all to see.

"Don't worry, little sister. Brother Wang, whom you invited, won't lose!"

On the earthen platform, a breeze drifted past. Though Chen Kexin's face remained expressionless, her heart was pounding like a drum.

She glanced at Wang Xuance's ten fingers, which looked as though they had been cast from gold, unable to understand how the eldest branch had managed to invite a martial man accomplished in fist techniques.

Especially since he had suddenly leaped out to save Chen Linger. With only one punch, he had nearly cracked her palm bones and sent the blood and Qi within her body roiling.

A formidable enemy! Had it been some days earlier, I might not have been able to defeat you. But now...

"Huu—"

Chen Kexin exhaled a mouthful of turbid breath tinged with blood, swallowed an emerald-green pill, and the unstable aura around her gradually calmed in an instant.

Chen Kexin shook her hand, gradually adjusting to the ache in the bones of her right palm.

Shing!

Chen Kexin suddenly raised her head. A fierce glint, like that of a night owl, shone in her phoenix eyes!

"Brat, there's a road to heaven, yet you refuse to take it. Hell has no gate, yet you insist on barging in!"

She stepped forward, her figure drifting like a reed as she lunged ahead and drew her sword.

Hum!

Her sword came slashing down, savage in momentum and swift as lightning!

Wang Xuance sidestepped aside. His sleeve fluttered in the wind, exposing his five fingers. He changed his fist into a palm and lightly slapped the sword blade.

[True Martial Qi +80!]

[True Martial Qi +80!]

[True Martial Qi +80!]

He then followed the motion with a punch straight at Chen Kexin's chest.

Vajra Demon-Breaker!

This was the fist technique granted by the template when he had trained the Vajra Fist to great mastery. It was the move most effective against evil demons, foreign entities, and ghastly Yin Qi!

The sword move Chen Kexin had unleashed was filled with sinister malice. It clearly wasn't an orthodox sword technique!

Seeing the fist wind sweep toward her and the vicious gale rush at her face, Chen Kexin raised her slender arm diagonally, slashing straight toward Wang Xuance's chest.

Azure Heavens Sword Technique—Yin Wind Meridian-Severing!

This counterattack was exceedingly ingenious. If Wang Xuance insisted on throwing his punch, the sword edge would surely carve a bloody gash into him!

This was where an inch longer meant an inch stronger—it struck directly at Wang Xuance's weakness of being unarmed!

"Hmph!"

Wang Xuance swung his fist sideways, striking the sword blade with his arm. His sleeve curled around it, twisting like a black snake as it coiled around Han Lin. Blood and Qi surged through his arms as he yanked hard.

"Let go!"

This time, Chen Kexin did not let her sword fly free as before. Her other hand became a palm blade, smoothly slicing open the black robe wrapped around the sword.

Her palm transformed into a spike and stabbed toward Wang Xuance's arm. Before it even pierced him, Wang Xuance felt a faint stabbing pain in the skin of his arm.

One had to know that after cultivating the Great Arm Scripture and tempering his body with cold Qi, the toughness of his arm skin was enough to rival rough oxhide.

What kind of martial art was this move of Chen Kexin's, to possess such power?

Yin Wind Peck!

It was a finger technique purchased by the current elder of the second branch for no small sum at an inner-city auction.

It was most suitable for women whose primordial Yin remained intact. Combined with the Innate Yin Qi within their bodies, its power could increase severalfold!

"Bold indeed!"

Wang Xuance's brows drew together as he avoided her five-finger peck at his arm. His other arm swept sideways in a slap, forcing her to withdraw her sword and slide backward.

The two had exchanged only a few moves, yet even those with low martial cultivation could see that the danger within was as turbulent as raging waves!

"Little sister, have you noticed that Brother Wang's every move seems somewhat similar to that Mo Wang Xiu who emerged during the Six Schools Martial Meet a few days ago?"

Below the platform, Chen Feng glanced at the calm and composed First Elder, then asked the anxious-looking Chen Linger beside him.

"Huh? Wang Xiu?!"

Prompted by her brother's words, Chen Linger froze, her beautiful eyes shifting.

Those days had coincided with the Chen Clan's Six Branches Assembly, so few had missed the once-every-few-years Six Schools Martial Meet in the outer city.

She had heard the servants say that there really had been someone named Wang Xiu at the meet. He had played the pig to eat the tiger, defeating several people in succession, but an unforeseen turn of events had suddenly occurred at the end, and his whereabouts became unknown!

Among the contestants was a martial man named Wu Shan, who had actually colluded with the Demon Sect in the Qilian Mountains. Not only had he ambushed several elite disciples of the Six Schools, but he had also thrown open the outer city's north and south gates, allowing Demon Sect martial artists to enter the city!

Although that battle had driven back the Demon Sect, nearly all the Six Schools' elite disciples had died. Not only had the outer city's martial academies lost all face, but they had also sacrificed the very foundations of their academies.

Had the Governor's Office not shouldered the burden alone and made who knew what promises, the Six Schools would not have gradually calmed down.

They had even ordered that no one was to spread the truth of the matter. Any violator would be treated as a traitor to the city!