Sword Slays the Petty; Reckoning Begins

The black-armored martial artists and Evil Union Sect disciples who had been so arrogant just moments ago now had icy hands and feet, finding even breathing difficult.

They had seen with their own eyes how a "furnace" they believed was certain to die had turned the tables in the direst of circumstances!

Those dozen or so "captives," all with considerable cultivation, had launched a sneak attack from behind and poured pure Union Sect true qi into his body. That was a method capable of making any martial artist with a yang-oriented constitution suffer ruptured meridians on the spot!

But what was the result?

The result was that those dozen people had not even left behind intact corpses!

"Th-this... what kind of monster is he?!"

"Didn't he fall victim to the Union Sect's secret art? How... how did he become even stronger instead?"

Fear spread through the crowd like a plague.

Chu He struggled up from the ground. One of his arms was twisted at an unnatural angle, and all composure had vanished from his face, leaving behind only shock and venomous hatred.

"Impossible... absolutely impossible!"

"How could you neutralize Plundered Dual Cultivation? And even break through my Qi Condensation Realm!"

He could not understand what was happening before his eyes.

Beside him, Elder Gu was in an even more miserable state. Her gray gauze dress had long since vanished, and her body, covered in ugly scars, lay limp on the ground. She vomited mouthful after mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, without even the strength to stand.

Jiang Yuan did not answer Chu He.

He merely turned his gaze toward the black-armored martial artists still trembling in fear.

"Your equipment is very effective at suppressing martial artists."

Jiang Yuan raised the Thunderfire Broken Sword in his hand. Scarlet-red and cyan-blue radiance flowed endlessly along its blade.

"What a pity you're all so useless."

"Kill him! Everyone, attack! He must have used some secret technique. He's at the end of his rope now! Wear him down until he dies!"

Chu He roared himself hoarse as he directed his subordinates.

Though the black-armored martial artists were terrified, military orders were absolute. They exchanged glances, then braced themselves and raised their Meridian-Sealing Short Staffs once more.

Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!

More than a dozen dim blue beams interwove into a net and descended toward Jiang Yuan once again.

"Brother Yuan, watch out!" Guo Hongtao shouted anxiously from behind.

Jiang Yuan smiled.

He did not even use the Wave-Treading Step. Standing where he was, he casually swung his sword.

A sword qi fused from scarlet-red and cyan-blue shot forth from the blade.

It did not appear particularly fast, yet it carried the profound rhythm of yin and yang revolving endlessly.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

Every dim blue beam touched by the sword qi vanished instantly, as though it had encountered its natural nemesis.

The sword qi continued onward without losing momentum, accurately striking the three Meridian-Sealing Short Staffs at the very front.

Crack!

Those three incomparably hard short staffs, forged from Celestial Pivot Industries' special alloy, snapped in response!

The three black-armored martial artists holding them had their palms split open. They grunted and staggered backward from the impact.

The might of a single sword strike was terrifying indeed!

"Retreat!"

Jiang Yuan did not prolong the fight. He called sharply to Su Yan and Guo Hongtao.

His condition was strange. His strength was greater than ever before, but the forceful fusion of two completely different powers within his meridians had still left behind tremendous hidden dangers. He needed time to regulate them.

"Go!"

Su Yan did not hesitate in the slightest. She had long noticed that the western forest path was the weakest point in the encirclement. She immediately led Guo Hongtao and the surviving cultivators toward it to break out.

"Trying to run? Stop them!"

Chu He roared in frustration.

Jiang Yuan flickered forward and took the initiative to meet the pursuers. His entire body became a barrier of sword light, blocking every enemy trying to chase Su Yan and the others.

He did not use killing moves, but his palm techniques became incomparably strange.

With one palm strike, his hand seemed to land lightly upon the chest of an Evil Union Sect disciple. The female disciple felt a soft force sweep over her, and her body drifted backward out of control.

Yet just as she flew three zhang away, a large tree behind her exploded from within with a boom!

Profound Heaven · Shattering Bone Hand, Hard-Soft Force Separation!

For a time, the entire mountain hollow was thrown into chaos. Jiang Yuan alone had every enemy in disarray.

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!"

Seeing his elite black-armored martial artists being toyed with by Jiang Yuan alone, Chu He was so furious that he spat out another mouthful of blood.

His right arm was crippled, his true qi was in turmoil, and the Plundered Dual Cultivation he had forcibly activated had been broken, causing severe backlash. He could not enter the fray personally at all.

As for Elder Gu beside him, she was already drawing more breaths out than in.

"Seal it off... seal off every exit!"

Chu He could only watch helplessly as Su Yan and the others ran farther and farther away, eventually vanishing into the depths of the forest path.

After confirming that they had retreated safely, Jiang Yuan no longer lingered in battle.

He smiled at Chu He from afar, his smile full of mockery.

"Young Master Chu, your toys aren't very useful."

With that, he flashed away, becoming an afterimage that disappeared into the dense forest on the other side.

Only devastation remained in the mountain hollow, along with Chu He's face twisted in fury.

"Jiang Yuan! I'll kill your mother!"

Half an hour later.

Pure Cultivation Academy, West Ridge Estate.

This was an extremely secluded courtyard. Using the Pure Cultivation Academy's unique guiding formation, Su Yan had teleported everyone here.

"Brother Yuan, are you all right? You were incredible just now!"

The moment Guo Hongtao landed, he rushed around Jiang Yuan with a face full of admiration.

A trace of concern also appeared on Su Yan's cool face.

Cough!

Jiang Yuan had just been about to say he was fine when a sudden sweetness rose in his throat. He spat out a mouthful of dark red stagnant blood.

His face turned pale, and he dropped to one knee.

Forcefully fusing yin and yang qi and breaking through to the Qi Condensation Realm had ultimately placed an enormous burden upon his body.

"Jiang Yuan!"

"Brother Yuan!"

Su Yan and Guo Hongtao cried out at the same time.

"I won't die."

Jiang Yuan waved them off, then sat cross-legged and took two Yin-Yang Spirit Crystals, each the size of a human head, from his robes and placed them before him.

"Don't come closer. Guard me."

With that, he closed his eyes and began doing everything he could to regulate the chaotic true qi inside him, which churned like boiling magma.

It seemed that the threshold of the Qi Condensation Realm was not so easy to cross after all.

"Brother Yuan, you absolutely can't let anything happen to you!"

Guo Hongtao watched Jiang Yuan's pale face and paced anxiously in circles. He carefully hugged the remaining Yin-Yang Spirit Crystal to his chest and watched the surroundings vigilantly, looking exactly like a mother hen protecting her chicks.

Su Yan, meanwhile, quickly stepped to Jiang Yuan's side, extended two fingers, and placed them on his wrist.

A moment later, astonishment appeared on her cool face.

"His meridians... are a complete mess, but they're also so resilient!"

Su Yan felt the violent yet vigorous torrent of energy within Jiang Yuan's body, and enormous waves rose in her heart.

One was pure yang, while the other was extreme yin. Two utterly opposing forces were rampaging through his meridians. Had it been anyone else, they likely would have exploded and died long ago!

Yet Jiang Yuan's meridians, supported by the Baxia · Stone-Metal Body, endured it all with stubborn resilience.

"I'll teach you a passage from our Pure Cultivation Academy's Purifying Heart Formula."

Su Yan made her decision at once and sat cross-legged opposite Jiang Yuan.

"It can help you sort out the yin and yang qi, calm your mind, and return to the origin. Listen carefully. Let the qi pass through the center of the chest, sink into the dantian, divide into two streams, yin on the left and yang on the right, then travel along the Conception and Governing Vessels..."

She taught Jiang Yuan, word by word, the qi-circulation mantra that the Pure Cultivation Academy never shared with outsiders.

Jiang Yuan understood immediately and began guiding the two violent forces within his body according to Su Yan's instructions.

The two Yin-Yang Spirit Crystals before him seemed to be drawn in as well, releasing dense scarlet and cyan spiritual qi that slowly entered Jiang Yuan's body.

The yin and yang qi, which had originally been colliding as though they would tear him apart, miraculously began to calm under the guidance of the Purifying Heart Formula.

They were no longer enemies. Instead, they became like two fish chasing and playing with each other, forming a perfect cycle within his meridians.

An hour later.

Jiang Yuan suddenly opened his eyes!

Two flashes of sharp light vanished in an instant!

He exhaled a long breath of turbid air. In midair, it actually split into one black and one white current, circling for a moment before slowly dispersing.

"It worked!"

Jiang Yuan rose to his feet, feeling his body filled with unprecedented power. His earlier injuries had already healed seven or eight tenths of the way.

His Qi Condensation Realm cultivation had completely stabilized as well!

"Brother Yuan! You scared me to death!" Guo Hongtao hurried over.

"How do you feel?" Su Yan also stood and asked.

Jiang Yuan said nothing. He simply walked to a decorative rock in the courtyard and slowly raised his right palm.

Recalling the insights from the previous battle, he poured his newly born yin-yang true qi into his palm.

The hard force was drawn inward, while the soft force circulated around the outside.

He lightly pressed his palm against the decorative rock.

With a soft pop, only a shallow palm print less than half an inch deep was left on the rock.

"Uh... Brother Yuan, did you forget to eat?" Guo Hongtao scratched his head.

But Su Yan frowned slightly. She seemed to notice something and abruptly turned around.

Three zhang behind the decorative rock, a pear tree as thick as a bowl suddenly split soundlessly in the middle of its trunk for no apparent reason!

The cut was as smooth as a mirror!

"Th-this..." Guo Hongtao's eyes nearly popped out.

Striking through a mountain to hit an ox? No, this was even stranger than that!

"I wonder if it got longer."

Su Yan murmured softly. The expression with which she looked at Jiang Yuan became even more complicated.

This guy was hard.