Chu He Appears, First Confrontation

The group sped through the mountain forest under cover of night.

Just as they were about to rush out of a mountain hollow, the road ahead was completely blocked by a squad of Celestial Pivot Industries soldiers in black combat uniforms, wielding Meridian-Sealing Short Staffs.

At the same time, figures crowded the cliff faces on both sides of the hollow. Dozens of Evil Union Sect disciples, weapons in hand, sealed off every route of retreat.

A handsome young man in fine clothes slowly emerged from behind the soldiers, surrounded by a group of black-armored martial artists.

He was Chu He.

At his side stood Elder Gu, her face deathly pale but her eyes filled with venomous hatred.

"Jiang Yuan."

Chu He's gaze fell directly upon the Thunderfire Broken Sword on Jiang Yuan's back, his eyes brimming with undisguised greed and desire.

"Hand that sword over to me."

His voice was calm, yet it carried the tone of an unquestionable command.

"Then I can let you and your fat friend leave this secret realm safely."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Su Yan beside Jiang Yuan. A cruel curve touched his lips.

"As for her, and everyone from the Pure Cultivation Academy, they all stay."

Jiang Yuan smiled.

He answered Chu He with his actions.

He stepped forward, raising the broken sword in his hand toward Chu He's brow.

"Very good."

The smile vanished from Chu He's face, replaced by chilling killing intent.

He did not attack. Instead, he extended a hand and pressed his palm against Elder Gu's!

"Secret Art · Plundering Symbiotic Cultivation!"

Elder Gu let out a muffled groan of agony. The frigid true qi within her was forcibly ripped away by Chu He in a tyrannical manner, surging madly into his body through the meridians connecting them!

Boom!

An aura far more terrifying than before erupted from Chu He!

The yin and yang energies converged and fused within him, ultimately transforming into a chaotic yet powerful force that forcibly pushed his cultivation into the Early Qi Condensation Stage!

A powerful shockwave swept out from him. Loose stones and dead leaves throughout the hollow were blasted away, leaving behind a vacuum!

Su Yan held her sword across her chest and barely managed to steady herself, her pretty face grave.

"Die!"

Chu He vanished from where he stood.

Jiang Yuan's pupils shrank. He pushed the Wave-Treading Step to its limit and narrowly evaded the fatal strike.

He appeared behind and to the side of Chu He, unleashing Thunderclap Vibration without holding anything back!

"Riiip!"

A tear opened in Chu He's protective true qi.

But before Jiang Yuan could pursue, a palm covered in ugly scars struck ghostlike from the side, carrying Elder Gu's palm force!

The power of yin and yang merging was like an invisible sledgehammer, smashing viciously into Jiang Yuan's chest.

Bang!

Jiang Yuan was sent flying a full six zhang before he barely stabilized himself in a disheveled state, his blood and qi churning in his chest.

His Nine Yang Inner Force was only a hair's breadth from half a step into Qi Condensation, but before the forcibly fused power of those two, it was still lacking by a level.

However, in the instant he took that attack head-on, he keenly noticed a detail.

The forcibly fused power in Chu He's body experienced three nearly imperceptible stagnations three cun below his elbow joint. Each time it stagnated, Elder Gu's aura would fall into disarray for an instant.

That spot was the weakness of this wicked art!

Without showing it, Jiang Yuan committed the discovery to memory.

"Su Yan! Take them through the western forest path!" Jiang Yuan shouted decisively.

"Guo Hongtao! Use the Spirit Crystals to cover our retreat!"

"Yes, Brother Yuan!"

Su Yan and Guo Hongtao did not hesitate in the slightest. They immediately organized the dozen or so rescued people and prepared to break out from the side.

Su Yan helped up the young man who had been the first to offer the "Transit Order," preparing to carry him on her back.

Then the unexpected happened!

A vicious gleam suddenly flashed through the eyes of the young man, who had appeared incomparably weak. Without warning, one palm pressed against the first primary meridian at the unguarded center of Jiang Yuan's back!

A sinister force erupted with a crash!

"Now!"

The young man let out a hysterical roar!

The dozen or so "captives" who had just been wearing grateful expressions simultaneously tore open their outer robes!

Poisoned short blades were hidden in their sleeves!

The Meridian-Locking Rings around their wrists were empty inside. No restraints had ever been placed upon them at all!

It had all been a trap!

"Steward He told us to wait for the moment you turned around!" The young man's face twisted into a triumphant grin.

More than ten streams of pure Evil Union true qi poured viciously into Jiang Yuan's meridians from different acupoints across his back at the same time!

Buzz!

The Nine Yang Inner Force inside Jiang Yuan was instantly severed, its circulation completely brought to a standstill!

The Thunderfire Broken Sword in his hand seemed to weigh a thousand jun, abruptly sinking downward.

The killing trap was complete!

Piercing agony exploded from more than ten major acupoints across his back at once!

More than ten streams of cold, mixed Evil Union true qi tore through his meridians like greedy venomous snakes, savagely ripping at his organs.

The circulation of his Nine Yang Inner Force had been completely disrupted by this sudden flood, blocked within his dantian and unable to move.

"Hahaha! Jiang Yuan! You never saw this coming, did you?"

Seeing this, Chu He burst into unrestrained laughter. He and Elder Gu attacked together once more, carrying a world-destroying momentum!

"Jiang Yuan!"

Su Yan's eyes nearly split with rage. She wanted to rush back to help him, but several black-armored martial artists held her tightly entangled, leaving her unable to break free.

Guo Hongtao's eyes were bloodshot with panic. He hurled the Spirit Crystals from his arms like stones, but he could only slightly hinder the enemy's advance.

A desperate situation!

Jiang Yuan endured attacks from both within and without. The agony nearly made him pass out, yet he held tightly to the last shred of clarity in his mind.

The Baxia · Stone-Metal Body activated on its own. Beneath his bronze-colored skin, a dark golden gleam stubbornly resisted the force threatening to tear his body apart.

Instead, his mind became calmer than ever before.

The Evil Union true qi flooding into his body was pure yin energy, inherently opposed to his Nine Yang Inner Force.

Better to guide it than block it!

Forcibly expelling it would only cause his meridians to collapse completely!

In that split-second, a detail he had overlooked flashed through his mind like lightning!

The warm spirit spring at the back mountain of the Pure Cultivation Academy.

The Sect Master's icy fingertip, hovering one inch above his dantian.

"Here, you can open a passage and allow pure yang qi to initially merge with the yin qi of the outside world."

So that was it!

She had anticipated this step long ago!

That had not been a test. It had been genuine guidance!

A stunning light burst from Jiang Yuan's eyes as he abandoned all resistance!

Not only did he stop suppressing those violent yin energies, he used the last trace of his will to forcibly guide them, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, crashing toward that mysterious "opening" above his dantian!

Using the enemy's power to break his own shackles!

[Ding!]

[Prerequisite condition "Obtain a high-concentration yin-yang energy core" has been met!]

[Activating the hidden chapter of Nine Yang Divine Skill...]

[Yin-Yang Cycle Chapter activated!]

Rumble—!

Jiang Yuan's dantian seemed to erupt as though a cosmic star had exploded within it!

The dozen or so streams of frigid true qi collided violently with his heavily suppressed Nine Yang Inner Force at that "opening"!

Instead of annihilating each other as expected, they formed an enormous vortex spinning at high speed!

One black and one white, one yin and one yang, like the twin fish of taiji, their heads and tails joined in an endless cycle!

His blocked meridians were instantly cleared!

Those dozen or so foreign streams of frigid true qi became the purest fuel, instantly refined and absorbed by the vortex, transforming into part of his own power!

The pure Nine Yang Inner Force in his body underwent a qualitative transformation at that moment. Yang contained yin, yin contained yang, cycling endlessly as its power surged by more than tenfold!

The bottleneck that had plagued him for so long shattered with a crash!

Qi Condensation Realm! Achieved!

"Aah—!"

A shockwave far more terrifying than Chu He's surged into the sky from Jiang Yuan's body!

The dozen or so "captives" still pressed against his back and frantically channeling true qi did not even have time to scream before they were blasted backward by that force, their bodies exploding into clouds of blood mist in midair!

"Th-this is impossible!"

The wild grin on Chu He's face froze.

His and Elder Gu's combined strike had already reached Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan did not dodge.

He did not even look at them.

He merely slowly raised the Thunderfire Broken Sword in his hand.

Between the dark red fire patterns on the broken sword, threads of azure-blue lightning flickered and flowed. A terrifying aura of life and death, yin and yang intertwining, spread outward.

He casually swung it.

A sword qi fusing crimson red and azure blue appeared slow, yet it struck first despite being launched later, precisely slashing at the point where Chu He's and Elder Gu's powers converged.

It was exactly the weakness he had noticed earlier!

Crack!

A crisp sound of shattering rang out.

The energy connection forcibly established between Chu He and Elder Gu was completely severed by that single slash!

"Pfft!"

The two were struck as if by lightning at the same time. The violent energy backlash sent them flying like broken sacks, blood spraying from their mouths as their auras instantly withered to the extreme.

The entire hollow fell deathly silent.

Jiang Yuan slowly turned around, his icy gaze falling upon the leading young traitor, who was already petrified with terror.

He walked toward him one step at a time, the tip of his sword carving a deep trench into the ground.

"You waited for me to turn around because you were waiting for a chance to strike."

Jiang Yuan's voice was soft, yet it was like ice from the depths of hell, freezing everyone's souls.

"And I let you follow behind me because I was waiting for you to deliver this final key to my door."

The young man's legs went limp, and he collapsed to his knees. A foul stench rose from his crotch.

"N-no... don't kill me..."

Jiang Yuan smiled, smiling brilliantly.

"Welcome to my domain."

A flash of sword light.

A fine head flew high into the air!

Blood dyed the ground of the mountain hollow red.

Jiang Yuan stood with his sword in hand, his gaze sweeping across every enemy present. Not one of the black-armored martial artists or Evil Union Sect disciples dared meet his eyes. They all backed away in terror.

The reckoning began now!